* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** "Desert Fox" and "Metal Fox", two military march pieces very reminiscent of the theme to ''Film/TheGreatEscape''. "Jungle Fox" too, resembling a native battle march song.
** The medieval themed "Dragon Drop" and "Mallet Mash".
** "Pogo Padlock", a funky tune which has a big city feel.
** "Pogo Painter", a funky remix of the ''Crash 3'' theme.
** "Sky Balls", a goofy military-flavored piece.
** "Dot Dash", which is a techno remix of the already beloved theme of Dingodile in Crash 3. The Japanese version of the game replaces the Dingodile remix with a synth remix of [[Music/TheCancanSong The Infernal Galop]].
** The banjo piece for "Swamp Fox", which ''will'' get stuck in your head, especially since the level in story mode is really difficult.
** "Jungle Bash", a catchy, upbeat jungle drum and digeridoo remake of the Bone Yard/Dino Might death route themes from ''Crash 3''. That drumbeat will ''also'' get stuck in your head!
** The "Warp Room" theme is definitely one of the funkiest in the series, being a catchy, techno-based remix of the main theme with a subtly dark edge to it that fits the "good versus evil" stakes.
* BreatherLevel: The Crystal challenges tend to bring out some of the worst in the game's difficulty, but occasionally there comes one that's laughably easy and feels completely unfitting in such a NintendoHard game:
** Space Bash, though a really fun crystal challenge (you have to win without the ability to pick up crates), is also pretty easy to win. Due to ArtificialStupidity, the AI tends to end up inevitably dropping into holes, and considering all crates are explosive, you pretty much just have to go nuts hitting every TNT crate in sight.
** Melt Panic gives you the handicap of not being able to recover from falling. Initially this sounds incredibly difficult, so many of the crystal challenges gives you a handicap [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules whilst not applying it to the AI]]... But amazingly enough this is one of the few challenges that actually ''does'' apply your handicap to the AI too. Thanks to this, it is not uncommon to complete the challenge in less than 10 seconds just by immediately going ham on the AI.
** Snow Bash gives you the handicap of "slippery shoes". Basically, your opponents no longer walk on ice. Considering the AI isn't very refined to begin with in Crate Crush, this gimmick in this challenge is considered pretty lame and most people beat it on their first try without even noticing it was supposed to be any different from the regular game.
** Manic Panic starts you off without your bear. In any other arena, this would be a serious problem. But this arena has the bombs, which give you an alternate (and arguably easier) way to dispose of your enemies, and is something that the AI is terrible at using (though if you ''do'' get hit by it, you die because you do not have your bear). Pretty much everyone who played this challenge would just bomb all three opponents and either throw another when they got the chance, or push them off after ''they'' lost their bear too.
** Drain Bash makes it so that... you can't open the special crates by kicking, or else you [[OneHitKill instantly drop dead]]. Seriously. That's it. Otherwise, it plays exactly like the regular arena. The difference is somewhat hard to even ''notice,'' especially if your normal strategy for this level is to ignore the special crates and go straight for the TNT.
* BrokenBase:
** Many players believe that Aku-Aku should've picked Nitrus Brio into his side, since at one point [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Brio helped Crash during his adventure (even though it was fueled by his envy toward Cortex and not a change of heart)]]. Some other players believe that Brio is better in villain role and no change should be made about him. Picking the iconic bad guys Tiny and Dingodile for Aku's team instead was met with similar divisiveness (though some have warmed up to the idea with Dingodile, see HilariousInHindsight).
** After ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'' released and further escalating after the divisive reception to ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', whether the game should be remade in the vein of ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'' and ''Nitro Fueled'' has become an extremely heated topic in the ''Crash'' community. Supporters believe a remake has a lot of potential to massively beef up the amount of content as ''Nitro-Fueled'' had with ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'' and apply quality of life changes while preserving the game's multiplayer strongpoints. Most against believe ''Bash'' is so fundamentally flawed and not popular enough it would require way too much risk for a game not guaranteed to pay off and that supporters of a remake view ''Bash'' under an extreme NostalgiaFilter. A very small subfaction is in-between, believing ''Bash'' though fundamentally flawed has some good ideas that could be used as the basis for an improved ''Crash'' party game.
* CharacterTiers: Yes, a party game of all things has these, most prominently in the game's {{speedrun}} community.
