Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot is a video game franchise created by Naughty Dog as a flagship title for Sony's PlayStation console. The series began with the development of the first game in 1994, inspired by the emerging capabilities of 3D consoles and games like Donkey Kong Country. The protagonist, initially conceived as "Willy the Wombat", evolved into Crash Bandicoot, a goofy, genetically mutated eastern barred bandicoot who escapes the clutches of the mad scientist Doctor Neo Cortex. The original trilogy—completed by Cortex Strikes Back and Warped —along with the kart racing game Crash Team Racing, received critical praise for their vibrant visuals and polished gameplay. After Naughty Dog's departure following Crash Team Racing due to creative exhaustion and ownership issues, the franchise transitioned from Sony exclusivity to multiplatform releases under multiple developers and publishers, including Universal Interactive, Vivendi Games, and eventually Activision.
Gameplay centers on 3D platforming with a linear or hub-based level progression. Players control Crash through linear, obstacle-filled levels viewed primarily from a third-person perspective, with occasional shifts to a side-scrolling perspective and levels in which Crash flees a pursuing hazard by running toward the screen. Core mechanics include jumping, spinning to defeat enemies, and collecting Wumpa fruit for extra lives, alongside breaking crates for bonuses and gathering crystals, gems, and relics to unlock content. Later entries introduce abilities granted by defeating bosses. Set in a fictional archipelago with diverse biomes, and including time-traveling and multiversal elements in later games, the series features a cast including Crash, his sister Coco, allies like the protective spirit Aku Aku, and villains including Cortex, Uka Uka, and various mutant henchmen.
After a period of declining critical reception during the multi-developer phase in the 2000s and a hiatus in the early 2010s, the series experienced a successful revival beginning with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, a remastered collection of the original trilogy, followed by the remaster Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and the new entry Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. Crash Bandicoot established Naughty Dog as a major video game developer and positioned the character as the PlayStation's unofficial mascot. The series sold 50 million units across the series by 2007 and inspired merchandise, media adaptations, and scientific nomenclature.
History
1994–1996: Origins
was founded as JAM Software in 1984 by childhood friends Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, their first project being the educational game Math Jam. Their following titles were Ski Crazed, Dream Zone, Keef the Thief, and Rings of Power. After completing Way of the Warrior, Gavin and Rubin relocated from Boston to Los Angeles to work with publisher Universal Interactive. During the trip, they decided to create a 3D platformer to capitalize on emerging console capabilities, drawing inspiration from the pre-rendered visuals of Donkey Kong Country.Production of the new project began in October 1994. To create the characters and setting, Naughty Dog contracted cartoonists Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson. The game's lead character was tentatively named "Willy the Wombat" and was envisioned as a goofy, Zorro-like Tasmanian marsupial. The character would ultimately become a bandicoot for the species' appeal and relative obscurity. During the game's alpha phase, Naughty Dog demonstrated the game to Sony Computer Entertainment to secure a publishing deal with them.
1996–2000: PlayStation exclusivity
Crash Bandicoot was unveiled at E3 1996, where it quickly gained attention for its vibrant visuals. The game was released on September 9, 1996, and by the end of the year it sold over units worldwide. The game's sequel, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, was released on November 6, 1997 and also performed strongly, selling units in the United States by February 1998. The third game, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, was released on November 3, 1998, and sold over 5.7 million units worldwide by 2002. Crash Team Racing, a kart racing game, was released on October 19, 1999, and sold 1.9 million units in the United States.Crash Team Racing was the final Crash Bandicoot game developed by Naughty Dog; the developers, creatively exhausted and disenchanted with their lack of control over the Crash Bandicoot intellectual property, began development on Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy ; during the game's production, Sony acquired Naughty Dog, with Universal retaining the Crash Bandicoot property. Crash Bash, a party video game developed by Eurocom, was the first game in the series made without Naughty Dog's involvement. It was released on November 8, 2000, and was the final Crash Bandicoot game to be released exclusively for a Sony console.
2001–2006: Multiplatform transition
Following the end of Sony and Universal's partnership, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was developed by Traveller's Tales and released on October 30, 2001. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, developed by Vicarious Visions, was released for the Game Boy Advance on March 13, 2002, the first Crash Bandicoot game made for a handheld console. The game was followed by Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, which was released on January 7, 2003. For home consoles, Vicarious Visions released Crash Nitro Kart on November 11, 2003; a handheld version by the same developer was released simultaneously. Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, a crossover with Spyro, was released on June 1, 2004. Traveller's Tales's second Crash Bandicoot entry, Crash Twinsanity, was released on September 28, 2004.On March 23, 2005, Universal Interactive, now Vivendi Universal Games, acquired developer Radical Entertainment, who released Crash Tag Team Racing on October 21. Japanese developer Dimps released Crash Boom Bang! for the Nintendo DS in Japan on July 20, 2006, with a North American release on October 10.
