Pura is a tiger cub who was first introduced in Crash Bandicoot: Warped. In the levels Orient Express and Midnight Run, Coco Bandicoot can ride him like how Crash Bandicoot rides Polar in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, meaning he is Coco's pet. He helped Coco during her fight against Doctor N. Gin, making her spaceship more powerful.
History
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Pura made his debut in Warped. Coco rides him through the levels Orient Express and Midnight Run, both of which are set in ancient China along the top of the Great Wall of China while it's still under construction. He then helps in the battle against N. Gin on the moon, backing up Coco and making Coco's ship more powerful. He can also be seen in the ending inside Crash's house with Coco.
Crash Team Racing
Pura in Crash Team Racing.
In Crash Team Racing, Pura is seen resting with Coco when Nitros Oxide came to Earth. Pura drives an indigo/purple coloured kart. His garage, where he keeps his kart, resembles an ancient ruin featuring carvings of his face and large, green, leafy plants. When the player chooses to play as an unlockable character in Arcade Mode, Pura is the character out of the original 8 racers that's not included in the race. In the epilogue, Pura joined the Las Vegas tiger show of Zigfield and Floyd. His role came to an end when he closed his mouth "a tad bit too early" on Floyd.
Stats
Speed: 1/6
Accel: 3/4
Turn: 4/4
Difficulty: Beginner
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Pura made a small appearance in The Wrath of Cortex, taking a similar role to Polar in Warped. He is seen in the opening cutscene building a sandcastle on the beach beside Aku Aku. He is also seen in the Bandicoot House when Aku Aku returns from a meeting with Uka Uka, and he enters Coco's lab with Aku Aku and the bandicoots. Like Polar in Warped, Pura disappears from the game after the intro and does not feature in any of the levels. His final appearance is in the true ending when Crash, Aku Aku, Coco and the reformed Crunch return home after escaping Cortex's space station.
Crash Nitro Kart
Pura would later be a racer in Crash Nitro Kart. In this game, N. Trance kidnapped and brainwashed him along with Polar and Dingodile to race for him as a member of Team Trance. Pura can be unlocked as a playable character by performing 50 consecutive turbo boosts in adventure mode with Team Bandicoot. In the handheld versions, he is removed and replaced with Spyro the Dragon.
Pura isn't acknowledged or seen in any story cutscenes, though it can be assumed that he was released from N. Trance's control just like Polar at the end of the game.
Stats
Speed: 2/7
Accel: 4/7
Turn: 7/7
Difficulty: Beginner
Crash Boom Bang!
Pura made an appearance in Boom Bang! as a playable character. He is one of the four playable characters unlocked by default. He doesn't play a significant role in the game's story.
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
Pura makes an appearance as a racer in CBNK2, where he is a playable racer. He is unlocked by obtaining 8 mission points. Oddly, he can be heard speaking in this game, saying "Strike!" when he hits another player with a weapon.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Pura reprises his original role as in Warped.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Pura retains his role and stats in the remake of the game. While his epilogue remains relatively the same, after his role in Zigfield and Floyd met its abrupt end, he instead opts to debut as a solo act in the next month instead.
Stats
Speed: 3/7
Accel: 4/7
Turn: 7/7
Difficulty: Beginner
Driving Style: Turning
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Pura has a cameo in It's About Time, appearing as a balloon float in the level Off Beat. He is atop a blue kart, and has a pink bow around his tail.
Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
Pura is mentioned on Coco's character profile as one of things that Coco loves.
Characteristics
Personality
Pura is an energetic, playful tiger cub. Being a normal, non-anthropomorphic tiger, Pura usually isn't portrayed as sapient, having a similar level of intelligence as a domestic house cat. He can be very affectionate, licking Coco's face to cheer her up after wiping out in her levels.
Physical Appearance
Pura is a small orange tiger cub. He is patterned with brown/black stripes, and a cream muzzle, underbelly and paws. The insides of his ears are dark, and his nose and paw pads are black. He has green eyes (golden brown in N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled) and black claws (white in WOC). In Wrath of Cortex, N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled, he has black whiskers. In Nitro Kart he wears one of N. Trance's helmets due to his brainwashing by N. Trance in the game's plot.
In Boom Bang! his design is significantly different; he is now anthropomorphic and bipedal. He wears blue denim shorts and his eyes were made blue. His paw pads are brown and the insides of his ears are pink. He also lacks a tail in this design.
Profiles
Crash Team Racing
- Manual
“Pura likes agility, so his kart handles better than others. He’s lost a bit of speed from this, but boy can his kart take those tight corners!”
Crash Boom Bang!
- In-Game
"Pura is an energetic tiger cub and a good friend of Coco's."
Appearances
- Crash Bandicoot: Warped
- Crash Team Racing
- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
- Crash Nitro Kart (console version only)
- Crash Boom Bang!
- Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Digital Comic (cameo)
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (cameo)
- Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (mentioned)
Relationships
Coco Bandicoot
After helping Coco across the Great Wall of China and beat N. Gin, Pura became Coco's pet and the only one who's not under Crash's care. The two are very close, with Pura being shown to be very affectionate in his animations in the N. Sane Trilogy.
Crash Bandicoot, Aku Aku, Polar, Crunch Bandicoot, Baby T
Even though Pura has not had any proper cutscenes with any of the other heroes, it is definite that he has a good relationship with them all. In all racing games he uses Aku Aku as his guardian mask (except for in CNK, when he was hypnotised into racing on Team Trance and therefore uses the Velo Mask).
N. Trance
In CNK, N. Trance kidnapped and hypnotised Pura into racing for him along with Dingodile and Polar, due to a racing team being required for the galactic circuit. Due to the fact he was brainwashed throughout the game and doesn't appear in any cutscenes, his true opinion of N. Trance is unknown. N. Trance seems to like or at least respect Pura, seeing as he selected him for his team.
Gallery
See: Pura/Gallery
Trivia
- Contrary to popular belief, Pura is male, as shown in the credits of Crash Team Racing.
- Pura's epilogue in Crash Team Racing is based on the real-life Las Vegas tiger show "Sigfried & Roy". Incidentally, the show came to an end when one of the show tigers attacked Roy Horn in 2003.
- Pura's name may come from the word "pura", meaning "temple" in Indonesian.
- Even though Pura is a tiger, he meows and makes noises like a cat, just like how Polar barks like a dog. Real-life tigers can usually only meow rather than roar at Pura's age.
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