Crash VS Spyro

Crash VS Spyro is the 91st episode of Death Battle, featuring Crash Bandicoot and Aku Aku from the Crash Bandicoot series and Spyro the Dragon from the Spyro and Skylanders series in a battle between former PlayStation mascots. Spyro was voiced by Edward Bosco.
==Interlude==
Wiz: The early 1990's played host to one of the biggest battlegrounds the world had ever seen: the console wars.
Boomstick: Nintendo and Sega's mascots were locked in a merciless duel over the gaming throne.
Wiz: But when the smoke cleared, a surprise third challenger was rising to the top.
Boomstick: The Sony PlayStation. And it didn't have just one mascot; it had two.
Wiz: Crash Bandicoot, the mutated marsupial from down under.
Boomstick: And Spyro the Dragon, the powerful purple hero of the Dragon Realm. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
==Crash Bandicoot==
Wiz: Listen, I admire another brilliant doctor of science as much as the next guy, especially those with grand plans to take over the world. But, I'm not sure Doctor Neo Cortex makes the cut.
Boomstick: Why not? He's an evil genius who made a mutant Aussie army of animals to take over the world.
Wiz: Sure, but when it came time to assign a general for this "army", Cortex chose, of all things, a bandicoot.
Boomstick: A bandi-what? You're making that up.
Wiz: It's a real animal, look!
A picture of a real bandicoot is shown on-screen.
Boomstick: Aw, hey, it's kinda cute! How's that little thing gonna take over the world?
Wiz: With the Evolvo-Ray, Cortex did successfully mutate it into a powerful beast. However, when he tried to brainwash the creature, he utterly failed to create his fearsome general. Instead, he got Crash Bandicoot.
Boomstick: So, Cortex threw him out like trash, and Crash became his worst nemesis ever. Which is super embarrassing, 'cause this bandi-Crash is a few snacks short of a barbie.
Boomstick: But, his physical abilities make up for it. He's got parkour skills like nobody's business.
Wiz: Which is appropriate, as bandicoots are excellent jumpers, similar to their marsupial cousin, the kangaroo.
Boomstick: He's got superhuman strength, and can take a big hit and just keep on going, like an Energizer Bunny of pain!
Wiz: Crash can double jump in mid-air, slide incredible distances, and use Crash Dash to boost his speed.
Boomstick: He's also tapped into mojo, a magical substance that's basically life energy, to enhance his battle techniques. He's got his Norris Roundhouse and Triple Dragon, but his favorite move is the Cyclone Spin.
Wiz: He can even give this move a boost for the Death Tornado technique, though this can leave him dizzy and prone to counterattacks. Still, these brutal moves proved incredibly useful for rescuing his fellow mutant bandicoot girlfriend, Tawna.
Boomstick: Oh.... why does she look like that? She's like, really hot, but also not at the same time? I'm really confused.
Wiz: Uh-huh... While Crash's natural abilities were enough to save her, his future battles with Cortex would require more sophisticated tools.
Boomstick: Yeah, like the rad Copter Pack. He's even got himself the unicorn of motorsports: the Space Motorcycle. What I wouldn't give for one of those...
Wiz: To increase his firepower, he carries a special bazooka that uses a naturally occurring and easily obtainable form of ammunition: Wumpa Fruit.
Boomstick: The same kind of fruit shooter that's on his Power Loader suit from Alien. Er, uh, I mean... this completely generic-looking mech.
Wiz: But why fruit? I can't imagine it's a particularly effective projectile.
Boomstick: I don't know, Wiz. Remember that time I shot you with my potato gun? Ah, you were stuck in a coma for like a month.
Wiz: Wait, what?! You told me I lost that month because my time travel wristwatch finally worked!
Boomstick: Oh-ho, uh, huh... Well, where's Crash getting all this cool tech? He can't be building it himself... He's pretty dumb.
Wiz: They're all thanks to his kid sister Coco, who's 10 times the inventor Cortex is. But Crash isn't really dumb, he just lacks communication skills. He actually shows many symptoms of autism.
