Crash Bandileaks

Recently, there have been a lot of odd Crash Bandicoot 'leaks'. Now, I use that term lightly because the original leaks and chat regarding them originated from 4chan, without really any proof. However, recently, well-known movie news leaker, @ViewerAnon (Twitter) has tweeted some slightly newer information of his own...

https://twitter.com/ViewerAnon/status/1196981138490703872

Again, I'd take this with a pinch of salt, but at least it's marginally more credible than the information that was circulating before (which is why I didn't report on it).

The idea of Crash utilising different masks is quite a popular idea in the community, one of which has been suggested a few times. After all, how much more entertaining would 2001's The Wrath of Cortex be if Crash could actually use the Elementals to his advantage, turning into the elements to create platforming opportunities?

Additionally, a playable Cortex has been done before in 2004's Twinsanity, in which Cortex become more a long-ranged fighter with his ray gun (and much more cumbersome than Crash). With some tweaks, Cortex could become more fun to play as, what with an array of gizmos and evil scientist gadgets at his disposal like in Skylanders: Imaginators.

@ViewerAnon goes on to say:

https://twitter.com/ViewerAnon/status/1196986671897575425

That makes it sound like there are different Crash levels and different Cortex levels planned but in the same general area. Again, it isn't a new idea (take a look at Sonic Adventure 2), but it is one the Crash universe hasn't tackled before in a platformer.

https://twitter.com/ViewerAnon/status/1197006736814534656

Once more, the idea to play as Coco is a popular one and one I thought was amazingly well executed in the most recent N.Sane Trilogy. As for the idea of a hub world with different levels in... I can see that working well, given 2004's Twinsanity route and the general warp room feel of the classic games.

Finally, Twitter user and Nintendo news leaker @New_WabiSabi tweeted their own Crash related information on the same day and merely an hour before @ViewerAnon:

https://twitter.com/New_WabiSabi/status/1196957943758897155

@New_WabiSabi makes reference to the 4Chan leak (called Crash World/s), but also that there is a Crash game coming in general.

Do I think the current ideas mentioned are good? Well, yes, I can see them working well in a Crash game and push the series a bit further than the original trilogy's limitations (in a good way). Do I think they're real? Well... All of these elements together make me wonder if it really is just a fan's fiction. After all, none of these are new fan concepts for Crash games, just ones resurfacing all in one project as a potential leak. To that end, I remain sceptical of the whole issue, but it's fun to speculate what the next step for Crash is.

So, when will we truly find out if there's a new Crash game on the horizon? The Game Awards 2019 seems like a good place on Friday 13th December. After all, that tends to be the place for end-of-year game announcements. Still, that's assuming the game exists and it's that far in development.

Watch this space!