Recently, Crash Bandicoot has enjoyed a revival of sorts and while he isn’t PlayStation’s poster child anymore, he has certainly stepped back into the limelight. Last year, the N. Sane Trilogy — Crash Bandicoot 1-3, which were once available on the PlayStation 1 exclusively, released on the PlayStation 4 with updated visuals and performance with the same platforming gameplay that made the Bandicoot a staple of the genre. Now, everyone can enjoy the original trilogy on Xbox One and PC. But more importantly, Crash is mobile on the Nintendo Switch.
Everything has been included in the N. Sane Trilogy including a couple of extra levels into the newer versions of the game. The Switch version has had some noticeable changes in the fur textures of the characters, where the fur is less pronounced but since the entire game is animated and fits a certain art direction, it’s a curiosity at best. The shadows will also look fairly blocky or non-existent in the finer details. Certain road/surface textures don’t pop out as much. If you have it side by side with a PS4 or Xbox One X version, you will notice a difference.
The importance of the trilogy is that the game still is fun to play in handheld or docked mode, but I found myself using a Pro Controller more often because of my dislike of the JoyCon controllers. They’re not bad and completely serviceable, but I gravitated to a more traditional controller peripheral.
Like many mobile or portable systems, short and quick games are the best fit because they don’t eat up your battery life and it’s more convenient to play them on your own time. The N. Sane Trilogy on Switch is perfect for this because the levels are so short and visually appealing that I found myself knocking out a couple levels before bed or beating a boss before work. It seems that given the Switch’s capabilities and The N. Sane Trilogy’s nostalgic level design from Naughty Dog, it’s a match made in platforming heaven.
Having played the original games on the PS1, played the trilogy on the PS4 and then again on the Switch, I would definitely make a case that the N. Sane Trilogy is the best fit for the portable console.