Aku Aku

Aku Aku (Japanese: アクアク) is an ancient spirit that lives within a mask and guides Crash, his sister Coco, and their friends as they defeat the forces of evil. He has appeared in every Crash Bandicoot game (although one of them is just a cameo), and is one of the most famous characters of the series.

History
Hundreds of years before the mutation of Crash Bandicoot, Aku Aku was a powerful witch doctor that lived in the Wumpa Islands. He was in a tribe where they believed, a loved one from god shall decend onto the mask once their body dies. When he died, his spirit remained in the islands possessing a totem mask. Aku Aku acts through the mask and can rebuild it in case of a rupture. He has an evil twin brother, named Uka Uka, who also turned his spirit into a mask. Aku Aku defeated him, and then locked him up in the Mojo Temple, from where he never escaped, until the events of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, when the last few pieces of the Cortex Vortex freed him. Aku Aku has a Jamaican accent in the newer Crash Bandicoot games (Crash of the Titans, Crash: Mind Over Mutant.) He is voiced by Greg Eagles, the voice of the Grim Reaper from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.

Crash Bandicoot
After Crash is discarded by Cortex and washes up on N. Sanity Beach, he frees Aku Aku, who provides his magical services throughout the game by scattering Aku Aku crates all across the three islands. He does not have a speaking role in this game except in the Japanese version where he gives hints when he is freed, but it's only in text, aside from the chant heard whenever a mask is collected (all versions).

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Once again, Aku Aku aids Crash in his adventure by providing protection. He is still capable of little speech, but, yet he dosen't act upon Cortex tricking Crash. In this game he can be seen on Crash's face in cutscenes.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
For the first time in the series, Aku Aku has the ability to speak in full sentences. After a piece of shrapnel from the Cortex Vortex plummets to Earth and demolishes Uka Uka's underground prison, Aku Aku hears his evil laughter in the distance and tells Crash and Coco of how he sealed him there eons before to protect the world from his malice. He brings them to the Time Twister machine and instructs them to collect the crystals scattered across time before Cortex and Uka Uka do so. Like in the previous games he protects Crash (Not like the other games however, Coco is a playable character and is protected by Aku Aku as well) from any obstacle, aside from falling. Later, he appears in the final battle against Cortex, locked in a fierce battle with Uka Uka; the two of them soon become an obstacle in themselves, by; Creating an Energy Beam between them, that grows larger gradually, brawling around the arena, and spinning around for a second than plummiting to the ground and creating an explosion several times around the arena, which Crash must avoid along with Cortex's attacks. Crash defeats Cortex, but the Time Twister malfunctions and self destructs, sending Cortex and Uka Uka into a time portal. Having just escaped, Crash, Coco and Aku Aku are seen in their home. Aku Aku tells them "The Time Twister Machine could not hold itself together. We were lucky to escape". after a cutscene with Cortex, N. Tropy and Uka Uka starts, Aku Aku says, "It is diificult to say what has happened to our enemys, but i doubt we will see them for a looooooooonng time". As usual in the Japanese version he gives hints when freed, this time actually speaking instead of Japanese text.

Crash Team Racing
Aku Aku greets Crash, Coco, Pura, or Polar into their quest to save the world from Nitros Oxide and tells them a little bit about the world they're in. After a race he gives the good characters advice for, while they're racing. His hints can be re-heard in the menu section "Aku Aku's Hints". He also appears as an item for the good characters, giving them temporary invincibility from incoming weapons and as a weapon to anyone touching him.

Crash Bash
Aku Aku and Uka Uka meet inside a temple in hyperspace and attempt to end their conflict by holding a contest. Uka Uka submits Cortex, N. Brio, Dingodile, Rilla Roo, Tiny and Koala Kong as his players, leaving Aku Aku with a mere Crash and Coco, but Aku Aku evens the odds by switching Tiny and Dingodile to the good side. Aku Aku then leads his team through various minigames in order to defeat Uka Uka's side.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
After spotting an assortment of unusual weather occurrences, Aku Aku comes to the conclusion that Uka Uka has released the Elementals. He appears inside a temple in hyperspace, where Uka Uka denies any mischief; however, the Elementals themselves soon show up and attack Aku Aku, who barely escapes. After appearing back home, he reveals to Crash and Coco what has happened and that they must collect the crystals to stop Cortex and Uka Uka. Delighted at Coco's new VR HUB device, he allows them to use the machine to begin their adventure. At the end, he invites Crunch to join their family.

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
He later appears in Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure to help Crash defeat Dr. Neo Cortex. Aku Aku is the one who told Crash he must collect all 20 crystals to power the machine capable of stopping Cortex's Planetary Minimizer and in the end it works.

