Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 3)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Back where it all started... But it's not exactly gonna
go the same way.

Assorted Annoyances

This is the kind of game where, if you are not focusing
on getting Gems, you will have a hard time, but it will
be doable. My mistake was trying to go for the All Crates
Gems every time I entered a level.. and suffering a lot
because of it. In my defense, I thought it wouldn't be
that bad, after playing the previous games!

You know what, let’s get the annoyances out before the finale. So, this game is… Well, I have already brought up the difficulty. I think I haven’t made it clear yet. Dying 20 times per level? That was at the beginning. The closer to the end I got, the bigger that number got. It wasn’t rare to die upwards of 50 times in a level’s first go-through, as I discovered, one painful mistake after the other, all the ways in which Crash/Coco/Tawna/Dingodile/Cortex could die. It is, by no means, the only tough platformer I’ve played all year, but it is among the hardest I’ve ever played – and, honestly, I think it might be the hardest I’ve pushed through, all the way to the end credits.

I remember hating the "Run on walls" parts. If your momentum
is stopped, you fall and die. And these parts love to put crates
in your way, so you have to break them. Oh! And combine
that to the gravity shenanigans in later worlds, too! Ugh.

I know I said that the original three Crash games had cruel platforming moments; I found that out as I was discovering them through the N. Sane Trilogy (though, as has been mentioned, the remasters aren’t entirely identical to their originals, which I haven’t really played). In comparison to Crash 4, Crash 1 through Warped! feel like a goddamn walk in the park. And I think a part of that might be caused by Crash 4’s own excesses. The levels are too long, several levels have too many crates, every instance with a Quantum Mask throws something new at you…

A lot fo bonus stages are all about using your abilities at
very specific moments and slapping steel ! crates in
what order, and when, for a chance to destroy every crate.
I miss the simplicity of the average Crash 1-through-3
Bonus Stage.

Speaking of crates, Bonus levels make a return. They keep the system from the remasters: If you die in them, you don’t lose a life, and the Bonus level transporter counts as a free Checkpoint. But! In the remasters, they were generally easy. Well, no more. Bonus levels in It’s About Time decided, “you know what? The player doesn’t lose lives playing these, so fuck it, we’re gonna be insanely hard!” In an utterly brutal game, these manage to be even worse. They often require use of the Quantum Masks, and are designed like puzzle platformers. You must figure out the right path, often backtracking both ways, to break every crate, and in what order, as there is sometimes only one correct “answer” to catch everything. And! Let me remind you that these bonus levels are mandatory, because their crates still count within their level’s total! Can’t figure it out? Tough shit!

Making things phase in and out, including barriers that can
get in your way, while you are also running on walls and
carefully timing your jumps. It's... a little much.

After a while, Crash 4 starts to feel more like a puzzle platformer than just a platformer. In fact, I know I have seen or played games with the exact mechanics brought forth by the Quantum Masks – but usually they aren't all in the same product. Making things appear and disappear to progress? Seen it. Messing with time? Seen it. Gravity shenanigans? Seen it! Hell, even ‘Akano’s ability involves some degree of knowing when to turn the special spin on or off. At the end, you must often adapt to using the masks interchangeably within the same level… or, in the very final stretches, one after the other in quick succession. Crash 4 is basically 4 puzzle platformers in one Bandicoot-shaped trench coat.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 2)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

A new ally? And more coming? Things are about to get interesting.

Super-Spinning, Magic Potions, and Funny Costumes

At the end of Salty Wharf, the group finds the second Quantum Mask, as confirmed by Lani-Loli. The new guy is named ‘Akano and he represents dark matter. Though he doesn’t say much, he packs quite a punch.

This is not flying, this is spinning with style!

The next dimension we visit is Tranquility Falls, which looks like a fantasy land. Spyro could live here! The enemy wanting a rematch with our heroes is N. Brio, whose chemical concoctions can do so much they might as well be magic. This world is our first use of ‘Akano. This mask’s ability is a powered-up spin, not unlike an ability gained in Warped!. Unlike the regular spin, it is triggered by pressing the X button (like all mask abilities), and will make the Bandicoot spin and as long as you haven’t pressed X again to cancel it. While spinning through this method, Crash and Coco’s jumps become very floaty, giving them extra reach, and they will instantly destroy any breakable crates they touch. This can be a double-edged sword since the heroes still get hurt if they spin into TNT and Nitro crates.

