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Crash Bandicoot (クラッシュ バンディクー, Kurasshu Bandikū), or simply Crash, is the fictional protagonist of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot series created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin. Next to Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot is Naughty Dog's signature franchise, having sold over 34 million copies worldwide.

In the games, Crash is described as a genetically-advanced Eastern Barred Bandicoot who's quiet life on N. Sanity Island (an island located southeast of Australia) is frequently interrupted by his nemesis Doctor Neo Cortex, and must defeat him to put his life back in order. He is often accompanied by allies such as Aku Aku, Coco Bandicoot, and Crunch Bandicoot.

Conception and creation

Creation

Crash (prototype name, Willy the Wombat) was created by Naughty Dog intentionally as a character unique to the current design of the 3-D genre, being able to portray multiple emotions merely by facial expression, (a feature rare then due to basic technology in games). The choice of an obscure, commonly unknown animal was commonplace in the platforming industry at the time. Crash's final design (created by cartoonist and Spyro the Dragon designer Charles Zembillas) seems to be largely based on traditional Western animation (suiting his American origin and target audience) such as Looney Tunes, indeed much early concept work (and even vague elements of his final design) resembles characters such as the Tazmanian Devil and Wil E. Coyote.

Voice actors

Since his debut, Crash has had a grand total of five voice actors: Brendan O'Brien in the Naughty Dog games, Steven Blum in Crash Nitro Kart, Jess Harnell in Crash Tag Team Racing, Kappei Yamaguchi in the Japanese dub of the games, and Makoto Ishii in Crash Boom Bang!. With a few exceptions, Crash himself does not talk in his early games for the PlayStation. This is in fact common with video games as to allow the audience to play through the perspective of the character, (noticeably, Coco Bandicoot was mute in Crash Bandicoot: Warped). When he does, he speaks in a somewhat high pitched garble, though some of his comments are very obvious. Although it is proven in Crash Tag Team Racing that Crash speaks (albeit by jibbering), his speaking lines are usually short and rare interjections rather than actual conversations. An early CGI commercial for Crash Bandicoot 2 does in fact show Crash speaking fluent English. Interestingly he is given a completely different voice, as well as an Australian accent. This advert is somewhat infamous to the fan community and is not considered canon.

Characteristics

Naughty Dog once referenced the development of Crash as a character both 'goofy yet heroic', and being able to portray it well. Originally however, he took the role of a silent protagonist and thus expressed little of his personality or opinions (a trait developer Jason Rubin later claimed to regret), though in more recent games he has played a larger role.

Crash's personality is hard to pinpoint, sometimes varying from game to game. Overall, he has a rather wacky, cartoonish personality, in simple terms, he is a literal tornado. His demented behavior was in fact extended to actual sadism/masochism in Crash Tag Team Racing, in which he took pleasure in torturing innocent animals, park drones, and even himself (it should be noted that CTTR is criticised for it's over-caricaturisation or even complete change in character personalities). Despite this however, Crash is usually kind-hearted and laid back, rarely ever showing true sorrow or anger (though he detests evil, such as Cortex), though he is also rather simple, to some fans almost to the point of retardedness and lack of awareness.

Abilities

Crash's most common ability is his tornado spin, upon which he twirls insanely to hit a nearby opponent. The power of this attack varies in different games, to the point he can spin constantly or even float on air when using it, however these advancements generally come as power ups in most games often gained by defeating a boss character. He can also spin objects, living or not, to gain a better hit radius. Like other platformers, he can also jump on opponents as well as slide and body slam some of these also gain power ups depending upon the game. A large amount of special abilities can be obtained in various titles. Crash can also ride a whole range of vehicles without ever obtaining his driving license, such as motorcycles, bi-planes, wave-boards, 4X4 jeeps, karts and a whole range of other cars. In a common tradition to the platform genre, he can also be seen riding a minecart at times.

Biography

Crash being the title character of the series, has appeared prominently in every game as the protagonist and a playable character, though it is unknown if he would play a part in the as-of-currently unreleased spin-off, Cortex Chaos.

