Crash Bandicoot

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Crash Bandicoot
Developer(s)	Naughty Dog
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Universal Interactive Studios
Platform(s)	PlayStation PlayStation Portable PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	PlayStation NA: September 9, 1996 EU: November 8, 1996 JP: December 6, 1996 PlayStation Network US: December 4, 2006 JP: January 25, 2007 EU: June 22, 2007
Genre	Linear 3D Platformer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Kids to Adults (K-A) CERO: A ELSPA: 3+ OFLC: General (G)
Mode(s)	Single player
Followed by	Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Crash Bandicoot is a linear platform game developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation. Released initially in 1996, it is the first entry into the Crash Bandicoot series. This game starts with the series' protagonist, Crash Bandicoot being experimented on by Doctor Neo Cortex, the main antagonist of the series and his assistant N. Brio to become the latest addition to Cortex's animal army created from enslaved animals across the Wumpa Islands. After the failed experiment, Crash escapes and resolves to save his captured girlfriend and fellow bandicoot, Tawna. The game was emulated on the PlayStation Network on December 4th, 2006, allowing it to be played on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. The game has sold at least 6.82 million copies globally since its original release.

A complete remake of the game was released alongside Cortex Strikes Back and Warped as part of the N. Sane Trilogy.

Development

Following the success of Naughty Dog's Rings Of Power & Way Of The Warrior (which Universal Interactive/UI was willing to publish), Universal Interactive had offered a three-game publishing deal, in which they will allow creative freedom for the developer. Naughty Dog had signed the deal, and that's how the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy was formed.

For the game's lead character, Naughty Dog wanted to do what Sega and Warner Bros. did while designing their respective characters – Sonic the Hedgehog and the Tasmanian Devil – and incorporate an existing animal that was appealing and obscure. The team purchased a field guide on Tasmanian mammals and selected the wombat, potoroo, and bandicoot as options. Gavin and Rubin went with "Willy the Wombat" as a temporary name for the starring character of the game. They never intended the name to be final due both to the name sounding "too dorky" and to the existence of a non-video game property of the same name; the name was also used by Hudson Soft for its Japan-exclusive Sega Saturn role-playing game Willy Wombat.

While the character was effectively a bandicoot, he was still referred to as "Willy the Wombat" as a final name had not been formulated yet. The villain of the game was created while Gavin and Rubin were eating near Universal Interactive Studios. Gavin came up with the idea of an "evil genius villain with a big head" who was "all about his attitude and his minions". Rubin, having become fond of the animated television series Pinky and the Brain (1995—98), imagined a more malevolent version of the Brain with minions resembling the weasel characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). After Gavin put on a voice depicting the attitude in mind for the character, he and Rubin instantly came up with the name "Doctor Neo Cortex".

In March 1995, Universal Interactive and Naughty Dog recruited Joe Pearson of Epoch Ink to aid in the visual aspect of production. Pearson in turn recommended that Charles Zembillas of American Exitus be brought on board as well. Pearson and Zembillas would meet with Naughty Dog weekly to create the characters and environments of the game. The main character's nature as a Tasmanian animal and the trope of evil geniuses like Cortex possessing island strongholds determined the game's mysterious island setting. Pearson created a concept bible that included detailed backstories for Crash and Dr. Cortex and established the game's setting as the remnants of the lost continent of Lemuria. Zembillas' initial sketches of Crash depicted him as a "squat, hunkered-down" character, but after Pearson drew a version of Crash that was leaner, had a larger nose and wore a Zorro-like mask, Zembillas began to draw Crash as "a little more manic and insane" character. Naughty Dog decided early on that there would be no connection between a real animal and Crash's final design, which would instead be determined "51% by technical and visual necessity and 49% by inspiration". Gavin determined Crash's fur color by creating a list of popular characters and their colors, and then making a list of earthly background possibilities (such as forests, deserts, beaches, etc.). Colors that would not look good on the screen were strictly outlawed, such as red, which would bleed on older televisions. Orange was selected by process of elimination. Crash's head was made large and neckless to counter the low resolution of the screen and allow his facial expressions to be discernible. Rubin noted the increased difficulty in turning Crash's head with this type of design. Small details such as gloves, spots on Crash's back and a light-colored chest were added to help the player determine what side of Crash was visible based on color. Crash was not given a tail or any flappy straps of clothing due to the PlayStation's inability to properly display such pixels without flickering. The length of Crash's pants was shortened to keep his ankles from flickering as they would with longer pants. Crash would also have a speaking role who, as a result of his subjection to the Cortex Vortex, communicated in a series of bizarre non sequiturs derived from classic literature and pop culture. This was eventually cut as it was considered by Naughty Dog that past voices for video game characters were "lame and negative".

