Crash Twinsanity

Crash Twinsanity (Japanese: 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?!?) was the second game in the main series starring Crash Bandicoot to be released on the Playstation 2 and the Xbox. This is the eleventh Crash Bandicoot game, but the fifth chronologically, following the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Unlike previous games in the series, this game introduces a free-roaming game world. All the characters in this game had five fingers.

Story
Crash Twinsanity is set three years after the events of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, where Neo Cortex and Uka Uka were left stranded in the Antarctic sea. Since then, the two were frozen solid and slowly drift their way back to N. Sanity Island.

Part 1 - N. Sanity Island
Cortex manages to escape from the ice encasing him and sets to work on getting his revenge on Crash. First, he paralyzes Coco whilst she is playing, then dresses up as her 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), Nitrous Oxide, Ripper Roo, Koala Kong, and 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. Dr 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.

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 Ants come out and start to collect all of the crate 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 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 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 holding with his brain.

Crash eventually finds Cortex again, who pleads for his help. He states how he envies the natural harmonious life of Papu Papu and his tribesmen, only to be swarmed by bees when he talks about 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. Crash eventually infiltrates 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's tribesmen and reuniting with Cortex, Crash meets with a local farmer named Farmer Earnest. Farmer Earnest 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 for getting rid of the worms. Cortex just shoots him with his ray gun and claims the power crystal. Unable to get pass his land, they are forced to get rid of the worms so they can use the Wumpa trees to get pass the land.

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 destroying their dimension, whereby 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 doesn't working, so the two are forced to go the long way around - up the iceberg it is situated on. After making their way past several obstacles, including some penguins demanding pay, the two encounter Uka Uka. Surprised to see Crash and Cortex together, he 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 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. Aku Aku and Uka Uka 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 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 that they also have a large supply of treasure. They then send their army of robotic ants to destroy Crash and Cortex, but they are swiftly beaten, forcing the Twins to retreat. When Aku Aku and Uka Uka recover, they consider handing Cortex to the twins. Cortex, unwilling, forms a truce with Crash.

Cortex then shows Crash the Psychetron, a teleportation device which they can use to travel to the 10th dimension and defeat the Twins. To get there, they require six power crystals. They have tree from N. Sanity Island and one from the penguins in the icerberg, which obviously isn't enough. Cortex proposes that N. Gin might have one in his battleship. Cortex reveals that N. Gin's battleship is leaving soon and tries to think of way to get there fast. As Cortex thinks, Crash pushes Cortex uses him as a makeshift sledge to get down the iceberg through a long downhill slope. As they slide down, 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 Crash.

Crash ventures into the battleship himself and eventually finds the power crystal. He then battles N. Gin in his crow's nest that's suspended in midair. N. Gin uses a missile launcher and 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 and the ship's chef Rusty Walrus comes in claiming Crash as "fresh meat for his pot". Rusty Walrus chases after Crash and Crash reaches the exit blocked by TNT crates. N. Gin lands on one, causing a massive explosion that presumably sinks the ship and sends Crash flying.

He landss on a nearby Iceberg alongside N. Tropy and N. Brio, who have both heard about the treasure and threaten Crash for some information. Crash remains silent (as he does in the whole game). N. Tropy orders N. Brio to drink a potion that turns him a giant and somewhat fish-like mutant. 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. At that moment, Coco appears. Believing that Cortex kidnapped Crash, she attacks him, causing the Psychetron to malfunction and paralyzing her for a second time thus destroying most of the power crystals. Knowing they that only one person can fix the machine, Cortex suggests his niece, Nina, who is currently studying at 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 send a horde of Ants 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. 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 demands for the treasure that was mentioned earlier. 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. 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 from the 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 student. 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. Neo Cortex meets his niece Nina and asks her to show him what she's learned from the 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 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 Ants start chasing them but are fended off by Cortex with his ray gun.

Cortex gets left behind and meets with the school principal, Madame Amberly. She reveals that he was once a student and mocks him by the name "Crybaby Cortex". 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 Evolvo-Ray using the twins, 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 and venture to a new dimension (Cortex states it should've been two dimensions but they ran out of time). 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. Cortex saves his niece in a pathetic attempt 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. But Before they reach the Evil Twins, 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 a epic fight begins.

