Crash Bandicoot

Crash Bandicoot is the main protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series. Originally named Willie the Wombat, he is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot living life on N. Sanity Island, who was captured and evolved by Doctor Neo Cortex.

Throughout the series, Cortex is Crash's usual arch-enemy and is always defeated by Crash in order to keep peace around the island.

Crash is often accompanied by his ally, Aku Aku, the secondary protagonist. In the earlier games, he tended to say "Whoa!" whenever he got killed. In the later games, he spoke gibberish with a very basic knowledge of the language spoken in the game.

Creation
first seen in Doctor Neo Cortex's and Doctor Nitrus Brio's lab. (later, Cortex tells Crash that Brio forced him in his evil plan). He was created by them with the Evolvo-Ray, but when the two doctors put Crash under the Cortex Vortex (despite Brio's warnings that the machine was not ready), it failed to turn Crash evil as Crash proved to be immune to it. Cortex gives chase after Crash trying to recapture him, only to find Crash running out a window and falling into the sea. Even though Cortex failed, he knows Crash will come back, as the bandicoot had a girlfriend named Tawna Bandicoot, who was also evolved. Crash goes on a huge adventure to save his love and put a stop to Cortex's plans.

Encountering Aku Aku & Cortex Castle Incident
Not long after Crash sets off he comes across a witch doctor mask, Aku Aku, who watches over him and protects him from various perils. On Crash's adventure he confronts bosses who are determined to keep Crash from getting through: the obese tribe chief Papu Papu (who surprisingly is not affiliated with Cortex and simply fought Crash for waking him from his slumber) in his hut, the insane kangaroo, Ripper Roo at the top of a creek, the muscle bound Koala Kong in a mine shaft, Cortex's bodyguard Pinstripe Potoroo in his office in the Cortex Power refinery, Doctor Nitrus Brio in his own potions room and finally the mad scientist, Doctor Neo Cortex himself, on his hoverboard, who is faced on his airship. Crash spins, redirecting Cortex's laser blasts back at his hover board and falling to his apparent doom while Crash and Tawna are seen together at last.

The couple takes the airship and they fly into the sunset. In the alternate (Non-Canon) ending, instead of confronting Cortex, Crash uses all the gems to get to the balcony where Tawna and the same kind of bird as in Slippery Climb (except friendly) are there. The three ride off into the night as the epilogue rolls, stating each boss Crash defeated has changed for the better and Cortex hasn't been heard of for a while, but it hints a sequel by stating "However, evil geniuses are harder to squash than cockroaches...".

One Year Later
A year later, Crash is relaxing in the woods with his little sister Coco Bandicoot, who wakes him from his nap and asks him to find a new laptop battery for her. However, he is soon abducted and to his surprise, by Doctor Cortex to a Warp Room, who claims to have changed his ways, as he states that he feels a written invitation would have been turned down. Cortex asks Crash to gather the twenty-five Crystals to stop a deadly 'Planetary Alignment'.

Meanwhile, Nitrus Brio, angry at Cortex for replacing him with Doctor N. Gin, asks Crash to gather the forty-two Gems instead to destroy Cortex's space station and warns Crash that he will use strong forces to stop him from gathering crystals. As Crash couldn't collect everything on his own, he got his pet polar bear Polar to help him with a few of the collectables.

Coco also hacks into Cortex's communications and is suspicious of Cortex's true plans. Every 5 crystals Crash collects grants him access the platform to take him to the room above.

However, Crash must defeat a boss to enter. Collecting five gives him a rematch with Ripper Roo, ten has him face off against the Komodo Brothers, fifteen allows him to outsmart Tiny Tiger (all three working for N. Brio) and twenty enables him to confront N. Gin. (Who Cortex initially wants Crash to give his current amount of crystals to.) When Crash collects all twenty-five crystals, Cortex reveals his true intention, which is to use the planetary alignment for world domination with his new and improved Cortex Vortex.

Crash gives chase to Cortex by jet pack in space. Cortex has to out-fly Crash by placing obstacles to slow him down, and passing a blue barrier to activate his force field, so it'll be impossible for Crash to stop him. However, Crash, being faster, dodges all obstacles in his way and spins Cortex three times, destroying his jetpack and sending him flying into deep space.

Crash returns home where he's relaxing on the beach with Coco who informs him that Cortex is still a threat as his Space Station, the Cortex Vortex, is still operational, meaning he was not done yet. Crash finally gathers all 42 gems, which Brio uses to build a powerful laser to destroy the Cortex Vortex, and Crash activates the laser. Along with Brio and Coco, he watches the station explode to pieces. In this game, Crash along with jump and spin can also perform a belly flop, crawl, slide and high jump and spin jump.

The Time Crises
The remains of the Cortex Vortex hurdles into Earth's atmosphere and destroys the prison holding a great evil.

