Crash Bandicoot (game)

Crash Bandicoot is a platform game made by Naughty Dog in 1997 for the PlayStation, featuring the character by the same name. While playing, Crash Bandicoot must fight Doctor Neo Cortex's henchmen in order to save Tawna, his beloved bandicoot girlfriend for revenge on Cortex. This game was made when Naughty Dog had but ten employees. The game, as well as being originally released on the PlayStation, was also emulated on the PlayStation Network on December 4, 2006, through which it can be played on the PlayStation Portable and, as of Operating System update 1.70, on the PlayStation 3.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Crash Bandicoot is noticably simpler than the series' later iterations, Crash doesn't learn any skills throughout the game, he is able only to jump and use a spin attack. In this game the only animal that Crash could ride in the game was a warthog.

Levels
There are three Islands on the game, between which 32 Levels are divided as follows (the six Boss Levels are indicated in bold):

Crates and other items

 * Outline Crate
 * Crash Crate
 * Iron Crate
 * Arrow Crate
 * Basic Crate
 * Checkpoint Crate
 * Aku Aku Crate
 * TNT Crate
 * ! Crate
 * Bounce Crate
 * ? Crate
 * Gems
 * Keys
 * Wumpa Fruit

Plot
Somewhere southeast of Australia, there were three little islands, teeming with marsupial life. However, two humans had been experimenting with the local furry creatures, in order to form a destructive and evil army of anthrophomorphized marsupials. Dr. Nitrus Brio had created a machine called the Evolvo-Ray, but his ever pushy boss (and main series antagonist) took the credit. Dr. Neo Cortex had just kidnapped two regular bandicoots; one male and one female. They were then evolved. Both worked successfully, but Dr. Cortex had to insert them into his patented Cortex Vortex, a mind-controlling device to create evil henchmen. Finally, the evolved male bandicoot was inserted into the brain-draining machine, and... turned out to be an utter failure. The bandicoot Crash ran from an angry Cortex. He accidentally broke through a window in his attempt to get away and fell into the sea. But Tawna (the other bandicoot, and his girlfriend) was still in Cortex's clutches. When Crash washed up on the beach of his home island, he set out to save Tawna before Cortex could do anything terrible to her.

Eventually, Crash reached Cortex's sinister castle, and after exploring the castle, he confronted Cortex atop his Airship. After a long fight, Crash watched in awe as the rocket platform that Cortex stood on exploded, and Cortex fell into a mine. Meanwhile, Crash and Tawna celebrated the temporary defeat of the evil Dr. Neo Cortex!

Alternate ending
Instead of the second ending being more complete like in other games of the series, the first game has a different ending entirely if you collect all the Gems and take the new route at The Great Hall. Here, Crash finds Tawna in the castle earlier, hence he never fights Dr. Cortex. Crash and Tawna fly away together on a bird friend, and many stories are told of the bosses. Papu Papu started a Big & Tall Shop using money he received by selling Cortex Castle to a resort developer. Ripper Roo received intense therapy and a few years of higher education, and wrote the book "Through the Eyes of the Vortex" which talks about rapid evolution. Koala Kong moved to Hollywood, started an acting career, and is working with a speech therapist. Pinstripe moved to Chicago and started a sanitation company. Dr. N. Brio revisited his earlier career of tending bar. Curiously, Dr. Cortex manages his silent escape in the end, as the epilogue explains that Cortex was never heard from again. This is because Crash never fought him, thus he never accidentally rediscovered the Crystals. Obviously, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back continues from the main ending, though that doesn't mean that the epilogues for other characters besides Cortex didn't happen. For example, "Dr. Roo" is mildly referenced in the sequel, and Papu Papu and Pinstripe weren't seen until Crash Team Racing, and Koala Kong until Crash Bash.

Analysis
Crash Bandicoot is notable for its rich themes and subtexts, which show the influence of Eastern philosophy as well as ideology of the Elizabethan era.

The game largely deals with balance, harmony and the natural order. These concepts are embodied in the duality present throughout the game; good and evil, natural and manmade, intelligence and physical strength, emotion and logic. The setting also reflects this, with many level types appearing twice. Opposites, according to the game, are meant to be in balance. The narrative serves as an exploration of what happens when harmony is disrupted.

