The 90's live again with long lost Crash Bandicoot cartoon
Crash Bandicoot might have spawned an animated series and even a theme park ride if Sony hadn't scooped it up.
A snippet of Crash Bandicoot prototype footage has popped up thanks to industry veteran David Siller.
According to Siller's LinkedIn profile, he served as senior producer and lead designer at Crash Bandicoot co-publisher Universal Interactive Studios between January 1994 and March 1996, where he worked with Naughty Dog and Sony's Mark Cerny to bring the first of Crash's adventures to life.
Here's what Siller had to say about this video:
"This video is test animation that was done for Crash Bandicoot. Produced by Universal Animation early in the development of the game. It was based on ideas for where we were going with this IP at that time. It was probably too ambitious in nature and was also trying to be humorous. It was never used or even embedded in the game as a hidden 'easter egg' treat."
"Once UIS licensed the game to Sony for publication, Sony did not want it utilized since they were heavily pushing the '3D' agenda. There are many close to the development of the original game that do not even know that this material even existed."
"The discussion at Universal at that time was if the game was successful (before Sony came a knockin') then this animation was a somewhat prototype to further flesh out ideas for a possible cartoon series and inclusion into the game. This animation was influenced by Animaniacs and even a few others popular at that time. A Crash Bandicoot attraction was also discussed as our offices were right next door to where Universal Theme parks maintained a creative office to plan new park attractions. UIS even did some consulting for them."
What an interesting look at what might have been if Sony hadn't been so keen to show off the 3D power of the original PlayStation, which had a distinct advantage over its rival the Sega Saturn when it came to polygons.
Siller temporarily retired from the games industry earlier this year but is currently working as an independent consultant. He has opened a Facebook profile to share stories from the development of Crash Bandicoot.