N. Gin

N. Gin (alternatively spelt as N-Gin) is an antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot franchise. He is an insane cyborg and Cortex's right-hand man, replacing N. Brio after Cortex's defeat under the hands of Crash Bandicoot. Before this, he was a world-renowned physicist who had a missile accidentally lodged into his head, which he reconstructed as a life system.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
In Cortex Strikes Back, N. Gin studies a large crystal found by Doctor Neo Cortex after his defeat to Crash Bandicoot and discovers that 25 smaller "slave crystals" are needed alongside this "Master Crystal" in order to power Cortex's new "Cortex Vortex" device. When Crash is ordered by Doctor Cortex to give the crystals he has gathered to N. Gin, N. Gin attempts to take the crystals by force with a heavily armed mech, leading Crash to fight back. As a result, Crash sent N. Gin's mech into the vacuum of space using Wumpa Fruit. N. Gin also tries to stop Coco's holograms from getting through, but is ultimately unsuccessful. N. Gin then joins Cortex's next plot.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped
In Warped, N. Gin constructs a superior model suit of mobile armor called the Advanced Mech that can transform into a space fighter and dock with a huge weapon platform.

N. Gin uses this machine to confront Coco, only to fail once again, falling out of his mech; he screams "Aaargh! Not again!". During his second form, Pura comes into view of Coco's craft, adding another gun to it.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
N. Gin is the first boss of the game. He initially appears in the game's intro cutscene, where he tries to tell Cortex about his new inventions before being dismissed, having a brief scuffle with N. Brio before leaving. He next appears at the beginning of A Real Grind, where he flies up to Crash, Coco, and Lani-Loli to taunt and threaten them. He then challenges them to fight him at that night's performance of his new band, Rawkit Hëd, before leaving. His voice can be heard over loudspeakers through the next few levels, taunting and jeering at Crash and Coco as they go through the levels. He later sends his minions to use a giant truck known as the Doom Rig to run Crash and Coco over, but they escape thanks to Tawna's sabotage of the rig.

When Crash, Coco and Lani-Loli arrive at the concert, it is revealed that N. Gin is holding Akano captive and using him to power his new drum-kit mech, the W.O.M.P. (Weapon of Mass Percussion.) After N. Gin is defeated, the W.O.M.P. explodes, sending N. Gin tumbling to the ground. Akano falls down behind him and bounces off his head and into a nearby Quantum Rift, knocking the unfortunate cyborg out in the process.

N. Gin isn't seen again until the 100% ending epilogue, where he retires from his position as Cortex's right-hand man and launches a new career as a jazz singer with his new album "My Heart is a Doomsday Device".

Other major appearances
N. Gin is a playable character in Crash Team Racing, driving a violet high-acceleration kart. The doctor's garage contains both his kart and a small missile factory, where he can be seen furiously hammering away at his work (and eventually smashing his own thumb). His home track is N. Gin Labs. After Oxide was defeated, N. Gin opened a custom auto parts store in Toledo, Ohio, which closed after his "Clear-the-Road" missile system was recalled when it caused havoc on many freeways.

In Bash, N. Gin appears as an obstacle in N. Ballism, the third Ballistix arena, launching balls at random players. In the crystal challenge, N. Gin launches balls only at the player(s) and not at the AI opponents.

In The Wrath of Cortex, N. Gin is an attendee of Uka Uka's bad guy convention and is, ultimately, the one who reveals the secret of Crunch Bandicoot; Cortex's new super-weapon. For the rest of the game, N. Gin serves as an obstacle in several of the levels, dogfighting against Crash and Coco in Tornado Alley and Crashteroids while also racing against Crash's jeep in Smokey and the Bandicoot.

In The Huge Adventure, N. Gin battles Crash in the skies with a weapon platform similar to the one he piloted in Warped. He is later merged with Cortex, Tiny and Dingodile and becomes Mega-Mix. After chasing Crash down a space station hall, Mega-Mix is left inside the space station, which explodes with the villains in it.

N. Gin is a playable character in Crash Nitro Kart, driving for Team Cortex, with Cortex, Tiny, and N. Tropy, in a kart with high turning prowess. He has a slight redesign; his cyborg eye is now black with only a red dot instead of a normal eyeball and pupil. In one cutscene, N. Gin considers creating cybernetic sharks as new henchmen after racing Nash. In the end, the trio is stranded on Terra, but eventually return home.