The primary conflict of the game is the disturbance of this balance by Cortex, whose desire for power and control lead him to act against the natural order. Formerly balanced between good and evil, he is driven to madness by his suffering at the hands of fellow scientists. Now almost entirely evil, he spreads his inbalance to the people and places he comes in contact with. His foil Brio for instance, becomes servile to Cortex, rather than an evenly matched rival. Cortex’s enterprise rains down destruction on the islands, through pollution and tampering with nature, creating a decaying dystopia with him at the throne. This disruption of the natural order leads to the creation of Crash. Although intended by Cortex to be an instrument of further destruction, he serves as a means for the natural order to restore itself. When an evil entity is introduced, a good one soon follows. Inevitably, the two opposites meet and balance is restored.

Crash Bandicoot may function as a tragedy in the Shakespearean sense. By this understanding, Cortex serves as the tragic hero. Although only his fall is shown during the course of the game, he was once a respected intellectual. The turning point for him came when his newest theories were ridiculed, despite their accuracy. This drove him to seek revenge at the cost of his humanity. In this sense, Cortex is the victim. His “evil plan” is merely his own attempt to restore balance by exacting his revenge on those that first attacked him. The restoration of the natural order through the confrontation of Crash and Cortex provides Catharsis. In the end, Cortex fails, and is left with nothing. Crash, the instrument of the natural order, restores balance, but in doing so loses his innocence. Like Cortex, he comes out a different person, unable to return to his natural, animal state despite having done nothing wrong.

The themes of the game are conveyed not just through the action, but through symbolism as well. Aku Aku is the embodiment of the natural order, aiding Crash in his efforts to restore balance. Conversely, the Cortex Vortex represents the disruption of balance by Cortex. In far eastern mythology, the shell of a turtle represents heaven while its underside represents earth. The appearance of turtles upside down in the game symbolizes the disorder and chaos Cortex has caused in the natural order. The TNT crates foreshadow the events of the game, with the countdown from three to one representing the journey across the three islands and the explosion representing the confrontation between Crash and Cortes and violent restoration of balance. The Wumpa Islands themselves are important symbols. They represent the three acts of the game: the beginning, middle, and end. The islands also reflect the changing mindset of Crash and the destruction of his innocence, first shown to be benign and tranquil, but becoming dark and threatening as time goes on. Each island also presents a different form of civilization. The first is primitive and the only one that lives harmoniously with nature. Consequently, it is the only one shown to be healthy and strong. The second civilization has failed long ago, its existence is only hinted at through the ruins it has left behind. It seems to have been mighty, but ultimately failed and has been taken over by the forest. The third civilization is that of Cortex. This, too, is mighty, but works against nature, which leads to its downfall. The events on the third island reveal to the player that the civilization failed because it went against nature, indicating the cause of the second civilization’s destruction. Therefore, the message of these civilizations is that those who do not coexist harmoniously with nature will be destroyed by it. Considering the game’s strong commentary on civilization, the prevalence of hogs throughout the islands may be a reference to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Trivia

 * Brendan O'Brien voiced all characters within the game.
 * An early build of Crash Bandicoot had a different health bar in which each hit point was demonstrated by a dot.
 * In the Japanese version of this game Papu Papu has 5 hit points instead of 3.
 * In the Japanese version, different music was used for boss fights.
 * Crash is the only Character with black irises.
 * Boulder Dash is a pun on the phrase 'balderdash'.
 * The level 'Rolling Stone', is a reference to the music band "The Rolling Stones".
 * The level 'Up the Creek' is a reference to the 1984 movie of the same name.
 * Tawna appeared in many of the Crash games following this one, in pictures and such, as Easter Eggs. She is rarely seen in person though.
 * Although the rocketsled Cortex stands on in his boss fight explodes, in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, he stands on it when fighting Crash in his boss fight. It could be that Cortex rebuilt his rocketsled after he got out of the mine in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.

Crash Bandicoot