Crash Bandicoot series
Encyclopedia
Crash Bandicoot is a series of platform
video games published by Activision
after first being developed by Naughty Dog
and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
. Initially created by Andy Gavin
and Jason Rubin, the series was developed for its first four years by the video game company Naughty Dog
. Since then, the series has been given to numerous developers. The series spans 18 games as of 2010.
The games are mostly set on the fictitious Wumpa Islands, an archipelago situated to the south of Australia
, although other locations are common. The main games in the series are largely platformers, but several are spin-offs in different genres
. The protagonist of the series is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot
named Crash
, whose quiet life on the Wumpa Islands is often interrupted by the games' main antagonist
, Doctor Neo Cortex
, who created Crash and now wants nothing more than his demise. It's usually up to Crash to defeat Cortex and foil any world domination plans he might have.
The Crash Bandicoot series has been a commercial success, selling approximately 50 million units worldwide.
to Mark Cerny
of Universal Interactive Studios, Naughty Dog was signed on to the company for three additional games. On August 1994, Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin began their move from Boston
, Massachusetts
to Los Angeles
, California
. During the trip, Gavin and Rubin decided to create a 3D action-platform game. Because the player would be forced to constantly look at the character's rear, the game was jokingly codenamed "Sonic
's Ass Game". The basic technology for the game and the Crash Bandicoot series as a whole was created somewhere near Gary, Indiana
. The rough game theory was designed by Colorado
. Soon afterward, Gavin and Rubin threw out their previous game design for Al O. Saurus and Dinestein, a side-scrolling video game
based on time travel
and scientists genetically merged with dinosaur
s. After moving into the Universal Interactive Studios backlot, Gavin and Rubin met with Mark Cerny, discussed the design of the game and made an agreement to go into production. On September 1994, Gavin and Rubin decided to develop their new game for the PlayStation, after which Rubin began character design. On November 1994, Naughty Dog hired Dave Baggett, their first employee and a friend of Gavin's from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. Together, Gavin and Baggett created the development tool "Game Oriented Object LISP" (GOOL), which would be used to create the characters and gameplay of the game. On January 1995, Rubin became concerned about the programmer-to-artist ratio and hired Bob Rafei and Taylor Kurosaki as additional artists.
Needing a lead character for the game, Naughty Dog recruited American Exitus artists Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson and met with them weekly to create the characters and environments of the game, eventually creating a character named "Willy the Wombat
". The marketing director of Universal Interactive Studios insisted that the character be named "Wez", "Wuzzles" or "Wizzy the Wombat". On creating the levels for the game, Zembillas and Pearson first sketched each environment, designing and creating additional individual elements later. They 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. The 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 Naughty Dog artists would squint when sketching, texturing and playing the levels to make sure they could be played by light value alone. Correct use of color was an important goal for Naughty Dog's artists; for example, mutually accentuating colors were chosen as the theme for the "Lost City" and "Sunset Vista" levels. The interior of Doctor Neo Cortex's castle was designed to reflect Cortex's twisted mind.
After the main character's creation, the team went into three months of developing the game. The game first became functional on April 1995 and became playable on June 1995. The first three levels in the game were completed by August 1995. However, they were judged to be too difficult to appear so early in the game and were moved to the game's power plant area. Artist Charlotte Francis joined Naughty Dog at around this time. On September 1995, a videotape of Crash Bandicoot was shown to Sony Computer Entertainment behind closed doors. While playing the game during development, Rubin realized that there were many empty areas in the game due to the PlayStation's inability to process numerous on-screen enemy characters at the same time. Additionally, players were solving the game's puzzles too fast. Rubin soon came up with the idea of a box and putting various symbols on the sides to create puzzles. Breaking these boxes would serve to fill in the boring parts of the levels and give the player additional puzzles. The first "crate" was placed in the game on January 1996, and would become the primary gameplay element of the series. Willy the Wombat's destruction of the crates would eventually lead him to be renamed "Crash Bandicoot". On March 1996, Sony agreed to publish Crash Bandicoot, which went into the alpha stage on April 1996. Crash Bandicoot was first shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on May 1996 and was met with enthusiastic reactions.
Development of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back began in October 1996. For the game, Andy Gavin perfected a new engine named "Game Oriented Object LISP 2" (GOOL 2) that was three times faster than the previous game's engine, could handle ten times the animation frames and twice the polygon count. The jungle levels were originally to have featured ground fog, but this was abandoned when magazines and the public began to brutalize other developers for using fog to hide polygon count. Sunlight and depth accentuation was experimented with for these levels. Wanting to have some "dirty" locations in the game, Naughty Dog worked in the sewer levels and added color contrast to the levels to show depth and break up the repetitive monotony of the endless sewer pipes. A flat plane z-buffer
was created for the game; because the water surfaces and mud in the jungle had to be a flat plane and be exactly flat on the Y-axis, there could be no waves and the subdividing plane could not be at an odd angle. The effect only worked on objects in the foreground and was only used on Crash, some enemies and a few boxes at the same time. The soundtrack of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back was provided by Mutato Muzika
(consisting of Mark Mothersbaugh
and Josh Mancell
), while the sound effects were created by Universal Sound Studios (consisting of Mike Gollom, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears). The characters were designed by Charles Zembillas of American Exitus, Incorporated. Clancy Brown
provided the voice of Doctor Neo Cortex, while Brendan O'Brien
voiced the dual role of Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nitrus Brio and Vicki Winters voiced Coco Bandicoot. The game was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia
on June 1997 to a positive response from the game industry. The game went into the alpha stage on August 1997. Around that time, Dan Arey, the lead designer of Gex: Enter the Gecko
, joined Naughty Dog and streamlined the level design.
