Video Game / Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

It's a whole new time-traveling adventure!

"Children, Uka Uka and Cortex plan to use this Time Twister to gather Crystals that lay scattered across time. I have brought you here to recover the Crystals before they do so. To open a Time Portal, simply stand on a button and then jump into the Portal. Good luck."

— Aku Aku

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is the third installment in the Crash Bandicoot series and the last Crash Platform Game on the Sony PlayStation. It was released on October 31, 1998 in North America and on December 11, 1998 in Europe.

In the aftermath of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, an evil elemental mask named Uka Uka is freed from his underground prison, and is revealed to have been the true mastermind behind Dr. Neo Cortex's schemes. With Crash in possession of all the Crystals and Gems on Earth, Uka Uka decides to recruit a scientist by the name of N. Tropy to create the Time Twister, a time machine which Cortex and Uka Uka can use to retrieve the Crystals from past and future eras. With the help of Uka Uka's counterpart, Aku Aku, Crash, and Coco race to the Time Twister to collect the Crystals again before Cortex and Uka Uka get a chance to do so.

This game built upon the strengths of the first two games and added more vehicle-based levels (with the player taking control of a bi-plane, bike, jetski or a tiger cub named Pura, at any given time), new abilities that are earned by beating the game's bosses, and a Time Trial mode to keep players coming back to the levels to see how fast they can go. This game also marks the playable debut of Coco Bandicoot, Crash's little sister from the previous game, though most of her levels are vehicle-based.

This game, along with the first game and Cortex Strikes Back, were remade on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC with updated graphics and new features, as part of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

This game was followed by Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and the GameCube and Xbox the following year. In October 2020, an alternate sequel called Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and a bit later, on March 2021, for Nintendo Switch and PC.

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Warped provides examples of:

• 100% Completion: Getting Crystals and Gems and beating bosses contribute to the completion. This time, though, it can go to 105% if you manage to find 2 super secret levels and get the Gems and Relics from there, as well as the extra Gem from Coco after you get all the Gems including from those levels. At least 100% unlocks the true ending. Also a minor one in the Time Trials, where breaking all the time crates will subtract more seconds from your time in the end. This is often necessary for the Platinum Relics.
• Action Girl: Coco joins Crash in the gameplay for the first time. In practice, this means she tackles most of the Unexpected Gameplay Change levels, but still, riding a tiger, a jetski, and a space fighter, along with fighting N. Gin all by herself (well, Pura helps out too) is a definite step-up from being a simple computer hacker genius from the last game. The N. Sane Trilogy remake upgrades this by making her a switchable skin for Crash in the on-foot and plane levels.
• Advanced Movement Technique: In the N. Sane Trilogy version, it's possible to make a variation of the hobslide with the Death Tornado Spin once it's acquired. It's executed in a very similar way (slide, spin cancel, jump, land before the spin finishes), but the spin must be kept going after Crash/Coco lands. The Death Tornado Spin cannot be reliably chained, but the speed boost it gives lasts for much longer. You'd want to perform this variant with as little air time as possible, as the Death Tornado Spin slows Crash/Coco to a crawl until they land.
• Advancing Wall of Doom: How about Advancing Triceratops of Doom?
• Airborne Mook: Floating carpet enemies in "Hang 'em High" drift eerily in your path. And of course, enemy planes in the warplane level.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version spruces up the title screen and adds in a remix of the "Crash Bandy Kuu!" title theme used in Japanese Cortex Strikes Back.
• Anachronism Stew: Mummies with flamethrowers are the least of Crash and Coco's worries, and the latter even gets to maneuver around galleons in the Caribbean on a jet ski. The first is justified by the secret warp room opened by Relics being in the middle of Cortex's production line, churning out mooks to the various time periods, while the second could be the heroes using the Time Twister to bring them there.
• Ancient Egypt: There are four levels set in Ancient Egypt: "Tomb Time", "Sphynxinator", "Tomb Wader", and "Bug Lite". The fourth warp station is themed around Ancient Egypt as well. The levels feature many stereotypical traits like sphinx decorations, deadly traps like spears and crushing objects, and hieroglyphic drawings in the walls.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • As with the prequels, if you start losing too many lives, the game takes pity on you and you respawn with an Aku Aku mask for protection. Lose a few more lives, and a normal crate in the level will turn into a Checkpoint crate. It should be noted that this doesn't come into play during Time Trials, however.
  • Dying in a Time Trial run doesn't cost you any lives.
  • As an Obvious Rule Patch, the game introduced steel Checkpoint crates for alternate routes which don't contain crates, making such routes not necessary for the crate Gem and that alternate route Gem much easier to obtain.^note Although one route with such crate only contains extra lives, not a Gem. On two other routes, if a steel Checkpoint has been activated, the main level path cannot be re-entered without exiting the level. This game also adds a tally of the total crates needed on your hub (and when you press Triangle), making it easier to keep track.
  • Getting troubled with destroying crates while the triceratops chases you? Don't sweat it, just let it hit the crates and the game will count them. This also works with time crates in Time Trial mode.
  • If you unlock the Death Route platform, dying in the Death Route won't make the platform disappear (assuming you respawn outside said route).
  • The amount of bounces that Bounce crates take to break open has been reduced from ten to five, making it easier to deal with them when they are part of crate bridges.
• "Arabian Nights" Days: "Hang 'em High", "High Time", and "Flaming Passion", all set in what is presumably Abbasid-era Baghdad; the second warp chamber in the central warp station is themed around the Middle East as well. Flying carpets are common in the levels, serving as platforms that help Crash cross large pits. Interestingly, all three of them contain Colored Gems, making it the only setting that contains more than one Colored Gem.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Crash has Dr. Cortex, but now there is also the rivalry between sentient voodoo mask twin brothers Aku Aku and Uka Uka.
  • Coco also develops a rivalry with N. Gin, Cortex's right hand, starting with this game.
• Area 51: One of the secret levels is called "Area 51?". It's a motorbike level where Crash has to race flying saucers with his bike to the finish to get the first-place prize (a Gem), and it's set at dark midnight. Interestingly, the existence of this level is teased in an earlier motorbike level that features a roadsign that warns about the presence of aliens in the zone; hitting it unlocks a secret level, but it's not this one.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Previously counting as a source of extra hit points to prevent Crash from being a One-Hit-Point Wonder (in addition to being the source of an Invincibility Power-Up and, within the Japanese version, the guide on how to play the game), it was this game that established Aku Aku as the Big Good behind Crash and Coco's actions, serving as a Good Counterpart to Uka Uka (who's revealed to have been guiding Cortex's actions the whole time).
  • Lab Assistants became the most common type of Mook in this game, even getting their own plot twist.
