Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is the second game in the Crash Bandicoot series to feature Crash Bandicoot on the. It is the sequel to Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (known in Europe as Crash Bandicoot XS).

In the game's story, Crash faces the villainy of N. Tropy, the master of time, who has kidnapped and brainwashed his friends, Coco and Crunch, with the aid of a new character, N. Trance, the master of hypnotism.

The gameplay is very similar to its predecessor, featuring mostly platforming, with some  chase sequences.

Storyline
After the failure of Doctor Neo Cortex's previous scheme to shrink the Earth, Uka Uka calls upon the assistance of N. Tropy to defeat the Bandicoots. N. Tropy looks into the future and sees himself along with the Bandicoots and concludes that the only way to defeat them is to make them join their side. He in turn recommends the services of N. Trance in order to hypnotize them into joining their side. Using a teleporter, he attempts to transport Crash, Crunch, and Coco to a star base somewhere in space. However, Aku Aku prevents the teleportation from completing, and Crash is saved, while the other two are taken. Because Aku Aku prevented Crash from being teleported, Fake Crash was created and later used by N. Tropy, N. Trance, and Uka Uka. Coco and Crunch are hypnotized and turned against Crash. He now has to save his friends and defeat N. Trance and N. Tropy.

Over the course of the adventure, Crunch and Coco are saved and they join Crash on his journey. Fake Crash is also defeated, though it is unclear whether he joins their side or not, since in the battle against N. Trance, while he can be used to hurt N. Trance, through the same means he can hurt Crash.

N. Tropy is then fought after Crash has gathered all of the colored gems and completed all of the levels. After he is defeated in the end, the Bandicoots force him to take a picture with them, revealing this to be the image N. Tropy saw in the future, and misinterpreted as the Bandicoots joining his side while Uka Uka, upset over N. Tropy's defeat, promises the Bandicoots a real adversary in the future.

Gameplay
In N-Tranced, the player takes control of Crash Bandicoot, who must free his friends from the hypnosis of the main antagonists of the story, N. Tropy, and his sidekick, N. Trance. Much of the game takes place in a dimensional bubble that Crash and his mentor Aku Aku are trapped in. The inside of the bubble is displayed as a map littered with portals to different levels. Connecting the portals are dotted lines which Crash can use to travel between portals; initially, only a few dotted lines are visible. The goal of each level is to find and obtain any Crystals and Gems hidden in the area. As more Crystals are retrieved from the levels, more dotted lines will become visible on the map, allowing for further exploration. Gems allow access to special levels necessary for full completion of the game. When the antagonists of the game have been defeated and enough Crystals have been gathered to return to Earth, the game is won.

Relics can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the Time Trial mode and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. To begin a Time Trial run, the player must enter a level and activate the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level to activate the timer; if the stopwatch is not touched, the level can be played regularly. The player must then race through the level as quickly as possible. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is.

At the beginning of the game, Crash has the ability to jump to navigate ledges, spin in a tornado-like fashion to break open crates and defeat enemies, deliver a body slam to break open tough objects and can either slide across the ground or crouch and crawl to get past low areas. Crash can expand on these abilities by defeating boss characters, often resulting in more powerful attacks or increased jumping and running prowess. Crash starts the game with six lives. He loses a life when he is struck by an enemy, or suffers any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by instructing Crash to collect 100 Wumpa Fruit, or by breaking open a special crate to collect a life. Crash can be shielded from enemy attacks by collecting an Aku Aku mask. Collecting three of these masks allows temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers. The game is over once Crash loses all of his lives, but the player can choose to continue by selecting "Yes" at the game over screen.

Playable

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Coco Bandicoot
 * Crunch Bandicoot

Multiplayer

 * Fake Crash
 * N. Trance
 * N. Tropy
 * Neo Cortex
 * N. Gin
 * Tiny Tiger
 * Dingodile
 * Mega-Mix

Bosses

 * 1) Evil Crunch
 * 2) Evil Coco
 * 3) Fake Crash
 * 4) N. Trance
 * 5) Dr. Nefarious Tropy

Supporting

 * Aku Aku
 * Uka Uka

Additions

 * Similar to Crash's jetboard in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and to Coco's jetski in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash rides on wakeboards (revealed in Lagoony Tunes when Aku Aku talks).
 * Instead of the usual warp room level selection, this game includes a map of various platforms in space. On the platforms, there are buttons which act as gateways to various levels.
 * Coco flies in space while avoiding a falling fireball. A meter is shown to show how close the fireball is. There is also a health meter to show Coco's remaining health percentage.
 * Crash rides on a magic carpet in all Arabian-themed levels except Prints of Persia and 101 Arabian Kites.
 * Crunch is now playable in two levels: Barrel Roll and Rocks Can Roll.
 * There are new types of crates: magic carpet crate, freeze crate, and copter crate.
 * There are two new super powers: super slide and rocket jump.

