Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (stylized as Crash: On the Run!) is a mobile game developed by King and available on the Google Play Store. It revolves around Crash Bandicoot and Coco Bandicoot roaming various locations in an endless runner style in order to collect ingredients to construct weapons and defeat villains such as Nitrus Brio, Dingodile, Tiny Tiger, Koala Kong, Scorporilla, Nina Cortex and Mr. Crumb[1].
Contents
Development
Initially, King wanted to develop a game with a new take on the runner genre. They later approached Activision with the intent of using those ideas for a new Crash Bandicoot game.[2]
The game was first soft-launched in select countries on April 22nd, 2020.
A dedicated Twitter account for the game was registered in May 2020 but wasn't discovered until July 2020 when a teaser video of a TNT crate and the word "Loading..." was posted.[3]
On the 9th of July 2020, the official announcement trailer was uploaded to the Twitter account, and the game was fully added to the Apple App Store, being made available for pre-registration on both platforms. A Blue Hyena skin for Crash, like the one from Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, was billed as a bonus for pre-registering.[4]
On the 27th of October, 2020, a new trailer was released announcing the game would come out in Spring 2021. The release date was confirmed to March 25th, 2021, in a second trailer released on March 2nd 2021.
Seasonal events similar to the Grand Prix are planned for the game. The developers may add more playable characters than Crash and Coco depending on the game's commercial success.[5]
Story
In this episode, Dr. Neo Cortex dispatched mutagen henchmen across the multiverse to enslave all dimensions. With the help of his spirited sister Coco, Crash must strike and bash Cortex's minions back to their own worlds![6]
The game takes place after all existing Crash Bandicoot games, so that any past character or event may collide with it.[7]
Seasons
See: Seasons
- Season 0 - Launch Party! (starting in 2021-03-25, ending in 2021-03-29)
- Season 1 - The Return of Nitros Oxide (starting in 2021-03-29, ending in 2021-05-03)
- Season 2 - Running Outta Time (starting in 2021-05-06, ending in ???)
Gameplay
Basics
The base gameplay is similar to other endless running games like Temple Run or Sonic Dash. Crash or Coco run forward automatically, but the player can control them by swiping their finger left or right to dodge in that direction, swipe upwards to Jump, swipe downwards to Slide, swipe up then down to Body Slam and tap to Spin.
The main objective is to defeat Cortex's minions to earn Power Gems, which is done by throwing serums and bombs at them after a short boss fight. Serums must be crafted at Coco's Base before fighting, which requires specific materials to create. Additionally, the player must wait a certain amount in real time before they can collect a created item. Power Gems unlock new levels and their associated game modes, new new gangs to battle against and new stations to craft ingredients.
If the player is short on materials, they can play a Collection Run to obtain more by breaking crates containing resources, getting a small amount of items for free in the vending machine by watching an ad, or by purchasing them with Crystals.
Games Modes
- Battle Run: run through a level to defeat a Henchman or Boss, and earn a Power Gem with each successful run.
- Collection Run: run indefinitely to collect ingredients, which vary with levels. Exits are placed at junctions.
- Challenge Run: a more challenging run with no checkpoint to earn a colored gem. Some requires to break all crates before reaching the end. Each hub worlds have 4 colored gem, one per level. These challenges are accessed through exit warp pads unlocked in Collection Run after earning enough Power Gems.
- Time Trial: race against the clock for a Sapphire, Gold or Platinum Time Relic. Breaking Time Crates freezes the clock for up to 3s.
- Survival Run: run alongside 2 bots as long as possible before dying. Trophies are awarded every 10 seconds. As time pass, the game accelerates and a multiplier (up to 1.5) is added to the trophy count. The last surviving runner earns a bonus of 50 trophies to their score, and the second to last 10 bonus trophies. The only available levels are Turtle Woods and Bear It (added on April 6th[8]).
Coco's Base
See: Coco's Base
Coco's Base is the location and menu where players go in-between runs. From there, they can select Battle Runs against Henchmen and Bosses, Collection Runs and challenges. They can also craft Portal Weapons at the Labs or the Chicken Coops, and buy ingredients, weapons, skins and Crystals at the Vending Machine.
