28-03-2013
Eggtastic

As shown on Facebook by B-Mask, Did You Know Gaming has uploaded a cool video about Crash:

There are some things worth noting about the video. It's evident that most of the information was learned from here, which is always cool. Some things are slightly outdated, however - the description of some of the Crash 1 prototype levels seems to be based on older revisions of Crash Mania, and the same can be said about the real reason behind Tawna's removal from the series. Though Jason Rubin has mentioned this was decided because of the marketing director's meddling at the time, Charles Zembillas (who has been posting some great new art on his blog, by the way) explained this was mostly to please Sony of Japan, as they weren't comfortable with Crash having a sexy girlfriend.

I think the nicest surprise coming from the video is that LXShadow and Hacc, possibly the two greatest Crash hackers out there, have been credited as discovering the Crash Bash cheat menu. Both of them have made invaluable discoveries with their research over the years, so it's great to see some appreciation for their work.

Have a great Easter, everyone! See you next update.

17-03-2013
Archeology

Hot on the heels of these important messages is an update comparable to an all-you-can-eat buffet - delicious, varied and extensive. Analogies make me hungry, so let's get down to business!

To start off, a bunch of cancelled games are now exposed, some of which we didn't know about before:

• Crash Landed, the cancelled Radical Entertainment game from 2010, finally has its own section complete with information, artwork and videos!
• Likewise, the cancelled racing game from the same year has gotten the same treatment.
• The Vicarious Visions game from the poster everyone was talking about has been added too.
• Even more cancelled games we didn't know about: Crush Bandicoot and an unnamed one by Krome Studios. Thanks go to CrashRatchetFan for tracking them down.

If that doesn't put the past into a new perspective, the following definitely will:

• An interview with Joe Pearson, the artist behind much of the original Crash universe!
• A lot of sketches and development history behind Crash Bandicoot have been revealed by Joe Pearson and Charles Zembillas! A huge thanks goes to both artists for all this and also CrashRatchetFan for his continuous effort to connect the fan community to them. Check out all the neat stuff from:
  
  • Crash 1
  • Crash 2
  • Crash 3
  • Crash Nitro Kart
• An additional interview with Keith Webb, a.k.a. SpaceCat! (This interview is actually from last year, but it wasn't featured on the site at the time.)
• A new article has been added: "The Truth Behind the Origin", which sheds some light on the conception of Crash Bandicoot, as told by Charles Zembillas.
• One of Crash 2's prototypes has been revealed! Most of the differences between it and the commercial release were documented in video form by MrBean35000vr.

And finally, we have some of the usual additions to the site, along with some long overdue bug fixes:

• Crash Boom, Bang! has screenshots now! All credit goes to Bruno, the only guy insane enough to take on this difficult task. These were the last screenshots left to take. I'm gonna miss doing those captions!
• The Record Book and the Manga Viewer are finally fixed. All inactive Record Book accounts have been deleted.
• The Record Book is also faster and you no longer need to clear your cache to see an update to your Relic Tag. It can now be easily integrated in your Facebook wall
• The missing Japanese boss icons for Crash Bash have been submitted by Bruno.
• More print ads, sent by CrashRatchetFan (Crash 1) and Danyel (Crash Nitro Kart).
• New merchandise submitted by CrashRatchetFan: an old Crash 2 CD subscription, a Japanese fan, new keychains, another Japanese plush doll and a Japanese Coco bendy.
• Two new albums have been documented: the CNK soundtrack (submitted by Zukamimozu) and the physical soundtrack for Crash of the Titans (submitted by CrashRatchetFan).

By the way, there's a Twitter campaign to support the inclusion of Crash and Spyro as DLC characters in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. It has the support of an official Activision account, so it might be a good chance to bump whoever's in charge of that decision off of their pedestal. Here are some accounts where your wish is worth tweeting about:

• @AtviAssist, where requests are being forward to Activision.
• @SonySantaMonica, the studio now in charge of the game.
• @SethKillian, for all DLC stuff going in.

To finish today's update, I'll leave you with a couple of links you might be interested in - Crash Mania's new and official Facebook and Twitter pages! Besides some extra tidbits you'll be seeing there, you'll get update previews and other nice bonuses I'll be periodically sharing, time permitting.

See you next update!

14-03-2013
We'll be right back after these messages

The big update I promised will be online this Sunday! That's like four days away! Maybe less if you live in Australia or something! Woo!

Before that, I'd like to do something a bit unusual and share a few things for a multitude of reasons. To start with, I feel the need to remind the readers that Crash Mania doesn't have a forum, and hasn't had one for years. There is Crash Mania, which is the site before your eyes, and then there is the CM Forum, which is something different altogether. I don't run it anymore, so it's no use asking me about the things you see there. I have nothing to do with the CM Forum's announcements.

At the moment, the CM Forum is being administrated by JumpButton, who is also the guy behind the Bring Back Bandicoot movement. He has a more active role than me when it comes to that kind of thing, so I recommend following the respective Facebook and Twitter pages. There are usually some interesting facts about Crash and the fan community there, and I can assure you all the announcements are trustworthy.

Speaking of JumpButton, you might be interested to know that he and PatStrikesBack are currently producing a Crash Bandicoot fan-game nicknamed Crystal's Wrath (note that some of the language in the videos is not work safe). Not only does it look amazing but the gameplay seems to be set in place too, and the whole thing looks very faithful to the official games. The team has a Q&A section on their development blog, which makes it the best place to ask about the game. Activision has a few pages to learn from the fans, I think.

And finally, since I'm opening an exception and being so shameless about this sort of thing, I'll just leave a link to my other site here too. It has video-games and comics and stuff. I know I haven't updated it since August, but I'm gonna fix that soon. Crash Mania comes first though!