Crash Bash

"Let the games begin."

- Aku Aku

Crash Bash Theme

Crash Bash is a game released for the PlayStation in November 2000, primarily intended as a multiplayer game, although it is also compatible with single player. It was the first game in the Crash Bandicoot series not to be produced by Naughty Dog; instead, it was created and developed by Eurocom. It was the second game in the Crash series to be capable of using a multitap, following Crash Team Racing which was released in September 1999.

Story
In a temple located in Hyperspace, Aku Aku and Uka Uka are arguing over whether good or evil is stronger. Uka Uka proposes a fight to settle the argument, but Aku Aku declines, stating that no malice can come between them. Uka Uka then proposes a contest where friends of the masks fight on their behalf, which Aku Aku agrees to.

Aku Aku summons Crash Bandicoot and Coco Bandicoot, while Uka Uka summons Doctor Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Doctor Nitrus Brio, Rilla Roo, Dingodile and Koala Kong. Aku Aku immediately protests and challenges Uka Uka's confidence by insisting the teams be fair. Uka Uka agrees and allows Aku Aku to choose two of his team; Aku Aku chooses Tiny and Dingodile.

The player goes through four warp rooms, winning Trophies and eventually earning Gems and Crystals, which Uka Uka finds incredibly useful. After Papu Papu, Bearminator, Komodo Brothers, and Nitros Oxide have all been defeated, the ending is determinant on which side the chosen character is competing for.

There are two endings:
 * If a member of Aku Aku's team wins, Aku Aku reveals that he knew his evil brother had a plan to steal the crystals and hides them away for safety. Uka Uka loses his temper and attacks Cortex and Brio for failing him. Suddenly, a hole in the temple opens up and a swirling vortex sucks Uka Uka out, with Aku Aku stating it as the penalty for disturbing the crystals.
 * If a member of Uka Uka's team wins, a sinister storm passes through the galaxy. Uka Uka reveals he planned to steal the crystals all along and harnesses their energy. Aku Aku pleads to Crash and Coco to run and save themselves, but Uka Uka proclaims that there is nowhere to hide from his wrath.

If co-op is played and one character is good and the other is evil, Aku Aku and Uka Uka will force the team to play a best-of-five Crate Crush match against each other, with the winning character's team winning.

Good Side (Aku Aku's Side)

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Coco Bandicoot
 * Tiny Tiger
 * Dingodile

Evil Side (Uka Uka's Side)

 * Doctor Neo Cortex
 * Doctor Nitrus Brio
 * Koala Kong
 * Rilla Roo

Neutral Side

 * Fake Crash (Only in Japanese version)

Bosses
The bosses are variants of other Mini Games.
 * Boss 1 Papu Papu (in the style of Crate Crush)
 * Boss 2 Bearminator (in the style of Polar Push)
 * Boss 3 Komodo Brothers (in the style of Tank Wars)
 * Boss 4 Nitros Oxide (in the style of Crash Dash / Ballistix)

Cameos

 * Ripper Roo (In the El Pogo Loco Mini Game)
 * Doctor N. Gin (In the N. Ballism Mini Game)

Ballistix
Taking place in a square shaped arena, the player must use their hover ship to block and deflect steel balls into the opponents' goals. The balls are released into the arena and gain speed as the level progresses.


 * Crashball
 * Beach Ball
 * N. Ballism
 * Sky Balls

Polar Push
The player rides a polar bear cub and tries to knock their opponents off the icy platform they are standing on. The polar bears have a stamina meter which quickly increases. Charging at another player takes half of it away. There is also a floating device that gives out power ups such as lightning or making a character huge, but can give negative effects such as a weight or shrink a player. In Melt Panic, however, the beam is controlled by Uka Uka, and always produces negative effects.


 * Polar Panic
 * Tilt Panic
 * Melt Panic
 * Manic Panic

Pogo Pandemonium
The objective of the game is to use jumping sticks (for example Crash and Coco use pogo sticks while Tiny and Koala use bouncy springs) to jump on squares and cover them with the character's assigned color and then turn the squares into points by breaking purple ! crates. There are speedy boots to help go faster and missiles to stun an opponent. The player can also take control of an opponent's route and keep jumping around until the time runs out. In Pogo-a-Gogo, the way to gain points is different, as the player is required to encircle areas of their own section of the arena.


 * Pogo Painter
 * Pogo-a-Gogo
 * El Pogo Loco
 * Pogo Padlock

Crate Crush
This style of minigame is an all out war with the players throwing crates at each other, dealing great amounts of damage. There are also TNTs and nitro crates to watch out for. Obviously even touching a nitro is deadly. The player can also hurt others by kicking. (ie; spinning with Crash or Brio blasting his ray gun.)


 * Jungle Bash
 * Space Bash
 * Snow Bash
 * Drain Bash

Tank Wars
The player takes control of a tank and can fire their turret at opponents. Depending what character it is, the weaponry is different. (Like Koala and Tiny fire spiked canon balls while Cortex and Brio shoot plasma.)


