Crash Twinsanity

"They're working together, but they don't have to like it."

- The game's slogan

Crash Twinsanity is a video game in the Crash Bandicoot series. It was released in North America on September 28, 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and is the fifth mainline series game. It was also planned to be released on the GameCube, but was cancelled on said console for unknown reasons.

The story is set three years after the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, where the villainous Doctor Neo Cortex and the mighty Uka Uka were left stranded in the Antarctic sea. In this game's story, N. Sanity Island comes under threat by a sinister duo called The Evil Twins, forcing Crash Bandicoot to reluctantly team up with his arch nemesis and creator, Doctor Neo Cortex, whom the twins seek revenge against. There are four playable characters: Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex (sometimes both at the same time), Cortex's niece, Nina Cortex, and the Mecha-Bandicoot during the final battle.

Part 1 - N. Sanity Island
Three years have passed since the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and a frozen Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka wash up on N. Sanity Beach. As Coco innocently chases a butterfly, Cortex knocks her out with his ray gun, and disguises as her to lure an unaware Crash through Jungle Bungle. Eventually, the path stops, and "Coco" reveals herself. Cortex reveals that he has organized a gathering, "like a birthday party, except... the exact opposite", with Crash's past enemies as party guests, consisting of Dingodile, Tiny Tiger, Pinstripe Potoroo, Crunch Bandicoot (who mistakenly thought that the event was an actual birthday party), Nitros Oxide, Ripper Roo, Koala Kong, and Polar (who is holding a baseball bat as revenge for that time he was jumped on by Crash for some Wumpa Fruit in Crash Bandicoot 2). Cortex quickly starts "handing out the presents" by throwing bombs and shooting at him. Crash beats him once again, and orders Doctor N. Gin to roll out his newest creation: Mecha-Bandicoot, a giant, robotic Crash lookalike. Ultimately, Crash beats the robot up, and the resulting explosion knocks Crash and Cortex into a cave, while Dingodile and Ripper Roo leave to get lunch. Infuriated at losing to Crash again, Cortex charges at Crash, knocking the duo down a hole, leading to a cavern. As the brawl makes its way through the underground mine, Cortex eventually stumbles across a power crystal. Shortly after claiming it, a giant drill rises from the ground, separating Cortex and the crystal from Crash. The drill opens, and a horde of ant-like enemies flood out, taking crates into the drill and, occasionally, attacking Crash. Crash stops the drill and meets up with Cortex, commanding Crash to back away from his treasure, or he'll go "crystal crazy". Not listening, Crash and Cortex both grab the crystal and fight for it, helping them navigate through the cave. Eventually, the duo are chased by the aforementioned drill to the surface.

Once outside, two parrots who call themselves the Evil Twins appear and proclaim that they are going to destroy the island. Cortex makes fun of them initially, but to show how serious they are, they pull Cortex's brain out of his head using their psychic powers. Cortex flees in terror with his brain in his hands.



Crash eventually finds Cortex again, who pleads for his help. He states how he envies the simple life of the tribesfolk, the noble boar and the humble bumblebee, only to be swarmed by bees. Cortex, oblivious to any danger, goes on a mad dash through the woods because of the attacking bees. A beehive falls on Cortex's head during the run, and later a bear starts chasing him. Crash is able to help him avoid various traps along the way, until Cortex is captured by Papu Papu. Crash makes his way upriver, hiding from the tribesmen. Crash eventually infiltrates Papu Papu's village and rescues Cortex, who is tied to a totem pole with a power crystal on the top. Crash grabs the power crystal, thus destroying the totem, making it fall into a river along with Cortex. Angry at Crash for the chaos he caused, Papu Papu orders his tribesmen to attack Crash. After escaping from the tribesmen and reuniting with Cortex, Crash meets with a local farmer emu named Farmer Ernest. Farmer Ernest offers Crash a power crystal if Crash can clear all the worms out of his nearby Wumpa orchard. Cortex shoots Farmer Ernest in response, and takes the power crystal. Unable to get past his land, they are forced to get rid of the worms anyway, so they can use the Wumpa trees to reach the top of N. Sanity Mountain.



