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Mutation is an occasionally used plot device in the Crash Bandicoot series. It was first referenced in the manual of the original Crash Bandicoot game, referring to animals experimented on by Neo Cortex and N. Brio, before being dropped from the series for a time. It would later be used as a descriptor for certain animal enemies in Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant. Non-animal characters have been mutated as well at times.

Mutation generally entails a physical transformation that makes the subject more powerful. However, it is neither explicitly nor consistently defined in the series. Thus, on the Crash Bandicoot Wiki, a character is considered to be mutated only if they are called or directly shown as such in a piece of media (or its supplemental material, as in a game manual), and only in those media in which the term is used.

In Crash Bandicoot
In the first Crash Bandicoot game, the evil scientists Neo Cortex and N. Brio use the Evolvo-Ray to accelerate the evolution of ordinary animals, giving them anthropomorphic features and turning them into their soldiers. Ripper Roo, Koala Kong and Pinstripe Potoroo make up the Cortex Commandos, his "mutated army" as described in the manual. As Crash Bandicoot and Tawna Bandicoot were both products of the Evolvo-Ray and intended to be part of this army, they may also be considered mutants in this game. Pinstripe's henchmen, Slims and Fats, have similar anthropomorphic features, suggesting they are mutants as well. Mutated animal characters are distinct from other animals in the game, such as enemy turtles and monkeys, who are both unnamed and lack anthropomorphic traits such as bipedal movement, clothing, and facial expressions.

The potion used by N. Brio to transform himself in the original Crash Bandicoot is described as a mutagen in the August 1995 draft of the series pitch bible. Both the May and August drafts contain early concepts for Tiny Tiger and the Komodo Brothers, who were created during the first game's development as potential members of Cortex's army; however, the term "mutant" is not used to describe any of the animal characters in the drafts. These two specifically would not debut until Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, by which point the term was not used for any character.

Absence from the series
Following the first game, the Crash Bandicoot series continued to introduce unique and named anthropomorphic animal characters similar to the first game's mutants. However, whether they are or are not known to have been created by Neo Cortex, they have not been described as mutants in any official Crash Bandicoot media.

Further, the distinction between the anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic animal characters is generally less discrete in later titles. For example, the otherwise fairly un-anthropomorphic Polar and Pura are able to drive karts in Crash Team Racing. In Crash Bash, a large polar bear in Bearminator wears a hat and operates a submarine. Enemy monkeys in Crash Bandicoot: Warped and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex are shown to wear clothes. The distinction is even more vague in some Japanese media, such as in the manga Crash Bandicoot: Dance! Then Jump! Na Daibōken, where wild animals are able to speak naturally. Mutation as a plot device would not return to the series until the release of Crash of the Titans.

In Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant
In the console versions of Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant, the term "mutant" is used interchangeably with "titan". It describes a particular class of enemies Crash Bandicoot can jack to gain control over. Uka Uka taught Neo Cortex how create and control these mutants using a mystical substance called mojo. They are typically made from the animal inhabitants of Wumpa Island, though a few (namely the Arachnina and Grimly) have robotic or unknown origins. Most mutants are larger and more powerful than their unmutated counterparts. Many have a bipedal stance and can attack by punching, kicking, or using weapons. Enemy mutants, with the exception of Titan Heroes, do not have unique character models and thus look the same as others of their particular species. They do not typically speak.

Non-playable character mutants, seen in Mind Over Mutant, can speak and cannot be jacked by Crash in-game. They have unique character models and may be smaller than ordinary mutants. Other characters created by Cortex, such as minions and the Bandicoots, seem to consider themselves as separate from mutants when referring to them in their dialogue.

In the console versions of both Crash of the Titans and Mind Over Mutant, non-mutant characters can become mutated temporarily. With the exception of Coco Bandicoot, all characters mutated in this way can be jacked, just like regular mutants. They all retain their ability to speak. In Crash of the Titans, Uka Uka uses the Evolvo-Ray to grow a body made of wood, which is destroyed when he is defeated. In Mind Over Mutant, Coco and Crunch Bandicoot appear to be mutated while wearing the NV, a virtual reality device that physically transforms and mind-controls its wearers into ferocious beasts. Later, before his boss fight, Neo Cortex drinks a vial of N. Brio's mutation formula to temporarily become a large and muscular mutant version of himself.

Enemies in the GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS, and mobile versions of Crash of the Titans, as well as the Nintendo DS version of Mind Over Mutant, are also referred to as mutants. Like in the console versions, they can be jacked. In the DS version of Crash of the Titans only, mutants are created with the Mutate-o-Raygun 3000. Some can speak and are captioned in-game.

Other uses in the series
So far, in media published after Crash: Mind Over Mutant, certain human characters are referred to as mutated. The art book The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time states that the human Rambler enemies from the Hazardous Wastes world are mutated from drinking "petro fluids". In Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!, N. Brio in his monstrous green "mutagen form" was called "Mutagen Nitrus Brio".