Meanwhile Crash, Aku Aku, Polar and Coco are relaxing until Aku Aku hears evil laughter booming, revealing that to be Uka Uka, his evil twin brother. Seeing that he's free, Aku Aku takes Crash and Coco to use Doctor Nefarious Tropy's Time Twister (While Polar looks after the house.), to gather the powerful Crystals (before Cortex does so) which are scattered across time.

4 of the 5 chambers are locked so the duo head for the remaining one chamber. Coco used her pet tiger Pura to get a few collectables. Crash and Coco gather 5 crystals and Crash outsmarts Tiny Tiger yet again and earns the super belly flop power-up, 10 crystals sent Crash to beat Dingodile and earn the Double Jump power-up, 15 crystals allowed Crash to knockout Tropy and earn the Death Tornado Spin power-up and 20 crystals got Coco (with Pura's help halfway) to shoot down N.Gin and earn the Fruit Bazooka power-up for Crash.

After collecting all 25 crystals Crash and Aku Aku do battle against Cortex and Uka Uka. Crash and Aku Aku come out on top and Crash earns the Crash Dash power-up. However they're not done yet as Cortex and Uka Uka still have the 42 gems scattered. Crash and Aku Aku then have a rematch with Cortex and Uka Uka, now with all 42 gems, and defeat them for good as the Time-Twister Machine, unable to hold itself together, implodes on itself trapping the evil duo plus Dr N. Tropy as prisoners of time.

While Crash, Coco and their respective pets relax round the fire, Aku Aku congratulates them for having saved the world once more. In this game Crash receives power ups to enhance his abilities after defeating a boss and can revisit any level once the crystal is collected to enter time trial mode to earn Relics.

Survival of the Fastest Crisis
Crash appears as a playable character in Crash Team Racing, in which he drives a blue go kart. He is a All-Rounder racer with equal Turning, Acceleration and Top Speed. Besides Crash himself, Fake Crash, Dr. Neo Cortex, Komodo Joe and Nitros Oxide are also All-Rounder racers (supposedly because of their engine sound).

The beginning starts with people racing at Coco Park with Oxide's cameras watching them where he then announces from his spaceship that he has arrived to challenge the best of earth. If he or she is to lose the world will be turned into a concrete parking lot and the characters will become his slaves.

The cutscene goes on to show everyone preparing for the races in which Crash Bandicoot is sleeping on the grass. This is the first game that he isn't really the main protagonist but Crash is still there.

This is due to the fact that adventure can be played by any character, (With the exception of Reese who could only be unlocked if the story was completed). So the player power-slides and boosts their way through races to win trophies to battle the bosses of each world which they give you keys to race Oxide, while even going as far as to racing Reese in the 30b.

After defeating Oxide with Reese, a cutscene comes where he states he wants a rematch once the player collects his time relics. After both he and Reese beats him again the credits roll.

First Elemental Crises
Cortex is in his new Space Station with N.Gin, N.Tropy, Dingodile and Tiny where Uka Uka is yelling at them for failure to eliminate Crash. It turns out Cortex has almost completed a super weapon to eliminate Crash but needed an ideal power source. Once Uka Uka mentioned the Elemental Masks, everyone agreed that this was how to permanently put an end to the orange marsupial, Crash was about to face the wrath of Cortex. Meanwhile Crash, Coco, Aku Aku and Pura are having a day in the beach. Aku Aku is taking in some sun, Pura is building a sand castle, and Coco is riding a jet ski, with Crash attached to the back surfing. Suddenly, the earth is stunned by great disasters, such as a volcano eruption landslides, storms and tidal waves. Crash and company are caught in one of these, and Aku Aku deduces that his evil brother, Uka Uka, is behind these attacks. He goes to the Space Temple where the brothers have a discussion. There, Uka Uka shows Aku Aku that he has awoken the Elementals, 4 powerful masks, each one controlling one of the four elements. Aku Aku is attacked by the Elementals and is forced to escape. Back in Bandicoot home, Aku Aku tells Crash and Coco about this terrible menace. He then asks Coco about her VR (Virtual Reality) Hub System, a machine that allows the user to travel to different parts of the world. Aku Aku's plan is to use the device in order to seek the Power Crystals. If five crystals are together, an elemental mask could be put back in a state of hibernation. With the machine finished Crash and Coco use it to gather the crystals.

Cortex reveals himself to Crash and introduces him to his newest creation, a super bandicoot named Crunch, and taunts him saying he's no match for him. After gathering 5 crystals, Crash and Aku Aku bury Crunch and the elemental mask of earth Rok-ko, earning the Tip Toe power up. After gathering 10 crystals he and Aku Aku wash out Crunch and the elemental mask of water, Wa-Wa, earning the Double Jump power-up.

