crash team racing tracks are beautiful

[@PretzelYT]

If you're watching after I've made this comment, you've surely noticed that some of the sections in this video sound a little weird. That's because KZbin recognized that I used certain songs literally a week after upload and I've had to use a feature that erases the songs but keeps the vocals. KZbin's been getting better at detecting when I use songs, but annoyingly, it's not right after upload so I can take down the video before going public and make any changes. I don't know, I need to find a solution to this. I don't really want to have NO MUSIC because it really helps the vibes of my videos. I guess I could curate a list of good royalty free music I can use for my videos, but it's really hard to find stuff that matches the vibe I'm going for. I'll be brainstorming over the next couple weeks to think of a better solution.

[@garfieldinheat664]

I'd say try going for music from movies and videogames that historically on KZbin do not trigger the song recognition system. Music from more obscure PC games especially I find do not get flagged. Avoid stuff from companies that have a history of YT flagging of course, and as you said there's always royalty free options, and actually you might have luck looking for more retro royalty free stuff, like stuff from the 80s and 90s, there's a whole bunch of royalty-free 80s songs made for news broadcasts and documentaries and stuff that I think would fit great in your vids. As for movie stuff, try to go with foreign movies when looking for music that wont get flagged, personally I'm a fan of a ton of the cinematic music made for Italian films during the 70s.

[@DumplingDoodle]

suggestion: a thematically appropriate playlist in the description of each video- that way if the music does get removed, people can still play the music you intended to put in the video alongside it imperfect, but tangible.

[@gabrielviquez7092]

That sucks

[@Duskool]

I don't think i can express in a few words how much CTR's tracks do a great job at making the tracks feel like they're actually from the Crash universe compared to other kart racers, from the graphical style that matches perfectly with the games beforehand, to the zany music, the attention to detail on the texturing and even having some of the tracks fit in with the characters they're assigned to.

[@BrianM_3rd]

Crash games have always had gorgeous baked-in environmental lighting. The main one that comes to mind is the lush sunset glow in one of the later polar bear levels in Crash 2. There's also one secret path in Crash 1 that takes you beneath the level, to this spooky natural cave that has an almost ultraviolet bioluminescent glow to it. Hey, maybe Dragon Mines is a radium mine. That would explain the green room!

[@CB-L]

I was mesmerized at the original concept arts on CTR scrapbook. They really had talented artists.

[@SECONDQUEST]

It's where they mine glowsticks

[@BasimJones]

I ll 90s 00s infinitely sh Walters enemies Cynthias Lisa's ladies

[@mikeGNTR]

Hey as an LD/environment artist I really appreciate these chill tours of classic game environments, it's inspiring- so ty and please keep em coming!

[@NanTheDark]

I imagine the source of the green lighting in that area in Dragon Mines is that little green looking spike in the middle of the pool of water. Like it's supposed to be some kind of glowy crystal.

[@Coco.Bandicute]

Cortex's lab assistants are robots as seen in the crash 3 secret warp room but Cortex, N. Brio, N. Gin, Papu Papu and the tribal villagers are all humans in the crash universe

[@Headspr0uter]

Shouldn't have even needed to be said. I'm surprised that question even made it into the final cut.

[@daandanx]

I really enjoy the vibe in dragon mines. The giant cogs in the blue 'outside' area always feel so... Visceral. I must also point out the bit where you're exiting the minecart filled cave, after riding the slope up to the final stretch of the track, you can turn to the left into an obscure little nook nobody ever ever visits. I've always wondered why somebody would start building an asphalt road there... Or is the black stuff gravel? As it were, just a fun little observation

[@evie2411]

I love when developers of these racing games take the care to create small places meant to be explored. You need to throw the race to see them, or to appreciate them. Reminds me of driving up to Peach's Castle in 64, just to investigate and observe. Diddy Kong Racing really expanded on this idea with how you could race and explore a world. I remember all the playground rumors about the TT door, what was really behind it, etc, since no one I knew ever found it.

