The announcement of Spyro Reignited Trilogy in the successful shadow of last year’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has fired up some fonds memories of how inseparable these two characters are.
- Both were mascots for the original PlayStation, with Crash’s heyday coming earlier in the console and Spyro’s reign closing out the console.
- Crash’s Naughty Dog and Spyro’s Insomniac Games, moved on to become top-notch talent for Sony on the PlayStation 2 with Jak & Daxter and Ratchet and Clank and on the PlayStation 3 with Uncharted and Resistance.
- Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were both sold to Activision at the same time.
- Both dawdled on the PlayStation 2 for a while to limited success before, oddly enough, finding a new home on the Game Boy Advance… a Nintendo console.
- Crash Bandicoot and Spyro both starred in a weird Pokémon-esque GBA platformer in which Spyro headlined in the Orange version and Crash appeared in the Purple version.
- Both fell off the face of the Earth for many years before their owners at Activision finally listened to fans and delivered remakes to widely lauded success.
As you can see, unlike my generation’s cutthroat rivalry between Mario and Sonic, Crash and Spyro have a enjoyed a more buddy/buddy rivalry. After all, they appear on the same consoles constantly, so it can’t be that bitter of a relationship.
But not today! Today you are being forced to choose! Which camp do you fall in? Your choices are…
Crash Bandicoot. Crash’s three famous platformers carried the PlayStation to early success, and he won the hearts of many by being charmingly insane in the face of countless ‘tude infused mascots from the 16-bit era.
Oh yeah, and nobody can rock a pair of jorts like Crash can.
Spyro the Dragon. Spyro’s trilogy appeared later in the PlayStation’s life, securing him a more mainstay appeal with Super Mario 64 not around to steal his thunder. Imagine Figment from Epic Center. If he was turned into an angry little squirt of a video game hero, that’s why Spyro is.
So… where do you land?
I realize that this might be tough for some, but I’m not going to be wishy-washy about this. A split second is all that’s required for me to pick a side. I gotta go with Spyro. His games are so good that they were even able to briefly break me free from the hold that JRPGs had on my life in those days. I romped through his 3D offerings far more often than I did any of Crash’s games…
…and plus, he’s a dragon, and that’s pretty cool if you ask me. Crash is a bit more charming with his obnoxious sound effects and wacky humor, but there is enough innocence to Spyro’s ‘tude to make him more endearing than those that came before him.
