Toys For Bob and Activision delighted Bandicoot fans at the start of October when they released Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. The game took the series back to its roots, with linear platforming and box collecting making a welcome return. Fans have had to endure many disappointing and lackluster games since Naughty Dog’s original trilogy, Crash Twinsanity, and Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure being among the rare exceptions.
Crash Bandicoot 4 lived up to its hype, exemplified by its Metacritic score of 85, a User Score of 8.4, and a Game Rant score of 4.5/5 stars. The series also bought back the original trilogy’s punishing difficulty. Like the original games, completing Crash 4 normally isn’t too taxing, but completing it 100% is a nightmare. Toys for Bob took the difficulty up a few notches, adding grueling flashback tapes, developer time trials, and considerably more boxes to break.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time has bought the spinning marsupial back to his best form and breathed new life into the series. Because of this, fans who have been around since the original games and new fans of the series will likely be searching for similar platforming gems to play.
Updated February 16, 2021, by Jack Pursey: Last year’s release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time was a great moment for fans of platformers as it gave them hope that the genre, which dominated the 90s, could be set to make a grand return. The fact that a new Spyro The Dragon game was hinted at in Crash 4, along with the upcoming release of Psychonauts 2, means there’s reason to believe that the genre could be set for a mainstream run once more. However, even if the genre was to return to the limelight, it will still be many months or even years until that happens, but what is there to play until that day comes?
15 Ty The Tasmanian Tiger
From one Australian platforming mascot to another, the Tasmanian tiger, Ty, is a great alternative to the orange bandicoot, Crash. Krome Studios’ platformer hit stores in 2002 and was another attempt to recapture the magic of N64 and PS1 platforming adventures on the PlayStation 2.
Along with the similar mascot character, Ty The Tasmanian Tiger is comparable to the Crash Bandicoot series, specifically, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped, with its levels that are separated into zones and portals. The game’s goal is to collect Thunder Eggs scattered throughout the it’s well-designed stages to power a teleportation device known as the Talisman Machine.
14 Braid
Jonathan Blow’s Braid was one of the pioneers in bringing indie games out of their niche and into the mainstream. The game impressed critics with its ingeniously designed puzzles that require players to manipulate time in multiple ways, as well as its surprisingly powerful story.
Braid is a puzzle-platformer that very much leans toward its puzzle side. This may put some Crash fans off, but for those that are into solving challenging conundrums, Braid is a must-buy. However, it may be worth holding off on purchasing Braid, as an Anniversary Edition is right around the corner.
13 Celeste
For those that relished in Crash 4‘s difficulty, Matt Makes Games’ Celeste may be the top option. The platformer consistently requires players to make incredibly tight jumps and dashes, especially if they want to grab all of the hidden strawberries. Impressively, Celeste never gets too frustrating despite its difficulty. The game has a generous checkpoint system of resetting players at the start of each screen, and the playable character’s movement feels tight and responsive, ensuring that mistakes always feel like the player’s fault, not the developer’s.
Much like the aforementioned Braid, Matt Makes Games’ Celeste supplements its outstanding gameplay with a powerful story, which was undoubtedly a major reason for Celeste‘s eye-watering 94 Metascore on Xbox One, making it one of the highest-rated games currently on Game Pass.
12 Ori and the Will of the Wisps
The Metroidvania genre of gaming, which as the name suggests, was popularized by the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, is a great alternative for platforming fans. The genre has had a noticeable resurgence in recent years, with games like Hollow Knight and Guacamelee! 2 bringing the game style back into the limelight.
One other title flying the Metroidvania flag is Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a thoroughly enjoyable adventure that lets the player explore a wonderfully designed forest as they unlock numerous new skills to open new pathways.
11 New Super Lucky’s Tale
New Super Lucky’s Tale is an excellent choice for fans of classic collectathons like Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64. The platformer differentiates itself from Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time with its difficulty, as Playful Studios’ game is clearly aimed at more casual players. New Super Lucky’s Tale may not be up to scratch with Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 in terms of sheer quality, but it’s still an enjoyable 6-10 hour adventure.
As the name suggests, New Super Lucky’s Tale is an enhanced version of Super Lucky’s Tale. The game comes equipped with an improved camera angle and remixed levels.
10 Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
An easy choice for this list, new fans of the series should definitely check out the N. Sane Trilogy. The game remastered Naughty Dog’s original PS1 trilogy for PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch. It fixed many of the series issues like the first game’s outdated save method, plus it added Crash Bandicoot: Warped‘s time trails to the first two games.
The platforming is more simplistic than the latest game, with no quantum masks and shorter levels. The trilogy offers more level variety, though. Crash and Coco will fly planes, swim underwater, avoid obstacles in a jetpack, and race on a motorbike.