Like the first one, the second game was also critically acclaimed green-lighting a third game. Production of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped began on January 1998, with Naughty Dog given only 10½ months to complete the game. Programmers Andy Gavin, Stephen White and Greg Omi created three new gameplay engines for the game. Two of the three new engines were three-dimensional in nature and were created for the airplane and jet-ski levels; the third new engine was created for the motorcycle levels in the style of a driving simulator
. The new engines combined make up a third of the game, while the other two-thirds of the game consist of the same engine used in the previous games. Jason Rubin explained that the "classic" engine and game style was preserved due to the success of the previous two games and went on to say that "were we to abandon that style of gameplay, that would mean that we would be abandoning a significant proportion of gamers out there." An arbitrary plane z-buffer
was created for the jet-ski and flooded Egyptian hallway levels of the game. To create a completely fluid feel for the water on these levels, an environment map
that reflects the sky was fitted onto the surface of the water. A real shadow
was given to the Crash character at the request of the Sony Computer Entertainment America producers, who were "sick of that little discus that's following him around." To create an "arcade" experience in the airplane levels and to differentiate them from flight simulators, the enemy planes were programmed to come out in front of the player and give the player ample time to shoot them before they turn around and shoot the player rather than come up behind the player and hit them from behind. The Relic system was introduced to give players a reason to return to the game after it has been completed.
While initially Naughty Dog was only signed on to make three games, Crash Team Racing was a possible Crash 3 as it started out in production after Crash 2 and the game which was finished first in production would be released first. However, Naughty Dog had already gotten far into the project and decided to finish it and release it. David Baggett produced the game's soundtrack, with Mark Mothersbaugh
and Josh Mancell
of Mutato Muzika
composing the music. Sound effects were created by Mike Gollum, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears of Universal Sound Studios. This marked the end of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot games.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was originally intended to be designed by Mark Cerny
(who designed all the games in the series thus far) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
. After a falling-out between Vivendi Universal
and the two entities, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game. The game received mixed reviews but nevertheless made the Greatest Hits lineup. Despite the rights of Crash Bandicoot going to Vivendi Universal, Sony still retained the rights for the distribution and porting of the original Crash Bandicoot game series.
Crash was given a break from the major consoles and had a series of games made for the Gameboy Advance which were developed by Vicarious Visions (see below). During this time a subsidy of Traveller's Tales - Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio were developing a new Crash game for console. This game was to be Crash Nitro Kart, however due to unknown circumstances Vivendi moved development of Crash Nitro Kart over to Vicarious Visions. Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio then moved on to their next project, Crash Bandicoot Evolution.
Crash Bandicoot Evolution was set to create a new form of gameplay for Crash with the game planned to be a Platformer/RPG with many different elements planned for the game. However due to a few constraints the idea of Crash Bandicoot Evolution was "cut down" to what we now know as Crash Twinsanity
. Crash Twinsanity was praised by fans as being a relatively good game as it expanded more towards free-roaming than straight platforming as well as having a humorous storyline and cast of characters, and for its soundtrack by a cappella
band Spiralmouth
.
After developing Crash Twinsanity, Traveller's Tales Oxford went on with two new Crash projects (believing Vivendi had left them the development rights for Crash). The first project was a direct sequel of Crash Twinsanity, based around Cortex being excluded from all the other villains in the Crash universe. The game's name had already been decided on, it was named Cortex Chaos. This project was cancelled, but Vivendi still has the option to continue its development. The other project was Crash Clash Racing (now Crash Tag Team Racing) which was also going to act as another sequel to Crash Twinsanity. However, when Traveller's Tales found out that Vivendi had moved development over to their in-house studio Radical Entertainment, both projects were scrapped and Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio was made defunct after releasing their one other game Super Monkey Ball Adventure.
was developed by Vicarious Visions and released to critical acclaim and also sold critically well, it managed to spawn a sequel, Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
. Both games involved a lot of similarities to Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped with level themes, music and various other details.
Vicarious Visions were then given the development properties of Crash Nitro Kart by Vivendi from Traveller's Tales. Crash Nitro Kart was released for all major consoles as well as the Gameboy Advance and received generally positive to mixed reviews.
Vicarious Visions fourth and final game was Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage for the Gameboy Advance. The game was given average reviews but managed to sell well.
However, to save money on the project, it was indefinitely halted and given to one of Vivendi's in-house studio's, Radical Entertainment
. Radical changed the project into an entirely new project, keeping two core ideas, clashing and fusion. The game marked Radical's first game in the series, the first game published under Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment
brand and the first game to use Radical's Titanium Engine.
Development on Crash of the Titans
, Radical's second title, began after the completion of Crash Tag Team Racing. The graphics of the Wii
version of the game was one of Radical Entertainment
's main focuses in the game's development, with Radical stating that the Wii
has "a lot of horsepower under the hood" and expressing their desire to make full use of it. They also considered implementing a feature to connect the Wii to DS during gameplay, but stopped due to technical issues and time. The Xbox 360
version got a few extra months of development time to improve its graphics before setting a final release date.
While the game was being developed, the title's main character, Crash Bandicoot, became the new mascot of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
's "School and Youth" programs in an effort to promote the battle against blood cancer. In a bid to further promote the game, a Hummer
(with a Wii inside) was painted with imagery from the game and displayed at the Annual Balloon Fiesta in Bristol
, United Kingdom. A "Monster Edition" of the game was released exclusively in Europe on October 12, 2007 for the PlayStation 2. This special edition of the game features "Making-of" videos, water-on tattoos, game hints, a cheat code list, and the game's E3 and theatrical trailers in multiple languages. Due to its "mild cartoon violence and language", the game received a PG rating from the BBFC
.