[@RumpIeForeskln]

There's a PS1 CTR pc port being worked on and its a little over 70% done. :)

[@R3W1NDexe]

I just wanted to say, I love your stuff. I'll be watching re-runs of your video game tours until I am 80.

[@Alexandre-w2n]

Now it’s “Sonic R” turn.

[@PretzelYT]

I can't believe I havent thought to cover that game before. I gotta add it to the list.

[@Hamond1989]

@@PretzelYT

[@fromthegamethrone]

I've spent hours just wandering around these levels!!

[@jayl5032]

Sonic R is our word. But you can use Sonic A.

[@Isenlyn]

Not too long ago I played Mario Kat 8 at a friend's place. My first thought was. "Damn, CTR was way more fun to play back in the day, and controlled better." The next day I played it on my emulator. Sure thing, it's still miles ahead in pleasure and controlled. I ended up being it up again almost 100% XD

[@fromthegamethrone]

6:13 - surely it's a whale's ribcage?

[@sebastiankulche]

10:36 Fun fact. You can see crash face at the top of one of the towers. Is just hard to spot on, especially in the OG res. But really this game has a lot of neat details that most wouldnt realize. Some textures like Cortex Castle windows for example get unbelievable detail for PS1 standards if you somehow got much closer than the game normally allows. If one day the PC port comes out i suggest watching all of the game tracks again but at maximum LOD, the game is even more stunning.

[@Xegethra]

Very Wile E Coyote desert there. CTR is my favourite kart racer too. A friend of mine has the remake, I started a profile when I went to visit nearly a year ago now. I'll pick it back up when I go over again.

[@mpg272727]

"do humans exist in the crash universe?" Have you forget the tribesmen from Crash 1? Papu Papu and all?

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

He’s even a boss character in this game. Then, there’s Cortex, his android henchmen, N. Brio, N. Gin, and N. Tropy.

[@TroboTicTac]

Also the entire rest of the world has humans😂 The games are mostly just on the 3 remote islands lol

[@ryucosplay]

CTTR had a lot of human npcs too

[@CC-qx7hk]

Adding those timing bars at the bottom of the screen for quiet moments automatically rockets you to the top tier of KZbinrs, next to people who do the same for sponsor reads

[@hody.8381]

This is exactly what I did as a kid, since I was maybe too young to play a racing game, I used to just drive around the tracks and explore. A lot of the tracks are still fresh in my mind. Such a pretty game.

[@_mickmccarthy]

Love some PS1 kart racing games! Though Speed Freaks was my go-to. Got a little Retroid handheld and having that and Ridge Racer Type 4 available at all times is wonderful

[@geremipineault308]

Im glad im not alone analyzing maps once i finish games, its so fun to look at all those details you don't notice normaly

[@diesegeties8918]

16:35 Man you are going to love Diddy Kong Racing.

[@Schenkel101]

I don't mind the change to the lighting in Dragon Mines. What bothers me is that Beenox decided to put an actual dragon in it because of the name of the track, and at no point in this process did anyone in Beenox figure that it's called Dragon Mines because it's Komodo Joe's track. You know, the komodo dragon character.

[@Duskool]

Either that or they wanted to reference the Wrath of Cortex dragon from Wizards and Lizards. Either way, it's kinda criminal that the remake version of the track didn't reference Moe in any way

[@prrrromotiongiven1075]

19:04 the best expression of this trope in any game imo is the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Beginning in the hyper-naturalistic Green Hill Zone at the very furthest extent of Robotnik's influence, you see signs of past civilisation in Marble Zone that have nonetheless been largely reclaimed by nature, then what seems like a fusion of man and nature in Spring Yard zone, but from then on it's all artificial - the mazy and hazardous Labyrinth Zone where artificial waterways are the main danger, the urban Star Light Zone, and finally the heart of Robotnik's industrial empire in Scrap Brain Zone. Without any words, anyone can understand that Robotnik's intention is to make the whole world his factory, and by the end it is Sonic rather than the robots that seems out of place.

