Crash Twinsanity

Crash Twinsanity (クラッシュ・バンディクー5 え〜っ クラッシュとコルテックスの野望?!? Crash Bandicoot 5: The Ambition of Crash and Cortex?!? in Japanese) is a video game in the Crash Bandicoot series. It was released on the North America on 1 October 2004, and is the fifth game that is not a spin-off. The story is set three years after the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, where Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka were left stranded in the Antarctic sea. Since then, the two were frozen solid and slowly drifted their way back to N. Sanity Island. In this game, there are four playable characters, who are Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex (sometimes both at the same time), Nina Cortex and Mecha-Bandicoot. Some once-seen characters also appear, such as Madame Amberly and The Evil Twins (Victor and Mortiz, the main antagonists).

Part 1 - N. Sanity Island
Cortex manages to escape from the ice encasing him and sets to work on getting his revenge on Crash Bandicoot after been send into the iceberg from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. First, he paralyzes Coco Bandicoot whilst she is playing, then disguises himself and to lure Crash to the bay. Once they reach the region, Cortex reveals his true identity. He also reveals he has organized a gathering, "like a birthday party except....the exact opposite", consisting of Dingodile, Tiny Tiger, Pinstripe Potoroo, Crunch Bandicoot (who mistakenly thought that the event was an actual birthday party, as he's holding a cake), Nitros Oxide, Ripper Roo, Koala Kong, and even Polar (who is holding a Baseball Bat to hit Crash). Here, Cortex fights Crash, but ends up being beaten yet again by Crash spinning back his large ray gun shots. Doctor N. Gin then arrives piloting Cortex's newest creation and Crash's main "present", Mecha-Bandicoot. Crash is able to defeat it by spinning back its ray gun projectiles and Mecha-Bandicoot falls through the floor of the bay. The explosion causes Cortex's hoverboard to malfunction and he falls in too, taking Crash with him. Dingodile then proceeds to talk to Ripper Roo about lunch, who agrees. Infuriated at losing to Crash again, Cortex charges at Crash knocking the duo down a hole leading to a cavern.

As the brawl makes its way through the underground mine, Cortex eventually stumbles across a Power Crystal. Shortly after claiming it, a giant drill rises from the ground, bringing Cortex up and leaving Crash below. When the drill opens, a horde of robotic enemies Ant Drones come out and start to collect all of the crate's around. Some of them also attack with plasma swords. Luckily, Crash stops the drill by slamming the drill's doors' buttons. This causes the drill to close and go back to the ground. Cortex gets back on the ground and Crash chases after him for the power crystal. They eventually work together (both holding the crystal) to get pass the mine. Soon, they are chased by the drill as they go up to the surface. Crash and Cortex work together to get out by hitting numerous colored crystals which trigger rockfalls that slow down the drill. They eventually escape from the drill and continue on foot to get outside the cave.

Once outside, two parrots who call themselves The Evil Twins, appear (via a huge zip) and proclaim that they are going to destroy their home islands. Cortex makes fun of them. To show how serious they are, they pull Cortex's brain out of his head, causing him to flee in terror still holding his brain.

Crash eventually finds Cortex again, who pleads for his help. He states how he envies the natural harmonious life of the Tribesman, the "noble" boar, the "humble" bumblebee, only to be swarmed by them. Cortex goes through a rampage because of the attacking bees and, at some point, an actual beehive and a bear. Crash is able to help him avoid various traps along the way, until he is ambushed and captured by Papu Papu. Crash makes his way up river, hiding from the tribesmen guards (Who, if he sees Crash, will have unseen tribesmen kill the hero with arrows.). Crash eventually infiltrates Papu Papu's village and "rescues" Cortex, who is tied to a totem pole with a power crystal on top. Crash grabs the power crystal thus destroying the totem making it fall to the a river along with Cortex. Cortex floats down a river tied to the totem pole and falls down a waterfall. Angry at Crash for the chaos he caused, Papu Papu orders his tribesmen to chase Crash.

