Crash-N-Comedy: Slapstick Comedy in Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy and Crash Tag Team Racing

Abstract

Slapstick comedy is a key part of the Crash Bandicoot franchise. This article will explore how slapstick humour is used in the Crash Bandicoot franchise to mitigate and ameliorate the sense of failure that players may feel in avatar death. This argument is developed through a discussion of two games within the franchise: Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy (Vicarious Visions, 2017) and Crash Tag Team Racing (Radical Entertainment, 2005). The discussion of failure in these two games builds on Juul’s (2013) prior work on failure in games, to illustrate the role that humour can play in maintaining players’ interest in cyclical gameplay that is designed to be played in ways which include repetition and failure.