Characters
Playable
Henchmen
In Battle Runs, Crash and Coco have to defeat gangs of villains consisting each of four henchmen and one boss. Henchmen can appear either as Nitro, Frosty, Inferno or Oxide. There are currently 15 different henchmen discovered, listed in order of appearance, with icons indicating what types they can currently appear as:
- Ant Drone
- Crab
- Pink Elephant
- Mini Robot
- Araknid
- Lab Assistant
- Iron Crate
- Electro Lab Assistant
- Zombot
- Thorn Thing
- Rok-Ko
- Wa-Wa
- Py-Ro
- Lo-Lo
- Geary
- The Noid (cross-promotion, limited time only)
Bosses
Bosses can appear either as Nitro, Frosty, Inferno or Oxide. There are currently 12 bosses discovered, listed by order of appearance, with icons indicating what types they currently can appear as:
- Scorporilla
- Mutagen Nitrus Brio
- Dingodile
- Fake Crash
- Nina Cortex
- Robo Neo Cortex
- Dr. Neo Cortex
- Uka Uka
- Mr. Crumb
- Tiny Tiger
- Fake Coco
- Nefarious Tropy (female)
These 4 bosses are known to appear in-game at some point, but have not been added to the game yet:
Supporting
Cameos
Enemies & Hazards
- Rolling Stones
- Boulders
- Blobs
- TNT Crates
- Nitro Crates
- Turtles
- Scrubbers
- Spiders
- Spitter Plants
- Penguins
- Mummies
- Seals
Battle Runs
See: Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!/Battle Runs
Levels
The game features various areas inspired from previous levels of the first three original games. They are separated in islands (listed here by order of unlock):
| Island | Level | Recharge Time[9] | Collectible Items | Gem | Relic Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wumpa Island |   |
2 hours | 21  [10]30  [10]60  [11]30 
|
|
 1:10:00
|
  |
3 hours | 37 26  25 
|
|
1:15:00
| |
  |
5 hours | 18 37 45 28 
|
|
1:16:00
| |
  |
6 hours | 23 32  17  42
|
|
1:03:00
| |
| Ice Warp Island |   |
3 hours | 40 39 40 
|
|
1:03:00
|
  |
3 hours | 25 54 49 22 
|
|
1:09:00
| |
  |
5 hours | 31 20  16  37 34 
|
|
TBA
| |
  |
6 hours | 30 25 26 8 
|
|
TBA
| |
| N. Sanity Island |   |
3 hours | 37 20  13 31
|
TBA
| |
  |
5 hours | 17  30 19 13 
|
|
TBA
| |
  |
TBA | 26 10  45 20
|
|
TBA
| |
  |
TBA | TBA
|
Items
See: Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!/Items
Items in the game are mainly used to engage in battle with Bosses and Henchmen or to repair and upgrade Coco's Base.
Skins
See: Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!/Skins
Gallery
See: Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!/Gallery
Names in Other Languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | クラッシュ・バンディクー ブッとび！マルチワールド Kurasshu bandikū buttobi! Maruchiwārudo |
Crash Bandicoot! Multi-World |
Trivia
- The original prototype game called "Mylo" was created in King by Sweden and was re-skinned with Crash Bandicoot and presented to Activision by King. They then signed off the early production of the game.
- During early production, the game went by the working title Crash Bandicoot Mobile, before being officially named Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! for the soft launch.
- This is the first time in the series where the Elementals are solo bosses.
References
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/CrashOnTheRun/status/1370019727628591104
- ↑ Crash Bandicoot: On the Run on Twitter
- ↑ https://twitter.com/CrashOnTheRun/status/1281211990128680967
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/CrashOnTheRun/status/1370015517566763008
- ↑ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.crash
- ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/CrashOnTheRun/status/1370018544876990465
- ↑ https://twitter.com/CrashOnTheRun/status/1379474400093831169
- ↑ After the recharge time, all the collectibles in the level will be reset.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 While most of the Alpha and Beta parts can be collected in one run, there's one of each that will be at exit path when choosing Right, Left, Left, Left in the crossroads from the starting point in Turtle Woods.
- ↑ 5 of these Glow Barks are found in 5 different path endings. Thus it's impossible to grab all the Glow Barks in a single run in Turtle Woods.