Development on Crash: Mind over Mutant
, Radical's third Crash title, began immediately after the completion of Crash of the Titans. The idea of preserving a Titan for later use came from the play testing sessions of Crash of the Titans, in which the testers were found to be reluctant to leave the Titans behind after an epic battle was won. Fans of the series were also a source of inspiration for Crash: Mind over Mutant, having such wishes as a free-roaming environment, Coco Bandicoot being a playable character and the return of the character Doctor Nitrus Brio. Full camera control was considered for the game, but was rejected for graphical reasons and to avoid having to insert a split-screen view in the cooperation mode. Online gameplay was also considered as a feature in the finished game, but was omitted due to the brief development schedule. Coco Bandicoot as a playable character was omitted from the PlayStation 2 version of the game due to her distinct animations taking up much of the console's memory. The Wii version of Crash: Mind over Mutant was created first, with the graphics scaled up for the Xbox 360, and scaled down for the PlayStation 2. This marked the end of Radical Entertainment's Crash Bandicoot titles as they have since stated that IP is no longer in their control and is currently at Activision.
interview with Activision
CEO Eric Hirshberg regarding the future of the Crash series, he said, "I don't have anything official to announce, but I can speak as an individual [...] I love Crash Bandicoot. Those were some of my favorite [video] games growing up. And I would love to find a way to bring him back, if we could."
manner. Several levels place Crash in unique situations which require the use of motorbikes, jet skis, submarines and various wild animals to reach the level's end.
In the original Crash Bandicoot, Crash's moveset is rather limited; he can run, jump and spin his way through treacherous environments and hostile creatures. Cortex Strikes Back
introduces several new moves for Crash to utilise, including a high jump, body slam and slide attack. Warped expands on this by awarding the player with new abilities after each boss
is defeated, which is also used in The Wrath of Cortex
.
. Wumpa Fruit takes on other uses in most spin-off titles, such as restoring health
in certain Crash Bash
levels and increasing weapon power in Crash Team Racing
. In recent titles, Wumpa Fruit is used to replenish Crash's health, with Mojo effectively replacing it as the new main collectible item.
The other major recurring valuables Crash finds on his adventures include Gems and Crystals. Most Gems in the series are won by breaking open every crate in a level. Starting with Cortex Strikes Back, an additional five coloured Gems can be obtained by completing special tasks or finding hidden areas. Crash Twinsanity
contains six colored Gems per level, most of which are earned by solving a small puzzle. Crystals play a key role in the plot of most Crash games, and are always found in plain sight (they must be collected in order to complete the level).
Less common collectibles of note are Trophies, which are the reward for completing a stage in Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash and Crash Nitro Kart, and Relics. Relics appear in Warped and Wrath of Cortex as the prize for beating a level's Time Trial mode. This mode is unlocked by re-entering a level after having completed it once.
TNT and Nitro Crates are the only boxes that can damage Crash. TNT Crates have a three second fuse when jumped on, but Nitro Crates will explode instantly upon any contact with Crash or anything else that runs into them. Switch Boxes (distinguished by an exclamation mark
) are used to make previously invisible crates appear. A green Switch Box will detonate all Nitro Crates in the level.
Crates marked with a "C" are checkpoints that Crash will return to if he is killed during play. Steel Crates are protected by a metal casing that can only be destroyed with Crash's body slam move, while Spring Crates allow him to reach high up areas by bouncing on them. Slot Boxes rapidly switch between multiple types of crates, and if they are not broken in time, will become metallic and indestructible. Time Boxes are a special crate found exclusively in Time Trial mode. They will freeze the clock for the number of seconds displayed on the box, increasing the player's chance of beating the time trial.
and Josh Mancell
were responsible for the music of the first four games. After the fourth game, numerous other composers were responsible for the music in other games. Steve Duckworth composed music for Crash Bash, Swallow Studios for The Wrath of Cortex, Ashif Hakik and Todd Masten for Crash Nitro Kart and Spiralmouth
for Twinsanity. The music for Tag Team Racing was composed by both Spiralmouth and Marc Baril
, while Crash of the Titans and Mind Over Mutant were composed by Baril alone.
. Crash Bash
was developed by Eurocom
. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
and Crash Twinsanity
were developed by Traveller's Tales
and its division Traveller's Tales Oxford, respectively. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
(Crash Bandicoot XS in Europe), Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
(Crash Bandicoot Fusion in Europe) have all been developed by Vicarious Visions
. Crash Tag Team Racing
, Crash of the Titans
and Crash: Mind Over Mutant
were developed by Radical Entertainment
and Crash Boom Bang!
was developed by Dimps
. The first five Crash titles were published by Sony Computer Entertainment as well as the games being produced by Universal Interactive Studios. Wrath of Cortex
was published by Universal Interactive Studios and Konami
. All of the other Crash titles were published by Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games
). Konami
also published and distributed some Japan
ese-released Crash Bandicoot games for the Japan
ese Market.
The first five Crash Bandicoot games were exclusives to the Sony PlayStation. Since then, multiple developers have worked with the property and games have been released for Nintendo
and Microsoft
consoles
, in addition to Sony. Although first exclusive to Sony
consoles, no Crash Bandicoot
game has been released on the PlayStation 3
beyond the re-release of the digital copies of the original five Crash Bandicoot
games on the PlayStation Network as of 2011.