Wiz: Some people with autism, known as savants, are extraordinarily gifted in particular skill sets, and I think that describes Crash perfectly. While he may not know how to hold a conversation, he is a superb athlete and puzzle solver.
Boomstick: Well, I'm sure it helps that he's surrounded by friends who encourage his better traits.
----
Crash lets off a belch.
Coco: Hey, that was a good one!
Crash chuckles.
----
Boomstick: Like Aku Aku, his magical mask foster dad who's basically a god. Lucky bastard...
Wiz: Aku Aku's magical mojo prowess is quite impressive. He's very protective of Crash and will often step in when Crash is in trouble. But not always.
Boomstick: Wiz, why can he teleport across dimensions on his own, but can't teleport Crash very far at all?
----
Aku Aku: This is as far as I can take us. We'll have to fight our way to the robot's interior and save your sister!
----
Wiz: Well, perhaps his fatherly intuition is kicking in, encouraging Crash to learn from his own mistakes and become his own man, er, bandicoot.
Boomstick: Yeah, maybe he's just being a dick.
Wiz: Well, thanks to Aku Aku and his own amazing abilities, Crash has performed some incredible feats while stopping Cortex's plans time and time again.
Boomstick: He's strong enough to lift his adopted brother Crunch over his head. Since Crunch is at least twice as big as Crash, that would mean Crash's strength is similar to the world's best powerlifter.
Wiz: His Cyclone Attack can generate enough force to lift this large boulder and throw it so hard, it shatters on impact. Comparing its size to Crash, that boulder must weigh nearly eight tons.
Boomstick: He's also fast enough to outrun polar bears, which can move up to 25 miles per hour. But Crash really shines when it comes to durability. Just look at how well he holds up after taking 112 falling wooden crates to the face.
Wiz: Huh... Where do they all come from?
Boomstick: I bet it's Aku Aku's fault. And he's right back up, like it didn't even happen. What a champ!
Wiz: Crash has endured an explosion of 23 crates of TNT all at once, which, given their size, could potentially level a city block.
----
Crash: Whoa!
----
Wiz: And with the help of Aku Aku, he even survived a crash landing from outer space.
Boomstick: What the heck is up with his hair?
Wiz: This vessel was likely falling at 17,500 miles per hour, similar to the space shuttle's typical reentry, which means the force of its collision would be equivalent to more than two million tons of TNT.
Boomstick: Waaaait, but why didn't Aku Aku just teleport them to safety?
----
Aku Aku: I can't believe we're okay!
----
Boomstick: Oh, are you kidding me, Aku? You know what you did! Er, didn't do! But what's the saying? "Any crash you can walk away from", right? Plus, given how easy it is for Crash's enemies to lure him into traps, his absurd durability is crucial.
Wiz: Well, Crash isn't perfect, but with his amazing abilities, and a little bit of mojo, he's saved the whole world many times over.
Boomstick: And after years of this, he even finally learned how to speak.
----
Coco: Now let's go home, and eat pancakes!
Crash: PANCAKES!
He looks at the screen for a few seconds and smiles, fade to black.
----
Boomstick: ...Wait, THAT'S it?!
==Spyro the Dragon==
Wiz: Prophecy tells of a special purple dragon born every 10 generations, destined to be a hero of his age. This was the legend of Spyro. But, when the ancient dark master Malefor learned of this, he swore to destroy Spyro before he even hatched.
Boomstick: By the way, there are at least three different timelines for Spyro, but we're mainly sticking with the Legend of Spyro version, because he can do pretty much anything the other ones can, and more. Plus, I think they're all the same Spyro reincarnated anyway, since that's what the prophecy says, and look, that's totally Skylands being made at the end of Dawn of the Dragon.
Wiz: (clears throat) Wild fan theories aside, Spyro was saved from Malefor's wrath by Ignitus, a Guardian dragon. He decided to pull a Moses and send Spyro's egg floating down a river to who knows where. Okay, why do so many stories start with people just throwing babies into rivers? That's never a good idea!