• Ascended Glitch: In the Tiny Tiger boss fight, you can cheese your way through the more difficult parts of the battle (in which Tiny sics a bunch of lions on you) by hiding out in the upper left corner of the arena. In N. Sane Trilogy, not only is this left intact, but the audience throws cheese at you whenever you do it.
• Baby Morph Episode: The true ending has Cortex and Tropy morphed into infants as a result of the malfunctioning Time Twister, with Uka Uka at the brunt of their bickering.
• Backtracking:
  • Not as flagrant as in Cortex Strikes Back but there are a few instances. "Tomb Time", for one, has a fork for a normal path and a path that is only available with the Purple Gem, and both paths have crates; you get the idea. "Future Frenzy"'s alternate entrance returns Crash to the middle of the main level, requiring him to traverse to the start to get the crates.
  • Inverted with "Gone Tomorrow", where the platform at the end of the Green Gem path takes Crash back to the activated crate in the first portion of the level.
• Badass Biker: Crash, of all the Bandicoots. More specifically in the Motorcycle stages ("Hog Ride", "Road Crash", "Orange Asphalt", and "Area 51?"). Official art (especially the cover for the PAL version seen above) shows Coco dressed as one despite her not being playable for the Motorcycle levels (see also here), suggesting she might have been planned to be usable in them earlier in development.
• Beam-O-War: Aku Aku and Uka Uka have one of these during the first phase of the final boss fight. It's possible for Crash to get caught in the beam and get toasted, so he has to keep an eye on it while also dodging Cortex's projectiles.
• Beard of Evil: Cortex, of course, sports one, but Uka Uka has an impressively ragged version and N. Tropy has an Asian-styled one.
• Bearded Baby: In the end, when Cortex and N. Tropy got absorbed into the malfunctioning Time Twister's vortex and turned into babies, the baby Cortex has some mustache and beard.
• Bears Are Bad News: Inverted with Polar, who is Crash's friend in the previous game. He only makes two appearances in the entire game — the beginning and the (true) ending.
• Bewitched Amphibians: Getting hit by a wizard's "energy blast" in Medieval stages turns Crash into a frog, costing you a life. The frogs in these levels are mooks transformed into frogs, and if they catch Crash they kiss him and turn into princes (this also will take a life from you).
• BFG:
  • One of the abilities Crash can unlock is pulling a bazooka that fires Wumpa Fruit out of hammerspace. The only downside to it is that he can't move while it's out.
  • N. Gin's Humongous Mecha is also armed by equally humongous gatling guns on its arms.
• Big Bad: Uka Uka supersedes Cortex as The Man Behind the Man.
• Big Good: In response to Uka Uka's release, Aku Aku steps up into this role, guiding Crash and Coco through their adventure.
• Blackout Basement:
  • The "Bug Lite" level at the fifth Time Twister area is an Ancient Egypt level set at nighttime. It brings back the concept of the nighttime jungle levels in Cortex Strikes Back. Fireflies are the light source, and you have to hurry past the enemies to the next firefly before the current one flies off, or you're left stranded in the dark.
  • The level "Area 51?" at the secret Time Twister area is a motorbike racing level set at night, the only lights are your headlights, the police cars, and your enemies (which are flying saucers).
• The Bogan: Dingodile is as crass as the game can get away with, and more than a little unhinged.
• Bonus Dungeon: In the secret warp room, there are three levels which are more difficult than the standard levels.
• Bonus Stage: Like in the second game, Crash can find '?' platforms which take him to bonus stages. These are quite forgiving; there are no enemies, no lives are taken if you die, and whether you fall or are blown up, the player is plonked right next to the platform to start again. A few 'Death Route' platforms exist, which are considerably harder. Not only do you have to get past the level up to that point without dying, but the stages themselves are tougher, can feature enemies, and generally play out like extreme versions of the regular levels. Hidden Gem stages also exist, which appear only when Crash has found the relevant Colored Gem. They vary in their difficulty, but otherwise are much like Death Routes.
• Bootstrapped Theme: The main theme became the theme of the whole series for a while.
• Boss-Arena Idiocy:
  • Dingodile is defeated by exploiting his surroundings. He is protected by a barrier of crystals, which Crash can't yet jump over. There are no gaps until Dingodile starts blasting through the barrier with his flamethrower.
  • N. Tropy has you at the far end of the arena from him, and thus you can't do a thing, due to not having a ranged attack. Until he switches the platforms to create a direct trail to him... and then takes that moment to catch his breath and stop attacking you.
• Boss-Only Level: Boss fights are started by stepping onto the button and then jumping into the warp ball like a level would.
• Bottomless Pits: There are a couple of these in most of the levels. As per the norm, falling into the pits costs a life.
• Brains and Brawn: Coco and Crash, respectively, in character. For gameplay purposes, the distinction is nullified.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Platinum Relics. Thankfully they aren't necessary for a 100% Completion, and they offer no different bonuses than the Gold Relics they supercede.
• Breaking the Bonds: Before the boss fight starts, Tiny Tiger is chained to 2 big stone pillars. He then breaks himself free, breaking the pillars in the process.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: If Crash gets hit by the double-headed Lab Assistants in the level Double-Header, he literally gets smacked into the screen, slides down it, and the screen turns black, losing a life.
• Brick Joke: N. Tropy's defeat leads to concerns over whether the Time Twister will start acting erratically. At the very end of the game, the machine gets engulfed in a super-sized warp ball and does indeed fall apart.
• Build Like an Egyptian: The "Tomb Time", "Sphynxinator", "Tomb Wader", and "Bug Lite" levels.
• Cat-and-Mouse Boss: Tiny Tiger begins the battle by chasing after Crash, trying to crush him with his leaping.
• Challenge Run: When you re-enter a level after you collected its Crystal, there'll be a floating clock near the start. Pick it up to activate Time Trial mode where a timer starts ticking. Some of the crates are changed to "time crates", which, when broken, will stop the timer for a few seconds (depending on the crate's number). As you'll be put right at the start if you die in a Time Trial, taking the trial would thus be not just a Speed Run but a No-Damage Run as well. The rewards for finishing quickly are Time Relics, which comes in grades (in order): Sapphire, Gold, and Platinum. These are required for 100% Completion.
• Changing Gameplay Priorities: The running shoes awarded for defeating Cortex change everything. The first main chunk of the game consists of reaching the end of levels and obtaining Crystals. After obtaining the running shoes, however, the game becomes all about completing challenges and Time Trials for 100% completion.
• Characterisation Click Moment:
  • This is the first game in which Aku Aku is story-involved and is given full speaking lines besides his power up calls, establishing himself as a gentle elder mentor for the bandicoots and stepping up as the Big Good when Uka Uka is released. Amusingly though, this role had been established for a while in the Japanese games, where he gives gameplay hints to Crash.