[@DeathInTheSnow]

CTR? Well I guess that means the WipEout games are next. I always wanted to explore the mines of Temtesh Bay and the ice caves of Cubiss Float. Plus Metro Park and Rockway Stadium from 2048 seemed like they have so much more to explore...

[@purposly]

Loved just stopping in these racing games and looking around. Used to do that lots in Rush Extreme Racing, Extreme Racing USA, and 2049

[@BasVoet]

I really love that you are taking the time to easily go through the tracks. Relaxing to watch.

[@thepillardetectorofsimilar9511]

hello Pretzel, can you make a video on your KZbin channel about Audition Online, it's a popular dance video game please 🙏🙏🙏

[@RoiOfTheSuisse]

Is "Smurf Racer" known outside Europe? :D It was pretty fun too!

[@ivercingetorix1367]

I spent at least a month of real time in these stages as a kid and loved this video. I used to drive backwards on some tracks that allowed it to get a new perspective. Great video and happy New Year.

[@Patashu]

I think the most interesting thing about this stuff is the limitations they were operating under. They couldn't just import a bunch of photorealistic assets and raytrace it. Every decision to light a texture, every polygon had to be placed by hand. And if anything made the FPS dip too low it had to be tossed out.

[@mrptr9013]

That Chrono Cross music in the background bro... Really hit the ps1 era nostalgia

[@cemmy410]

10:25 What does "VGWT spot" mean?

[@cemmy410]

Oh, "video game world tour"

[@T.V.K.]

nice use of Legend of Dragoon soundtrack with Roo's Tube section @ 4:30 ish

[@icew0lf98]

i think crash games art style might have an influence on me in everything artistic I do

[@tallerdelgato]

5:57 Roo’s Tubes are inspired in one of Joe Pearson’s concept arts of the first game, in the Crash universe, the three islands are the top of a sunk continent.

[@gnbman]

Your videos are incredibly nostalgic. It's sad that the Spyro and Crash remakes deviated so far from the intended vision of the originals.

[@DamnZtar]

Could you people stop hating the remakes? Be grateful they aren’t titans and skylanders

[@gnbman]

@@DamnZtar No.

[@DamnZtar]

@@gnbman what about crash 4? Do you hate that, too?

[@gnbman]

@DamnZtar I don't hate the remakes either.

[@THiNGYBOBinc]

I never grew up with CTR but I really liked the Nitro Fueled remake and could appreciate the way it payed respect to the original and the Crash series as a whole (microtransactions aside). The amount of fun and easily missable details in the remake's tracks would probably be worth a video of its own

[@PretzelYT]

I did kinda poopoo on the game a bit during that one section, but I LOVED playing the remake. I need it on PC!!!!!!

[@FlavienB]

My childhood game, so happy about this video

[@CB-L]

After experiencing everything through OG Crash Trilogy and CTR, watching the 100% ending scrapbook through wonderful concept arts and other stuff made me emotional. My favorite was temple & ruins area..Both 'back then' and nowadays.

[@Al3xD3nt0n]

God DAMNIT Preston, I just got the Japanese Crash jingle out of my head this week after like THREE MONTHS and now its back.

[@sebastiankulche]

I miss the era were water was just a detailed animated transparent texture with the reflections and refractions baked (that looked gorgeous on a CRT) and not hundreds of shaders and physics working at the same time and eating all of my performance, lol. I still feel like non real time lightning can be prefered just for artistic reasons. Its underrated.

[@Celeste-ty5pb]

17:46 MySims Racing the DS version specifically has a hub world! its a pretty fun time

[@thenorseguy2495]

Happy New Year Pretzel. I’m looking forward to watch all your videos in 2025. This being the first one 🎉

[@IsmaelIszlonn]

I always think of the starting area hub when thinking of this game because I also just played it at my cousins' house when visiting. Thanks for sharing the nostalgia, and the new perspective on such an amazing game.