In Twinsanity, during the very first boss battle, N. Gin is seen operating the Mecha-Bandicoot. Once defeated by Crash, he stomps on the center piece and falls through along with the Mecha-Bandicoot. He is not seen until the level High Seas Hi-Jinks where he is commanding his battleship. When seeing him in the ship working, his appearance shows yellow skin. After battling N. Gin the second time, he is seen dropping right onto dozens of TNT crates. His final appearance shows him alongside N. Tropy and Dr. Nitrus Brio inside the Evil Twins' treasure vault but is soon ran out by Spyro the Dragon.

N. Gin is a playable character in Tag Team Racing. He has more of a zombified appearance. In the game's story, N. Gin convinces Cortex to join in the search for Von Clutch's missing Power Gems, so that he can use Von Clutch's theme park as a new base of operations (although Cortex later claims the idea as his own).

His clashed weapon is a rocket launcher. Whilst its fire rate is on the slow side, it makes up for it in its power. Easily being able to destroy unclashed/normal cars in two solid hits whilst still having a decent ammo size of 40 rockets. In the battle arena Jungle Rumble, his weapon is available for use in the center of the arena. As such, he is a good candidate for scoring high on the Rolling Thunder challenges for the race tracks.

His cars are the:
 * Extreme Surplus (Tier 1)
 * Category: Armour (Armor in America)
 * How to unlock: Bring the plutonium to N. Gin in the Midway.
 * Junkulon Prime (Tier 2)
 * Category: Speed
 * How to unlock: Buy the ballerina outfit from Happily Ever Faster.
 * Doom Buggy (Tier 3)
 * Category: Handling
 * How to unlock: Bring his slippers from Tyrannosaurus Wrecks.

In Crash of the Titans, N. Gin unsuccessfully opposes Cortex's replacement. He is next seen in his weapons factory, which appears on the outside as a version of the Statue of Liberty modeled after N. Gin. This factory constantly bombards the surrounding area with all kinds of explosives in an attempt to hinder Crash. Inside the factory, N. Gin communicates to his workers through the factory intercom, making announcements, singing inspirational songs or alerting the workers of Crash's presence. In the factory's crown, N. Gin spends his days performing on his enormous pipe organ. When confronted by Crash and Aku Aku, N. Gin indirectly reveals to them that he has mixed feelings over Cortex's replacement to Nina (due to his split personalities); one side likes Cortex and the abuse he brings to him and wishes for his return, while another side approves of Nina's new way of doing things, believing that she is a more efficient leader than Cortex. Eventually, the two sides reach a compromise and tell Crash of Uka Uka's whereabouts in the hope that he will also free Cortex, planning to shower them with doom later on.

In Mind Over Mutant, N. Gin leads an attack on Crash Bandicoot when Coco and Crunch become addicted to Cortex's and N. Brio's personal digital assistant, fleeing to a small observatory on Wumpa Island afterwards. When Crash and Aku Aku catch up to him, N. Gin reveals that ever since Cortex escaped the Doominator, he has been secretly watching the Bandicoot family and collecting information on them, hoping to be rewarded with the ownership of Wumpa Island if Cortex is triumphant in his current plot. For some reason, he also expresses a desire to eat Coco, calling her "delicious". After Crash fends off N. Gin's army of Ratnicians, N. Gin is sternly told by Aku Aku to leave the island, to which he reluctantly complies. His voice can also be heard in the credits. In the DS version, you can see him as a piece of concept art.

In Nitro Kart 2. N. Gin is a playable racer and has gone back to his classic look but is less detailed. He is unlocked when 37 mission points are acquired.

N. Gin reprises his role as the fourth boss in the N. Sane Trilogy remakes of Cortex Strikes Back and Warped''.

In Nitro-Fueled. N. Gin reprises his role in the game, as well as being an acceleration-type character.

His epilogue would remain the same as the original Crash Team Racing, but after his store in Ohio closes, he is quickly hired to be a commentator for the popular "Giant Robot Battle Network".

N. Gin was added to On the Run! as a boss for Crash or Coco to defeat in the Season 3 update. He attacks by punching the ground with his mech to send shock waves down one or two lanes and by shooting balls of energy down two lanes. He sometimes generates a force-field around himself instead of attacking, which electrifies any boom berries that hit it, hurting the player if they try to catch it again. Like all bosses, he is defeated by chasing him and throwing Boom Berries at him to reduce his health bar to zero, then using the Portal Weapons crafted beforehand to send him back to his own dimension.

N. Gin is featured as a playable character in Crash Team Rumble. He is in the Booster role, which makes an N. Gin player's main goal activating gem platforms and collecting relics to activate relic stations. He was available for early access from August 24th to August 28th 2023, then his full release occured on September 14th.

Minor appearances
In Ripto's Rampage, N. Gin has a cameo as a trading card.