Boomstick: Wrong, Wiz! It worked out fine for Spyro.
Boomstick: He was found and adopted by a family of dragonflies, and even without fellow dragons around, Spyro grew up to be a pretty good fighter. He's strong, tough, and makes good use of his horns, tail, and claws.
Wiz: But not his wings, not yet. Without a dragon's parentage, Spyro remained mostly grounded during his childhood.
Boomstick: But he got pretty good at using his head, like, the fun way, not-not the brainy stuff. You do not wanna be on the other end of his charge attack.
Wiz: But one fateful day, everything changed. During a game of hide and seek with his quote-unquote "brother", Sparx, they got into a bit of monkey business, and in desperation, Spyro unexpectedly breathed fire. This was Spyro's first hint that he was... (gasps)... adopted!
Boomstick: Hold up!
Boomstick: You mean he thought he was an actual dragonfly the whole time? I can think of a few other hints, like, uh, I don't know, any time he saw his reflection!
Wiz: This "revelation" prompted Spyro to go on a journey in search of his true home among other dragons. Oh, and Sparx tagged along to help find treasure and protect his dragon brother from harm.
Boomstick: Not like he needed it; he's the Chosen One, bitch! He's got a bunch of awesome dragon powers!
Wiz: As a purple dragon, Spyro was not limited to just his fire breath. After finding and rescuing four great dragon guardians, they each became his teachers in the arts of elemental combat.
Boomstick: Ignitus taught Spyro how to control fire and focus it into huge blasts, Volteer showed him how to use electric breath to stun enemies and toss them through the air, Cyril taught him to freeze foes solid and fire ice shards, and Terrador showed him how to use earth breath to split rocks and... roll up into a ball.
Wiz: Spyro also honed his physical and chi combat with the martial art of Dragon Kata. Oh, and he finally learned how to fly!
Boomstick: 'Bout time!
Wiz: Speaking of which, Spyro learned how to briefly slow down time to improve his reactions.
Boomstick: Oh, damn! But, all of this led to Spyro learning the ultimate element: the Convexity breath!
Wiz: Aether.
Boomstick: Convexity.
Wiz: It's Aether.
Boomstick: No, stupid! everyone calls it Convexity!
Wiz: (sighs) Okay, purple dragons like Spyro can use a mysterious energy that is essentially the spiritual life force of the universe. While it's never officially named in canon, lead concept artist Jared Pullen has gone on record to clarify its name and properties, and he calls it Aether. "Aeth" that, Boomstick!
Boomstick: Don't convex me, Wiz! True fans know I'm right.
Wiz: Aether is an extremely powerful element which binds the fates of the living and the dead. With Aether, Spyro pulls from the four elements to create energy which, according to Pullen, has power comparable to that of an atom smasher.
Boomstick: Isn't that the thing that shoots an atom around at lightspeed for all sorts of sciencey stuff?
Wiz: Yes. They're particle accelerators with a moving photon beam containing 362 megajoules of energy.
Boomstick: Yeah, I said that.
Wiz: This beam can slice through a human skull in a nanosecond, just like what happened to Russian scientist Anatoli Bugorski when he stuck his head in one of them.
Boomstick: Why the hell would he do that?! God, being Russian must be hard.
Wiz: Bugorski took a beam less than a molecule thick through the skull, which obliterated all matter in its path in an instant. While he survived, half of his face around the microscopic hole in his head swelled, peeled apart and was permanently paralyzed, while he experienced the blinding light he described as "brighter than a thousand suns."
----
Sparx: Hey, Spyro. What was that about?
Spyro: I don't really know. I just felt like I had to hit it, and when I did, the power of a thousand suns surged through my body!
----
Boomstick: Just imagine if that beam was the size of Spyro's super breath! No, wait, you don't need to. We've seen what it's like when he killed the Ape King!