Ah yes, Legally Distinct Big Green Angry Smasher Guy.

At the end of this world, we square off against N. Brio, and this fight begins similarly to the one in Crash 1 and its N. Sane Trilogy version. In the second round, Brio drinks his own potion and becomes a hulking brute that attacks directly. To damage this form, we need ‘Akano, as the boosted spins are the only thing that can knock Hulkbrio off-stage and hurt him.

Gotta tough out the sonar-style chase sequence.

After N. Brio is defeated, we unlock the N. Verted Mode. It opens a new version of every level beaten so far; and for every subsequent level, an N. Verted version is unlocked after beating the original. A few things change in this new challenge; for starters, Wumpa fruits are replaced by… Grape-like Berries! Gasp! The second is that the stage is horizontally flipped; Bonus stages and 2D sections are crossed right to left, and all 3D areas are mirrored.

Oh, they still haven't learned to swim. They just don't
need to in the Sn@xx Dimension N. Verted.

Each N. Verted world has its own design twist that makes it trickier to navigate – as if they weren’t so goddamn hard already! As an example, on N. Sanity Island, the level will be made of silhouettes, and the place will go dark unless you periodically use the spin, lighting up the area like the ping of a submarine sonar. In Salty Wharf, the world starts in black and white, aside from crates and enemies; several actions will bring back the color, which will stick even if you die. The screwy design changes for the next world, and again in the next, and so on. One world ends up underwater, with all the screwy physics this implies!

Oh, and the Gems return, making for a possible total of 12 for every level; six normal, six N. Verted. Same requirements, too; the only difference is that the hidden Gem is moved to a different spot. Still, good luck getting them all – this takes the game's Gems total from 228 to 456! But hey, at least you can get some cool skins out of them.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 1)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

After its first three installments, the Crash Bandicoot franchise seemingly hit a lull. Plenty of games came out, with some following the Mario Spinoff formula: Make ‘em race! Make ‘em go around a board and play mini-games! Platformers still happened amidst all these new concepts, with varying levels of quality. However, fans felt like there was no true return to form until the N. Sane Trilogy came out. This renewed vigor eventually led to the making of a new, proper, “official” sequel to the OG trilogy.

We're starting on known ground.
Don't worry, that's gonna change real soon.

And yes, I played and talked about the N. Sane Trilogy these past three weeks exclusively so I could have the necessary background to talk about this one. Fans had to wait 22 years after Crash Bandicoot: Warped! for it to come out. But Crash 4 finally did, with a release for PS4 and Xbox One on October 2nd, 2020, then to Switch, PS5 and XSXS on March 12th, 2021, then two weeks later on PC. You’ve already seen this game’s title at the top of this article, and it’s very tongue-in-cheek, considering the long time between this entry and the one that precedes it in the strange chronology of the Crash series. For the needs of this story, it acts like no new games happened between the franchise's third and fourth installments; you can bet they will make a joke or two about that. Well then! It’s about time we cover the conclusion of this epic! (…Unless a Crash 5 comes out eventually.) For the record, I am playing this one on Switch.

They’re Back

N. Tropy is a surprisingly much darker villain in this game
than just about any other enemy Crash has ever faced.

Following their defeat in Crash 3, Neo Cortex, N. Tropy, Uka Uka, N. Gin, and for some reason, N. Brio as well, are stuck in a place out of time. They’ve been stuck there for what feels like decades. (I mean… at least two of ‘em). Cortex keeps self-pitying over his repeated failures, while Uka Uka attempts to open a portal to get them out of this place and back to the world they desperately want to take control of. In a stroke of luck, the evil mask finally makes a tear through the fabric of reality that will allow them to return, but the task is so exhausting that it falls unconscious. The scientists opt to escape while leaving the commanding, nasty mask behind. In its place, Nefarious Tropy, the time master, takes leadership of the group. He’s already seeing far beyond full control of the world…

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: Warped!

