History Videogame / CrashBandicoot1996

In an effort to create a bunch of anthropomorphic, hyper-intelligent animals to serve as an army to lead them to world domination, Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio create the Evolv-O-Ray, a device that can mutate any animal into a super-strong, hyper-intelligent warrior, and the Cortex Vortex, a brain manipulation device that can make anyone and anything a blind follower of Cortex's orders. One of their first experiments with the Evolv-O-Ray is Crash, a bandicoot snatched from the local island wilderness and chosen to serve as the leader of Cortex's army. However, the Cortex Vortex fails on Crash, and he escapes through a window while Cortex and Brio prepare to experiment on Crash's love interest, Tawna. The next day, Crash washes up on the shores of N. Sanity Beach and vows to defeat Cortex and rescue Tawna from his fortress, with the help of a native mask spirit named Aku Aku who wants Crash to take down Cortex so he'll stop polluting the islands.

So begins ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation Sony PlayStation]], which is the very first game in the series. The goal is simple: Destroy crates and defeat enemies as you reach your goal. If you break enough crates, you'll earn a Gem in each level. Getting a certain amount of clear gems will earn you the HundredPercentCompletion ending. This game also has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as there's no sliding, belly-flopping or [[TeenGenius Coco.]] Just traditional [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning]], {{Goomba Stomp}}ing and Crash's girlfriend, [[DamselInDistress Tawna.]] Aside from the main levels, there are also {{Bonus Stage}}s and boss fights, some of which can be real challenging unless you got pure gamer skills.

This game, along with ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Cortex Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'', were [[VideoGameRemake remastered]] on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}}, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XBoxOne and PC with updated graphics and new features, as part of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy''.

* TurtlePower: Turtles are regular enemies. Their shells also make excellent springboards.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Bandicoot, for starters; there's also the potoroo.

** "Rolling Stones": ''[[Music/TheRollingStones Duh.]]''

** Nitrus Brio (boss stage): Brio isn't just a case of JekyllAndHyde; the "monster" persona is also [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk green, reckless and with his crotch being the only clothed body part.]]

** Road to Nowhere has a section at the end accessed with the Red Gem where there are, you guessed it, pairs of gold planks that only appear when Crash steps on them, with big gaps in-between. The High Road does it even worse: you have to do it from the start of the level ''[[UpToEleven going BACKWARDS]]''.

* MadeOfIndestructium: Iron Crates, which often serve as stepping stones or bridges, and cannot be destroyed by any means. Fortunately they don't count towards the crate totals.

[[caption-width-right:300:It all has to start somewhere...]]

* BonusStage: There are three kinds of bonus stages; The Tawna stages that are mostly easy and act as save points, Brio stages that are much harder but provide plenty of of one-ups, and Cortex stages that are ''[[BrutalBonusLevel even harder]]'' but require to be completed for HundredPercentCompletion.

* BraggingRightsReward: There's secret path with a tons of extra lives. However said path is A) in Castle Machinery, which is rather late into the game, and B) needs to be unlocked by getting the Green Gem, which is obtained via NoDeathRun in [[NintendoHard The Lost City]]. If you got it, you probably don't need that many lives anyway, especially since gems require a NoDeathRun.

* ContinuingIsPainful: There's an unintentionally unique example of this: the save system doesn't remember how many lives you have. While not a problem in the early portions of the game, every level after the second boss is difficult enough to make this a problem, because if you turn the console off, loading up the save later will give you the default amount of 3 lives. [[FromBadToWorse To make things worse]], you are taken back to the last level you saved the game in, which isn't always the last level you actually got up to. The end result, historically, is that many [=PS1=]s were left on overnight simply to preserve the collected lives.[[note]]There are only two saving graces for this. First, loading a save means all the 1up Crates in earlier levels are restored, so redoing the early levels will help. Second, once you get the Green Gem, you can use it in Castle Machinery to get 30 lives. Unfortunately, that's one of the last levels in the entire game.[[/note]]

** In the PAL version, Ripper Roo jumps more slowly, but "The Lab" has only one checkpoint instead of two.

* GiantEnemyCrab: Very first enemy that you come across in (and only in) "N. Sanity Beach".