After escaping from Papu Papu's tribesmen and reuniting with Cortex, Crash meets with a local farmer emu named Farmer Ernest. Farmer Ernest complains how the farmers' market is tomorrow and his Wumpa trees won't grow because of big worms infesting his land. He tries to make a negotiation with Crash and Cortex, offering his own power crystal in exchange for getting rid of the worms. Cortex just shoots him with his ray gun and claims the power crystal, stating that "Im an evil scientist what do you expect, this isn't a game." Unable to get past his land, they are forced to get rid of the worms anyway, so they can use the Wumpa trees to reach a cliff.

After passing through the farm, Crash and Cortex encounter The Evil Twins again. Revealing they are from the 10th Dimension, they bring a totem god, known as Tikimon, to life to destroy Crash and Cortex. Crash and Cortex manage to defeat it, whereby the twins explain that their Vice-Versa-Reverser-Device is already in operation, destroying their dimension, then they leave. The information the twins gave gives Cortex an idea and they decide to go to his Iceberg Lab.

Part 2 - Iceberg Lab
Crash and Cortex eventually arrive at Cortex's Iceberg Lab. The key to the lab however doesn't work, so the two are forced to go the long way round - up the iceberg it is situated on. On the way, Cortex comes across a gang of Penguins demanding pay saying the cheque bounced since the previous game The Wrath of Cortex didn't do as well as they hoped (breaking the fourth wall), he then attempts to bribe them with fish but they refuse so he threatens to blast them (after stunning one), they rocket off and the doctor and bandicoot move on.

The two encounter Uka Uka, frozen in ice, but free him using Cortex of course. Surprised to see Crash and Cortex together, he states "I DON'T KNOW WETHER TO KISS YOU OR KILL YOU!" He then morphs into an ice titan, but is defeated by the unlikely duo who turns on some switches which cause fire to come out from some of the vents Uka Uka is standing on. As Uka Uka tries to leave, Aku Aku stops him and informs him of The Evil Twins' plans, before proposing to team up themselves. Uka Uka, who is insistent that destroying the world is his job, accepts. Together again, the Aku Uka brothers travel to the 10th dimension to confront The Evil Twins themselves.

Crash and Cortex arrive inside the lab at long last, but are interrupted by The Evil Twins (who arrive, this time by door), who have defeated Aku Aku and Uka Uka. They reveal that they knew Cortex from long ago, claiming that he ruined their lives (although Cortex has no knowledge of this) and accidently reveal that they also have a large supply of treasure. They then send their army of Ant Drones to destroy Crash and Cortex, but they are swiftly beaten, forcing The Evil Twins to retreat. When Aku Aku and Uka Uka recover, they ask Cortex who the twins are but he does not know, causing Uka Uka to remark; "Such a big head, such a tiny brain." Aku Aku considers handing Cortex over to The Evil Twins. Cortex, unwilling, forms a truce with his nemisis.

Cortex then shows Crash the Psychetron, a teleportation device which they can use to travel to the 10th dimension and defeat The Evil Twins. (and steal the "riches") To get there, they require six power crystals. Right now they have four, three from N. Sanity Island (from the cave, totem pole in the village and Farmer Ernest) and one from Iceberg Lab ("meeting" with the Penguins) which obviously isn't enough. Cortex proposes that N. Gin might have one in his battleship but it is about to set sail. While Cortex is in deep thought about getting down fast, Crash boots Cortex off the balcony, using him as a makeshift sledge to get down the iceberg through a long downhill slope. On the way they crash through a chicken farm and even a nudie bar, Moulin Cortex. Their chased by a gang of penguins and they also find a power crystal.

