Proto:Crash Bash

This page details one or more prototype versions of Crash Bash.

At least seven playable demos of the game were made available during development. In addition, three prototypes of the game were released.

The demo versions of Crash Bash have become rather infamous due to the fact that, via a simple button input code, nearly every single level of the game can be accessed via a cheat menu, which could have had disastrous results on the game's sales had this been discovered back in 2000.

Producer Jon Williams explained that the cheat menu was supposed to be disabled in any gold master submission. However, a bug in the Spyro: Year of the Dragon demos allowed the cheat menu to remain accessible, possibly due to the demo being delivered as an executable instead of a CD image. Despite the demo being tested by multiple teams internally, this issue went unnoticed.

“Oops! I did become aware of it a few years ago, but don't recall it being raised at the time. Our build process ensured that the cheats menu was disabled on any gold master submission, but the demos were always special cases. We had to create lots of special demos during development alongside the regular builds for Universal and Sony. The cheats menu was supposed to be disabled for the Spyro demo, but there must have been a bug—probably to do with the fact the demo code was delivered as an executable rather than a CD image. Bear in mind that the Spyro demo was tested by our QA and Universal's before being sent to Insomniac—it would also have been tested by Sony prior to approval. It just goes to show how things can slip through the net.
I did see some online comments wondering why on Earth so much of the game was present in the demo. The answer to that is simply that we would have found it very time consuming to remove data specifically for the Spyro demo. Many levels shared code, textures, animations etc. We were given a size budget and our demo fitted. If it wasn't for the cheats menu bug nobody would have noticed.”

— Jon Williams

In fact, the cheat menu was accessible via a button combo not only in the demos included in both regions of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, but also in the late European demo version included on various compilation discs - despite this, this demo has a feature that exits the game when Select is pressed, rendering the menu unusable as it requires this button to access the other levels. In all other demos, while the menu exists and is fully functional, it can only be unlocked through hacking.

Sub-Pages

July 26th, 2000 demo The earliest publicly playable demo of the game, as part of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 38 Demo Disc. Built at 16:58:47, July 26, 2000.

August 2nd, 2000 demos Featured as a standalone demo and found on many demo compilation discs, two versions of this demo were available; an North American demo with a build time of 15:05:44 and a European demo with a build time of 15:22:16.

August 23rd, 2000 build A preview version dated around a month and a half before the final North American build. It is the first of two pre-release builds distributed by SCEE, from the pink "Preview Version" disc.

August 25th, 2000 demo The demo hidden in North American versions of Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Built at 15:13:55, August 25, 2000.

August 30th, 2000 demo The demo hidden in European versions of Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Built at 18:37:26, August 30, 2000.

September 1st, 2000 demo The second demo featured on demo compilation discs released in Europe. Built at 17:07:27, September 1st, 2000.

September 14th, 2000 build A preview version dated around a month before the final North American build.

October 7th, 2000 demo A Japanese demo disc and also the last known demo. Built at 10:35:55, October 7th, 2000.

October 9th, 2000 build A European review version dated a day before the final North American build. It is the last pre-release build distributed by SCEE, from the red "Review Version" disc.

Cheat Menu

The infamous cheat menu is available in all pre-release versions of the game. This option can be accessed via the pause menu and provides a range of debug functionalities, including warping to almost any minigame.

Level Selector

A list of minigames you can warp to. In earlier builds, levels are ordered by game type, whereas from the August 21 build onwards, they follow the Adventure mode order. Starting with the September 14 build, the list also includes warp rooms.

