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Polar is a polar bear cub and ally of Crash Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot series, debuting in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. He is usually ridden by Crash as a mount character through certain riding levels. Polar has also been a playable character in some Crash Bandicoot series racing games, and has made cameos in other titles.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Polar debuted in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as a mount character similar to the warthog from the original Crash Bandicoot game. Crash Bandicoot can ride on him in the icy levels Bear It, Bear Down, Un-Bearable, and Totally Bear, similarly to the warthog from the first Crash Bandicoot game. In these levels, Polar runs continuously and must be steered away from level hazards in order to progress. Polar jumps when the button is pressed and gains a short burst of speed with. Polar typically runs facing away from the screen, except in Un-Bearable where he runs towards the screen.

Polar also sits by the level portal to Bear It on the second floor of the Warp Room. Walking or jumping on him here will flatten him. Doing this ten times grants Crash ten extra lives just once per save file.

Polar reprises this role in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of Cortex Strikes Back.

Crash Team Racing
Polar is one of the eight playable characters in Crash Team Racing that can be selected in any mode. Like the rest of the cast, he is competing for the right to race the alien Nitros Oxide and stop him from turning Earth into a parking lot. In the opening cutscene for the Adventure Mode, Polar sits in his kart and tries to read a book titled "How To Drive", not realizing that he's reading it upside-down. Polar has a high Turn stat and a low Speed stat. In the game's epilogue, Polar became the head taste tester for a leading ice cream company, approving fish-themed flavors such as "Salmon Swirl", "Squishy Squid Sundae" and "Mackerel Mint".

Polar reprised this role in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remake of Crash Team Racing. An animation was added to the opening cutscene of the Adventure Mode. While Polar reads, Penta Penguin appears behind him and slaps him, knocking the book rightside-up. Polar's epilogue text was changed, giving his title as "Head Flavor Scientist" and adding that the Tuna Spumoni flavor gained the company notoriety.

As a mount
Polar would return as a mount character in some Crash Bandicoot series titles following Cortex Strikes Back. In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Crash rides Polar towards the screen while being chased by a yeti in sections of the levels Frostbite Cavern, Snow Crash and Snow Job. In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, Polar runs to the right of the screen in the levels Grin and Bear It, Polar Express, Bear With Me, and Nina Cortex's boss fight; he also appears on trading cards that can be collected throughout the game. In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Polar can be ridden by either Crash or Coco Bandicoot in Bears Repeating and its timeline level counterpart, Building Bridges. Polar controls similarly in each game, being able to jump and gain bursts of speed while running.

In the Crash Bandicoot racing series
Polar is a playable racer in Crash Nitro Kart. Along with Pura and Dingodile, he has been brainwashed by N. Trance into racing for Team Trance. Like his teammates, he is playable in every mode except the Adventure Mode, and has the Velo Mask as his Invincibility Mask. Polar has a low Speed stat, mid-range Accel, and the maximum Turn stat possible. If the player completes Adventure Mode as a member of Team Bandicoot, Polar appears in the final cutscene. He relaxes on the beach with the Bandicoot family, free from N. Trance's control.

Polar is a playable racer in the iPhone version of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D only. He was unlocked by updating the game via the App Store. As this game is no longer listed on the App Store, he can only be played in versions of the game that already have him unlocked.

Minor appearances
In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Polar makes cameos in the opening cutscene as well as the 100% ending cutscene. He first appears with Aku Aku, Crash and Coco outside their home in the woods, and becomes frightened when Aku Aku's evil brother Uka Uka is released from his temple prison. Once Neo Cortex and Uka Uka are defeated a second time for the full ending, Polar sits with the bandicoots safe at home. He reprises this role in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy ' s remake of Warped.

Polar has a cameo appearance in Crash Anywhere, a game playable by connecting a PocketStation peripheral to a PlayStation with the Japanese version of Warped in it.

Though Polar does not appear in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex directly, he does appear in Crash Bandicoot Blast!, a shooting gallery-style minigame unlocked by connecting a Game Boy Advance to the GameCube version of The Wrath of Cortex. Shooting evil characters adds to Crash's score, while shooting friendly characters deducts from it. Polar in particular deducts fifty points.

Polar makes a brief cameo in Crash Twinsanity. Polar attends Neo Cortex's "birthday party"-themed ambush for Crash at the beginning of the game, tapping a baseball bat in his paws with a menacing expression.