After passing through the farm, Crash and Cortex encounter the Evil Twins again. Revealing they are from the 10th Dimension, they bring a totem god, known as Tikimon, to life to destroy Crash and Cortex. The duo manage to defeat it as the Evil Twins leave. The information the twins reveal give Cortex an idea, and he announces that their next destination is to be Cortex's Iceberg Lab.

Part 2 - Iceberg Lab
Crash and Cortex eventually arrive at their destination. The key to the lab (actually a remote with a button on it), however, doesn't work much to Cortex's frustration, so the two are forced to go the long way round - up the iceberg it is situated on. On the way, Cortex comes across a gang of penguins demanding pay, with Cortex stating that their check bounced since the past few years had been slow, and that Wrath of Cortex hadn't gone as well as they had hoped. Cortex then pretends to bribe them with fish before shooting one, prompting the rest to fly off, leaving behind a power crystal. Later on, the two stumble across Uka Uka, who is frozen in a sheet of ice. Surprised to see such an unlikely alliance, he transforms into a giant ice creature and tries to squish the pair of them, only to be roasted by Crash and Cortex. Uka Uka tries to leave after the fight, only to be stopped by Aku Aku, who informs him of the Evil Twins' plans, before proposing to team up themselves. Uka Uka, who is insistent that destroying the world is his job, accepts. Together again, the mask brothers travel to the 10th dimension to confront the Evil Twins themselves.

Crash and Cortex arrive inside the lab at long last, but are interrupted by the Evil Twins who have defeated Aku Aku and Uka Uka. They reveal that they knew Cortex from long ago, claiming that he ruined their lives (although Cortex has no knowledge of this) and accidentally reveal that they also have a large supply of treasure. They then send their army of Ant Drones to destroy Crash and Cortex, but they are swiftly beaten, forcing the Evil Twins to retreat. When Aku Aku and Uka Uka recover, they ask Cortex who the twins are but he does not know. Aku Aku considers handing Cortex over to the Evil Twins, but Cortex, reluctantly, forms a truce with his nemesis.





Cortex then shows Crash the Psychetron, a teleportation device which they can use to travel to the 10th dimension and defeat the Evil Twins. To get there, they require six power crystals, currently they have four. Cortex proposes that N. Gin might have one in his battleship but it is about to set sail. While Cortex is in deep thought about getting down fast, Crash boots Cortex off the balcony, using him as a makeshift sledge to get down the iceberg through a long downhill slope. On the way they find a power crystal. They eventually land on Dingodile's cabin, wrecking it, but Cortex, feeling embarrassed, is unwilling to go any further and states that no amount of treasure could ever compensate. Dingodile hears about the Evil Twins' treasure and secretly follows Crash. Crash ventures into the battleship and eventually finds another power crystal and battles N. Gin in his airborne crow's nest in the process. N. Gin uses a missile launcher and some TNT crates to fight Crash, but is tricked into destroying the platform he and Crash are standing on. Crash lands in a hallway filled with dangers, when the ship's chef, Rusty Walrus, comes in claiming Crash as fresh meat. Rusty chases after Crash until they reach the exit, where the two become separated. Crash ends up in an area full of TNT crates, one of which N. Gin lands on, causing a massive explosion that sends the two flying.



Crash lands on a nearby iceberg where N. Tropy and N. Brio are watching the ship sink. Tropy and Brio have heard about the treasure, and order Crash to tell them more about it. As usual, Crash remains silent. Tropy then orders Brio to drink a potion that turns him into a giant, somewhat frog-like mutant. Both N. Tropy and N. Brio battle Crash, but Crash defeats Tropy. Brio body slams the iceberg, launching Crash into the air and sending him flying back to Cortex's Lab. Crash returns to the Psychetron and delivers the crystals to Cortex. At that moment, Coco appears. Believing that Cortex has kidnapped Crash, she kicks him into the control panel, causing the Psychetron to malfunction. It shoots a beam that stuns Coco out for the second time, and destroys the two power crystals Cortex was holding. The Psychetron will have to be repaired if they want to use it, and only one person can fix it: Cortex's niece, Nina. Using his airship, they set course for Madame Amberley's Academy of Evil.