** The general consensus is that Tiny and Koala Kong are superior to the other characters due to their distant throw rate in Crate Crush, having the best push in Polar Panic and the highest damage weapon in Tank Wars.
** Crash and Coco and Cortex and Brio, though clearly worse, have variable skillsets: Crash and Coco are regarded as slightly below average for Crate Crush but okay for Tank Wars and Polar Panic. Cortex and Brio are arguably the best Crate Crush characters and are good in Tank Wars, but suffer immensely in Polar Panic due to the fact they need a full recharge after using a charge, which means if they miss they are extremely vunlerable.
** Dingodile and Rilla Roo lean towards being almost completely worthless, except for Rilla Roo in pogo games due to what is probably a bug (technically making Dingodile alone the worst character, but few consider the difference notable): they perform pretty poorly in all three minigame types where the characters are significantly different.
* DisappointingLastLevel:
** Quite a few people think that Ballistix-based minigame isn't great for a final boss battle that decides the fate of a world. Not to mention those dreaded red balls. Fortunately, in the co-operative mode (if you pick one good and one evil character) you will both be forced into a legitimately intense one-on-one Crate Crush battle that decides the ending.
** The last game you unlock is ''Dante's Dash'', the last of the Dash minigames. As fun as it is, closing out with a different version of a simple racing minigame is remarkably anti-climactic after all the other unique games on the final floor. The gem and crystal challenges it presents are also amazingly easy compared to everything else in the post-game.
* FanNickname: Thanks to WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}, Rilla Roo is now referred to by a large number of fans as "Gorilla Monkey Anus Face."
* GameBreaker:
** A lightning bolt power up on ''Tilt Panic'' is pretty much an instant win. Because of the tilting gimmick, more often than not all the characters will just slide right off the stage without you having to touch anything. Compare it to the other levels where if they get struck by lightning you still have to take care of pushing them off, and it's pretty silly how much it trivializes this particular arena. In fact, your best bet with the gem and crystal challenges is to just keep going until you get a lightning bolt.
** ''Pogo-A-Gogo'' can be won very easily by just making 2x2 or 3x3 L-pattern in a corner where your color is. Even better with speed shoes.
** You can fight conventionally in ''Space Bash'', but due to how badly [=CPUs=] deal with BottomlessPit it is way better just to blow up holes in floor and wait until they fall through them. This approach makes even relics easy.
** Rilla Roo in the pogo games. Compared to everyone else, his hops are a frame faster than everyone else. While a single frame doesn't seem like much, you make a ''lot'' of hops that quickly add up and place Rilla ahead of the competition by the end. This also works in his favour when hopping onto a square that someone else also wants to, since his one frame (at worst) advantage means that he'll have priority over everyone else.
** Having two players in the Dash games is already quite handy, but you can break it wide open if you have one player not bother racing and instead stay in one place to harass and attack the AI. If done right one player will get all their laps done whilst the AI stay stuck on their first couple thanks to the other player constantly getting in their way.
* GoodBadBug:
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3tMEbrYQG0 memory manipulation]] glitch in the Adventure Mode of the game leads to a variety of effects, from really beneficial ones (like winning rounds very quickly), to weird ones (like making the enemy's model disappear or screwing with the camera's movement), or [[GameBreakingBug the ones that cause the game to crash]].
** The cheat code for the game that allows you to access any level and mode in the game was almost certainly not an oversight. Keeping it fully functional even in promotional demos such as the one in ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' almost certainly ''was'' however. It is most fortunate the code was only discovered years later otherwise ''Bash's'' sales figures would have took a massive blow by accidentally giving access to practically the entire game for free.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** In the game's story mode, Dingodile is forced to team up with Crash and Coco in order to even out the playing field between the teams. Two decades later, Dingodile would team up with the Bandicoots again (this time as a [[HeelFaceTurn legitimately good character]]) in a [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime main series title]].
** Concept art of cut characters included one by the name of "Hypno-Potamus". Nearly two decades later, a character of the same name would be prominently featured in a ''[[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series.
* ItsHardSoItSucks: One of the many reasons behind the game's divisive reception is its SurpriseDifficulty of the story mode compared to the Naughty Dog games. The main problem is that while all the matches are technically a free-for-all, [[GangUpOnTheHuman the computer players will very frequently team up on you.]] Having a second player helps even the odds, but the story mode still remains very difficult.