** As detailed in Violation of Common Sense, both Temple Ruins and Jaws of Darkness hide crates down bridges that are completely invisible until you step on them and have no suggestion that there's any reason to cross them in the first place (the crates are BehindTheBlack).

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: The levels get increasingly brutal and unforgiving as you progress, especially if you're trying to get the gems. The bosses, though? Most of them will hardly give you any trouble once your figure out their patterns.

** Sunset Vista. It is the longest level in the game, and is often claimed to be the longest in the original trilogy. ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'', which added time trials to all the levels in the first game, has a ''five minute'' time for the Sapphire relic in a game where most Sapphire times average 1-2 minutes, sometimes 3 for other very long levels.

* SaveGameLimits: The only way to save your game (or collect a password) is to go from the overworld map into a level, collect a series of hidden bonus tokens and beat the ensuing bonus level, or collecting a gem by beating a level without dying while breaking all the crates in the area. And when you restore the game, you snap back to just three lives.

* TemporaryPlatform: Platform of both "crumbles if you stand on them" type and "goes on and off" type exist, and gets more abundant in later levels.

** Gem paths mostly consist of static platforms of gems that you have to jump your way into the side path of the level, although some are floating platforms that flies up towards the side path of the level like they exclusively do in the sequels. With one exception, gem paths also contain crates that are needed for breaking and thus getting the gem of the stage, while in later games they don't always contain crates and have a second gem.[[note]]In ''Crash 2'''s own version of this trope, it's one or the other.[[/note]] Additionally, this is the only game in the series to feature a clear gem path and for particular colored gems paths to appear in multiple levels.

** Several character staples such as Coco, N. Gin, Tiny and Dingodile are completely absent. And the only female character this game ''does'' have is Tawna, which wouldn’t reappear until ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'', ''23 years later''.

* EarlyBirdCameo: At the end of the level Jaws of Darkness, You can see a carving on the wall that looks to be an ancient statue of Uka Uka. After all, it is the same temple that gets destroyed at the beginning of [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Crash 3]], Leading to his freedom.

** This is the first of only three ''Crash'' games with a world map; the second was ''N-Tranced'' for the GBA 7 years later, and the idea of a world map wouldn't be touched upon again until ''Crash 4: It's About Time'' 24 years later.

So begins ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation Sony PlayStation]], which is the very first game in the series. The goal is simple: Destroy crates and defeat enemies as you reach your goal. If you break enough crates, you'll earn a Gem in each level. Getting a certain amount of clear gems will earn you the HundredPercentCompletion ending. This game also has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as there's no sliding, belly-flopping or [[StraightMan Coco.]] Just traditional [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning]], {{Goomba Stomp}}ing and Crash's girlfriend, [[DamselInDistress Tawna.]] Aside from the main levels, there are also {{Bonus Stage}}s and boss fights, some of which can be real challenging unless you got pure gamer skills.

* CheckPoint: The C-crates.
* CheckPointStarvation: Getting a gem in a level requires destroying all the boxes and not dying once. And disregarding that, some levels do have this, such as Fumbling in the Dark and The Lab.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Tawna disappeared from the series after this game.

* DoubleUnlock: The purple gem (in Lights Out) is the only gem that needs another colored gem (the yellow one) to unlock, as the yellow gem will create an extra path that'll lead you to extra crates in said stage. Not to mention other clear gems that will usually require you to complete a much later level and breaking all of the crates there to get the colored gem, especially the purple one.

* EternalEngine: Heavy Machinery and Castle Machinery. Also Cortex Power, Toxic Waste, and Generator Room in their own way.

* FourEyesZeroSoul: The lab assistants.
* FakeDifficulty: Of the LeapOfFaith variety when dealing with Gems. "Road to Nowhere" and "The High Road" both involve making jumps onto invisible platforms that only appear when you touch them to get some out of the way boxes. Due to how Crash's shadow doesn't vanish when jumping over a bottomless pit (as you would expect), there's no way to tell where the platforms are. More invisible platforms appear elsewhere (of the iron box and falling varieties) that at least have the decency to be marked by some Wumpa Fruit, and there's at least one instance where a box is stashed away behind the background, where by all means it seems you should die by trying to go there.