2007–2015: Redesign and hiatus
Radical Entertainment's next Crash Bandicoot title, Crash of the Titans, was released on October 2, 2007. Crash of the Titans marked a departure from traditional platforming by introducing an emphasis on combat and a "jacking" mechanic in which Crash defeats and controls large mutants called Titans. The characters were also redesigned with a "punk" edge to realign the characters into a unified style as well as make them more modern and distinct from other cartoon characters. Handheld versions of the game for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance were developed by Amaze Entertainment and released on the same date.In December 2007, Activision announced its acquisition of Vivendi Games, including the Crash Bandicoot intellectual property, and the merger was finalized on July 10, 2008. The mobile kart racing game Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D was released by Polarbit on April 29, 2008, and Crash: Mind over Mutant was released by Radical Entertainment on October 7; a Nintendo DS version of the latter game was developed by Tose and released on the same date. In February 2010, Activision laid off around 90 employees at Radical Entertainment, roughly half the studio's workforce, amid cost-cutting measures and project reevaluations. Following the release of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 on May 27, 2010, the series went into dormancy.
2016–present: Revival
The revival of the Crash Bandicoot series began with the announcement of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy at Sony's E3 2016 press conference, as well as Crash and Cortex's appearance as playable characters in the toys-to-life game Skylanders: Imaginators. The N. Sane Trilogy was developed by Vicarious Visions as a remastered compilation of the original three PlayStation games with updated graphics, recreated controls, and new content. The compilation launched exclusively on PlayStation 4 on June 30, 2017, before expanding to the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in 2018. By June 2024, the N. Sane Trilogy had sold over 20 million units worldwide. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remastered version of Crash Team Racing, was developed by Beenox and released on June 19, 2019. The game sold 10 million copies by June 2025.Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, developed by Toys for Bob, was revealed on June 22, 2020 as a sequel to the original trilogy that returned to 3D platforming and featured new mechanics provided by the Quantum Masks. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 2, and for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and Windows in 2021. Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!, an endless runner developed by King, launched globally in March 2021 for Android and iOS, and was discontinued on February 16, 2023. Toys for Bob's Crash Team Rumble, a 4v4 multiplayer game, was released on June 20, 2023. Following Toys for Bob's announcement of its impending spin-off from Activision, content updates ceased after March 4, 2024. A planned Crash Bandicoot 5 by Toys for Bob was canceled due to the commercial underperformance of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time and Activision's focus on live service games.
Gameplay
Mechanics and level progression
The Crash Bandicoot series centers on 3D platforming gameplay, where players control the protagonist Crash in linear levels filled with obstacles, enemies, and environmental hazards. Crash can move in all directions, and the controls do not change with his position. The majority of the games take place from a third-person perspective in which Crash moves into the screen. Certain levels are played from a traditional side-scrolling perspective, while other levels, in which Crash flees from a large obstacle such as a rolling boulder, angry polar bear or dinosaur require him to move toward the screen. Some levels involve Crash mounting and steering an animal that accelerates uncontrollably, requiring him to maneuver around obstacles and bypass enemies. Throughout the series, Crash commandeers a variety of vehicles, such as a jetboard, jet pack, motorcycle and biplane.Crash's primary maneuvers including jumping and sliding. His trademark ability is the spin attack, a cyclone-like whirlwind motion which can defeat enemies by launching them off-screen; knocked enemies can strike other enemies in their path. In games starting with Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash can earn new abilities by defeating bosses. Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind over Mutant feature beat 'em up combat as well as a "jacking" mechanic in which Crash can mount and control large mutant enemies called Titans.
At a certain point within the levels, bonus areas are accessible via a platform bearing a question mark. In these areas, Crash must navigate to the end of the path while grabbing an assortment of collectibles. Dying in a Bonus area will not deplete a life, and results in the player respawning next to the Bonus platform within the level. In the original game, bonus levels are accessed by collecting tokens in the likeness of Crash's girlfriend Tawna, Cortex, or Cortex's assistant Doctor Nitrus Brio. Tawna's bonus rounds are easy and plentiful, and enable the player to save their game. Brio's bonus rounds are more difficult, featuring more TNT crates and requiring more precise jumps. Cortex's bonus rounds, of which there are two, are the most difficult, and grant Crash a key that unlocks a secret level.
The levels in the original Crash Bandicoot are presented in a linear progression on a map. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back introduces a series of five hub areas, each granting access to five levels that can be played in any order. Crash must retrieve a crystal from each level and defeat a boss to progress to the next hub area. This level progression system resurfaces in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure. Subsequent games showcase either a branching map or open-world exploration.