Ripper Roo

Ripper Roo is a blue anthropomorphic kangaroo and an antagonist in the Crash Bandicoot series, first appearing in the original Crash Bandicoot game. Having turned out to be insane, he was restrained with a straitjacket after his creation by Neo Cortex and N. Brio. He later underwent psychotherapy and became an esteemed academic. He has an affinity for explosives such as TNT and Nitro Crates.

Though Ripper Roo was first introduced as one of Doctor Cortex's animal henchmen, he would later oppose Cortex's attempts to take over the world in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. In subsequent appearances, he is primarily a villainous character, sometimes but not always working with Cortex.

Crash Bandicoot
Ripper Roo was introduced to the series as the second boss of the original Crash Bandicoot game. His arena is at the top of a waterfall on Wumpa Island. Crash Bandicoot must defeat him in order to make it to Castle Cortex and rescue his girlfriend Tawna Bandicoot from the clutches of the evil Dr. Neo Cortex.

Ripper Roo's boss arena is a 3x3 grid of stone tiles that he hops between in a set pattern. Big TNT, crates unique to this fight, float down through the water for Crash to jump on. Ripper Roo takes damage and laughs maniacally when a TNT explodes next to a tile he is standing on.

In the game's 100% ending epilogue, Ripper Roo received intense therapy and earned a PhD after eight years of higher education. He went on to write the well-received book "Through The Eye of The Vortex: A Study of Rapid Evolution and Its Consequences".

Ripper Roo reprises his boss role in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy's remake of the original game. An animation was added of him falling down the waterfall upon defeat.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Ripper Roo reappeared in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as the first boss of the game. He is allied with N. Brio in order to stop Crash from gathering crystals for Neo Cortex, who wants to use them to harness solar energy for use in a device that can brainwash the entire planet.

Since receiving therapy, Ripper Roo devoted himself to his studies and earned a diploma. Crash interrupts his reading when he arrives at his boss arena, which has been converted into a study. Each phase of the fight has Ripper Roo switch between the "professorial" and "insane" sides of his personality. He first hops around the arena using his cane, leaving tiles of TNT wherever he lands. When the TNT goes off under him, he will lose his hat, laugh, and begin placing nitro tiles. When he sets these off underneath him, he becomes stunned, and Crash can damage him with any attack before the pattern restarts in the next phase.

Ripper Roo reprises this role in the N. Sane Trilogy as well. His newly added defeat animation has him get his head stuck in the ground, then pull it out with his hair and mustache gone.

Crash Team Racing
Ripper Roo is the first boss and a playable character in Crash Team Racing. He can be unlocked as a playable character by completing the Red Gem Cup. He shares the same driver statistics as Polar and Pura, specializing in the Turn stat while having a low Speed stat. Like the other playable series antagonists in the game, Ripper Roo is aligned with Uka Uka.

Like the rest of the cast, Ripper Roo is competing for the right to race the alien Nitros Oxide and stop him from turning Earth into a parking lot. He also holds the key to the second map area, Gem Stone Valley, which leads to The Lost Ruins. Once every track is beaten in N. Sanity Beach, Ripper Roo can be faced in a boss race in Roo's Tubes. He leaves TNT crates behind his kart to try and slow the player character down. Upon defeat, he wishes the player character good luck and gives them the key to Gemstone Valley.

In the game's epilogue, Ripper Roo was unexpectedly elected as a state governor. His slogan "Crazy Is As Crazy Does!" earned him great public support, with rumors of a run for presidential office.

Other major appearances
In Crash Nitro Kart 2, Ripper Roo is one of the villain characters, working with Cortex to help Nitros Oxide turn the planet into a parking lot. He first appears in Mission 4, "The eternal second", where he spreads panic among the bandicoots to avenge Cortex's defeat in the previous mission. If Yaya Panda keeps her lead against him for all three laps of the race, he is defeated and calms down, though he returns as an enemy racer for some later missions. Defeating Ripper Roo in Mission 4 unlocks him as a playable character in the game's other modes. He has high acceleration, but a low top speed.