Link Game
For the first time in a Crash Bandicoot platformer, N-Tranced also features multiplayer competitive game play. In order to play, both players require a cartridge of the game as well as the Game Boy Advance Link Cable.

Atlasphere
Two players battle in the game's atlasphere mode. Players can choose between the battle modes Domination, Bumpers, or King of the Hill on a variation of maps. Depending on the players' progress in one player mode, Crash, Crunch, Coco, Fake Crash, N. Trance and N. Tropy are all playable characters.

Level Race
Two players can choose to race in any of the on-foot levels unlocked in the one-player story. Both players play as Crash and the level data for both players is separate (a necessity for both to progress through certain gimmicks such as the vehicle crates).

Huge Adventure/XS Link
In addition, the game can be linked to Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure via GBA link cable to unlock extra content. Through this option, Dingodile, N. Gin, Tiny, Dr. Cortex, and Mega-Mix can be unlocked as extra playable characters in atlasphere mode.

Exclusive Levels
Four exclusive levels or maps were created for the atlasphere battles:
 * Double Cross
 * Five Points
 * Long Trail
 * Ring Master

Previous Game References
As seen in the previous game, this entry in the series goes on giving the GBA most of the features and environments seen in the trilogy. First, instead of using a Warp Room, N-Tranced makes use of a "Warp Zone" structured like a map, in which every single portal is entered using the same animation seen in Crash Bandicoot: Warped - except the lack of any sight of the level outside it. Then, the only element hailing from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is the usage of the jungle-themed levels' background music in the atlasphere stages, as well as in the very first stage, Island Intro, which the concept was already seen in the second game - though it was called just "Intro" and, instead of its successor, wasn't replayable. Also unlike the Intro of Cortex Strikes Back, the Island Intro level is required, and contains a crystal, gem, and relic, whereas Cortex Strikes Back 's level could be exited from through the pause screen and skipped.

Also, the Egyptian tomb (like Tomb Time) and Arabian-themed stages (like Hang'em High) are based on the levels from Warped, as well as their own background music, while the volcano island ambiance hails from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (despite its music being remixed from the prehistoric levels from the third game). The water-themed levels offer the same tropical sea setting seen in the levels Warped, such as Makin' Waves, but here Crash does some water-skiing while being tied to an off-screen motorboat and chased by a shark. Therefore, these stages act as a chase. The flying-themed levels of the prequel, mixing the jetpack itself with fights against blimps, are now substituted by another kind of escape, in which Coco, wearing an astronaut suit and tied up to a hovering "space life belt" of sorts, has to manage to escape a giant - and unseen since being off-screen too - fireball (despite the first stage in this series being called "Run from the Sun") while fighting between meteorites as well as Lab Assistants. The atlasphere concept, instead, is from The Wrath of Cortex.

The pause menu reprises the one from the prequel in terms of structure, but is totally different when it comes to appearance. The "C" symbol now features Coco's face in order to match the one seen in Crash Bandicoot 3, as well as Crunch's face. Now Crash's face is on the bottom of the emblem while Coco's stands on its top. The pause menu is now almost completely golden. The pause menu is also the only place in the game to view a level's number, as this is no longer shown in the warp zone, like it was in previous games.

The bonus platforms now lead Crash to the bonus round by floating instead of just teleporting him there.

Another correction is made whenever Crash dies by falling into a chasm: in the prequel he would just become an angel/ghost, while now (reflecting the second and third games in the series) he throws up his shoes.

Colored gems are still featured, but in an entirely different way. In each Egyptian-themed level a red "gem shard" (1/4 of a colored gem) is hidden. Likewise, the volcano-themed stages hide blue gem shards and green gem shards are hidden within Arabian-themed levels. When N. Trance is defeated, the last section of the map (a wooden bridge set in outer space) is accessible. This portion acts as N. Tropy's hideout, and instead of the portals, the last three levels are accessed through the now recreated gems. Getting all four gem shards of any color unlocks one of these levels. Each of them has the relative colored gem to be found, as well as the normal gem and the relic. After each colored gem is aquired, the portal to N. Tropy, disguised as a gear, is accessible. In these levels, the colored gems act similar to how crystals act in most levels. In order to access time trial mode, Crash must get the colored gem from the level first, and all three colored gems will unlock the boss for that area.

The fight against N. Tropy is a mostly faithful recreation of the battle fought in Warped. N. Tropy fights Crash in an arena structured just like its counterpart, only set in Arabia. N. Tropy has a total of three hit points, but once defeated, he recovers and causes the battle to start over in an Egyptian tomb arena with smaller platforms, now attacking at a faster rate. As soon as he loses all of his health again, he restarts the battle one last time by setting it in the volcano environment. This time the player can defeat him once for all, but if they die, the battle has to be restarted from the beginning.

