N. Trance

"Destroy all bandicoots!"

- N. Trance

N. Trance is a pink egg-shaped outer dimensional being from the Fifth Dimension. He is the self-proclaimed "Master of Hypnotism," and has the ability to hypnotize people with his claw hand which resembles a stopwatch. This hand can additionally be fired off on a chain as a weapon, though it gets stuck easily, and the time spent reeling it back in leaves him vulnerable. He is also capable of generating energy beams from his eyes to attack and confuse his enemies. The long legs attached to his powered exoskeleton are highly extendable, allowing him to jump out of his foes' reach and stomp on them from above with the immense, crushing weight of his mechanical body. He has often brainwashed Crash's friends and enemies to aid a greater evil. His name is based on the verb "entrance," meaning "to put into a trance."

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
N. Trance was first seen as one of the two main antagonists in Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced when N. Tropy got him to help Uka Uka by brainwashing Crunch, Coco and Fake Crash (who he accidentally created and mistook for the real Crash). Crash later made it to N. Tropy's secret base and defeated N. Trance with the help of Fake Crash. His boss fight is the fourth boss fight in the game and requires all 21 crystals to enter.

Crash Nitro Kart
N. Trance later makes a reappearance in Crash Nitro Kart, racing for Emperor Velo XXVII. He runs his own team, composed of him and his brainwashed cohorts: Dingodile, Polar, and Pura. All of the brainwashed members of his team wear his helmets. He also appears to have two normal hands instead of one hand wielding his hypnosis ability.

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
N. Trance makes an appearance as a playable character in the game's multiplayer mode. He also makes a cameo in the game as a card.

Crash Twinsanity
N. Trance was originally going to appear in Crash Twinsanity with a slight cosmetic change. In the game, his brain was going to be eaten by Evil Crash resulting in him wearing a plaster over his right eye. Because the scene would've been too graphic, the idea was cut.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
N. Trance reappears as a playable racer in Nitro-Fueled, retaining his status as an intermediate racer from Crash Nitro Kart. He was originally unlockable in the Pit Stop via the "Summer Time" Pack, but became sold separately as well after the Back N. Time Grand Prix update.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
N. Trance has a cameo in It's About Time, appearing in the background of Nitros Oxide's illustration in the 100% ending.

Personality
N. Trance is a smart, skilled hypnotist. Judging by some of his quotes in Crash Nitro Kart, he can be stubborn and, at times, hot-headed. N. Trance often enjoys making puns referring to eggs as evidenced in Crash Nitro Kart. He seems a little sadistic, enjoying taking over the minds of others and being eager to chase down opponents in his CNK voice lines. He can be a little cowardly at times, throwing his hands in the air wearing a shocked expression during high jumps in CNK and calling out for his mother out of fear in one of his voice lines.

In Nitro-Fueled, N. Trance is significantly more laid-back and mischievous, as indicated by the tone and accent of his voice in the game. He's also shown to like acting cool, as his standard victory animation has him making his suit play with his head and spinning it.

Original Design
N. Trance is a pink cyborg creature with an egg head shape and dark green eyes, with the left eye constantly bulging and larger than the other. It also has sharp, pointed fangs at the top of its mouth. He wears a cylindrical metal robotic suit with a bluish tint, with two small flashlights and a large circle with a red and white swirl on the front. Its robotic arms are gold, with one of its hands being a claw that hides a pocket watch used for hypnosis. Its legs are tall and shaped like a duck, with a dark blue color.

Crash Nitro Kart
In CNK, N. Trance has a model very similar to his original design, with some minor changes, such as the circle on his costume being an orange and black color. His eyes have gotten lighter and less constraining, and this time his left eye bulges a lot less often. He now has both arms the same, with the watch being absent, and the color of his legs is now purple instead of blue. He also has a small bump on his nose, making him more visible than before.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Like Crunch, N. Trance's design in the remaster appears to be more based on his Nitro Kart model than his original look. Leaving out the big addition of detail and polygons, he now has slightly larger and less sharp teeth, as well as fangs added to the underside of his mouth. His head this time has a much rounder shape and less connected to the suit. His suit now has a gray tint and several screws located at the top around where his head is, and the lanterns on his armor this time can be seen lit, revealing an orange glow. He has the color of his blue legs and an absent nose, just like in his original design, but still retaining the orange-black circle instead of the red and white one and the two arms with equal hands instead of having a clock arm.

Crash Twinsanity\Cortex Chaos (scrapped)
In the concept art found in Twinsanity, an image can be found of what N. Trance's adaptive look would look like for the game. The images show that N. Trance would have a much more rounded and smaller head, and his eyes would be black and he would have black circles under his eyes. His mouth would be bigger and more located up close to his eyes. His attire would be much lighter and the lanterns would be smaller, plus the circle in the middle would be a different color again. His robotic arms are less constraining and he would get his clock arm from the original design again. His legs are dark blue like in his first appearance, only with the addition of various yellow details and pieces next to them. Other unique additions given to him are dark shorts, a large rocket on his back (which appears to serve as a jetpack) and a bandage completely covering one of his eyes.

This same design would also later be used in the game Cortex Chaos, which unfortunately ended up being cancelled.

Crash Nitro Kart
"The egg-shaped master of hypnotism is out for revenge! He's even kidnapped Dingodile and Polar and brainwashed them so that they'll race for him. He'll try to get in the way at every turn of the track, so watch out."
 * Manual

Appearances

 * Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
 * Crash Nitro Kart
 * Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (playable in multiplayer mode)
 * Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
 * Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (cameo)

Doctor Nefarious Tropy
N. Trance is introduced as an old friend of N. Tropy, with N. Tropy calling him to assist in defeating the bandicoots in N-Tranced. They're established as being colleagues and they both share the habit of constantly making puns. N. Tropy takes the lead throughout N-Tranced, reprimanding N. Trance for his failures and giving him orders.

Gallery
See: N. Trance/Gallery

Trivia

 * Throughout the series, N. Trance's size is largely inconsistent. In his debut in N-Tranced, he was much larger than Crash and N. Tropy. In Crash Nitro Kart, he was the same size on the victory podium as he was in N-Tranced. In his kart however, he was around the same size as Crash and Cortex. In Nitro-Fueled he was the same size as he was in his kart in CNK. He also needed to stand up in his seat to drive for unknown reasons.
 * His original design had a pipe coming out of his robotic body and into the back of his head. It is unknown what this pipe does, and it was removed in later appearances.
 * His limbs are implied to be detachable, as his claw arm is switched out for a regular one in CNK and Nitro-Fueled.
 * His arms are green in the GBA version of CNK.
 * Also in CNKs GBA version, Spyro races in the same kart as N. Trance's team, but is otherwise seemingly not associated with Trance himself.
 * N. Trance's head briefly detaches from his body for some animations in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
 * One of N. Trance's quotes is "Couldn't put him together again!", referencing the children's nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty".
 * N. Trance is one of the only characters to have their name featured in a Crash game's title, in his debut game N-Tranced. The only other characters with this distinction are Crash, Cortex and Ripto.
 * He is the only playable character in Nitro-Fueled with five digits on each hand. All the other racers have up to four digits.