, the first Crash Bandicoot game has sold 6.8 million units as of November 2003, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation game of all time. Cortex Strikes Back sold 3.87 million units in the U.S., while Warped sold 3.76 million. The last two games on the PlayStation console, Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash, sold 1.9 million and 1.6 million units in the U.S. respectively. The only individual non-PlayStation Crash game to break the one-million mark in sales is the PlayStation 2 version of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which sold 1.95 million units in the U.S.
The Crash Bandicoot series is one of the few Western video game series to find blockbuster success in Japan
. Cortex Strikes Back and Warped sold 1.3 and 1.4 million units in the country respectively, while the PlayStation 2 version of Wrath of Cortex sold 203,000 units.
General resources
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video games published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
after first being developed by Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. Initially created by Andy Gavin
Andy Gavin
Andy Gavin is a programmer notable for co-founding the video game company Naughty Dog with childhood friend Jason Rubin in 1986. Naughty Dog's games are known for their combination of exceptional technology, great graphics, and polished gameplay...
and Jason Rubin, the series was developed for its first four years by the video game company Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
. Since then, the series has been given to numerous developers. The series spans 18 games as of 2010.
The games are mostly set on the fictitious Wumpa Islands, an archipelago situated to the south of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, although other locations are common. The main games in the series are largely platformers, but several are spin-offs in different genres
Computer and video game genres
Video game genres are used to categorize video games based on their gameplay interaction rather than visual or narrative differences. A video game genre is defined by a set of gameplay challenges. They are classified independent of their setting or game-world content, unlike other works of fiction...
. The protagonist of the series is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot
Eastern Barred Bandicoot
The Eastern Barred Bandicoot was once distributed across the Basalt Plains of south west Victoria, and in Tasmania. It is a small, rabbit sized marsupial weighing less than 1 kg with a short tail and three to four whitish bars across the rump. It lives for just two to three years and is not...
named Crash
Crash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
, whose quiet life on the Wumpa Islands is often interrupted by the games' main antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
, Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex, often referred to as "Doctor Cortex" or simply "Cortex", is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. His name is a play on the term neocortex, an area of the brain...
, who created Crash and now wants nothing more than his demise. It's usually up to Crash to defeat Cortex and foil any world domination plans he might have.
The Crash Bandicoot series has been a commercial success, selling approximately 50 million units worldwide.
Naughty Dog
After presenting Way of the WarriorWay of the Warrior (video game)
Way of the Warrior is a fighting game released in 1994 for the 32-bit 3DO. It was developed by Naughty Dog and it received a "17+" rating for its violent content. The game's soundtrack consists of music from the 1992 White Zombie album La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol...
to Mark Cerny
Mark Cerny
Mark Cerny is a video game industry figure who has worked as a game designer, programmer, producer and business executive. As president of Cerny Games, which he founded in 1998, he now acts as a consultant in the video game industry. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award...
of Universal Interactive Studios, Naughty Dog was signed on to the company for three additional games. On August 1994, Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin began their move from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. During the trip, Gavin and Rubin decided to create a 3D action-platform game. Because the player would be forced to constantly look at the character's rear, the game was jokingly codenamed "Sonic
Sonic the Hedgehog (character)
, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...
's Ass Game". The basic technology for the game and the Crash Bandicoot series as a whole was created somewhere near Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
. The rough game theory was designed by Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. Soon afterward, Gavin and Rubin threw out their previous game design for Al O. Saurus and Dinestein, a side-scrolling video game
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
based on time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
and scientists genetically merged with dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. After moving into the Universal Interactive Studios backlot, Gavin and Rubin met with Mark Cerny, discussed the design of the game and made an agreement to go into production. On September 1994, Gavin and Rubin decided to develop their new game for the PlayStation, after which Rubin began character design. On November 1994, Naughty Dog hired Dave Baggett, their first employee and a friend of Gavin's from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. Together, Gavin and Baggett created the development tool "Game Oriented Object LISP" (GOOL), which would be used to create the characters and gameplay of the game. On January 1995, Rubin became concerned about the programmer-to-artist ratio and hired Bob Rafei and Taylor Kurosaki as additional artists.
Needing a lead character for the game, Naughty Dog recruited American Exitus artists Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson and met with them weekly to create the characters and environments of the game, eventually creating a character named "Willy the Wombat
Wombat
Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as...
". The marketing director of Universal Interactive Studios insisted that the character be named "Wez", "Wuzzles" or "Wizzy the Wombat". On creating the levels for the game, Zembillas and Pearson first sketched each environment, designing and creating additional individual elements later. They 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. The 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 Naughty Dog artists would squint when sketching, texturing and playing the levels to make sure they could be played by light value alone. Correct use of color was an important goal for Naughty Dog's artists; for example, mutually accentuating colors were chosen as the theme for the "Lost City" and "Sunset Vista" levels. The interior of Doctor Neo Cortex's castle was designed to reflect Cortex's twisted mind.
After the main character's creation, the team went into three months of developing the game. The game first became functional on April 1995 and became playable on June 1995. The first three levels in the game were completed by August 1995. However, they were judged to be too difficult to appear so early in the game and were moved to the game's power plant area. Artist Charlotte Francis joined Naughty Dog at around this time. On September 1995, a videotape of Crash Bandicoot was shown to Sony Computer Entertainment behind closed doors. While playing the game during development, Rubin realized that there were many empty areas in the game due to the PlayStation's inability to process numerous on-screen enemy characters at the same time. Additionally, players were solving the game's puzzles too fast. Rubin soon came up with the idea of a box and putting various symbols on the sides to create puzzles. Breaking these boxes would serve to fill in the boring parts of the levels and give the player additional puzzles. The first "crate" was placed in the game on January 1996, and would become the primary gameplay element of the series. Willy the Wombat's destruction of the crates would eventually lead him to be renamed "Crash Bandicoot". On March 1996, Sony agreed to publish Crash Bandicoot, which went into the alpha stage on April 1996. Crash Bandicoot was first shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on May 1996 and was met with enthusiastic reactions.