  • Tiny is given a speaking role for the first time in this game, and has switched to actively working for Cortex here, setting up his standard characterisation as a dopey, loyal henchman to Cortex.
• Cheesy Moon: Subverted. The moon seen in the sky of "Midnight Run" is pretty cheese-like. However, when you fight N. Gin in the moon, it's evident that it's not actually made of cheese.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In a sense, N. Tropy. By defeating him, Crash receives an urgent message from Uka Uka and Cortex berating him for incapacitating the only person able to maintain the Time Twister. After the final boss battle on 100% Completion, the Time Twister goes haywire. In Aku Aku's own words: "The Time Twister machine could not hold itself together." Might count as a Brick Joke or as a bit of Take Your Time.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Time Twister machine's core which Cortex falls into at the end of his boss fight will become useful later.
• Checkpoint: If Crash opens a crate marked with a 'C', it becomes the new Checkpoint in case he dies. These are required to get a level's Clear Gem, and alternative paths and Skull Routes would instead have steel Checkpoint crates that are not required towards the total.
• Child Prodigy: Coco Bandicoot, Friend To All Ancient Chinese Tigers, jet-ski pilot extraordinaire and, like Crash, an ace World War pilot.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Ripper Roo finally vanishes, along with the Komodo Brothers and Nitrus Brio.^note It's only temporary, as they all appear in Crash Bash, with Roo, Komodo Joe, and a reference to Brio also appearing beforehand in Crash Team Racing.
• Clone Army: The Lab Assistants are revealed to be this in the Secret Warp Room, where the production of them is shown.
• Collection Sidequest: At first, the Gems and Relics appear to be this, since you don't need them to reach the final boss, but to complete the game, and to complete the story, they all need to be collected.
• Collision Damage: It's traditional, and so much as touching an opponent will trigger a death animation.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: When Crash gets hit by a scimitar in the Middle East-inspired levels, his pants are cut off, revealing his pink polka-dot boxers.
• Completion Meter: Like the second game, Warped shows how many Crystals and Gems you need to get in each level, the amount of crates you've broken, and how many they are in each level (this time you no longer need to wait until you reach the end, just press Triangle). You can also see your completion percentage by pausing the game or going to the load/save screen.
• Composers: Mark Mothersbaugh and Josh Mancell (of Mutato Muzika) compose the level themes for this game, too.
• Continuity Nod: The destruction of Cortex's space station is what frees Uka Uka, and some of N. Gin's dialogue refers to his boss battle against Crash in the previous game.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Crash can get surprisingly close to the lava pools in the dinosaur levels of the game without so much as sweating.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: invokedSome of Crash's 'death' animations count, such as being kissed by an enemy frog who turns into a prince. Crash also gets to dish this out on those Goddamn Bats Egyptian monkeys in the tomb levels, by jumping on their heads for extra fruit. Cortex and N. Tropy get turned into babies and sent to an unknown location when subjected to the Time Twister's malfunction at the end of the game. Uka Uka ends up being caught in a painful-looking tug-of-war between them.
• Cool Gate: The Time Twister works by pressing a button to a designated level and then the projector will project a ball-o-warp that you then jump into. Pretty compact for a warp gate, right?
• Cosmetic Award: Completing the game by gathering all the Crystals and Gems and scoring either the Gold or Platinum Relics from all the levels in Time Trial mode (including the two super secret levels) earns the player an extra Gem and a snazzy fireworks display along with a 105% mark on their save game. That is all.
• Crate Expectations:
  • The Slot Crate was introduced in this game. The crate switches back and forth between two or three icons, much like the reels on a slot machine. When Crash gets close to it, the reels spin faster. Depending on when Crash opens the crate, the effect will differ — so, for instance, if it shows a '?' icon when he spins it, he'll get a goody (usually fruit), whereas if it shows a 'TNT' icon when he spins it, it behaves like a TNT crate and explodes (just jumping on it when TNT is showing will start the standard countdown, which is required for a puzzle). If Crash doesn't open it before the reel acceleration reaches its peak, the Slot Crate changes into an indestructible Iron Crate, thwarting any attempt to break all the crates and get a Gem.
  • Also introduced are the time crates. During Time Trial mode, several crates except Nitro, Iron, and TNT crates are transformed into yellow crates with either a '1', a '2', or a '3' on its face. Break the crate and the timer freezes for however many seconds were indicated by the crate. This feature was later reused in Crash Team Racing.
• Creative Closing Credits: During the final credits, baby Cortex and baby N. Tropy are locked in a tug of war for Uka Uka's mask. Uka Uka is not enjoying it, but neither side gets an advantage for the whole credit sequence.
• Cyborg: N. Gin makes a comeback. The Lab Assistants are also revealed to be this in the secret Warp Room.
• Darker and Edgier: A downplayed case since the game is still plenty goofy, but this game features a much more high-stakes story with you going up against an ancient force of evil to save time and reality itself. The final battle really does feel like a final battle.
• Death Course: Because whether you're in a medieval village or the futuristic Neo York levels, everything's trying to kill you.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: And incredibly funny, believe it or not. The game is famous for its many hilarious deaths, some of which aren't actually deaths.
• Defeat by Modesty: Getting hit by a scimitar in the medieval Arabia levels will cut Crash's pants off, causing him to shamefully slink away while attempting to cover his pink boxers with red hearts (if Crash is hit by the Lab Assistants who swing their scimitars, they'll giggle at him for it).
• Death Trap: The Egyptian levels are chock full of them, including flooding rooms, walls that fire darts when you walk through a sunbeam, retracting spears that pop out of the floor, walls that abruptly snap shut and crush you...
• Demoted to Dragon: Dr. Neo Cortex, as now he's under the orders of Uka Uka.
• Demoted to Extra: N. Gin, despite holding onto his status as penultimate boss and Cortex's right-hand man, is a bit player in this game, having a role no larger than that of Tiny or Dingodile. The actual secondary doctor is N. Tropy, the third boss and a close ally of Uka Uka.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • It is possible to get over to N. Tropy before he changes the platforms and makes himself vulnerable, especially after getting Death Tornado Spin (i.e in a rematch). However, doing so causes him to slam his tuning fork into the ground and kill Crash instantly.
  • Similar to the previous game, if the player neglects to collect a Crystal the first time they play a level, Aku Aku will notify you and ask you to try again, up to three times. He will remind you slightly more urgently if you fail a second time.
  • The secret level "Hot Coco" is a circular stage, with its exit not far behind your entry point... barricaded by a wall of Nitro crates. You'd think, if you have an Aku Aku mask when you enter, you could just crash through the Nitros and go to the exit, right? Nope — because the level you access this from is a motorcycle level, you'll never have a mask upon entering. To get rid of the Nitros, you have to find the Nitro switch crate (the green ! steel crate) and smash it.