* LowTierLetdown: Dingodile and Rilla Roo are widely considered to be the worst characters in the game due to their poorly designed selection of abilities: their charge in Polar Push doesn't go far enough for the amount of energy it takes up, their duel-shot ability in Tank Wars means their shots deal less damage than the other characters, and it doesn't work like it should since the first shot grants opponents MercyInvincibility upon being hit (thus protecting them from the second shot) and they aren't particularly fast, are big targets and only have a slightly farther throw distance in Crate Crush, with their biggest strength - their spin attack, which can send crates further than any other "kick" attack - hindered by rendering them completely immobile. When compared to the [[JackOfAllStats well-rounded]] Crash, Coco, Cortex and Brio, or the {{Mighty Glacier}}s Tiny and Koala Kong, Dingodile and Rilla Roo are [[MasterOfNone Masters of None]] in comparison.
* RootingForTheEmpire: This game is made as pure catharsis for fans of the ''Crash'' villains. Not only can you play as six of them, including two that didn't appear in ''Crash Team Racing'', you can get a "bad ending" where you help Uka Uka outright ''take over the world''! And if you have a second player handy, you can have them play as a good guy so you fight them directly to win the game. You can have Cortex beat the living tar out of Crash!
* ScrappyMechanic: While many of the mini games are fun, the rule of winning them three times over can get tedious, leading to up to a maximum of ''nine'' rounds per mini game. Even in standard Battle Mode you can only decrease it to a two round victory (making a five round game at max). Mercifully the gem and crystal challenges require only one victory, however, the relic challenges require you beat them two or three times ''in a row''.
* SurpriseDifficulty: Adventure Mode looks like reliable and fun Crash fare, but anyone who has played the last four Crash games will notice how rotten this one can get. Might also count as a SequelDifficultySpike in relation to the Crash series as a whole. The cooperative mode, while no pushover, is easier since it evens the odds with 2-on-2 games.
* ThatOneBoss: Almost all the bosses are merciless.
** Bearminator isn't too hard at first, but as the fight progresses, things can become totally hectic. First off, the robotic bears he launches at you. Upon landing, they'll aim at you for about 5 seconds before firing off a rocket, during which time they are immune to your charges. If the rocket hits you, you're pretty much guaranteed to fall off of the tilting platform to your demise. Oh, and the bears can knock you back pretty hard with their own charges as well. But it doesn't stop there; after each hit, the boss will not only destroy part of the arena, leaving less room for you, but he'll also launch an ''extra'' bear at you, meaning you'll have to dodge another rocket! When he's down to his last hit point, you'll have to deal with ''three'' bears and their rockets on half the arena. To top it all off, if you miss your shot on the final phase, he'll destroy ''another'' part of the arena, giving you even ''less'' room; miss again after that, and he'll destroy the last section, forcing you to restart the whole fight from the top. There is a technique to sending the bears flying off the stage as soon as they land, but there's no [[GuideDangIt hint on how to properly do it in-game.]]
** The Komodo brothers has a grueling two-phase fight, requiring you to destroy three structures of their giant machine before having you fight both the brothers in their tanks at once, both being incredibly beefy while you've lost quite a bit of your health, being quite a nightmare in single player. Thankfully, there is a checkpoint if you die against them in their tanks.
** Nitros Oxide, even as the FinalBoss, is simply ''unforgiving.'' So much so, the chances of beating him first try are simply next to none. Firstly, you'll have to fly after him, going past waves of walls, rockets and nitro boxes among other obstacles. Thankfully, if you die in the next phase, you won't have to deal with that again, but the final phase is where the trouble ''truly'' starts. Firstly, you'll have to play Ballistix against Oxide, but not only does he have near perfect AI in keeping the ball away from him, (This seems to decrease with each game over you get) but he'll also bring out dual rockets from the corner to fire at you while you're trying to keep the balls a way. As if that wasn't cruel enough, they also fire more than once! And unlike the other bosses, having a teammate here can possibly be more of a detriment with both characters occupying the same corner, unlike in the other Ballistix games. Oh, and to top it all off? The red balls from the Sky Ball Crystal Challenge will appear and Oxide is, of course, not only immune to them aswell, but won't even take damage if they go past him! The only form of mercy with them is that they appear on their own, instead of one of the balls randomly changing to as such, giving the player(s) a heads-up before they can come their way.