 * Desert Fox
 * Metal Fox
 * Jungle Fox
 * Swamp Fox

Crash Dash
In this minigame style, the players take control of a hovercraft similar to Oxide's one (Although in Splash Dash they ride various sea creatures) and race around a circular arena ten times. Crash Dash is often considered one of the hardest minigame genres as many players have difficulty with it.


 * Dot Dash
 * Toxic Dash
 * Dante's Dash
 * Splash Dash

Medieval Mayhem
Unlike all the other minigame genres, the minigames here are all very different and the only things they have in common is that they have a medieval setting and they are all point-based. The last three only appear on the fifth Warp Room.


 * Ring Ding
 * Dragon Drop
 * Mallet Mash
 * Keg Kaboom

Additions
Radically different from the previous games in the series, this game is often compared to the Mario Party series for the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii. Every level is a minigame with various tasks which need to be completed in order to obtain prizes. The ending differs depending on what side (good or evil) you decide to enter story mode with.

Naming of Minigames
In this game, a minigame's type (excluding boss fights) can be determined from the name of the minigame.
 * Levels with "ball" in their names are Ballistix minigames.
 * Levels with "panic" in their names are Polar Push minigames.
 * Levels with "pogo" in their names are Pogo Pandemonium minigames.
 * Levels with "bash" in their names are Crate Crush minigames.
 * Levels with "fox" in their names are Tank Wars minigames.  This additionally applies to the boss fight Big Bad Fox.
 * Levels with "dash" in their names are Crash Dash minigames.
 * The Medieval Mayhem minigames are the only type without any common word in their names.  These minigames are Ring Ding, Dragon Drop, Mallet Mash, and Keg Kaboom.  However, the names of these levels still show that they are Medieval Mayhem minigames, since these are the only minigames without any of the words "ball", "panic", "pogo", "bash", "fox", or "dash" in their names.
 * Additionally, all the Medieval Mayhem minigames' names are either rhyming words or alliterations.

Reception
Crash Bash received fairly positive reviews from critics upon release. GamesRadar described the game as "more four-player fun than even Ron Jeremy could offer." Human Tornado of GamePro noted that the collection of minigames were "tailor made for up to four player competition" and went on to say that it is "not to say that Crash Bash can't be played alone, but when there's a room full of people, Crash Bash suddenly becomes ten times more fun." Shawn Sparks of Game Revolution praised the "solid" graphics, amount of minigames and "great" multiplayer, and said that "the sheer variety of games will entertain most any party for hours on end (or at least until the beer runs out.)" IGN concluded that "it's not original and it's not deep, but it's packed with tons of silly games and it's a social magnet amongst the geek elite." Ryan Davis of GameSpot described Crash Bash as "utterly run of the mill, completely middle of the road. Its flaws may not be glaring, but there isn't a single aspect of the game that truly shines through."

Gallery
See: Crash Bash/Gallery

Trivia

 * Demos, found on demo discs and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, contain full versions of the game. The rest of it, besides the demo content, is simply locked, but can be accessed through the use of a cheat code. There are many differences between the game's demo release and the original game.
 * Interestingly, Homer and Bart Simpson were used as placeholder sprites for the Komodo Brothers.
 * In the Japanese version of the game, in Battle or Tournament mode, holding down R1 + R2 + Left + Down at the same time on the character select screen, unlocks Fake Crash as a playable character. The cheat code does not work on the American or European versions.
 * There are many maps throughout the game which are references to Crash Bandicoot: Warped, such as Space Bash (a reference to the future-themed levels) and Keg Kaboom (a reference to the Medieval-themed levels). Some of the music is also remixed from Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Some other Crash games are referenced, though not as often. For example, Toxic Dash is a reference to the Toxic Waste level from the original Crash Bandicoot.
 * Some instruments used for the music in some minigames were direct rips from Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Examples include the main theme, Jungle Bash and Space Bash.
 * At one point during the development of the game, Rilla Roo was named Kanga Rilla.
 * In the first boss battle with Papu Papu, it can be noticed that he wears a yellow ornament in his hair, just like he did in promotional artwork for the first Crash Bandicoot game.
 * This game was the Komodo Brothers' last appearance in a Crash game until the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.
 * This is the first Crash game that was not made by Naughty Dog, and the first to be produced outside the US.
 * This is the first Crash Bandicoot party game.
 * Aku Aku saying he's unable to fight Uka Uka himself because the ancients forbid it is in direct contrast with the events of Warped, wherein the two fought right on-screen during the final boss battle.
 * This was the last Crash Bandicoot game for the original PlayStation.
 * Currently, Crash Bash is the only Crash game to have a total of 200% (Using normal methods).
 * Crash and Coco are the only two player characters who can change facial expressions during gameplay. In the Polar Push minigames, when either of the bandicoots are shocked by lightning, frozen in ice, or trapped in a snowball, they will take on a panicked expression.
 * A glitch in the Japanese version causes Fake Crash's model to lose most of his facial textures when he loses his bear mount in Manic Panic, causing him to look very odd.
 * The Gold Relics have a green centre instead of red in this game.

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