On creating the levels for the game, Pearson first sketched each environment, designing and creating additional individual elements later. Pearson aimed for an organic, overgrown look to the game and worked to completely avoid straight lines and 90-degree corners. A Naughty Dog artist sketched every single background object in the game before it was modeled. Naughty Dog's artists were tasked with making the best use of textures and reducing the amount of geometry. Dark and light elements were juxtaposed to create visual interest and separate geometry. The artists would squint when sketching, texturing, and playing the levels to make sure they could be played by light value alone. They ensured to use color correctly by choosing mutually accentuating colors as the theme for the "Lost City" and "Sunset Vista" levels. The interior of Cortex's castle was designed to reflect his twisted mind. It took 8 months for the artists to come up with the visuals before any game code was made.

The music for Crash Bandicoot was a last-minute aspect added to the game before its showing at E3. Siller proposed that rather than conventional music, Gavin could create an "urban chaotic symphony" where random sound effects, such as bird vocalizations, vehicle horns, grunts, and flatulence, would be combined. After Naughty Dog rejected this proposal, Siller introduced them to the music production company Mutato Muzika and its founder Mark Mothersbaugh. According to Siller, Mutato Muzika joined production after speaking with Siller without Naughty Dog being consulted, which resulted in an angry confrontation between Rubin and Siller. Cerny removed Siller from production following this incident. The music was composed by Josh Mancell while in producing leadership by Baggett. The voice acting was provided by Brendan O'Brien, who came in contact with Rubin through Pearson and recorded his dialogue below the Universal Studios Lot's Hitchcock Theater.

When the game was being pitched by Naughty Dog for release in Japan, Sony's executives had issues with Crash's character design, specifying the character looks too aggressive and that this wouldn't appeal as a game that would sell well in Japan. In an attempt to get around this, Naughty Dog requested that Zembillas comes up with a cuter, more accepted design. This design was greenlit by the executives and the game was accepted for release in Japan. The design was only used for marketing and box arts, though.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Crash Bandicoot is noticeably simpler than the series' later iterations, as Crash does not learn any new skills throughout the game. He is only able to walk, jump, and spin. If Crash touches an enemy or suffers any other type of damage, he loses a life and returns to the last checkpoint, if not the start of the level. Lives are earned by either collecting 100 Wumpa Fruit, or by breaking open crates, some of which contain an extra life. Crash can protect himself from damage by picking up an Aku Aku mask. If he collects all 3 masks, he will briefly become invincible. The game is over once Crash loses all of his lives, but the player can choose to continue by selecting "Yes" at the game over screen.

