Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, most well-known for the nifty bony or cartilaginous shells, developed from their ribs, that they wear at all times, serving as a natural shield. They also appear as generic enemies in a few Crash games, because it is a primarily platformer series.

Crash Bandicoot
Turtles are a relatively common enemy during Crash's maiden voyage. He first encounters them on N. Sanity Beach, where they serve as basic enemies to help Crash learn the mechanics of his movement. They later appear patrolling the borders of Papu Papu's village (in The Great Gate and Native Fortress); considering his fatness, he probably intends to make soup out of them once they cease to be useful as guards. Finally, The High Road contains extensive puzzle solving involving turtle shells, in what appears to be a sky-high bridge-based turtle city, complete with depressing graveyard. Generally speaking, their habitats in this game imply that the turtles have shocking athletic ability, in order to climb around these shaky wooden environments,

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Turtles strike back with a vengence! Appearing only in the forest levels (with one - Turtle Woods - specifically named after them), turtles come in two spiffy new varieties. The first has spikes on its side, eliminating the possibility of using spin or slide attacks; the other has a running buzzsaw on its shell, rendering jumping on the creature out of the question. It is never explained in-game how the buzzsaw is powered, however, as most real-world turtles are not electric creatures. It is also never explained how these buzzsaw turtles would mate.

Crash Team Racing
Turtle shells reprise their roles as fantastic trampolines on the track Mystery Caves, always appearing in pairs of two, side-by-side.

Trivia

 * It seems that turtles were originally intended to appear in Crash Bandicoot: Evolution, as seen in concept art, which depicted them as gray, with red eyes. Some fans think that these turtles might have been of an entirely different species of turtles.


 * Curiously, none of the pre-CTR turtles are ever encountered in the water, despite being turtles.