Super Mario 64 defined 3D platformers to such a degree that its influences are still being felt now, 28 years later. The original Crash Bandicoot debuted more or less simultaneously with Nintendo's classic, but ended up taking a much different path with the concept.
Dan Arey spoke in Retro Gamer 256 about his time working on the Crash series at Naughty Dog. In 1996, Arey was at Crystal Dynamics, a studio that was at the time known best for the platformer Gex, where the influence of Mario was still impossible to shake. "When Mario 64 came out it shifted everybody's thinking," Arey explained. "We all realized that 3D platforming was amazing, but also that you had to do it in a controlled way."