Controls

Button	Movement
	Jump
	Spin
	Rotate the map
	View Inventory
	Pause
	Return to map

Levels

There are three Islands on the game, between which 26 levels are divided as follows (the 6 boss levels are indicated in bold):

Island	Level	Boxes	Items	Bonus Rounds
N. Sanity	N. Sanity Beach	49 (48J)		N/A
	Jungle Rollers	38
	The Great Gate	26
	Boulders	16		N/A
	Upstream	14
	Papu Papu	N/A
	Rolling Stones	46
	Hog Wild	24	(J)	N/A
	Native Fortress	42
Wumpa	Up the Creek	15
	Ripper Roo	N/A
	The Lost City	31	(J)
	Temple Ruins	67		( J)
	Road to Nowhere	33
	Boulder Dash	35		N/A
	Whole Hog	24		N/A
	Sunset Vista 1	50		2
	Koala Kong	N/A
Cortex	Heavy Machinery	33
	Cortex Power	41		( J)
	Generator Room	44
	Toxic Waste	26
	Pinstripe Potoroo	N/A
	The High Road	18
	Slippery Climb 1	31	(J)	( J)
	Lights Out	15		N/A
	Fumbling in the Dark	18		N/A
	Jaws of Darkness	65
	Castle Machinery	24 (27J)		( J2)
	Dr. Nitrus Brio	N/A
	The Lab	24
	The Great Hall	N/A
	Dr. Neo Cortex	N/A
	Stormy Ascent	34

¹ - Sunset Vista and Slippery Climb are swapped in the NTSC-J release of the game.

^J - Only in the NTSC-J release.

² - In the NTSC-J release, Tawna bonuses of Sunset Vista and Castle Machinery do not show up if the previous level's Tawna bonus was cleared.

Story

Cortex (right) and Brio (left) put Crash under the Evolvo-Ray

Somewhere southeast of Australia lie three little islands, teeming with wildlife. On one of these islands resides Doctor Neo Cortex, who along with his assistant N. Brio is trying to create an animal army known as the "Cortex Commandos" to achieve world domination. Crash Bandicoot, a peaceful bandicoot, is slated to become the army's general. Dr. N. Brio has created a machine known as the Evolvo-Ray, which is capable of giving animals anthropomorphic traits. Dr. Cortex eventually subjects these creatures to the Cortex Vortex, a device designed to brainwash animals and make them obedient to him. Despite Dr. Brio's warning that the Vortex was unstable, Cortex rushed the newly evolved Crash into the Vortex, which rejected him. Crash then seizes the opportunity to escape, with Cortex in pursuit. He eventually breaks through a window and escapes by falling into the sea. Cortex orders that the second bandicoot he caught be prepared for the Vortex: Tawna, Crash's girlfriend. Crash washes up on the beach of his home island and sets out to save Tawna before Cortex can use the Vortex on her. There, Crash meets a floating tiki mask known as Aku Aku, who provides Crash with assistance in the form of masks that will take damage for him.

Cortex decides that Crash must be stopped before he can return for Tawna and sends out his best henchmen after him. Cortex's plan is foiled when Crash reaches his toxic waste factory, wherein Cortex's machinery is powered and shuts it down during a battle with Cortex's top minion, Pinstripe Potoroo. Crash soon enters Cortex's sinister castle, where he confronts N. Brio in his lab room. The mad doctor drinks a potion to turn himself into a monster pounding the ground, which causes the castle to go up in flames.

Crash and Tawna finally together

With his plans ruined, Cortex faces Crash atop his airship. Crash eventually gains the upper hand and manages to destroy Cortex's Hoverboard, causing the Doctor to seemingly fall to his death. Crash is finally reunited with his beloved Tawna. The couple take the airship and fly into the sunset.

Alternate Ending

The game also features an alternative ending, which can only occur after gaining 100% completion. If Crash collects all the gems and follows the path which appears in The Great Hall, Crash finds Tawna waiting for him on the balcony. Crash and Tawna escape together on a friendly vulture, and the epilogue is as follows:

Papu Papu started a Big & Tall Shop using money he received by selling Castle Cortex to a resort developer.

Ripper Roo received intense therapy and a few years of higher education, and wrote the book "Through the Eyes of the Vortex", pondering the consequences of rapid evolution.

Koala Kong moved to Hollywood, started an acting career, and is working with a speech therapist to improve his diction.

Pinstripe moved to Chicago and started a sanitation company.

Dr. N. Brio revisited his earlier hobby of bar tending.

