[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crash1_4304.jpg]]

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.

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!!This game contains examples of:

* OneUp: *cha-ching!*
* BackTracking: Some levels require backtracking if the player wants to break all boxes, and some levels can't be cleared of boxes at all without earning gems from later levels first.
* BlackoutBasement: "Lights Out" and "Fumbling in the Dark".
* BonusStage: There are three kinds of bonus stages; The Tawna stages that are mostly easy, Brio stages that are much harder and Cortex that are ''even'' harder. Tawna stages also let you save your game after completion.
* BossArenaIdiocy: Sure thing Ripper, just jump in that exact same pattern so we can blow up the TNT right next to you.
* BottomlessPits
* CheckPoint
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Tawna pretty much disappeared from the series after this game.
* CrateExpectations
* DifficultyByRegion: The first boss, Papu Papu, has five hit points in the Japanese version (instead of three) and after the third hit, he starts attacking faster. Also, the password system was removed, forcing you to rely on saves (which were limited to the Tawna Bonus Rounds).
** On the other hand, part of the level "The High Road" was removed, and Aku Aku sometimes gives you hints.
*** Aku Aku's hints also appear in the Japanese versions [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack of]] [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped the]] [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex sequels]].
** In the PAL version, Ripper Roo jumps more slowly, but The Lab has only one checkpoint instead of two.
* DummiedOut: "Stormy Ascent", the harder version of [[ThatOneLevel Slippery Climb]], was taken out at the last minute for being too difficult. It still exists in a mostly complete form (everything but the bonus level) and can be played with a Gameshark code.
* DynamicDifficulty: After few deaths you'll get a free Aku Aku mask to help you.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The only ''Crash'' game with a world map.
** Saving is rather non-standard, involving collecting three of a certain type of token.
** The game features tokens leading to bonus rounds.
** The game features passwords largely overshadowing the save system.
** Keys never reappeared.
** As for more minor differences, the following two games use a completely different character model for Crash[[note]]except for certain death animations[[/note]].
* EternalEngine: "Heavy Machinery" and "Castle Machinery".
* EvilLaugh: The gangster enemies in "Cortex Power" and "Toxic Waste" let out one when they attack you.
* FollowTheMoney
* FourEyesZeroSoul: The lab assistants.
* FullBoarAction: Boars appears as unkillable enemies in the bridge levels. You also get to ride one in "Hog Wild" and "Whole Hog".
* GiantEnemyCrab: Very first enemy that you come across in (and only in) "N. Sanity Beach".
* GreenHillZone / PalmtreePanic: "N. Sanity Beach".
* GunsAkimbo: The gangster enemies in "Cortex Power" are armed with two machineguns.
* IdleAnimation: Leave the controller alone and Crash starts throwing wumpa fruits in the air...which then land on his head.
* JigglePhysics: The only reason Naughty Dog's character designers thought it was a good idea to include Papu Papu as a boss was because the animators loved to animate jiggling fat.
* JungleJapes: "Jungle Rollers" and "Rolling Stones".
* LaughingMad: Ripper Roo.
* MadScientistLaboratory: "The Lab".
* ManEatingPlant: Encountered in the early jungle stages.
* NoDeathRun: Frustratingly, the only way to earn a gem is to break all the crates ''and not lose a single life''.
** You can get the gem after dying in a level - as long as you don't respawn from a checkpoint. Still really irritating though.
* NonLethalBottomlessPits: There are some seemingly bottomless pits that actually contain hidden crates, available after the proper colored gem is acquired. Frustratingly, you die if you fall into the pit without physically touching the gem platform, even after you have the gem.
* NonMammalMammaries: Tawna, obviously.
** Technically, Tawna ''is'' a mammal, but as bandicoots are marsupials, the mammaries should be in the pouch.
* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: the Crash Bandicoot series plays pretty much like a polygonal ''SuperMarioBros'' game, and the linearity of the levels is the obvious result, regardless of the game having 3D graphics.
* OneWingedAngel: After taking enough damage, N. Brio will drink his own concoctions and turns into giant green monstrosity.
* PasswordSave
* PowerupMount: The boar levels.
* PuzzleBoss: Ripper Roo.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Encountered in the BlackoutBasement levels.
* SaveGameLimits: You can only save your game by completing bonus stages and collecting gems.
* ShoutOut: Several.
** Generator Room: Cortex's dead-eyed face is shown through screen, to remind everyone that "BigBrotherIsWatching". [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour No points for guessing the reference.]]
** Pinstripe Potoroo (Boss Stage): a Boss Battle in a wrecked office, with Pinstripe [[{{Scarface}} laughing like crazy while shooting everywhere with his machine gun.]]
** Rolling Stones: [[RollingStones the level's title, duh.]]
** Boulders: while IndyEscape is used in later games too, this is the only time where the reference to ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' is this clear.
*** Boulder Dash: aside from the aforementioned Indy Escape thing, the level's name isn't just a pun on "balderdash" by itself; the fact you're running away from a boulder makes it a reference to the actual ''BoulderDash'' game, too.
** Nitrus Brio (Boss Stage): Brio isn't just a case of JekyllAndHyde; the "monster" persona is also [[TheIncredibleHulk green, reckless and with his crotch being the only clothed body part.]]
* SoftWater: Crash survives the fall from Cortex's castle into the water in the opening cinematic.
* SpinAttack
* StockScream: The Howie scream of the Lab assistant enemies.
* SuperDrowningSkills: Crash vanishes as soon as he falls into water in "Upstream" and "Up The Creek".
* SurveillanceDrone: Enemies in the third island.
* TacticalSuicideBoss: Cortex. Why does he keep firing those Plasma Blasts at Crash when he knows that he will just [[HoistByHisOwnPetard spin them back at him?]]
* TakeItToTheBridge: "Road to Nowhere" and "The High Road". Watch out for the SpikesOfDoom below.
* TempleOfDoom: "Temple Ruins" and "Jaws of Darkness".
* TennisBoss: The fights against Koala Kong and Dr. Cortex.
* TurtlePower: Turtles are regular enemies. Their shells also make excellent springboards.
* VideoGameLives
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Available after 100% completion, though it is [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] in the sequels. Except for maybe Ripper Roo, who is shown as a scholar in the second game.
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