YMMV / Crash Team Rumble

• Awesome Music: While most of the soundtrack in Rumble is recycled from previous games, there are handful of memorable new tracks:
  • Season 2's main theme is a jiving disco theme to really fit the party thematic of its respective event. It is also thus far the only wholly new composition in the game, and really fits Rumble's frenetic nature.
  • Season 3's main theme fittingly remixes the title theme from Spyro the Dragon and it sounds amazing when mashed up with that of Crash Bandicoot. A more relaxing variant of this theme plays when in a lobby or in a menu, while an ambient version plays when matchmaking.
• Fan Nickname: The Gasmoxian Guard has recurrently been given the name "Greg" throughout fan streams. Toys For Bob themselves even caught onto this.
• High-Tier Scrappy: Coco and Cortex were frequently a bane for many players to face off against due to their exceptionally quick traversing and difficult to evade attacks making them extremely hard to shake off if their player targeted you. While later updates to the game did relent to balancing their stats more fairly against other characters, they remain the two most flexible choices in the game.
  • Thanks to her damage buff, Tawna is also seen as such, being even more deadly than the likes of Blockers such as Dingodile, Ripper Roo or even Tropy. Let's just say that if you're not prepared to go up against her, or worse, if she starts chasing after you due to her maxed out mobility, she will destroy you and your teammates in mere seconds.
• Improved Second Attempt: While Season One's content was popular, it was criticised for the slow drip feed with very little ongoing inbetween and the single Competitive mode being too limited to hold up. Season Two improves upon that with the addition of multiple new modes, not just with the new permanent Party Mode but a new temporary mode every week, giving far more incentive for players to return to the game on a regular basis.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Even fans of the game criticised the lack of content within the base game, with only nine arenas, and no single player campaign or extra modes besides online competitive and a basic practice mode with bots. It was gaining ongoing content until Febuary 29, 2024, where it was announced that the game would not receive any more content as a result of Toys For Bob becoming an independent developer.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • As awesome as it is, the Uka Uka relic station in Tiki Towers definitely qualifies. Everything becomes cloaked in a demonic purple color and the music becomes rather menacing as fireballs rain down from above wherever the team that activated it goes. And if the enemy team activates it before your team does, they can easily chase you down and burn you to a crisp in a matter of seconds.
  • The Spirit Guardians in N. Sanity Caverns. In addition to you and your teammates (or the enemy team) becoming towering giants, the characters' voices are also deepened while the transformation is in effect, creating a rather uncanny experience.
• Salvaged Story: In It's About Time, Crash was consistently portrayed as the Straw Loser and Designated Monkey of a serious cast. Surprisingly, despite having all of one cutscene, the opening FMV of Rumble shows way more of Crash being a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass again, and while Coco and Tawna are still his Hyper Competent Sidekicks, Crash does pull off loads of clever moves and Toon Physics of his own and scores the winning move, along with everyone else getting in on the slapstick and silly behaviour rather indiscriminately this time around.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • The initial announcement trailer was met with equal parts disdain and confusion. Not only were many fans expecting another traditional platformer entry to follow Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (especially those who weren't aware of the years of leaks and teases for Rumble), but it also failed to communicate what type of gameplay a "strategic platformer" even entailed, with most assuming it was a MOBA. Other details, such as it being a $30 game instead of a free-to-play title, the lack of single-player, and requiring a constant online connection, continued to garner skepticism (especially since Crash's previous online venture had just shut down prematurely). And while the beta garnered positive responses from those who played it, the beta itself was criticized for being locked behind pre-orders. Throw in that the game was first released on PlayStation and Xbox with no word of Nintendo or PC releases, in repeat of a disliked strategy Activision has done several times before, and you had a fanbase that was cautiously optimistic at best, assuming they even knew when the game came out.
  • The announcement of the Retro Threads Tawna skin did not go over well. Fans of Classic Tawna who want to see the character return and co-exist with her Crash 4 self see it as the final nail in the coffin for the character, and as a signal that she is never coming back. Even worse since it was locked behind Pre-Order Bonus, with multiple instances of even those who did pre-order it not receiving the skin.
• That One Attack:
  • Crash and Coco's super slam. More powerful than their regular slam, this move will either knock back enemy players or flatten them, leaving them vulnerable to a counter-attack from Crash or Coco. What earns this move a spot on the list is the fact that it has no cooldown whatsoever, meaning that if there's a Crash or Coco on the enemy team that isn't a bot, be prepared for them to spam this move over and over again like there's no tomorrow.
  • Coco's Quantum Wall. It is easily Coco's deadliest move in her arsenal, as not only can she use it as a shield to protect her from incoming projectiles, and not only can it damage enemy players on contact, but she can and will spam it relentlessly the very second its cooldown expires. Especially if you go head to head with an enemy Coco while trying to capture gem pads.
  • Cortex's transformation blast. If you're unlucky enough to get hit by the blast, you'll be transformed into a defenseless animal for a few seconds, leaving yourself vulnerable for a counter-attack from Cortex or another enemy player. And God help you if Cortex transforms you while you're directly over a bottomless pit or a body of water...
