Emperor Velo XXVII

"I am Emperor Velo XXVII, ruler of this galaxy! My subjects hunger for entertainment, and word of your racing prowess has reached my glorious empire. And I hope you put on a good show, especially since winning the circuit will win your freedom. And if, for some reason, you refuse to race, your Earth will be... destroyed. But... I don't think it will come to that. Do you accept my challenge?"

- Emperor Velo XXVII

"As ruler of this galaxy, I'll own this Grand Prix!"

- Emperor Velo XXVII

Emperor Velo XXVII, usually referred to as just Velo, is the extraterrestrial emperor of an unnamed empire and a fanatic racer and egotist combined who serves as the main antagonist of Crash Nitro Kart. He refers to himself as "the most accomplished racer in the entire galaxy." However, he loses the title when he is defeated by Crash Bandicoot and/or Neo Cortex, whom he kidnapped in order to prove his strength and entertain his subjects.

Crash Nitro Kart
Velo is a powerful emperor, with thousands of subjects (all of whom resemble small goblins) at his beck and call, and a coliseum at the top of his planet (which resembles his head, reflecting his large ego). His subjects are in constant need of entertainment, and when legends of the driving skills of Crash and his friends reach his ears, he immediately abducts Crash and the others and forces them to race in his Galaxy Circuit, with the threat of the destruction of Earth if they do not race. When Velo's subjects are defeated one by one, Velo reveals himself to be the Galactic Champion and races the Terrestrials personally.

If the player has not acquired the time relics to each of the courses, upon his defeat, Velo starts to get enraged but then collects himself to admit his defeat, and, true to his word, allow the racers to go free. But, also true to his word, he declares the Earth to be planned for destruction since they refuse to race anymore. Then he allows them a rematch, but only if the player gets all the time relics. If the player has acquired the time relics, Velo throws a fit, then he suddenly explodes literally. The Velo the Terrestrials raced was just a robotic suit, much to the shock of Velo's subjects. The real Velo, as it turns out, is actually a small goblin, much like his subjects. The rest depends on the team the player chose.

In Team Bandicoot's ending, Velo holds up his scepter in triumph in an attempt to win over his subjects, but they are too shocked and let down to say anything. Powerless, Velo relinquishes his empire and whatever influence he had on his subjects. Crash seriously considers this (even thinking about having the planet reshaped into his head), but he decides to reject the idea and gives the scepter back to Velo in exchange for being sent home. In Team Cortex's ending, Velo isn't so willing to give up his power. When he sees Cortex with his scepter, he tackles him in an attempt to get it back but is easily stopped by Tiny, forcing Velo to give them the scepter.

In the console version, his true form can be unlocked as a playable character by completing both the Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex routes in Adventure Mode to 100%.

In the GBA version, his robot form can be unlocked by defeating him in Adventure Mode.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Real Velo is a playable racer in Nitro-Fueled and is purchasable through the Pit Stop. His fake form is playable as part of the Gasmoxia Grand Prix and is the reward for completing the Bronze Tier.

Emperor Velo's fake form was later purchasable in the Pit Stop for 1500 Wumpa Coins as of the Post-Grand Prix update.

Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
While he does not physically appear himself, Velo is referenced in On the Run!. Both Crash and Coco have Velo themed skins which were made available in the first season, the Return of Nitros Oxide.

Personality
Emperor Velo is confident and dominating to the point of being a jerk and showing contempt for his lessors. However, he seems to be able to control his temper. When the real Velo is revealed, he is shown to be pouty, impetuous, and childish with a healthy temper, much like Neo Cortex.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled shows more of his personality. He is shown to be provocative, haughty, and cherishes the audience booing at him, akin to a heel in a competition. He also has a low self-esteem and patience in his true form, as evidenced when talking about winning the next time after losing, his true form shows a nasty spite while his fake form simply feels disappointed.

Outward appearance
Velo is a very tall and obese character (though his full body isn't seen until after Geary's defeat). He is a vibrantly-colored individual, with green skin, blue lips, purple, bloodshot eyes, long pointy ears with darker green insides, pointy, yellowed claws and a purple V-shaped goatee. (Oddly, his hair is shown to be red instead in pre-rendered cutscenes.) He wears a long purple robe with red trim and ornate cuffs, seemingly featuring golden shapes sewn into them, as well as an equally ornate belt. He wears a large gold medal around his neck, inscribed with a large V. He has jeweled rings on his fingers, golden earrings, and a golden helm with a tuft of purple hair visible through the top. He also wears reddish brown open-toed sandals, revealing paw-like feet.

Emperor Velo in Nitro-Fueled is largely the same as in CNK, with the only differences being a new pattern on the belly of his robe and much thicker eyelashes. He also now has golden sclera.

However, that form is merely a robot disguise. Velo's true form's appearance is very different. Real Velo resembles his goblin-like subjects seen spectating the competition, only being even smaller. He lacks his helm in this form and is also bald, but he now has pointy growths on top of his head, resembling a crown. He retains a smaller, simpler version of his disguise's robe, but he still wears his medal, earrings and rings on his fingers. His eyes are red and slightly bloodshot.