Crash Bandicoot

Crash was born an average, unremarkable bandicoot, kidnapped (or raised in captivity) to serve as a test subject in Doctor Neo Cortex's animal mutation experiments. Using Doctor Nitrus Brio's "Evolvo Ray" device, Cortex fundamentally altered Crash's genetic structure and brain capacity, turning him into the anthrophomorphic marsupial he is today. He was then subject to Cortex's own device, the untested Cortex Vortex, which would supposedly make him Cortex's willing servant and General of the "Cortex Commandos." However, the Cortex Vortex failed to alter Crash's mind, so Crash was dismissed as a reject. When Cortex attempts to capture Crash, the latter defenestrated himself from Cortex's mountaintop lair and falls into the sea below, only to wash up in the shore of N. Sanity Island. There he learns that a female bandicoot, Tawna is about to be subjected to the same experiments he went through, and Crash stops at nothing to reach Cortex's Castle. Upon reaching the tallest room in the castle, Crash proceeds to burn the castle down and prepares to escape on top of Cortex's prized dirigible with Tawna, when Cortex confronts Crash on a flying Cortex Glider. The battle ends when Crash knocks one of Cortex's plasma balls into the Glider, causing it to malfunction and self-destruct, and causing Cortex to plummet to his assumed death.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Crash now lives a peaceful life on N. Sanity Island with his sister Coco Bandicoot. When Coco commands Crash to find an extra battery for her laptop, Crash is abducted by Neo Cortex, who survived the fall from the last installment. Crash is fooled into gathering powerful Crystals for him to power his new Cortex Vortex, recreated as a space station, and turn the inhabitants of Earth into his slaves. Crash then sets out for the crystals across 25 dangerous stages that a normal person would think impossible. When Coco informs Crash of Cortex's secret plan through a holographic projection, Crash chases Cortex through an asteroid field to stop him. He causes Cortex's jetpack to malfunction, and leaving him stranded in the depths of outer space. In the end, he helps Cortex's former assistant, Doctor Nitrus Brio, destroy Cortex's space station with a large laser beam by collecting 42 powerful gems.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

Crash Bandicoot now lives in a hut on N. Sanity Island with Coco, Aku Aku, and Polar. All is well until a sinister laugh echoes through the air of Earth. Aku Aku tells him and Coco that his twin brother Uka Uka is freed from his jungle prison, and that he should be stopped at all costs. He is led to the Time Twister, a machine able to allow it's users to travel through time, where he is warped backwards and forwards through time gathering Crystals scattered in different time periods. It turns out that Uka Uka is the one behind Cortex's obsession with world domination, and attempts to travel through time to beat Crash to the punch of gathering all of the Crystal and Gems so that his and Cortex's plans of global domination are realized. In the end, Crash once again defeats Cortex and banishes him into the core of the Time Twister, where the Time Twister implodes on itself due to the absence of Doctor Nefarious Tropy, whom Crash defeated earlier leaving Cortex and Tropy transformed into infants and trapped in the time prison along with Uka Uka.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

Years have passed since the events of Warped. Crash decides to take a break at N. Sanity Beach. Little do the Bandicoots know Cortex Uka Uka and Tropy have all escaped from the time prison with the help of N.Gin (Cortex's right hand man). All is well until a volcano erupts, a thunderstorm brews, and a tsunami ravages the coastline. He is informed that the Elementals have been unleashed and that he must use Coco's Portal Chamber to gather Crystals and put the Elementals back to their hibernation state. However, soon Crash, Coco and Aku Aku realize that there is more to Uka Uka and Cortex's plot of releasing the Elementals than they first thought. Cortex has created a super bandicoot called Crunch Bandicoot, who threatens to destroy Crash Bandicoot, and take over the world, with the power of the Elemental masks. When all the Elementals are imprisoned, Crunch reaches maximum power but Crash defeats Crunch and Cortex, destroying Uka Uka and Cortex's new space station, Crunch then turns good and Crash, Coco, Aku Aku and Crunch escape the space station and get back to N. Sanity Island safely bringing Crunch home as a new member of the bandicoot family. Cortex and Uka Uka however are not so lucky, after attempting to escape in an escape pod they end up trapped in the frozen Antartic wastes.

Crash Twinsanity

Three years after the events of The Wrath of Cortex, Crash once again lives a peaceful life, digging up stuff at the beach, when Cortex disguised as Coco calls for him and lures him into the bay, introducing him to the 40-feet-tall Mecha Bandicoot. When Crash defeats the robot, Cortex attacks Crash, sending both of them "rollerbrawlling" through a cavern, eventually coming across the Evil Twins, who've come to destroy Crash's island and devastate Earth. Crash and Cortex team up to destroy these two upstarts with the Psychetron, a machine that'll allow them to travel between dimensions. However, it soon becomes apparent that these twins are from Cortex's past, in fact predating Crash as his first experiment. Recruiting his niece, Nina Cortex, the trio set out to right the wrongs and sweep the rug (or "wrong the rights and sweep the past under the rug" as Cortex plainly puts it). Coming to a final confrontation in the 10th Dimension (in which everything is opposite), the Evil Twins are eventually defeated with the aid of Evil Crash and, upon trying to double cross Crash, Cortex is transported into Crash's brain when he tries to dispose of Crash with his malfunctioning Psychetron.