Dr. Cortex is said to have disappeared. His whereabouts were then unknown, but led to the start of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, which picks up immediately after the events of the first game.

Characters

The cast from left to right: Aku Aku, Papu Papu, Ripper Roo, Pinstripe, Koala Kong, Tawna, Crash, Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio

All of the characters are voiced by Brendan O'Brien, except for Aku Aku and Papu Papu. Tawna and Koala Kong do not have any type of speaking role. Ripper Roo's laughter is a retuned recording of Dallas McKennon from Lady and the Tramp.

Crash Bandicoot: The game's protagonist. Once an ordinary bandicoot, he was taken from his home by the evil Dr. Cortex to be the general of his Cortex Commandos for world domination. Crash gained his jump and spin attack from the Evolvo-Ray, but was rejected by the faulty Vortex. Although Crash escapes by jumping out the window, Tawna (his girlfriend) remains in the clutches of Cortex's henchmen, motivating him to return to the castle and rescue her.

Aku Aku: A magical mask who protects Crash from enemies and Crash's best friend. He can be found inside special crates scattered throughout the island to help Crash on his quest.

Doctor Neo Cortex: The game's main antagonist. Mocked and ridiculed by the scientific community, Cortex seeks revenge against humanity by making an army of mutant animals (the Cortex Commandos) to help him take over the world. Alongside his colleague, Dr. Nitrus Brio, he began messing with the island's ecosystem, turning animals into mutant soldiers. It seemed like Cortex's plan was going well... until Crash was made.

Doctor Nitrus Brio: A biochemist who works with potions and vials. Being his boss' assistant led to some rivalry and it was actually N. Brio that made the Evolvo-Ray, but his low self-esteem allowed for Cortex take the credit.

Tawna: A female bandicoot who was Crash's girlfriend at the time. She is another bandicoot Cortex tried to evolve and mutate, and is being held hostage at Castle Cortex.

Papu Papu: The portly, ill-tempered leader of the tribesmen on N. Sanity Island. Though unaffiliated with Cortex, he attempts to kill Crash when he awakens the chieftain from his nap.

Ripper Roo: The perfect example of an experiment gone wrong, Ripper Roo was Cortex's first test subject and it shows. One too many shots from the Cortex Vortex produced an insane kangaroo who had to be restrained with a strait-jacket. He is presumably, like Crash, a Cortex Commandos reject. His boss fight takes place atop a waterfall on Wumpa Island, far away from Cortex's headquarters.

Koala Kong: A musclebound mutant koala. He is quite vain and prone to showing off, giving Crash the opportunity to spin boulders at him during his boss fight.

Pinstripe Potoroo: A trigger-happy potoroo Mafioso armed with maniacal laugh and a signature Tommy gun. Pinstripe maintains the radioactive Cortex Power plant on Cortex Island. Once defeated, he accidentally fires his gun into the generator's core located in his office, shutting down the plant for good.

Version differences

(Note: Due to the game being developed in the US and the US version releasing first, the North American/NTSC-U version will be considered the default for the purpose of this comparison.)

European/PAL version

Lizards in the US version (left) compared to the European version (right)

• Due to a texturing error, spikes intended to be on the backs of Lizard enemies do not display properly in the US version. This error was fixed in the European and Japanese releases.
• The European version of the game runs at 25 frames per second instead of the 30 frames per second present in the US and Japanese versions, which very slightly affects the game's physics.