N. Gin has a cameo appearance in the "Silhouette Quiz" minigame in Boom Bang!.

Other media
In Dance! Then Jump!, N. Gin is a recurring character, assisting Cortex in his schemes by providing him with gadgets to use. He stays on the space station for the whole series and doesn't get the chance to interact with any character other than Cortex. He first appears in chapter 1, I'm the Hero!, where Cortex explains his plan to N. Gin, only for N. Gin to remind him that they still need 25 power stones to activate the Super Cortex Vortex. His next appearance at the beginning of chapter 4, Deep in the Ruins...!, where he gets annoyed at Cortex bothering him. Cortex, bored, demands N. Gin give him something to do, so N. Gin gives him a VR device that will project a hologram of Cortex down to Earth so that he can go for a walk without leaving the safety of the space station. His third and final appearance is in chapter 2 of volume 2, A Trip to a Deep Resort. Here he proudly shows Cortex his new invention, The Size Changer, which is a raygun with the ability to shrink and grow objects, which he demonstrates on the cookie that Cortex was eating.

N. Gin is a central character in the second Crash Team Rumble promotional comic, Ripper Roo & N. Gin. N. Gin has designed a mechanical malware to rig Relic Station powerups in his team's favor for the upcoming games, so he and Ripper Roo have traveled out to Calamity Canyon to install it. Throughout the comic, N. Gin scolds Ripper Roo, whose constant laughter gives him a migraine. The two successfully pry the lid off of a Relic Station. Before N. Gin can install the malware, however, Ripper Roo unknowingly blows it up with a pile of TNT. A mysterious portal opens in the rubble, and an unknown speaker addresses them.

Physical Appearance
N. Gin is generally depicted as a short, stocky cyborg with very short red hair. A part of his face is covered in metal, which contains a large projected missile, probably his most prominent distinguishing feature. His cyborg eye is large and contains a robotic pupil, while his human eye is noticeably smaller and has a dark circle, as well as a stressed eyebrow. He wears a white lab coat, but with several holes in it. He also wears black gloves, each with a yellow stripe around the wrist, as well as black pants and black shoes.

Like most characters in the franchise, N. Gin has had several design changes over the course of the post-Naughty Dog games, whether slight or drastic.

N. Gin's design changed The Wrath of Cortex. His skin color is now more human, without a pinkish tinge, and his head shape is more rounded. His hair is a lighter, messier orange and his eyebrow is spiky. The metal part on his face now has a smaller black missile and has gone from a solid dark gray color to a lighter shade with several screws attached, and now covers the underside of his mouth and cheek. His eyes now have a slightly greenish tinge, and both of his pupils are tiny black. His clothes haven't changed much, though his lab coat now has gold bullets instead of being holey and his collar is narrower.

In Nitro Kart. N. Gin, like all the other characters, has reverted to his original design, albeit with few changes, with one right eye now being a dark red robotic and his collar still being mixed in with his lab coat, which is now more intact than before, with a smaller number of holes, and the upper part of his trousers now being visible outside the coat.

In Twinsanity, N. Gin was given a design based completely on his original concept, though this time having a yellowish skin and having a red human iris in his robotic eye and his dark circles being red. Similar to his design in The Wrath of Cortex, he has messy hair and golden bullets sticking out of his clothing. The yellow stripes on his gloves are bigger and the metal part on his face has a more purple color tone instead of gray. He also appears to have a much smaller stature in this game, being shorter than Cortex and N. Brio. Like the other characters, he now has five fingers on each hand.

N. Gin's look in Tag Team Racing appears to be a slightly altered version of his last design, having less wrinkled skin with a gray tone instead of yellow and a more monochromatic color scheme. His lab coat still holds the bullets, but with the front sewn on and this time with a new collar, made of metal. His hair is now black with a shorter, drooping length, and the stripes on his gloves have become thinner. The metal part of his face is back to how it was in its original design, without the presence of screws, and the rocket in his head looks smaller and less polished. Unlike the previous game, he returned to having four fingers on each hand.

Like all the other characters, N. Gin got a complete retouch to his look in Crash of the Titans and Mind Over Mutant. His hair is now a dark blue color and looks slightly more combed, and his eyebrow is now more separated from his eye, which has returned to a dark circle under his eyes instead of red. His skin color is now a more bluish tinge and the lower part of his mouth is more in line with the upper part and his upper teeth are visible. The metal part of his face is slightly more deformed and again shows the presence of screws, in addition to a bullet hole in the upper part above his eye, which this time is without eyelids, being unable to blink. His white coat has been replaced by a gray shirt with multiple stitch marks instead of bullets, and his metal collar is smaller and less straight. His head missile has an entirely new shape and appears to be much deeper in his skull than before. His hands also look bigger than before.

