1. Crash Bandicoot
My first Crash Bandicoot game was cleverly hidden in a shoe box, so that it didn't arouse suspicion. I opened that shoe box expecting to find a pair of shoes I didn't care for, yet would undoubtedly become a staple of my wardrobe, but much to my delight, I found a Crash Bandicoot game (I won't say which one, I don't want to offend anyone with how late I was to the series I did backdate though). Irrelevant anecdotes aside, Crash Bandicoot is one of the most iconic video gaming collections, but lately it seems to be for all the wrong reasons. On the PS1, Crash Bandicoot flourished, with four critically and commercially adored releases and one so-so release we tend not to talk about (I'll let you deduce which). However, once the PS2 was released, the brand started to show its age. The first release, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex, largely retained the same, simple formula that made the franchise a success in the first place, but the release was plagued with inconsistent mechanics and a variety of questionable new additions (Coco was stripped of her originality and innovation, essentially becoming a cheap sidekick for the much more popular titular character). As a result, it opened to middling reviews and a tarnished reputation. From then on, the franchise began to unfold; from cheap gimmicks to a series of subpar racing games and the eventual dumbing down of its lead protagonist into a long running fart joke, it was clear Crash didn't belong in the new generation of gaming. There have been musings of a reboot, a restoration of the character's former glory. Co-creater Andy Gavin has even come out and stated that people have forgotten that Crash "was once cool", an accurate assessment of the franchise's mishandling in recent years. Did we miss any once great franchises that simply didn't survive the generation jump? Share your own picks below in the comments.