Video game makers have been capitalizing on nostalgia for several years now, and the trend continues with a growing number of remastered versions of games released on the original PlayStation. Earlier this year, the remastered version of Spyro The Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy) was released. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy came out on the PS4 last year, while the PC version arrived earlier this year. It was only a matter of time until Crash Team Racing was remastered, and the moment has finally arrived.
The remastered version of the game is called Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, but it maintains the fell of the original PS1 version, even though Activision refers to it as “built from the ground up.” Based on the trailer revealed at The Game Awards on Thursday, the game is essentially the same as the original version, except that the visuals are breathtaking.
Beenox was in charge of developing the HD element of the game, but pretty much everything stays the same.
“We boot up our PS1 and we start playing Crash Team Racing again, getting a sense of what that experience was and what the game we fell in love with to begin with [was],” Beenox’s Thomas Wilson told IGN before the announcement. “What we do is make sure when we’re tweaking the controls this feels right to the people who fell in love with the game in the first place and it feels right to newcomers.”
The game follows the well-known marsupial named Crash and his sister Coco, and it includes plenty of other characters from the previous Crash Bandicoot games. One advantage to the remastered version of Crash Team Racing is that you’ll be able to play it in both online and offline modes, something many players had hoped would be possible.
The trailer also reveals that other than the original game mechanics, the game will allow players to change the skins of their cars, and other features will surely be revealed in the future.
Release date for Crash Team Racing
Developer Activision announced that Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled will come out on June 21, 2019. That date will mark 20 years since the original version of the game was released on the first PlayStation console. The remastered title will be available on the PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, according to the trailer.
The basic version of the game can be purchased for $40, but if you pay $60 for the “digital deluxe” version, you will get the racer Nitros Oxide, who is also the main antagonist in the game, as part of the starting team. In the original game, players could unlock Nitros Oxide by completing several challenges as part of the racing scenarios, so if you don’t want to take the time needed to get all those achievements, you can unlock the character by paying an additional $20.
There are still no speculations about the release date for the PC version of the game. However, given that it took an extra year for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy to land on the PC, a similar scenario can be expected for this game too.
