Back when Crash Bandicoot hit the scene, I was a firmly entrenched Nintendo fanboy. Crash, to me, was a second rate 3D platformer that was put to utter shame by the fantastic platformer offerings of the N64. I’ll admit, the N. Sane Trilogy has done little to elevate the core material for me, but it does leave me wishing that other companies would show as much love and care to their older 3D games as Vicarious Visions has shown here.

These remakes are gorgeous and they’re incredibly well done. Ignoring any opinions I may espouse later in the review, if you’re a fan of Crash, you absolutely should not hesitate in picking up this remaster. From what I understand, the Switch port greatly benefits from the extra year of development and comes complete with fixes and bonus content that was only recently released on the PS4. Despite the resolution being a bit lower in TV mode (720p upscaled to 1080p), it’s a game that plays smooth and looks great in portable mode, which would likely be the reason you’re eyeing this on the Switch.

For everyone else, especially those without any strong opinions on the Crash games, a recommendation on picking up the N. Sane Trilogy becomes a bit more complicated. Having played through all three games for this review, the only game in the trilogy that seems to really stand the test of time is Crash 3. While Crash 2 isn’t bad, it still has a handful of carryover issues. Frankly, Crash 1 just isn’t worth playing at all. It feels like a proof-of-concept that’s punishingly hard for all the wrong reasons.

While I played the games in chronological order, approaching in reverse chronological order, may actually have been a better approach. Crash 1 is an absolutely jarring experience. Physics and collision often feel off in a way that’s hard to pinpoint or describe (which, to a certain extent carries into 2). Jumps that seem easy actually require incredible precision to hit perfectly. Other levels require a combination of perfect timing, perfect accuracy, and the foresight to know what hazards come next. Colliding with enemy hitboxes also feels super easy, which results in frequent deaths, even when you know exactly what to do.

In brief, Crash 1 stacks the deck against you. There’s a lot of muscle memory you’ll need to build up to get through the game and score 100% of the collectibles. Small miscalculations can ruin your attempt and it becomes extremely frustrating. Towards the end of the game, just getting through some of the levels with no intention of getting everything feels overwhelmingly difficult. The bridge levels immediately come to mind (they’re terrible).

Playing Crash 2, I realized just how much I had been punishing myself with the original game. To say the least, it’s a much better game. It adds the slide attack, which provides a bit more variety to the gameplay and allows you to perform a longer jump, which addresses some of the precision jumping issues found in the first game. Hit detection generally feels better. Level variety is improved. However, the game adds the nitro boxes which also have annoyingly unforgiving hit boxes, as well as random jumping animations that make them frustrating hazards that are everywhere in levels.

Despite feeling much better to play, there’s still something off in Crash 2 that disappears in 3. Generally speaking it’s a more forgiving game, but a lot of it feels uninspired. There’s still lots of tricks baked into levels that will force a death so you learn and memorize what’s coming up next to get through. Hidden stretches of levels are tough to find like in the first and it makes it generally tough to get through the game and grab everything without the assistance of a guide.

Like the first game, the boss designs are terrible and the encounters often go too long. It’s super easy to get killed and will take lots of memorization to make your way through each encounter, other than the battle with Cortex, which is surprisingly easy.

Crash 3, on the other hand, is just a good game; no need for caveats. All of the ideas put forth in 1 and 2 are fully realized. The control and hit detection feel like they’re finally right, and things like the nitro boxes are thinned out to be more manageable and less of a deadly hazard as they are in 2. The vehicle stages don’t control particularly well, but you adapt and eventually do better and make it through.

The best feature of 3 are the new powers you earn upon defeating bosses. One boss will allow you to glide after jumps with your attack, another lets you double jump, one unlocks a fruit bazooka to destroy hazards from afar. Each upgrade feels valuable and opens up the experience a bit more and gives you a real sense of progression. Getting all of the collectibles is a bit more of a joy because there’s a degree of puzzle solving to destroying all the boxes that doesn’t always rely on pureplay platforming

3 also has a ton of bonus content that’s totally worth playing, extending the experience considerably. The secrets are neat and there’s some real fun to be had in tracking them down. This is a game I wouldn’t mind revisiting in the future and most likely will.

But therein lies the big issue I have with this trilogy; Crash Bandicoot: Warped (3) feels like the only game really worth playing and eventually revisting. Though Cortex Strikes Back (2) isn’t horrible, it’s nowhere near the caliber of Warped. With only half of the offering of the N. Sane Trilogy really being worth your gaming time, you might be best off renting if you’ve got no nostalgia for the series.