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Crash Bandicoot
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North American cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Naughty Dog |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment America Universal Interactive Studios |
| Distributor(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment America |
| Designer(s) | Allan Becker (game producer) Charles Zembillas (character designer) Joe Pearson (character designer) Mutato Muzika (composer) |
| Series | Crash Bandicoot |
| Engine | Proprietary Naughty Dog PlayStation engine |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, PlayStation Network, Mobile |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation NA August 31, 1996[1] EU November 1996[2] JP December 6, 1996[2] Mobile April 25, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E ELSPA: 3+ OFLC: G |
| Media | CD-ROM, EBOOT |
| Input methods | PlayStation controller |
Crash Bandicoot is a platform game published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation. It was released in North America on August 31, 1996,[1] in Europe on November 1996,[2] and in Japan on December 6, 1996.[2] The game, as well as being originally released on the PlayStation, was also emulated on the PlayStation Network on December 4, 2006, through which it can be played on the PlayStation Portable and, as of Operating System update 1.70, on the PlayStation 3.[3]
Crash Bandicoot is the first installment in the Crash Bandicoot video game series, chronicling the creation of the titular character at the hands of the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his henchman Doctor Nitrus Brio. The game's story follows Crash's effort to stop his creators' plans for world domination, clean up any pollution they have caused, and save his girlfriend Tawna, a female bandicoot also evolved by Doctor Cortex and Nitrus Brio.
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Crash Bandicoot is played in a third-person perspective, with both side-scrolling and tube-like 3D levels. Crash can run, jump and perform a spin attack, which are his only methods of attack. The majority of enemies can be defeated by using the jump attack, but enemies that cannot be defeated by the jump attack must be defeated by using the spinning move. This move can also be used to hit enemies into other enemies or crates.[4] Also, in two levels, Crash will ride a hog, avoiding obstacles such as enemies while continuously moving forward. Also, two levels have Crash chased by a boulder, running away towards the screen while jumping over gaps.
The player can collect Aku Aku masks hidden in crates. When these floating masks are collected, the player is protected from one enemy's attack/contact per mask. Collecting three masks will give players temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers.[5] Also available in numerous levels are tokens hidden inside crates. These tokens feature the likenesses of Tawna, Doctor Nitrus Brio or Doctor Neo Cortex. Once the player collects three matching tokens in one stage, the player is transported to a bonus round, where the player can collect additional wumpa fruit items; the Cortex bonus round contains keys which the player must collect to unlock secret levels. The Tawna bonus rounds can be used to save one's progress, using either a memory card or password system.[6] Each level also contains one clear gem rewarded for destroying all the boxes in a level (excluding bonus-level boxes) without dying.[7] Some levels contain an extra clear or coloured gem awarded for completing a secondary task.
The game has twenty-five normal levels, as well as two secret levels and six boss battles: the local tribe leader Papu Papu; the insane Ripper Roo; the muscle-bound Koala Kong; the gun-toting Pinstripe Potoroo; the stuttering Doctor Nitrus Brio; and finally, the demented Dr. Neo Cortex himself. Boss battles have the player avoiding the boss character's attacks, then attacking the boss when the boss is vulnerable.
As the first game of the series, the game only features nine characters, most of them voiced by Brendan O'Brien. The game's protagonist Crash Bandicoot, a bandicoot evolved by Doctor Neo Cortex, trying to clean up the pollution the doctor has caused and stop him in his plans for world domination with the help of Aku Aku. Doctor Cortex, while trying to create the ultimate soldier using the Evolvo Ray and the Cortex Vortex using Crash as one of his experiments, noticed that the experiment had gone wrong and chased him out of his castle. He considers Crash a failure due to his kind nature. Washing up on N. Sanity Island, he resolves to stop Cortex and save Tawna, another evolved female bandicoot. Aku Aku is the voodoo mask spirit of an old witch doctor. He watches over the three islands and aids Crash on his quest to defeat Doctor Cortex and clear up the toxic waste he has created.
Doctor Neo Cortex is a villainous mad scientist and the game's main antagonist. He has evolved the wildlife of the islands, turning them into anthropomorphic beasts, hoping to use them to form an army. Doctor Nitrus Brio is a deranged scientist and Doctor Cortex's right-hand man, the creator of the Evolvo-Ray, though with his lack of ambition he has let Doctor Cortex take the credit for its creation.[8] Naughty Dog created him as a foil to Doctor Cortex,[9] with Brio being successful to Cortex's failure, Brio's logical to Cortex's emotional. Also, as well as Cortex and Brio, Papu Papu, the deranged Ripper Roo, the muscular Koala Kong and The Godfather inspired Pinstripe Potoroo[9] all serve as bosses.
