Neo Cortex

"I've ruined the lives of so many, I can't be expected to remember them all...!"

- Doctor Neo Cortex

Doctor Neo Cortex (also known as simply Cortex) is the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Born in Peoria, Illinois, he is a professional evil scientist bent on world domination. He is best known as the creator of his arch-nemesis: Crash Bandicoot. Cortex is usually the final boss of the games he is in, with a handful of exceptions.

Prior to Crash Bandicoot
Cortex spent his youth as the youngest son in a family of circus clowns (as written in the production bible). Unlike his family, which loved the spotlight and making people laugh, Cortex spent most of his time reading science books. He was always teased, and at the age of three, had an "N" tattooed on his head for "nerd" by a particularly evil group of circus performers. But soon, the torment stopped, after a "freak" explosion wiped out his entire family, leaving Cortex to fend for himself - though a sibling may have possibly survived, as Cortex's niece, Nina, is well known to him; however, Cortex may have married (or at least been in a relationship) and been Nina's father himself, as in Crash Twinsanity, he says "My daught... err... NIECE!" - this was when Cortex decided that he would not rest until he ruled the world.

At some point, Cortex enrolled into Madame Amberley's Academy of Evil, a school for evil children. It was here that Cortex met up with his life-long associates, Nitrus Brio and N. Gin. It was also where Cortex tested the very first prototype of the Evolvo-Ray, using his pet parrots, Victor and Moritz, as its first test subjects. The experiment went wrong, sending the two twins into the Tenth Dimension, where they were lost for many years before their return in Twinsanity.

At another point in time, both Cortex and Brio enrolled in high school. But even here they were mocked by the cruel teenagers, a tradition that became the story of his life. They suffered through high school together until another "freak" explosion blew up the entire building, as well as most of the surrounding town. Supposedly by coincidence, they were far away from the detonation, two miles underground in an abandoned plutonium mine.

The terrible twosome went on a world-smashing rampage, leaving in their wake a trail of charred earth so monumental that they became international criminals. Seeking sanctuary from the various forces against them, they found three deserted islands off of the coast of Australia and there began their experiments on local wildlife. In memory of his and Brio's "glory days", Cortex named them the Cortex Commandos. Brio created the Evolvo-Ray, a machine capable of mutating common animals into intelligent super-beasts; meanwhile Cortex came up with the Cortex Vortex, which trained the mutated animals to obey their master. Cortex, however, did not see the problems with his machine.

Crash Bandicoot
"MORON! This bandicoot will be my General. And he will lead my Cortex Commandos to world domination. This time I shall reign TRIUMPHANT! We are closer than ever before. Quickly! Into the vortex!"

- Doctor Neo Cortex



Together, the doctors began experimenting with the animals and plants from the surrounding islands. Though some creations were more successful than others, none compare to possibly Cortex's greatest mistake ever - Crash Bandicoot. One quiet evening at Cortex Castle, Cortex had just captured two eastern barred bandicoots; one male and one female. Cortex planned to have the male be the general of his army. The male is the first to get zapped by the Evolvo-Ray. It is then raised into the Cortex Vortex, though Brio insists that the Vortex is not ready. It turns out he was right as the male, Crash, is rejected by the machine. Cortex is furious, as he gives chase trying to capture the freed bandicoot. Crash escapes by jumping out the window, but leaves his bandicoot girlfriend, Tawna, in the clutches of Cortex's henchmen. She is used as a lure by Cortex in order to get Crash back. After a time, Crash arrives at the castle, where Cortex confronts him on his hoverboard atop his airship. However, he is defeated when Crash destroys the hoverboard by lobbing Cortex's projectiles back at him, and apparently falls to his death. In the game's epilogue, it is stated that after Crash foiled his plans, Cortex simply "disappeared". The game, however, hints at his return, stating that "evil geniuses are harder to squash than cockroaches".

Crash Bandicoot (manga)
Cortex is first seen alongside Brio and Tawna in the first issue of the manga, observing Crash from his castle tower with a surveillance robot. Despite Crash's confidence, Cortex asserts that he will never even make it to the castle, as the island is full of traps.

Eventually, Crash and Aku Aku arrive anyway. Cortex sends spiked saucers to chase them out, though this fails. He has also prepared a trap in the observatory where Tawna is held, though it lands on his own head rather than trapping Crash. Cortex and Brio then team up against Crash. Cortex drinks a potion which causes him to become more feminine; he and Crash argue over who is more beautiful. Cortex also accidentally shoots Brio with his ray gun, then tearfully blames Crash. Promising to avenge Brio, he triggers a trap door underneath Crash, who recovers by bouncing back up on a jump crate. Eventually, Cortex is defeated by Crash's spin attack, causing Brio to initiate the castle's self-destruct sequence. The manga ends with Cortex and Crash popping out of the rubble unharmed, dressed as women and showering each other with compliments.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
"You fool! Do you think I'm unaware of the situation? If we don't have any friends left on the surface, then we need to find… an enemy…"

- Doctor Neo Cortex



In the intro, it is shown that Cortex survived the fall from his hoverboard and landed in a cavern beneath Cortex Castle. After lighting a match, Cortex finds a well hidden crystal, causing him to laugh menacingly. The match he lighted then burns out.