Ripper Roo's story role in Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is very similar to that of Crash Nitro Kart 2 ' s. He is an antagonistic character first appearing in Mission 4 of the game's story mode. Driven to further madness by Dr. Cortex's defeat in a previous mission, he "spreads panic and mayhem" in someplace called Adventure Land. Coco Bandicoot must beat him in a one-on-one race to complete the mission. He reappears as an enemy racer in Missions 5 and 6. Ripper Roo is also a playable character in the game's Cup and Time Trial mode, unlocked by completing the N. Tropy Cup.

Ripper Roo is also a playable character in Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, unlocked by earning 62 points in Mission Mode. He has a high Acceleration stat, mid-range Speed, and a low Grip.

Ripper Roo reprises his role as a boss and playable character in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remake of Crash Team Racing. His pre- and post-boss race cutscenes were re-animated: he introduces himself by launching off of a pile of TNT crates into his kart, and literally coughs up the key to Gem Stone Valley when he is defeated. He is unlocked as a playable character after winning his boss race. His Driving Style is Turn. His epilogue text was also changed from the original: he became a thrill ride engineer, but was blacklisted when it was discovered that he created rides solely to test his own threshold for pain.

Ripper Roo will be a playable character in Crash Team Rumble as of Season 1's launch on June 20, 2023.

Minor appearances
In Crash Bash, Ripper Roo acts as a stage hazard in the minigame El Pogo Loco. Wearing his Doctor Roo attire, he bounces around the arena on his cane, creating TNT or four-way arrow tiles wherever he lands. He may also fire missiles at the other characters. In the level's crystal challenge, he leaves Nitro tiles instead of TNT. In the epilogue of the Japanese version of the game, it is implied that N. Brio created Rilla Roo using Ripper Roo's genes.

In Crash Twinsanity, Ripper Roo makes a cameo in the cutscenes just before and after the first boss fight against Mecha-Bandicoot. Doctor Cortex throws a "birthday party" (really an ambush) and invites many of Crash's former foes to witness his defeat. After this fails, Ripper Roo and Dingodile agree to go out for lunch. Additionally, one of the concept art pieces unlocked by obtaining purple gems in the game depicts Ripper Roo playing a card game with Cortex's other animal minions.

Ripper Roo makes a cameo in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. In the level Off Beat, he can be seen hopping around on the rooftop of a building. He is also mentioned in the game's 100% ending epilogue: after N. Brio transformed himself into a pterodactyl-like form, he was mistaken for a flying squirrel, caught, caged, and displayed in a taxidermy exhibit at Ripper Roo's Curious Cabinet of Curiosities. A piece of concept art featuring Ripper Roo can be seen in the game's Enemy Gallery after every Hidden Gem in the Mosquito Marsh dimension is collected.

Though Ripper Roo did not himself appear in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!, a Ripper Roo-themed skin for Crash was added in Season 2, "Running Outta Time!".

Other media
Ripper Roo (called simply "Ripper") appears in Ari Kawashima's Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, a manga series that loosely follows the plot of Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. He appears only in chapter 5 of volume 1, "Furious Ripper!". Ripper discovers Crash and Aku Aku in his house in the woods after they have invited themselves in, looking for food. He is about to throw them out when he notices that Crash is carrying a Power Stone. He offers Crash food in exchange for it, but he refuses under threat by Aku Aku. Undeterred, Ripper instead promises to fix them food if they clean his house, plotting to steal the Stone from Crash while he is distracted. Although Crash flattens Ripper's books and makes a mess of his study, he puts up with it to get the Stone. When a ladder falls on his head, he pretends to pass out, and tries to grab the Stone from Crash while being carried on his back. This fails when Crash trips and launches Ripper into one of his own machines, electrifying him and destroying the records of his research. Ripper flies into an insane rage and attacks Aku Aku and Crash, demanding the Stone. He is defeated when Crash actually faints from hunger, knocking a box into a chandelier that falls on Ripper's head. As an apology for his behavior, Ripper fixes them his favorite meal — a pile of fish bones, rotten meat and moldy cake.