Crash Bandicoot: N.Tranced
Then in Crash Bandicoot: N.Tranced he helped Crash find a way to get to N. Tropy's base and ruin N.Trance's and N.Tropy's plan. When N.Tropy attempted to abduct him and hypnotize him Aku Aku was able to free him (Creating Fake Crash in the process). Using crystals Crash collects, he helps Crunch, Coco, and Fake Crash before defeating N Trance and N. Tropy.

Crash Nitro Kart
Aku Aku has a similar role to Crash Team Racing. In the beginning of the game, he is seen discussing weight loss with Crunch before their home is abducted and sent to Velo's Citadel.

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
Aku Aku reappeared in the third handheld title, Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage when he and Coco noticed strange beasts walking around they called Crash. So Aku Aku and Crash set out when they met Spyro and teamed up to stop Cortex and Ripto.

Crash Twinsanity
Aku Aku maintains his usual role of giving Crash extra hit points upon collecting masks hidden inside crates. Later, after Uka Uka is defeated, he teams up with his evil brother to defeat the Evil Twins, but they are unsuccessful, as shown when the Evil Twins appear to return the lifeless masks to Crash and Cortex. Victor said to Crash & Cortex: Fools! Did you really think that these party toys could defeat us! Aku Aku also suggests handing Cortex over to the Evil Twins. He helps the team throughout the game.

Crash Tag Team Racing
Aku Aku masks make cameos in Crash Tag Team Racing as masks held up by spears on the track Tiki Turbo and can be heard saying his noise when he is summoned.

Crash! Boom! Bang!
Aku-Aku appears in this game giving out tips and is a special power-up for players. He also tells the player the results of Mini Games.

Crash of the Titans
Aku Aku drops his role of supplying mask crates for extra hit points in favor of staying with Crash at all times, allowing Crash to use him for various tools, including giving him the ability to jack titans and he also blocks for you. In the beginning of the game, Cortex attempts to kidnap Coco and Aku Aku, but only succeeds in taking Coco; Crash manages to rescue Aku Aku and retrieve him before long. From there he jacks monsters with Crash and teleports him to various locations.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant
He still helps to jack Titans but he is not visible on the Titan's face. He is also able to shrink one titan at a time so it fits inside Crash's pocket. He also gives Crash various hints throughout the game.

Physical Description
Aku Aku is in the form of a brown wooden mask with yellow eyes, green bags, red lips and eyebrows, and (mostly) four rainbow colored feathers on the top of his head in contrast to Uka Uka's bones, red lips, beard and black face. Aku Aku often tends to keep a straight face therefore exposing his teeth most of the time. Other noticeble features on him is his green goatee at the bottom of his mask, he kept this appeareance up until Crash of the Titans. In Crash of the Titans his appereance changed from a rectangular mask to a more circles mask. He lost the green bags under his eyes, has feathers all around him, green leaves on his sides and loses his goatee.

Powers and Abilities

 * He has the ability to grant players one extra hit point if they break an Aku Aku Crate and two extra hit points if the Player breaks two.
 * He has the power to grant temporary invincibility and break all the crates and enemies the player touches when 3 Aku Aku Crates are broken.
 * He can materialize in places when he has a large amount of energy.
 * He can also use his energy to form beams or explosions.
 * Aku Aku can also shapeshift to jack a titan.
 * He can respawn with Crash if he dies in a situation where he can't protect him.

Personality
Aku Aku is a happy, good hearted, and peaceful being, but at the same time he knows when to take important matters (like saving the world) seriously. He is kind and has helped Crash, Coco, and Crunch throughout many of the games. He is also obedient to the rules of his superiors "The Ancients" who strangely have never been seen.

Appearances

 * Crash Bandicoot 
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
 * Crash Bandicoot: Warped
 * Crash Team Racing
 * Crash Bash
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
 * Crash Bandicoot: N.Tranced
 * Crash Nitro Kart
 * Crash Bandicoot: Purple
 * Crash Twinsanity
 * Crash Tag Team Racing (cameo)
 * Crash Boom Bang!
 * Crash of the Titans
 * Crash: Mind Over Mutant

Trivia

 * In Twinsanity, when you fight the Ant mini boss in the IceBerg Lab with Cortex, if you lose Aku Aku, he and Uka Uka will still appear in the next cutscene.
 * In N. Tranced, it is shown that he can interact with power crystals however this isn't shown in any other game.
 * He, Crash and Cortex are the only characters who have appeared in every game so far (although Aku made only a cameo in CTTR, and Cortex appeared in N.Trance's Multiplayer).
 * In Crash of the Titans, he says that he has been fighting evil for many centuries so he was probably fighting evil before he put his spirit in his mask.
 * As seen in the playable demo of Crash Tag team Racing, Aku Aku intended to be more than just a cameo on a track. When on the pause menu or at the end of the race, Aku Aku appears.
 * In Crash Bandicoot 1, Aku Aku was oringinally going to have a 2D Mug, but it was replaced with a 3D one.