One year later, Cortex is seen with his new partner, a cyborg named Doctor N. Gin, and has just finished building a new Cortex Vortex in space. The crystal that Cortex found in the cavern turned out to be a Master Crystal, but N. Gin informs him that they will need 25 slave crystals to harness the power of the "solar flux" which Cortex needs to enslave the human race. None of his former henchmen on Earth help him now, so he locates Crash and warps him to a Warp Room where Cortex (as a hologram) tricks Crash into getting the crystals for him with a promise that he is using it for good purposes to stop the planets aligning. He sometimes drops hints of his real plan as Coco Bandicoot starts hacking into the hologram and tries to tell Crash what's really going on. By the time Coco finally tells Crash, he has already given the crystals to Cortex. Crash then fights Cortex in space with jet packs, attempting to stop him from reaching the Cortex Vortex. The evil scientist loses once again and blasts off into outer space yelling "You haven't seen the last of me, Crash Bandicoot!". However, the Cortex Vortex is still in space, so after Crash collects all the gems, Dr. Nitrus Brio (Cortex's former right-hand man from the first game) helps blow it up with a laser cannon. However, a part of it falls towards Earth and destroys a temple, freeing an evil mask.

Crash Bandicoot: Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken
Cortex appears in ''Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken'' where he plans on turning everyone into his mindless slaves with his newly built Cortex Vortex. The Vortex requires Power Stones as an energy source, however. Cortex contacts Crash from space and tasks him with gathering the Power Stones, telling Crash that he will save the world and become irresistible. He even decides to help Crash find them when he grows tired of waiting, which leads the two into comical situations.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped
"Crash, Crash, Crash...why must you always muck in my mud? Oh, look! I have a mask helping me, too! We will find out which one is more powerful soon enough!"

- Doctor Neo Cortex when the player enters the first time vortex.

It turns out that the evil mask, Uka Uka, has been working with Cortex and is the younger twin brother of Aku Aku, who imprisoned him in the temple to protect the world from his wrath. Uka Uka is upset that Cortex lost the previous crystals and gems, meaning there is no power source. But, now that Cortex's bumbling actions have set Uka Uka free, he can continue to enslave the world, and with a time traveller named Nefarious Tropy by his side, he'll make sure Cortex succeeds. Together, they build the Time Twister Machine in order to retrieve the crystals and gems from their original places in time. However, Crash and Coco start retrieving them. Throughout the game, Cortex and Uka Uka talk to Crash and Coco via a warp vortex. Cortex is also seen watching the two battle with Tiny Tiger. By the end, he becomes mad and has his boss fight with Crash under the Time Twister while Uka Uka battles Aku Aku. Cortex loses and falls down a hole onto a platform below, where he lets out his frustration: "Defeated again! This is not fair! Maybe I should retire to a nice big beach, with a nice big drink and a woman with nice big... bags of ice for my head." Uka Uka, however, still has high hopes, as Crash and Coco don't have all the gems. Eventually, though, they do get all the gems and fight Cortex and Uka Uka together. When the two villains lose again, the Time Twister Machine malfunctions, causing a warp sphere to engulf them, Tropy, and itself. Luckily, Crash, Coco, Aku Aku and the other animals escape. Meanwhile, in another time period where the humans have been reduced to infants, Cortex and Tropy are seen fighting over Uka Uka in a tug-of-war.

Crash Team Racing
In Crash Team Racing, Cortex takes part in the race to beat the crabby alien, Nitros Oxide, who threatens to turn the world into a parking lot if he wins and make its inhabitants his slaves. He doesn't share the more heroic characters' motives for taking on Oxide, but he still desires to stop the invader so that nobody else will be able to conquer the Earth before he does. Cortex is seen in the intro laughing evilly, while powering his kart with a device resembling the Evolvo-Ray. Cortex's garage resembles a dark and dingy laboratory, where he keeps his kart plugged into a large gas tank, with a giant ray gun aimed down at it. He can be seen typing something on a small handheld device while in this room. His kart's stats are the same as Crash, Komodo Joe and Fake Crash, having even acceleration, speed, and turn; his home track is Cortex Castle. In the epilogue, Cortex discovers a new element in the periodic table which lawsuits failed to change the name, so he chose element 117, Cortexrulestheworldium.

Crash Bash
Cortex is later (in the middle of a new scheme) forced to participate on the bad side in a battle of good and evil by Uka Uka and Aku Aku. Cortex is also joined with old henchmen, N. Brio and Koala Kong, and newcomer Rilla Roo. In the minigames, both the doctors have great stats but also have their weaknesses. In the Crate Crush minigames, whilst Cortex has a terrific throw with the boxes his ray gun is very poor. In the Polar Push minigames, Cortex has a jetpack which pays off nicely but he can only use it once at a time and it takes a while for his boost meter to fill up again. He has the fastest weapon in the Tank Wars minigames which is a laser but is quite weak.

In Crash Bandicoot Carnival, the Japanese version of the game, Cortex's epilogue mentions his attempt to rule the world using a giant mech modeled after the Lab Assistants. He nearly succeeds in completing the robot, until Tiny unwittingly ruins his plans by removing one of its screws.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex
"Get ready to face my wrath, Crash Bandicoot! Hehehehahahahahahahahahahaha!"

- Doctor Neo Cortex

Sometime after Warped, Cortex had built a new space station. Uka Uka holds a meeting to discuss evil with Dr. Cortex, Dr. N. Gin, Dr. N. Tropy, Tiny, and Dingodile, and claims that their attempts at evil are pathetic, although they say that Crash is to blame for their failures. N. Tropy lets on that Cortex is working on something in his lab, which Cortex denies. N. Gin then foolishly tells Cortex that N. Tropy was probably referring to a super secret weapon he was making day and night since the last time Crash defeated him. Cortex then admits he was and is almost finished making a super weapon of unbelievable strength. The power source is the final solution, at which point Uka Uka thinks of The Elementals. Cortex agrees that once he has the power of the Elementals, then he'll have a weapon that's stronger than Crash and will wipe him off the face of Earth. With an evil laugh, he declares "Get ready to face my wrath, Crash Bandicoot!". The only way to get rid of The Elementals is to gather 25 Crystals, which is what Crash and his friends set out to do. Like the previous games, he talks to Crash, but this time via hologram. He also introduces his newest creation and super weapon: Crunch Bandicoot. However, even with the aid of The Elementals, Crunch keeps losing, and eventually Cortex's space station is destroyed (again) and Crunch becomes a member of the Bandicoot family. Portraits of Cortex are seen on stained glass windows in Wizards and Lizards.