Other appearances

• In Crash Team Racing, Crash and his friends prepare to enter a kart-racing tournament being held. However, this attracts the attention of Nitros Oxide, who challenges the fastest driver on Earth to a race. If he loses, he leaves Earth in peace. If he wins, he turns the whole planet into a concrete parking lot. Crash is one of the characters who races for the right to face Oxide. After Oxide was defeated, Crash sold his life story to a movie studio.

• In Crash Bash, Crash is summoned by Aku Aku to take part in the contest between himself and Uka Uka, to decide which is strongest, good or evil. Crash is the leader of his team, consisting of himself, Coco, Tiny and Dingodile, the latter two being taken from Uka Uka's side to even the odds. The two sides face off in a series of games, of which Crash's team is eventually the victor. It is revealed by Aku Aku that the contest was simply an attempt by Uka Uka to steal the crystals. Uka Uka is then ejected into space, and Crash and his friends go home.

• In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Crash is sent by Aku Aku to gather Crystals, which Coco can use to build a device which will reverse the effects of Cortex's machine. Crash tricks Cortex into destroying the Planetary Minimiser, then brings the crystals to Coco, who uses them to return the world to normal size.

• In Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, Crash sleeps soundly on N. Sanity Island, when suddenly Crunch and Coco are abducted by a strange vortex. When Crash wakes up, the vortex begins to take him, but he is rescued by Aku Aku and the vortex ends up taking Fake Crash. Aku Aku informs Crash that N. Tropy is behind the abductions. N. Tropy has used N. Trance to hypnotise Coco and Crunch into working for him. Crash battles Coco and Crunch as well as Fake Crash, who N.Tropy believed to be the real Crash, and frees them from N. Trance's hypnotism. Crash and Fake Crash enter the hideout and defeat N. Trance. N. Tropy flees into another vortex, but Crash follows and defeats him once again.

• In Crash Nitro Kart, The Bandicoots and Cortexes find themselves abducted and are threatened with the destruction of Earth of they do not race under Emperor Velo the 27th. Both Team Crash and Team Cortex accept, and race on a number of tracks, eventually defeating Velo, who then sends them home.

• Crash appears in Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, a crossover game with the Spyro series. Crash also appears in the other game of the crossover Spyro: The Cortex Conspiracy.

• In Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash and the others agree to recover the Power Gems of Von Clutch's MotorWorld and find whoever stole them. Crash' personality is very different in Crash Tag Team racing because he is able to speak gibberish and unlike other games takes a sadistic pleasure in the pain and suffering of chickens and MotorWorld's Park Drones.

• Crash is one of the attendees of the World Cannonball Race in Crash Boom Bang!. In the ending, just before the Viscount can make his wish, Crash leaps forward and makes his wish for a thousand Wumpa Fruit.

Alternate forms

Many alternates of Crash are known to exist, either as fellow experiments, relatives or forms from alternate worlds.

Fake Crash

A deformed duplicate of the bandicoot, his origin is hinted merely as 'an experiment gone horribly wrong'. It is suggestable that he was created as a reattempt for Cortex's general, either being a failed clone or a prototype. His alliegence is unclear, though he has helped Crash from time to time. While Crash's intelligence can be put into question, Fake Crash almost certainly is brainless, spending most of his time mirroring his original clone.

Evil Crash/Nega Crash

Crash's form from the 10th Dimension is the complete opposite of his heroic alternate, vicious, inhospitable and lacking rational thought. It also has a tendency to eat anything in sight, and seems to have a liking to Nina Cortex. He would however ironically save the day by devouring the Evil Twins.

Bandifish

Found as an enemy in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Crash's prehistoric ancestor resembles his desendant, having already developed a nose and orange skin. Like Crash, it embiggened great power despite it's docile look, spin attacking its foes or even swallowing them whole within it's huge jaws. There seemed to be a great amount of them during it's era, though spent most of the time simply flipping up and down on the shallow water grounds.