Part 3 - The Academy of Evil
Crash and Cortex use Cortex's airship to travel to the academy. While traveling, the Evil Twins appear and send a horde of Ant Drones to attack Cortex. Cortex manages to fend them off with his ray gun while the blimp reaches the Academy of Evil. There, they venture through the secret underground sewage system hidden under a fountain in the courtyard. On the way, Cortex gets stuck in a barrel, so Crash has to roll him around for almost the whole level while solving puzzles. After finding a new power crystal, they meet Dingodile who tells them he's heard of the treasure and wants a cut. Dingodile uses his flamethrower on the pipe Cortex is standing on which sends him flying out of the sewer. Crash and Dingodile fight, but Crash wins and goes back up to the Academy.

After the encounter with Dingodile, Crash ventures through the Academy of Evil. He soon comes across a library that is filling up with acid; Crash has to run to the top floor of the library to escape the acid. Crash finds another power crystal along the way. Cortex appears and decides to take it from there, sending Crash back to guard the airship and make sure its mooring ropes are secure. Cortex makes his way through the halls—and is chased by bugs several times, but he manages to escape them. After recovering another power crystal, he reaches Nina's bedroom, and Cortex asks Nina to show him what she's learned from school; Nina obliges by going through the rooftops. Soon, they see the airship floating away, due to the fact that Crash tied it to a bus.



After Nina finds another power crystal, the airship starts following her, and the swinging bus starts destroying some parts of the rooftops. Nina manages to escape it before it catches up with her. She then meets up with Cortex in the halls, who tells her to get back to the airship. Cortex carries on, before he meets up with the headmistress, Madame Amberley. The two fight, but despite Amberley's best efforts, Cortex wins. After the fight, he meets up with Crash and they all reach the airship. With enough crystals again, they decide to go back to the Iceberg Lab.

On the airship, Cortex finally remembers his past with the Evil Twins. It is revealed that while he was just a child and a student of the Academy of Evil, his first experiment with a prototype Evolvo-Ray used his twin pet parrots, Victor and Moritz, as test subjects. At the end of the experiment, Victor and Moritz were nowhere to be found (in reality, Cortex had sent them to the 10th dimension). Though curious to know what happened to them, he never saw them again and quickly forgot about them.

Part 4 - Twinsanity Island
Back at the Iceberg Lab, Nina and Cortex fix the machine and venture to a new dimension. In the Tenth Dimension, Cortex is seen hugging what he thinks is Crash, but is actually none other than Evil Crash. The vicious animal then kidnaps Nina. Cortex and Crash begin to chase after them; Crash again makes use of Cortex and rides him down the volcano like a sledge to chase after Evil Crash.

They soon end up on Twinsanity Island, a twisted version of N. Sanity Island. Crash sees Cortex, a tied up Nina, and Evil Crash at a warped version of his own house. Cortex demands that Evil Crash lets Nina go and takes him instead, which ends with Evil Crash chasing him. Crash follows and the three take part in another mad dash through Twinsanity Island. At the end, Cortex, Nina and Crash find the Evil Twins' hideout. In the treasure chamber, deep in their domain, they find N. Tropy, N. Brio, and N. Gin, who claim they all found the treasure first. But it belongs to none other than Spyro the Dragon, who proceeds to burn the doctors. Our three heroes reach Victor and Moritz and after a brief exchange of taunts, Cortex tricks them into going into their cage, much like he did when he was a child. Victor and Moritz then transform the cage into an epic mech and a fight begins.



Crash runs off at the start of the fight, leaving only Nina and a trembling Cortex. Nina uses her acrobatic skills to destroy the mech's power supply for the first part of the fight. Once Nina tires out, Cortex uses his ray gun to blast the mech's guns off. After Cortex has finished his part of the fight, Crash enters, piloting the Mecha-Bandicoot. After Crash barrages the mech with missiles, Victor and Moritz fly away, only to stumble into Evil Crash's house, where he eats them. Back at the Psychetron, Cortex states he was wrong about Crash and attempts to send Crash into a different dimension, only to have the Psychetron malfunction and send Cortex into Crash's brain, much to Coco's surprise and both Crash and Nina's confusion. Cortex screams and has a meltdown after seeing the multiple clones while Crash, who doesn't seem to be worried, just picks his ear and smiles.