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
In a space station orbiting the Earth, Uka Uka is upset with Doctor Neo Cortex for failing him once again, but Cortex promises a plan that will bring Earth's inhabitants down to size. Cortex then introduces his Planetary Minimizer, which he immediately uses to shrink the Earth down to the size of a grapefruit. The situation is brought to Aku Aku's attention when Cortex taunts the now-microscopic people of Earth. Crash eventually manages to return Earth to its normal size, foiling Cortex's plans once again.

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Cortex is playable in the multi-player mode in an Atlasphere. He is also seen on the game over screen, with Uka Uka obscuring his face.

Crash Nitro Kart
Cortex is a playable character in Crash Nitro Kart, in which he drives for the Team Cortex, in a well-rounded kart, with N. Gin, Tiny, and N Tropy. In the story, he is abducted (along with other characters) by Emperor Velo XXVII and forced to compete in the Galaxy Circuit. In the end, the trio is stranded on Terra, but eventually return home.

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
Doctor Neo Cortex and Ripto from the Spyro the Dragon series joined forces to rid themselves of their respective nemeses Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, by genetically modifying Ripto's "Riptoc" minions and disguising them as Crash and Spyro, leading the two protagonists to believe they are against each other. The two heroes eventually discover this and work together to defeat the two evil-doers. Spyro eventually ends up tagging Cortex with a transmitter which leads both Crash and Spyro to Cortex and Ripto's headquarters in outer space, where they are defeated.

Crash Twinsanity
"Surprised to see me, Crash? Like the fleas on your fur, I keep coming back! 3 years I spent alone in the frozen Antarctic waste! And I missed you, and so I organized a little gathering, like a birthday party, except... the exact opposite! And look, all of your friends are here; you are so very popular. Let's start handing out the presents!"

- said by Cortex before his boss battle.

After the events of Wrath of Cortex, Dr. Cortex and Uka Uka wash onto N. Sanity Island frozen in an ice cube. After three years in hiding on an iceberg, Cortex rounds up several of Crash's old enemies to ambush him. He also appears as the first boss, right before Mecha-Bandicoot. After stunning Coco and disguising himself as her, he lures Crash to an arena for the "birthday party" and does battle with Crash. Defeated once again by Crash, the two get into a brawl in a mine in which the two reluctantly agree to work together to escape. After escaping the mine, they encounter the Evil Twins, who claim they will destroy the Wumpa Islands. After Cortex doubts it, they take out his brain, causing him to flee in terror.

Crash later finds him and Cortex tells about his love of the Wumpa Islands, and envies the Tribesman, and after mentioning the bumblebee being humble, he is swarmed by bees, causing him to run blindly on a bridge full of traps, which Crash must protect him from. After being chased by bumblebees, a bee-hive falls on his head, later attracting a bear. Crash helps him escape all of these, but after escaping the bees, he ends up getting captured by Papu Papu, who hoists him high on a totem pole with intentions to cook him. Crash rescues him, but causes the totem pole he was on to fall down the nearby waterfall. He is later seen at Farmer Ernest's Farm, where he zaps Mr. Ernest with his ray gun and takes the crystal that was promised if they got rid of the worms infesting his land. Soon, they confront the Evil Twins once again, who reveal they came from the tenth dimension and proceed to bring to life a totem statue, Tikimon.

The Evil Twins leave after their defeat, and soon Cortex gets an idea. Insisting they go to his brand new base; the Iceberg Lab where he attempts to open the main entrance with a remote, which doesn't work. Then Cortex insists they take a different route. He is later seen talking with his penguin minions who are demanding the crystal Cortex found. Then he tries to bribe them with fish to let him keep his crystal. But, the bribing doesn't work and they growl at him until Cortex shoots one of the penguins. Then he and Crash continue their journey until they accidentally free Uka Uka, who was frozen in a cave. Uka Uka then tries killing both of them because of their history with each other, by making himself a body of ice. The duo defeat Uka Uka.

After revealing the Twins' plan, Uka Uka allies with him, saying that destroying the world is his job. Crash and Cortex eventually reach his Iceberg Lab where they confront the Evil Twins. They bring out Aku Aku and Uka Uka who end up paralyzed by the Twins. Armies of ants are then sent to kill them. Eventually, they destroy all of the ants and the Evil Twins then flee. After they leave, Aku Aku and Uka Uka question Cortex about the Evil Twins and how they said that he ruined their lives. Crash and Cortex team up to defeat the Twins. Then, Cortex shows Crash the Psychetron, a device capable of teleporting to different dimensions. Cortex then says that they need six crystals, but they have four. Cortex has the idea of going to N. Gin's battleship to get the remaining required crystals, so he leads Crash to a lookout in the mountain that the Lab is built on. Cortex leans over the railing as he desperately tries to think of a way to reach the ship before it sets sail, only for Crash to kick Cortex over the edge in order to use him as a sled and reach their destination in good time.

