Prerelease:Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
Sub-Pages
 | Crash Bandicoot: Worlds The Wrath of Cortex, only different in every way you can think of! |
 | Early Builds Crash Bandicoot's model is completely different in these ones. |
 | Late Builds The game uses Crash's final model now, but don't be fooled by the subpage name - the game is still in a very primitive state. |
Concept Art
Production Logos
Early logos designed for the game from early eras of development - one is from the Worlds phase of the game's development.
Crash Bandicoot: Worlds
Worlds was the original pitch for The Wrath of Cortex, meant to be created by Cerny Games and Traveler's Tales. These pieces of concept art are sourced from a video by GameHut, a channel run by the founder of Traveler's Tales. The concepts themselves were drawn by multiple different artists.
Elli Mental
Elli Mental was the main villain of Crash Bandicoot: Worlds. She could control earth, water, light, and fire, and she would work with Cortex using her powers. The idea of Elli Mental was eventually repurposed into Crunch Bandicoot and the Elemental Masks.
Dr. Neo Cortex
Interestingly, the idea of something similar to a "disco Cortex" would make it all the way to the final game, with the lab assistant from the credits screen wearing a 70's disco ensemble almost identical to that of the one from the concept art.
Enemies
Vehicles
These pieces of concept art were illustrated by Craig Whittle. These are sourced from a press release kit and the developer update slideshow in addition to an unknown source for the snowmobile art.
Atlasphere
The Atlasphere had a more mechanical design in concept art. Crash was planned to have the ability to jump when inside it.
Glider
Jeep
The scenery of this art is similar to the underground cave section of Compactor Reactor, which actually did use the jeep instead of a minecart in early development.
Scooter
Coco's scooter had a more mature design, looking like a scooter-moped hybrid rather than the kick scooter she ended up with in the final game.
Snowmobile
The snowmobile didn't make the cut like the rest of the vehicles did, with the snowboard taking its place. Crash would have controlled it instead of Coco.
Storyboards
100% Ending
In the interviews section of the official strategy guide, there is a compilation of scans of the original storyboards for the 100% ending. Unfortunately, the only current resource of scans for the strategy guide, and the storyboard scans as a result, is of poor quality.
Some differences can be seen in the sketches alone, such as:
- In the staging for the shot, Cortex and Uka Uka are right next to Crash and Crunch.
- Cortex is holding a mind-control device which he originally controlled Crunch with. The mind-control device was eventually cut from the story.
- There is a scene of Coco's spaceship landing on the beach which was cut.
- Polar is visible in the house scene, whereas he doesn't appear in the final game at all.
- There is a shot denoting Cortex and Uka Uka's escape pod. Although the shot was removed, the escape pod is still visible in the final shot where the camera pans out on the iceberg.
- Something - maybe a penguin - can be seen next to the iceberg Cortex and Uka Uka are stranded on.
Coco Kidnapped!
This deleted scene depicts Coco getting kidnapped by a cut gorilla miniboss and was meant to take place in Crash and Burn. This storyboard is one of the earliest things to be created for The Wrath of Cortex.
Early Story
The official strategy guide for the game features a very early version of the story. The first few paragraphs were also used in the game manual.
"When we last saw Crash Bandicoot, he had just defeated Dr. Neo Cortex, and Uka Uka and was finally going to take some well-earned time off. So now here he is, with his super-smart sis, Coco, and friendly companion, Aku Aku, soaking up a few rays on the beach. But as we all know, diabolical evil always finds a way to ruin Crash's day.
Somewhere else in the galaxy, Uka Uka holds a 'bad-guy convention' in a newly-built space station. The attendees are Dingodile, N. Tropy, Tiny, N. Gin, and of course Dr. Neo Cortex. Uka Uka is furious; evil's productivity is way down, and something has to be done. Luckily, over the past couple of years, Dr. Cortex has been working on a super-secret weapon that will surely crush Crash forever: a super-bandicoot named Crunch. Unfortunately, he needs more power to finish it. Uka tells the group of baddies a story:
'Several thousands of years ago, the Ancient Ancestors fought a brave battle against the Elementals, a group of renegade masks who had control and power over the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Each mask reigned over a specific element and used these elements to ravage the globe. The Ancient Ancestors were able to imprison the Elementals through the use of special crystals that put them in a state of hibernation.'
Uka Uka explains that if they can release these masks and harness their destructive power, Cortex can complete his super-secret weapon and rid themselves of Crash Bandicoot once and for all. Back on Earth, all heck breaks loose. A volcano erupts, showering the land with lava and charred rock. A tornado rages through the jungle, and then a thundering earthquake shakes the Earth off its hinges. Aku Aku knows something is very wrong here. He knows the Elementals have been unleashed on the world once again. The only way to put an end to the Elementals is to find the Elemental crystals that are scattered all across the Earth. Utilizing her brilliant technical savvy, Coco creates a Virtual Reality warp device that will take them to the different points on the globe to retrieve the crystals. Can Crash and Coco brave the elements and destroy Crunch? Or will Cortex finally have his day in the sun?
Working fast and on the fly, Crash and Coco quickly find the first four crystals. As soon as they locate the fifth one, they are confronted by Cortex himself. Taking much pride in this moment, he presents his creation: Crunch, a super-bandicoot that is three times the size and strength of Crash. Cortex has a remote control in his hand, which seems to be controlling Crunch. Crunch is a tough customer, a powerhouse with a bionic arm that can crush a skull in two shakes of a bandicoot's tail. Crunch tells Crash that he is going to pulverize him. Then to the surprise of Crash and Coco, he puts on the Elemental Mask of Fire and becomes a huge fiery creature. Crash has finally met his match. The battle is fierce with neither combatant having the upper-hand for too long. Crash narrowly misses being burnt to a crisp but finally takes out the creature. The mask flies off, and Crunch returns to normal. Crunch takes a secret passage and splits, leaving the mask on the ground. Crash pulls out the crystals, which encircle the mask until both the mask and the crystals disappear in a cloud of smoke.