Bonus (100% Video)
In order to unlock the 100% video in the NTSC-U version of the game, the player must collect all the colored gems in all levels, acquiring 100% completion. In the PAL and NTSC-J version of the game, however, the cutscene was replaced with animations of Crash doing fighting moves for unknown reasons.

It shows that Crash and Cortex have been appointed couple therapy sessions in order to improve their relationship after the events of the game. The therapist, from off-screen, says that they must do a trust exercise which Cortex reluctantly accepts. Crash prepares to catch Cortex, but quickly gets distracted by an apple that rolls out of a nearby fruit bowl. Cortex finally lets himself fall, but Crash doesn't catch him, having followed the apple. Crash briefly considers what he'd done before shrugging and continuing to chow down on the apple. Cortex hits his head on the table on the way down, and sits up, dizzily expressing his hatred of bandicoots before fainting.

Levels
There are 4 hub areas in the game, each containing 3 levels each, adding up to a total of 12 levels. Unlike in earlier games, bosses are fought within levels. Every level and hub area contain one of each colored gem, which unlock concept art and videos in the gallery and each levels contains a Power Crystal, collected as part of the story.
 * N. Sanity Island
 * Jungle Bungle
 * Cavern Catastrophe
 * Totem Hokum
 * Iceberg Lab
 * Ice Climb
 * Slip Slide Icecapades
 * High Seas Hi-Jinks
 * Academy of Evil
 * Boiler Room Doom
 * Classroom Chaos
 * Rooftop Rampage
 * Twinsanity Island
 * Rock-Slide Rumble
 * Bandicoot Pursuit
 * Ant Agony

Playable

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Doctor Neo Cortex
 * Nina Cortex

Bosses

 * Doctor Neo Cortex
 * Tikimon
 * Uka Uka
 * Doctor N. Gin
 * N. Brio
 * N. Tropy
 * Dingodile
 * Madame Amberley
 * Evil Twins

Supporting

 * Aku Aku
 * Coco Bandicoot
 * Papu Papu
 * Farmer Ernest
 * Rusty Walrus
 * Evil Crash

Cameos

 * Pinstripe Potoroo
 * Tiny Tiger
 * Crunch Bandicoot
 * Nitros Oxide
 * Polar
 * Koala Kong
 * Ripper Roo
 * Tawna
 * Spyro the Dragon

Gameplay
The gameplay in Crash Twinsanity is different compared to previous games in the series. For a start, there are over-worlds (such as N. Sanity Island) that contain levels (i.e. Jungle Bungle), rather than Warp Rooms and the game has a more free-roam feel. That means there is also not a dedicated "Load/Save" screen, instead, the game is automatically saved by activating a World Crate.

Not all has changed; crates, crystals and gems are still present, although, crystals do not really have much importance in the plot other than for Cortex's Psychetron machine. Gems are no longer earned by breaking crates; instead, they have to be found, this can range from incredibly easy to really challenging. Crates serve mostly for Wumpa Fruit and lives.

Crash's gameplay is mostly the same as before, he can still do his trademark spin attack, double jump and body slam moves. Like always, he has Aku Aku with him. The mask works just like before. He can give from level 1 protection to level 3 invincibility, but it does not last long and Aku Aku no longer protects Crash from TNTs and Nitro crates. Occasionally, you are paired with Dr. Cortex, working together as a team, they are both fighting over a crystal and Crash gains the upper hand, turning his creator into a lethal weapon, Crash can use Cortex to slam enemies with his mallet-like head, spin with him, increasing striking range and throw Cortex over to an area where he can shoot enemies with his ray gun, activate levers or collect gems, much to the doctor's reluctance.

Cortex himself will sometimes go solo, armed with his ray gun and a limited amount of ammunition. If the blaster runs out of ammo, Cortex can't do anything aside from screaming and trip which works like Crash's slide kick. His gameplay is more of a third-person Shooter with the gun's crosshairs showing automatically at something that can be shot (such as a bell to take care of Robotic Janitors). Cortex unfortunately can only do a small jump which can be tricky on platforming sections. He is accompanied by Uka Uka as his mask.