They eventually reach the Battleship where Cortex lies in the snow, humiliated, where Dingodile hears their intention of getting the Evil Twins' treasure. After Crash is launched back to the Iceberg Lab, Cortex is standing there, where he goes to the Psychetron room and gets attacked by Coco, who thinks Cortex has kidnapped Crash. After kicking him in the groin, she sends him into the Psychetron controls, screwing it up, and paralysing Coco. Then the two go to Cortex's Airship and to the Academy of Evil to find Nina Cortex, the only one capable of fixing the Psychetron. While flying, they are ambushed by the Evil Twins and an army of ants. Cortex eventually defeats them and they reach the Academy of Evil where Cortex accidentally finds a hidden staircase to the boiler room under the central fountain. Crash later finds him in the boiler, where he gets stuck in a pipe. Crash and Cortex eventually find Dingodile in a large boiler room, where he threatens Cortex to give him his cut of the treasure that he thinks that they found in his Australian accent. Cortex then replies to him that he doesn't know what he said, then Dingodile shoots the platform he is on and it flies up.

"My airship! Without it, we're stranded! Tie it to something secure, I said! Hurry, Nina, or you'll miss the bus!"

- Cortex to Nina

He is later seen in the classrooms where he nearly gets hit by toxic spray coming out of the walls and quickly slides under it. He then orders Crash to attach the airship to a secure area while he goes to look for his niece, Nina. After going through many hallways and classrooms, he finds his niece, who scares him with a fake dummy of herself. Then, when he tries to shake hands with her, they clamp onto his hand. He then sends Nina out and he goes to the fountain area only to find that Crash had misunderstood his orders and detached the airship, then Nina later catches it. He later meets up with her in a room where they are ambushed by ants and Nina leaves. After defeating the ants, Cortex wanders into a large acid room, where he meets up with the founder of the Academy of Evil, Madame Amberley. She mocks Cortex and the two eventually get into a fight. Cortex later snaps all the ropes supporting Madame Amberley and she falls into the acid pit.

"This is where we wrong the rights! And sweep the past under the rug."

- Cortex being dramatic

He later finds Crash and the three head to the airship, where Cortex remembers the origin of the Evil Twins, on how he was eight years old building an Evolvo-Ray prototype, which he used on his pets, Victor and Moritz, and how the machine messed up and the two parrots disappeared. Then, they land at the Iceberg Lab where they warp to the Tenth Dimension. When they arrive there, Evil Crash, Crash's counterpart, appears and kidnaps Nina. They go to a balcony pursuing Evil Crash, where Cortex thinks on how they are going to save Nina, when Crash once again pushes Cortex off the balcony and uses him as a makeshift sled. After pursuing Evil Crash to his house, Cortex attempts to save Nina but ends up getting chased by Evil Crash. Crash eventually saves him and they reach the Evil Twins' base, where Cortex and Nina go in, with Crash following them. They meet up in the Evil Twins' treasure room where they meet N. Trophy, N. Brio, and N. Gin there, when Cortex states that the treasure is stolen property. Spyro the Dragon then comes out and burns N. Tropy, N. Gin, and N. Brio.

"True, now, PLAYTIME IS OVER!!! Victor! Moritz! Back in your cage! You naughty boys!"

- Cortex to the Evil Twins

They meet up with the Twins in their massive throne room, where they have a discussion. Cortex then orders them to go into their cage, which they obey out of habit. They then transform their cage into a large robot, the Deathbot, beginning their boss fight. Nina takes out the shields, making it vulnerable, leaving Cortex to destroy the weapons. Mecha-Bandicoot then hops in front of him, revealing Crash piloting it. After Crash destroys the Deathbot, they flee in terror, soon to be eaten by Evil Crash. After this, they all return to their dimension, where Cortex betrays Crash, activating the Psychetron, but it malfunctions and sends Cortex into Crash's brain, where he is surrounded by thousands of Crashes all doing the Crash dance. Cortex screams, Crash is unbothered, and the game ends.

He later escapes from Crash's brain and the two are sent to a psychiatrist, where they practice trust exercises, where Cortex will fall backwards and Crash will catch him. But Crash is distracted by a Wumpa Fruit that rolls up to his foot and Cortex falls backwards and sits up and replies "I hate bandicoots", then falls backwards again.

Crash Boom Bang!
Cortex appears as an unlockable playable character in Crash Boom Bang!.

Crash of the Titans
"Is- Is this thing on? Yeah? Haha! I'm back, babies! Surrender to Cortex!"

- Cortex on his airship In Crash of the Titans, Cortex uses Mojo to mutate the island's residents into Titans using a method taught to him by Uka Uka called Mojo Mutation. He arrives at Crash's House and kidnaps Coco and Aku Aku, who Crash saves in the first level from a group of Ratnicians. He proceeds to The Temple of Zoom to drain it of all its mojo. He then challenges Crash atop the temple with his Yuktopus. After the Yuktopus failed to kill Crash after the first boss fight, Uka Uka replaces him with his niece, Nina Cortex, who continues his plan of creating a giant robot called The Doominator and use it to destroy all of Wumpa Island. Almost all the minions agree that Nina is a better leader than Cortex, except N. Gin. At the end of the game, Nina is defeated in her Arachnina and Cortex "forgives" Nina for what she did. In this game and in Crash: Mind Over Mutant he is much taller and has a different lab coat. He is also less intelligent and a sore loser.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant
In Crash: Mind Over Mutant, Cortex sent Nina to Evil Public School for betraying him, then reconciles with his old colleague Dr. Nitrus Brio to invent the NV, a personal digital assistant that controls whoever uses it by transmitting bad Mojo, unwillingly supplied by Uka Uka through the use of a milking machine. He later engages in a fight with Crash inside his new Space Head space station, empowering himself with the use of a mutagen formula stolen from N. Brio. Upon losing the fight, Cortex throws a tantrum, causing the Space Head to plummet towards Earth. Returning to normal, he escapes the Space Head in a smaller shuttle with an unnamed Znu. In his boss fight, he can burp or fart which stuns enemies, punch the ground, and perform a spin that will instantly defeat any enemy on contact.