Music
As with the game's predecessor, this game's soundtrack references most of Naughty Dog's work on the series. Island Intro and the Atlasphere stages use the background music of the jungle-themed levels seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, except re-arranged in a way that differentiates it from the rendition heard in The Huge Adventure. The Arabian-themed stages and Egyptian tomb stages, being taken from Crash Bandicoot: Warped, have also music similar to their original counterparts, except rearranged and shortened. The volcano environment hails from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, but N-Tranced's volcano levels (excluding Island Intro) make use of the background music of the third game's prehistoric levels. The water-themed levels use background music somewhat similar to the music heard in Warped's jetski-themed levels. Fake Crash's boss fight uses a rearrangement of the background music of Crash Bandicoot: Warped's Rings of Power, while N. Tropy uses a rearrangement of his background music from Warped. All stages retain their one player music themes in multiplayer except for the Atlasphere multiplayer mode, which lacks background music.

Soundtrack Disc
Certain releases of the game also included a soundtrack CD featuring slightly enhanced arrangements of most of the game's music:
 * Track 1: Main Theme
 * Track 2: Warp Room
 * Track 3: Volcano
 * Track 4: Arabia
 * Track 5: Motorcycle
 * Track 6: Space Station
 * Track 7: Atlasphere
 * Track 8: Egypt

Track 5 (a rearrangement of the motorcycle-themed levels' theme in Crash Bandicoot: Warped) is not featured in the actual game, suggesting that at one point, N-Tranced was going to feature motorcycle levels. Track 6 was also cut from the game, and the space-themed levels use a unique track not included on the CD that bears some resemblance to Crate Balls of Fire from The Wrath of Cortex.

Power-ups and related glitches
Despite that there are five bosses instead of the prequel's four, there are still only four power-ups and the Fruit Bazooka from Crash Bandicoot: Warped is still absent.

However, the Super Charged Body Slam, as well as Double Jump, are available from the very beginning of the game. The first two power-ups, gained by defeating the first two bosses (being the brainwashed Crunch and Coco, respectively), are the Super Slide (a faster and more powerful slide, executed by pressing R while holding L and while standing still) as well as the Rocket Jump (maybe referencing the "Moon Jump" seen in most platform games through cheat devices - this one being an extra-high-but-not-long jump executed by jumping while standing still and holding L). By defeating N. Tropy the player isn't awarded any power-up at all.

The "power-up ? panels" appear in both "Island Intro" and "Globe Trottin'", as in-game tutorials while outside of the time trial mode.

Gallery
See: Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced/Gallery

Names in Other Languages
This game was developed in English and was officially localized into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

Trivia

 * This is the very first game in the series to not have Cortex as one of the villains. Despite this, he does appear at the game over screen.
 * N. Tropy's hit points are nine altogether. Therefore, he shares second place with N. Trance from this game, and N. Brio from Crash Bandicoot as the one with most of them. Despite this, N. Brio is still the one with most hit points shown on screen at once.
 * In the level Wild Nile Ride, there is a hidden message under the floor before the second Checkpoint Crate. It is impossible to be viewed without the usage of a graphical tool or cheats, but it is present in the Official Prima Strategy Guide. The message says "TATTA", followed by the Vicarious Visions logo and a smiley face.
 * Despite being originally a joke character, Fake Crash is given a role in the narrative of a game for the first time.
 * This was the last game to have Coco in her overalls and her original hairstyle until the release of the N. Sane Trilogy, over ten years later.
 * This is the first game where Crash fights Coco.
 * This is the first game where Crunch assists the bandicoots. It is also the first game where he is playable in some form, and the only case of being so in a platformer title.
 * This is also the first platformer in the series to utilize multiplayer options.
 * The logo can be seen on the walls in the Egyptian-themed levels.
 * Despite having more levels than in The Huge Adventure, N-Tranced only contains 1,791 crates.
 * The game's manual claims the game's link ability with The Huge Adventure also unlocks new levels though this was not made available in the final game.
 * Crunch and Coco use their "evil" headshot icons in the Atlasphere menu, though their game models and map icons use their normal forms.
 * This is the first Crash Bandicoot game where the relics are not needed to unlock the alternate ending.
 * Just like Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, some copies of the game came with a poster.
 * N. Trance's portion of the Hyperspace island is based on 's painting, with several melting clocks.
 * If you get all 21 crystals, 24 gems, 3 colored gems, 12 colored gem shards, 23 platinum relics, 1 gold relic and defeat every single boss in the game, then the save file will show 101% complete.