This brought back so many memories, including heroic stuff Andy and Mark did on the character animation that I had completely forgotten about. I also personally postdated the discussions about how to deal with an extra dimension -- I joined soon after work on Crash (then "Willy") began -- but that part was super interesting.
(For those wondering: I worked on Crash 1 and 2 with Andy, Jason, and the other mid 90s Naughty Dogs.)