Skylanders: Imaginators
Dr. Cortex appears in Skylanders: Imaginators as a playable character. He is a Tech Sensei of the Sorcerer Battle Class.

Cortex is also responsible for setting into motion the events of the Adventure Pack level Thumpin' Wumpa Islands. After 20 years of planning, Cortex intends to use the rhythmic nature of Wumpa Island to power his Cortex Matrix Chamber and build an unstoppable army. However, despite his belief that none of his henchmen will be around to spoil his plan, Fake Crash hi-jacks the robot and starts dancing poorly, causing terrible vibes to happen across the island that threaten to shatter it. Cortex, now working for the Skylanders, must make amends and stop Fake Crash.

Skylanders Academy
Cortex was only mentioned by Crash that he was going to stop him from taking over the world and creating an army of evil Mutants.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Cortex appears in the N. Sane Trilogy, reprising his roles in the remade versions of the first three games.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Cortex reprises his role as a playable character in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Cortex's infant version, Baby Cortex, also was added as a playable character in the Post-Grand Prix update, and is available for purchase from the Pit Stop for 1500 Wumpa Coins.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Following their defeat in Warped, Cortex, N. Tropy and Uka Uka have remained within their temporal prison for at least a decade as the latter pair made multiple attempts to create an opening; with Cortex being mostly dismissive and pessimistic. When Uka Uka finally creates a quantum rift for their escape, Cortex and N. Tropy leave their prison and begin making moves against Crash.

Cortex recruits both N. Gin and Brio back to his side and sends them to either retrieve the Quantum Masks, stop Crash and Coco or both. After both of them are defeated, Cortex takes matters into his own hands and sets up various traps against Crash at the 11th Dimension. His first attempt to destroy a makeshift bridge that his enemies were meant to travel on is foiled when he accidentally sneezes and hits his detonator too early.

Following this, he confronts Crash and Coco at the end of the dimension; promising that he would finally triumph over his adversaries in his fourth attempt. In spite of his new weapons, Cortex is ultimately beaten once more, but N. Tropy sends a transmission effectively ditching Cortex for a "new partner" and revealed his plan to destroy all the timelines and create a new one with himself at its helm. Seeing that N. Tropy was now a greater threat and wishing to put an end to their constant fighting, Cortex opts to ally with Crash and Coco.

The team moves to the Eggipus Dimension in order to find the last Quantum Mask, Ika-Ika. Once all four Quantum Masks are recruited, the team receives a transmission from N. Tropy and his partner, an alternate, female N. Tropy from the alternate Tawna's universe. The pair soon force Nitros Oxide into flying them to the Bermugula Orbit, but Cortex is able to stall them by firing a Tractor Beam before Oxide's ship can leave; allowing Crash and Coco to infiltrate the ship.

Following this, the group later confront the Doctors N. Tropy after Tawna's defeat, and Cortex, like Tawna and Dingodile, are sent through the Dimensional Rifts by the Doctors. Nonetheless, they return once Crash and Coco prevail; with Cortex attempting to pour salt in the wound by telling N. Tropy that their alliance was no longer necessary though Dingodile knocks their foes into a Dimensional Rift before Cortex can complete his statement.

As a reward for their heroics, the Quantum Masks take the team to Neon City, the culinary capital of the Universe, before returning home. As the trip continues, Cortex realizes that, with Kupuna-Wa's time-traveling abilities, he can undo his mistake of creating Crash.

At the end of their trip, Cortex kidnaps Kupuna-Wa and forces her to take them back to 1996. Cortex soon attempts to warn his past self, who thinks that the present Cortex is an imposter and makes constant attempts to flee through the castle's traps and passages. Present Cortex is forced to eventually capture his past self and incapacitates him in a cage whilst also imprisoning the other Quantum Masks.

As he cannot kill his past self since it would erase him, present Cortex uses his new machine, powered by the Quantum Masks, to finish Crash and Coco. Despite his efforts, Cortex is beaten once again, and the Quantum Masks throw him into a dimensional rift as punishment while past Cortex makes the failed attempt to use the Cortex Vortex on Crash.

Upon landing from the rift, Cortex notices that he is left on a solitary desert. Despite his defeat, Cortex is finally free from the stress of having to fight the Bandicoots once again and begins relaxing. In the 106% ending, he is abruptly woken up from his relaxation by a re-energized Uka Uka.

During the flashback tapes, it is revealed Cortex had Crash undergo several trials before confirming that the Bandicoot was the ideal choice as the general. Initially, Cortex had placed crates as immovable obstacles; only for Crash to destroy said crates. Among his ramblings, it's revealed that Cortex had:


 * Used Crash to test the first nitro crates, which he remarked still required more research and development. These advances later took the form of the nitro bounce crates which were used for Coco's trials.
 * Handed down his old shorts to Crash, and N. Brio's overalls to Coco.
 * Created TNT and nitro crates after being inspired by cartoons.
 * Attempted to feed Crash foods other than Wumpa Fruit with little success, and revealed that he was also allergic to said fruit.
 * Expressed worry over his treatment of N. Brio and concerns for possible treachery.
 * Made a diary entry that revealed that he briefly felt like a father figure to Crash.
 * Given Crash the full name of "Crashworth Cortex the First".
 * Begun running tests on Coco following Crash's escape.
 * Interviewed and later hired N. Gin, and also had him double as a secretary.
 * Been in contact with Nefarious Tropy since before the events of Cortex Strikes Back.
 * Complained about having to choose between mutating crocodiles or dingoes following bandicoots, and regretted that he could only pick one.

Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
Cortex appears in On the Run! as a boss for Crash or Coco defeat. He plans to conquer the multiverse. Just like in It's About Time, he is also mentioned on Crash's character profile as someone whom he hates.

Personality
"I'm an evil scientist, what did you expect? This isn't a game."

- Cortex Cortex embodies many of the classic traits of psychopathy, being short-tempered, reckless, having no apparent conscience (as cited by N. Tropy in Crash Twinsanity), and frequently manipulating others to get what he wants.

Like many stereotypical villainous mad scientists, Cortex holds a grudge against other scientists for ridiculing his outlandish (yet workable) ideas, and was originally driven towards world domination by the desire to prove his colleagues wrong. This no longer seems to be the case, as it is revealed in Crash Bandicoot: Warped that Cortex is working under the orders of Uka Uka (Aku Aku's evil twin), one of the only two individuals that Cortex fears (the other being Madame Amberley). Although Cortex talks big and acts confident in most of his appearances, he can be shown to become nervous (sometimes downright spineless) when put in the face of extreme and immediate danger (i.e. confronting Uka Uka, running out of ammo while fighting enemies, etc.).

Another notable personality trait is his stubbornness and inability to plan ahead or learn from his mistakes; he often relies on his minion Tiny Tiger to eliminate Crash by himself, despite the fact that Tiny is too incompetent to do so alone. This impulsive behavior is first witnessed in the opening cinematic of Crash Bandicoot, in which Cortex refuses to heed the warnings of his then-henchman Doctor Nitrus Brio and tries to make Crash the general of his army, despite numerous past failures. He is shown however in Crash 4 to have regretted his stubbornness in unwittingly creating Crash as his further self is shown to get more and more frustrated in how his past self will not listen to him and even outright laments it by saying "Do have any idea how stubborn I used to be?" something that Crash, Coco and Aku Aku are shown to for once agree with him, which also implies he is at least relatively less stubborn then he used to be. He also is shown to smart enough in realizing that although he wants to stop his past self from creating Crash he cannot kill him as that would result in his own death. (as well as a potential time paradox)  Cortex can become quite irritated or agitated when things don't go his way, especially in Crash Tag Team Racing; while most other characters express mild annoyance when Crash fails to perform an errand for them, Cortex scolds and lashes out at him the minute he comes back empty-handed, calling him a "blithering imbecile", "cantankerous twerp" and saying "You're the worst mutation I've ever created!". Mutually supportive relationships with other characters is also evident in the crossover game Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, in which Doctor Cortex temporarily teams up with Spyro the Dragon villain Ripto to destroy both Crash and Spyro, only to start bickering with Ripto at one point.



Cortex is not above lying and deceiving others to fulfill his evil desires, most of which include gathering Crystals to power up his doomsday weapons. He frequently uses the gullible Crash Bandicoot to complete these deeds, most evident in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Tag Team Racing, claiming in both games to use the weapons for "mass-helping people" as he puts it. His egotistical tendencies also cause him to alter facts about his life, claiming himself to be the most popular student in his school, even though in reality he was an object of hatred among many students, one going as far as to toss a dagger in his direction. Cortex's vain side becomes most obvious in Crash Tag Team Racing, in which he often calls himself beautiful and pretty.

During It's About Time, Cortex is notably more tired and pessimistic due to the stress of fighting and losing to the Bandicoots, to the point of constantly rambling for a full decade according to N. Tropy. While genuinely tired from the constant fighting with Crash, Cortex's obsession with finally triumphing over Crash as well as potentially stopping his greatest blunder proved to be his great undoing as he couldn't control himself from an opportunity to permanently end Crash once again, leading to another defeat.

For the most part, Cortex doesn't care for the lives and feelings of others, caring only for himself and what he wants. While this seems to be the case in most games, the one moment in which Cortex actually shows concern for someone else is in Crash Twinsanity, in which at one point his niece, Nina Cortex, is kidnapped by an evil version of Crash. It is at this point clear that Nina is the only living thing that Cortex cares about as well as being one of his only redeeming qualities, with the latter going as far as thoughtlessly putting himself in danger of being mauled by the ferocious Evil Crash during the level "Bandicoot Pursuit". Besides this instance, Cortex is largely apathetic, seeing others only as tools for his quest in world domination (although presumably he likes N. Gin, Tiny and Dingodile really, as he puts up with them despite their past failings). It is unknown whether Cortex feels any regret for replacing Nina's hands with metallic death-traps, though this is unlikely, given Cortex's psychopathic tendencies.

Physical Appearance
Cortex appears as a short, typically yellow-skinned, large-headed human with a giant N symbol (which according to the official Crash Bandicoot website and Wrath of Cortex official strategy guide, stands for "Nerd", or more appropriately- "Neo") located on his forehead since the age of 3. In the Naughty Dog-developed games as well as Crash Bash and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, this N appears to be painted or branded on; since Crash Nitro Kart, the N is shown to be metal-plated. He is most often seen wearing a lab coat, with some sort of black clothing underneath, and donning rubber (leather in later installments) gloves and boots. Cortex is balding, with hair only on the sides of his head and a thick strand on top. Whatever hair he does have is black (blue in some games) and frazzled. He is also shown to have a short beard and bushy eyebrows with the same color along with this. His eyelids are prominently red in most of his appearances, while they are black in Crash Nitro Kart, Crash Twinsanity and the Radical Entertainment-developed games. The top of his head is typically depicted as being either unusually flattened or nearly-flattened towards the top. Cortex is a person of short stature in most of his games, seldom being taller than Crash in any of them (with the exceptions of Crash of the Titans, Crash: Mind Over Mutant and to a lesser extent Crash Bash and Crash Twinsanity). As a child at the Academy of Evil, Cortex's appearance was largely the same, the biggest difference being a full head of hair, trimmed eyebrows and lacking a beard. The N on his forehead is also depicted as lowercase rather than uppercase.