Along Crash and Cortex's adventure, Nina becomes a playable character. Nina can use her bionic arms to grab grappling hooks and punch enemies from a distance. She can also spin like Crash, but lacks a double jump like her uncle. She is protected by Uka Uka as well.

Other areas of gameplay include, Humiliskate, when Crash is using Cortex like a sled at high speed, avoiding hazards and Nitro Crates. "Doc Amok," where Cortex is in a panicked state and in some kind of trouble, so Crash will have to clear the path of enemies and hazards before Cortex runs into them, if he does, Crash has failed and he must go back to the last checkpoint, however he will not lose a life. Finally, Rollerbrawl, where Crash and Cortex are having a fight in a cartoon style ball of fists and fury, the player will have to control the pair as they careen down. All you can do is move about in this mode. If stopped the duo can be seen abusing each other (like Cortex giving Crash a spanking). Also, briefly in one level Cortex will get stuck in a pipe and Crash will have to roll him around and solve puzzles to get him through the different pipes successfully.

In the final battle against the Evil Twins, Crash jumps in controlling the Mecha-Bandicoot. The robot can shoot plasma balls and fire missiles. This is the only part where the Mecha-Bandicoot is playable.

Production
The game was originally developed under the title Crash Bandicoot Evolution with a largely different concept and gameplay. The plot involved the Evil Twins and the Ants. They served as the antagonists and were traveling to different planets to steal materials to make their own planet. This storyline was eventually changed due to the fact that it was too similar to the one from the. Since the game was scrapped quite far into development, the developers had to begin from a nearly clean slate while the original deadline for the game still remained, causing the game to be rushed and a notable amount of content to be cut, such as cutscenes that were supposed to explain how N. Tropy, N. Brio, and even Dingodile found out about the Evil Twins' treasure. Many of the unused assets from these early phases can still be seen in the game's concept art galleries. Before the game got its final title, many others were proposed, such as the already mentioned 'Crash Bandicoot Evolution'; others were 'Crash Bandicoot: Fully Fluxed', 'Crash Bandicoot: Tandemonium', 'Crash Bandicoot: A Whole New Dimension', and the playable demo version title 'Crash Bandicoot: Unlimited'. Eventually, 'Crash Bandicoot: Twinsane' came up, which eventually evolved into Twinsanity. In the game, many hidden items can be found through either using a cheating device or a glitch. These hidden items can range from a Life Crate to items never seen through normal gameplay.

Spiralmouth composed the music for this game, who would later compose the music for Crash Tag Team Racing along with Marc Baril. Many remixes of the Crash Twinsanity soundtrack are present in Crash Tag Team Racing.

Several characters were removed from the game, including a giant Ant that would have led the Ant Drones, Capu Capu, who owns the boat that takes Crash to the Iceberg Lab or N. Sanity Island, and Evil Capu Capu, who would have served the same role as his "good" counterpart, but in the Tenth Dimension.

During development, many levels were removed from the game. Most never entered development and some were deleted, but can still be seen in photos or videos. Cut levels include Gone a Bit Coco, Rehab Lab, Security Insanity, a cut Train Express Level and a cut Hoverboard Level among others.

Coco would have had a much bigger role and would have even been a playable character and would have joined Crash, Cortex and Nina on their quest to stop the Twins.

Reception
Crash Twinsanity received mixed or average reviews from critics upon release, With review aggregator Metacritic givingthe PlayStation2 and Xbox versions a 64 and 66 out of 100 respectively. Play Magazine declared that "Traveller's Tales has delivered a 60 frame/s cartoon epic without sacrificing expanse, dwarfing boss encounters or vivid effects by skilfully balancing model and environment integrity with performance." James B. Pringle of IGN said that "Publisher Vivendi Universal and developer Traveller's Tales have infused so much humor and likeability into the game that you will literally laugh out loud. You'll look forward to defeating each boss not just because you're that much closer to beating the game, but to witness some of the best in-game dialogue and funniest voice acting around."