Jul 26	Aug 2	Aug 21	Aug 25	Aug 30-Sep 1	Sep 14	Oct 7-9
JUNGLE BASH SPACE BASH SNOW BASH DRAIN DAMAGE POLAR PANIC MELT PANIC TILT PANIC MANIC PANIC CRASHBALL BEACH BALL NBALLISM SKY BALL POGO PAINTER POGO A GOGO EL POGO LOCO POGO BOUNCER DESERT FOX METAL FOX JUNGLE FOX SWAMP FOX DOT DASH TOXIC DASH SPLASH DASH DANTES DASH RING DING DRAGONS PAPU PUMMEL BEARMINATOR BIG BAD FOX	JUNGLE BASH SPACE BASH SNOW BASH DRAIN DAMAGE POLAR PANIC MELT PANIC TILT PANIC MANIC PANIC CRASHBALL BEACH BALL NBALLISM SKY BALL POGO PAINTER POGO A GOGO EL POGO LOCO POGO BOUNCER DESERT FOX METAL FOX JUNGLE FOX SWAMP FOX DOT DASH TOXIC DASH SPLASH DASH DANTES DASH RING DING DRAGONS MALLET MASH KEG KABOOM PAPU PUMMEL BEARMINATOR BIG BAD FOX OXIDE RIDE OXIDE RIDE PT2	CRASHBALL POLAR PANIC POGO PAINTER JUNGLE BASH PAPU PUMMEL BEACH BALL TILT PANIC POGO A GOGO SPACE BASH DESERT FOX BEARMINATOR NBALLISM MELT PANIC EL POGO LOCO SNOW BASH METAL FOX DOT DASH BIG BAD FOX SKY BALL MANIC PANIC POGO BOUNCER DRAIN BASH JUNGLE FOX TOXIC DASH RING DING OXIDE RIDE* OXIDE RIDE PT2* SWAMP FOX* DANTES DASH* SPLASH DASH* DRAGONS* MALLET MASH*	CRASHBALL POLAR PANIC POGO PAINTER JUNGLE BASH PAPU PUMMEL BEACH BALL TILT PANIC POGO A GOGO SPACE BASH DESERT FOX BEARMINATOR NBALLISM MELT PANIC EL POGO LOCO SNOW BASH METAL FOX DOT DASH BIG BAD FOX SKY BALL MANIC PANIC POGO BOUNCER DRAIN BASH JUNGLE FOX TOXIC DASH RING DING OXIDE RIDE* OXIDE RIDE PT2* SWAMP FOX* DANTES DASH* SPLASH DASH* DRAGONS* KEG KABOOM*	CRASHBALL POLAR PANIC POGO PAINTER JUNGLE BASH PAPU PUMMEL BEACH BALL TILT PANIC POGO A GOGO SPACE BASH DESERT FOX BEARMINATOR NBALLISM MELT PANIC EL POGO LOCO SNOW BASH METAL FOX DOT DASH BIG BAD FOX SKY BALL MANIC PANIC POGO PADLOCK DRAIN BASH JUNGLE FOX TOXIC DASH RING DING OXIDE RIDE* SWAMP FOX* DANTES DASH* SPLASH DASH* DRAGONS* MALLET MASH* KEG KABOOM*	CRASHBALL POLAR PANIC POGO PAINTER JUNGLE BASH PAPU PUMMEL BEACH BALL TILT PANIC POGO A GOGO SPACE BASH DESERT FOX BEARMINATOR NBALLISM MELT PANIC EL POGO LOCO SNOW BASH METAL FOX DOT DASH BIG BAD FOX SKY BALL MANIC PANIC POGO PADLOCK DRAIN BASH JUNGLE FOX TOXIC DASH RING DING OXIDE RIDE SWAMP FOX DANTES DASH SPLASH DASH DRAGONS MALLET MASH KEG KABOOM TIE BREAKER HUB 0 HUB 1 HUB 2 HUB 3 HUB 4	CRASHBALL POLAR PANIC POGO PAINTER JUNGLE BASH PAPU PUMMEL BEACH BALL TILT PANIC POGO-A-GOGO SPACE BASH DESERT FOX BEARMINATOR N.BALLISM MELT PANIC EL POGO LOCO SNOW BASH METAL FOX DOT DASH BIG BAD FOX SKY BALLS MANIC PANIC POGO PADLOCK DRAIN BASH JUNGLE FOX TOXIC DASH RING DING OXIDE RIDE SWAMP FOX DANTE'S DASH SPLASH DASH DRAGON DROP MALLET MASH KEG KABOOM TIE-BREAKER WARP ROOM 1 WARP ROOM 2 WARP ROOM 3 WARP ROOM 4 SECRET WARP ROOM

* Oxide Ride and the minigames from the secret warp room won't be normally available in the list, which will require a code to unlock to make them available.

Cheat Flags

This menu lets you activate various cheats during gameplay, including invulnerability, freezing the timer, making your opponents brain-dead, and so on. Use Left/Right to toggle each cheat on/off. Active cheats are indicated with an asterisk.

• NO AIBOTS - Disables the AI of CPU opponents, effectively rendering them inactive (technically that's its purpose, in reality the behavior of this cheat is turning the CPU controlled players into human players.)
• NO HARM HERO - Prevents players from losing health, points, or being stunned by other players' attacks.
  • However, this does not protect against instant-death events, such as falling or being crushed by the weight.
• NO DEATH - Prevents players from dying after health depletion or losing when reaching zero points in Ballistix minigames.
  • This also applies to the Komodo Bros. and N. Oxide.
• FREEZE TIME - Stops the timer countdown in timed levels.
• NO RUMBLE** - Disables controller vibration.
• LIMIT CAMERA** - Locks the camera to stay distant, preventing it from zooming in on the player.
• HEALTH NUMS - Adds numerical health indicators over player icons on the HUD.
  • HEALTH - Displays the player's current health as a number, with 20 as the maximum.
  • LAST - Shows the amount of health lost from the last damage taken.
• LOOP LEVEL** - Causes the current minigame to loop continuously at the end of it.
• ALL HUB LEVELS† - Unlocks access to all warp rooms and minigames.
• MENU ACTIVE - Toggles the cheat menu. Disabling this option will turn off the menu, requiring the cheat code to reactivate it.