* JungleJapes: "Jungle Rollers" and "Rolling Stones".

* MadScientist: Cortex and Brio.

* TheMaze: Cortex Power is shaped like this; the camera view is from above instead of behind Crash and there are a number of branches and dead ends of the level. It also has a secret route that required a blue gem.

* PasswordSave: An alternative for those who didn't have a memory card back in the day.

* PuzzleBoss: Ripper Roo, who hops around the arena as conveniently appearing TNT boxes float by. And he's invincible to your attacks.

* RuinsForRuinsSake: "The Lost City" and "Sunset Vista" levels.
* SaveGameLimits: You can only save your game by completing bonus stages and collecting gems.

* TempleOfDoom: "Temple Ruins" and "Jaws of Darkness".

** Saving is rather non-standard, involving collecting three of a certain type of token. The other types lead to different bonus rounds.

** Gem paths consist of platforms of gems that you have to jump your way into the side path of the level, instead of a floating platform that flies up towards the side path of the level. With one exception, gem paths also contain crates that are needed for breaking and thus getting the gem of the stage, while in later games they don't always contain crates and have a second gem.[[note]]In ''Crash 2'''s own version of this trope, it's one or the other.[[/note]] Additionally, this is the only game in the series to feature a clear gem path and for particular colored gems paths to appear in multiple levels.

** Gem paths consist of platforms of gems that you have to jump your way into the side path of the level, instead of a floating platform that flies up towards the side path of the level. All gem paths also contain crates that are needed for breaking and thus getting the gem of the stage, while in later games they don't always contain crates and have a second gem.[[note]]In ''Crash 2'''s own version of this trope, it's one or the other.[[/note]] Additionally, this is the only game in the series to feature a clear gem path.

In an effort to create a bunch of anthropomorphic, hyper-intelligent animals to serve as an army to lead them to world domination, Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio create the Evolv-O-Ray, a device that can mutate any animal into a super-strong, hyper-intelligent warrior, and the Cortex Vortex, a brain manipulation device that can make anyone and anything a blind follower of Cortex's orders. One of their first experiments with the Evolv-O-Ray is Crash, a bandicoot snatched from the local island wilderness and chosen to serve as the leader of Cortex's army. However, the Cortex Vortex fails on Crash, and he is discarded as a failed specimen while Cortex and Brio prepare to experiment on Crash's love interest, Tawna. The next day, Crash washes up on the shores of N. Sanity Beach and vows to defeat Cortex and rescue Tawna from his fortress, with the help of a native mask spirit named Aku Aku who wants Crash to take down Cortex so he'll stop polluting the islands.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Up The Creek," named for a common {{bowdlerization}} of the expression "up Shit Creek without a paddle."

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Up The Creek," named for a common {{bowdlerization}} of the expression "up shit creek without a paddle."

** And the game's ''biggest'' problem is the controls. This game was made before the dualshock controller was created, meaning you are forced to use the D-pad to move Crash, making it very hard to make Crash make a consistant jump without him falling to his death or accidently jumping on an enemy. It also doesn't help that the longer you use the D-pad, your thumb starts to get sore. Thankfully this was fixed in the N-sane trilogy, where you can now use the analog stick, making the game far less frustrating.

* EarlyBirdCameo: At the end of the level Jaws of Darkness, You can see a carving on the wall that looks to be an ancient statue of Uka Uka. It is the same temple that gets destroyed at the beginning of [[CrashBandicoot3Warped Crash 3]], Leading to his freedom.

* LevelInTheClouds:
** The secret path in Native Fortress (with the red gem) leads you to a section in the sky where you'll be running on clouds to break more crates.
** The levels Road to Nowhere and The High Road have Crash cross a prolonged, decayed bridge above the dense clouds in the sky. Crash has to watch for the fragile parts of the bridge to avoid falling, and use upside-down turtle shells to jump large gaps.

* BubblyClouds: The secret path in Native Fortress (with the red gem) leads you to a section in the sky where you'll be running on clouds to break more crates.