[@deda.katica]

Amazing video! I always loved the little details crash games had

[@MinillaGaming69420]

CNK has a pretty cool aesthetic, too. The tracks and hub worlds do a good job capturing the weird alien planets you're racing on.

[@looneytoastywolf]

I always loved how the crash and spyro worlds looked in their games..it made me feel relaxed and I wanted to be there running around adventuring with them, everything is so vivid and pretty. I loved stopping and looking around in both their games and seeing the backgrounds and lil places I could find. Ugh I loved it all so much! Also totally agree with you about the water in games of that time! Diddy Kong Racing was another fun gem to look around in! I love your videos so much

[@colinanthony2011]

Happy New Year, Pretzel. Thanks for all your amazing videos 🙏

[@mowo_fb8119]

I love how a lot of the trakcs are almost reinventins or reimagined versions of the platforming levels from the previous three games but in a racing setting.

[@tails183]

The discussion of the green room is why I love old games. There's colors where it makes no sense, and I love it. Gex 3 does this as well. The hedge maze in it is all kinds of colors just because.

[@DedAlexFive]

I remember playing Crash 2's sewer levels and Warped's egypt levels and stopping to look at how the deviations connected to each other or how the pipes merged into other and how the long corridors had weird bottomless holes in them. This channel really is on my same mind wave lol. Big ups Pretzel.

[@manuelsrleon]

I'm falling in love with this video. The part about you missing the bridge while playing really resonated with ne. A few months ago I was replaying through Sonic Heroes. CTR was certainly a great deal of my childhood, but if I had to pick one game that has remained iconic for me and exciting gameplay-wise... well, maybe Sonic Heroes would be one of them. So I went through Power Plant again. It was a stage that caused lots of trouble for me as a child, I couldn't ever get past the final section where you climb a power tank with "energy" (also known as reskinned enviromental danger lava ). I noticed that at some point in the stage you just have a window with a small garden, where you can see the light of the blue sky passing through. I never noticed that before, and it is a game that you have to finish nine times to truly complete it, so having played through the game a few times you could guess that I played through the same stage quite a lot of times. It felt like a little diorama, with its trees and grass. Like a little garden in an office building, part of an utopian futuristic metropolis. So... they could've just put a wall there and call it a day, but they did not. That motivated me to do the same in other stages. I started appreciating more and more little details in, for me, already iconic stages. The shape of a wale in Seaside Hill. The cars flying through Grand Metropolis and the energy company HexaEco. A pretty liminal corner in Hang Castle. A corner in Final Fortress I didn't even think you could get to before. The stages started to feel more real, they stopped feeling like polygons, textures and sound effects. They started transmitting other kinds of emotions. The stillness of a world that you would usually rush through tunnel-visioned felt strangely seductive and calming. It felt like listening to white noise and having the usual feeling of rumbling in your head stop. At some point, even idle dialogue kicked in which I had never heard before and didn't even know was a feature. I have been for the last year struggling to find beauty and meaning in small things in life, eager to complete and rush to the next thing while struggling to pay the least bit of attention... This felt great, for sure. You could count on your fingers the times I've written a KZbin comment. Black text on a white background started to feel the same after so much doomscrolling to the point the comments didn't feel written by humans. I think that we need more content like yours. We certainly live in a fast world, surrounded by game reviews, hype and pressured to consume or be the next big thing. Everything about numbers, big pointy red arrows and uppercase titles. We should train our brain to deepen, reflect and be more conscious about the purple of the sky or the lighting in Roo's Tubes, or the silences in between hanging out with your friends. Watching this video has been a delightfully calming experience, like enjoying a nice book in a comfy chair with some tea or soft drink. Thank you.

