I MADE IT TO CLASS THIS WEEK GUYS. My foot was sore still but I made it. And I’m glad I did. This week we spent the 3 hours going over the intricate and wild history of video games. From the original game that is Spacewar! to the Golden Age Arcade Games like Space Invaders and PAC-Man to the crash and burn that was ET and then to games we know and love today. It was interesting to learn what i didn’t already know and I didn’t realize I was missing so much.
The History of our Favourite Bandicoot and how he made Naughty Dog famous.
Now if I say Naughty Dog, what do you think. I can guarantee it was one of 4 things. Uncharted, The Last Of Us, Jak & Daxter or (my personal favourite) Crash Bandicoot. Well did you know Crash help put Naughty Dog on the map.
I’m sure most people know Crash Bandicoot. Our favourite lovable and goofy Bandicoot who is always up to no good and saving the world from the crazy Dr. Cortex and Evil Uka Uka.
Crash and his Mask companion Aku Aku in the newly remastered Crash Nsane Trilogy 
Dr Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in Nsane Trilogy
Back in the 1990s Naughty Dog was little more than a couple of developers with hearts full of hope and eyes full of dreams. They had just released Way of the Warrior and decided they would now try their luck on platformers. specifically 3D platformers. Just to remind everyone. This was the same time as launches such as Super Mario 64. One of Nintendo’s biggest successes back then. They spent countless hours developing the the game and then approached Sony Computer Entertainment with a short two minute trailer. And Sony ate it up. Executives loved it. They loved it so much they even put in motion a plan to set Crash as the mascot for PlayStation. This basically became cemented when the first Crash game released to a tremendous success even just a month after the release of Super Mario 64. With that Crash became the flagship for PlayStation and Naughty Dog.
Crash proceeded to get two sequels and a racing spin off made by Naughty Dog and countless more by multiple developers over the next ten years. His latest titles being “Nsane Trilogy” & “Crash Team Racing”. Both of these are remasters of his older games. His List of games is enormous but ill do my best to list all of them now.
- Crash Bandicoot – Sept 1996 – Developer: Naughty Dog
- Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back – Oct 1997 – Developer: Naughty Dog
- Crash 3: Warped – Oct 1998 – Developer: Naughty Dog
- Crash Team Racing – Sept 1999 – Developer: Naughty Dog
- Crash Bash – Nov 2000 – Developer: Eurocom Entertainment Software and Cerny Games
- Crash: Wrath of Cortex – Oct 2001 – Developer: Traveller’s Tales
- Crash: Nitro Kart – Nov 2003 – Developer: Vicarious Visions
- Crash: Twinsanity – Sept 2004 – Developer: Vicarious Visions Oxford Studio
- Crash: Tag Team Racing – Oct 2005 – Developer: Radical Entertainment
- Crash Of The Titans – Oct 2004 – Developer: Radical entertainment
- Crash Boom Bang: – Jul 2006 – Developer: Dimps
- Crash: Mind Over Mutant – Oct 2008 – Developer: Radical Entertainment
- Crash: N. Sane Trilogy – June 2017 – Developer: Vicarious Visions
- Crash: Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – June 2019 – Beenox
This is just the games we would consider main canon. He also has many spin offs, cameos and cancelled games.
Cover Art: Wrath of Cortex 
Cover Art: Crash of the Titans 
Cover Art: Warped
Crash cemented Naughty Dog in gaming history and a lifetime partnership with Sony. Now they are releasing huge hits such as Last of Us and Uncharted. And with Last of Us 2 around the corner, Naughty Dogs fan base and expectations are higher than ever.
To me, Crash Bandicoot and Naughty Dog will always have a place in video game history.
-T.Styles
The Studies & Reviews of a Game Development Student 