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Finishing the trilogy today!

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped!

This guy scares the biggest enemy we've had so far. That
usually means nothing good.

The game begins after the good ending of Crash 2 – the one you get by collecting all the Gems and beating Cortex again. The diminutive scientist’s space station explodes and crashes onto the planet, striking an old temple. Out of it comes an evil spirit known as Uka Uka; if you’ve played the rest of the N. Sane Trilogy, you may recognize this mask as the guy who threateningly says “Game Over” when you lose all your lives. Cortex has been working for Uka Uka this entire time, first by making the animals into smart but docile soldiers, and second by making Crash gather magical crystals. The evil mask was the one trying to enslave the entire planet all along. In an attempt to do it right this time, the mask summons a new, blue-skinned scientist with a clock theme…

Sounds important, I should listen to what Aku Aku is sayi-
Oh, the Bandicoots adopted Polar? Awwwwwwww!

And so we begin in the medieval era, with frogs that turn
into people if they kiss Crash, and lab assistants behaving
as if they were at the renaissance fair.

The wind turns on Wumpa Islands. Aku Aku immediately knows what’s up. The guardian mask of the islands (now voiced by Greg Eagles, whom you might know as Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy) tells the Bandicoots about the villainous Uka Uka. He teleports the two to the Time Twister. This floating base owned by Cortex’s new scientist ally will allow the villains to hunt down the Crystals across past eras, since we’ve already found them all in the modern day. It’s up to Crash and Coco to get the Crystals (and the Gems) first, beating out their enemies. Oh, that’s it? We’re doing a Time Heist? Let’s go! I can't wait to see the endgame of that!

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy - 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Welcome back to this year’s anniversary reviews! Today, we’re moving to the next game in the collection!

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Uh oh. He's got a lightbulb moment, and that means
nothing good.

This story begins immediately after Crash 1. Neo Cortex was tossed from his zeppelin and is falling to the islands below. He survives the crash (pun intended) and finds that he has landed in an underground cave where he finds a crystal glowing a faint purple. He gets a new idea…

Turtle armadillo, doesn't matter; you're in my way!

Cut to a year later. Crash Bandicoot and his brainy sister Coco are chilling on their island when Coco’s laptop runs out of juice. Just the usual problem for her, really. And even though she’s playable here, no way she’s going to get a new battery herself! Nah, bro’s gotta do it. Crash thus embarks on this quest. But midway through the first level, he steps on a teleporter and gets abducted. He appears on a space station owned by Cortex and his new assistant, Dr. N. Gin. He is greeted by a giant hologram of Cortex’s face.

"You better not pull out your yo-yo while I am expositing,
Crash! Are you... Hey! I said put that away!"

I see it over there! Yeah. That's the point.
They aren't hard to find. At all!

Cortex says that, although they have been enemies before, he and the Bandicoot need to team up against an even greater threat coming from space – soon the planets will align, and the resulting energy might destroy the Earth. Cortex has found the Master Crystal that can put a stop to this; however, it needs several more “slave” Crystals to have enough power to prevent the catastrophe. the diminutive scientist claims he will need the physically capable mammal to collect 25 Crystals scattered around the world. Cortex will provide the means of teleportation, and occasional commentary on our progress.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy - Crash Bandicoot 1

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

Yeeaaahhhh... I was not a fan. In fact, after playing today's
games, I might like Crash Purple even less.

I don’t know if anyone else reading this knows what the first game ever reviewed on this blog was, way back on July 19th, 2013. Well, it was actually a duet of games for the Game Boy Advance: Crash Purple: Ripto's Revenge, and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy. This not-very-ambitious crossover had Crash and Spyro square against each other due to the machinations of their respective villains. The games, developed by Vicarious Visions were… shall we say… not that great. At best, they were tolerable 2D platformers that put much bigger focus on playing mini-games, of all things. Anybody that’s accustomed to Crash’s usual extra-tough 2.5D platforming or Spyro’s 3D platforming likely didn’t get their money’s worth.

Run! Ruuuuuuun!

