Komodo Brothers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Komodo Moe and Komodo Joe
Game series Crash Bandicoot
First game Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Creator(s) Naughty Dog
Voice actor(s) (English) Brendan O'Brien
Voice actor(s) (Japanese) Wataru Takagi (Joe) (CTR)

The Komodo Brothers (コモド兄弟 Komodo Brothers?) are characters from the Crash Bandicoot series who made their debut in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as the second boss in the game. Their main attacks consisted of Moe throwing scimitars, and Joe spinning at great speeds with his scimitar held out.

[edit] Overview

The Komodo Brothers were created by Naughty Dog as a comedic pairing. They are, according to ND, the sad result of Doctor Neo Cortex's attempts at multi-creature Cortex Vortex application, even though their debut game clearly suggests that their creator was Doctor Nitrus Brio (who was using his forces to stop Crash, which included Tiny Tiger and Ripper Roo). Since then, they have acted as independents. They were the first of three sets of twins to have appeared in the series.

Moe (弟・モー Younger Brother Mō?) is the unofficial leader of the duo. He's not the brightest bulb in the knife drawer, but he makes up for it with his sheer mass and unbelievable strength. He also seems to be able to materialize swords out of thin air, as evidenced during the boss fight against the Brothers in Cortex Strikes Back.

Joe (兄・ジョー Older Brother Jō?) is the brains of the couple. He's not very strong, because he relies on sheer speed and cunning, and he's a master at the deadly arts of samurai swordplay. Joe is the only of the two brothers to so far have a speaking part in the series as he was in Crash Team Racing. He spoke in a sly, hissing tone, and was depicted as a lying backstabbing cheating gem thief, although he seemed to have been roused to be willing to help against N.Oxide for no personal gain (unless he was seeking financial gain like Pinstripe Potoroo). Upon losing he would not take it particularly well, telling the player that they would lose to Oxide, and it would be their fault that the world was then lost. The boss itself was raced at "Dragon mines" and Komodo Joe attacked by laying down Nitros and hurling TNTs through the air.

As the Komodo brothers have had few encounters with Crash, it seems they are more interested in financial gain (through illegal measures, presumably) than taking over the world or revenge. They also are now acting individually, having long left Brio's command.

The Komodo brothers were the first mutants in the Crash series to come form a non-Australian animal (the Komodo dragon), although Indonesia is fairly nearby. It is also possible that they were perhaps mutated from Australian monitors, and call themselves "Komodo" out of pride.

In Crash Team Racing, Komodo Joe appears as the third boss and later as a playable character. In the epilouge it is stated that he started "Honest Joe's" rare Gem outlet. He, of course, proved to be anything but honest and was convicted for "laundering cubic zirconias for the couch slouch shopping network." As with most of the epilogues, no future reference was ever made.

They appeared in Crash Bash on a boss level involving tanks. At the start of the boss they were performing dingodile-like tailspins that served no purpose. This suggests that they were perhaps originally planned to be playable (or unlockable) characters.

The Komodo Brothers have not been seen since being defeated during the events of Crash Bash, but they appeared in a painting in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and Joe can be seen as a statue in Crash Nitro Kart.

They were also due to make an appearance in Crash Twinsanity but, like N. Trance, never made it into the final game. They were to be featured on one of the three islands from the first game, setting up a racetrack. In a parody/tribute to the Sega game OutRun, Cortex (still in his Coco disguise) would sit in the passenger seat, frantically complaining about Crash's driving, while Crash drove speedily around the track. The brothers' special gimmick, however, was that the vehicle had no brakes. Komodo Joe still makes an appearance in the concept art, playing cards with a host of other baddies. Suitably, everyone has a strangely high number of aces in their hand.

[edit] Voices

  • Both brothers are voiced by Brendan O'Brien in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.
  • Joe is voiced by Wataru Takagi in the Japanese dub of Crash Team Racing.


In other languages