Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (Japanese: クラッシュ・バンディクー2 コルテックスの逆襲!) is a platform game and the second game of the Crash Bandicoot series. It was developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation and released in the United States of America on the Halloween of 1997. It was also released on the PlayStation Network for download so it can be played on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. It is the best selling Crash game of all time, with 7.58 million copies sold globally.

Taking place at the three islands, Crash Bandicoot 2 focuses on a bandicoot under the name of Crash Bandicoot. Crash is abducted by the main antagonist, Doctor Neo Cortex, who has apparently turned over a new leaf and is now willing to save the world. Crash is then thrust into several parts of the islands in order to gather crystals and allow Cortex to contain the power of the upcoming planetary alignment and keep the planet from being destroyed. He is joined by Coco, his sister, who is suspicious of Cortex's true intentions, and partially by Dr. Nitrus Brio, who tries to convince Crash to gather gems instead of crystals, in hope of destroying his arch-enemy, Cortex.

Story
Taking place right after the previous game's events, in which Crash fights Cortex on top of an Airship, Cortex is defeated, and the rocketsled he was standing on explodes. Cortex falls to the ground, and he lands in a mine, where he discovers a large Crystal, and has a flash of inspiration. One year later, he is seen in a space station, being told by his new assistant Dr. N. Gin that to harness the Master Crystal's power, he will require an additional 25 "Slave Crystals", which are scattered across the Earth. Cortex then abducts Crash (while he is searching for a spare battery for Coco's laptop) and persuades him to gather the Slave Crystals, telling him that he will use them to harness the power of the aligned planets and prevent Earth from certain doom.

Throughout his quest, Crash is contacted by his sister Coco, who is continuously searching into Cortex's scheme and trying to figure out what Cortex is really using the Crystals for, as well as Cortex's former assistant, Dr. Nitrus Brio, who tells Crash that if he truly wants to save the world, he must collect Gems instead of Crystals, but then Brio may use the Gems to destroy Cortex, who took credit for Brio's creation of the Evolvo-Ray. He is also Crash's primary opposing force, claiming to use all of his strength to prevent him from gathering crystals.

At the end, when all of the Crystals are collected, Coco reveals that Cortex actually intends to harness the force of the Crystals to turn every single creature on Earth into Cortex's mindless slaves with his new and improved Cortex Vortex, and Crash defeats Cortex once again, banishing him deep into space, but leaving his space station operational. After Crash gathers all 42 Gems, N. Brio uses the Gems to destroy Cortex's space station with a laser beam, leaving the station in space until it crashes into a mysterious temple on earth.

Game
Crash Bandicoot 2's gameplay is largely similar to that of the original. However, there are some differences. Players make their way through a limited environment whilst breaking of crates, each of which containing some kind of bonus. Breaking all of a level's crates earns the player that level's clear gem. The player can collect additional clear and colored gems by finding and touching them. Colored gems activate secret areas. If a player collects all of the gems in the game, the secret ending is activated.

Crash has several moves: jump, spin attack, body slam, slide, duck, crawl, and an extra-high jump performed by sliding or ducking and then jumping. Stepping on a question-mark platform/trap door takes Crash to a bonus level. Going to special locations, where something is somehow out of place, brings Crash to one of five secret levels.

Also, if the player manages to reach a certain point in some levels without losing a single life, the player can hop onto a platform with a Skull and Crossbones logo on it. This takes Crash to another path in the level of the main path and contains boxes and other secrets one might notice not being found on the main path. This marked the first appearance of the Death Route.

Warp Room & Levels
There are six warp rooms, twenty-five main levels, five boss arenas, a bonus warp room with three secret entrances and two extra levels. Boss fights are in bold

Jungle
These are the jungle-themed levels of the game. There are four of them. The final two take place in the dark, with Crash using a firefly to see. This element was later reused in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped in a level called Bug Lite.
 * Level 1: Turtle Woods
 * Level 4: The Pits
 * Level 23: Night Fight
 * Level 27: Totally Fly*
 * *Secret level 2 of 2

Snow
These are the snow-themed levels of the game. There are three of them. Parts of it contain ice, in which when Crash walks on it, he gently slides while standing. The first part of these levels is 3D walking forward gameplay, which second part is side scrolling, and the final part returns to 3D gameplay, similar to the future levels of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
 * Level 2: Snow Go
 * Level 6: Snow Biz
 * Level 18: Cold Hard Crash