Andrew Wooldridge of 1Up.com said the game "is funny, fun to play, and is a definite improvement on the claustrophobic linear levels of games past". Chris Stead of Gamepro described the game as "great fun for our gaming youth and a humorous piece of nostalgia for veterans keen to spank their bandicoots, one last time". Brent Soboleski of TeamXbox crowned the game as "one of the best Crash titles to have been released since its earliest inception on home consoles, and its creative use of combining past enemies as partners is what gives Twinsanity a new lease on life". Nick Valentino of GameZone said that the game "rises above the game's original roots to bring a game that's both refreshingly humorous as well as downright enjoyable".

However, Louis Bedigian of the same site described the game as "double the insanity for all you psychopath-loving gamers out there, but it's half the fun for gamers". Ryan Davis of Gamespot concluded that "it's a little rough around the edges, and it doesn't break new ground for 3D platformers, but it gives the series the shot in the arm that Wrath of Cortex failed to, and what it does, it does pretty well" (Cortex even makes a reference to WoC's failure in a cinematic). Official Xbox Magazine declared that "even if you're frustrated by dying on a jump for the 50th time, you'll still think it's funny." Kristan Reed of EuroGamer said that "the gameplay variation is there for all to see, and when it hits the mark it — believe it or not — is every bit as enjoyable as the very best the genre has to offer, with some true high points to look back on."

PSMagazine praised the graphics and controls but criticized the level design, saying that it was "designed to kill the player in as many cheap ways as possible". A reviewer for Game Informer finished with "While it pains me to say this, maybe Crash should make like the entire cast of Blossom and disappear." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine described the game as "a bummer" and "a tragic tale of missed opportunities, as a funny, engaging platformer shines through the me-too muck". Electronic Gaming Monthly decided that "the funny writing (courtesy of an ex-Ren & Stimpy scribe) can't save this uninspired rehash of antiquated Crash antics with lackluster visuals.

Sales
Crash Twinsanity had a low number of sales compared to other Crash games. It is the worst selling home console Crash game, and the third-worst selling Crash game overall, after Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Crash Boom Bang!, selling 800,000 copies.

Gallery
See: Crash Twinsanity/Gallery

Names in other languages
This game was developed in English and was officially localized into French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

Trivia

 * Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio was created specifically for the creation of a new Crash Bandicoot game.
 * Traveller's Tales Oxford intended for Twinsanity to be Nina Cortex's debut. When a preview screenshot for Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage showed Nina Cortex, they were surprised, as had used the character without informing them.


 * N. Trance from Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced was originally going to make appearances in the game in the 10th Dimension. At some point, Evil Crash would be shown eating N. Trance's brain with a spoon "like an egg", but this scene was scrapped because it was "a bit gross". Later, in the scene where the other Doctors confront Cortex in the treasure room, N. Trance would reappear with them, with plaster over his wound. He was disincluded from this scene because it was becoming quite character-heavy and slow to load in-game. The only trace of N. Trance left in the game is his concept art.
 * The model of Spyro the Dragon used in this game is borrowed from Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
 * This is the first game in which voices Cortex, and the last game in which  voiced Aku Aku.
 * Crash Twinsanity is the only Post-Naughty Dog game to have not been released on a Nintendo console.
 * There is no way to skip the in-game cutscenes, even after they're viewed for the first time. The cutscenes in the game were originally intended to be skippable, but this was causing too many bugs and was left out due to time constraints.
 * The cutscene where the characters are about to enter the tenth dimension, where Cortex quotes "Come now, as we explore... a new dimension! ...It should've been two new dimensions, but we... ran out of time." reference the development of the game, where the other dimension (along with a good deal of other content) was ultimately scrapped due to the developers facing time constraints.
 * The Evil Twins were originally named 'Squabble' and 'Sqwawk'.
 * During the "Birthday Party" scene where numerous villains from the series appear, Polar can be seen holding a baseball bat even though he's not a villain. According to one of the game's developers, Polar appeared because he wanted revenge for Crash riding on his back in Cortex Strikes Back.
 * In the demo version of Crash Twinsanity, some of Cortex's lines are voiced by the game's lead artist Dan Tonkin rather than Cortex's voice actor Lex Lang, as the final voiceovers were not completed yet.