Soon enough we'll all be getting the much welcomed nostalgia hit of jumping and sliding our way through snow, ice and fire as Crash Bandicoot.
The last time we saw him was on mobile in the Nitro Kart series and Crash Bandicoot Mutant Island. Despite having the marsupial in our pockets, it wasn't quite the same, and after a number of disappointing games, it only left us thirsty for more.
The main point of nostalgia for most of us comes from the arse end of the 90s, when we'd clock a considerable amount of hours on the PlayStation1, playing the original Crash Bandicoot, and the sequels Cortex Strikes Back and Warped. You could maybe include The Wrath of Cortex from 2001 on PS2 in that, too.
It's great then that the remaster of the first three titles, called the N. Sane Trilogy, is almost upon us.
We'll finally be reunited with Crash, Coco, Cortex, Dr N Brio, Dr N Gin, and, of course, Aku Aku.
Aku Aku is there through everything, giving you power, protection and comfort. A good ally. By the time Warped rolled round, he was such a staple of Crash's adventures that he was given a voice and personality.
That was all great, though the only trouble was that he literally just seemed to mumble garbage, meaning conversations on these journeys were rather one-sided.
So, then, what the fuck was he actually saying?
Your first guess might be something along the lines of "ABOOGABOOGA" or "HOLBOGA". As it turns out, it meant absolutely nothing.
"The sound Aku Aku makes is gibberish and was never intended to mean anything," Dave Baggett, Naughty Dog employee who wrote code for the series, said on a Quora thread. "That said, various people on the Crash team (and our friends and relatives) interpreted Aku Aku's little noise as lots of funny things, the most common of which (in my recollection, at least) was 'Rutabaga'."
He did go on to reveal the origins of the mask, however, and the inspiration came from a Polynesian restaurant Boston where he and a few other developers lived at the time.
"It had a giant tiki statue out front and, as I recall, fairly terrible food," he said. "This spot is now occupied by Jasper White's Summer Shack, and the tiki statue has been converted to a fisherman."
The N. Sane Trilogy has been a long time coming, but thankfully we're not too far away from being graced by its brilliance.
The remaster has been done by Vicarious Visions instead of Naughty Dog who were in charge of the original development of the games.
Everything is pretty much the same, with the game play, sound effects, moves and maps all being left alone to wallow in their magnificence.
It's set to be released on June 30 for Playstation 4 so get your pre-order in.
Featured Image Credit: Naughty Dog