They eventually land on Dingodile's cabin, but Cortex, feeling embarrased, is unwilling to go any further and states that no amount of treasure could ever compensate. Dingodile hears about The Evil Twin's treasure and follow's Crash. Crash ventures into the battleship himself and eventually finds another power crystal. He then battles N. Gin in his crow's nest that's suspended in midair. N. Gin uses a missile launcher and some TNT crates to fight Crash but is tricked into destroying his crow's nest. The crow's nest falls along with N. Gin and Crash. Crash lands through a ceiling into a hallway and the ship's chef, Rusty Walrus, comes in claiming Crash as "fresh meat for my pot!". Rusty chases after Crash down the hallway where there are fire vents, holes in the floor and of course Nitro Crates. Luckily, Crash reaches the exit and is surrounded by TNT crates. N. Gin lands on one, causing a massive explosion that presumably sinks the ship and sends Crash flying.

He lands on a nearby iceberg where Doctor Nefarious Tropy and Doctor Nitrus Brio are watching the ship sink. N. Tropy, with his time control powers, has found out about the Twins' treasure. They threaten Crash to talk for some information. As expected Crash remains silent. N. Tropy then orders N. Brio to drink a potion that turns him into a giant and somewhat frog-like mutant. Both N. Tropy and N. Brio battle Crash for information on the treasure but Crash defeats N. Tropy. N. Brio attacks one last time but ends up sending Crash flying back to Cortex's Lab by fliping the Iceberg. Crash returns to the Psychetron and delivers the crystals to Cortex, now that they have enough. At that moment, Coco appears. Believing that Cortex kidnapped Crash, she kicks him in the groin, "My Crystals!!", he exclaims, causing the Psychetron to malfunction and paralyzing her for the second time, thus destroying the power crystals they just found. Thanks to "Perky", the Psychetron will have to be repaired and only one person can fix it, Cortex suggests his niece, Nina Cortex, so using his airship, they set course for Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil.

Part 3 - The Academy of Evil
Crash and Cortex use Cortex's airship to travel to the academy. Dingodile secretly follows them. While traveling, The Evil Twins appear and send a horde of Ant Drones to attack Cortex. Cortex manages to fend them off with his ray gun. Crash and Cortex reach Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil. There, they venture through the secret underground sewage system hidden under a fountain in the courtyard. On the way, Cortex gets stuck in a pipe, causing Crash to roll him around for almost the whole level. After finding a new power crystal, they meet Dingodile who tells them he's heard of the treasure and want's "A piece of that pie". Cortex tells Dingodile that he has no idea what he just said so Dingodile uses his flamethrower on the pipe Cortex is standing on which sends him flying out of the sewer. Crash and Dingodile fight, but Crash wins the fight and goes back up to the Academy.

After that Crash ventures through the Academy of Evil, where he goes through the halls filled with hall monitors who, when they see Crash, exclaim, causing other students to throw seemmingly deadly paper planes at crash. He soon comes across a library that is filling up with acid and Crash runs to the top floor of the library to escape the acid. Crash finds another power crystal along the way. Cortex soon lands on the floor from out of nowhere, presumably because of what happened in the sewer. Cortex decides to take it from there and so he sends Crash back to guard the airship and make sure its mooring ropes are secure. Cortex makes his way through the halls filled with robot janitors and gets past them by ringing some school bells that cause some ruckus with the students. He also goes through classrooms filled with mutated frogs and mice. Soon he gets chased in the hallways by tons of bugs but he manages to escape them.

After recovering another power crystal, he reaches Nina Cortex's bedroom. Cortex meets his niece and asks her to show him what she's learned from school. Nina does this by going through the rooftops. Soon, they see the airship tied to a bus while flying away and Cortex gets mad at Crash. Nina continues through the rooftops that are starting to fill up with Ants Drones and she chases after the bus. After Nina finds another power crystal, the bus tied to the airship starts destroying some parts of the rooftops but Nina manages to escape it. She then meets up with Cortex in the halls where some Ant Drones start chasing them but are fended off by Cortex with his ray gun. Cortex gets left behind and meets his old teacher and the school principal, Madame Amberly. She reveals that he was once a student and mocks him by the name "Crybaby Cortex" and saying his labcoat looks like a barbar's uniform "I see you've found employment as a barbar". The two fight with Amberly tied to some ropes and Cortex on a giant organ. Cortex defeats her, sending her into a pit full of acid. Then, he meets up with Crash and they all reach the airship. With enough crystals again, they decide to go back to the Iceberg Lab.

