Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back script

This page is comprised of transcriptions of all the cutscenes in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.

Notes:
 * Each cutscene is in chronological order of appearance in regular gameplay.

Introduction
[ Cortex is shown falling from the airship from the end of the first game. His hoverboard explodes as he falls. He screams as he plummets and crashes through the ground, landing in a damp cave filled with crystalline stones. He lights a match for light and looks up to see a crystal.]

Cortex: "Huhuhahahahaha! Crystals... of course!"

[His match goes out, leaving him in darkness.]

Cortex: "Doh!"

[Text appears on screen, reading: "ONE YEAR LATER". A space station is shown floating over the planet. N. Gin speaks to Cortex while stood next to one of the station's control panels. The crystal Cortex found earlier is suspended inside a machine behind him.]

N. Gin: "But Doctor Cortex, to reach full power, we need not only your master crystal, but also the remaining twenty five slave crystals from the surface. How do you expect to retrieve them, when we don't have any earthbound operatives left?"

[Cortex is staring out a window, brooding.]

Cortex: "You fool! Do you think I'm unaware of the situation? If we don't have any friends left on the surface, then we need to find... an enemy."

[ Crash in shown sleeping on the ground in a forest, next to his sister Coco, who is typing on her laptop. Suddenly, her laptop's screen goes out.]

Coco: "Crash. Crash? Crash! My battery is fried! Make yourself useful, big brother, and bring an extra battery for me!"

[Crash jumps to his feet.]

Cortex's plea
[Crash, looking surprised, looks up into the centre of the warp room. A hologram of Cortex's head appears.]

Cortex: "Well, well, well... if it isn't Crash Bandicoot. Welcome. I apologise for the crude means used to bring you here, but I rather expect a written invitation would have been turned down. I need your help. Surrounding you are a series of five doors. Through each door lies a well-hidden crystal. The crystals look like this."

[A hologram of a crystal appears in front of Cortex and then disappears again.]

Cortex: "Bring me the crystals, Crash. That is all I will say for now. We will speak again."

Forget it once
Cortex: "No, no, no Crash! I said bring me the crystals! Now... get back in there."

"Forget" it twice
Cortex: "No, no, no, Crash! To save the world I need crystals. Crystals! One more time. They look like this."

[A hologram of a crystal appears in front of Cortex and then disappears again.]

Cortex: "Crystals, Crash! Go back through one of those doors, and bring me crystals!"

Cortex N. Furiated
Cortex: "Look above the doorways! Above each, there is a big, crystal-shaped slot. Fill all five crystal slots in this warp room by retrieving one crystal from each of the five areas. Only after we have filled all of the slots in this room can we continue on our quest. This is the last time I will remind you."

The first crystal
Cortex: "Well done, Crash! I knew I could rely on you! Now, listen carefully. These holograms are hard to maintain. During the course of my intellectual pursuits, I have stumbled across a force that threatens to destroy the world. Crystals are the only means of containing it. The fate of the world is at stake! It is imperative, therefore, that your bring them to me."

Are you there, Crash?
[A hologram of Coco's face appears in the centre of the warp room. But the signal was low for Crash to understand.]

Coco: "Are you there, Crash? Crash? Crash? Are you there, Crash? Crash? Are you there, Crash?"

Brio's plan
[A hologram of Nitrus Brio's face appears in the centre of the warp room.]

Brio: "So! You are helping Cortex gather crystals, yet you have acquired a gem! Interesting! Heheheh! Well Crash, heheheh, know this! As long as you are allied with C-C-C-Cortex, you are my sworn enemy and I will do anything in my power t-t-to stop you! Heheh! If the fate of the world is truly your concern, you must g-g-g-gather the gems, not the c-c-cr-crystals! If you obtain all forty-two gems, I can use them to- ... focus a laser! Heheh! A laser beam that will destroy Cortex and the space station he's created. Until then, I must use my forces to stop you from gathering crystals!"

Three crystals
Cortex: "Three crystals. Not bad. I see you are getting the hang of it. I need to conserve power. I will communicate with you again after you retrieve the fifth crystal."

Five crystals
Cortex: "Listen up! We are not without enemies. Some of them you may even recognise. Although they cannot harm you inside this warp room, they can attack you on your way to the next one. To get to the next warp room, use the platform that appears in the center of the room. Good luck."

Doctor Roo
[Crash warps into Ripper Roo's boss room. Ripper Roo is shown sitting on a desk, reading a book. He is startled by Crash's arrival and knocks the book, along with a stack of others, off into the water. Angered, he jumps to his feet, grabs his cane, and jumps down off the desk onto the platform Crash is standing on.]

Ripper Roo defeated
Cortex: "Hehahahahahaha! I see that Ripper Roo failed to prove much of a challenge yet again. But back to business. There are crystals to be gathered. Twenty five, to be exact. The planets will align shortly, all thirteen of them, and this will create a power great enough to rip the Earth apart. Properly utilized, however, the crystals can absorb and contain the energy—"

[Cortex's hologram is suddenly cut off, and is replaced with Coco's.]

Coco: "Crash, is that you? I've been looking everywhere. I don't have much time to tell you this, you have to be careful. Trusting Cortex seems a little unwise. Crash! I can't keep the data path open much longer! Crash! You need to find—"

[Coco's hologram is cut off and vanishes.]

Ten crystals
Cortex: "Ten of twenty five crystals! You're on your way. I'm running low on power, so communication from this point will be difficult. Again; be wary of the pathways between warp rooms. Remember: I'm counting on you."

The Komodo Brothers
[The Komodo Brothers are shown in their tent, throwing swords to each other. They turn to see Crash, and Moe laughs menacingly. Moe jumps onto the plinth in the middle, and Joe stands in front of him.]

