Crash Bandicoot’s Stormy Ascent Isn’t All That Hard, Unless You’re Going For Speed

Apparently it’s “so hard, they had to delete it”, but that hasn’t stopped people playing Crash Bandicoot’s Stormy Ascent level over the years. Through hacks and mods, it became notorious, but it had never seen an  official release until it was added to Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy alongside San Diego Comic Con. Honestly though, I’m not entirely sure what all the fuss was about, unless you’re trying to do it fast.

A little background about Crash Bandicoot’s difficulty is needed, though, as widespread chatter about the HD remake’s difficulty have swirled around the game for the past few weeks. The original game was hard as nails before N.Sane trilogy, but where the Crash on PS1 was partly down to not having the most accurate of controls, there were subtle changes to Crash’s movement in the remake that made certain levels harder, though still doable.

Case in point is the now notorious bridge crossing nightmare that is The High Road. In my personal experience, this is where I still have lost the most lives and time, thanks to some very precise placement of turtles to bounce off in the first section. However that isn’t to say I didn’t eventually finish it and felt pretty good about it, but I didn’t see any desire to come back to it.

In comparison to the similarly themed level Slippery Climb,  Stormy Ascent does require one thing more from you: patience. Being a wholly 2D level, it’s a bit easier to judge how the patterns work and with enough time studying you’ll know exactly how long you have to make it before a platform slips from under your feet or until an explosive vial hits you.

With Slippery Climb ingrained into my mind more recently thanks to playing the HD remake, I had a small advantage going in. As such, judging the small climb in the beginning was in all honestly a bit of a breeze. While the level was new ground, I’d learned that being extremely patient is the key to not dying.

Perhaps the point where my most lives went was in the middle section that featured a downward descent. Again, it’s not that any one part was particularly difficult, but it was adjusting to having to go forward before the safe steps had actually sprung back into position for me. This leads to some tighter patterns for rotating platforms that eventually lead to the bonus stage.

Now, I should point out that I didn’t manage the special stage, but accessing it is as simple as breaking the boxes along the way. There are no boxes kept out of reach, so you should theoretically just manage to unlock it as you play. That said, there’s some very precise timing from exploding TNT crates to consider. Again I’d imagine that with patience and studying the timing a little more, that this would be achievable.

While I may eventually try to go and get the gem, the time trial relic is perhaps where I would draw the line thanks to my slow and steady approach. If you can obtain a relic on that level, you truly are a Crash Bandicoot master.

After the special stage icon, things were still fairly challenging, but nothing too taxing. I did need to react quite quickly to a rotating platform that would have led me to spikes if I hadn’t jumped in time, and I did mess up the timing on one platform before the final checkpoint, but again it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before and I had time to work out when to jump. The final section only had one difficult point involving sideways moving eagles, but once done you’ll be at the end.

Am I disappointed with Stormy Ascent? No. It’s a tough level, but a fair one. Since it’s free to download for a limited time, I’d highly suggest those who own Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy to give it a go. Just remember that patience is the key, unless you’re trying to speed run it, in which case I salute you for trying and wish you god-speed!