So, a few things. First, I understand this is coming from the perspective of someone who isn’t a completionist, which is fine. But the fact that there was no mention of how Crash 2 improved the 100% requirements with various ideas either implemented better from the original or added new systems to replace the original is definitely a bit strange. In Crash 1, needing to break every box without dying in a game with clunkier controls and heavy physics makes getting 100% in that game brutal for most players. Contrast that to Crash 2 where they removed the no-death requirement from all stages and added “death routes” to get additional collectibles only on certain levels midway though (so you don’t need to clear the entire level without dying) made Crash 2 significantly more feasible for the average person to 100% complete. I will say, even though I did find all of the secret exits as a kid, some of them can be pretty bs to figure out. Additionally, there was a lot of emphasis placed on numerous themes being shared between levels. Crash 1 has 26 platforming levels (excluding the great hall) and 6 boss fights with a total of 14 unique level themes. Crash 2 has 27 platforming levels (excluding the 3 secret entrances to previous levels) and 5 boss fights for with 12 unique themes. While it is a downgrade in the amount of unique themes, it’s really not as bad as made out to be. The only thing that likely exacerbates the idea is that there are multiple of the same themed levels put into the same warp room in Crash 2 whereas the ones from Crash 1 are mostly spread somewhat evenly. I will say tho that the Cortex boss “fight” is probably one of the worst boss fights in Crash history, and I don’t think anyone really disagrees there. Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not trying to discredit your opinion and you’re certainly entitled to it if you believe Crash 2 is the weakest in the OG trilogy, but I feel you neglected to mention a lot of the staple design choices that became recurring themes in future Crash games. The biggest ones I can think of that were either introduced or were massively improved upon from Crash 1 and not mentioned are: 1. Death route platforms replacing the no-death requirement for gems in Crash 1 2. Colored gem platforms taking Crash to a new area of the level with its own unique music track and additional challenge 3. The ability to crouch, slide, and belly flop (only the flop and slide-jump were mentioned briefly) 4. The added depth to secrets with secret areas, secret exits, the secret warp room, etc PS. This is coming from the perspective of someone who’s favorite of the OG trilogy is Warped, so I’m not just a Crash 2 fanboy

Cortex Strikes Back is the Empire Strikes Back of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy

Excellent review of a classic game with meticulous details, I never get bored of just watching this game cause it looks so good after all these years. 😊

2 Gave us the amazing Coco. So I give it credit for that.

The fact that the voice actor is the same as Mr Krabs is such a fun tidbit, but makes so much sense lol. Another great retrospective

Crash 2 had amazing music, it’s so catchy especially when going through a ‘Death Route’ platform 🎵 🎧 😎

Only played 2 and wrath of cortex, love 2 as it was one of my childhood games. You can see how much better the graphics and controls have improved in such a short time but its like they regressed on ps2.

Actually the enemies are made by Brio.

Hey there, FogFrog! I've recently discovered your channel, so I'm interested in your opinions for the Crash games and I hope you get a lot more viewers! I enjoyed a lot of what you said in the Crash 1 video and I see where you're coming from with this video on Crash 2, but I do disagree with some of it. Firstly, I 100% understand the Cortex boss fight being disappointing. I definitely would have loved for it to lead to an actual final fight if you stop him from escaping with the crystals. It could have even been something of a rehash of the first game's Cortex fight but with the jetpack in space. I don't believe that Crash 2 had many more repeats of level environments compared to other similar Crash games. The ratio of new vs repeated environments is close to the same. I only mention this because you appeared to be quite disappointed about it in your video and mentioned it multiple times. I think it's fair to notice repeated assets, but I think it's also fair to note that this was a big restriction in almost all gaming until digital downloads were possible. A lot of the time, developers had to partially work on creating content and partially work on trying to fit things onto a small format and if it couldn't fit, they had to find a way to reuse assets to make it work. To put this into perspective, the first Crash game was a groundbreaking achievement for being able to get their content to work on the original PlayStation. Then remember that the later PS1 games had to have more fluid graphics and gameplay and still had to work within lots of restrictions. While the story is slightly shorter, the difficulty curve is much more reasonable with the game even going so far as to add "dynamic difficulty adjustment" into the game, allowing certain boxes to turn into Aku Aku crates or checkpoints if it thinks the player is having a hard time passing a specific section of the level. Also, I think one of the biggest parts (for me) is that there's numerous hidden areas throughout the game with the tiniest of hints. This, when I was a kid, was one of the biggest draws for me. I'd continuously mess around with levels and my jaw would drop when I figured out how to access a secret area. One of the (frustrating as hell) secret levels also has a unique-ish level style combining a bear level with a night level so that might help your disappointment with the level types. Crash 2 was one of my favourite games when I was a child and I think it even might have been one of the first games I completed fully with all secrets and collectibles, so I admit I am slightly biased towards that. ALL THAT SAID, however, I think it's absolutely fine for you to have your opinion on this game and you shouldn't feel forced to change what you think because of other opinions, including my own.

i personally think Crash 3 is the weakest of the trilogy the platforming in the game is great but i feel theres far too many vehicle sections that it takes away from the solid platforming which i would personally prrefer to do more of instead of the vehicles stuff. as a result i think Crash 2 is the best of the OG trilogy bcus it has very little (if any at all) vehicle sections and is just pure platforming with tight controls the whole way through and this isnt just me speaking on the fact this game was my first video game i ever played. I do respect your opinion tho and i think this retrospective is solid none the less!

This guy must be trolling lol

yup that's my reaction to this video in the thumbnail, unless we're talking about boss fights only but anyway. It's not like i was expecting much while watching this, we've already been spoiled by the works of someone like TGX, who brings up meaningful discussions and topics or the beautiful way Novacanoo shares his insight with the words and sentences his chooses to use

cool

I finished this game on my ps1 when I was like 8 and you be struggling on the remaster I also never owned a memory card so I got fucking good at this game I think thebonky thing I ever found frustrating was the jet pack level so fair point on that the controls are just not it son

I prefer it to 3 althrough it's not as great as 1 imo

Although I don't mind the repeated level assets being repeated in Crash 2, most of the levels aren't really fun, any of the Jetpack levels, the final room, most of the chase levels are kinda overdone in this game, the only one I like is the giant polar bear one, Bee-having is also tedious. The most standouts levels in the entire game for me are: Night Fight, Totally Fly and Totally Bear, Un-bearable and The Eel Deal I know people didn't like The Wrath Of Cortex but it honestly had more enjoyable levels than the entirety of Crash 2.

this one is my favorite. it's just good levels on top of good levels and it feels better to play than in the first game ouch I saw in the comment section people saying woc had better levels, wth ?

@thefogfrog, where did you get 32 lvls from Crash 1 from? Did you even play the first game 😂. Both Crash 1 and 2 have 32 lvls, if you count all normal lvls, plus bosses, plus secrets. In Crash 1 Stormy Ascent and The Great Hall don’t count

This video is a glorified regurgitation of everything you do in the game, being explained as tediously as possible. This doesn't feel like a review or retrospective, just a fandom wiki article with gameplay around it.

Crash 2 is such a bland basic by the numbers platformer. It has the weakest level design of the trilogy while Crash 1 has the worse controls,depth perception and overall quality of the OG trilogy. Warped has the most variety but man the powerups weren’t executed well..they just make the levels baby proof. Bazooka,Speed shoes needed levels that were built around them. Time trials just don’t fit classic Crash level design.