Crash Bandicoot (series)

Crash Bandicoot is a series of platform video games developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. Initially created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, the series was developed for its first four years by the video game company Naughty Dog. Since then, the series has been given to numerous developers before finally settling at Radical Entertainment. The series spans 16 games as of 2009.

The games are mostly set in the fictitious Wumpa Islands, an archipelago situated to the south of Australia, although other locations are common. The main games in the series are largely platformers, but several are spin-offs in different genres. The protagonist of the series is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot named Crash, whose quiet life on the Wumpa Islands is often interrupted by the games' main antagonist, Doctor Neo Cortex, who created Crash and now wants nothing more than his demise. It's usually up to Crash to defeat Cortex and foil any world domination plans he might have.

The Crash Bandicoot series has been a commercial success, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.

Common gameplay elements
Crash Bandicoot is a fairly straightforward platforming series. The goal of each level is to guide Crash from the beginning to the end, travelling either into the screen, towards the player or left and right in a side-scrolling manner. Several levels place Crash in unique situations which require the use of motorbikes, jet skis, submarines and various wild animals to reach the level's end.

In the original Crash Bandicoot, Crash's moveset is rather limited; he can run, jump and spin his way through treacherous environments and hostile creatures. Cortex Strikes Back introduces several new moves for Crash to utilise, including a high jump, body slam and slide attack. Warped expands on this by awarding the player with new abilities after each boss is defeated, which is also used in The Wrath of Cortex.

Collectibles
The most common collectible in the series is Wumpa Fruit, which is found on the main path of most levels, as well as inside most crates. Collecting 100 Wumpa Fruits will award the player an extra life. Wumpa Fruit takes on other uses in most spin-off titles, such as restoring health in certain Crash Bash levels and increasing weapon power in Crash Team Racing. In recent titles, Wumpa Fruit is used to replenish Crash's health, with Mojo effectively replacing it as the new main collectible item.

The other major recurring valuables Crash finds on his adventures include Gems and Crystals. Most Gems in the series are won by breaking open every crate in a level. Starting with Cortex Strikes Back, an additional five coloured Gems can be obtained by completing special tasks or finding hidden areas. Crash Twinsanity contains six colored Gems per level, most of which are earned by solving a small puzzle. Crystals play a key role in the plot of most Crash games, and are always found in plain sight (they must be collected in order to complete the level).

Less common collectibles of note are Trophies, which are the reward for completing a stage in Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash and Crash Nitro Kart, and Relics. Relics appear in Warped and Wrath of Cortex as the prize for beating a level's Time Trial mode. This mode is unlocked by re-entering a level after having completed it once.

Crates
Crates come in several varieties and can be found in abundance across Crash's world. Most crates will assist the player's journey through the game, providing Wumpa Fruit, additional hit points in the form of Aku Aku masks and extra lives. In most games, players will be awarded a gem if they break all the crates in a level.

TNT and Nitro Crates are the only boxes that can damage Crash. TNT Crates have a three second fuse when jumped on, but Nitro Crates will explode instantly upon any contact with Crash or anything else that runs into them. Switch Boxes (distinguished by an exclamation mark) are used to make previously invisible crates appear. A green Switch Box will detonate all Nitro Crates in the level.

Crates marked with a "C" are checkpoints that Crash will return to if he is killed during play. Steel Crates are protected by a metal casing that can only be destroyed with the body slam move. Slot Boxes rapidly switch between multiple types of crates, and if they are not broken in time, will become metallic and indestructible. Time Boxes are a special crate found exclusively in Time Trial mode. They will freeze the clock for the number of seconds displayed on the box, increasing the player's chance of beating the time trial.

Publishers and 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 and its division Traveller's Tales Oxford, respectively. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (Crash Bandicoot XS in Europe), Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (Crash Bandicoot Fusion in Europe) have all been developed by Vicarious Visions. Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant were developed by Radical Entertainment and Crash Boom Bang! was developed by Dimps. The first five Crash titles were published by Sony as well as the games being produced by Universal Interactive Studios. Wrath of Cortex was published by Konami and Universal Interactive Studios. All of the other Crash titles were published by Universal Interactive Studios (now known as Vivendi Games). Konami also published and distributed some Japanese-released Crash Bandicoot games for the Japanese Market.

The first five Crash games were exclusives to the Sony PlayStation. Since then, multiple developers have worked with the property and games have been released for Nintendo and Microsoft consoles, in addition to Sony.

Reception and legacy
The Crash series has been a commercial success. As of 2008, the series altogether has sold more than 40 million copies. According to Gamasutra, the first Crash Bandicoot game has sold 6.8 million copies as of November 2003, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation game of all time. Cortex Strikes Back sold 3.87 million copies in the U.S., while Warped sold 3.76 million. The last two games on the PlayStation console, Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash, sold 1.9 million and 1.1 million copies in the U.S. respectively. The only individual non-PlayStation Crash game to break the one-million mark in sales is the PlayStation 2 version of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which sold 1.95 million copies in the U.S.

The Crash Bandicoot series is one of the few Western video game series to find blockbuster success in Japan. Cortex Strikes Back and Warped sold 1.3 and 1.4 million copies in the country respectively, while the PlayStation 2 version of Wrath of Cortex sold 203,000 copies.