Crash Bandicoot (disambiguation)
Crash Bandicoot is a popular video game character who stars in a video game franchise of the same name. Originally a straight forward platformer for the Sony PlayStation, it has since expanded to the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox platforms with various spin-off games in different genres.
With a few exceptions, He doesn't talk very much in the early games for Sony PlayStation. However, Crash was voiced by Rob Paulsen in the later games for various platforms.
The platformers
The first three Crash games, as well as several subsequent Crash games, were platform games.
Gameplay
There are Aku Aku masks sparsely scattered throughout the levels. Collecting an Aku Aku mask while Crash already has one turns the one he has gold. Collecting another mask while Crash has a gold one grants Crash limited-time invincibility, after which the mask reverts to being gold. Getting hit will reduce the mask from gold to normal or from normal to nothing. If Crash gets his when he does not have a mask, he will meet his end in a sometimes comical animation.
In some of the Crash platformers, not including the original, some levels have a skull platform. Stepping on it brings Crash to a difficult part of the level. The benefit to stepping on a skull platform is the acquisition of special game items called "gems".
Obstacles in Crash's path include animal-like and other badguys; Dr. Neo Cortex's henchmen, dressed in labcoats; various machinery; and physical barriers. To surmount these, Crash can use his jump move and his spin attack. In Crash platformers after the first, he can also do a body slam, slide, duck, crawl, and perform an extra-high jump by sliding or ducking and then jumping. In Crash platformers after the second, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash can also collect a special move after defeating each boss.
Crates
There are crates scattered throughout the levels. Most crates contain some bonus. Some have wumpa fruits in them, and collecting 100 fruits gives the player an extra life. Others have Aku Aku masks.
The player can get one gem per level by breaking all of the crates in one level. Most gems are white, but some are colored. In the original Crash Bandicoot, but in none of its sequels, some gems acquired by breaking all of a level's boxes are colored. The remaining white and colored gems must be collected by finding and touching them. They are invariably positioned in an area that is difficult to reach.
In addition to crates that provide bonuses, there are also TNT crates. If Crash attacks one, he loses a life. If he jumps on one, a short countdown is started, after which the TNT crate explodes. Some TNT crates are useful to clear obtacles.
Some crates have on them an arrow pointing upwards. Landing on one will spring Crash into the air, much like a trampoline does.
With the exception of the original, there are Nitro crates in all Crash platformers. If crash touches one, he loses a life. Attacking a metal, green crate with an exclamation mark on it destroys all of a level's Nitro crates.
Also present in all Crash platformers except for the original are special crates that are normally destroyed by using the body slam move.
Beginning with the third Crash game, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, some crates are shifting crates. They shift among different kinds of crates. The rate at which a shifting crate changes gradually increases, until finally the crate becomes metal and indestructable.
Sony's Old Mario?
The original Crash Bandicoot was one of the earliest 3D platformers and was a major seller. Sony originally made Crash Bandicoot the mascot for the PlayStation. However, with the release of Crash games on other platforms, Sony eventually abandoned Crash as a mascot.
Crash Bandicoot is often compared to Mario, as both of them were mascots of their respective consoles. Both the original Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64 were early 3D platformers. After the first three Crash games, much like Mario before him, Crash branched out, starring in a kart racing game, analogous to Super Mario Kart, and a party game, analogous to Mario Party. All of this has contributed to the image that Crash is Sony's equivalent of Mario.
Crash Bandicoot was also extremely influential in reviving the character archetype of an obscure anthropomorphic animal starring in a platform game. This practice was pioneered by Sonic the Hedgehog a few years earlier, but achieved greater popularity during and after the Crash era with characters such as Blinx, Sly Cooper, and Spyro the Dragon.
Characters
Recurring characters in the Crash Bandicoot series include:
- Crash Bandicoot, the key protagonist of the series, became intelligent after a failed experiment by Dr. Neo Cortex
- Dr. Neo Cortex is a mad scientist who serves as the antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot games
- Coco, Crash's sister and partner in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, among other games
In a twist, Crash Twinsanity overturns this established villain/hero system, and Crash and Cortex must join forces to fight a common foe.
- The Evil Twins are evil twin mutants from the 10th dimension who attacked the island home of Crash and Cortex; featured in Crash Twinsanity
Developers
The first four Crash Bandicoot games were developed by Naughty Dog. Crash Bash was developed by Eurocom, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Crash Twinsanity were developed by Traveller's Tales, and the rest of the games were developed by Vicarious Visions.
Even though the games were originally published by Sony for the PlayStation, Vivendi Universal owns the copyrights to the games and characters, which is why multiple developers have worked with the property, and why games have been released for Nintendo and Microsoft consoles.
Installments
PlayStation
- Crash Bandicoot (1996)
- Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1997)
- Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998)
- Crash Team Racing (CTR) (1999)
- Crash Bash (2000)
Game Boy Advance
- Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (2001)
- Crash Bandicoot: N-Tranced (2003)
- Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (2004)
Multiplatform
- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (2001)
- Crash Nitro Kart (2003)
- Crash Twinsanity (2004)