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Ars: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was rebuilt nearly from scratch

N

Neuromancer

Member
I thought this was really interesting. The whole article is worth reading but here are my highlights.

"Almost everything was missing," Vicarious [Visions] designer Dan Tanguay said to Ars in an interview. By "everything," he means all of the Crash games' source code and reference materials.

"The original engine was specifically built for PlayStation 1," Tanguay said. "Naughty Dog pushed [the PS1] to the limits. They made a fantastic engine for doing that. That engine didn't see the light of day beyond PlayStation 1, as far as I know, and it certainly wasn't usable by us. Any code, anything like that, we didn't have access to."

Thankfully for Vicarious, the team did uncover a crucial data set: all three games' 3D meshes, provided by both Sony and Naughty Dog as a series of hard drives. ("They were compressed in some wacky format that we had to decode," Tanguay pointed out.) Meshes don't make an entire game, of course—far from it. Data on the original games' animations, characters, artificial intelligence, control timing, textures, and even a lot of the music was gone (though Tanguay confirms some musical data was recovered to help the team lock into songs' timing and MIDI instrumentation layers).
Click to expand...
The rest, Vicarious producer Kara Massie said, came down to eyeballing and video comparisons. Crash remaster prototypes would run alongside video footage of the original games to confirm timings.
Click to expand...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017...sh-bandicoot-was-rebuilt-nearly-from-scratch/
 
T

Theslammer

Member
sleepwalkcapsules said:
That's why I don't get why they keep calling it a remaster.

It's a remake, Sony/Activision.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was confused about that as well. A remaster to me would be like the PS4* version of FF7, which keeps all the stuff from the PS1 game but makes it still look decent on big displays. Remastered from the ground up just sounds like a remake to me. =P
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
It was rebuilt from the ground up. Vicarious just used what it could as "blueprints".
 
S

SgtCobra

Member
True Fire said:
But the original composer was literally throwing music at them and they were like "I don't know him"
Click to expand...
I just don't understand why Activision ignored/declined his help, whyyy T_T
The new tracks don't really do the originals any justice to be honest.
 
M

muteki

Member
All the more impressive if they manage to make it play and feel like the original. It definitely looks good.
 
N

Nicky Ali

Member
Well the music certainly wasn't missing; Josh Mancell is always posting the pre-console mixes on his soundcloud. Makes me wish they got him back for the N. Sane Trilogy 'cause the redone music is definitely one this game's weaker aspects. :(
 
F

fernoca

Member
KalBalboa said:
Physical version is out of stock on Amazon at the moment. Crap.
Click to expand...
Amazon has been that way over the last months. Even the $100 version of Injustice 2 sold out.

Guess they're just more cautious when it comes to ordering games, to avoid the constant sales and price matching that happens weeks/months later across many games.


****

On topic, yeah. Even with the HD remasters of Jak, the developers had difficulty because of how Naughty Dog did things.
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
This has been known for a loooooong time.

Specially since it's widely documented that ND used tricks to make the games that could only be possible in the original archytecture of the PSX, the game was impossible to be just "ported" and upscaled, it HAD to be remade entirely.
 
A

AuthenticM

Member
and even a lot of the music was gone (though Tanguay confirms some musical data was recovered to help the team lock into songs' timing and MIDI instrumentation layers).
Click to expand...

are they even aware that the composer offered them his original masters?
 
N

Napalm_Frank

Member
SgtCobra said:
I just don't understand why Activision ignored/declined his help, whyyy T_T
The new tracks don't really do the originals any justice to be honest.
Click to expand...

They sound fine to me. The only thing that comes off somewhat is the Crash 2 warp room where the guitars or whatever are replaced with more subtle bass.

Honestly the only thing that really bothers me is the Ripper Roo stock laugh being replaced. I do kinda get why they would want to replace it but for me that laugh IS Roo. And it's not even a slight to the new actor, they could bring in Mark Hamill and have him do his best at gunpoint and it wouldn't match it.
 
O

Ogodei

Member
DeathoftheEndless said:
Calling it a remake gives the perception that it changes a lot of things from the original, which I don't think fits here.
Click to expand...

Aye, a remake is more like Metroid: Zero Mission or Metroid: Samus Returns, which takes the bones of the original but puts something pretty different on top.

Aside from adding in Coco, this seems like a shot-for-shot remake of the original games.
 
T

Theslammer

Member
Perhaps if I looked at the specific definition of remaster vs. remake, I'd see that I'm probably mistaken thinking this is a remake. It just seems a lot different than what I'd normally consider a remaster, like the Nathan Drake Collection or Last of Us, which gives you better resolution and frame rate and a cleaner look, but not really different assets.

I'm used to an overhaul being considered a remake, but maybe that's too generic.

KalBalboa said:
Physical version is out of stock on Amazon at the moment. Crap.
Click to expand...

Glad I preordered, phew!
 
B

BossDarkseid

Member
The Last One said:
I think Sony only calls them "remakes" if it features new gameplay? idk.
Click to expand...

You might have a point. They did say SOTC would feature the classic control scheme, but also a new one that should be more approachable for people. Crash, meanwhile, is built ontop of existing level geometery but uses as close to 1:1 movement etc as possible.
 
L

L.O.R.D

Member
Built it nearly from scratch,and they still call it remastered.
Still,it's only running at 30FPS.

I am still going to buy it day 1 but i am still annoyed the games can't run at 60FPS,many games with more higher graphics run at 60FPS.

I really hope they consider making a patch for it,or they were quite to surprise us :(
 
T

Triforce141

Member
kadotsu said:
Well, every asset is changed, Crash 1 now has analog control and Coco is playable.
Click to expand...

There are also new levels as seen on Crash 1's level select

DB_WDdtW0AUkqIa.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Renna Hazel

Renna Hazel

Member
I'm still amazed that they fully remade 3 games, added content and are only charging 40 dollars for all of it. It's hard to think of a better deal in the industry.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Renna Hazel said:
I'm still amazed that they fully remade 3 games, added content and are only charging 40 dollars for all of it. It's hard to think of a better deal in the industry.
Click to expand...

At $40 Wipeout Omega Collection was amazing value and this Crash collection surpasses even that. It truly is special.

Meanwhile certain remasters and uh deluxe editions charge $50+ for one game lmao
 
1

13ruce

Banned
sleepwalkcapsules said:
That's why I don't get why they keep calling it a remaster.

It's a remake, Sony/Activision.
Click to expand...

Yup Remaster is a simple upscale and redone hd textures. Remake is redone Graphics and a better looking game.

Shadow of the Colossus and the Zelda twins on 3DS are also remakes imo.
 
pixelation

pixelation

Member
provided by both Sony and Naughty Dog as a series of hard drives.
Click to expand...
This right here makes me think its a full on exclusive, why would Sony hand them over said data if they were also going to use it to put the game on other consoles?, i know i wouldn't.
 
H

hitme

Member
If they really want to make this as close as possible to the originals, they should fix the load times from warp room to level (esp. in Crash 2).

I'm still Day 1 on this.
 
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