Japanese/NTSC-J version

• Several new voice lines were added for Crash in addition pre-existing lines being dubbed. He can be heard shouting out in Japanese when entering a level, exiting a level and when getting hit with boxes at the level end screen, being completely silent during those scenarios in English. Brio also has a new gibberish voice line if you approach him in his human form during his boss fight.
• Aku Aku now gives the player hints when collected. These hints depend on the level he is found in and how many times you have received hints from him. These hints can be skipped by spinning or jumping.
• TNT Crates now have an image of a bomb on them instead of the letters "TNT".
• Passwords are no longer offered as an alternative to saving the game to the memory card. However, the password menu can still be accessed by entering the following cheat code on the main menu; up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, left, right, circle.
• The first Aku Aku Crate in N. Sanity Beach was removed, with the player being automatically granted an Aku Aku mask upon starting the level. Re-entering the level with one or two masks will reset your mask count to one.
• Sunset Vista and Slippery Climb are swapped in the level order.
• Some gems are moved; the green gem is now found in Hog Wild, the red gem in The Lost City and a clear gem in Slippery Climb.
• The levels Temple Ruins, Slippery Climb, Cortex Power and Castle Machinery were given Tawna Bonus Rounds in order to grant additional save points. As a result of this, the box count of those four levels are increased by three in order to grant the necessary tokens to reach the bonus round.
• Upon reaching Tawna in a Tawna bonus round, she will suddenly shrink and disappear instead of standing around.
• No matter how many boxes you miss in a level, only one box will fall on Crash's head at the end screen. This was supposedly done to avoid upsetting children.
• Several of the game's music tracks were replaced with entirely different compositions, namely the Tawna bonus round theme and all boss themes aside from Papu Papu and Ripper Roo. Supposedly, the Japanese localization team at Sony wanted the music to be "more video game-like", and called Tawna's bonus round theme "too nostalgic-sounding".
  • Cortex's original boss theme can still be heard in the intro cutscene and during Cortex bonus rounds. N. Brio's original boss theme can also be heard during N. Brio bonus rounds.
• The level end screen still displays your current gem and key total even if you missed some of the level's boxes.
• Crash has an additional idle animation. He spins, does the pose usually done after obtaining a gem, looks left and right before standing back up and shrugging with an embarrassed smile.
• Several platforms in the river levels, Up the Creek and Upstream, have been made larger, namely the logs, Venus Fly Traps and floating leaves.
• Papu Papu now has 5 hit points instead of 3, and he starts swinging his club faster on the 4th and 5th hit points.
• A large chunk of the end of the level The High Road was entirely removed, nearly halving the level in length.
• Additional Aku Aku Crates were added to partway through Toxic Waste, the beginning of Jaws of Darkness, and the beginning of The Lab.

Reception

Crash Bandicoot had received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the game's graphics and unique visual style, but noted the game's lack of innovation as a platform game. The game would later go on to become one of the best-selling PlayStation games of all time. The game sold about 700,000 units in Japan, becoming the first non-native title and franchise to achieve commercial success in the country. As of November 2003, Crash Bandicoot has sold over 6.8 million units worldwide. The game's success resulted in its re-release for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on September 15, 1997, for the Platinum Range on March 1998, for the Best For Family line-up on May 28, 1998 and for the PS one Books line-up on October 12, 2001. Crash Bandicoot was the first non-Japanese game to receive a "Gold Prize" in Japan for sales of over 500,000 units. The game spent nearly two years on the NPD TRSTS top 20 PlayStation sales charts before finally dropping off on September 1998.

The game's graphics received positive comments. Dave Halverson of GameFan referred to the visuals as "the best graphics that exist in a game" and the design and animations of the titular character as "100% perfection". John Scalzo of Gaming Target described the environments as "colorful and detailed" and mentioned the snowy bridge and temple levels as his favorites. However, he noted that the boss characters appeared to be noticeably polygonal compared to the other characters due to their large size. Nevertheless, he added that this flaw was excusable because of the game's age and that the game's graphics were near perfect otherwise. A reviewer for Game Revolution singled out the scaling technology for praise and declared it to be "the new standard for PlayStation action games the same way SGI did for 16-bitters after Donkey Kong Country." Additionally, he described the texture-mapping precision as "awesome", the shading as "almost too well done" (and made the game more difficult with the pits appearing to be shadows and vice-versa), the polygon movements as "very smooth and fluid", the "quirky mannerisms" of the title character as "always refreshing" and the backgrounds as "breathtakingly beautiful (especially the waterfall stages)". However, the reviewer said that the ability to adjust the camera angle even slightly "would have been a definite plus (at times the ground itself is at 75 degree angle while Crash constantly moves at 90 degrees, putting a slight strain on the eyes)." Zach Meston of GameSpot, while comparing the game to Super Mario 64, noted that the game "may not offer the graphical smoothness or versatility of Mario's vast new world, but its brilliantly colorful and complex jungle environments boast true diversity of shape and texture - kind of a tiki room Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." A reviewer for IGN noted that "gorgeous backgrounds and silky smooth animation make this one of the best-looking titles available for the PlayStation.

