Crunch Bandicoot (Boss Fights)

Crunch Bandicoot first appeared as a boss in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, where he is fought repeatedly for all five bosses, teamed up with a different villain each time. Despite being joining Crash on the side of good by the end of Wrath of Cortex, he was forced to reprise the role of boss in Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced and Crash: Mind Over Mutant due to being placed under mind control.

Rumble in the Roks
Crunch teamed up with Rok-Ko is the first boss of the game. They are fought in a rocky arena in the Atlasphere. Rok-Ko will make a ball of rocks surround Crunch before the fight starts and rolling boulders appear in the arena. The objective is to touch all boulders; boulders turn blue when Crash touches them, and when all boulders are blue, they will fly into the air and hit Crunch, causing him to lose a health point. Crunch will attempt to stop Crash by ramming into him, making him lose health, or by touching the boulders to make them turn orange, which will hurt Crash if he touches it. Orange boulders will turn back into normal ones after some time passes, or after Crash is damaged by it. This is repeated for three rounds total before Crunch is defeated, which earns Crash the Sneak Shoes ability.

Trivia

 * This level's name is likely a reference to the novel Rumble in the Bronx.

Drain Damage
Crunch assisted by Wa-Wa is the second boss of the game. The fight takes place in a swampy environment on a boardwalk over water, where Wa-Wa has transformed Crunch into a being of water. Crunch will add new moves to his attack pattern each time he gets hit. At first he will shoot blue ground waves at Crash which can be simply jumped over. Next he fires green energy waves, which must be crouched under. Finally, Crunch will cause water bubbles to appear in the gaps between platforms, forcing Crash to wait before jumping forward. After being hit four times Crunch is defeated, granting Crash the power of Double Jump.

Trivia

 * This level's name is an obvious pun on "brain damage" - in fact, the official strategy guide erroneously refers to it as Brain Damage.

Crashes to Ashes
Crunch once again appears as the third boss, this time assisted by Py-Ro. Py-Ro transforms Crunch's body into volcanic rocks, making him invulnerable to conventional attacks and granting him the power of fire. The boss involves Crash and Crunch chasing each other back and forth - Crunch first chases Crash, throwing fiery rocks at him and protecting himself by creating a wall of fire in front of him. Once Crash reaches his water-spraying Mech Suit however, Crunch turns tail and runs, dropping more hot rocks behind him to hinder Crash's progress. If Crash successfully sprays Crunch with water, Crunch will lose a hit point and progress to the next phase of the fight. With each new phase the path to run grows longer, and Crunch will become more aggressive with his rock-throwing. After Crash defeats Crunch by spraying him three times, he unlocks the Death Tornado Spin ability.

Trivia

 * The level's name is a reference to "ashes to ashes", a phrase commonly said during funeral ceremonies.

Atmospheric Pressure
This boss is the fourth and penultimate boss of the game. This time Crunch is imbued with the power of Lo-Lo, which transforms him into a genie-like entity. This is a flight level, with Crash taking to the air in his Glider to take Crunch on. Lo-Lo will move between Crunch's different body parts, broadcasting which attack he will use next. If Lo-Lo goes to Crunch's left hand, Crunch will form a ball of energy and throw it at Crash. If he goes to Crunch's head, Crunch will fire many smaller energy balls from his eyes. If Lo-Lo goes to Crunch's right hand, Crunch will fire a stream of energy out of his palm. Finally, if Lo-Lo goes to Crunch's chest, Crunch will fire small streams of energy upwards, which will slowly fall down where Crash is, leaving a gap for Crash to slip through. Crunch is mostly invulnerable in his air form; damage can only be dealt by using the glider's gun to shoot at the body part Lo-Lo is currently focused on. Crunch's health is measured using a health bar rather than a set number of hit points. Once Crash deals enough damage to deplete Crunch's health bar, Crunch's air form will explode, leaving behind the Fruit Bazooka power for Crash to collect.

Trivia

 * The sky changes color between versions - in the PS2 and Xbox versions the sky is red, while in the GameCube version it is sea green.

Crunch Time
Crunch Time is the final boss of the game. Crash has finally reached the space station of Neo Cortex himself, who is guarded by Crunch and the combined powers of all four Elementals. Crunch will press buttons to call upon one of the Elementals to attack - Rok-Ko will cause rocks to fall from the ceiling to crush Crash, Wa-Wa will make balls of ice appear that will freeze Crash if he touches one, Py-Ro will cause one of the four floor segments to set on fire, and Lo-Lo will cause bolts of electricity to fire from spikes on either side of the arena. Crash must avoid these attacks until Crunch gets tired, where he can then shoot at Crunch with his fruit bazooka. Crunch will stumble back to the centre of the platform, dazed, and punch Cortex down onto the floor. There Crash can attack Cortex to deal one point of damage, before Uka Uka drags Cortex back up to his podium. Once all four hit points are depleted, Crash earns the Speed Shoes ability.

Trivia

 * If the player jumps high and looks above where Uka Uka is, Aku Aku can be seen floating above for some reason.
 * There are a couple of version-specific elements for this boss;
 * The PS2 version uniquely features a lighting effect where the arena's lighting changes color during Py-Ro and Wa-Wa's attacks.
 * The Xbox and GameCube versions have a health bar for Cortex which is missing in the PS2 version.

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Crunch is the first boss in Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, forced to fight Crash after being hypnotized by N. Trance. He is fought in Arabia. In his boss fight, he wears a suit and a jet pack. He is armed with a laser-gun and has a shield that he can use to block Crash's attacks. Crash is flying after Crunch on a magic carpet and must shoot at Crunch using his mind blast after Crunch runs into a nitro crate, making him lower his shield. After three times, Crunch will be defeated and snapped out of his brainwashing, and Crash will receive the Super Slide ability.

Trivia

 * This fight can easily be cheesed by sticking to the very bottom of the screen, which makes it impossible for Crunch or the Nitro crates to hit Crash.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Crunch is fought in the junkyard and is the second and penultimate boss of the game, he has 9 hit points. He will be under control of the NV and Crash will have control of TK. He will be controlling five missile shooting robots, so Crash needs to lift TNT Crates off of a conveyor belt, and throw them at the robots. When the front is open, throw the TNT Crates at four more robots. Then, two mechanical arms come out of the wall and walls in front of Crunch in various spots. He will be running behind them and coming out to throw bombs, so Crash will need to use TK to throw him at two grinders, making him lose a hit point. Crash needs do this three more times. Then, Crunch will become jackable and Doom Monkeys will be flying at Crash. Now, Crash needs to use Crunch's missiles to hit N. Brio, who is running around in a glass room. Once he is hit, Crash wins.

Gallery
Crunch maléfique