With Nina, Cortex, and crash in the Mechabandicoot fight the Evil Twins in their Deathbot. After a long fight, the Twins lose and fly away. They end up in Evil Crash's house, where he eats them. Back at the Iceberg lab, Cortex has tricked Crash and powers up the Psychetron, but it malfunctions and sends Cortex inside Crash's Brain where he is imprisoned with a bunch of dancing Crashes. Crash is happy at the end and returns to N.Sanity Island with Coco.

Reception
Crash Twinsanity reseaved mixed reviews from critics, most finding the gameplay and graphics to be good but critisizing the game for being too short and lack of storyline. IGN gave the game and average of 6.8 critisizing the game for its short lenght. GamePro however was more generous and gave the game 7.7 stating that the game's gameplay was new and fesh.

Sales
Twinsanity did not sell as vell as Vivendi Universal had predicted and as such sold the franchise to Sierra the following year. The game sold an estimated 20 million copies making it the fourth worst selling Crash game of all time.

100% Requirements
Getting 100% on this game is much more simpler than the previous ones, where Relics, Clear Gems, Colored Gems and Crystals must be collected. In order to get 100% on this game, all 13 Crystals and 96 gems (6 in each level)﻿ must be collected, and upon collecting everything, a Secret ending Video is unlocked.

Different 100% endings

 * The NTSC 100% ending can be viewed here
 * The PAL 100% ending can be seen here

Hints

 * After you get to the chamber after the up-going drill on area 3 on level 3 (Cavern Catastrophe), there are some smashable boxes in front of you. Throw Cortex over them and jump on the crates and go next to one of the TNT crates. Cortex will return and be next to it. Now turn the timer on the TNT crate on the other side. Go gather the wumpa (without going any further, Cortex will laugh and run away if you do). After the wumpa is gone, jump on the TNT crate (as long as Cortex is next to it) and wait for it to blow up. Cortex will be killed, but you can get the wumpa with Crash. Get the wumpa before it turns black. Don't worry, you won't lose a life if Cortex is killed. Repeat as often as you like to get lots of lives.
 * How to get the extremely hard Yellow Gem in Slip Slide Icecapedes: At one point just before you turn into a giant snowball, ride the right side of the screen. You will see a purple pipe at the end of the cliff-thing you are on. Turn left onto the pipe, DON'T JUMP. If you jump, you will miss the grind. You must do this slowly. This is considered to be the hardest gem in the game.
 * To make Totem Hokum easier, kill all the natives before chasing the worm.
 * There is a hidden portal to the right of the Evil Twins' lair that will take you back to the Lab so you can do Rockslide Rumble again if you want a gem you missed.

Game references

 * Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex - Cortex mentions that the Wrath of Cortex didn't go so well.
 * Crash Bandicoot (Game) - ﻿The first two levels (N. Sanity Island, Jungle Bungle) are focused on the Original Level, N. Sanity Beach, also, two enemies from the Game have reappeared after an 8 year absence (Skunk, Tribesman). Also, one skunk mentions how he always moved back and forward back and forward for the last "10 stinking years" and how he's going to break his pattern.

References in the other Games

 * Crash Tag Team Racing - Many remixes of Twinsanity can be heard, especially the N. Sanity Island theme being heard in the Cutscene "I Hate Chickens".
 * Crash of the Titans - One of the Voodoo Bunnies breaks the Fourth Wall and refers to Uka Uka's Boss Fight in the game, also, the Penguins from the Game reappear strapped to exploding Rockets..