In N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled. N. Gin, like the other characters, returned to his original concept. Aside from the huge increase in polish and detail, the metal part on its face is much lighter and again with the presence of screws. his lab coat now has a visible buttoned part and the various holes have been revealed as (or replaced by) large screws. His missile now has a more rounded shape and his hair looks less straight and droopier. Both of his eyes are now a light brown color instead of the dark red from before, with his robotic eye still retaining the human iris from the last few games.

In It's About Time. N. Gin had a significant tweak to his design to match the new art style, while still maintaining his concept. The metal on his face is a darker color and this time it appears to be split into pieces, with the screws now being located just on the front above his nose. His ears have gotten noticeably bigger, and his hair is a lighter shade and messy up, and his eyebrows are now a brown color, unlike his hair. The human part of his face looks much more intact and less wrinkled than before, with his jaw being more in line with his head and his lower teeth being tighter. His eyes reverted to the dark red color of the original concept, albeit with a slightly yellowish tinge, and his right eye now has larger lids and this time with a darker skin color instead of red. The missile on his head gets a new shape again and his coat now has a smaller collar and two visible buttoned front parts, in addition to his screws being once again replaced by golden bullets and one of his gloves has been replaced by a robotic hand of the same color as the face metal. He also gained a new, less round and more common body shape. His arms are slightly thicker and the top of his trousers is now fitted over his coat (similar to how it was in Nitro Kart).

In On the Run!. N. Gin uses his original concept but adapted it to match the game's art style, just like in It's About Time. His head metal is much lighter and still retains the screws on the front above his nose and his missile now has a faded paint and is much smaller than before, while still maintaining a similar shape to the last game. The game gives him a new feature which is the freckles located on his cheek. His eyes are now a much lighter red and his robotic eye lids still retain the color of his skin, though lighter this time. His hair is now shorter and neater and his jaw is bigger and a little tighter with his head, though not as much as in It's About Time. His clothes looks similar to the last game, albeit with fewer bullets and a straighter body shape. The top of his pants is still visible, but this time it's tucked under his lab coat.

Personality
During his first appearances, N. Gin is portrayed in a similar light to that of Cortex's previous henchman Nitrus Brio: he is less impulsive than Cortex or Uka Uka and prefers to think over the situation rather than rushing to a solution. Usually, this leads to a loud rebuttal by his superiors whenever he questions their way of doing things, as shown in the opening cinematics of Cortex Strikes Back and The Wrath of Cortex. In the latter game, N. Gin contemplates the fact that Crash might simply be too powerful for him and the others to defeat.

N. Gin's behavior becomes more deranged by Crash Nitro Kart and Twinsanity, becoming prone to fits of giggling.

By the time of Tag Team Racing as well as his appearances in subsequent games, his deranged personality is upped massively. N. Gin is now depicted as a mentally unstable, sadomasochistic madman with a slim grasp on reality. He is prone to sudden fits of yelling, sobbing, and is shown to have low self-esteem. It's also shown that N. Gin appears to suffer from severe depression (This is evident when Crash attacks him, as he will sometimes randomly blurt out that he is happy that Crash is trying to kill him and asks how he can thank him. More evidence to support this is when N. Gin is racing and another racer brushes up against him and he expresses that he likes that they are trying to kill him). A possible reason for this could be the constant ridicule he faces from other characters of the series, mainly from Cortex. It is hinted that N. Gin may have had a grim childhood, as he recalls in Crash Tag Team Racing that his mother and father were apparently verbally abusive to him. He even develops a double personality, effemminate traits (like wanting a ballerina outfit to feel prettier) and an obsession over monkeys and doom.

Also, in Crash of the Titans, he appears to be a bit of a suck-up. This is shown in the cutscene when Cortex is replaced and out of surprise, Cortex spits his drink on N. Gin. Even though he screams out of pain, he says, "Thank you master!" and "Agh! Thank you again, hotter then the first!" when Cortex dumps his whole drink on his face, but it is apparent he does have a limit for how much he can tolerate, because when Cortex spits on him again he just says, "Aww, come on, he didn't even have a cup."

In Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, his personality is somewhat in between his first and later depictions. While he's definitely more expressive than the original games, as evidenced by his tendency to giggle and overacting his speech at random, he's clearly less insane as he is in the later games. This would get carried over and expanded in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, where he speaks his lines in a deranged and sometimes loud tone. His random attitude from the Radical Entertainment era also pops up, as he has a passion for ballet dancing, have a self-destructing-and-repairing robot duplicate, and talks about him wetting himself when he loses.

