Crash Bandicoot remaster really is harder, fans discover

Some players are finding the remastered Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy much tougher than the original games, and there may be a clear reason for that. Streamers have picked up on how jumping in the PlayStation 4 collection has changed significantly from the original PlayStation games, with a difference in how collisions work as the main culprit.

Complaints that the collection, which includes the first three Crash Bandicoot platformers, ramped up the difficulty came not longer after its release. Much of that criticism was pointed at Crash’s much more slippery, precise jumping abilities, compounded by the game design’s often “unforgiving” nature.

“The reason jumps feel harder in the N. Sane Trilogy isn’t really due to falling a bit faster,” tweeted Ding Dong, who’s been streaming the full collection following its launched last week. Instead, he says the reason is “because collisions can be wonky upon landing.”

A video attached to Ding Dong’s tweet shows what that looks like side-by-side with the original games.

“Crash’s jump arc is sped up in the N. Sane Trilogy, causing him to land just slightly quicker,” the video explains.

That faster speed may be why players find themselves falling off platforms just after landing on them. It requires a level of precision that the original games lacked, so it’s a tough difficulty curve for those expecting the same feel on PS4 as on PS1.

It doesn’t help that, as another player theorized, Crash and his sister, Coco, have tighter, “pill-shaped” collision boxes.

“This shape is used as the default for the Unity engine and some other engines,” wrote TastyCarcass on Reddit. “It means that rather than falling off things, you sort of slide down them a bit first, even if it's a flat plane.”

The result of these pill-shaped collision boxes, according to TastyCarcass, is that Crash and Coco need adequate room when landing on a platform. Otherwise, they’ll just slip right off. But this comes with a benefit as well: Players can use these more exacting collision areas to extend characters’ jumps. TastyCarcass posted a video to show what that looks like.

If you’ve found yourself confused as to why Crash Bandicoot is more difficult as an adult than as a kid, these videos may give you some confidence — it’s not just you, but it’s the games that have changed, too.