  • The goats in the medieval levels will buck Crash up with their horns. If you contact them from the rear however, they'll kick Crash instead.
• Didn't Need Those Anyway!: The battle against N. Gin has Coco defeat the same five parts of her enemy's mech as Crash did in the second game. However, that's just the first phase of the fight, as N. Gin then goes into orbit, ejects some more parts, and enters a space station with even more weapons to destroy.
• Difficulty by Region:
  • Several enemies were made harder in the European version: Wizards have two hit points, Missile Robots shoot four missiles at a time instead of three, and various others attack faster. In addition, dying repeatedly on a level will only ever get you one Aku Aku mask, not two.
  • Zigzagged for the Relics. Crash was given a greater Crash Dash speed boost in the PAL version to compensate for the fewer frames per second than NTSC. As such, Relic times in the PAL version's platforming levels are generally one or two seconds faster compared to NTSC. This makes getting Relics easier in on-foot levels, but harder in other levels — for instance, "Rings of Power" is much easier on NTSC than PAL.
  • The levels with Pura have fewer enemies in the Japanese version and extra enemies in the European version.
• Disconnected Side Area: There are two levels that require an alternate entrance to get the Gems. Fortunately, unlike the previous game, the alternate entrances are easier to unlock (or at least it's clear on how you unlock them, namely having the appropriate amount of Relics).
• Disc-One Nuke: A glitch involving the demo allows you to start the game with all 5 upgrades without you having to defeat any boss, making the earlier levels more easier and allowing you to easily get Platinum Relics before you even beat Cortex.
• Do a Barrel Roll: Pressing the Spin Attack button in warplane levels let you do this, making it easier to make sharp turns. Doing this in "Rings of Power" while you Pass Through the Rings gives you a speed boost.
• Double Jump: One of the perks of Crash 3 is the upgrade feature. By defeating each boss the first time, Crash Bandicoot earns a new move which either enhances his existing abilities or gives him completely new ones. In the case of the Double Jump, Crash earns this by defeating Dingodile for the first time. Combined with the slide and Super Spin, Crash can go almost anywhere.
• Down the Drain: For some reason Crash still has Super Drowning Skills in the "Tomb Wader" level. Here, the entire level is set in an Egyptian tomb, the waters in the passageways of which rise and fall at various points. In the lower sections, the floor is flooded, but fluctuates between being knee deep for a few seconds to being raised up several feet for another few seconds, and then back again. Part of the challenge is to find higher ground, such as a cube of steel blocks or a floating platform, to stand upon and wait for the water level to drop to a manageable level.
• The Dragon: Cortex suffers a bit of Villain Decay due to being bumped down to this by Uka Uka, but he still qualifies as the Final Boss. N. Gin is his Dragon in turn, while N. Tropy qualifies as one of the Co-Dragons to either Cortex or Uka Uka.
• The Dreaded: Aku Aku outright refers to Uka Uka as such, with him saying that great evil has come from his freedom, and reminding Crash and Coco of their biggest enemy in the penultimate level they enter.
  Aku Aku: Crash, Coco, remember. It is not only Dr. Cortex that we battle. Beware of Uka Uka, my children. He is a far more dangerous enemy than anyone can imagine.
• Dub Induced Plothole: The Japanese version of the game changed the subtitle from Warped to Surprise! Around-The-World Trip. To accommodate this, the logo had been changed from a clock to a globe. The problem with this is that, even if you do travel around the world in the process, the game's level design is still based around the concept of Time Travel.
• Dumb Muscle: Tiny has improved slightly from the previous game — not only can he speak, and speak eloquently enough to warn Crash (albeit in Hulk Speak), but his tactics are no longer restricted to just leaping after Crash; instead, he tries to spear him on the end of his trident, and when that fails, he releases hordes of lions on you. Even when he falls for the same trick three times, he gets notably faster in pulling out his trident as the battle progresses.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Fake Crash appears in three levels after 100% completion.
• Energy Weapon: A barrier of lasers appears in the future levels, switching on and off occasionally and in a regular pattern.
• Escape Sequence: The triceratops in the prehistoric levels. Yes, a triceratops.
• Eternal Engine: Compared to the first two games, Warped has a lot less of this; the only clear examples are the arenas the player fights N. Tropy and Neo Cortex in, and the two "future" stages (which overlap with Tomorrowland).
• Evil Mask: The game introduces Aku Aku's Evil Twin Uka Uka, who is then retconned into being the Big Bad of the series.
• Evil Brit: Dr. Nefarious Tropy has a British accent when he talks to you via Time Twister in the third time travel area.
• Exploding Crates: TNT and Nitro crates, as usual.
• Expressive Mask: Aku Aku has a new cutscene model to accommodate the facial expressions which would otherwise be impossible, for his standard gameplay model is essentially a block of wood with the bits painted on (Japanese players got one for Cortex Strikes Back that was later used in CTR. Uka Uka is also an expressive face, but he does have a non-expressive gameplay face which appears during the Final Boss battle. That, and the two of them literally are masks.
• Extended Gameplay: You can claim to have 'beaten' the game after collecting the Crystals and defeating the final boss, but after that the player can go back and find the Gems and Relics as well. As usual, the best ending comes with getting the Gems before fighting Cortex.
• Fake Difficulty: Downplayed. The Platinum Relics demand nearly frame perfect precision to obtain, which becomes unfair in the Relic stage "Area 51?", which doesn't even have the decency to let you see more than three feet ahead of you. However, Platinum Relics are nothing more than a Bragging Rights Reward, and obtaining Gold Relics is enough to achieve 100% Completion.
• Fake Trap: Although not as prevalent in this one when compared to its predecessor. Running into the second pterodactyl on the Yellow Gem path in "Dino Might!" doesn't kill you, but instead transports you to the secret level "Eggipus Rex".
• Flamethrower Backfire: Dingodile is damaged by making him destroy the crystals protecting him, thus clearing a path for you to hit him which causes the fuel tank of his flamethrower to explode.
• Freaky Electronic Music: Dr. N. Tropy, the third boss and the one who keep the Time Twister Machine in check, has a heavily industrial Battle Theme Music that goes well with his clockwork design. There also are the stages 19 and 21 which are set in a futuristic city (that is, a future where Cortex takes over a city), complete with electronic music.
• Gadgeteer Genius: N. Gin, the Mad Scientist who pilots a Humongous Mecha when facing Coco, claims to have made a few modifications since his last encounter with Crash.
• Game-Over Man: Cortex reprises this role from Cortex Strikes Back if the player chooses to quit the game, but Uka Uka takes over the role otherwise, with him being the one to say "game over" and chiding the player for choosing to continue.