Wiz: Of course, Spyro's Aether powers have other uses as well, such as curing his fellow dragon Cynder of Malefor's corruption.
Boomstick: Is he shooting ghosts at her?! What kind of magic were they smoking when they came up with that?!
Wiz: But Aether is dependent on a balance between light and dark.
Wiz: Should a purple dragon fall prey to their own anger and hatred, they risk being consumed by Dark Aether, or Nether. Transforming into a blackened, rage-filled form.
Boomstick: Spyro's a really nice guy, but as Dark Spyro, he lets loose! He's stronger, faster and way more violent!
Wiz: Unfortunately, when Spyro is consumed by Dark Aether, he cannot return to his old self on his own. But with friends like Sparx and Cynder at his side, he's always found his way back.
Boomstick: ♫Through the power of love...♫ (does air guitar) Right, Spyro?
----
Spyro: You gotta believe!
----
Wiz: With all these powers at his claw tips, Spyro is a force to be reckoned with. He's pretty quick, outracing biplanes that can fly over 159 miles per hour.
Boomstick: He's pushed a gold statue about twice his size, and he's pretty tough, claiming his scales are impenetrable.
----
Spyro: So I'm electricity proof, too? I knew my scales were impenetrable, but now this?
----
Wiz: A bold claim, but let's look at the facts. Spyro once took a punch from this massive magma golem, which then lost its arm and replaced it with a cathedral tower. This cathedral is very similar in size to St. Stephen's Basilica, a Roman Catholic Church in Budapest, Hungary. By taking the height, length, and depth of the basilica, and adjusting for empty space, we can estimate the arm's mass to weigh over 400,000 tons. Assuming a low-end punching speed of 50 miles per hour, that of the average humans, the golem must have hit with at least 1.9 million tons of force.
Boomstick: And after getting all these powers, saving the dragons, and defeating the Dark Master himself, Spyro tapped into Aether one last time, to... LITERALLY pull the exploding planet back together! WHAT?! How the hell?! HOW?!
Wiz: I'd say a mix of the power of love, magic of friendship, and a smidgen of prophetic destiny.
Boomstick: Wiz, I want a pet dragon more than anything.
----
Spyro: It's a sad sight, Sparx. Another noble warrior falls victim to the plague of love. Just look away.
----
==Prelude==
==Death Battle==
Crash is seen running towards a few crates as he smashes all of them before bouncing and hitting his head on the last two crates before cheering in the air and crashing down face first on the ground. Spyro flies in as he wonders what Crash is doing.
Spyro: Weird... Uhh, what are you doing?
Just then, Sparx comes out and flies to Crash. Crash seems surprised, but then thinks that Sparx is an enemy. Not even a second later, Crash claps his hands on Sparx, killing him and abruptly stopping the music as he does so. Crash laughs, while Spyro looks on in horror.
Spyro: SPARX! NOOOOOO!!!
Enraged, Spyro then flies to Crash, the latter preparing a fighting stance. The PlayStation mascots then collide head-on, prepared for battle.
Spyro makes the first attack by trying to slash at Crash, who has managed to dodge both slashes and a tail whip before performing the Cyclone Spin as he sends the Purple Dragon flying back.
Spyro: Alright...
Crash does his victory dance while Spyro flies up in the air.
Spyro: You asked for it!
Spyro then unleashes his Fire Breath on the bandicoot as he shrieks and braces himself before Aku Aku appears to shield Crash from the Fire Breath before disappearing. Crash then runs up a mountain and jumps as he prepares to punch Spyro out of the air, but the Purple Dragon makes a fiery explosion that sends the Orange Bandicoot crashing towards the ground, landing on his back. He gets back up just as Spyro fires multiple fireballs at him, putting him on the run.
As Crash is fleeing, he then notices his Mech Suit and runs towards it. He jumps into the Mech Suit and starts to operate it, pointing the Mech's arm cannon towards Spyro and shooting out a Wumpa Fruit at Spyro, which the Dragon dodges as the fruit ends up splitting on the side of the mountain. Despite this, Spyro is thrown off slightly by what was shot at him.