Ripper Roo also makes a brief appearance in the Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Digital Comic, which depicts the events leading to and following Nitros Oxide announcing his challenge for the fate of Earth. Oxide orders his Surveillance Robots to deliver Area Keys to the most skilled racers, but one robot loses its key when the bubble containing it pops. It bounces off of Ripper Roo's head and into a river, where he dives down to retrieve it.

Basic design
Ripper Roo is a blue anthropomorphic kangaroo with floppy ears, bushy eyebrows, sharp teeth, a lolling tongue, and yellow spiral-patterned eyes that represent his insanity. The fur around his muzzle and chest, inside his ears, and on the underside of his tail is a lighter shade of blue than the rest of him. His arms are bound by a white straitjacket, so he moves around by bouncing on his powerful legs. He tends to use his feet like hands; in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back he uses one to hold up a book he was reading, while in Crash Team Racing he steers his kart with them. Each foot has three sharp claws. These elements make up his basic design, seen in the original Crash Bandicoot and Crash Team Racing as well as their respective remakes in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Other designs
In Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bash, Ripper Roo has a blond mustache and a shaggy hairstyle kept underneath a top hat. While wearing his glasses, his eyes appear normal, but the yellow spiral pattern re-appears when they are blown off in his Cortex Strikes Back boss fight. He also wears a red bowtie over his straitjacket and carries a black cane with him that he uses to hop around. In the N. Sane Trilogy remake of Cortex Strikes Back, Ripper Roo's hair, hat and mustache come off when he pulls his head out of the ground after being defeated.

In Crash Twinsanity, Ripper Roo's appearance was tweaked slightly from the base design. The insides of his ears are pink and his spiral eyes are red and white.

A number of mobile game sequels to Crash Nitro Kart were released over the years that made various tweaks to Ripper Roo's design. In Crash Nitro Kart 2, Ripper Roo resembles his base design, but he wears a white tee instead of a straitjacket and uses his hands to steer. In Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, his body type is completely changed to resemble a stereotypical cartoon kangaroo, and he wears nothing but boxing gloves. In Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, Ripper Roo's basic design returned, as did his black top hat.

In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Ripper Roo retains his basic design in-game, with some stylistic changes to better match the game's overall art style. His ears are longer, the fur around his cheeks appears scruffier, and his yellow eyes have no spiral pattern. The model would be re-used in Crash Team Rumble. In his appearance in the It's About Time ' s 100% epilogue, he wears a top hat and monocle, and his straitjacket is black. He also has a white mustache and goatee at the end of his snout, and he carries a wooden cane. This design likely draws inspiration from Ripper Roo's Gentleman skin from the series' previous installment, Nitro-Fueled, which includes the black straitjacket, white mustache and monocle not seen anywhere else.

In some non-game material exclusive to Japan, Ripper Roo was formerly portrayed with small blue hands free from his straitjacket. This was the case for his promotional art in the manuals for the first two Crash Bandicoot games, as well as the manga series Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken. In his most recent appearance in Japanese promotional material, produced for Nitro-Fueled, no changes were made from the Western design.

Personality
Ripper Roo's chief characteristic is his insanity. Overall, he has a cheerful disposition and rarely stands still. He often uses explosives for fun or to attack others, and he is prone to blowing himself up with them. This doesn't seem to bother him, as he laughs when this happens; according to his epilogue in Nitro-Fueled, he subjects himself to pain just to test his own limits. Ripper Roo is recognizable by his maniacal laughter, and in Western depictions he is either unwilling or unable to speak — the American and European manuals of Crash Bandicoot state that he is "not much of a conversationalist".

Ripper Roo is also shown to be notably intelligent and accomplished despite his insanity. Following the events of the first Crash Bandicoot game, Ripper Roo was successful in higher education, earning a PhD and going on to write an acclaimed book about rapid evolution. Other successful personal endeavors include a political career as a state governor in Crash Team Racing, and management of an "Art of Taxidermy" exhibit at "Ripper Roo's Cabinet of Curiosities" in It's About Time. Still, a significant shock can cause him to become manic again. In Cortex Strikes Back, Ripper Roo's behavior changes whenever he is caught in the blast of an explosive tile. In ''Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken'', he loses his self-control and attacks Crash after being electrocuted.