  Uka Uka: When will you ever learn, you miserable bandicoot?!
• Gameplay Roulette: The game has two scuba diving levels, four jet ski levels, four motorbike race levels, two tiger riding levels, and three airplane flying levels, of which the first two are about shooting down targets, and the third is a race. That's fifteen out of thirty two levels. Add in one boss who plays as a bi-plane shooter, and subtract that two of the bonus levels are just alternate entrances, and that's roughly half the game spent not on foot platforming.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: In the final battle, Aku Aku, who normally represents Crash's extra hitpoints, is busy with his own battle. This renders Crash a One-Hit-Point Wonder, regardless of what he had going in.
• Gangplank Galleon: The jet ski levels "Makin' Waves", "Tell No Tales", "Ski Crazed", and the secret "Hot Coco" are set on the ocean with pirate ships and Sea Mines abound.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In the standard ending, Cortex says he would like to retire to a nice, big beach, with a nice, big drink, and a woman with nice, big... bags of ice for his head. The prolonged Beat before he says bags of ice is meant to mislead the audience into thinking he'll say boobs, coupled with the sound of balloons inflating in the N. Sane Trilogy making this Bait-and-Switch more on the nose.
• Goofy Print Underwear:
  • Several of Crash's death sequences reveal that he wears pink boxers with red hearts. The Wizard enemies in the medieval levels have white boxers with pink dots.
  • Crash's underwear and scuba gear floats away when he finishes an underwater level. Also, his underwear flies off when he is killed by an underwater mine.
• The Goomba: The medieval goat from the medieval levels is easily defeated. The frog enemies less so, as their leaps tend to be erratic and unpredictable, though like the medieval goat they can be defeated by any attack. The tricky part is that they jump diagonally to match where Crash is on the path, but only in their periodic hops, which isn't something you'd notice right away.
• Goomba Stomp: Yup, this move of Crash is still potent. Also, Tiny tries to do this on Crash repeatedly during his boss fight.
• Gotta Catch Them All: The Crystals are needed to reach the last boss, while the Gems and Relics are needed to complete the game.
• Graceful Loser: Dingodile and N. Tropy, despite throwing fits at you before the boss battle, are surprisingly calm and polite when defeated, even when throwing veiled threats at Crash.
  Dingodile: Ya' thrashed me, mate. No worries. But you'll soon be up against much worse...
  N. Tropy: My time is up. But yours soon will be, too...
• Ground Pound: Crash begins this title with the same belly flop he has in the second game. In addition, by beating the first boss, Crash gains a Super-Charged Body Slam attack, with enough force to smash several metal-enforced crates in one go and release a shock wave.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • The game's two secret levels, accessed in the third section of the Time Twister are fairly esoteric.
    • "Hot Coco" requires you to drive into a sign with an alien head on the side of the road in "Road Crash", which will warp you to the level. There is no indication that this might be possible.
    • "Eggipus Rex" is accessed by entering the Yellow Gem path in "Dino Might!", and then getting carried away by the second pterodactyl in the triceratops chase. Every other instance of this enemy has them behave like a hazard, and this one isn't distinguished from the others at all. Just make sure that Aku Aku isn't equipped or else you'll just take damage.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: In addition to the eponymous character, Tiny dons some customized Roman armor for his boss battle, but otherwise his apparel hasn't changed much. Dingodile wears only a pair of yellow trousers and a flame pack on his back. This is averted by Crash himself in the Motorcycle stages, which have him wear a leather jacket alongside his blue pants and shoes.
• Hammered into the Ground: If the triceratops from the prehistoric levels runs over Crash, he will be flattened, and the triceratops will repeatedly stomp on him over and over so he can't get back up.
• Hammerspace: After getting his Fruit Bazooka, Crash keeps it in his back pocket, despite it being almost twice the size of him.
• Heroic Mime: Crash, of course, but strangely Coco inverts Suddenly Speaking and becomes The Voiceless as well, presumably because she is no longer an NPC, although she doesn't even have her own grunts unlike Crash (sans the Japanese version).
• Hub Level: A modification of the old Warp Room system — instead of six isolated warp chambers, five of which could only be accessed by a platform in the middle of each room, this one is a single large Warp Room called the Time Twister, with five chambers and the save screen arranged around a central wheel. In each Time Travel area, there are five levels (plus a boss level once it's been unlocked), and defeating one area's boss will unlock the next area. Also, there is a platform which appears at the center of the hub which takes Crash to a secret Warp Room. However, the platform needs to be unlocked before it can be accessed.
• Humongous Mecha: N. Gin as usual, and he claimed to have made "a few modifications" to it. This time, Rock Beats Laser of the previous game just isn't going to cut it.
• Idle Animation: Leave Crash for a while and he plays with his yo-yo, juggles some Wumpa Fruit, or does the Crash Dance.
• Immediate Sequel: The game starts with the remains of Cortex's space station from the second game crashing on Earth, releasing Uka Uka from his prison.
• Indy Escape: Crash's response to being chased by the triceratops.
• Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Really egregious in this game. Come on — modern day crates in the prehistoric era? Underwater? On a motorcycle racetrack?
• Infinite 1-Ups: The Wumpa Fruit in the secret level "Eggipus Rex" don't disappear like they usually do in Time Trial mode. As you don't lose lives in this mode, you can farm the Wumpa Fruit for more lives.
• Inflating Body Gag: If Crash touches a pufferfish, he will inflate about 3 times his size, floating helplessly. Happens in the N. Sane Trilogy remake too.
• In Their Own Image: Heavily implied, as most levels have some form of Cortex's capital N or even his face plastered all over the place. A particularly noticeable case occurs in the motorcycle levels, where all the billboards advertise businesses owned by Cortex or his minions, as well as the Egyptian levels where the walls have hieroglyphs depicting them. He also seems to have taken the place of the emperor of Rome in Tiny's boss fight.
• Iron Butt Monkey:
  • Crash, if you keep dying while playing him. If you're doing this on purpose just to see The Many Deaths of You, please stop for the poor bandicoot's sake!
  • Cortex, too. Both Dingodile and N. Gin are also detonated as a result of their defeat.
• I Shall Taunt You: The bosses threaten you at the start of each of their face offs, and usually celebrate or mock you whenever they cost you a life.
• Jerkass: Dingodile's Establishing Character Moment is threatening a terrified penguin with his flamethrower, cackling evilly.
• Kick the Dog: Dingodile is about to fry an innocent penguin, but is distracted by Crash's timely arrival for a boss battle.
• Killer Rabbit: Those nice monkeys in the ancient Egypt levels kill Crash by throwing paint bombs on him. At least you get to jump on their heads in retribution later.