The game is set on a group of three Australian islands owned by Doctor Neo Cortex known as N. Sanity Beach. The main settings for levels, particularly on the first two islands, are either forests, tribesmen villages and fortresses, or beaches. The jungle environment focused on peace and harmony.[10] Some levels on the second island also take place in temple ruins, where the artists envisioned an overgrown, organic level,[10] as well as the interiors of such temples, bridges high above the mountains, and even a volcanic mine. The third island is more industrial, and its levels take place in a large power plant and a castle. The interior of the castle was designed to reflect Doctor Cortex's twisted mind.[10]
The game takes place on a small trio of islands just south-east of Australia, all owned by the evil scientist, Doctor Neo Cortex. With the aid of old school friend and ingenious scientist, Doctor Nitrus Brio, he creates the Evolvo Ray, which they use to evolve the various animals living on the islands into beasts with superhuman strength, all while causing terrible pollution. One of their experiments was a peaceful bandicoot, Crash, who Cortex had planned for him to be the military leader of Cortex's growing army of animal-based soldiers.[11] Once evolved by the Evolvo Ray, the duo tested the Cortex Vortex on him, a machine that would put him completely under their control. However, this experiment on Crash fails, and Crash flees from his captors.[11] Falling out of a window of Doctor Neo Cortex's castle, Crash awakes on a beach on N. Sanity Island.[11]
During Crash's time in captivity, he had become attached with another evolved bandicoot, the female Tawna. Resolving to defeat Cortex, clean up the pollution he had caused and rescue Tawna, he sets off.[11]
From the beach, Crash makes his way through the nearby jungle and scales the wall of a giant wooden fortress, which is inhabited by the native tribe. Crash takes out the tribe leader Papu Papu after dodging his club, but is then pursued by the natives. He escapes by riding a wild hog through the remainder of the village and then by climbing over the opposite fortress wall. From there Crash crosses to the second of Cortex's islands.
The second island, hosting a giant tree, has been long abandoned and there is nothing more than jungle, a lizard infested city, dilapidated bridges high in the mountains, and the ruins of an ancient temple. However, having discovered that Crash was making his way across the islands, Cortex stationed another of his evolved mutants, the crazy Ripper Roo, on the island in a temple at the start of a creek. Crash manages to cross the river and, after avoiding contact with his razor-sharp toenails, knocks Ripper Roo out cold beside a waterfall due to repeated TNT explosions, and successfully makes his way through the city and the temples. He is then confronted by another of Cortex's mutants, the powerful Koala Kong, in a volcanic cave mine but defeats him by deflecting rocks at him and finally crosses to the final island.
Crash then enters the power plant, the Cortex Power station. As well as hosting many of Cortex's industrial experiments and seeming to be the main power source for Cortex Castle, the building's operations are causing pollution, dumping radioactive waste into the sea and destroying nearby plants as well. Crash makes his way through a gargantuan indoor wall of machinery, then goes from the main factory hallways to a generator room, which finally leads into the toxic waste dumping operations. At the factory core, Crash finds and battles the CEO of Cortex Power, mutant Pinstripe Potoroo. Despite fighting with a fully loaded Tommy gun, Pinstipe is eventually knocked through the window by Crash and his stray bullets destroy the core, causing the Power Station to fall into ruin as well as the pollution to quickly vanish. Unable to get into Cortex's castle after getting there via bridge, Crash climbs the tower walls despite stormy weather and climbs in through the window he had previously smashed through. After making his way through the dark hallways and the Castle's many machines, Crash is confronted by Nitrus Brio.
After a hard battle, Brio mutates himself into a monster with the aid of several chemicals but is still defeated by Crash. The castle is set alight by some of the chemicals Brio was using but Crash manages to escape the tower passing the laboratory and as the building burns to the ground, he makes it to Cortex's airship, where he is confronted by the evil scientist. Cortex attacks him with a plasma gun but Crash deflects his own projectiles against him, and sends Cortex falling to his assumed demise. United with Tawna, they escape the burning castle on Doctor Cortex's airship.
Development of the game started in August 1994 with the title character, Crash, being designed by Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson. The development of this game took place entirely in Los Angeles, California, after the entire staff had moved there from Boston, Massachusetts. Crash Bandicoot was the main focus of the Naughty Dog team during its development, so much so that ideas for another game, Al O. Saurus and Dinestein, were thrown out. Sony officially became publisher of the game during March 1995. In April that year the game went Alpha and was officially unveiled to the public in May 1996 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it was well received.[12]
Certain tracks of the game had to be altered for the Japanese release, an "11th hour decision" made by the Japanese distributors of the Crash series.[13] The distributors felt that the music for the boss levels needed to sound more "video game-like", and that the sound of the guitar mixed with the tree imagery in the Tawna bonus rounds was "too nostalgic-sounding".[13] Josh Mancell, the composer of the games music, was only given a day to rewrite the themes, given only music from Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade as reference.[13]
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| Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
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Reviews of the game were generally positive, with a 80.4% average rating on Game Rankings.[16] GameSpot was critical of the game, rating it 6.8 out of 10 calling the gameplay flat, dismissing the game as only slightly above average. Despite this, Crash Bandicoot has remained largely successful, according to positive reviews from other sites.[17] IGN rated the game 7.5 out of 10, praising the game's graphics, though criticizing it for having occasionally sluggish controls and being challenging at times.[14] IGN gave the 2006 PSP port the same score, saying, "Ten years later the Crash phenomenon has died down, but it's quite a testament that the original game still holds up fairly well." Gaming Target too praised the graphics, rating the game 9.3 out of 10.[15]
Crash Bandicoot was followed by two direct sequels, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, as well as a kart racing game, Crash Team Racing, all for the PlayStation and all developed by Naughty Dog, with Crash Team Racing the final Crash Bandicoot game developed by the company before moving onto the Jak and Daxter series.[12] After Crash Team Racing, Eurocom developed the final Crash Bandicoot game for the PlayStation, the party game Crash Bash.[18] Since then, the series has had numerous developers and has become a multiplatform series, with forty million copies sold as of October 23, 2007.[19]
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