* ThatOneLevel:
** Pogo Painter's Crystal, which has you avoiding OneHitKill mushrooms that spawn constantly throughout the challenge. It's manageable early on, but eventually they start appearing at such an alarming rate that that you can get killed unexpectedly if you do not stay alert. Worst of all, they can sometimes spawn ''right on the tile you're about to land on'', resulting in unavoidable death. Combined with the fact that you ''still'' need to outpace the [=CPU=]'s scoring, this becomes a very nasty early-game LuckBasedMission.
** While Ballistix as a whole is infuriating, N. Ballism takes the cake. There are two gimmicks: Magnet powerups that repel the ball and N. Gin appearing and firing balls in a counterclockwise direction. Considering how the computer players [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard can easily get the magnets]], the level becomes the hardest Ballistix level, even more than the next one. The crystal challenge for it makes it worse by making it so that N. Gin will ''only attack your goal.'' This is somewhat alleviated by him shooting the balls in the same location every time and having bigger gaps between each shot, (likely due to him supposed to be firing at the AI but programmed in the challenge not to) but still.
** Ballistix Crystals in general tend to be as nightmarish as possible:
*** For ''Crash Ball'', you have to win without your ability to kick. It might sound like a simple handicap on paper, but in the field, not having your kick is a ''very'' big disadvantage that greatly reduces the effective range of your hovership, especially near the end of the round when balls start coming down in droves.
*** In ''Beach Balls'' the game will randomly give one [=CPU=] opponent a forcefield on their goal that lasts for about 5 seconds, during which time that particular opponent can't be scored on, and any balls shot at their goal will ricochet off the forcefield. Frustrating enough as it is, but once you're down to the last [=CPU=], you'll find yourself having to carefully time your attacks to not deflect off of their forcefield, while simultaneously dealing with their own attacks. And God forbid your last opponent is the one across from you...
*** The worst of the worst, however, is the ''Sky Balls'' Crystal. Many consider this to be the toughest challenge in the entire ''game'' and the biggest obstacle to OneHundredPercentCompletion outside of the equally-frustrating Relics. The challenge features special red balls that can randomly appear when a [=CPU=] kicks a regular ball. Touching these balls in any way ''[[OneHitKill instantly destroys your hovercraft]]'', resulting in failure. Of course, [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules the CPU can harmlessly kick these all they want]]. If they go through anyone's goal (even your own), they don't count; however the sheer unpredictability of when the [=CPU=] will transform a ball is what makes it frustrating. In many cases, you will have little to no time to react, especially if one of the platform's engines on your side begins to stall. And worse yet, sometimes the balls will end up going at just the right angle to make them [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable completely unavoidable by traveling all the way across your goal area, ensuring you die through no fault of your own.]] The icing on the cake? ''You '''still''' have to reduce each of your opponents' scores to zero while not allowing your own score to reach zero, all ON TOP of all the red ball chaos.'' It's pretty clear that this stage was not given enough proper playtesting, as it stacks the odds ''way'' too high in the [=CPU=]'s favor. Oh and those red balls? They re-appear in Oxide's boss battle, working very similarly to how they do here.
** The Gem AND the Crystal for Pogo Padlock. For the Gem challenge on single player, you have to score 120 points and the [=CPUs=] will need 90, whilst in co-op, you need to score 240 and the [=CPUs=] require 180. Pogo Padlock's Gem challenge is difficult because stepping on the spots you already made resets them to normal ones and getting hit will replace your colour with the one that hit you. In the Crystal challenge, the only way to get coloured spots is to hit your opponents. Unfortunately, the enemies can still replace it by hitting you or just stepping on them. Fortunately in the Crystal challenge, stepping on your own spots doesn't reset them.
** The Crystal Challenge for Dragon Drop. It's already hard enough grabbing a gem, and holding onto it long enough to throw it at the moving target. Now part of the scoreboard is flashing, and you can only get points if you throw it while standing on the flashing segment. [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules But the AI can still score on any part of the board]], because [[SarcasmMode that wouldn't be fair, would it?]] Oh, and nine times out of ten, instead of the AI going for any player holding a gem, [[GangUpOnTheHuman they'll lock on to YOU exclusively, whether you're holding a gem or not.]]