Crash Bandicoot
“His early years truly molded this wretched creature into the Mad Scientist he is today. Often ridiculed by the scientific community for his outlandish (yet nearly workable) theories, Dr. Cortex is motivated by one driving force- to shut those know-it-alls up once and for all. Now if he can do this by creating a mutated army of once-animals, now-armored beasts, then that will just make his day. It will also make him supreme ruler of the planet.”
 * Manual

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
“Cortex claims to have learned his lesson. He says he’s out to save the world. But a word of advice – no matter what you do, don’t turn your back on this guy unless you’re running full tilt in the opposite direction.”
 * Manual

Crash Bandicoot: Warped
“Cortex won’t rest until bandicoots are extinct.”
 * Manual

Crash Team Racing
“Crash’s former arch-enemy, evil Dr. Cortex wants to stop Oxide as much as anyone. Cortex is quite upset. “Who does this Oxide think he his? I was here first! It’s MY world to conquer!” The Cortex kart is a good all-round performer like the Crash kart.”
 * Manual

Crash Bash
“Dr. Neo Cortex is still bent on world-domination. Whether you think of him as the ultimate evil mind or a power crazed lunatic – just don’t tell him when he’s sitting in his tank. His laser cannon task shots have twice the range of any other contestant. Don’t trust this guy as far as you can throw him! In fact, Uka Uka doesn’t really even trust this guy.”
 * Manual (NTSC-U)

“DR. NEO CORTEX – mad scientist”
 * Manual (PAL)

Crash Nitro Kart
“Crash’s archenemy intends to defeat Crash once and for all with his team of racing henchmen. Like Crash, he excels at acceleration.”
 * Manual

Crash Twinsanity
“Dr. Neo Cortex is an evil scientist – the creator of Crash Bandicoot and also his sworn enemy, for Crash has ruined every one of Cortex’s wicked schemes. Now Cortex has to swallow his pride and work with that meddling marsupial, at least until the opportunity arises to turn things to his advantage. This is the worst day of his life…”
 * Manual

Crash Boom Bang!
"An evil mad scientist, Cortex is Crash's archenemy."
 * In-Game

Crash Nitro Kart 2
“This evil genius has good acceleration, but lacks accuracy.”
 * In-Game

Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
“The maniacal menace ever-present thorn in Crash’s side (although Cortex would say it’s the other way around), the ‘good’ doctor always has a plan to take over the multiverse. Pretty ambitious stuff for the youngest son of a family of travelling circus clowns – and there’s definitely nothing to laugh about when it comes to the evil genius of Neo Periwinkle Cortex.”
 * Promo

Appearances

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Crash Bandicoot (manga)
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
 * Crash Bandicoot: Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken
 * Crash Bandicoot: Warped
 * Crash Bandicoot: Kattobi! Spin World
 * Crash Team Racing
 * Crash Bash
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
 * Crash Bandicoot Blast
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced (playable in multiplayer mode)
 * Crash Nitro Kart
 * Crash Nitro Mini Golf (cameo)
 * Crash Bandicoot & Spyro Adventure World (cameo on code card)
 * Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
 * Crash Twinsanity 3D
 * Crash Nitro Kart (mobile)
 * Crash Twinsanity
 * Crash Twinsanity (mobile)
 * Crash Tag Team Racing
 * Crash Racing
 * Crash Boom Bang!
 * Crash Bandicoot Party Games
 * Crash of the Titans
 * Crash Village
 * Crash Nitro Kart 2
 * Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
 * Crash: Mind Over Mutant
 * Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
 * Crash Bandicoot: Mutant Island
 * Skylanders: Imaginators
 * Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
 * Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
 * Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Digital Comic
 * Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
 * Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!

Crash Bandicoot
Dr. Cortex initially had high hopes for Crash, planning to make him general of his mutant army, the Cortex Commandos. Eager to proceed with his scheme, he rushed him into the highly unstable Cortex Vortex, thus sealing his future with Crash. Naturally, Cortex hates Crash, seeing him as his biggest mistake. Nevertheless, Cortex isn't above teaming up with the marsupial if a greater evil threatens him and/or the world, or even trying to appeal to Crash's kind nature and earn his pity.

Nitrus Brio
As Dr. Cortex's first lackey, N. Brio warned him that the Cortex Vortex was unstable, but was ignored. After failing to stop Crash from foiling Cortex's plans, N. Brio was replaced by Doctor N. Gin in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Feeling double-crossed, N. Brio vowed revenge against Cortex, and got it by destroying Cortex's space station (with the help of Crash and the Gems he'd collected). However, the two reconciled in Crash: Mind Over Mutant, working together once again to use NVs to conquer Earth.

Uka Uka
In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, it was revealed that Cortex had been receiving instructions from the malevolent spirit, Uka Uka. Once freed from his temple prison, Uka Uka took control of Cortex's operations. Neo ultimately took this standing back in Mind Over Mutant and broke their partnership altogether. However, by Skylanders: Imaginators, the two seem to have reconciled, working together to save Skylands from Kaos and his Doomlanders. Uka Uka frequently loses his temper with Dr. Cortex, admonishing him for his incompetence.

N. Gin
Following his first defeat, Cortex replaced his previous lackey with the cyborg engineer, N. Gin, who has remained Cortex's right-hand man in nearly every game since. Despite being dismissive towards him at best and abusive at worst, N. Gin remains loyal and doting towards the doctor. Though N. Gin once considered abandoning Cortex and joining Nina due to all his mistreatment, he decided against it after realizing he enjoyed most of it. He then tipped Crash off to their whereabouts, so that he could free his master.

