After almost a full decade without a fresh new games, October sees the release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, a direct sequel to 1998's Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Acting as a follow-up to 2017's Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, the game will instead be developed by Toys For Bob, the studio behind the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, over Vicarious Visions, which recently released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2. To celebrate the return of the beloved video game icon, Activision has heavily dipped into fans' nostalgia for marketing the new game, including referencing the bizarre marketing campaign for the original PlayStation games with its newest Japanese commercial.
The original Crash Bandicoot released in Japan shortly after its North American release in December 1996, however, Crash himself featured a noticeably different design. This is because the game's producers at Sony were worried that the character's more cartoonish design would not appeal to Japanese audiences. This prompted Naughty Dog's rendering artist to redesign the character during a fifteen minute break at a meeting with Sony, resulting in the designs found on the Japanese box art for each title.
Accompanying Crash when the game launched in Japan was a bizarre series of Japanese commercials featuring what would become Crash's iconic dance animation from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back onward and a rather obnoxious theme song. Now Activision has brought this theme song back in the newest Japanese commercial for Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, which features Crash breaking into an apple-eating Japanese family's house and dancing in multiple locations with them including a city street and forest.
The trailer is hilarious if only because of how strange the whole thing is. Even Crash Bandicoot fans who didn't grow up in Japan are likely to get an overwhelming sense of nostalgia from it as it harkens back to a simpler time in video game marketing, heavily contrasting with Sony's newest PlayStation 5 commercial. The commercial also shows Activision's dedication to bringing back older Crash Bandicoot fans by referencing rather niche media such as the Japanese marketing campaign.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is launching in a few weeks, however Activision has also announced that pre-order holders will be able to access a demo for the game later this week with levels featuring Crash and Dr. Neo Cortex available. Joining them in the full game will be Crash's sister, Coco Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped enemy Dingodile, and an alternate universe take on Crash's girlfriend from Crash Bandicoot 1, Tawna Bandicoot.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time will release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 2nd 2020.