Love interests

In the first Crash game, Crash had a crush on Tawna. However, according to an early build of the official website, in a matter of months after he rescues her from Cortex, Tawna leaves him a note, informing him that she has dumped him for Pinstripe Potoroo. This is a storyline plot not initially true, but it was used to cover up the sudden disappearance of Tawna due to her unsuitable sillouette. It seems to have been made canon according to her bio in Crash Boom Bang!. Crash now lives with his sister Coco, Tawna's kid replacement. However, in Crash Tag Team Racing, Pasadena O'Possum appeared to be interested with Crash. Whenever Pasadena flirted with him, Crash was apparently disturbed. However, Pasadena seems to sometimes suggest her interests with Crash are simply a joke. It is unknown if Crash has feelings for her, as he often switches to being disturbed by her interests, and suddenly showing interest in her, himself. When she talks about kissing, Crash looks like he would throw up. When she asks for a favor, Crash pants like a dog (both of these however may be simply due to the limited animation used in the dialogue cutscenes). Generally, some fans claim that Pasadena is a new love interest with Crash. Though she's not in Crash Boom Bang!, she might appear in future Crash games.

His future girlfriend has been placed as unknown, and her appearance is under progress.

Both Tawna and Pinistripe are playable characters in Crash Boom Bang!. However, it's unknown if Tawna will appear in the next few games.

Crash in other media

Crash has rarely appeared officially outside his game franchise, (it is rumored a cartoon was being produced during early development of the game series, though this has not been expanded upon) however he has become a popular icon and thus is referenced on occasion.

Crash has made several appearances in the Spyro the Dragon game series, also produced by Univeral. As well as the crossover title, Crash Purple (Fusion in PAL regions), this has ranged from promotional demos, to cameo appearances, though he has appeared less consistently than vise-versa. That said, Crash did make a cameo appearance in the Nintendo DS version of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, in the Dante's Freezer level.

In The Simpsons episode "Lisa Gets an "A"", Dash Dingo an obvious spoof of Crash Bandicoot. The villain in the game projects himself as a hologram in a circular room before Dash, which is a parody on Crash 2's warp room holograms. A tweaked-out soundtrack is used, sounding uncannily similar to the games.

In the Angel episode "Power Play", Illyria and Drogyn are seen playing Crash Bandicoot on an Xbox. Unable to quite get the hang of it Illyria remarks, "I play this game. It is pointless, and annoys me. Yet I am compelled to keep playing."

In the Friends episode, "The One With Monica's Thunder", Joey is preparing to audition for the part of a nineteen year old. As he greets Chandler in his "teenage" attire, Chandler can be seen playing Crash Team Racing.

In the movie Baby Geniuses, Crash can be seen in a clothing shop in a game screen.

In Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, news anchor Tom Tucker looks like he is masturbating because of the camera angle, making panting and groaning sounds, but then it is revealed he is playing a Crash Bandicoot game for an early Game Boy system (although Crash games for Game Boy so far have only been on the Game Boy Advance) and says, "Eat my dust Crash Bandicoot!"

In the Dawson's Creek episode "Four to Tango", Dawson unexpectedly finds Pacey in his room in the middle of the schoolday. Pacey's excuse is that he's playing Crash.

On an episode of "Yes, Dear", at the beginning of an episode Jimmy is playing Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation.

Crash Bandicoot has also been referenced in a few Jhonen Vasquez comics, mainly on people's shirts in the comics.

In the Nintendo 64 game Goldeneye 007, in the Aztec level one of the wall engravings appears to have Crash Bandicoot chained to some torture device.

Trivia

• Interestingly, in the opening of Crash Bandicoot, the computer monitor refers to Crash as 'Bandicoot 1.0', suggesting he is the first bandicoot to be subjected to the Evolv-O-Ray.
• Crash is allergic to bees, as witnessed in the Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back levels "Diggin' It" and "Bee-Having" when the bees attack Crash.
• He drives four cars in Crash Tag Team Racing: Trikey, Yellow Horde, Crikee, and His Extra PSP (PlayStation Portable) Car.

See also

• List of Crash Bandicoot characters

External links

• Crash Mania's Crash-O-Pedia article on Crash Bandicoot.
• Crash Bandicoot Discussions at wurlitzermads crash nation
• crashonary article and pictures from crash bandicoot.

References

1. "Introduction to Vivendi games" (PDF). Vivendi. June 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
2. Aku Aku: After many eons, my evil twin Uka Uka has been freed from his underground prison. Long ago, I locked him there to protect the world from his malice. Now, free he's once again! He must be stopped! (Crash Bandicoot: Warped)

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