The gameplay received mixed responses. Both John Scalzo and the Game Revolution reviewer compared the gameplay to Donkey Kong Country, with Scalzo describing the game as having a "familiar, yet unique" quality that he attributed to Naughty Dog's design, while the Game Revolution reviewer concluded that the game "fails to achieve anything really new or revolutionary" as a platform game. Zach Meston described the gameplay as "flat as roadkill on a four-lane highway" and noted that players may enjoy the game "purely as a test of jumping abilities". The IGN reviewer said that the game "isn't a revolution in platform game design. It's pretty much your standard platform game". However, he noted the game's "surprisingly deep" depth of field and use of different perspectives as exceptions to the platforming formula. Jim Sterling of Destructoid.com stated that the game has aged poorly since its initial release and cited the lack of DualShock thumbsticks, a poor camera as well as substandard jumping and spinning controls.

Scripts

See: Crash Bandicoot script

Sourcebook

See: The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania

Gallery

See: Crash Bandicoot (game)/Gallery

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name
Japanese	クラッシュ・バンディクー Kurasshu Bandikuu

Japanese logo

This game was developed in English and was officially localized into Japanese only.

Voice cast

Language	Voice actor	Character
English	Brendan O'Brien †	Crash Bandicoot Neo Cortex N. Brio
	Andrew Dawson	Aku Aku
	Dallas McKennon †	Ripper Roo
Japanese	Kappei Yamaguchi	Crash Bandicoot
	Shōzō Iizuka †	Neo Cortex
	Mitsuru Ogata	N. Brio

Trivia

Production

• When coming up with the idea of how the game should be played, Naughty Dog decided to turn the screen so Crash would play running in and out rather than left and right. They jokingly called this "Sonic's Ass Game" since the player would always be looking at Crash's backside.
• According to developer Andy Gavin, Naughty Dog wanted Crash to animate similarly to the old Looney Tunes cartoons with squash-and-stretch physics. This was achieved with "vertex animation", which allowed infinite points of articulation as opposed the more common and stiffer "skeletal animation," which could only use a limited amount.
• A set of 2D animated cutscenes were created by Universal Cartoon Studios, but were never put into the final game, primarily because of Sony wanting to push the 3D graphics. They were not seen until producer David Siller uploaded them to his YouTube page in 2015.

Characters and Plot

• This is the only main Crash game to not feature Coco Bandicoot, having been introduced in the sequel.
• N. Brio is the first character to speak in the entire Crash series.

Gameplay

• This is the only game in the series to feature the orange gem and bonus round tokens.
  • Furthermore, this is the only game in the series where the player can save the progress: either finishing a bonus round, typing a password or collecting a gem.
• There are only 840 boxes in the game (or 1,122 counting the Bonus Rounds) in the PAL and NTSC-U versions of the game, the lowest in the whole platforming series.
• The Wumpa Fruit in the game and its next two sequels are not actually 3D objects. They are instead animated sprites that always face the camera, giving them the illusion of being 3D (a technique known as 'billboarding'). These Wumpa Fruit were reused in the second and third game, Crash Bash, The Huge Adventure/XS, N-Tranced and Purple/Fusion.
• Crash always starts with two Aku Aku masks during boss battles.

Others

• The game was featured as the 49th top console games in the Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition book.