In my opinion (key word, opinion!), the Crash Bandicoot remake got almost everything right. Except the most important 30 milliseconds. When they remade Crash, they nailed the visuals. Looked great, faithful to the original, kept the spirit. Then they completely botched how jumping works. On the original PlayStation, we only had digital buttons - pressed or not pressed. No analog sticks. Players needed different height jumps, but we only had binary input. Most games used the amateur solution: detect button press, trigger fixed-height jump. Terrible for platforming. So we built something borderline insane. The game would detect when you pressed jump, start the animation, then continuously measure how long you held the button. As Crash rose through the air, we'd subtly adjust gravity, duration, and force based on your input. Let go early = smaller hop. Hold it down = maximum height. But it wasn't binary - I interpreted your intent across those 30-60 milliseconds and translated it into analog control using digital inputs. The remake developers either didn't notice this system or thought it wasn't important. They reverted to simple fixed jumps. Then realized Crash couldn't make half the jumps in the game. Their solution was to make all jumps maximum height. Now every jump on the remake is huge and floaty. Those precise little hops between platforms are awkward. The game's fundamental jumping mechanic feels worse than the 1996 original despite running on hardware that's 1000x more powerful. The minutiae of timing and feel matter a lot more than people realize.
It needs an immediate update!
I adore insight like this -- thank you! It makes me think of the Insomniac team contracting a NASA aerospace expert to perfect Spyro's gliding mechanics.
Intense analysis, but completely spot on! I haven’t looked into ‘Time Crisis’ remakes that represent the original PlayStation 2 series but can imagine it relates.
I think lots of gamers felt that something is off with the remake’s controls. A small nuance can ruin the overall experience of a whole game. That’s why game design is so important. 30 milliseconds can be night and day difference for precise controls. Great insight as always!
I was thinking about this! Thank you for sharing, makes so much sense.
lmao, hold up - are you saying you invented variable jump height because that is very, blatantly untrue
Ah, that explains why it never quite felt like I remembered. Amazing how such a small timing detail can completely change the feel of a game.
Man I knew it. . I could play the original game any day and gameplay would feel totally natural. Not with the remake though. They did a beautiful job but it felt very imprecise. Fascinating read as always!
I love it when games have controls that correspond to how long or short you hold the buttons, even more so in platformers when those can be the key optimisations when navigating level design, such as to create interesting dynamics between jump heights and player traversal that may cause players to innovate on the subtlety of their jumps in real-time.
Unreal Engine C++ Developer at MetaGravity / Game Developer 15+ years exploring all game genres.
8hWhile I've played many times the remake, & still up to this day keep on playing from time to time, that's a detail that literally didn't notice. Mainly due to the fact that I haven't played the original for many years, therefore, jumps felt normal & like nothing is missing. Clearly nothing beats the original developer's eye & feel of the game... Great to know about this Andrew Gavin, thank you!