Spyro: Wait a sec, was that a fruit?
Crash Bandicoot shoots more Wumpa Fruits at Spyro, who keeps dodging them all as he fires both his Fireballs and Electricity Breath, with each shot of Wumpa Fruits pushing Crash to the edge of the cliff. Spyro uses his Ice Breath to freeze the Mech Suit, then covers himself in an Armored Boulder and charges towards the frozen Bandicoot, destroying his Mech and knocking him off the edge.
Spyro: Woohoo! Strrrrike!
Suddenly, Crash flies up with the Copter Pack on his back.
Spyro: Where do you keep finding these things?
Crash then proceeds to fly toward Spyro and get behind him as he lands a few hits on the dragon before kicking Spyro in the face and sending him back. However, Spyro suddenly taps into the Dark Aether and transforms into Dark Spyro.
Dark Spyro: I'm done with this!
Both of them then process to charge into each other, but Dark Spyro is faster and destroys the Copter Pack, sending the bandicoot falling toward the ocean. Despite his situation, Crash simply smirks and relaxes as he falls, but Dark Spyro gets below him and fires his Dark Aether Breath from below. Aku Aku reappears to try and protect Crash by shielding his back from Dark Spyro's attack, but it is in vain as the Dark Aether Breath overpowers Aku Aku and disintegrates both him and Crash. With the deed done, Dark Spyro flies back to the cliff and looks behind him.
Dark Spyro: Nobody messes with me, pal.
Dark Spyro then flies off.
==Results==
Boomstick: I don't think Aku Aku's gonna pull Crash from the grave after that.
Wiz: Spyro had plenty of obvious advantages. His speedy flight let him control the pace of the battle, and his elemental arsenal gave him a much wider variety of attacks than Crash had ever seen in a one-on-one fight. Even with his extraordinary puzzle-solving skills, Crash was simply overwhelmed. But surprisingly, this wasn't nearly as one-sided as it looked on paper.
Boomstick: With the strength to throw an eight-ton boulder, Crash was actually stronger than Spyro, and both of them had survived impacts worth around two millions tons of force. How convenient! It's almost like they planned this all along.
Wiz: To be fair, we did have to lowball Spyro's durability against the golem's punch. However, both of them had shown durability which far exceeded much of their attack capability.
Boomstick: So even with his gadgets, Crash really didn't have a good way to hurt Spyro very much. But, the funny thing is, Spyro didn't have many attacks that could firmly hurt Crash, either. They were both just too tough.
Wiz: Well, until Spyro used the Aether Breath, which could literally break matter apart at an atomic level. Not even Aku Aku could save Crash from a beam that intense.
Boomstick: I guess Crash just couldn't spin this one.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Spyro the Dragon.
==Original Tracks==
Off-Brandicoot HQ.jpg|Off-Brandicoot
Crash and Burn HQ.jpg|Crash and Burn
===Compositions===
The tracks for this fight are "Off-Brandicoot" and "Crash and Burn", both by Brandon Yates. The first track starts the fight with music reminiscent of tracks heard in Crash Bandicoot games, but after Crash kills Sparx, it switches to the second track, which is a rock track accompanied by marimba beats and triumphant brass blasts.
===Titles===
"Off-Brandicoot" is a pun on both the term "off-brand" and Crash's species. "Crash and Burn" references Crash's name and Spyro's ability to breathe fire, as well as the playable level of the same name in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
===Cover Arts===
The cover art of "Off-Brandicoot" simply depicts Crash's eyes, eyebrows, and nose, while the cover art of "Crash and Burn" depicts the same thing, only on fire and with the nose and eyebrows completely white instead of black. Both were done by Luis Cruz.