I bring this up because I haven’t touched either franchise since. That review was 13 years ago. And even on Steam, when I got my hands on the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, it took me forever to even think of playing them. Well! I’m crossing one of these two off the bucket list for this year’s anniversary review. Maybe the other one next year? Who knows.

I also have Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time among the games I want to cover this year, and I have a little rule for myself: If I want to cover a game that isn’t the first in a series, but I own any that came before in that series, then I will want to cover those previous ones too if it matters. Might as well get this show on the road. I can call it a… Crash course across the franchise.

Also developed by Vicarious Visions, and published by Activision, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was released first to PlayStation 4 on June 30th, 2017, and to Steam a year later. It is comprised of remastered/remade versions of the franchise’s first three games, all of which were PlayStation games originally developed by Naughty Dog:

• Crash Bandicoot, released on September 9th, 1996;
• Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, on November 6th, 1997;
• And Crash Bandicoot: Warped, on November 3rd, 1998. This would be the last proper entry for these platformers for about 22 years.

One game per year? Crash is a regular! …Well, not to this blog he isn’t! But I’m looking forward to correcting that. We’re starting this collection of games NOW!

Exploring the Switch's Nintendo Classics #4

Been a while since I last did one of these as well! It took me this long because, in-between reviews of other games, I could hardly find the time to play stuff from the Nintendo Classics service; however, I think I’ve found a system that could help me with that.

Before I start this article, I guess I might take this introduction to explain a thing or two: For starters, all I have is the classic Switch, not the sequel console released in 2025. As a result, while I do try to go through the games available on Nintendo Classics, I do not have access to the GameCube games that were announced for the Switch 2 exclusively. This also extends to whichever games on other consoles require a mouse to play, like Mario Paint. (Not that there are many of those.)

In the same vein, Nintendo began releasing Virtual Boy titles to the service in February 2026. I am very tempted to try these as well, and since many of these are short, they will fit perfectly in articles like the one here. However, I am told that they will work much better with a headset currently on sale. I do think I will be better off playing those games with the necessary equipment! Therefore, I’ll skip these for now and put them on the backburner. It’s not like I’ve got a shortage of Nintendo Classics games to cover anyway!

I was in a bit of a hurry to get this article ready for publication, so instead of waiting to have enough entries from just one console, here you have a pot-pourri of games from almost all the consoles that are part of the service. And just like my other collections, any progress is better than nothing!

Enjoy!

The NES

That is, indeed, baseball.

Baseball: I’m still not done with sport games! This game was one more of the console’s launch titles, and is about as straightforward as can be for an 8bit representation of the sport. Pitcher pitches, batter hits the ball, team on the field hurries to get the ball and throw it while the batter runs around the diamond. I’ll admit that I know little about baseball (most of my gaming experience with baseball is… Mario Super Sluggers). And this game explains very little, so I know the basics of the sport, but I was left to figure out the controls on my own. I did poorly at this one. While I can say there’s a few NES sports games I would come back to, this isn’t one of them. I can still appreciate that its release at the console’s launch helped further boost the NES’s popularity in North America.

Disney Illusion Island

One of my mistakes in 2025 was that I bought too many games. The only solution is to keep clearing the backlog, by going through the quicker ones first. Gotta start somewhere!

Disney Illusion Island, developed by Dlala Studios, was first released on the Nintendo Switch on July 28th, 2023. It was then released to other platforms (PS5, PC, Xbox) on May 30th, 2025. I found the Switch version in the wild, it looked fun, and there I was, with one more game. I’m incorrigible. But hey, it’s Disney and it’s got a cool art style, so why not. The game’s name is a reference to Mickey Mouse’s Castle of Illusion on SEGA systems and its follow-ups. But this time, we can play as Mickey, Minnie, Donald or Goofy – or up to all four at once!

Heroes Wanted

Our game begins as Mickey makes his way to a picnic destination on an island, indicated by a map sent by Minnie. Or so he thinks. After he’s found the spot, he’s joined by Minnie, who says HE sent her a map to this spot. Donald and Goofy, who were also sent maps, show up. All four are puzzled, so they investigate a twinkling sound coming from a nearby area.

Someone wanted all four of them there, but why?
(Thanks to Gamer's Little Playground for the playthrough,
which I am picking my screenshots from.)