Development of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back began in October 1996. For the game, Andy Gavin perfected a new engine named "Game Oriented Object LISP 2" (GOOL 2) that was three times faster than the previous game's engine, could handle ten times the animation frames and twice the polygon count. The jungle levels were originally to have featured ground fog, but this was abandoned when magazines and the public began to brutalize other developers for using fog to hide polygon count. Sunlight and depth accentuation was experimented with for these levels. Wanting to have some "dirty" locations in the game, Naughty Dog worked in the sewer levels and added color contrast to the levels to show depth and break up the repetitive monotony of the endless sewer pipes. A flat plane z-buffer
Z-buffering
In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional graphics, usually done in hardware, sometimes in software. It is one solution to the visibility problem, which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are visible, and which...
was created for the game; because the water surfaces and mud in the jungle had to be a flat plane and be exactly flat on the Y-axis, there could be no waves and the subdividing plane could not be at an odd angle. The effect only worked on objects in the foreground and was only used on Crash, some enemies and a few boxes at the same time. The soundtrack of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back was provided by Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
(consisting of Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
and Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell is an American composer and musician attached to Mutato Muzika.-Biography:As a child, Mancell learned to play the piano, drums and guitar and was a "rabid record geek". The exposure of playing music in different types of bands combined with being a fan of many genres led Mancell to...
), while the sound effects were created by Universal Sound Studios (consisting of Mike Gollom, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears). The characters were designed by Charles Zembillas of American Exitus, Incorporated. Clancy Brown
Clancy Brown
Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...
provided the voice of Doctor Neo Cortex, while Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (voice actor)
Brendan O'Brien is an American voice actor who is best known for providing voices for the Crash Bandicoot video games during the Naughty Dog years...
voiced the dual role of Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nitrus Brio and Vicki Winters voiced Coco Bandicoot. The game was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
on June 1997 to a positive response from the game industry. The game went into the alpha stage on August 1997. Around that time, Dan Arey, the lead designer of Gex: Enter the Gecko
Gex: Enter the Gecko
Gex: Enter the Gecko is a platform game released in 1998. It is the sequel to the 1994 game Gex. The game involves collecting 3 types of remotes to unlock different levels, and to aid in the fight against Rez.-Story:Since his retirement from the public eye in 1996, Gex has resided himself to a...
, joined Naughty Dog and streamlined the level design.
Like the first one, the second game was also critically acclaimed green-lighting a third game. Production of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped began on January 1998, with Naughty Dog given only 10½ months to complete the game. Programmers Andy Gavin, Stephen White and Greg Omi created three new gameplay engines for the game. Two of the three new engines were three-dimensional in nature and were created for the airplane and jet-ski levels; the third new engine was created for the motorcycle levels in the style of a driving simulator
Driving simulator
Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses...
. The new engines combined make up a third of the game, while the other two-thirds of the game consist of the same engine used in the previous games. Jason Rubin explained that the "classic" engine and game style was preserved due to the success of the previous two games and went on to say that "were we to abandon that style of gameplay, that would mean that we would be abandoning a significant proportion of gamers out there." An arbitrary plane z-buffer
Z-buffering
In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional graphics, usually done in hardware, sometimes in software. It is one solution to the visibility problem, which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are visible, and which...
was created for the jet-ski and flooded Egyptian hallway levels of the game. To create a completely fluid feel for the water on these levels, an environment map
Reflection mapping
In computer graphics, environment mapping, or reflection mapping, is an efficient Image-based lighting technique for approximating the appearance of a reflective surface by means of a precomputed texture image. The texture is used to store the image of the distant environment surrounding the...
that reflects the sky was fitted onto the surface of the water. A real shadow
Shadow mapping
Shadow mapping or projective shadowing is a process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics. This concept was introduced by Lance Williams in 1978, in a paper entitled "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces"...
was given to the Crash character at the request of the Sony Computer Entertainment America producers, who were "sick of that little discus that's following him around." To create an "arcade" experience in the airplane levels and to differentiate them from flight simulators, the enemy planes were programmed to come out in front of the player and give the player ample time to shoot them before they turn around and shoot the player rather than come up behind the player and hit them from behind. The Relic system was introduced to give players a reason to return to the game after it has been completed.
While initially Naughty Dog was only signed on to make three games, Crash Team Racing was a possible Crash 3 as it started out in production after Crash 2 and the game which was finished first in production would be released first. However, Naughty Dog had already gotten far into the project and decided to finish it and release it. David Baggett produced the game's soundtrack, with Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
and Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell is an American composer and musician attached to Mutato Muzika.-Biography:As a child, Mancell learned to play the piano, drums and guitar and was a "rabid record geek". The exposure of playing music in different types of bands combined with being a fan of many genres led Mancell to...
of Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
composing the music. Sound effects were created by Mike Gollum, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears of Universal Sound Studios. This marked the end of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot games.
Traveller's Tales
Although Naughty Dog was no longer developing the Crash Bandicoot series, it still continued. The series remained with the same publisher and was given to Mark Cerny to develop.Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was originally intended to be designed by Mark Cerny
Mark Cerny
Mark Cerny is a video game industry figure who has worked as a game designer, programmer, producer and business executive. As president of Cerny Games, which he founded in 1998, he now acts as a consultant in the video game industry. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award...