Nina Cortex
Cortex's beloved "daught-errrr-niece", the doctor took Nina under his wing, teaching her evil principles and making a few "adjustments" to her, blessing her with her metal hands. This came back to haunt him in Crash of the Titans, when Uka Uka considered her a more competent replacement for taking over Wumpa Island. Cortex was left quite proud of this act of devious treachery, not that this stopped him from disciplining her harshly.

Quotes
"Moron! This bandicoot will be my general and he will lead my Cortex Commandos to world domination! This time I shall reign triumphant!"

- Cortex

"You fool! Do you think I'm unaware of the situation? If we don't have any friends left on the surface, then we need to find... an enemy."

- Cortex

"Crash, Crash, Crash, why must you always muck in my mud? Oh, look. I have a mask helping me, too! We will find out which one is more powerful soon enough!"

- Cortex

"Defeated again! It's not fair! Maybe I should retire to a nice big beach, with a nice big drink, and a woman with nice, big... bags of ice for my head."

- Cortex

"Get ready to face my wrath, Crash Bandicoot!"

- Cortex

"Trouble? I won't make trouble. At least not until I've conquered my planet first...!"

- Cortex

"It's true, blondes do have more fun...!"

- Cortex

"I've ruined the lives of so many, I can't be expected to remember them all...!"

- Cortex

"It's not fair! It's not fair! I want to win! It's my turn! I've been trying for flipping years!"

- Cortex

"At last! 20 years of meticulous planning, preparations and machinations have all built to this single moment! The fathomless rhythmic energies of Wumpa Island itself shall power my Cortex Matrix Chamber, and create an unstoppable of army of loyal minions! And this time, none of my stupid henchmen will be around to ruin it for me!"

- Cortex

"Crash Bandicoot, you banished me to the past, but all it did was give me more time to plan your doom. You'll find me up the mountain. Don't freeze on the way."

- Cortex

"Blasted bandicoots! Must we keep going around and around like this? Tell me, Crash, is this all there is, forever?"

- Cortex

Gallery
See: Neo Cortex/Gallery

Trivia

 * His name is a pun on the neocortex, a part of the brain.
 * According to himself, his mother's name is Sharon, his childhood pet was a rock with glued-on googly eyes and his favorite food is buttered noodles, extra butter on the side.
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, Crash Bandicoot (mobile) and Crash Bandicoot 99X are the only games to not feature Cortex as part of the main story.
 * Cortex appeared in all main series Crash games as a final boss except Crash Twinsanity and Crash of the Titans.
 * Cortex's middle name was revealed to be Periwinkle by Ebenezer Von Clutch in Crash Tag Team Racing.
 * In the German dub of the same scene, Von Clutch refers to Cortex as "Doktor Neo Strandschnecke Cortex". The word "Strandschnecke" (lit. beach snail) is the German name of the periwinkle - a snail species. It is not used as a given name in German however.
 * In the Crash Bandicoot level Generator Room, the 'N' on his forehead is missing whenever he appears on the TV screens.
 * A version of the Crash Bandicoot production bible states that the N on Cortex's forehead was tattooed there by a group of drunk clowns when he was 3 years old. The N was meant to stand for "Nerd". Later, Cortex would adopt the N as his personal emblem.
 * In Crash Tag Team Racing, it is implied that Cortex had served in the Vietnam War, though it's unknown what year he joined the war or how old he was at the time.
 * According to Clancy Brown during an interview, the reason why he stopped doing the voice of Dr. Cortex was that Universal paid actors minimum wage, and that he was never told about the Crash games (Wrath of Cortex and Crash Nitro Kart) during the time. In another interview, Lex Lang added that parents felt Brown's portrayal of the character was too mean for younger audiences, and wrote letters to Universal about the problem.
 * Curiously, when he is turned into a baby in Warped, he has his adult hairstyle and beard, but when he is seen as an 8-year old in Twinsanity, he has no beard and a different hairstyle. This is likely due to oddities from the Time Twister, rather than it being what he truly looked like as a baby. This was proven to be the case via a baby portrait seen in Cortex Castle in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.
 * Cortex and Crash are the only two characters that are playable in all of the racing games.
 * In the Crash Bandicoot production bible, Cortex is stated to have grown up in the USA, though his exact nationality is debated among fans.
 * In one version of the production bible, he is stated to have grown up in a "g*psy" wagon. "G*psy" is a slur towards Romani people, implying that Cortex has Romani heritage.
 * Cortex is sometimes thought to have Hispanic heritage - evidence for this is "Cortex" being very similar to the common Spanish surname "Cortez". Cortex's niece is named "Nina", which is also a Latin name.
 * In CTTR, one of Cortex's quotes is "Burn baby, burn! ...Disco Inferno!" when destroying another racer's car. This is a reference to the song known as "Disco Inferno" made by The Trammps.
 * Being the main villain, Cortex is naturally one of the only characters to have their name featured in a Crash game's title. His name is featured in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. The only other characters with this distinction are Crash, N. Trance and Ripto.
 * Cortex's name is also in the Japanese localised title for Crash Twinsanity, クラッシュ・バンディクー5 え〜っ クラッシュとコルテックスの野望?!? (lit. Crash Bandicoot 5: The Ambition of Crash and Cortex?!?).
 * Cortex's bestiary entry from Crash of the Titans for the Nintendo DS states the following:
 * He likes himself and dislikes Crash Bandicoot.
 * His height is 1.60m (~ 5'3") and his weight is 59kg (~ 130lbs).