==Trivia==
===Production===
*The core connections between Crash and Spyro are that they are both iconic video game animal protagonists and former PlayStation mascots from the 1990s, which caused them to become rivals. In addition:
**Both have gone on their adventures with the help of a flying sidekick who can protect them (Aku Aku and Sparx, respectively).
**Both have an attribute that made them immune to the villain's plot (Crash was too dumb to be brainwashed by Neo Cortex whilst Spyro was too small to be hit by Gnasty Gnorc's spell).
**Both have been voiced by Jess Harnell and were designed by Charles Zembillas.
**Both received remastered collections of their first three games in the late 2010s (the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, respectively).
**Both appear in numerous media together:
***They've interacted in the Skylanders series (specifically in Skylanders: Imaginators and Skylanders Academy), with Boomstick even alluding to this crossover in the post-analysis.
***Both have fought each other previously in the crossover games Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy. However, their battle in them ended in a stalemate as the two heroes decided to team up instead.
***Spyro made a cameo in Crash Twinsanity and appears as a playable character in the Game Boy Advance version of Crash Nitro Kart, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, and Crash Team Rumble.
***Conversely, Crash has made cameos in the DS version of A New Beginning and the console version of The Eternal Night.
**Both had demo codes for each other's games (Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash Team Racing, and Crash Bash had demos for the first three Spyro games, and vice versa).
*This is the first episode to have a storyboarded fight. The storyboards can be viewed here and here.
*This episode was planned in the early days of Death Battle and was originally planned to air in the proposed Season 2 (which ended up being an extended Season 1).
*This is the second episode to have two original tracks rather than just one, after Bowser VS Ganon, and with the next one being Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia.
*In a case of the Death Battle Curse striking, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy was announced/leaked a week before the episode was released.
===Easter Eggs===
*During the fight, while Crash uses his Copter Pack, he mimics Ken Masters' critical art from Street Fighter V: Guren Enjinkyaku.
===Errors===
*While the post-analysis says Crash and Spyro both had durability feats equivalent to two million tons of force, Crash's analysis says that his feat was worth two million tons of TNT. Whether this means that Crash's feat was much higher but accidentally equalized, or similar to Spyro's but was accidentally presented as higher in his analysis, is unclear.
===Other===
*This is the second Insomniac VS Naughty Dog-themed episode, after Ratchet & Clank VS Jak & Daxter.
*This is the third PlayStation-themed episode, after Ratchet & Clank VS Jak & Daxter and Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake.
*This is the second Microsoft-themed episode, after Master Chief VS Doomguy, and with the next one being Master Chief VS Doom Slayer.
*This is the sixth episode in which only one combatant received a voice actor, after Mario VS Sonic (2011), Luke Skywalker VS Harry Potter, Eggman VS Wily, Hulk VS Doomsday, and Lucario VS Renamon, and with the next four being Blake VS Mikasa, Link VS Cloud (2021), Boba Fett VS Predator, and Skyrim VS Dark Souls.
*This is the fourth episode to have an original track with a single-word title, after Goku VS Superman 2, Wolverine VS Raiden, and Meta VS Carolina, and with the next 10 being Captain Marvel VS Shazam, All Might VS Might Guy, Hulk VS Broly, Saitama VS Popeye, Skyrim VS Dark Souls, Phoenix VS Raven, Cole MacGrath VS Alex Mercer, Rick Sanchez VS The Doctor, Goku VS Superman (2023), and Galactus VS Unicron.
Category:'1990s' themed Death Battles
Category:'Rivalry' themed Death Battles
Category:'Mascots' themed Death Battles
Category:'Video Games' themed Death Battles
Category:'Protagonists' themed Death Battles
Category:'Heroes' themed Death Battles
Category:'Animals' themed Death Battles
Category:Death Battles
Category:Fights animated by Torrian
Category:3D animated Death Battles
Category:Season 5 episodes
Category:'Company' themed Death Battles
Category:'Eponymous Characters' themed Death Battles
Category:Fights with voice actors
Category:'Magic VS Technology' themed Death Battles
Category:Death Battles with cameo appearances