9 Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Spyro Reignited Trilogy should jump out to fans of Crash 4 immediately as Toys For Bob developed both games. Similar to the N. Sane Trilogy, the game remasters three PS1 games. Spyro is comparable to Crash as levels are simple to complete normally but challenging to 100%.
Spyro also combines platforming with collectathon gameplay. Unlike Crash, it focuses more on its collectathon gameplay than tricky platforming. Across the three games, players will need to collect Dragon Eggs, Orbs, Talismans, Gems, and more.
8 Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
The second Ratchet and Clank game is a PlayStation exclusive developed by Insomniac Games. The same developers as the original Spyro trilogy. The game differentiates itself from Crash Bandicoot 4 by giving players an arsenal of weapons and gadgets at their disposal. These are purchased with bolts that players collect in the levels, usually by breaking boxes reminiscent of Crash.
Going Commando’s focus on gun-firing action prevents it from being too similar to Crash. But it is certainly worth checking out as it has plenty of platforming sections and a huge Metacritic score of 90. The series has numerous other entries that are worth considering too.
7 Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is the best game on this list for fans of Crash Bandicoot 4‘s punishing difficulty. The side-scrolling game focuses on platforming, with a generous checkpoint system to account for the though difficulty.
The indie game was very successful; Team Meat announced in January 2012 that the game had surpassed 1 million sales. Super Meat Boy also was a hit critically, evidenced by its whopping Xbox 360 Metacritic score of 90/100. Cuphead is another challenging side-scroller worth considering; the Studio MDHR’s game only narrowly missed out on this list.
6 Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Like Ratchet and Clank, the Sly Cooper series has multiple great games to check out. It’s the first game Thievius Raccoonus that takes the cake, though.
Sly Cooper is a platforming game that differentiates itself from others in the genre by focusing on stealth, a rarity of the genre. Sly can be defeated in just a single hit. Meaning the game’s stealth is not just a gimmick but a fundamental gameplay mechanic. Players will need to slip past security cameras and observant enemies as they attempt to collect clue bottles and finish levels.
5 Jak And Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
The Precursor Legacy was developed for the PlayStation 2 by Crash Bandicoot creator Naughty Dog. The platforming title tasks players with saving the world from being flooded with dark eco. To do this, players need to complete stages that are broken down into a series of objectives and mini-games. Crash completionists should definitely check the game out as it has 2000 precursor orbs to collect.
Jak 2 and Jak 3 are also great games, but the original title is more similar to It’s About Time as the 2nd and 3rd games added more action gameplay to the Jak and Daxter series.
4 Rayman 2: The Great Escape
The Rayman series has provided players with numerous, excellent platformers and collectathons.
Rayman 2 is the best of the bunch, though, as it is not only the best Rayman game but one of the best platformers ever. The game was a pioneer in 3D gameplay and still has some of the most well-crafted levels available in the adventure-platforming genre. Recent side-scrolling games Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends are also excellent titles worth considering.
3 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
Purple Lamp Studios delighted the dedicated fanbase of cult classic Battle For Bikini Bottom in mid-2020 with the Rehydrated remaster. The game divided fans and critics. For example, GameSpot gave the game a brutal 2/10, but the video was met with an even more brutal like/dislike ratio. Game Rant gave the game a 2.5/5.
RELATED: Every Crash Bandicoot Game, Ranked By Metacritic Score
Sufficient to say the game is quite divisive. But fans of Crash Bandicoot 4, especially if you’re also a fan of SpongeBob, should definitely consider SpongeBob‘s best video game. Crash Bandicoot 4 fans will enjoy the game’s platforming stages full of collectibles to find and bosses to beat.
2 Banjo-Kazooie
If beating Crash Bandicoot 4 100% is your thing, Banjo-Kazooie is definitely worth considering. The N64 classic is considered one of the best collectathons of all time. The game has well-designed stages that are littered with collectables.
Rare’s classic game is known for its witty humor, beloved characters, and non-linear level design. Levels have musical notes, Jinjos, Honey Comb Pieces, jigsaw pieces known as Jiggies, and much more to collect.
1 Super Mario Galaxy
Picking just one of the many incredible Mario games wasn’t easy as any of the Italian plumber’s adventures are worth considering for Crash 4 fans. Super Mario Galaxy narrowly beats excellent games like Sunshine, Odyssey, and Super Mario 64. The reason being that Galaxy is the most similar to Crash as its levels are more linear than the other games.
Super Mario Galaxy has some of the most ingeniously designed levels in the platforming genre, along with some of the best visuals. Like many 3D Mario games, the fun doesn’t stop when (huge spoiler alert) Bowser is defeated as there are plenty more stars to collect to conquer the game 100%.
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