Rilla Roo

Rilla Roo is a character that appears in Crash Bash and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. He is a hybrid of a gorilla and a kangaroo that is aligned with Uka Uka, serving as an opponent to characters affiliated with Aku Aku in Crash Bash, and implied to be one of Neo Cortex's animal henchmen.Crash Bash. Adventure intro. Uka Uka: "Crash, Cortex. Welcome. You and your friends have been summoned here to do battle. A battle between good and evil." His most common characterization is that of a brutish ape, seen in the American and European versions of Crash Bash and in Nitro-Fueled, with other sources presenting different takes on the character.
Nitro-Fueled features a variant of Rilla Roo named Fixed Rilla Roo as a separate playable character in the game. This variant of Rilla Roo reverts some design changes made to the regular version in Nitro-Fueled, with the game's developers stating its inclusion to be "due to popular demand." "A New and Improved Rilla Roo, Too!" / "Due to popular demand, Beenox is giving all players who have unlocked Rilla Roo a new “Fixed” version of Rilla Roo; everyone’s favorite gorilla-kangaroo hybrid!"
==Appearances==
===Crash Bash===
Rilla Roo was introduced in Crash Bash as a playable character in the game, summoned to play for Uka Uka's team in a contest between good and evil. As with other characters associated with Uka Uka, Rilla Roo may show up as a computer-controlled opponent for players who choose characters in Aku Aku's team in Crash Bash's Adventure game mode; likewise, players that choose Rilla Roo in Adventure will face characters in Aku Aku's team. He is implied to be one of Neo Cortex's henchmen. Like Dingodile, he is able to fire double shots in Tank Wars minigames, but has weak throwing range in Crate Crush minigames. If the player beats the game as Rilla Roo, the Evil ending is earned, wherein Uka Uka steals the crystals and dooms the Earth. The Japanese release of Crash Bash implies that Rilla Roo was created by N. Brio using Ripper Roo's genes.Crash Bash Japanese manual, p. 5. 新キャラ、リラ・ルーとも関係あるらしい。Japanese release of Crash Bash. N. Brio's epilogue.「なにからはじめましょうかねえ? とりあえず、リバ~ル~のいでんしからリラルをうみだしたように、バンディク~のいでんしから なにかつくってみましょうかねぇ・・・」 ("So then, let's begin. First, just like Rilla Roo was born from the genes of Ripper Roo, I should try to create something with the genes of the Bandicoot...") Translation by J. Lazarillo (@TheRealCaptainPanda).
The Japanese release of the game features epilogues for each character detailing what happened to them after the contest. In his epilogue, Rilla Roo expects to receive a raise from Uka Uka, and has trouble deciding what to spend it on — he thinks about opening a yakiniku (grilled meat cuisine) shop with Dingodile, but also considers becoming Koala Kong's manager in Hollywood. In the end, he decides to try to open up the yakiniku shop in Hollywood.Japanese release of Crash Bash. Rilla Roo's epilogue. さいごまでかちめいたリラ・ル~は、いきなりソロバンをだして、けいさんをはじめました。 / 「ウカウカぱんからボーナスもろたら、なににつかおかなあ? / ディンゴはんとヤキニクやびらくのもええし、コアラコングはんのマネージャ~になって、ハリウッドでブイブイいわすのもええなあ。よし、きめた! ハリウッドでヤキニクやひらいたろ!」とらタヌキのかわぎんようになりませんように! (Having won every match through to the end, Rilla Roo suddenly pulled out an abacus, and began doing calculations. / "Once I get my bonus from Uka Uka, how should I spend it? / It could be fun to open a yakiniku place with Dingo, but so could becoming Koala Kong's manager and bossing him around. ...Okay, that's it! I'll open up a yakiniku place in Hollywood!" / Well, don't count your chickens before they hatch!) Translation by J. Lazarillo (@TheRealCaptainPanda).
===Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled===
In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Rilla Roo was first referenced on a banner in the Koala Carnival racetrack, which was added to the game following the start of the Neon Circus Grand Prix in-game event, depicting an advertisement for a boxing match between him and Koala Kong. He was introduced as a playable character in the Winter Festival Grand Prix event, which launched on December 12, 2019. His default Driving Style is Turn, and he uses Uka Uka as his Invincibility Mask. 
The post-Grand Prix update for the game added Fixed Rilla Roo, a playable character separate from the previously-available Rilla Roo, on March 26, 2020. Beenox, the developers of Nitro-Fueled, stated his inclusion was "due to popular demand". His models and animations are nearly identical to Rilla Roo's except that his mouth was remodeled; this addresses a discrepancy in Rilla Roo's original design for Nitro-Fueled compared to his design in Crash Bash, as Rilla Roo's mouth was made wider and moved further up on his face in Nitro-Fueled (see § Physical description). Fixed Rilla Roo's default Driving Style is Speed, and his Invincibility Mask is also Uka Uka.
