The point of this thread is to have a quick reference for the best versions of Crash games. These are the most optimal OFFICIAL and recommended platforms (fastest loads, least lag) and settings for the Crash games:
Crash 1 - NTSC-J PSP FDS / NTSC-J PS2 FDS Crash 2 - PAL PSP 3.80 FDS / PAL PS2 FDS Crash 3 - NTSC-U/J PSP 3.80 FDS / NTSC-U/J PS2 FDS ; SFX off CTR - NTSC-U PSP/PS2 Fat FDS ; Character: Coco/N.Gin Crash Bash - NTSC-U PS2 FDS ; Character: Kong/Tiny Crash: TWoC - NTSC-U PS2 Greatest Hits CNK - NTSC-U Xbox / NTSC GCN Crash Twinsanity - PAL PS2 / NTSC-U Xbox CTTR - NTSC-U Xbox / NTSC-J GCN Crash of the Titans - Wii ; Difficulty: Hard Crash: Mind Over Mutant - 360 Digital ; Difficulty: Bonkers! Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy - PC SSD / Xbox One X Crash XS - NTSC-J Crash 2 N-Tranced - PAL/NTSC-U Boom Bang - NTSC-J (text) CBNK3D, CBNK2 - any modern iOS device Crash Fusion, CNK GBA, Titans GBA, Titans DS, MoM DS, Mutant Island - anything
EMULATORS
PS1 emulators are allowed, the recommended one is the ePSXe 1.8 emulator at the moment. PS2 emulators are mostly banned, because their behaviour and loads are inaccurate. Gamecube/Wii emulators are banned (Dolphin has very inaccurate loads and emulation). PSP emulators are banned (PPSSPP has very inaccurate loads). Of all GBA emulators, the recommended one is VisualBoyAdvance 1.8 (or higher?). NDS emulators are not the most accurate, but we do allow DeSmuME (0.9.8 or higher recommended). Java emulators are allowed, KEmulator is the recommended one here. 360 emulators (Xenia) are currently banned until they've progressed to an accurate state.
CLARIFICATIONS ON OFFICIAL RELEASES
WiiU/Wii/360/3DS/DS/PS3/PS2 discs/cartridges are allowed for running games made for their respective predecessors. Digital PS1 games on the PS3 introduce input and visual lag, so they're not recommended (but still allowed). Digital PS1 games on the Vita and PSTV load a bit slower than the most optimal PSP settings, but they're allowed. Digital Crash Bash on PSP/Vita/PSTV that isn't NTSC-J is not an official release and is banned. Digital PSP Crash games on PSP/Vita/PSTV that aren't downloadable/compatible officially are not official releases and are banned - PAL CTTR/Titans/MoM, PSTV CTTR/Titans/MoM. Using a controller with a PSP in a non-official way is banned! Injecting versions that are not available officially into PSP, Vita or PSTV is banned! Unofficial emulators on consoles are banned!
DEFINITIONS
FDS - Fast Disc Speed: This is an official feature of the PS2, which lets CD's take advantage of the better drive in the PS2 and load faster. Turning it on requires you to start your PS2 on the main OS menu, press triangle, navigate to the Playstation driver and press triangle again, press X on Disc Speed, switch to Fast, confirm with X and then exit the menus by pressing circle a few times. It is also an official feature of the PSP, Vita and PSTV, which have their respective ways of activation.
SFX off - Sound Effects off (Crash 3): Pausing the game and changing the sound effect volume in the menu to 0% will make cutscenes not load and play at all, and when entering levels you will immediately load into the level without any additional input. This is done DURING the run, not before it (by loading a 0% save file with no SFX). On NTSC-J, turning SFX off makes the cutscenes you get by breaking Aku Aku boxes not play.