With 15 crystals gathered, Crash and Aku Aku toast Crunch and the elemental mask of fire, Py-Ro, and earn the Death Tornado power-up. Having gathered 20 crystals, Crash and Aku Aku fly circles round Crunch and the elemental mask of air, Lo-Lo, and earn the Fruit Bazooka power-up.

Finally, Crash gathers all 25 crystals, but these are used to open a way to the Cortex's Space Station, where Crash and Aku Aku confront Crunch ultimately, after being attacked with the power of all the elemental masks plus Cortex and Uka Uka. Crash earns the Crash Dash power up for him and Coco and with Aku Aku leaves Crunch unconscious and Cortex complaining to Uka Uka who's telling him there are still the gems which they can use to resurrect the Elementals.

While re-visiting a location and exploring a previously inaccessible path, Coco finds the Super Belly Flop power up for Crash and her to use to find the rest of the gems. With all 46 gems at hand, Crash ultimately knocks Crunch unconscious, only to wake up finally free from Cortex's control.

Cortex complains again having under-estimated Crash again while he and Aku Aku are watching in disgrace as Uka Uka gets angry and attempts to shoot Cortex but shoots at the engine instead resulting in a self destruction sequence due to Cortex ducking out of range. Coco arrives just in time to pick up Crash, Aku Aku and Crunch before the station explodes. Back at the Bandicoot home Crunch is grateful to the Bandicoot family and is especially grateful to Crash for freeing him from Cortex, so he decides to join the family from then on. As for Cortex he declares revenge on Crash while being chased by a very angry Uka Uka stranded on an iceberg.

In this game he shares the Crash Dash and Super Belly Flop power ups with Coco only Coco stomps instead of belly flopping like Crash. Also they use vehicles to navigate tricky terrain.

Galaxy Circuit
In the year 2003, Crash and the rest of his friends is abducted by Emperor Velo XXVII and forced to compete in the Galaxy Circuit.

Though during the races Crash along side Coco and Crunch are shocked and stunned when he sees Reese on Team Cortex, rather on his team, and has tried multiple times after every race to get Reese to come race along side his team like he did during the Survival of the Fastest Crises 3 years ago in 1999, but each attempt tragically fails as Reese sadly denies refusing to answer any questions to either Crash, Coco or Crunch, but it was eventually discovered and revealed by Crunch that Reese was forced to side along side Team Cortex for blackmail after threatening to reveal to the Emperor that Reese is no longer from the actual Universe, where Reese would soon cease too exist and will be forced to return back to the PROJECT Universe.

After learning this, Crash had secretly came up with an Idea to race for Reese's loyalty on a track back on Terra, for him to return to his team with Coco actually being the one who wanted to be the one to race him.

The Race at Jungle Boogie ended in a draw and Crash's plan worked as Reese shooed Cortex off and returned to Team Bandicoot much to the delight of Crash himself.

When Velo relinquishes his power to Crash, the latter seriously considers the possibility of ruling over Velo's empire, but decides to turn Velo down and leaves him with his empire.

Evil Twin Crisis
It has been three years since Crash got Cortex stranded on an iceberg. Now he's relaxing in the beach while Coco is playing with a butterfly until Cortex shows up, paralysing her with his gun, he then disguises himself as Coco and leads Crash to the bay. Once there Cortex takes off the disguise and battles with Crash while the friends are watching. Crash wins so Cortex sends his last creation, Mecha Bandicoot, to battle Crash. He wins again but unfortunately the robot explodes, Cortex loses control of his hover board and bumps into Crash, falling into the pit. Frustrated, Cortex and Crash fight and roll deeper into the mines where they find a power crystal.

Now they're forced to work together to get out while fighting over the power crystal they found.

Once out, their alliance extends because of the threat of the Evil Twins who have travelled from the 10th dimension to take over the islands. Later during the day Cortex gets kidnapped by Papu Papu and his tribe, forcing Crash to rescue him and finding 2 more crystals along the way.

Together with Aku Aku they journey to Cortex's Iceberg Lab finding, yet another crystal and also finding Uka Uka along the way, who joins them to defeat the Twins.

At the heart of the lab, Cortex unveils his latest invention, the Psychetron.

He explains to Crash that they'll use this machine to confront and defeat the evil twins in their dimension, plus steal their riches, but they're short on power crystals as they need 6 crystals to power it but only have 4. So they journey round the mountain and successfully find 2 crystals. Unfortunately Coco shows up thinking Cortex kidnapped Crash and gives him the boot resulting with the crystals flying into the Psychetron and the machine zapping and paralyzing Coco for a long time but temporarily. So Crash and Cortex take the airship to pickup Nina Cortex (Neo's niece) at the Academy of Evil. On the way back they manage to obtain 2 crystals, enough to power up the Psychetron, and head for the 10th Dimension.

