Quickies: Some details about “Crash Bandicoot 4 It’s About Time” and other related tidbits

I’m back yet again, covering a few “Quickies” this time, let’s have a look at what we have below, shall we?

• Activision’s servers yet again experienced an outage, affecting Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
  • Although as of this writing, this issue seems to be fully resolved
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time’s is rated Everyone 10+, details that the game has the following to consider:
  • Cartoon Violence, Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Language
  • This sounds a little unusual for a Crash game, but let’s consider that the series isn’t unfamiliar with sexual innuendos and violent jokes (like in CTTR)
• On the PlayStation Store page for the game, it says that the game features:
  • Offline multiplayer (2-4 players), Uses DUALSHOCK 4 vibration function, Enhanced game play on PS4 Pro console, Offline play enabled
  • Now, let’s consider the fact that nothing else has been explicitly said about the multiplayer from the studio, but we’ll see whenever it’s ready
  • The game is said to also support online leaderboards and other online functions as well
  • According to the Japanese PlayStation Store page, the game will be published by Activision over at Japan
• The Microsoft Store page features a small blurb that the game may offer in-app purchases, and this might cause some controversy but hear me out
  • This is most likely only limited for the cosmetic skins that the game could potentially give you via some sort of in-game currency
  • We’re still likely going to see a plethora of skins unlockable in the game itself by just playing normally, hopefully in a similar manner to Super Mario Odyssey
  • Update: Toys for Bob confirms that the game will not have microtransactions
• The game is not coming to Nintendo Switch and PC, but Activision did clarify that they’re “evaluating additional platforms for a future date” to PCGamesN
  • The game is indeed playable on the Xbox Series X, as first revealed in the trailer, cover art and press release, but not the PS5 for some reason
• And yes, the game does run on Unreal Engine 4, as revealed by this Engadget Article interviewing Paul Yan
• The game begun development after the completion of N. Sane Trilogy in mid-2017, totalling more than two years of active development, as revealed by VentureBeat’s interview of Paul Yan
• It hasn’t been confirmed yet by the studio, and they’re not revealing technical info at this time, but both the trailer and footage run on 4K 60fps natively. (Per Lou Studdert)
• The developers seem to hint at more playable characters beyond Crash, Coco and Neo Cortex in the GameSpot interview.
• The game features a modern and retro mode, the former being the default one where you get infinite lives and your wumpa fruits are tallied up for level goals.
  • Retro mode is more like the old games, where you get lives and obtain them via Life tokens or collecting 100 wumpa fruits, with Crash mug crates being found as well. You lose all these lives and its game over, you start over just like in the original games.
  • This was revealed in an interview with Paul Yan by Press Start
• The game does not retcon anything from the previous mainline games, but it does go for an alternate universe plotline, where the concept of multiple timelines used for the multiverse.
  • As we’ve learned from the reveal, the game follows up right after the events of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
• As we’ve noted on our tweet post, there are some interesting stuff going on in this “trailer” thumbnail featuring key concept art for the game
  • It was taken off from the official website, but there is an archive of the revision (Thanks, ArTuRMV!)
  • We can see Tawna’s redesign as seen in the leaked merchandise that we’ve covered earlier this month
  • My speculation is that the character on the top right is not N. Tropy, but rather some alternate dimension and female version of the character
  • Regardless of that, I would love to know if I’m right or wrong about this, because N. Tropy looks different in the leaked concept art back from August 2019
  • Dingodile is also seen in the bottom left, looking spectacular, as well as the masks
  • Speaking of that, the artbook also recently got revealed to be coming October 26, 2020
• Help us find the most reliable sources for the sale figures (units sold) of many Crash Bandicoot games over the years
  • But do not use bogus or inaccurate sources, especially VGChartz. And make sure you double check who you’re citing
• Also, sorry for the error that I left without double-checking regarding the sketches of the unmaterialized “Crash Bandicoot” game
  • In addition, if you’re on Twitter and you’re a little sick of seeing so many retweets, you can turn them off in the (•••) “more” option.

That’s all for now, hope I see y’all again on the flip side…

If there’s any information that you would like us to add, change or remove, please let me know!