LOAD TIMES & BRIEF EXPLANATIONS
Crash 1 - NTSC-J The NTSC-J version cuts out part of a level and lets you get the green gem in Hog Wild, which lets you skip Castle Machinery. Load times: PSP FDS > PS2 FDS > PSP SDS = Vita/PSTV FDS = Vita/PSTV SDS > PS2 SDS > PS3 > PS1 > PS3 Digital
Crash 2 - PAL The movement was sped up on PAL to match the framerate difference from NTSC-U. Load times: PSP FDS > PS2 FDS > PSP SDS = Vita/PSTV FDS = Vita/PSTV SDS > PS2 SDS > PS3 > PS1 > PS3 Digital
Crash 3 - NTSC-J Any% / NTSC-U 105% The NTSC versions have the fastest Neutral Slide Jump. The NTSC-J version supposedly has faster jumps. NTSC-J makes Hot Coco one cycle much harder. Load times: PSP FDS > PS2 FDS > PSP SDS = Vita/PSTV FDS = Vita/PSTV SDS > PS2 SDS > PS3 > PS1 > PS3 Digital
CTR - NTSC-U Although the PAL version has the language glitch which shortens cutscenes, NTSC-U has been shown to have the fastest loads. Character : Coco / N.Gin Best stats. Load times: PSP FDS > PS2 FDS > PSP SDS = Vita/PSTV FDS = Vita/PSTV SDS > PS2 SDS > PS3 > PS1 > PS3 Digital
Crash Bash - NTSC-U Best spawns, no PAL slowdown. Character: Kong / Tiny Best all-rounders. They're better in more game types than others. Load times: PSP FDS > PS2 FDS > PSP SDS = Vita/PSTV FDS = Vita/PSTV SDS > PS2 SDS > PS3 > PS1 > PS3 Digital (Warning: PSP/Vita/PSTV lag a lot)
Crash: TWoC - NTSC-U PS2 Greatest Hits Fastest version for multiple reasons. Load times: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqiEZSvGeiuudHZsV3FFVjJkTFJqcWJfdGpYTTJET3c&usp=drive_web#gid=1
CNK - NTSC-U Fastest version. Load times: http://pastebin.com/DPq46pSF
Twinsanity - PAL While evidence of NTSC-J being faster exists, running anything except PAL PS2 forces you to work against a slide bug, which throws you in a random direction sometimes when you slide. Load times: XBOX > PS2 = PS3 > 360
CTTR - XBOX Xbox/PS2 have the tutorial built into the midway level, which means one less loading screen than on GCN/PSP. The NTSC-J version has one less die-o-rama to collect towards 100%. Load times: XBOX > PSP Digital > GCN > PS2 > PSP UMD
CoTT - Wii Difficulty: Hard The game runs faster (not higher framerate, literally faster) on the harder difficulties. Load times: Wii > PS2 > PSP Digital > 360 > PSP UMD
CMoM - 360 Difficulty: Hard / Bonkers! The game runs faster (not higher framerate, literally faster) on the harder difficulties. Load times: 360 > Wii > PS2 PSP Digital > PSP UMD
N.Sane Trilogy - PC SSD / Xbox One X
Since the multiplatform update loads became much faster, but some versions load even faster anyway. Also PC loads at the same rate as your framerate. On PC, it can also be harder to speedrun Crash 1.
Xbox One X > PS4 Pro > Switch/PS4/Xbox One
If you want to suggest any changes, or have something else to say about the platforms, post it here.
About CNK: Kart is slow on NTSC-U compared to PAL (at least on PS2) so is NTSC-U X360 the best platform to CNK?
Crash Bash: Is FDS allowed?
Twinsanity: Is PAL better on 100% because Dingo Dance skip, and equal to J on any%?
Crash Bandicoot XS/Huge Adventure/Advance any% you can choose any of them due to no difference within the run.
Crash N-Tranced/Advance 2 Overall PAL/NTSC-U. Japanese version forces you to get a requirement.
Edit: Hi. future Spikestuff here hijaking this post 2 years later. Disregard what I wrote about XS/HA's 101%.
It's the version of the PS1 emulator on the 3.80 OFW. (you can load it on any CFW using popsloader)
According to AtazIH the jumps on it slow you down less than on NTSC-U, and it turns out that you can skip the aku box cutscenes using nosfx.
And shouldn't ntsc u be faster for 105 % ? since you dont need to do hot coco twice :P
[quote=Nitro]How NTSC version is faster than PAL version on bash?[/quote]
Nitro, where is that stated?
What's written there is a "?" for not knowing which version is best. A statement on the best character(s). And a statement that Jap version is for Virtual Console because there is no Virtual Version of Crash Bash for PAL or US.
[quote=MikeThePokeBrony]What's the opinion on using VBA GX for gba on the wii?[/quote] There is noticeable stuttering, so I'm going to say not a good idea.
For Crash 2, I want to use a PSP in order to have access to FDS (I don't have a PAL PS2). I have CFW installed on my PSP so I can use RemoteJoy to record from my computer and use the PS3 controller, and I have the PAL version of Crash 2 on my PSP.
Is this okay for speedrunning, since Crash 2 is officially released on the European PS Store?
Two things of note in terms of the load times section:
¤For all PS1 games, it says that Vita/TV FDS is identical to Vita/TV SDS. I play Crash 2 on PSTV and can confirm that FDS is much faster than SDS and slightly faster than PS2 FDS. Don't know how it compares to PSP; I've heard it's identical, slower, and faster from different people.
¤For Crash 1, it says that NTSC-J is faster for all categories, but if I'm not mistaken, NTSC-U is faster for Any% by a few seconds because of Death Abuse, but NTSC-J is faster for 100% because of the reasons mentioned (as well as only one visit to Road to Nowhere).
What are load times like when playing the Wii version of Crash of the Titans on a Wii U? (Are they faster, slower or the same?)