Once there the three realize that this dimension is quite different to theirs, such as the sky, sea and snow being purple instead of blue and the sand being brown instead of yellow and everything being the complete opposite to what they're used to. Cortex is seen hugging Crash (or so he thinks) because of his warm, soft fur.

Crash and Nina are seen backing away as his look-a-like growls at Cortex who then realizes he's hugging the 10th dimensional Crash known as Evil Crash. He then proceeds to kidnap Nina and head for the mountain top. With Crash and Cortex not far behind. Crash and Cortex then catch up to Evil Crash who chases Cortex after he demands he let Nina go and take him instead. Eventually Crash,Cortex and Nina give Evil Crash the slip and reach the Evil Twins Lair, Ant Agony.

They banter and fight them in their improved bird cage, Crash runs off and Cortex is in shock making Nina attack first by disabling the robot's power supply. She gets tired so Cortex goes next to destroy their cannons. The twins pull out a buzz saw and lightsaber, leaving Cortex even more shocked. At this point, Crash returns and is in control of Mecha Bandicoot which ends the fight, causing the Twins to flee, only to end up being food for Evil Crash while Crash, Cortex and Nina return to the 1st dimension where Cortex tries to get rid of Crash with the Psychetron, only for it to malfunction and send him into Crash's brain. Crash doesn't think of it too much and picks his ear.

Personality
Naughty Dog once referenced the development of Crash as a character both 'goofy yet heroic', and being able to portray it well. Originally however, he took the role of a silent protagonist and thus expressed little of his personality or opinions (a trait developer Jason Rubin later claimed to regret), though in more recent games he has played a larger role.

Crash's personality is hard to pinpoint, sometimes varying from game to game. Throughout the series, he has always been shown to be willing to help and is very attentive to others. But overall, he has a rather wacky, cartoonish personality, in simple terms, he is a tornado. His demented behavior was in fact extended to actual sadism/masochism in Crash Tag Team Racing, in which he took pleasure in torturing innocent animals, park drones, and even himself (it should be noted that the game is criticized for its over-caricaturisation or even complete change in character personalities). Despite this however, Crash is usually kindhearted and laid back, rarely showing true sorrow or anger (though he detests evil, such as Cortex), though he is also rather simple, to some fans almost to the point of stupidity and lack of awareness.

Crash is a very emotional character who is quick to laugh and quick to cry. While he has a danger-loving, fearless nature and loves a good fight, he prefers relaxing in the sun and rarely seeks out trouble deliberately. To the ire of Crunch and the amusement of Coco, in the Radical games, Crash is prone to impolite personal habits such as belching or scratching his posterior. Crash is also easily distracted, as seen in Twinsanity when he has to catch Cortex. He is also fairly oblivious to his surroundings but this could be because of his literacy, though he's easily distracted by a falling Wumpa Fruit. As shown in Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash seems to be somewhat impulsive, demonstrated in Die-o-Ramas, Crash spins a tree making it fall and crush him, standing on railings with gears behind him, and spinning dangerous equipment.

Crash's intelligence level is something of a question, since he is illiterate and Aku even made a comment that brain damage was "not much of a danger to Crash". However, this may have been a tease, especially since he is shown to be smart enough to prevent Cortex's attempts at ditching him in Twinsanity and has been able to outsmart various bosses far more powerful than himself in the past. Things he does that seem dumb could best be attributed to his obvious immaturity and impulsive nature. His illiteracy is probably just because he sees no reason to speak English, especially since Aku can understand him anyway. His sense of right and wrong is also intact, he helps out those in need and though Cortex has numerously tried to destroy him, Crash did not object to teaming up with him.

Appearance
Crash generally appears as an orange humanoid-marsupial with a black nose, thick eyebrows, green eyes and reddish-brown hair on his head, styled into a typical mohawk. Crash's main attire consists of a pair of blue denim jeans(which gained metal plates on the knees in Twinsanity), pink boxers with red hearts on them, and a pair of red or silver Chuck Taylor All-stars Converses, though he can don other attires when needed, such as scuba diving gear, a biker's jacket, and numerous others. Crash can also be seen with fingerless gloves.

Trivia

 * Crash was originally named Willy Wombat and was created as a much bulkier character. During production of the first game, the marketing director of Universal Interactive Studios insisted that Crash be named "Wez", "Wuzzles" or "Wizzy the Wombat". Crash was given his final name due to his tendency to smash crates. He was also given his name from the fact that the name Willy Wombat was already trademarked and that if Universal didn't accept Crash Bandicoot then Naughty Dog would drop the project...


 * Crash seems to be pure of heart, meaning he's immune to mind control as shown when the Cortex Vortex failed to turn him evil in Crash Bandicoot and when the N.V. electrocuted him every time he touched it in Mind Over Mutant...