[@ConradTheLonelyStump]

The lesser-known MySims Racing on the DS had a hub world, if I remember correctly.

[@ButtonMasherReal]

I always liked the details around the portals in N. Sanity Beach and Citadel City reflecting the tracks themselves. It was such a neat touch, and I wish the other hubs did that. Somehow it felt like you were actually going to those tracks, instead of just being teleported to some far-off location.

[@AnarchyIsLove]

I think the blue wall in Dingo Danyon was just to make it look like a tunnel with a corner while you're driving by. a lot of the weirdness when you look at details is probably them just taking advantage of tunnel vision. like you said, you wouldnt see a lot of this stuff head on without stopping for it, so it can look really busy and convincing from the peripherals

[@El_Soy]

I'm so glad the original CTR is getting a fan-made port for PC, this game is incredible

[@AlphVA]

Spiderman 1 & 2 stages for PS1 have some vibe that feels eerie yet nostalgic at the same time.

[@gabrielviquez7092]

Great video!! I can't wait for part 2

[@DubboYeahfr]

4:12 music is peak 🔥

[@Nee421]

I want CTR nitro fueled on pc SO bad. I would play the hell out of it.

[@wrexocane]

+1!!!

[@yukij.8075]

For real!! Too bad Activision is stupid, and they don't want our money..

[@itzrewiind9399]

Can’t we just play it on cloud gaming? Like game pass or whatever it is 🤔

[@PaoEmForma]

Nope, even on gamepass the game just doesn't exist on PC ​@@itzrewiind9399

[@nprocopi1231]

18:02, play the Aug beta of CTR, the dock was originally there

[@Udhdvdhdjiwisjshzjfjfbdududjd]

Before watching the actual video and forgetting, i had a total blast playing Nitro Fueled on switch emulator with 60fps frame cap. Even at 4K the switch graphics actually still look very good and the responsiveness is to die for!!!

[@Eriorguez]

The anthropomorphic animals in Crash's universe are all experiments Cortex and Brio made. ;)

[@Marty_Deslions]

Amazing game this was. Thanks for the video! btw, I would be glad to see more of this game. Like more spots on tracks or features that people generally don't pay attention to. :)

[@Moondramon]

The green in the Green Room may have been either lichen or moss growing along the wall/under the water. There appears to be an opening in the ceiling to let in light to allow the growth to glow. Kinda tragic they removed it.

[@SECONDQUEST]

Nah man those underwater plants are really that big, and coral is an animal and they can form massive colonies.

[@iscopeeee]

Great video! Though I have to say, I found it kinda funny to see how bamboozled you were to learn Cortex is a human. Of course he's a human - a cartoony one, sure, but what else would he be? What did you think he was? But yeah other than that, loved the vid! I always loved the hidden pirate ship spot in Crash Cove - the little hidden pathway in Tiger Temple is another good one :)

[@coffee0093]

I just adore the vibe of the PS1 crash games

[@thebreakfastmenu]

I love this game so much. The soundtrack is a masterpiece too

[@TroboTicTac]

CTRNF will never be ported to PC The game engine being pretty hard to work with, plus the online-play being pretty outdated, it could easily be abused on PC to crash lobbies even more than they already do. Not to mention the game-physics issues if the game isn't a consistent 30FPS (on PC that will be almost impossible)

[@nico_defi]

There is OnlineCTR!

[@AnarchyIsLove]

you can drive over to the pirate ship on Crash Cove with the long dock at the shortcut jump! nobody would have any business going over there in a race or even think you could, but yea they let you drive way over there

[@mammoh]

yeah, sometimes after work I loved to just get drunk, boot up crash 3 and do nothing but walking around and observing textures

[@mlgodzilla4206]

I always saw the skeleton as that of a colossal whale or mosasaur if it’s to tie in the aquatic theme. Maybe even mutated whales and mosasaurs just for how colossal they are

[@ygreaterr]

oh man! my childhood! used to play this a lot in ps1

[@ailaxl]

love original hardware footage. So many people upscale via emulation and fix the various texture warps and other graphical infidelities nowadays, I actually enjoy the real, traditional hardware aesthetic.