Creation and early development
N. Gin was created as a boss and villian for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.

Trivia

 * The name N. Gin is a pun on the word "engine", referring to his mastery of robotics and mechanics.
 * The active missile lodged in N. Gin's head was inspired by co-creator Jason Rubin's chronic migraines.
 * Although in the Radical Entertainment games N. Gin's name is normally spelt 'N-Gin', the mission in Crash: Mind Over Mutant is named "Find N. Gin".
 * In Crash of the Titans, N. Gin has a voice line in which he spells out his name as "N-Gin". In the German dub, he spells it out as "N. Gin" however.
 * N. Gin is one of two villains in the series for whom the developers have never revealed what the initial "N" in his name stands for. The other being N. Trance.
 * For some reason, in Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, N. Gin has Tiny's theme, Tiny has Dingodile's theme, and Dingodile has N. Gin's theme.
 * In Crash of the Titans, N. Gin makes a reference to the cartoon show Invader ZIM, stating over the intercom that Crash and Aku Aku are after his "radioactive rubber pants". Also, his affiliation with the word "doom" is a reference to Invader ZIM, since "doom" is used numerous times in both dialogue and episode titles.
 * N. Gin's backstory is very likely a reference to Phineas P. Gage, who was involved in an accident that launched a metal tamping bar into his brain, damaging the prefrontal cortex and resulting in a much more sinister personality.
 * N. Gin's character development and accent is based off on Dr. Frankenstein's apprentice, Igor.
 * His name is misspelled as "N. Jin" on the website of Crash Bandicoot: Warped and in Mind Over Mutant for the DS.
 * In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, his appearance is based on his 1998 ReSaurus action figure (itself a misinterpretation of his design from Cortex Strikes Back), with a black rocket, pale skin, a robotic lower jaw and a highlighted rotund figure.
 * It is never revealed what the "N" actually stands for. In an interview, Jason Rubin said he didn't know what it stood for either, but that there might be notes around somewhere that revealed the secret.
 * In Crash Tag Team Racing, N. Gin states during the ending credits that he was named after a state in New England famous for maple syrup.
 * In one of the gags in Tag Team Racing, another N. Gin is formed by the fusion of a Park Drone with a camel.
 * In Crash Tag Team Racing, N. Gin name-drops the Blue Oyster Cult song "Don't Fear the Reaper". He then slips into a Christopher Walken impression and claims he needs "more cowbell"; this is a reference to the "More Cowbell" skit on Saturday Night Live, in which famous music producer Bruce Dickinson (played by Christopher Walken) tells fictional band member Gene Frenkle (played by Will Ferrell) that he wants more cowbell in the song.
 * According to one of his intercom announcements in Crash of the Titans, N. Gin has a brother named George, whom he describes as "always so superficial".
 * In Crash of the Titans, after N. Gin is defeated, he is seen arguing with himself with the camera angles changing every time his other half speaks, which parodying Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies.
 * N. Gin's bestiary entry from Crash of the Titans for the Nintendo DS states that he likes "technology" and dislikes "short circuits", and that His height is 1.25m (~ 4'1") and his weight is 63kg (~ 138lbs).
 * In the Russian versions of Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant, N. Gin's name was localized as "Эн-Джин" (translit. "Ėn-Dzhin"). The presence of a dash in the name is a result of being based on the spelling 'N-Gin' that is used in the Radical games. However, the implication that N. Gin also has a given name beginning with "N" is entirely lost in that translation.
 * N. Gin is seen impersonating a Tusken Raider from Star Wars in Mind Over Mutant when he first appears with a gang of Ratnicians.
 * In N. Sane Trilogy, N. Gin uses the same icon for both of his boss fights.
 * In Crash Team Racing, N. Gin's second place animation has him stand while the rocket in his head at times suddenly re-activates and starts shooting flames. In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, it's changed to him angrily looking away from the winner, his anger being so great that it even causes the eye on the cybernetic part of his face to pop out of its socket.
 * In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, if the player plays as any character not part of the starting roster in the Nitro-Fueled mode of Adventure mode, N. Gin will always be replaced by player character that is not part of the non-starting roster.
 * In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, N. Gin is the only one of the original 8 playable characters to not be featured in the Adventure Mode opening cutscene, whereas in the original Crash Team Racing, he can be briefly seen racing against Pura and Penta on Coco Park.
 * There is a minor continuity error in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time regarding N. Gin. During the Flashback Tape "N. Gin N. Terview", Cortex inquires about the rocket in his head to which N. Gin replies "What rocket?", despite N. Gin being aware of it.