Both Rilla Roo and Fixed Rilla Roo are available separately in the Pit Stop for 1500 Wumpa Coins each. However, Fixed Rilla Roo was awarded for free to anyone who had already purchased Rilla Roo when the post-Grand Prix update was launched.
==Characteristics==
===Physical description===
Rilla Roo's upper half is that of a brown-furred gorilla, while his legs and tail are those of a beige kangaroo. He also has a quiff on top of his head, a small nose, thick black eyebrows, and fair skin showing around his mouth, chest and hands. He wears high-waisted, red and white vertical-striped pants held up by a black belt with a golden buckle. In Crash Bash, his mouth is consistently in an O shape.
In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Rilla Roo's mouth was moved further up on his face and made wider. He was also given a goatee. Due to "popular demand", a second character named Fixed Rilla Roo was released with his mouth remodeled and his goatee shortened.
===Personality===
Little is revealed about Rilla Roo in the American and European versions of Crash Bash. Rilla Roo is shown hunched over with his arms reaching his knees most of the time. When victorious, he hoots and hollers, beating his hands on his chest. These traits are common in cartoon depictions of primates.
In the manual for the game's American release, he is said to have "the disposition of a train wreck" and a no-nonsense personality. He also considers himself to be a "first stringer" (a skilled and therefore regular member of a sports team, as opposed to a substitute) and a "closer" (a player brought in at the end of a baseball game to preserve a slim lead), suggesting he thinks of the contest like a team sport. Rilla Roo is the only character in the manual to have a silhouette instead of a full-color render, apparently because he doesn't like to have his picture taken.Crash Bash American manual, p. 17 The European manual refers to him simply as a "freak",Crash Bash European manual, p. 14. "new freak on the block" akin to the other playable anthropomorphic animals in the game.
In the Japanese release of Crash Bash, Rilla Roo speaks in the Kansai dialect. As such, he often uses phrases derived from mercantile culture,Crash Bash Japanese manual, p. 7.「ウカウカはん、まいど! ソンはさせまへんで~!」 ("Hey there, Mr. Uka Uka! I won't letcha down~!") まいど is a stereotypical phrase from the Kansai dialect, literally meaning "thank you for patronising our business" but used here like "hello". The second sentence translates literally to "It'll be money well spent!". Translation by Suicazura. and is overall business-minded. He treats Uka Uka like his boss, and in the game's epilogue, goes on to try and start his own business in Hollywood.
In Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Rilla Roo uses little if any clear spoken language, mostly hooting and hollering like an ape as in the American and European versions of Crash Bash. He is shown to be excitable in the game, running around wildly with his arms in the air both on CTR TV and on the podium upon winning a race. Fixed Rilla Roo has all the same mannerisms as Rilla Roo, with an added animation of him patting his face and sighing in relief on the podium.
==Creation and early development==
Eurocom, the developers of Crash Bash, specifically set out to design a new character for the game. Many different concepts were considered, including "Red-Back Jaq", "Splash Platypus", "Hypno-potamus", and "Kombatt", before eventually narrowing the design down to a character named Kanga-Soo out of preference for a kangaroo character. "We needed to create an eighth character for the game and the team came up with the idea of a kangaroo. One of our first concepts was a character called Kanga-Soo but Mark Cerny felt there would be concerns about beating up a female character. Our next concept was for Kangarilla and that's what we went with. There were concerns from Sony about the name and trademarking, so we had to change it to Rilla Roo." As Rilla Roo reuses Dingodile's animations in the final game, it's likely this was the reason a kangaroo character was chosen. Though two different models were produced for her, Mark Cerny of Universal Interactive Studios anticipated concerns about beating up a female character, and she was cut before any further development could occur. "I don't think Kanga-Soo made it past the model stage. ... I honestly don't remember her being playable at any stage."
With the rejection of Kanga-Soo, the eighth playable character slot remained open. The designers felt the game needed "another Dingodile hybrid", so concept work began on the character that would eventually become Rilla Roo. "Initially we sketched a variety of character ideas ... I think it was then felt the game needed another Dingodile hybrid so Kangorilla was born, subsequently known as Rilla Roo." During development, he was called "Kangorilla", but the name was changed due to concerns from Sony about being able to trademark it. Rilla Roo's kangaroo parts are similar in appearance to Kanga-Soo's.
==Additional information==
==Gallery==
Main article: Rilla Roo/Gallery
Crash Bash Rilla Roo on a tank.png|Rilla Roo playing a Tank Wars minigame in Crash Bash.
Crash Bash Rilla Roo Japanese epilogue image.png|Rilla Roo contemplates what to do with his earnings in his epilogue seen in the Japanese release of Crash Bash.
Winter promo 3.jpg|Promotional shot of Rilla Roo for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
Nitro-Fueled Fixed Rilla Roo Artwork.jpg|Announcement render of Fixed Rilla Roo for Nitro-Fueled
==References==
es:Rilla Roo
fr:Rilla Roo
it:Rilla Roo
ja:リラ・ルー
pl:Rilla Roo
pt:Rilla Roo
pt-br:Rila Roo
ru:Рилла Ру
Category:Characters