[@MrPinci19]

This reminds me of whomobile's tf2 and gmod weird maps videos lol Probably my favorite kart racing game ever, great job!

[@casabaixo]

Just came here to say: WOAH!

[@PretzelYT]

woah...

[@Mason-v9d]

I like how the cart spits bubbles when it is under water

[@ArtificialDjDAGX]

Crash Tag Team Racing also has a hub world, though it'd probably be more accurate to call it a hub-hub world-world, as it's a hub world that leads to other hub worlds. Great game, imo.

[@AAAlpherior]

This channel is the ultimate "before bed videos" channel

[@BonezJones93]

"Why [blank] is ruining gaming" "the problem with [blank]" No. Pretzel finds something he loves and shares it. The tracks are beautiful indeed.

[@Grantallica]

Seeing this video makes me think of Ape Escape too! Some of the environments are so cool, give such a sense of scale

[@bmeht]

10:42 whatchu mean on top of this castle, it's a courtyard hehe.......

[@TheGhostgodzilla]

2:12 funny enough you DO in Nitro Fueled to get a box, it all comes full circle.

[@cardenasr.2898]

For me PS1 games tend to have very appealing aesthetics despite the shortcomings of the console seen from our time. It was one of the first 3D capable consoles and developers became really creative with how to use the system resources to create colorful and beautiful environments with the polygons, shades and lighting effects

[@KingToshin]

Immediate like for that message at the beginning LMAO

[@nprocopi1231]

Don't need a PC port. Shadps4 emulator will play NF soon, and it'll have equivalent performance to a PC port. No assembly recompilers, native x86 execution, etc

[@dspeedYT]

0:05 it's been 5 years, it ain't happening guys

[@STARSVeteran]

I hope for all you Crash fans that you get a Crash 5 or a new game eventually. 🙏

[@MR0KITTY]

5:15 I think Cortex, Gin, and Brio are human? But the lab assistance are robots or something.

[@personofpowera.b.c990]

Hey Pretzel, love your video 😌 they’re very calming, like if you and a friend were exploring childhood games and pretending we were actually there. If I were to request you explore one game out of all the games, it would be to explore Wuhu Island (specifically using the 3rd advancement level in the bike portion of Wii Fit). I use to spend hours biking around using free roam, trying to find an entrance to the middle of the volcano, “visiting” my family members I made into Miis, finding cats and dogs to ride with. Good memories.

[@DakotaofRaptors]

Would love to see you do this for the Kirby games: I feel as though the GBA/DS era had very appealling background art - and paired well with the music.

[@greenhowie]

Heheey. Did not expect to actually see a PS1 racing game covered here, one of the good ones I played to desth as a kid too. Only a matter of time before the allure of Ridge Racer Type 4 tempts Pretzel...

[@gunnardenton5972]

Thanks Pretzel

[@jakesaysknee]

I heard Legend of Dragoon music in the background and now I must humbly request, nay, BEG that you make a video about the beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds in that game. Kthx 💜

[@mikeread4329]

Beetle Adventure Racing! That game has lots of areas to explore

[@Stormhold3r]

It only only half a hub world (as it serves for more than just accessing the story mode) but modnation racers has a hub world

[@foxymoron7337]

honestly i'd love for you to go over the world of need for speed underground 2, such a beautiful looking map with so many small random crevasses and hidden areas, could make for a good video on this series

[@ryananderson8511]

I seriously appreciate the ff7 background music!!!

[@DevourerOfMangos]

Have you ever played "Re-Volt", the racing game from 1999? You'd have a field trip on that one.

[@GoldenThreadSeer]

this game was pivotal in my childhood. ❤