(who designed all the games in the series thus far) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. After a falling-out between Vivendi Universal
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
and the two entities, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game. The game received mixed reviews but nevertheless made the Greatest Hits lineup. Despite the rights of Crash Bandicoot going to Vivendi Universal, Sony still retained the rights for the distribution and porting of the original Crash Bandicoot game series.
Crash was given a break from the major consoles and had a series of games made for the Gameboy Advance which were developed by Vicarious Visions (see below). During this time a subsidy of Traveller's Tales - Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio were developing a new Crash game for console. This game was to be Crash Nitro Kart, however due to unknown circumstances Vivendi moved development of Crash Nitro Kart over to Vicarious Visions. Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio then moved on to their next project, Crash Bandicoot Evolution.
Crash Bandicoot Evolution was set to create a new form of gameplay for Crash with the game planned to be a Platformer/RPG with many different elements planned for the game. However due to a few constraints the idea of Crash Bandicoot Evolution was "cut down" to what we now know as Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity is an platform video game published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Traveller's Tales, for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on October 1, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004 and in Japan on November 9, 2004...
. Crash Twinsanity was praised by fans as being a relatively good game as it expanded more towards free-roaming than straight platforming as well as having a humorous storyline and cast of characters, and for its soundtrack by a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
band Spiralmouth
Spiralmouth
Spiralmouth is an a cappella group. The group is most famous for their original music for Vivendi Games's Crash Twinsanity. They also co-performed the soundtrack for Crash Tag Team Racing along with Marc Baril, and have a self-titled album featuring covers of songs by the Beatles, Sheryl Crow,...
.
After developing Crash Twinsanity, Traveller's Tales Oxford went on with two new Crash projects (believing Vivendi had left them the development rights for Crash). The first project was a direct sequel of Crash Twinsanity, based around Cortex being excluded from all the other villains in the Crash universe. The game's name had already been decided on, it was named Cortex Chaos. This project was cancelled, but Vivendi still has the option to continue its development. The other project was Crash Clash Racing (now Crash Tag Team Racing) which was also going to act as another sequel to Crash Twinsanity. However, when Traveller's Tales found out that Vivendi had moved development over to their in-house studio Radical Entertainment, both projects were scrapped and Traveller's Tales Oxford Studio was made defunct after releasing their one other game Super Monkey Ball Adventure.
Vicarious Visions
Vivendi had already changed Crash from a Playstation exclusive series with the release of Wrath of Cortex and decided to make a handheld series of games. The first game, Crash Bandicoot: The Huge AdventureCrash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, released in the PAL region as Crash Bandicoot XS and in Japan as Crash Bandicoot Advance, is a platform game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance...
was developed by Vicarious Visions and released to critical acclaim and also sold critically well, it managed to spawn a sequel, Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, released in Japan as is a platform game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance...
. Both games involved a lot of similarities to Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped with level themes, music and various other details.
Vicarious Visions were then given the development properties of Crash Nitro Kart by Vivendi from Traveller's Tales. Crash Nitro Kart was released for all major consoles as well as the Gameboy Advance and received generally positive to mixed reviews.
Vicarious Visions fourth and final game was Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage for the Gameboy Advance. The game was given average reviews but managed to sell well.
Radical Entertainment
After finishing Crash Twinsanity and having Cortex Chaos get cancelled, Traveller's Tales was commissioned to develop one more Crash Bandicoot game, a racing game. This game was called Crash Clash Racing, it picked up the story of Crash Twinsanity and brought back its characters, such as Evil Crash. It used a unique new idea in which two cars merged to create a "mega-car". The game would have focused on Crash's family traveling into Crash's brain in order to remove Cortex.However, to save money on the project, it was indefinitely halted and given to one of Vivendi's in-house studio's, Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
. Radical changed the project into an entirely new project, keeping two core ideas, clashing and fusion. The game marked Radical's first game in the series, the first game published under Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
brand and the first game to use Radical's Titanium Engine.
Development on Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans is an platform video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable , Wii and Xbox 360. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by Amaze Entertainment...
, Radical's second title, began after the completion of Crash Tag Team Racing. The graphics of the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
version of the game was one of Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
's main focuses in the game's development, with Radical stating that the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
has "a lot of horsepower under the hood" and expressing their desire to make full use of it. They also considered implementing a feature to connect the Wii to DS during gameplay, but stopped due to technical issues and time. The Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version got a few extra months of development time to improve its graphics before setting a final release date.
While the game was being developed, the title's main character, Crash Bandicoot, became the new mascot of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society , founded in 1949, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of...
's "School and Youth" programs in an effort to promote the battle against blood cancer. In a bid to further promote the game, a Hummer
Hummer
Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...
(with a Wii inside) was painted with imagery from the game and displayed at the Annual Balloon Fiesta in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, United Kingdom. A "Monster Edition" of the game was released exclusively in Europe on October 12, 2007 for the PlayStation 2. This special edition of the game features "Making-of" videos, water-on tattoos, game hints, a cheat code list, and the game's E3 and theatrical trailers in multiple languages. Due to its "mild cartoon violence and language", the game received a PG rating from the BBFC
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
.
Development on Crash: Mind over Mutant
Crash: Mind over Mutant
Crash: Mind over Mutant is a platform video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable , Wii and Xbox 360. The Nintendo DS version of the game was developed by TOSE...