Ah yes! Toku, the benevolent quest giver! Disregard the
eye twitch, totally normal benevolent response to annoyance.

They trace the sound to a red bush, and after crossing it they find a large library with an open bookcase. They are greeted by furred creatures known as the Hokuns and their leader, Toku, who welcomes them to the magical world of Monoth. Toku is the one who sent the maps, as he needs their help. Donald is enraged to find out there won’t be a picnic, but the team stays and listens. Toku explains that the three magical tomes of their bookcase have gone missing, stolen by three thieves inhabiting the three biomes of Monoth, and this could endanger their world. The Hokun doesn’t seem to know that the Mickey cartoons are in-universe fictions, in which the group only pretends to be heroes – but Mickey and his friends agree to try and be real heroes for once.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection: Destiny Board Traveler

Final Yu-Gi-Oh! review for this year! Yet again, we’re moving away from the card game as it usually works to delve into a different type of gameplay – this time, a proper board game that involves dice and spaces and Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters- wait, again? Yep. Can’t escape those.

Destiny Board Traveler was first released in Japan under the name Sugoroku’s Sugoroku on March 18th, 2004; and then made its way to North American markets on October 26th of the same year. That original title is a reference to Yugi’s grandpa; Solomon Muto’s original name is Sugoroku, also the name of two ancient board games that have some similarities to modern Snakes & Ladders and Backgammon, respectively.

But of course, there needs to be a twist that involves the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. The characters of the manga/anime appear as playable, there are several boards to choose from (if you unlock them), and the cards themselves will be integral parts of the strategy and gameplay.

Maybe this time I can keep it short.

’Round the Board

Makes sense to pick Yugi. ow I just have to hope his
legendary lucks rubs off on me. (Hint: It didn't.)

Four players move around one or more 5X5 square-shaped boards. Each player has a hand of monsters drawn from their Deck (this game doesn’t use Spells or Traps, and all monsters are treated as Normal and don’t have their effects). On their turn, each player creates their own die from cards in their hand by setting them onto its faces. They do not need to set monsters onto every face of the die, however. The value of each side of that die is equal to the level of the monster on it. The die has one side known as the Star Face, while the other five remain regular faces.

VGFlicks: Space Jam: A New Legacy (Part 4)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Completely Looney

That's really the best silly face you could make, LeBron?

Thanks to LeBron’s realization, the Tunes are now allowed to use their zany antics on the court. They have a fighting chance now! They make a grand entrance on the playing field. Third quarter, and the tone is set by The Brow getting run over by a train, courtesy of Wile E. Coyote. Elsewhere, Wet-Fire’s liquid form gets absorbed into Gossamer’s fur.

That's not "Gossamer inexplicably with a child's mind" from
the Looney Tunes Show, but I'll take it!

Side-note, I like how Gossamer recently went from just some monster in early WB cartoons to a full member of the gang. The same could almost have been said of Penelope, the poor cat that kept getting chased by Pepe Le Pew, but she was removed because of Pepe’s problematic personality. I get it, maybe the director, Malcolm D. Lee, decided it was wiser not to shake that hornet’s nest. And perhaps trying a different angle for the skunk (like showing him working on bettering himself) would have broken the rhythm of the film, who the Heck knows. Whatever.

😬Today, in "are you SUUURE you want this in your film?"

Even LeBron participates to the shenanigans – well, as much as a live-action human can, anyway. Al-G steals a microphone from Bugs during a trick and, in coaching his team, accidentally drops a rhyme – which triggers a special Hip Hop round. Uh oh. The court changes to a dancefloor with the Tunes dressed in ‘90s rap clothing. Ugh, can’t believe I’m saying that, but… we get a rap battle where Porky drops some bars to make fun of Al-G.

…

…

Good God am I glad that this gif exists. Do I even need to say anything else? This was painful. Were those extra 150 points for style worth it?

VGFlicks: Space Jam: A New Legacy (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Countdown to the Game

Several plot threads happen concurrently at this point. Let’s see how they evolve on the way to the match.

Would make sense that Lola would be the second-in-
command, she is the second best player in the team!

