Prepare to feel old. The developer of the upcoming Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled has revealed that some of its younger contributors were… bemused, when they tried their hand at the original game.

For those of you who don’t know, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is a remake of the popular Crash Team Racing game from the late 1990s. It’s a faithful ‘remastering’ of the original title that will appeal immensely to those players who enjoyed the original version on the Sony PlayStation – and hopefully a fair few newcomers.

But speaking to the official PlayStation blog, the Production Director Stéphane Gravel has admitted that some of its younger devs were a little taken aback by the quality of the game from 1999.

“For some of our team, they pretty much never saw an original PlayStation game,” he explains. “They are younger than I am, so they finally get to see what Crash Team Racing was. That game still has a huge cult following 20 years after coming out. When you see the original graphics of the PlayStation, some of [the younger developers] were like ‘Whoa, you played games like that?’ Actually, that game was great-looking at that time. Depending on how old you are, you have a different level of reception, if you will.”

Quite. I think I will echo Gravel’s comments on this – Crash Team Racing certainly was a great-looking game, and indeed it still is, in my opinion. I think it’s important to look back on these things in context, and I think it’s fair to say that all of the games in the Crash Bandicoot franchise pushed the capabilities of the original PlayStation to its technical limit, and were very pretty.

And also – at the risk of sounding like an old man! – I must say I find the response from the younger developers a little surprising. 1999’s Crash Team Racing is certainly no Red Dead Redemption, but it’s not exactly an unintelligible, pixelated mess. It totally works as a game, and indeed I’d argue that its lasting playability is one of the things that’s led to its endurance over the last 20 years. It’s not just nostalgia that makes people gush over old titles; sometimes these titles are really, really good! And I’d put Crash Team Racing in that category.

Fortunately, Director Stéphane Gravel seems to be in agreement with this. “Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is the original kart-racing experience,” he notes. “It’s the same experience players got 20 years ago when they started playing on the original PlayStation. It was important for us to stay true to that game, while of course updating it to today’s graphical standards. It’s the best of both worlds – you have a great game and you are able to make it look as beautiful as possible. That’s something we are very proud of.”

And judging by the latest footage, Gravel seems right to be. But we’ll get to see for ourselves when the title launches on the 21st June on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Are you looking forward to playing?

• Click here to pre-order Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled on the PS4 and help support this website.
• Click here to pre-order on the Xbox One.
• Click here to pre-order on the Nintendo Switch.