On the airship, Cortex finally remembers his past with the Evil Twins. It is revealed that while he was just a child and a student of the Academy of Evil, he made his first test with the prototype Evolvo-Ray using the twins named Victor and Moritz, who were still ordinary parrots, as test subjects. His experiment accidentally sends them away to an unknown place which turns out to be the 10th dimension. After that experiment, he never saw them ever again and he was "heartbroken" for the loss of his two pet parrots.

Part 4 - Twinsanity Island
Back at the Iceberg Lab, Nina and Cortex fix the machine (with a simple smack) and venture to a new dimension (Cortex states it should've been two dimensions but they ran out of time, hinting the game would have been longer and even more in depth). In the tenth dimension, Cortex is seen hugging what he thinks is Crash, but is actually none other than Evil Crash. The vicious anthromorphic animal then kidnaps Nina. Cortex and Crash begin to chase after them, Crash again makes use of Cortex and rides him down the mountain to chase after Evil Crash.

They soon end up on Twinsanity Island, a twisted version of N. Sanity island. Crash sees Cortex, Nina, and Evil Crash at a warped version of his own house. Cortex offers himself stupidly, which ends with Evil Crash chasing him. Crash follows and the three take part in another Doc-Amok. At the end Cortex, Nina, and Crash find the Evil Twins hideout. After going deeply into their domain they find the doctors N. Tropy, N. Brio, and N. Gin. They claim they all found the treasure first. But it belongs to none other than Spyro the Dragon, who proceeds to burn the doctors. Our three heroes reach the Evil Twins and after a brief exchange of taunts Cortex tricks them into going to their cage. They then form a giant mech and an epic fight begins. Nina uses her acrobatic skills, Cortex uses his ray gun to blast the mech's guns and Crash defeats them with Mecha-Bandicoot after the Twins lose they quickly escape. They end up in Evil Crash's house, and come across him with Moritz hungrily exclaiming "Oh, Boy! I love roast chicken!' and Victor remarking "Well this is one heck of an ending" and he eats them.

Back at the Iceberg lab, Crash is standing in the middle of the Psychetron and Coco is now back to normal, Cortex states he was wrong about Crash; "You're creation was a mistake and you're existence has been a constant reminder of that mistake, but I've learned something from all of this I've learned you can not run away from you're mistakes but you can bury them!" He then pulls a lever intending Crash to transport to another dimension, but it malfunctions and sends Cortex inside Crash's Brain (causing Nina to say her first word; "Huh") where he is imprisoned with a bunch of dancing Crash's he pulls his hair and screams. Crash sticks his finger in his ear and smiles at the camera, with a black iris encircling him.

Production
The game's original soundtrack was created and performed by the Spiralmouth band. A few contents of it were removed, like the level Gone a Bit Coco, that would be after High Seas Hi-Jinks, and other enemies, like Evil Coco, but all that content can be seen in a concept gallery. The original game's name was Crash Bandicoot: Unlimited, but later the "Twinsanity" was suggested by one of the creators, and they decided to be Twinsanity, instead of being "Twinsane". During the "Birthday's Party" scene, a Polar can be seen, even though he's not a villain. Still one of the creators revealed the reason for this: Polar wanted his revenge for Crash riding on his back in Crash 2. We were told that Fake Crash was supposed to appear at a cameo in Crash Twinsanity, but was removed from the game.

Spiralmouth composed the music for this game, who would later compose the music for Crash Tag Team Racing along with Marc Baril.