Prerelease:Crash Bandicoot
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Crash Bandicoot.
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Contents
Sub-Pages
 | Concept Art Sketches, unused characters and much more! |
Early Preview
Some of the earliest screenshots of the game can be identified by the presence of different fruits, which were later replaced by the iconic Wumpa fruit. Interestingly, leftovers of this very early code are still present in the April 8th, 1996 prototype. These images were featured on the GamePro magazine issue 091 (April 1996). Also according to the magazine article, the game's music and sound effects weren't available for previewing.[1]
There is a strawberry and a lime, as well a pineapple on the second one. No sign of the usual Wumpa fruits though, so Crash initially collected regular fruit instead.
The Aku Aku mug is also present, which would create a floating sparkle around Crash. Aside from the usual red steam exhaust pipes, there is a platform with a blue texture that doesn't appear in the final game.
Papu Papu has an earlier design with a yellow hair ornament and bracelets, instead of blue ones. This is actually how he appears in the game's promotional art as well. There is also no boss health bar.
Music
Pre-Console Music
| To do: Add the rest of the tracks. |
The music tracks in the Crash games created for the PlayStation were MIDI-like files with unique samples for each level. The developers might have changed the samples or instrumentation for some of these tracks during development for any reason. Josh Mancell, the creator of the soundtracks for the Crash games created by Naughty Dog, has released many of the original tracks from the games from before they were converted to the Naughty Dog music format on his SoundCloud. As the first Crash game was the only one in which Mancell did not also act as a consultant to "approve" the converted songs on top of making them, it contains the most differences between the pre-console and final versions:
| Level | Pre-Console | Final | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| N. Sanity Beach | The pre-console mix has a removed intro sequence. | ||
| Boulders | File:Crash1-PreConsole Boulders.ogg | File:Crash1 Boulders.ogg | |
| Village (2D) | |||
| River | File:Crash1-PreConsole River.ogg | File:Crash1 River.ogg | |
| Village (Inside) | The beginning sound effect was changed. | ||
| Ruins (2D) | File:Crash1-PreConsole Ruins.ogg | File:Crash1 2DTempleTheme.ogg | |
| Ruins (Platform) | File:Crash1-PreConsole Temple.ogg | ||
| Power Plant | Some drum sounds are missing throughout the song in the game version. | ||
| Cortex Power | File:Crash1-PreConsole CortexPower.ogg | ||
| Generator Room | File:Crash1-PreConsole GeneratorRoom.ogg | File:Crash1 GeneratorRoom.ogg | |
| Toxic Waste | File:Crash1-PreConsole ToxicWaste.ogg | File:Crash1 ToxicWaste.ogg | The synth bass is super quiet in the game version as opposed to the pre-console version. |
| Castle (Outside) | File:Crash1-PreConsole Castle.ogg | File:Crash1 Castle.ogg | |
| Castle (Halls) | File:Crash1-PreConsole Darkness.ogg | File:Crash1 Darkness.ogg | |
| The Lab | File:Crash1-PreConsole TheLab.ogg | File:Crash1 TheLab.ogg | |
| The Great Hall | File:Crash1-PreConsole TheGreatHall.ogg | File:Crash1 TheGreatHall.ogg | |
| Tawna | File:Crash1 Tawna.ogg | ||
| Papu Papu | |||
| Ripper Roo | Several drum instruments are missing from the final version. | ||
| Koala Kong | Some parts of the drumkit use different sounds. The vibraphone is much quieter in the pre-console mix. There are cymbal crashes in the pre-console mix that are not present in the final version. | ||
| Pinstripe Potoroo | File:Crash1 Pinstripe.ogg | The drumset is totally different. The sound effect in the beginning was replaced with a falling piano in the Naughty Dog version. | |
| N. Brio | File:Crash1 NBrio.ogg | ||
| N. Brio (Japan) | This track was originally made by Mancell with the intent of being a Japanese version of Dr. Neo Cortex's theme, but it was changed to belong to Brio. | ||
| N. Cortex | File:Crash1 NCortex.ogg | The vibraphone is much quieter in the final. | |
| N. Cortex (Japan) | The rising piano sound effect in the pre-console was replaced in the final. |
Demo Music
During the game's development, Josh Mancell, the lead composer, would create demonstration tracks in order to narrow down the sort of feel and theming Naughty Dog wanted for the music in the game. Some of these tracks have been released on Mancell's SoundCloud page and other websites.
| Track | Description |
|---|---|
| The first demo track for the main theme. The melody was repurposed into the music for the second half of the "N. Sanity Beach" level. | |
| The second demo track for the main theme. | |
| The first demo track for jungle levels. | |
| The first demo track for boulder levels. | |
| The second demo track for boulder levels, titled "Jungle Boulders." | |
| A demo track created for the scrapped dirt cliff level, titled "Mountain Cliff." | |
| The first demo track for ruins levels. | |
| The second demo track for ruins levels. | |
| A demo track for bridge levels. It uses very similar samples to the final bridge theme. | |
| A demo track created for village levels. | |
| A demo track created for power plant levels. The track is titled "PowerPlant." | |
| A demo track created for power plant levels. The track is titled "PowerPlant Ambience" and is similar to the music for "Generator Room." | |
| A demo track for the Papu Papu boss theme titled "Papu Papu Ambience." | |
| The second demo track for the Komodo Brothers' theme (then named Kimodo Brothers), characters created for the original Crash Bandicoot but only first showed up in the sequel. |
Scrapped Cartoon Animation
On July 18, 2015, game producer David Siller, posted on his Youtube channel footage of an unused cartoon animation of Crash Bandicoot.
During the game's early development, Universal commissioned traditionally animated cutscenes to be used in the game. Like all of Universal's animation at the time, they were done by a Korean studio called Akom, known for their work on shows like Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. They produced an intro and an ending for the game. The singing narration was done by Jim Cummings, who was a prominent voice actor in many 1990s cartoon shows, and the background score is stock. As for why the animation went unused, Dave Siller explained:
It was based on ideas for where we were going with this IP at that time. It was probably too ambitious in nature and was also trying to be humorous. It was never used or even embedded in the game as a hidden "easter egg" treat. Once UIS licensed the game to Sony for publication, Sony did not want it utilized since they were heavily pushing the "3D" agenda. There are many close to the development of the original game that do not even know that this material even existed.
— David Siller
According to him in the comments, the animation was also "a somewhat prototype to further flesh out ideas for a possible cartoon series" if the game was successful enough. Though the game was successful, a cartoon TV series never came to be.
The introduction cutscene shows almost every character in the game, including Tiny Tiger and the Komodo Brothers (with their original designs). In addition, Tawna has a pink shirt and green shorts, just like in earlier versions of the game. The only character notably absent is Aku Aku but it's difficult to say whether he was considered a proper character at that point, or even finalized to begin with. The initial background with the islands was based off concept art for the game, as were many of the characters' animated frames.
Resources
No exact dates
- The Crash Bandicoot Files: How Willy the Wombat Sparked Marsupial Mania (Mostly May 1995? But has stuff that's arguably either earlier or later, including the script to that one animated intro)
- Documents allegedly written by Joe Pearson uploaded on Crash Mania (Has a script for an opening sequence that is marked as having been revised in February 20, 1995, but the rest of the pages are unclear)
- David Siller's levels (one is dated February 10 1995, but some of these pages come after the finalized designs as Crash is drawn)
- David Siller misc (One is dated March 26, 1996. Crash is sometimes called willy/willey here)
- David Siller game design (One is dated October 22, 1995. Another is dated December 1994. Crash is sometimes called willy/willey here)
