Crash Bandicoot

The Crash Bandicoot series is a popular series of video games for Sony PlayStation and other video game consoles. It was originally a straightforward platformer for the PlayStation, and has since expanded to the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox with various spin-off games in different genres.
== Character Info ==
==The platformers==
The first three Crash games, as well as several subsequent Crash games, were platform games.
===Gameplay===
The core gameplay in the Crash Bandicoot series is simple, but entertaining and quite addictive nonetheless.There are Aku Aku copy masks sparsely scattered throughout the levels. Collecting an Aku Aku mask while Crash already has one turns the one he has gold. Collecting another mask while Crash has a gold one grants Crash limited-time invincibility, after which the mask reverts to being gold. Getting hit will reduce the mask from gold to normal or from normal to nothing. If Crash gets hit when he does not have a mask, he will meet his end in a sometimes comical animation.
In some of the Crash platformers, not including the original, some levels have a skull platform. Stepping on it brings Crash to a difficult part of the level. To be able to use the platform, Crash must not have died before reaching it. The benefit to stepping on a skull platform is the acquisition of special game items called gems.
Obstacles in Crash's path include animal-like creatures and other badguys; Dr. Neo Cortex's henchmen, dressed in labcoats; various machinery; and physical barriers. To surmount these, Crash can use his jump move and his spin attack. In Crash platformers after the first, he can also do a body slam, slide, duck, crawl, and perform an extra-high jump by sliding or ducking and then jumping. In Crash platformers after the second, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash can also collect a special move after defeating each boss.
===Crates===
There are crates scattered throughout the levels. Most crates contain some bonus. Some have wumpa fruits in them, and collecting 100 of the game's "Wumpa fruits" gives the player an extra life. Others have Aku Aku masks or Extra Lives.
The player can get one gem per level by breaking all of the crates in one level. Most gems are white, but some are colored. In the original Crash Bandicoot, but in none of its sequels, some gems acquired by breaking all of a level's boxes are colored. The remaining white and colored gems must be collected by finding and touching them. They are invariably positioned in an area that is difficult to reach.
In addition to crates that provide bonuses, there are also TNT crates. If Crash attacks one, he loses a life. If he jumps on one, a short countdown is started, after which the TNT crate explodes. Some TNT crates are useful to clear obstacles. Some crates have on them an arrow pointing upwards. Landing on one will spring Crash into the air, much like a trampoline does.
With the exception of the original, there are Nitro crates in all Crash platformers. If Crash touches one, he loses a life. Attacking a metal, green crate with an exclamation mark on it destroys all of a level's Nitro crates.
Also present in all Crash platformers except for the original are normal crates that are protected by a metal gridlock surrounding their edges normally destroyed by using the body slam move.
Beginning with the third Crash game, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, some crates are shifting crates. They shift among different kinds of crates. The rate at which a shifting crate changes gradually increases, until finally the crate becomes metallic and indestructible.
==Mascot==
The original Crash Bandicoot was one of the earliest 3D platformers and was a major seller. Sony unofficially made Crash the mascot for the PlayStation. 
Crash is often compared to Mario, as both of them were mascots of their respective consoles. Both the original Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64 were early 3D platformers. After the first three Crash games, much like Mario before him, Crash branched out, starring in a racing game, analogous to Super Mario Kart, and a party game, analogous to Mario Party. All of this contributed to the perception that Crash is Sony's equivalent of Mario. However, with the release of Crash games on other platforms, this is no longer the case.
Crash was also influential in reviving the character archetype of an anthropomorphic animal starring in a platform game. This practice was pioneered by Sonic the Hedgehog a few years earlier and achieved improved popularity during and after the Crash era with characters such as Blinx, Sly Cooper, and Spyro the Dragon. However, it should be noted that animal mascots littered the 16-bit era with such characters as Bubsy the Bobcat, Aero the Acrobat, Awesome Possum, Mr. Nutz, and others. The impact of Crash on future animal mascot games is debatable (especially now that Crash's popularity has, ironically, "crashed" in recent years).
==Developers==
The first four Crash Bandicoot games were developed by Naughty Dog. Crash Bash was developed by Eurocom. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Crash Twinsanity were developed by Traveller's Tales. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (Crash Bandicoot XS in Europe), Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash: Purple (Crash Bandicoot Fusion in Europe) have all been developed by Vicarious Visions and finally Crash Tag Team Racing was developed by Radical Entertainment. Almost all of the Crash titles were published by Universal Interactive Studios (later Universial Interactive, now known as Vivendi Universal Games).