, Radical's third Crash title, began immediately after the completion of Crash of the Titans. The idea of preserving a Titan for later use came from the play testing sessions of Crash of the Titans, in which the testers were found to be reluctant to leave the Titans behind after an epic battle was won. Fans of the series were also a source of inspiration for Crash: Mind over Mutant, having such wishes as a free-roaming environment, Coco Bandicoot being a playable character and the return of the character Doctor Nitrus Brio. Full camera control was considered for the game, but was rejected for graphical reasons and to avoid having to insert a split-screen view in the cooperation mode. Online gameplay was also considered as a feature in the finished game, but was omitted due to the brief development schedule. Coco Bandicoot as a playable character was omitted from the PlayStation 2 version of the game due to her distinct animations taking up much of the console's memory. The Wii version of Crash: Mind over Mutant was created first, with the graphics scaled up for the Xbox 360, and scaled down for the PlayStation 2. This marked the end of Radical Entertainment's Crash Bandicoot titles as they have since stated that IP is no longer in their control and is currently at Activision.
Future
On a KotakuKotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
interview with Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
CEO Eric Hirshberg regarding the future of the Crash series, he said, "I don't have anything official to announce, but I can speak as an individual [...] I love Crash Bandicoot. Those were some of my favorite [video] games growing up. And I would love to find a way to bring him back, if we could."
Common gameplay elements
Crash Bandicoot is primarily a platforming series. The goal of each level is to guide Crash from the beginning to the end, travelling either into the screen, towards the player or left and right in a side-scrollingSide-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
manner. Several levels place Crash in unique situations which require the use of motorbikes, jet skis, submarines and various wild animals to reach the level's end.
In the original Crash Bandicoot, Crash's moveset is rather limited; he can run, jump and spin his way through treacherous environments and hostile creatures. Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a platform video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation...
introduces several new moves for Crash to utilise, including a high jump, body slam and slide attack. Warped expands on this by awarding the player with new abilities after each boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
is defeated, which is also used in The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game video game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Traveller's Tales for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube video game consoles. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America on October 29, 2001, in...
.
Collectibles
The most common collectible in the series is Wumpa Fruit, which is found on the main path of most levels, as well as inside most crates. Collecting 100 Wumpa Fruits will award the player an extra life1-up
1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...
. Wumpa Fruit takes on other uses in most spin-off titles, such as restoring health
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
in certain Crash Bash
Crash Bash
Crash Bash is a party video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on November 6, 2000 and in Europe on December 1, 2000...
levels and increasing weapon power in Crash Team Racing
Crash Team Racing
Crash Team Racing is a racing video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on September 30, 1999 and in Europe and Australia later the same year. It was re-released for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up in...
. In recent titles, Wumpa Fruit is used to replenish Crash's health, with Mojo effectively replacing it as the new main collectible item.
The other major recurring valuables Crash finds on his adventures include Gems and Crystals. Most Gems in the series are won by breaking open every crate in a level. Starting with Cortex Strikes Back, an additional five coloured Gems can be obtained by completing special tasks or finding hidden areas. Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity is an platform video game published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Traveller's Tales, for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on October 1, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004 and in Japan on November 9, 2004...
contains six colored Gems per level, most of which are earned by solving a small puzzle. Crystals play a key role in the plot of most Crash games, and are always found in plain sight (they must be collected in order to complete the level).
Less common collectibles of note are Trophies, which are the reward for completing a stage in Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash and Crash Nitro Kart, and Relics. Relics appear in Warped and Wrath of Cortex as the prize for beating a level's Time Trial mode. This mode is unlocked by re-entering a level after having completed it once.
Crates
Crates come in several varieties and can be found in abundance across Crash's world. Most crates will assist the player's journey through the game, providing Wumpa Fruit, additional hit points in the form of Aku Aku masks and extra lives. In most games, players will be awarded a gem if they break all the crates in a level.TNT and Nitro Crates are the only boxes that can damage Crash. TNT Crates have a three second fuse when jumped on, but Nitro Crates will explode instantly upon any contact with Crash or anything else that runs into them. Switch Boxes (distinguished by an exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
) are used to make previously invisible crates appear. A green Switch Box will detonate all Nitro Crates in the level.
Crates marked with a "C" are checkpoints that Crash will return to if he is killed during play. Steel Crates are protected by a metal casing that can only be destroyed with Crash's body slam move, while Spring Crates allow him to reach high up areas by bouncing on them. Slot Boxes rapidly switch between multiple types of crates, and if they are not broken in time, will become metallic and indestructible. Time Boxes are a special crate found exclusively in Time Trial mode. They will freeze the clock for the number of seconds displayed on the box, increasing the player's chance of beating the time trial.
Music
Numerous composers have contributed music to the Crash Bandicoot series. Mutato MuzikaMutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
and Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell is an American composer and musician attached to Mutato Muzika.-Biography:As a child, Mancell learned to play the piano, drums and guitar and was a "rabid record geek". The exposure of playing music in different types of bands combined with being a fan of many genres led Mancell to...
were responsible for the music of the first four games. After the fourth game, numerous other composers were responsible for the music in other games. Steve Duckworth composed music for Crash Bash, Swallow Studios for The Wrath of Cortex, Ashif Hakik and Todd Masten for Crash Nitro Kart and Spiralmouth
Spiralmouth
Spiralmouth is an a cappella group. The group is most famous for their original music for Vivendi Games's Crash Twinsanity. They also co-performed the soundtrack for Crash Tag Team Racing along with Marc Baril, and have a self-titled album featuring covers of songs by the Beatles, Sheryl Crow,...
for Twinsanity. The music for Tag Team Racing was composed by both Spiralmouth and Marc Baril
Marc Baril
Marc Baril is a Canadian video game composer and musician. He has composed music for over 20 titles. He is best known for his compositions for the Crash Bandicoot franchise, The Simpsons Hit & Run and Scarface: The World Is Yours.-Early life:...
, while Crash of the Titans and Mind Over Mutant were composed by Baril alone.
