The Crash Bandicoot Series
Yesterday on Youtube, I was watching some Crash Bandicoot gameplay (from the games made by Naughty Dog) and it reminded me of how fun and awesome those games were. Sure, they took quite a lot of elements from Mario, Sonic, and other various platforming games, but Naughty Dog put so much of their own flair and charm to it, that you'd hardly notice. Everything, from the gameplay animation to the funny death scenes to the music (especially the music with it's wackiness and catchiness) made the game series so unique and unlike any other game.
I haven't really played that many of the non-Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot games, though I found them, okay, I guess. Crash Bash was fun enough, but the wackiness factor was lacking, and it seemed a little too tame for a Crash game. Crash's Huge Adventure was quite impressive, though they reused quite a lot of stuff (though at least it felt quite a bit more like a Naughty Dog Crash game that way). And since it was on the GBA and not a console system, it would be unfair to say that the graphics, animation, and music weren't as good as the Naughty Dog Crash games. Crash Nitro Kart is probably my favourite non-Naughty Dog Crash game, seeing how the music felt wacky enough, they portrayed the Crash characters quite accurately, and it felt quite a bit like a real successor to CTR (though the futuristic vehicles ruined that, somewhat). As for Crash of the Titans, that would probably be my least favourite (as a Crash game, the concept of controlling all enemies in the game was fun), seeing how a few of the characters weren't really portrayed well (especially Dr. N. Gin, seeing how they got rid of his old voice, which was the coolest thing about him. They also made Coco a little too spunky). It also strayed from the original Crash mechanics by an insane amount. Though disregarding that fact, the game was quite a good one, though they probably should've used a different character besides Crash, seeing how the game didn't play like a Crash game at all.
Those four are the only non-Naughty Dog Crash games I've played, by the way.
So, what do you guys think about the Crash Bandicoot series, both the old and new games?
I know that there's an insanely slim chance of Naughty Dog making Crash games again, so at the least I'm hoping that Vicarious Visions will be making the new Crash games. Or maybe Retro Studios could get the rights to Crash and give him a grand revival with a new "Naughty Dog-like" Crash game?