Even though the games were originally published by Sony for the PlayStation, Vivendi Universal Games owns the copyrights to the games and characters, which is why multiple developers have worked with the property, and why games have been released for Nintendo and Microsoft consoles.
Many fans consider the Naughty Dog games the best of the series. The games that have not been made by Naughty Dog have not received that much critical hype, aside from the Vicarious Visions games. While they have not fare critically as well as the Naughty Dog games, they still have received praise from fans due to Vicarious Visions sticking to the original Crash formula.
==Installments==
*Crash Bandicoot (PlayStation - 1996)
*Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PlayStation - 1997)
*Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PlayStation - 1998)
*Crash Team Racing (US) / Crash Bandicoot Racing (Japan) (PlayStation - 1999)
*Crash Bash (US) / Crash Bandicoot Carnival (Japan) (PlayStation - 2000)
*Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox - 2001)
*Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (US) / Crash Bandicoot X/S (UK) (Game Boy Advance - 2002)
*Crash Bandicoot: N-Tranced (Game Boy Advance - 2003)
*Crash Nitro Kart (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, GameBoy Advance, N-Gage, Mobile - 2003)
*Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage / Crash Bandicoot Fusion (UK) (GameBoy Advance, 2004)
*Crash Twinsanity (PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mobile - 2004)
*Crash Tag Team Racing (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS (cancelled) - 2005)
*Crash Festival (Nintendo DS - 2006)
== Love Interests ==
In the first Crash Game, Crash had a crush on Tawna Bandicoot. However, after he rescues her from Cortex, they both broke up and Pinstripe and Tawna got together. Crash now lives with his sister Coco. However, in Crash Tag Team Racing, Pasadena appeared to be sexually interested with Crash. Whenever she flirted with him he made throwing up sounds. It seems that sometimes Pasadena is kidding about her apparent interests in Crash. It is unsure if Crash has feelings for her, as he often switches to being disturbed by her interests, and suddenly showing interest himself, swooning and making moves (that ironically Pasadena does not comprehend). But some fans make Pasadena a new love interest with Crash.
==Cameos==
* Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PlayStation - 2000) - In the level Haunted Tomb, an Egyptian dog asks Spyro a riddle. Spyro is given three possible answers. One of them is a bandicoot (a reference to Crash).
* Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PlayStation 2 - 2001) - While Naughty Dog can't include any characters from the Crash series since Vivendi Universal owns the franchise, there are some references to the Crash series. For example, Jak's spin is similar to Crash's spin. In addition, in Samos' hut at the beginning of the game, there is a large "snapper plant", one of the best known enemies from the Crash series.
* Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy / Spyro Fusion (UK) (Game Boy Advance - 2004) - This is basically the same game as Crash Bandicoot Purple, but told from Spyro's perspective, so Crash obviously makes a lot of appearances in the game's story.
==Crash in pop culture==
In The Simpsons episode "Lisa gets an A", Dash Dingo an obvious spoof of Crash Bandicoot 2. The villain in the game projects himself as a hologram in a circular room before Dash, which is a parody on Crash Bandicoot 2's warp room holograms. A tweaked-out soundtrack is used, sounding uncannily similar to the games.
In the Angel episode "Power Play", Illyria and Drogyn are seen playing Crash Bandicoot on an Xbox. Unable to quite get the hang of it Illyria remarks, "I play this game. It is pointless, and annoys me. Yet I am compelled to keep playing."
In the Friends Episode, "The One With Monica's Thunder", Joey is preparing to audition for the part of a nineteen year old. As he greets Chandler in his "teenage" attire. Chandler can be seen playing Crash Team Racing on a PlayStation. (Hot Air Skyway, for the track name.)
In the movie Baby Geniuses, Crash can be seen in a clothing shop in a game screen.
In an episode of "The Weakest Link", there was a question about a fictional video game character, that turned out to end up with the answer 'Crash Bandicoot'!
In the Family Guy special "Stewie Griffin's Untold Story", news anchor Tom Tucker is playing a 'Crash Bandicoot' game (supposedly in a GameBoy Advance) as he says "Take that, Crash Bandicoot!".
In the Dawson's Creek episode "Four to Tango", Dawson unexpectedly finds Pacey in his room in the middle of the schoolday. Pacey's excuse is that he's playing Crash Bandicoot.
==See also==
*List of video game mascots
==External links==
* Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot site
* Vivendi Universal's official Crash Bandicoot site
* Crash Bandicoot Series at MobyGames
* Ultimate Bandicoot: Your Source to Everything Crash Bandicoot
* Crash Bandicoot forum: companion site to The Crash Place
*Crash Mania, a site with every fact and all the info about the Crash Bandicoot franchise.
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