A classic by far
This was the first game I ever owned with the ps1, and the first video game I ever played. I had this game and this game alone for several months before my next one. This shows the amount of time you can spend with it before you get bored. If this is also one of your childhood games you will know what I'm talking about and if you went back to play it now you would love it for what it is and chuckle at it's lame childish humor.
I also found this game to be a good family game. My parents and I would play this game together and either do a level each or swap over after every 3 lives. It actually brought me closer to them as we didn't have any other games in the house.
This was the first game of the crash bandicoot series and one of the best as many may agree. It's straightforward gameplay didn't have you racking your brain for solutions and you could enjoy the gameplay without a lot of difficulty.
This orange creature became an icon for kids and I saw many people as a child doing crashes famous spin move. It is not a violent game and playing as a good character fighting off Cotex also teaches kids right and wrong.
The simple jumps and easily defeated enemies (although some look innocent... Poor armadillo's) make this game one you can play with no worries, no frustration and just chill out with. Perhaps play with your kids or perhaps just simply play to bring back fond memories. This game is fit for a manier purpose.
The wumpa fruit you collect throughout the game, that give you an extra life for every 100 you collect, was perhaps a way of promoting fruit. I don't know.
The crystal and gem systems were just the beginning of many games to follow this trend and was the root of many games. You are awarded a crystal for completing a certain task, but a gem for meeting specific requirements such as time limits etc. If you think about it the achievement system is a vague example of this.
Although I'm sure this game is classed under action/adventure, there isn't much adventure when you are following paths that only go in one direction. However, this game makes you adventure into your soul and find the chilld you used to be. It's a game that has sculpted many peoples lives and your love for it will never fade.
There were many games to follow it in the series, such as Crash Bandicoot 2: The Wrath of Cortex etc. These games were also as repectable as the original. When the PS2 launched and new Crash games were made for this, thats when I lost interest. The new games didn't follow the originals very well and they became harder, longer, boring and boring. If you want a good old cPS1 classic to play... I wouldn't consider any other games other than this. Except maybe Spyro... But thats just plain genious. Check it out :)