Boss fights

 * Cortex: Fought at the end of Jungle Bungle.
 * Mecha-Bandicoot: Fought after you defeat Cortex.
 * Tikimon: Fought shortly after Tokem Hokum.
 * Uka-Uka: Fought at the top of Ice Climb.
 * N. Gin: Fought before the Rusty Walrus chase in High Seas Hi-Jinks
 * Dr. N. Brio/Dr. N. Tropy: Fought after Rusty's Chase.
 * Dingodile: Fought at the end of Boiler Room Doom.
 * Madame Amberly: Fought shortly after Rooftop Rampage.
 * Evil Twins: Final boss; Fought at the end of Ant Agony.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the main platforming series to not have the word "Bandicoot" in the title. The second and third one are Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant.
 * This game has the most boss battles in the whole series.
 * This game is sometimes considered as the best Crash game despite its short length.
 * Both Bandicoot Pursuit and bee swarm level's music is a remix of flight of the bumble bee.
 * Polar seems mad at Crash for some reason, Crash maybe jumps on his back too much times, or N. Trance brainwashes him again.
 * This game introduced many makeovers for most characters at Crash's birthday party, like Tiny Tiger, Pinstripe, Koala Kong and Dingodile but some stayed the same.
 * In Crash of the Titans, the one of the voodoo rabbits says: "Me think he (Uka Uka) do something crazy. He very self-conscious about being no-body bad guy. He had body briefly in Twinsanity, but that was no fun for nobody", if you don't attack them/they don't see you.
 * In one cutscene, Cortex mentions that The Wrath of Cortex didn't do as well as expected.
 * The Rusty Walrus Chase theme is a remix of Hebrides Overture.
 * In the Worm Chase scene where you have to save Cortex from the tribemen's music is a remix of The Blue Danube Waltz Theme.
 * In the cutscene right before Crash fights Cortex, Cortex mentions he spent 3 years ALONE in Antarctica, but at the end of The Wrath of Cortex, it's him and Uka Uka in Antarctica. We can also see Cortex and Uka Uka in a big ice cube on the title screen.
 * Crunch appears, only as a cameo, in a cutscene before the Cortex battle. The same thing applies for Pinstripe, Tiny, Nitros Oxide, Ripper Roo and Koala Kong.
 * In the Cortex boss fight, crash can hop on Cortex's plasma blast and Crash can hop to the Mecha-bandicoot area and slam cortex to make him lose.
 * In early development of the game, the scene with Farmer Earnest happened right after the cutscene where it first show the Evil Twins and they steal Cortex's brain. And there was a cut level where you go inside Skull Rock and lava caves are inside, right after this you fight the Tikimon boss.
 * In the early develoment of the game Crash was suppose to wear shorts, but got scrapped for some reason.
 * There were supposed to be more levels in this game, a level set in Coco's mind, a floating balloon palace, the second island from the first game, even more Nina levels, but they were scrapped during development.
 * Many charaters in the game think that Crash and Cortex are searching a treasure. When Crash reaches the treasure room in the Twins' castle, we understand that this treasure was stolen from Spyro, the purple dragon.
 * This is also the first game in which Uka Uka is a protection assist for the player in the main series of games, much similar to Aku Aku assisting Crash and Coco VIA protection in previous installments. (The "Racing" series of games do not count since they are not canon to the game's timeline, as well as the fact that those games utilize a "Power-up" system as opposed to the crate collectibles.)
 * Ironically, whenever Uka Uka is summoned by the player, he makes the same sound Aku Aku does whenever he is summoned. (This also does not occur in the "Racing" games. He, Aku Aku, and Emperor Velo each make unique sounds whenever used.)
 * This is the first game where the bosses didn't have their own levels.
 * Continuity: This game takes place right after "Wrath of Cortex", but before "The Huge Adventure"
 * The name of the game is a fusion of "Twin" and "Insanity".
 * This is the first Crash game to feature a cappella-style music (performed by Spiralmouth). The next is Crash Tag Team Racing, though Spiralmouth only made a cameo appearance in the soundtrack and did not provide their vocal talent for the whole thing like Twinsanity.
 * Coco was originally intended to play a much larger role in the game and have a tenth dimension counterpart.
 * This game has been known to have the most Glitches in any Crash Bandicoot Game.
 * N. Sanity Beach before was extended, but the extended area is still present but blocked off by a large rock, but it is viewable from the Jungle behind the Trees and can only be accessed through either a cheat code or a rather difficult glitch.
 * In Brazil, the game was converted to Xbox 360.
 * A racing game, despite its genre, continuing from this game was originally going to be developed, named Crash Clash Racing. Evil Crash was intended to be a playable character.
 * It is revealed that Cortex has the ability to teleport, Yet it is unknown why Cortex never uses it the escape the treacherous situations. For example "Bandicoot Pursuit" There is also a noticeably similar mystery involving his Ray Gun
 * Nintendo's Kirby would have had a brief cameo in the game on Gone a Bit Coco's level Icon, where a Flower has his face.