Who in the making of this film decided that Granny
needed to be the biggest badass in the cast??

Back on the ship with a full cast, LeBron tries to teach basic basketball to the Tunes. Lola, as a second-in-command due to her knowledge, demonstrates basic shots. Bugs tries to explain to LeBron that Tunes tend to do things differently and disregard rules, but the superstar doesn’t listen.

Practice devolves into toony shenanigans, with Yosemite Sam bringing his guns to a basket fight, Tweety distracting Sylvester with yarn, and the Road Runner swapping balls with bombs. Special mention to Granny doing daredevil tricks. Since when is the elderly lady the most badass of all the Tunes? It’s chaos! Pandemonium! And it leaves LeBron aghast at all the nonsense.

They aren't exactly here for tourism.

In the real world, LeBron’s friend Malik is desperately trying to get Warner Bros. Studios’ security to help him look for the star player and his son, who both disappeared right after the meeting, but the guard he talks to is appalled that LeBron is gone yet unwilling to help. Thankfully, Kamiyah James, their other son Darius, and their daughter Xosha, all show up to lend a hand.

The family walks around the studio to start their search, when Darius receives an invitation from an unknown app, the Warner 3000, announcing a peculiar match: Father VS Son. Following signal of LeBron's phone, they find their way to the servers room, deep underground.

VGFlicks: Space Jam: A New Legacy (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Bugs Needs Friends

And the vehicle is Runawous Truckous.

When we left off, LeBron James had just encountered Bugs Bunny on Tune World. The athlete is like a kid, fanboying over meeting his hero. As for Bugs? He has stayed alone for so long that it’s taken a toll on his sanity. He immediately tries to pull LeBron into shenanigans like the Rabbit/Duck Season routine. The bunny has been left to talk at similes of his co-stars. And, well, you can’t pull pranks on pumpkins.

Though it helps that he got turned into one, it’s funny how well LeBron James takes to being a Tune. In comparison, part of the original Space Jam was Michael Jordan figuring out that merely existing in the Looney Tunes’ world gave him toony abilities. Jordan got rolled into a ball, dribbled around, and tossed through the hoop, in one of the freakier scenes for young me (I was a kid when that film came out!) and he still didn’t catch on until seconds before the end of the match. And it took Wayne Knight’s character getting flattened, re-inflated, and then farting the extraneous air around the stadium, for him to understand!

Forget how Bugs can get drunk on carrot juice, I want to
know why LeBron ended up almost disguised as Lucky Luke.

When the basketball player mentions Al-G, he gets the full story: The AI showed up one day and convinced the other Tunes to go live on the other IP planets (IPlanets? I’m gonna call them IPlanets.), where they’d have a wide variety of new experiences. Bugs stayed on Tune World because it’s his home, and the only place where he can be himself. LeBron mentions that he needs to create a basketball team to face off against Al-G; Bugs, of course, points out that a real-life player and a team of toons facing a villainous team in a high-stakes game sounds awfully familiar.

This will require visiting the other IPlanets, so they need a spaceship. Nothing simpler – just declare any parcel of land property of Earth, plant a flag, and Marvin the Martian will come down. Dude just can’t help himself. Bugs and LeBron steal the ship, leaving the Martian stranded.

Quick! Let's Grand Theft Spaceship!

VGFlicks: Space Jam: A New Legacy (Part 1)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

The movie the least suited to the ongoing theme for this year's film reviews, Space Jam: A New Legacy is the reason why I specify “Trapped in a virtual world” rather than “Trapped in a game”. However, there is a major link to video games in its plot, which means that by my metrics, it counts to be reviewed here.

Chuck Jones was not a fan of Space Jam, because he didn't
think Bugs would ever ask for outside help. At least, in A
New Legacy, it's someone coming to him for help instead.
Also, eeeesh. Mr. Jordan, forget acting, stick to sports.