Main series
Racing
Party
Spin-offs
Publishers and developers
The first four Crash Bandicoot games were developed by Naughty DogNaughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
. Crash Bash
Crash Bash
Crash Bash is a party video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on November 6, 2000 and in Europe on December 1, 2000...
was developed by Eurocom
Eurocom
Eurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...
. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game video game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Traveller's Tales for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube video game consoles. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America on October 29, 2001, in...
and Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity is an platform video game published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Traveller's Tales, for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on October 1, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004 and in Japan on November 9, 2004...
were developed by Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales is an English software house founded in 1989 and fully established in 1990 and based in Knutsford, Cheshire.It is part of the TT Games group—after the merger of publisher Giant Interactive and the developer Traveller's Tales—along with TT Games Publishing...
and its division Traveller's Tales Oxford, respectively. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, released in the PAL region as Crash Bandicoot XS and in Japan as Crash Bandicoot Advance, is a platform game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance...
(Crash Bandicoot XS in Europe), Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, released in Japan as is a platform game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance...
, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy are two platform games published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance...
(Crash Bandicoot Fusion in Europe) have all been developed by Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions is an American video game developer founded by the high school brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1990, which developed some PC and Game Boy Color games in late 90's and 2000. They later developed Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999...
. Crash Tag Team Racing
Crash Tag Team Racing
Crash Tag Team Racing is a racing video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. A Nintendo DS version, which was to be developed by Sensory Sweep Studios rather than...
, Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans is an platform video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable , Wii and Xbox 360. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by Amaze Entertainment...
and Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Crash: Mind over Mutant
Crash: Mind over Mutant is a platform video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable , Wii and Xbox 360. The Nintendo DS version of the game was developed by TOSE...
were developed by Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment
Radical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
and Crash Boom Bang!
Crash Boom Bang!
Crash Boom Bang! is a party game developed by Dimps and published by Sierra Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on July 20, 2006, in North America on October 10, 2006, in Europe on October 27, 2006, and in Australia on November 2, 2006...
was developed by Dimps
Dimps
is an Osaka, Japan-based video game development studio with an additional office in Tokyo, Japan. Employing a staff of 218 people, it is known for developing such games as the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy for the PlayStation 2, and the Sonic the Hedgehog games specific to the Game Boy Advance and...
. The first five Crash titles were published by Sony Computer Entertainment as well as the games being produced by Universal Interactive Studios. Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game video game published by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Traveller's Tales for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube video game consoles. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America on October 29, 2001, in...
was published by Universal Interactive Studios and Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. All of the other Crash titles were published by Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
). Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
also published and distributed some Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese-released Crash Bandicoot games for the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Market.
The first five Crash Bandicoot games were exclusives to the Sony PlayStation. Since then, multiple developers have worked with the property and games have been released for Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, in addition to Sony. Although first exclusive to Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
consoles, no Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot may refer to:* Crash Bandicoot , a video game protagonist* Crash Bandicoot , a video game series* Crash Bandicoot , a 1996 PlayStation video game and first Crash Bandicoot...
game has been released on the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
beyond the re-release of the digital copies of the original five Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot may refer to:* Crash Bandicoot , a video game protagonist* Crash Bandicoot , a video game series* Crash Bandicoot , a 1996 PlayStation video game and first Crash Bandicoot...
games on the PlayStation Network as of 2011.
Reception and legacy
The Crash Bandicoot series has been a commercial success. As of 2007, the series altogether has sold over 40 million units worldwide. According to GamasutraGamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
, the first Crash Bandicoot game has sold 6.8 million units as of November 2003, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation game of all time. Cortex Strikes Back sold 3.87 million units in the U.S., while Warped sold 3.76 million. The last two games on the PlayStation console, Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash, sold 1.9 million and 1.6 million units in the U.S. respectively. The only individual non-PlayStation Crash game to break the one-million mark in sales is the PlayStation 2 version of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which sold 1.95 million units in the U.S.
The Crash Bandicoot series is one of the few Western video game series to find blockbuster success in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Cortex Strikes Back and Warped sold 1.3 and 1.4 million units in the country respectively, while the PlayStation 2 version of Wrath of Cortex sold 203,000 units.
See also
- Characters of Crash BandicootCharacters of Crash BandicootThis is a list of characters from the Crash Bandicoot video game. Crash Bandicoot is a series of platform video games published by Activision. The series was formerly developed by Naughty Dog from 1996 to 1999, and by Traveller's Tales, Eurocom and Vicarious Visions from 2000 to 2004...
- Spyro the Dragon
- Jak & Daxter
- Sly CooperSly Cooper (series)Sly Cooper is a series of platform stealth video games for the Sony PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The series was developed by Sucker Punch Productions for the first three games, and then it was passed on to Sanzaru Games while Sucker Punch continued work on the Infamous series...
- Ratchet & ClankRatchet & Clank (series)Ratchet & Clank is a series of platform video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PS2 and PS3 consoles, with the exclusion of Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank, which were developed by High Impact Games for the PSP...
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Naughty DogNaughty DogNaughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
- Sony Computer EntertainmentSony Computer EntertainmentSony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
- KonamiKonamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
- Vivendi Universal GamesVivendi GamesVivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
- Traveller's TalesTraveller's TalesTraveller's Tales is an English software house founded in 1989 and fully established in 1990 and based in Knutsford, Cheshire.It is part of the TT Games group—after the merger of publisher Giant Interactive and the developer Traveller's Tales—along with TT Games Publishing...
- Sierra EntertainmentSierra EntertainmentSierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
- Radical EntertainmentRadical EntertainmentRadical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
External links
Official websites (in gaming order)General resources