• Kiss of Death: Played for Laughs in the medieval levels, which feature Bewitched Amphibians hopping around as enemies. If one catches Crash (Or Coco in the N. Sane Trilogy) it pins him down, forces a big wet kiss on them, and transforms into a prince. It doesn't seem to actually hurt Crash but he's left so disgusted, it still manages to cost him a life.
• Konami Code: Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, square on the title screen unlocks a demo of Spyro the Dragon (1998). As an homage to this, inputting the same code with Crash 3 selected on the menu in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy unlocks a trailer for Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
• Lancer vs. Dragon: N. Gin, the boss of the fourth warp room, is the Big Bad's most loyal minion and a tech genius. Since battling him would require knowledge of how to pilot a space ship, Coco steps up to fight in Crash's place, as she is far more intelligent than the protagonist.
• Large Ham: Doctor Neo Cortex as usual, but Uka Uka upstages him. Also Doctor Nefarious Tropy and Doctor N. Gin in their own ways.
• Law of 100: As usual, collecting one hundred Wumpa Fruit will earn Crash a new life.
• Left Stuck After Attack:
  • The knight Lab Assistants in medieval stages attempt to lift swords off the ground. When they succeed, they yank the sword with such strength that they spin in a full circle with it before dropping the blade back on the floor and needing to pull it up again.
  • In the first boss fight against Tiny Tiger, he leaps around and tries to stab Crash with his trident. After a few jumps it gets stuck, leaving Tiny open to Crash's attack.
• Lethal Lava Land: The prehistoric levels are set in a volcanic swamp. Lava is survivable (Crash only loses a life if he isn't being protected by Aku Aku when he touches it), but it's a big inconvenience when he's running away from the dinosaurs that attempt to charge at him (especially since he also has to avoid the patches of grass that slow him down).
• Lighting Bug: Level 25, titled "Bug Lite", has Crash navigating his way through a dark pyramid, with his only light source being a lone firefly that Crash have to keep running ahead to catch up. Lose the firefly and you can't see a thing ahead of you in the level, which would likely lead to Crash running into a death trap or a killer mummy.
• Luck-Based Mission: Collecting Relics (especially Platinum) in the jet ski levels can be this, because the waves are randomly generated and getting midair and sunken crates sometimes require a precise ramp jump that is affected by the water level. The plane levels have a hint of this as well; the objective targets move predictably to a point, but the random enemies can easily screw up the precise timing you need for Platinum Relics.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service:
  • Part of the Morton's Fork, Crash ends up being this at the end. Thank goodness for Take a Third Option. It's even hinted at earlier on:
    Dingodile: Right... Now, you've gone and done it. Them Crystals are mine!
  • And after that:
    Cortex: Gather another 5 Crystals, and yet again, you will have foiled my plans... Or will you?
• Made of Iron: Most of the bosses; Cortex in particular takes a lot of punishment during the Final Boss battle. Crash and Coco expectedly are this where losing lives are concerned.
• Mad Scientist: Cortex, N. Tropy and N. Gin all qualify for this in some capacity.
• The Many Deaths of You: A lot funnier and more varied than its predecessor. Here, you're more likely to see Crash have his legs cut off (and walk independently), scrapped to atoms, kissed by a frog, blown up like a balloon by a pufferfish, or bashed by a club right into the camera. Coco, to a lesser extent, gets in on this too.
• Marathon Boss: N. Gin has a total of 12 hits he can take (5 in the first phase, 7 in the second). For comparison, every other boss takes 3 hits; N. Gin himself in 2 only took 5.
• Mascot Mook: Cortex's Lab Assistants, as usual. They come in a variety of forms and disguises depending on the time period of the level they're in, but are identifiable by their Opaque Nerd Glasses.
• Meaningful Name: Dingodile is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a half-dingo, half-crocodile hybrid. N. Tropy's name is a pun on the word entropy, a physics concept which means, in layman's terms, disorder, especially in relation to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
• Medieval European Fantasy: The theme of "Toad Village", "Gee Wiz", and "Double Header" is a stereotypical despiction of 15th century Europe (specifically Great Britain and Rome). The first warp chamber is based on this setting as well. Features include oversized frogs in "Toad Village" (as well as magicians that can turn Crash into one in "Gee Wiz"), swordsmen, tents in the levels' landscapes, and (in "Double Header") ogres with two heads. The boss battle against Tiny Tiger takes place in a parodied version of the Roman Colosseum.
• Mercy Invincibility: Like before, you'll be temporarily invincible whenever the Aku Aku mask takes a hit.
• Metropolis Level: "Future Frenzy" and "Gone Tomorrow" take place in a futuristic city, with pathways between skyscrapers so tall that the ground can't be seen from the playable area.
• Mischief-Making Monkey: Levels set in ancient Egypt often feature monkeys who hide in (and can apparently teleport between) vases, while they throw stuff at Crash. Break the last of the vases in a given area, however, and the monkey will cower with its hands over its head, leaving you free to jump on his head a few times for more Wumpa Fruit, if you're so inclined.
• Mix-and-Match Critters:
  • One of the enemies in "Bone Yard and "Dino Might!" is the Bandifish, orange-and-blue fish-like creatures with a distinct resemblance to Crash (it's implied they're his prehistoric ancestors). They flop around and randomly perform Spin Attacks, and if Crash gets too close, they eat him.
  • Dingodile is a mix of a dingo and a crocodile.
• Mook Maker: Crash gets a glimpse of one in the secret Warp Room: combined with the Warp Orbs and the factory line, it serves as a huge Shout-Out to The Terminator.
• Mook-Themed Level: The levels' gimmicks are often tied to a newly-introduced enemy type. For example, the three medieval-themed stages featured in the game consist of "Toad Village" (which is overrun by frogs), "Gee Wiz" (introduces wizards that can fire off spells that transform people into frogs, thus tying them to the previous level) and "Double Header" (this one having two-headed ogres that swing clubs around).
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: N. Tropy is the fourth in the quartet of Doctors. Cortex and N. Gin appear again as well.
• Morton's Fork: "And in fact, we're furious! But, it seems you have overlooked one small detail, you little orange delivery boy! Now that you have gathered all the Crystals, all we have to do... is take them from you!" Crash just can't win, can he?
• Multiple Head Case: The 2-headed giant mooks in the level "Double Header". In the Japanese version, however, they only have one head each.
• National Animal Stereotypes: Dingodile is a mix of a dingo and a crocodile, and talks with an Australian accent. Many of the other characters, including Crash himself, are also based on Australian animals, but Dingodile is the only one who really plays up the stereotype.
• Neon City: The "future" levels take place in a futuristic city full of neon signs of Dr. Cortex and his associates.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile:
  • Some Egyptian stages have pits with crocodiles jumping from them.