  • Tawna's hookshot and uppercut combo, especially after her damage buff. Basically, Tawna hookshots an enemy, stunning them briefly as she rockets towards them at ridiculous speeds, and follows it up with an uppercut and a downward smash. If you're unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this move, then be prepared to kiss at least half of your health bar goodbye.
    • And good luck placing a Healing Fridge down to recover any lost health, as she can destroy it in seconds with her uppercut.
  • Elora's Heal Aura, while not an attack per se, can be a devastating trump card when utilised beside your opposing team, especially a Blocker. Basically posing as a rechargable Healing Fridge, the best attempts to wear down an opponent can be rendered all for nought with this ability completely rejuvinating their health meter, meaning they can at best abilities stay put on your bank for as long as they want.
  • In terms of powerups, the Sticky TNT serves as this if you're not amongst a large group of enemy players to pass it along to. Basically, if you're playing as a character with low health (or your health is at or below the halfway point) and an enemy player with very high mobility passes the TNT onto you before running away like hell, you're screwed.
• That One Sidequest: A good amount of the game's Mastery challenges (where you have to perform character-specific tasks to earn a badge, which goes towards unlocking an emote for the character tied to the challenge) will really test your patience.
  • Dr. N. Brio's Bank Behemoth challenge. All you have to do is KO two opponents with N. Brio in his brute form in order to get the badge. Sounds easy, right? Well, it would be, except you have to do it on the bank before the transformation ends^note Keep in mind, Brio's transformation only lasts roughly five seconds. and you have to do it seven times. What makes this challenge especially frustrating is that enemy players can cancel your transformation before it even happens (unless you're midair when you transform), and have a tendency to run away from Brio after he transforms. If that happens, then have fun getting no damage in and being forced to wait for the transformation's cooldown to expire before you can transform again.
    • Like Tropy's Dastardly Denier challenge below, this challenge was tweaked to be made easier with the August 15, 2023 patch. Now, you only have to KO one enemy on the bank before the transformation ends. Though the aforementioned issues still remain, so it will still take some time to complete nonetheless.
  • Also, there's Female N. Tropy's Dastardly Denier challenge. You have to deny 300 Wumpa by attacking opponents and without getting hit by them. With how relentless and merciless some enemy players can get, this turns what would be something relatively doable into a Luck-Based Mission. Also, like N. Brio's challenge, you have to do it seven times.
    • However, there are some methods to help make getting the badge easier (or up to three in a single match if you're lucky). In Tar Valley, the Aku Aku Relic Station will make you invincible once you get three Aku Aku masks, allowing you to easily attack opponents without taking a hit. The same strategy can also be implemented on Calamity Canyon with the Junker Ball Relic Stations, Serenity Gardens with the 'Akano Relic Stations, and Tiki Towers with the Uka Uka Relic Station. (Although in the latter three's case, powerups such as the Flytrap Spitter, Sticky TNT, Bounce Crates, Minefield and Garbage Dump can still damage you if you're not careful)
    • Thankfully, this challenge was made significantly easier with the 1.05 patch. The new requirement for the challenge has you denying 300 Wumpa without getting knocked out. Though it still requires a bit of time to pull off.
  • N. Gin's Gem Jam challenge, which requires you to knock two enemies off Gems with N. Gin's Boom Boxes within five seconds^note Six seconds following a September 28, 2023 patch.. For reasons unclear, this challenge is a lot harder than the description makes it seem, as even if you do manage to knock two enemies back with N. Gin's Boom Box, it won't count; because what the game doesn't tell you is that the enemies need to be physically standing on the Gem for it to register. And like all the other mastery challenges, it needs to be done seven times.
    • Even outside of that, N. Gin's Boom Box is very weak and can easily be destroyed by enemy players, forcing you to wait until the Boom Box's cooldown expires before you can place another one down, and Heaven help you if they destroy that one as well...
  • To an extent, Crash's Double Flop challenge, which requires you to flatten two enemies with a single slam or super slam. While not impossible to do, it does require the right setup to pull it off and an insane amount of patience.
    • Worse, nine times out of ten, you'll only flatten one enemy and simply knock the other one back.
  • While not a Mastery challenge, Ripto's Top Booster challenge (which you earn said badge for capturing the most Gems in a match) can also be seen as this, as even with his Tsunami move allowing him to cover more ground, he's still one of the slowest characters in the game, and odds are good that other characters with better mobility will get to the Gems and capture them before you do. Your best bet at trying to get the badge is to camp out near the Gems before they reactivate and hope that an enemy player doesn't come along and fight you for them. The worst part? You have to earn 30 of these badges to complete the challenge.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Although a crossover with Spyro wasn’t too surprising, given that both series have done crossovers before, quite a few people were shocked when the announcement for Season 2 showed that Ripto was going to join the roster. While his inclusion wasn’t too out of nowhere given his popularity as a villain, almost no one expected him to appear in the game before the purple dragon himself, who didn't get in until the following season.
  • Similarly, Elora in Season 3. While a welcomed fan favourite for Spyro fans, many were surprised Elora, a one-time Non-Player Character, was chosen over the multiple regulars in the series with their own established abilities and playable movesets. This makes Elora a rare instance of a character who had their ability-set concieved completely from scratch by a different franchise.

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