** This option is present in most of the builds, aside from October 7 and October 9 ones.
† This option is not present in the July 26, August 2, October 7, and October 9 builds.

Tweak Settings

This is a more complex sub-menu that allows you to change the game's internal settings, as well as the mode you're playing. To change modes, use the very first option in this sub-menu. This allows you to quickly alternate between a trophy to a crystal challenge, for example. To test it out, press the Select button to restart the level with your changes applied.

• GAME MODE - Self-explanatory.
  • ADVENTURE - TROPHY
  • ADVENTURE - GOLD RELIC
  • ADVENTURE - PLAT RELIC
  • ADVENTURE - GEM
  • ADVENTURE - CHALLENGE
  • ADVENTURE - BOSS
  • BATTLE MODE
  • TOURNAMENT MODE
• ATTEMPTS - Tracks the number of times the minigame has been replayed after losing. It can go up to 4 attempts in trophy challenge and 32 attempts in boss mode. Each attempt decreases the AI target factor on humans and increases it on the other opponents. Only available in trophy challenge and boss modes.
• DIFFICULTY - Allows you to change the AI difficulty for each of the difficulty values: 0 (Easy), 1 (Medium), or 2 (Hard). Only available in Battle and Tournament modes.
• CUPS - Displays the number of cups won by the player. It can go up to three cups. Each cup won increases the Human Target Factor. Only available in trophy challenge.
• QUALITY - Modifies the general AI skill level; higher values make the AI more challenging and vice versa.
• AI TARGET FACTOR - The behavior of the CPU opponents against other CPU opponents. Increasing this value makes CPUs more likely to target each other.
• HUMAN TARGET FACTOR - Similar to AI Target Factor, but increases CPU focus on human players instead.

Tweak Awards

Allows you to grant every each of the prizes for all minigames and bosses. Moving left or right will change the prize you can apply. Press Triangle to toggle the prize.

Each collectible increases the game's completion percentage, allowing you exceed the 200% limit by granting extra collectibles, such as prizes for the boss levels and the boss variable for minigames.

View Stats

Displays the elapsed time in your current game data for each minigame, such as the time taken to win a trophy and the number of attempts to earn a gem, relic, or crystal. Note that these records are only tracked until you win the prize; once completed, further data will not be recorded.

• The TROPHY tab contains various information about time and attempts of the trophy challenges:
  • FIRST ENTERED indicates the time spent when first entering the selected minigame.
  • VISITS indicates how many times you replayed the minigame before winning.
  • TOTAL TIME indicates the total time taken to earn the trophy, including all attempts.
  • The trophy table lists up to eight attempts on individual rows, with the most recent attempt at the top. The numbers indicate how many cups each player won, while the time shows the total time taken to win the trophy.
• Hovering over a boss level displays the total time spent on the first try, the number of attempts, and the time taken to beat the minigame.
• The GEM RELIC CRYSTAL tab displays stats for other challenges; the number of attempts before winning the challenge and the total time taken to win the minigame.
• The PLAYER STATS tab displays which players are human or bot and lists the character each player is using.
  • Rilla Roo is referred to as "KANGA" here.

Note: This sub-menu is not present in the July 26, August 2, October 7, and October 9 builds.

Adjust Level

This sub-menu is only functional in the Crash Dash minigames - attempting to open it in any other minigame will display "NO ADJUSTMENT AVAILABLE FOR THIS LEVEL".

It allows you to modify the physics of the vehicles:

• MAX THRUST VEL - Modifies the default speed of the vehicle. Higher values increase speed, and lower values decrease it.
• MAX BOOST VEL - Modifies the vehicle's speed when using the boost.
• FRICTION - Modifies the vehicle's friction level. Higher values reduce sliding when braking, regardless of speed.
• BOOST ACCLN - Modifies the vehicle's acceleration when using the boost.
• THRUST ACCLN - Modifies the default acceleration of the vehicle.
• TURN RATE - Modifies the turning of the vehicle. Higher values allow tighter turns.
• COLLISION COEFF - Modifies the knockback force when colliding the vehicle.

Note: This sub-menu is not present in the July 26, August 2, October 7, and October 9 builds.