  • Dingodile is a dingo-crocodile hybrid with a flamethrower and an unhealthy love for torching things with it.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: The game uses the same engine from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, which in turn uses a modified Crash Bandicoot (1996) engine, so a lot of models and sprites are recycled between games. According to designers from the series, Naughty Dog also allowed later developers to use assets from their games for authenticity purposes (this is especially noticeable with the Eurocom-developed Crash Bash).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After defeating N. Tropy, Uka Uka and Cortex deliver this due to the instability of the Time Twister machine.
• Nintendo Hard: Even despite the fact that it (mostly) doesn't have secrets as Guide Dang It! head-desky as 1 and 2, it's still pretty hard to get 100% Completion here, not even talking about extra 105%, thanks to the Time Trials. Yes, you can get ahold of the Fruit Bazooka and a faster dash. And yes, you can restart the Time Trial as much as you want. But that won't really make the amount of hours spent on getting all the Gold Relics less ludicrous. In part because Time Trials need pure skill as opposed to getting really lucky/reading a guide (as with the Gems in the second game). And let's not even get started on the Platinum Relics...
  • invokedWarped has the Egyptian levels being insanely difficult Relics due to the doors. They open and close at intervals, and it ruins your run if you get trapped behind one with it closed. Even worse is "Tomb Wader" with the rising waters that will be guaranteed to halt Crash's run.
  • "High Time" and "Flaming Passion"'s Gold and Platinum Relics due to the fire-throwing enemies, the guys who swing swords while advancing towards you, slow-moving carpets, and monkey bar segments.
  • Many of the developer times are extremely difficult to get, because most of them were reached on a non-final version of the game.
  • Also, the Platinum Relic in "Hot Coco" requires you go take a certain route where you had to make sure to get every single time crate. However, this was only in the PAL version of the game. Other versions had a much more lenient time limit due to an oversight by the developers.
• No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom: Since the gameplay was lifted from Cortex Strikes Back, this is hardly a surprise. Even the special levels feature this in some capacity. The exception is the super secret level "Hot Coco", which is a really large circular stage, and you start right behind the exit, barricaded by Nitros.
• Non-Lethal Bottomless Pits: In the motorcycle levels, falling into the pits (or that colossal abyss at the end of one track) doesn't cost a life, but they will more than likely hinder your chances of winning the race.
• Nostalgia Level: Tiny Tiger's boss fight and N. Gin's mecha battle are thematically reminiscent of their boss battles from the previous game.
• Obviously Evil: Uka Uka's very design. Cortex also decided to be less subtle than in the previous games.
• Offscreen Start Bonus: There's a level called "Sphynxinator", where not only are there four crates behind the starting point, but there's also a fork right after it: the left presents an apparently impossible-to-jump-over gap, while the right shows a (relatively) more benign path. The level can be completely cleared without even taking the left road. Why, you ask? Because the left road contains only metal crates and Nitro crates, the latter being still required despite having an appropriate trigger at the end of the level.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Like he was in 2, N. Gin gets sucked into the vacuum of space when his mech is destroyed, which he reacts to by yelling "Not again!"
• One-Man Army: Seriously, think a moment about how many more Mooks Crash beats up in this game. Cortex did design him to be a Super-Soldier, after all.
• 1-Up: Like before, the game's pretty generous on lives. After all, you may need every single one of them.
• Only Sane Man: N. Tropy is a completely evil bastard who creates time paradoxes for fun, but he is the only antagonist to not suffer from chronic stupidity (Tiny and Dingodile), futile goals of taking over the world (Cortex and Uka Uka), or being N. Gin. He does have a very stroppy temper, however, whereas Cortex and even Uka Uka, while angry themselves, keep their cool and revert to plan B.
• Painful Pointy Pufferfish: Pufferfish appear in the underwater levels. Bumping into one while it's inflated will somehow lead to Crash getting puffed up himself, losing a life.
• Pass Through the Rings: The level "Rings of Power" involves Crash flying his bi-plane through them in a race against three other planes. Spin Attack the rings to get a speed boost, but watch out for the Nitro crates on the balloons. The name of the level is actually a Shout-Out to a previous Naughty Dog title.
• Patrolling Mook: Some mooks patrol an area, and will become lethal to contact if Crash is in near them or in their line of sight. Examples include the sword-wielding Lab Assistants and the scorpions in the Arabian levels, the former of which will constantly swing their sword if they see Crash, and the surveillance robots in the Future levels that activate a disintegrating field around themselves when they detect Crash.
• Plot Coupon: The game almost entirely revolves around collecting Crystals, Gems, and Relics.
• Portal Endpoint Resemblance: The game features a unified warp room that branches into various paths, each having a portal that can take Crash (sometimes Coco) onto five levels. The portal's surroundings are each modeled thematically after at least one of the five levels available (except for the portal of the third path, as the walls are decorated in the style of the Chinese levels, but there are no levels set in China there).
• Portal to the Past: The hub world is Dr. N. Tropy's Time Twister Machine, and each level takes place during an era of history (or, in some cases, the future) that's accessed via a portal through its use.
• Portmanteau: Dingodile, formed from the words Dingo and Crocodile, which are the closest things you'll find to apex predators in Australia.
• Powder Gag: In the Egyptian levels, monkeys hiding in vases attack Crash using balls of soot, and if they hit, Crash's face becomes extremely sooty.
• Power Crystal: Obviously the Crystals themselves.
• Power Trio: Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot, and Aku Aku.
• Power-Up Mount: Pura in "Orient Express" and "Midnight Run". He's slower and easier to maneuver with than Polar in the previous game. As well as Baby T, who was first encountered in "Dino Might!". The latter gets a secret level dedicated to him, entitled "Eggipus Rex".
• Prehistoria: "Bone Yard" and "Dino Might!", as well as the secret level "Eggipus Rex". In the former two levels, Crash is chased by a large, scarlet-colored triceratops that aims to crush him, thus serving as the game's equivalent of the boulders and the polar bears from the first two games respectively. In the second level, Crash can also ride a friendly Baby T.
• Promoted to Playable: Coco, in some of the non-platforming levels. This is also the reason why she's a Heroic Mime in this game. In the N. Sane Trilogy remake, she's available in more levels.
• Puzzle Boss: Cortex can be a bit of a puzzle for newcomer players when they realize that he can't be hurt by Crash's regular attacks.
• Pyromaniac:
  • Dingodile enjoys toasting things with that monstrous flamethrower of his. So much so, in fact, that he chuckles when he aims it at a passing penguin, the sadist.
  "Bring out the butter; I'm gonna make TOAST!"
  • Also the flame-throwing mook in the Egyptian stages and the arsonists in the Arab ones.
