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FlashbackTape

Flashback Tape's Icon.

Flashback Tapes are collectible VHS tapes that are needed to unlock special Flashback Tape levels in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. They focus on the experiments and trials that Crash and Coco Bandicoot went through in Cortex Castle after their creation by Neo Cortex up to their respective escapes. Crash's tapes are chronologically set before the events of the first Crash Bandicoot game, while Coco's tapes are set after the original game and before Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.

Flashback Tape levels are unlocked by finding Flashback Tapes on story levels without dying before obtaining them. They are always unlocked in order. The game has a total of 21 tapes, with the first 11 being playable as Crash, and the latter 10 being playable as Coco. Simply completing a Flashback Level rewards the player a Sapphire Flashback Relic. Breaking 90% of the level's crates earns a Gold Flashback Relic, and a Platinum Flashback Relic for breaking all of them. Collecting all 21 Platinum Flashback Relics unlocks the General Rule skins for both Crash and Coco. Flashback Tapes reuse tracks from the original versions of the first two games as background music.

Crash's Flashback Levels[]

Level name Crates Music Date
Subject #218 118 Piston It Away and Spaced Out New Year's Day of 1996 (Jan. 1st)
Navigational Awareness 135 Temple Ruins and Jaws of Darkness January 2, 1996
Wumpa Affinity Test 163 N. Sanity Beach January 6, 1996
Bandicoot vs Wombat Eval 102 Pinstripe Potoroo February 28, 1996
Outfit Durability Exam 73 Road to Nowhere and The High Road March 15, 1996
N. Brio Superior Study 215 Snow Go, Snow Biz, and Cold Hard Crash April 2, 1996
Diary Entry: 30th May, 1996 175 Toxic Waste May 30, 1996
Team Health Analysis 148 Papu Papu June 10, 1996
Subject #272_Final_B 127 Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot) July 19, 1996
Countdown Crate Intro 301 Ripper Roo (Cortex Strikes Back) August 3, 1996
Cortex Vortex Pre-Check 190 Hang Eight, Air Crash, and Plant Food September 9, 1996

Coco's Flashback Levels[]

Level name Crates Music Date
Subject: Perameles Coco 124 Warp Room (Cortex Strikes Back) October 9, 1996
N. Gin N. Terview 192 Crash Dash, Crash Crush, and Un-Bearable November 12, 1996
Nitro Bounce Crate Test 164 The Eel Deal, Sewer or Later, and Hangin' Out Christmas Eve of 1996 (Dec. 24th)
N. Gin's N. Genious N. Bouncers 171 Bear It, Bear Down, and Totally Bear New Year's Day of 1997 (Jan. 1st)
Mammal Manipulation 210 The Lab February 14, 1997
Replacement Considerations 331 Heavy Machinery and Castle Machinery March 25, 1997
Overall Fitness Exam 99 N. Gin (Cortex Strikes Back) April 8, 1997
Tech Check 142 N. Cortex (Cortex Strikes Back) May 6, 1997
Resilience Evaluation 130 Tiny Tiger (Cortex Strikes Back) June 12, 1997
The Gauntlet 118 Cortex Power July 24, 1997

List of levels where the tapes can be found[]

Level Name
1 Crash Compactor
2 Hit the Road
3 Booty Calls
4 Jetboard Jetty
5 Give It a Spin
6 Draggin' On
7 Off-Balance
8 Off Beat
9 Run It Bayou
10 Snow Way Out
11 Stay Frosty
12 Bears Repeating
13 Blast to the Past
14 Dino Dash
15 Out for Launch
16 Stowing Away
17 Crash Landed
18 Food Run
19 Nitro Processing
20 Toxic Tunnels
21 Cortex Castle

Gallery[]

In-game[]

Concept art[]

Names in Other Languages[]

Language Name
Arabic أشرطة الذكريات
'ashritat aldhikrayat
French Cassette Flashback
German Rückblende-Band
Italian Nastro Flashback
Japanese きなくのカケラの テープ
Kinaku no kakera no tēpu
Polish Taśmy z Retrospekcjami
Portuguese Fita Flashback
Latin-American Spanish Cinta de Videocasete
European Spanish Cinta de Salto al Pasado

Trivia[]

  • Getting the Flashback Tapes in the main levels behave similarly to the Death Routes from the previous Crash Bandicoot games.
  • The Nitro Bounce Crates only appear in the Flashback Levels.
  • During "Wumpa Affinity Test", Cortex was revealed to be allergic to Wumpa Fruit. Ironically, Cortex collects Wumpa Fruit in his alternate timeline levels.
  • In "Outfit Durability Exam", there is a mugshot of Crunch Bandicoot in a TV monitor.
    • Again in "Outfit Durability Exam" Cortex reveals that Crash's iconic blue shorts used to belong to Cortex himself. The doctor even reminisces about when he used to wear them.
  • "Subject #272_Final_B" takes place on Crash's birthday (July 19th), as revealed by Cortex.
  • During "Replacement Considerations", Cortex is torn about having to choose between Crocodiles or Dingos in case his last Bandicoot specimens fail. This is a nod to the creation of Dingodile.
  • During "The Gauntlet", Cortex will comment about testing on other animals, stating "Maybe next time I'll try a hedgehog... or a bobcat... or a gecko". These are a nod to the platforming mascots Sonic the Hedgehog, Bubsy Bobcat and Gex the Gecko respectively.
  • There are exactly 3,428 crates in all of the Flashback Tape levels.
  • The last Flashback Tape for Crash, right before he flees Cortex Castle, is set on September 9, 1996, the day the first game Crash Bandicoot was released.