Komodo Brothers defeated
Cortex: "Good show, Crash! The Komodo Brothers obviously lacked your mettle. But now is not the time to get cocky. There are still many crystals to obtain. Remember... the world is counting on you!"

Coco's discovery
Coco: "Crash! Thank goodness. I hacked into Cortex's computer, and found detailed schematics for an improved Cortex Vortex and a suspicious looking space station. I'm not sure, but Cortex might be trying—"

Fifteen crystals
Cortex: "Crash, my boy! You are more than halfway there. But I'm sure you've noticed that things are getting harder. The last ten crystals will be the hardest to gather, and my—(coughs) uh... our enemies will be sending their strongest forces to thwart you. I'll contact you again when you have completed the next warp room."

Tiny Tiger
[A metal door with Tiny's face on it is shown, only for it to be pried open by the thylacine himself. Tiny looks around and then roars loudly.]

Coco's warning
Coco: "Crash, I haven't got much time! Cortex has almost completed the new space station. Something is not right with his statements. Beware of the tricks—"

Cortex's lies
Cortex: "Crash! I have discovered that the opposition is being masterminded by Doctor Nitrus Brio, the inventor of the Evolvo-Ray. Brio was responsible for our... misunderstandings in the past. He forced me to assist him in his plot for world domination, and he's at it again! He will attempt to stand in our way. Be on your guard, Crash...! Use the platform to deliver the crystals to N. Gin!"

N. Gin
[N. Gin flies in an airlock, piloting his mech.]

N. Gin: "Like Doctor Cortex said: Give the twenty crystals you have collected to me!"

N. Gin's warning
N. Gin: "Doctor Cortex will be very displeased with your resistance! Prepare to suffer his wrath!"

Cortex enraged
Cortex: "Ughhh! What is your problem, bandicoot?! I will not ask you again to bring me the crystals! Obtain the remaining five crystals, Crash, and bring them to me."

Twenty five crystals
Cortex: "Hahahahaha...! Ahahaha! AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA! Yes! My plan is nearly complete, and I have you, Crash Bandicoot, to thank for it...!

[N. Gin is heard mumbling in the background.]

Cortex: "N. GIN?! What's happening? What's that? Is she stealing our signal?!"

[Cortex's hologram fades and is replaced with Coco's.]

Coco: "Crash! Cortex isn't going to use the crystals to contain the planet's energy, he's going to harness the force and use it to power the Super Cortex Vortex he has built on his space station. One blast of the ray will cover the entire world, turning everyone into Cortex's mindless slaves! Crash! Don't let him have those crystals...!"

[Coco's hologram fades, and Cortex's returns.]

Cortex: "N. Gin, you fool! She's telling him everything! ...Ah! Yes! We're, uh... we're, we're back now. Pardon the uh... interruption. Crash, bring me crystals!"

Cortex defeated
[Cortex's jetpack explodes as Crash hits him one last time, and he is sent spiralling into open space.]

Cortex: "Nooooo! You haven't seen the last of me, Crash Bandicoot!"

The end?
[Crash and Coco are relaxing on the beach, Coco on her laptop and Crash sleeping on his back.]

Coco: "Crash, what do you suppose happened to Cortex? And what about the Cortex Vortex? It's still up there..."

[The space station is shown flying off into space.]

Forty-two gems
Brio: "Y... you have acquired all of the gems! Incredible! Heheha! The crystals are not the only means of harnessing planetary energy! Hehe! The gems have that ability as well, and with them, I can destroy the Cortex Vortex... forever! Hehehe! Let me warp you to my completed laser installation, hmm!"

100% ending
[A giant stack of all 42 gems is shown, powering Brio's laser beam. Crash is standing on a giant button at the base of the laser, with Coco standing behind him, holding her laptop under her arm. Brio is standing in front of him.]

Brio: "We are ready, Crash! Would you like to do the h-honours? Hehehahaha!"

[Crash does a flip and stomps the button hard. All three look up to see a giant red laser firing from Brio's device. It shoots all the way up to Cortex's space station, blowing it to pieces. Credits begin to roll over space. After a while, Cortex is heard laughing ominously.]

Changes made in the N. Sane Trilogy

 * All voice acting was re-recorded with current voice actors and all music was remade.
 * The credits sequence replaced with the N. Sane trilogy's own credits, with a plain black background.
 * To accommodate this change, Cortex's laugh was moved to the regular ending rather than the credits of the 100% ending.
 * The Intro has a few differences.
 * When Cortex falls from his airship, it is colored correctly, rather than the metallic grey it was in the original.
 * The crystal that Cortex finds in the beginning is in a cluster on the ground rather than floating.
 * A meteor floats by the space station with the Naughty Dog logo on it. (The Naughty Dog logo was removed on Xbox One, Switch, and PC verisons)
 * N. Gin walks across the room towards Cortex when talking to him.
 * There are a few differences in the hologram messages.
 * The line "Look above the doorways! Above each, there is a big, crystal-shaped slot," from Cortex was changed since the crystal slot was moved to the side of the doorway to accommodate the added relic slot. Cortex now says "Look up at the doorways," and the "Above each," part is fuzzed out.
 * Each boss fight is now given its own portal rather than happening between warp rooms, meaning that all mentions of bosses "attacking between warp rooms" were completely omitted.
 * A small cutscene was added to the beginning of the Cortex boss, where Cortex tauntingly waves a crystal at Crash and laughs. He carries the crystal through the remainder of the chase.
 * In the non-100% ending, Crash gets dragged off by a crab while Coco is talking to him.
 * In the 100% ending, Crash belly-flops the button rather than stomping it. The laser's movement is also different, moving to slice the space station in half rather than simply blowing it up.