Crash and Coco's adventures take them all over the world and require all forms of vehicular mayhem to survive. They have to destroy Cortex's weather machines in a glider, ride through the Earth's interior in an Atlas Sphere, avoid being smashed by a tsunami wave on a scooter, and narrowly avoid a stampede of wild animals while driving a Jeep. They stay strong and retrieve all 20 crystals, defeating the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water Elementals and banishing the masks back to their state of purgatory.
Now there is one final piece of the puzzle: Take care of Cortex and Crunch.
Crash and Coco break into Uka Uka's space station and battle their way to the final confrontation. Along the way, Crash finds a mechanical robot suit that is sure to come in handy. They make it to the end of their journey and find Cortex, controlling Crunch with his device. Because he has worn all four masks, Crunch now has the powers of all four elements. It is a battle for the ages. Crash fights valiantly but is just not strong enough to defeat Crunch. In a final blow, Crunch fires a bolt of electricity at Crash that destroys Crash's suit, sending pieces of metal flying everywhere. One lone piece of suit flies right into Cortex, destroying his remote control device and starting an electrical fire. Crunch falls to the ground, holding his head in anguish. He shakes it off and stands up. Crash expects the worse, but Crunch comes and helps him. Crunch tells Crash that he always knew Crash was fighting for what was right but Cortex was controlling him. Now that he's free, he wants to team up with Crash and Coco.
The fire grows, and Uka Uka tries to wake an unconscious Cortex but to no avail. Crash, Crunch, and Coco run off of the space station as fast as they can and escape just before the ship explodes. Cortex and Uka Uka are catapulted off into space.
Later, Crash and Crunch go water-skiing in a boat driven by Coco while Aku Aku sits on the beach enjoying a mai-tai. It's a wonderful ending for all.
On the other hand, Uka Uka and Cortex have landed on a tiny deserted island. Cortex is in rags, and Uka looks pretty haggard as well. They are despondent until they realize that they have landed on the island that Cortex first settled. The place from which where he banished Crash all those years ago. Maybe Cortex has one or two more tricks up his sleeve... maybe indeed."
This version of the story has a ton of notable differences, such as:
- Uka Uka tells Cortex and the henchmen a story about the Elemental Masks in order to develop a understanding of their character instead of having the scene where Aku Aku confronts Uka Uka and the Elemental Masks.
- An earthquake, a tornado, and a volcanic eruption all happen instead of a tsunami.
- Cortex appears in-person during the first boss, whereas Crash doesn't come face-to-face with him until the final boss fight.
- Cortex doesn't reveal Crunch until all 5 crystals in the first hub are collected. In the final version, the very first hologram cutscene features Crunch.
- Cortex is described to have a remote control in his hand that controls Crunch's mind. The mind control device plot was cut from the final game, although it can be seen in some storyboards.
- Py-Ro appears to be the first boss in this draft of the game.
- Crunch would have escaped whenever he was defeated instead of dying in whatever way was suitable (turning into magma rocks, his giant electric ghost skeleton exploding into a million pieces... just normal things.)
- Crash would take out the crystals and put them around the discarded Elemental Mask to send them to a state of purgatory when he was finished fighting against one.
- The story describes one level as "[riding] through the Earth's interior in an Atlas Sphere," whereas none of the Atlasphere levels in the game match this description. The closest level to this description is Compactor Reactor, a minecart level.
- The story implies that the final section of the game would have purely been space station-themed.
- Crash was meant to control the mech in Crunch Time and use the cannon on the mech to shoot Crunch instead of Crash's Fruit Bazooka.
- Crunch gains elemental powers just because he wore the masks, meaning he does not need to use the masks during his final confrontation.
- The final boss fight ends with Crunch shooting a bolt of electricity at Crash which destroys his mech. In turn, pieces of shrapnel from the mech suit go flying, knocking Cortex unconscious, destroying the remote mind control device, and starting a fire. In the final version of the ending, Uka Uka tries to attack Cortex with a beam and ends up shooting some tubing which causes the ship to go into meltdown.
- Crunch tells Crash that he knew he was right for fighting against Cortex in the space station instead of the Bandicoot house.
- A cut scene describes the fire growing in the space station as Uka Uka attempts and fails to wake Cortex from his daze. They are trapped inside as the space station explodes instead of getting out in an escape pod.
- The scene from the intro of Crash and Coco wakeboarding actually takes place during the ending in this version of the story. Crunch also wakeboards alongside Crash.
- Cortex and Uka Uka end up on the coast of the island from Crash Bandicoot that Cortex originally built his empire of henchmen on instead of an iceberg.
Scrapped Crates
During development, there were 2 new crates planned to be added to the game: the Close Circuit Cortex Crate (C4, otherwise known as the "proximity crate") and Elemental crates. Their purpose is outlined in the developer update presentation:
“Elemental Crates allow for Crash to deform the environment and explore uncharted parts of the level. C4 is a new invention by Dr. Cortex. Crash will have to sneak his way past these crates with explosive proximity sensors.” [1]
The textures for C4 can still be found within the game, but there is no remaining evidence of Elemental crates.