Stream
These are the stream-themed levels in the game. There are three of them. These levels are  just like the ones from the first game, except with more enemies and detail.
 * Level 3: Hang Eight
 * Level 7: Air Crash
 * Level 11: Plant Food

Chase
These levels appear Crash getting chased by a giant snowball or bear. There are three of them. These levels are quite like the chase levels of the first game, except in a snowy region.
 * Level 5: Crash Dash
 * Level 9: Crash Crush
 * Level 15: Un-Bearable

Polar
In these levels, Crash rides Polar in a snowy-themed region. There are 4 of them (but one of them also require Crash to get chased by a huge bear). He rides Polar in a similar fashion to the levels with the hog in the first Crash game (which is called Crash Bandicoot) and the levels in ancient China with Pura in the third Crash game (which is called Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped). Some of the ice elements of the snow levels have been incorporated in these levels.
 * Level 8: Bear It
 * Level 13: Bear Down
 * Level 15: Un-Bearable*
 * Level 26: Totally Bear**
 * *This is also a Chase level. But only the last quarter of it appears Crash riding Polar while getting chased by a giant polar bear.
 * **Secret level 1 of 2

Sewer
These are the sewer-themed levels. In this level, Crash goes through a sewer in which he must avoid Scrubbing Bubbletrons, lab assistants, and mutated animals. On some of these levels, there is a part where Crash hangs from metal wires. This was reused in the Arabian levels of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
 * Level 10: The Eel Deal
 * Level 12: Sewer or Later
 * Level 16: Hangin' Out

Ruins
These levels take place in ancient ruins, with thin platforms that break often. There are only two levels. These levels are quite similar to the Egyptian levels of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
 * Level 14: Road to Ruin
 * Level 19: Ruination

Mountains
These levels take place in a mountainous region, filled with bees, bullet spitting Venus Fly Traps, and lumberjacks. In these levels, Crash can dig into some parts of the ground to avoid the three enemies and more (except for Nitro Crates!). There are only two levels.
 * Level 17: Diggin' It
 * Level 20: Bee-Having

Mechanics
These levels are futuristic-themed. There are only two levels. He faces robots and machines while making his way through the levels.
 * Level 21: Piston It Away
 * Level 25: Spaced Out

Jetpack
In these levels, Crash flies around in a jetpack. There are only two levels. This style of level was not used again in later games.
 * Level 22: Rock It
 * Level 24: Pack Attack

Boss Battles
There are 5 boss levels. They all take place in different regions.
 * Boss 1: Ripper Roo - Fought on a platform surrounded by rivers.*
 * Boss 2: Komodo Brothers - Fought in a circus tent.
 * Boss 3: Tiny Tiger - Fought in a futuristic lab.
 * Boss 4: Dr. N. Gin - Fought in a space port.
 * Boss 5: Dr. Neo Cortex - Fought in an asteroid tube in space.
 * *The Ripper Roo boss may be fought in a region similar to the stream-themed levels, or maybe even the same area.

Normal

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move


 * X: Jump


 * O or R1: Crouch / Crawl


 * Square: Spin


 * Triangle: View Inventory


 * Directional buttons or left analog stick + O: Slide


 * X + O or R1: Body Slam


 * O or R1 + X: High Jump


 * Directional buttons + O or R1 + X: Long Jump

Jet-ski

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move


 * X: Speed Boost*
 * *The Speed Boost can also be used by R1, O, or Square.

Polar

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move*


 * X: Jump


 * O: Speed Boost (hold it down to keep it up)


 * O + X: Long Jump
 * *In levels with Polar, you can only move right or left.

Hanging from Meshes

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move


 * X: Let go of meshes


 * Square: Spin*


 * O or R1: Legs Up*
 * *These powers make you completely still.

Jet Pack

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move*


 * X or L1: Move forward


 * O or R1: Move backward


 * Square: Spin
 * *If you press the top directional button, it makes you move down, and if you press the bottom directional button, it makes you move up. So the controls are practically "twisted!"

Digging

 * Square: Dive under (Only when you're on burgundy colored ground)*


 * Directional buttons or left analog stick: Move


 * X: Jump out
 * *Once you are underground, you can also spin certain objects that are above ground if you press the Square button.