In Nitro-Fueled, Real Velo's design has a few small differences. The design of his robe has changed a bit, and he now wears gold bracelets around his wrists. His belt no longer has golden details on it, with only one golden buckle off to the side remaining. His eyes are red as before, but they are erroneously shown to be purple on his portrait sticker.

Team Bandicoot/Team Cortex
Velo kidnaps both teams (consisting of Crash, Coco and Crunch, and Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny respectively) in order to race for him in his galactic circuit, providing entertainment for himself and his subjects. He sees earthlings as below him, referring to them as "savages" and doubting their abilities to complete the entire circuit. He constantly insults and mocks the player during his boss race, and is outraged upon being beaten. In Team Bandicoot's ending he reluctantly surrenders his power to the team after being exposed as a fraud, while with Team Cortex he puts up more resistance until threatened by Tiny.

Krunk
Of all of his champions, Krunk seems to be the one that he tolerates the best. He doesn't get angry with him during his introduction as he does with all other champions, only getting mad after Krunk loses his boss race. He seems aware of the fact that Krunk is the least skilled of all his champions, sending him out to race the opposing team first.

Nash
Velo finds Nash irritating and pushy, getting angry at him during his intro for being impatient. He still respects Nash's racing talent however, talking about his abilities with the opposing team before his arrival.

Norm
Velo forces Little Norm to race due to his talent on the track, getting angry when he refuses to race and threatening to take his books away in order to force him to concentrate on racing. He shows no respect for Little Norm's wishes, or for Little Norm in general, laughing at him for a second when he first arrives. Despite this, he keeps Little Norm as a champion because of his skills, referring to him as a "demon on the racetrack". Velo doesn't directly interact with Big Norm, but allows him to race alongside Little Norm despite his lower skill level compared to his other half. This is likely due to his enthusiasm for racing and how he encourages Little Norm to join in.

Geary
Velo sees Geary as his best champion, saving him as the last challenge (besides himself) and calling him "the pinnacle of robotics". He seems to find Geary's cleaning mode annoying and pointless, preferring Geary to stay in his more aggressive racing mode. He does use the cleaning mode to his own advantage at times however, ordering Geary to clean the coliseum after his loss.

Nitros Oxide
Nitros Oxide is seen at the lead of Team Oxide, one of Velo's racing teams in CNK. Nitros Oxide happily races for Velo throughout CNK, and it's implied that Oxide was the one that informed Velo of Earth's racing talent in order to get revenge for his defeat in CTR. Velo seems close with Oxide, choosing to join Team Oxide when racing in his true form after being unlocked as playable. Oxide is also the one who invited Emperor Velo to join the race in Nitro-Fueled during the Gasmoxia Grand Prix.

N. Trance
N. Trance is the leader of Velo's other racing team, Team Trance. He isn't as close with Velo as Oxide, but seems to respect Velo as emperor as a member of his imperial court, and is quite content with racing for him throughout CNK.

Portrayals
Both of Velo's forms are voiced by Steven Blum (who also voiced Crash in the same game) in the English version of Crash Nitro Kart, while André Sogliuzzo voices both his forms in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. In the Japanese version of the game, Emperor Velo is voiced by Haruo Satō, while the real Velo is voiced by Kōki Miyata.

Appearances

 * Crash Nitro Kart
 * Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
 * Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (referenced)

Gallery
See: Emperor Velo XXVII/Gallery

Trivia

 * Velo's name is likely derived from the word "velocity", meaning speed.
 * Coincidentally, however, the word "vélo" is French for "bike", matching up with his personal Velo Chopper kart (a motorcycle-like hoverkart).
 * Velo is also Latin for the verb "to veil", meaning to cover or wrap, but can also mean to conceal or disguise, which is a possible reference to Velo disguising himself as a more imposing figure.
 * Velo's name is mispronounced in Nitro-Fueled, by both Velo himself in his voice lines and by Nitros Oxide within the Gasmoxia Grand Prix's CTR TV segment. They pronounce it like "Veh-lo" (similar to the word "velocity"), while in Crash Nitro Kart it was always pronounced "Vee-lo".
 * In the console version of the game, Real Velo is playable whereas his robotic form is playable in the Game Boy Advance version of the game.
 * When the player races Velo's ghosts they will be ghosts of his true form.
 * When the player is racing as Team Trance (Pura, Polar, Dingodile and N. Trance) or Team Oxide (Zam, Zem, N. Oxide and "Real Velo"), a Velo Mask will be the accompanying mask for power-ups and re-adjusting the player into the track.
 * His eyebrows, hair and beard are orange in the FMVs, but are purple in-game.
 * This discrepancy was referenced in Nitro-Fueled's Gasmoxia Grand Prix: his hair is purple as usual in game and in all promotional material, but it was orange during Emperor Velo's introduction in CTR TV.
 * The moon of Terra, as well as the base of the coliseum, bears Velo's face.
 * In Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, his true form is referred to in-game as "Real Velo" except that after the player races as him on time trial the player ghost is just named "Velo".

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