In Crash Boom Bang!, Polar sometimes features in the Silhouette Quiz minigame, where players must identify a character by their silhouette to win.

Though Polar did not himself appear in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!, a Polar-themed skin for Crash was added in Season 5, "25th Anniversary!", on August 19, 2021.

Other media
Polar is a character in Ari Kawashima's Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, a manga series that very loosely follows the plot of Cortex Strikes Back and Warped. Polar appears only in Volume 1, Stage 7, "Panic at the Snow Mountain!!". Unlike any other portrayal of him in the series, Polar speaks in this comic. While Crash and Neo Cortex search for Power Stones, they split up. Polar runs into Crash when Cortex's stomping around frightens him. They become friends, and Polar tries to take Crash to some Power Stones. He runs off too quickly and loses him. Cortex dresses up in a fake Crash costume to trick Polar into leading him to the Stones. Polar isn't fooled and only becomes more frightened, biting Cortex on the arm. Cortex throws Polar to the ground, incurring the anger of Polar's father. He chases Cortex through the woods, then mistakes the real Crash for him and runs after them. Meanwhile, Cortex continues to torment Polar. Once Polar's father realizes his mistake, Polar convinces him to give Crash their two Power Stones as an apology. However, they turn out to actually be rock candy.

Polar is also known to have appeared in some strips of Crash Bandicoot: Kattobi! Spin World, a monthly comic strip manga series that ran between April 1999 and January 2000.

In the Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled digital comic, Polar can be seen on a computer monitor that Nitros Oxide uses to observe Earth's racers.

Physical characteristics
Polar is a small white-furred polar bear cub with small ears and a black nose. Most early appearances portray him with black eyes. However, some versions of his model in Crash Team Racing have blue eyes, while some promotional artworks show him with brown eyes. Polar would continue to have blue eyes in Crash Nitro Kart, Crash Boom Bang!, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. All other depictions have black eyes. Polar usually is depicted with black paw pads. Exceptions include his in-kart model in Crash Team Racing, where they are pink, and in the manga Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, where he has none.

As an ordinary polar bear cub, Polar usually walks on all fours and does not wear clothes, except under certain circumstances. In Nitro Kart, Polar wears a small pink helmet with an antenna on top of his head due to being brainwashed by N. Trance. In Crash Boom Bang! only, Polar stands on two feet and wears blue shorts.

Personality
Unlike other animal characters in the series created with the Evolvo-Ray, Polar is an ordinary animal. Thus, he usually lacks many of the anthropomorphic traits of the other characters. In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, he is shown to live with Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot and Aku Aku, and is treated like a pet. In Cortex Strikes Back, he also barks like a dog. However, in the Crash racing game series, Polar exhibits some anthropomorphic traits, such as being able to drive a kart. He also attempts to read a book in the opening of Crash Team Racing, though he doesn't notice that he's holding it upside-down. Twinsanity and Crash Boom Bang! both depict Polar as being able to stand on two legs, and the latter game is the only one in which he wears his own clothes.

Polar is friendly to Crash in most games. He is treated as a pet by the Bandicoot family, who ride on his back in certain levels. However, during Neo Cortex's ambush of Crash Bandicoot at the beginning of Crash Twinsanity, Polar can be seen scowling at Crash while holding a baseball bat threateningly. According to one of the developers, this is because Polar resented Crash for riding on him in Cortex Strikes Back. This has not been referenced in any Crash media before or since.

In ''Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken'', Polar is able to speak, just like many of the other ordinary animal characters throughout the manga. Being just a cub, he is childlike and excitable. He easily befriends Crash and tries to help him gather Power Stones, but is intimidated by Cortex and bites him in self-defense.

Creation and early development
Polar was created as a mount character for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Artist Charles Zembillas produced concept drawings of him and a larger polar bear named as Polar's mother on March 28, 1997. Because they were not intended to be major characters, their designs were made "simple and direct".

Trivia

 * An interview with 's vice president, Evan Wells, revealed that Polar and Pura were originally planned to share a kart in Crash Team Racing. They were eventually made separate due to the limitations of the PlayStation.
 * During the making of Crash Twinsanity, the developers at had access to the original assets used in Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot games. Unlike any other character in Twinsanity, Polar's model is reused from one of Naughty Dog's games.