Some Crash Bandicoot fans have been pulling their tin foil hats firmly down over their eyes recently, analysing a new PlayStation advertisement that they believe reveals the existence of a brand new game in the series, set for release in 2020. Originally reported by GamesRadar, this is a deep old rabbit hole to fall down, but fallen I have, so here’s a look at what the heck people are thinking, and why they think it.
Crash Bandicoot Worlds
The rumoured name for this new Crash Bandicoot game is Crash Bandicoot Worlds, and it’s supposedly in development at Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob. The key piece of evidence for Crash Bandicoot Worlds is the new PlayStation trailer titled “Time to Play”. The ‘evidence’ can be seen from the 0:11 mark, and when you see it you can see why someone would believe that there’s a new game in the works. Check out the trailer below and read on for more details.
The ‘evidence’ is that floating head around Coco, which hasn’t been seen in any Crash Bandicoot game ever. While floating masks are a completely normal part of the series, that floating mask, head, or whatever it is, has never been part of Crash, and certainly never associated with Coco. If that wasn’t enough, the mask has been acknowledged by Toys for Bob Character Artist Nicholas Kole on Twitter. When the artist was asked about the head, he posted many gif responses that allude to some sort of secret project. While this isn’t really evidence, it does add credence to the leaked designs for a new Crash game from earlier this year, when they were accidentally spilled out into the public domain by Toys for Bob.
In the UK there’s been a further piece of evidence literally plastered all over the sides of busses. This artwork seems to show a Crash Bandicoot character redesign, something that no one would bother doing unless they were planning a new game. Check out the poster below, and read on because I have more ‘evidence’ for you.
To bring all of this together, a rumour was recently reported on 4Chan. I know we shouldn’t normally give such credit to these rumours, but this one actually ties into what’s been happening in both the bus ads and the new TV advert. The rumour says that a source, who it should be noted accurately revealed both Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, has indicated that this new Crash game was called CRASH8, or Crash Bandicoot Worlds. In this game, players saw Crash travel around Earth in a semi-open world similar to Mario 3D World. That new mask was one of the three new ones introduced in the game, the Lunar Mask, the Sun Mask, and the Eclipse Mask. The source goes on to say that Crash Bandicoot Worlds will be announced next month, which we’ll just have to wait and see if it ends up being true.
Is It True?
All rumours like this should be taken with a heavy dose of salt. I do think that there’s a bit more behind the rumour given both the TV advert and the bus ads, which makes for a much more well-rounded conspiracy than the 4Chan post did by itself. I don’t think that we can say the source is reliable just because they were right before, there’s nothing to back up what they’re saying, so we should be skeptical until the end.
With all of that said, I still think Crash Bandicoot Worlds is real,. Let me know if you think the same in the comments.