Others

 * Directional buttons or left analog stick (If you are on a select screen): Select


 * X (If you are on a select screen): Confirm


 * Triangle: Show Progress


 * Start: Resume / Pause Game

Easter Eggs

 * In Warp Room 2, Belly Slam (X + O or R1) on Polar and you'll get 10 lives.

Trivia

 * You can choose to fight bosses again. On the platform in the middle of the Warp Room and press up while holding triangle then you'll be fighting the boss.
 * In the NTSC version of this game Tiny Tiger was misspelled as Taz Tiger in the pause screen. This was fixed in the PAL and Japanese versions. This is thought to be a prototype name that wasn't removed.
 * The Secret Warp Room is made of the ruins of Cortex Castle. The castle was destroyed in Crash Bandicoot, as it is seen as being on fire during the last boss fight. N. Brio uses it as the base for his laser beam.
 * The secret Warp Room also contains the 3D models of the first two islands in Crash Bandicoot, although they cannot be seen clearly if a portal has already appeared in front of it (The third island cannot be seen since presumably, you are already on it).
 * Each Warp Room is based off of different level designs. Warp Room 1 is based on Turtle Woods, and all of the forest levels. Warp Room 2 is based on Snow Biz and all the snow levels. Warp Room 3 is based on Sewer or Later and the sewer levels. Warp Room 4 is based on Diggin' It and Bee-Having. Warp Room 5 is based on all its levels except for Night Fight. The Secret Warp Room is based on Road to Ruin and all the ruin levels.
 * This game introduced Nitro Crates to the series.
 * During the Nitrus Brio Holograms, a remix of the Nitrus Brio boss fight theme from Crash Bandicoot can be heard.
 * A slight goof, regarding Crash's burning animation, involves Crash briefly turning into his Crash Bandicoot model before being reduced to cinders. This odd glitch also happens in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
 * Strangely the secret Warp Room almost looks like the Time Twister from Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
 * The player can annoy Cortex and eventually make him very mad. To do this the player must start a new game, go into a level, and avoid getting the crystal. Once the player returns to the warp room, Cortex will get mad. If the player repeats the process, Cortex will yell. If the player repeats the process once more, Cortex will explain how to get crystals and how to advance. Cortex will also show what a crystal looks like. When Cortex explains he will have a tone in his voice that sounds very annoyed. This process will work up to 3 times.
 * In the Intro for Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped you can see Crash's, strangely bigger, old surfboard hanging on the wall.
 * His surfboard probably is so big that it is the size of Crash himself, most likely hindering him from riding it.
 * Both levels in the sixth Warp Room begin with the word "Totally".
 * This game is where Crash's pink boxers are first seen (when him and Polar run into an explosive Crate, or when Crash gets electrocuted). They are also visible in Crash 3.
 * One of Ripper Roo's books reads "CRASH"
 * The Japanese version of the game features Aku Aku giving out hints to the player. This makes this game his first speaking appearance, and not actually Crash 3.
 * Coincidentally, there is an actual street in Louisiana called N. Gin Street.
 * As found by Hacc, Monty Hall was the original name for the Warp Rooms. If one takes a look at the game's coding, each Warp Room is listed as "obj_monty_hall". The same happens in Crash 3, since it was built on a Crash 2 basis. This is a reference to the game show host Maurice "Monty Hall" Halperin.
 * This game marked the first appearance of Polar.

Puns and references

 * "Snow Go": pun on "no go".
 * "Snow Biz": pun on "show-biz".
 * "Bear It", "Bear Down" and "Un-Bearable": pun on the noun "bear" and the verb "to bear".
 * "The Eel Deal": pun on "the real deal".
 * "Sewer or Later": pun on "sooner or later".
 * "Cold Hard Crash": pun on "cold hard cash."
 * "Bee-Having": pun on "behaving".
 * "Piston It Away": pun on "pissing it away."
 * "Rock It": possible pun with "rocket" (homophones).
 * "Pack Attack": pun on "Hack attack".
 * "Pack Attack" could also be a reference to the game 'Pac Attack', a Pac-Man video game.
 * In the cover of the game (see above), Crash isn't wearing his gloves. Naughty Dog wanted to say that "the gloves are off" with the sequel.

Remixes

 * The main theme is actually a remix of the one from the original game.
 * The same goes for all the character themes for everyone who's appeared in the first game (Cortex, Brio and Ripper Roo, although Brio's is basically just a sped-up version).

Images
ru:Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back