I guess I’d better discuss the history of its “franchise”, if we can call it that. An idea this bizarre has its origins in the world of advertising, where Michael Jordan starred alongside Bugs Bunny in two commercials, Hare Jordan and Aerospace Jordan, both advertising Nike’s Air Jordan shoes. Chance meetings eventually led to a Nike executive being given the idea by Ivan Reitman for a feature-length film with the same formula. The plans were halted by Jordan’s retirement from basketball in 1993 to try baseball, but resumed when the athlete returned to the sport in 1995, with the commercials’ director, Joe Pytka, directing the film. Despite a… tumultuous production, shall we say, the film was finished and released to theaters on November 15th, 1996. The film hilariously implied that the Looney Tunes were responsible for Jordan going back to basketball.

Talks of a sequel happened immediately, but miscommunications caused those plans to be changed, then scrapped. The poor performance of Looney Tunes: Back in Action at the box-office was another nail in the coffin… until new talks arose in 2014, this time centering the film around LeBron James, another of the biggest basketball stars of all time (I know very little about sports and even I knew of the guy!), and with Malcolm D. Lee in the director’s chair. Filming started in July of 2019 and ended in March 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic got really bad; but since all that remained was animation, production wasn’t hindered by the world-changing event. The finished film was released to theaters on July 16th, 2021.

Much of what I have to say is tied to the film’s plot itself – so why not cover it, and get to my talking points when they come up? Also – why call this A New Legacy when, aside from two mentions, there’s no link between the two films?

From child to superstar

The film opens in 1998 in Akron, Ohio, where a young LeBron James is dropped off at a basketball match by his supportive mom. He is a big fan of the Looney Tunes, as evidenced by his backpack. So although he should be focusing on the game, his attention is diverted when his best friend Malik shows up with a present: An old Game Boy with a Looney Tunes game cartridge in it.

Oh hey, that's The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle!

VGFlicks: Jumanji: The Next Level (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

It’s the final level!

Storming the Stronghold

Always good to get together and plan the last steps.
The campfire is just for comfort, too bad Milo can't enter.

If the group wants to finish the game, they must rescue Eddie (currently using Ming Fleetfoot) and Milo (currently playing as Cyclone, the horse). Spencer (back as Bravestone), Fridge (back as Mouse Finbar), Martha, and Bethany (back as Prof. Sheldon Oberon) are down to one life left. In the latter’s case, her avatar had already lost two, even though it was being played by someone else. Guess lives are non-transferable. Alex still has three. All of them are scared, but must be ready for the final battle. Spencer and Martha, playing action heroes, will climb the mountain using equipment from Fridge’s Backpack of Holding, sneak into the fortress and save Eddie. Meanwhile, Alex, Fridge and Bethany will sneak in.

Pictured: "Augustus" and "Tomatoli Kababik".
Actually a girl in a man's body, and an athlete in a
small guy's body.

Alex inserts himself into the caravan of people walking into the fortress. Fridge and Bethany try the same, but they’re stopped by a guard who asks if they’re the Brothers Kababik. Time to LARP and roll for persuasion. Not only does that work, they even manage to sell the lie that they’re “brothers from different mothers” (since Fridge’s character is Black, and Bethany’s is white). Fridge even ends up having to play along to the guards’ claims that the Brother Kababik he is pretending to be is a eunuch. Geez, that was awkward. And then he still gets offered cake, the very thing that can kill his character. Yup, Jumanji has it out for the guy.

Alex finds his way to the room where Cyclone is held captive. The path is covered in pressure pads that release death traps, and he falls very quickly to one of them. It’s okay, he still has two liv-oh wait, no, just one. Third time’s the charm and he frees the horse, but not without seeing Cyclone’s character sheet first.

Alex has to be extremely careful. He's a family father now.
He has several more reasons not to die in Jumanji.

And since they're basically action heroes, they can have that
entire conversation while taking a break from climbing a
whole damn cliffside.

While Spencer and Martha are climbing up the cliffside, she asks why he never went to see her, and why he ended their relationship. He admits that he felt insecure after seeing just how outgoing and extroverted she had become through university life. She, in turn, admits that it’s been hard for her to keep that image and she’s worried her new social circles will see the shy girl she used to be – and it feels like it’s only with Spencer that she can truly be herself. Huh, guess Jumanji had lessons for the two of them after all, or at least it needed the two of them together to deliver it.