Ripper Roo's portrayal in Japanese media is largely unchanged from the others. However, some media depicts him with the ability to speak coherently, such as in ''Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken''. The Japanese version of the original Crash Team Racing is unique among the other dubs in that he speaks in between bouts of howling and laughter. In Japanese dubs of other games, including the remake Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, he only laughs.

Creation and development for Crash Bandicoot
The first concept art of Ripper Roo was originally drawn by Joe Pearson on an unknown date for production of the first Crash Bandicoot game. The core elements of the design did not change from this point up to Crash Bandicoot ' s release. His character was designed to convey the dangers of Cortex Vortex exposure in a humorous manner, and to demonstrate the animation technique of overlapping action.

The earliest dated reference to the character was in the February 20, 1995 edition of the series production bible, also produced by Pearson. In an early script for the game's opening sequence, Ripper Roo was named as one of Neo Cortex's many animal henchmen, and would appear briefly in the scene. Later drafts of the bible would revise this script, but keep Ripper Roo's role the same.

More concept art was produced by Charles Zembillas for the May 5, 1995 edition of the series production bible, published in The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania. This draft also included information on Ripper Roo's personality and history. The first and least successful of Cortex's creations, Ripper Roo responded well to physical transformation by the Evolvo-Ray, but his mind was blank. A 24-hour period inside the Cortex Vortex on overload was intended to turn him into a highly intelligent animal soldier. Instead, he emerged totally insane, and had to be straitjacketed and locked away for the safety of himself and others. Ripper Roo was always moving, bumping into Cortex's other minions and smacking his head into anything nearby. He was as likely to attack his allies as his enemies with the sharp claws on his feet, or to do nothing at all. He would also entertain himself by making shadow puppets with his tail, disturbing the others. He giggled constantly, but could not speak besides occasionally howling "Rip, rip, rip, Ripper Roooooo!". The August 1995 draft of the production bible abridged this story and made minor changes: Ripper Roo's treatment period was for "days", and the supposed length of his claws was shortened from six feet to twelve inches.

Ripper Roo was planned early on to be the first of two boss fights on the second island, set on top of a waterfall, all of which remains in the final game. None of the animal henchmen appear in the game's opening cutscene. The details about Ripper Roo attacking with his feet, making shadow puppets, or howling his own name never come up in gameplay.

For Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Charles Zembillas returned as the concept artist for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back in 1997. Following the events of the first game, Ripper Roo went on to pursue higher education; to convey this, he was designed with a mustache and frizzy hair inspired by Albert Einstein.

For Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Ripper Roo was first planned to make multiple appearances in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time throughout the levels in the Mosquito Marsh dimension. In the game's story, he would have scattered TNTs across the levels for Crash and Coco Bandicoot to work their way around. Though he was not intended to be a boss character, the game's artbook, The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, states that he would have been "destroyed" by Crash at the end of Run It Bayou.

Toys For Bob, the developers of It's About Time, decided early on that Ripper Roo's one-off appearance lacked relevance to the game's main story, and that it would be "too much" to include him as they'd initially planned. However, they still wanted him to appear in the game. In the end, Ripper Roo was given cameo appearances in Off Beat and in the 100% ending epilogue. Hazards in the water in Run It Bayou and No Dillo Dallying were changed from TNTs to mines accounting for this decision.

Trivia

 * In Crash Team Racing, voice lines of Ripper Roo speaking coherent English were recorded for his cutscenes. They remain in the game's files, but do not play during normal gameplay. Two additional lines were also disincluded from the final game: "I should face Oxide in the big race!" before his boss race, and "Best get head checked if you think you can beat Oxide!" after defeat. These lines were re-included in the transcript of Ripper Roo's laughter in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Gallery
Main article: Ripper Roo/Gallery