The Wrath of Cortex is Consistently Frustrating

Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped are all excellent games - however, the fourth title, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex... not so much. The game received mixed reception from fans and critics, due to its frustrating gameplay and lack of innovation. But The Wrath of Cortex doesn't have just one obvious design flaw to blame, instead a series of small issues all contribute to the disappointment in the first sequel to the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy.
#CrashBandicoot #CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex #CrashBandicootWarped

You might have noticed that some of the footage looks a bit blurry. The PS2 outputs interlaced video, which causes problems when capturing the footage for use in a progressive format, like a computer monitor, phone, or any video service on the web. The deinterlacing settings I used here weren't ideal, I will try to avoid this problem in the future.

00:00 What is The Wrath of Cortex?
01:27 Teaching new mechanics
04:09 Alternate paths and hidden gems
06:02 Nitros, nitros, everywhere
08:29 Coco (but the less good version)
09:59 Floaty jumps and a new camera
12:28 Sneak shoes: the worst power-up ever
14:23 Various Things Wrong With The Wrath of Cortex in 4 minutes or fewer
17:22 It's ok I guess

Clips used from:
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Cuphead
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Star Wars
Squid Game

Original gameplay of Playstation and Playstation 2 games was emulated on PC at 1440p using ePSXe and PCSX2 respectively

Clever camera trickery in the original Crash Bandicoot

The infamous Cuphead gameplay:

Whoa!

Chill Wave by Kevin MacLeod

Killing Time by Kevin MacLeod

Sneaky Snitch by Kevin MacLeod

Retro Action Game Soundtrack by AndySv

Heavy Riffs – More Gain by AndySv

Licensed Under CC BY 3.0

Button Clicks:

Paper Rustling Noise:

[PenguinInPyjamas]

I started planning this video when Crash 4 was first announced... it took me a while to finally make it.

Let me know what games you'd like to see me talk about next!

[Muzazabi]

My big problem with this game was the art and animations, it somehow looks worse than the ps1 games, like, even in the first game crash looks a lot more alive. Not even the gems look good despite being one of the easiest things to model.

[realmackle]

I know 90% of why this game was panned. The level design only made up about 10%. What made people dislike the game so much were the original PS2 load times. This shit took like two minutes to load ONE level and took a minute nearly just to save. That is a LOT of downtime, especially for a kid with a set amount of game time back when I got this game in the early 00s. I'm sure that would be very frustrating to get this game day one and have to wait over 15 minutes in waiting times just to play 5 levels or so

[orlandofurioso]

Never realized how clever the game design was in the first games for beginners

[Tumbolisu]

Funny how they specifically made the walkable nitro crates sit still instead of randomly jumping. Both showing that nitro crates are simply not made for this, and that any other nitro crate cant possibly be walked on because it might jump right as you touch it.

[PSNSackboy]

Don't forget the insane loading time for this game! I played this as a kid on ps2 and I remember joking about how long he was falling for every time you chose a level

[Springy]

When you said "it sold well", my mind just drifted to that joke in twinsanity: "The check bounced? Well, to be honest, Wrath of Cortex didnt do so well as we hoped so-"

[ImSquiggs]

As a childhood owner of only this Crash game, I can tell you the worst part about it — the loading times. As a kid I would load up a level and then walk away from my console and find something to keep me busy for the next few minutes because the load times were so long I couldn’t just sit through them. It’s the only game I remember ever having this problem on any system I played.

[Sleezy.Design]

5:34 it's actually possible to get the red gem in Crash 2 without entering the hidden level. It's difficult but you can get it from below by sliding, jumping, spinning and then a belly flop for some extra height

[RickySama]

When i was a kid, I never really knew what the tippy-toe power up was suppose to do since i didn't read the instructions. Anytime i encountered rows of Nitro crates, i either double jump over them or take the hit and take advantage of the invincibility frames to remain invulnerable till i reach a safe platform.. 😅

[nullspaceindustries]

Proper subtitles on youtube are so rare these days, thanks for going above and beyond! Wanted you to know I appreciate the effort it takes to put them in when most viewers won't use them anyway.

[remack]

"It's a death by thousand paper cuts scenario, it's only when you start looking at the totality of these problems do you start to see the issue" -Cybershell

[JoLiKMC]

19:18 - Hey, you take that back. _Twinsanity_ is freaking *amazing!*

_Even if it_ is _only_ half _of a game…_

[metaII]

I know this game isn't very well-liked in the Crash Bandicoot community, but I love this game because of how much nostalgic value it holds to me.

[IsmaelSantos-iyxi]

One thing to mention about the red gem in 2 is that you could actually MISS and have to redo the hard level all over again.

[Greninka]

I saw Coco's limited moveset less as a stereotype and more as a throwback to Crash 1's very limited gameplay.

[shadaneanimates]

If they really didn't want to bring back the Speed Shoes until the fake ending, I think a better power-up than Sneak Shoes would be for Crash to have an air-dash ability similar to what Pixar's Bolt did, so you could double jump, and then "woosh" forward and land somewhere the Death Tornado couldn't reach; it's kind of like a "triple jump" in a way.

[joshmurda]

In my opinion the lack of explanation in wrath of cortex made the game more fun. I remember feeling accomplished as a kid when i found out how to beat a new level on my own.

[UmTois]

Twinsanity is pretty cool though, at least from what I remember.
No idea if game design wise it wasn't as good as the first trilogy, but I thought it was super fun with a more focused plot and interesting redesigns, for example, while first trilogy Cortex was menacing, I just loved the twinsanity comedy take, specially on him!

[SilvercattoOsom]

"It sold well"

Cortex in Twinsanity: "Wrath of Cortex didn't do as well as we hoped"

So what is it, then? Hmm?