• Racing Minigame: The motorcycle races, where reaching first is required to win the Crystals that help Crash advance through the game (except in the secret level "Area 51?", where reaching first place instead rewards him with a Gem). There's also the level "Rings of Power", an aerial race whose disputed prize is a Gem.
• Remember the New Guy?: Despite claims of having no allies other than N. Gin, Cortex instantly recruits minions Tiny and Dingodile^note He could be another mutated animal that Cortex created, but the game hints nothing at this to collect Crystals after his plans from the second game fail. Granted, Tiny was in the previous game, but why he is now loyally serving Cortex instead of N. Brio is never stated (although he is dim enough to switch sides). Also, Uka Uka is supposed to exist in the previous games (implied with Cortex apparently being under him the whole time) and yet nothing in the previous games hints at his presence.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent:
  • The pterosaurs and the triceratopses in the Prehistoric levels are enemies. The baby tyrannosaur is the only exception to this. Dingodile is only half this trope.
  • The crocodile and snake enemies in the Egyptian levels, as well.
• Retaliation Mode: Tiny Tiger, the first boss, has to be defeated in three hits. Every time he gets hit (except the last), he'll jump to the background and summon a stampede of lions at Crash before jumping into the arena again.
• Rising Water, Rising Tension: The level "Tomb Wader" is set in an Egyptian catacombs where water floods up and drains down at intervals. When the water goes too high, you should find a tall footing for Crash to stand on and wait until the water drains, otherwise he'll drown in the water.
• Robotic Reveal: Cortex's Lab Assistant Mooks are revealed to be androids in the secret Warp area. This was actually foreshadowed in the two previous games, where some of them are able to generate electricity through their hands.
• Save-Game Limits: The game can only be saved at the Warp Room load/save screen, but if you pause the game, you can quit a level so that you can reach any Save Point.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Uka Uka, as the Evil Twin of Aku Aku.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Uka Uka was sealed away in a temple on one of the three islands a long time ago to prevent him from wreaking havoc on the world. He is released at the beginning of the game by falling pieces of Cortex's space station, destroyed by Crash and Nitrus Brio in the previous game. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
• Sea Mine: Blue bombs with skull and crossbones markings on them are floating around in the jet ski levels. Also appears (in a different form) in the scuba levels as well.
• Secret Level: There are three secret levels and two secret level sidepaths which can only be accessed by a secret Warp Room, which itself can't be accessed except via a secret platform. It's much easier to access this time around, though, compared to the previous game. There are two other super secret levels that are hard to find; you'd be guaranteed to need a guide for these ones.
• Sequence Breaking: The "slide jump spin" trick from the previous game is still good for reaching things and places Crash shouldn't reach normally, and now the (legit) Double Jump and Death Tornado Spin he can acquire can also help with the trick. One such use is to get the Yellow Gem in "Hang 'em High" without needing to unlock Level 27 (the alternate entrance to the level) or to get the second Gem in "Tomb Time" when you normally need the Purple Gem (by jumping from its "exit"). You can even use it to jump over Dingodile's crystal barrier.
• Shout-Out:
  • The level "Sphynxinator" is named as a portmanteau of Sphinx and Terminator.
  • The level "Tomb Wader" is named as a tribute to Tomb Raider. And fittingly, it's an Egyptian level.
  • The level "Orange Asphalt" is named after the documentary film Red Asphalt, which is about Real Life incidents of fatal car crashes. Fittingly, the level itself is motorbike-themed.
  • A secret level in the game, "Rings of Power", is a Shout-Out to an older Genesis game also developed by Naughty Dog.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Lessened between Crash and Coco as both are now Action Hero bandicoots, and Coco's genius with computers is not referenced. Aku Aku and Uka Uka, however, are polar opposites.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Ice Age arena where you fight Dingodile, as well as the level "Mad Bombers", which is set in winter. It's purely cosmetic in both cases as there's no slippry floors. This is a contrast to the previous game, where snow/ice levels are abundant.
• Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: The Egyptian levels have this in form of quickly-closing doors.
• Smug Snake: N. Tropy. Cortex as well, if more passively than he usually is.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Subverted. The fact that N. Tropy, who created the time twister vortex and is responsible for the whole mess, is fought before N. Gin, is rather odd.
• Space Zone: The fight against N. Gin takes place on the moon, and then to deep space.
• Spanner in the Works: Crash derails the villains' plans by simply having beaten up Tropy earlier, which lets the time machine go haywire.
• Spectacular Spinning:
  • Crash gets an upgrade to his Spin Attack once he defeats N. Tropy. Not only can he spin for much longer, making for massive damage in some levels, but he can even glide with it if he spins at the top of a high jump. Combine this with the Double Jump upgrade, and the result is pretty impressive.
  • In the Final Boss battle, Aku Aku and Uka Uka do a lot of spins in their battles. It could be bad for Crash, though, as they're the main obstacle of the fight.
• Suddenly Voiced:
  • Aku Aku was a mere power-up limited to his trademark voodoo babble each time he was activated in the previous games. Here he is a fully fledged character and speaks in fluent English.
  • Tiny, who just roars and grunts in the previous game, also now threatens Crash in Hulk Speak.
  • Inverted with Coco, who frequently spoke to Crash in the second game and is a Heroic Mime here.
• Super Drowning Skills: Even though he can swim (with a heavy oxygen pack), Crash will still drown instantly in non-deep-sea levels.
• Tactical Suicide Boss:
  • If Tiny kept trying to stomp Crash instead of attacking with his trident, Crash would have never had an opportunity to attack him.
  • Dingodile would have been completely safe from harm if he didn't aim directly at Crash and destroy the crystal barrier in the process.
  • N. Tropy would have also been safe if the he didn't rearrange his arena's platforms to create a path for Crash to conveniently cross.
  • Cortex decides to lower his energy shield at the same time he blows open a hole in the floor with mines for no apparent reason.
• Take Your Time: After beating N. Tropy, it's anybody's guess when the Time Twister machine will malfunction through lack of maintenance, since N. Tropy was the only one who could keep it under control. This has no effect on the gameplay urgency whatsoever (even though this is only relevant for time spend hanging around in the hub).
• Temple of Doom: The Egyptian levels have this in spades, complete with elaborate Death Trap set-ups.
• Temporary Platform: A technological version of this appears in the future levels, and the Egyptian levels have a few.
• The End of the World as We Know It: When you collect all the Crystals, Gems, and Relics, in the final battle Uka Uka points out you've hand-delivered all the power sources they've been plotting for and intends to invoke this upon winning.
  Uka Uka: Yes, it is true! The bandicoot has brought all of the Crystals, and all of the Gems to me! Ultimate power is mine! The world, as we know it, is about to end!
• This Cannot Be!: Aku Aku does this upon realizing the release of Uka Uka, who in turn Bookends this in the real ending when the Time Twister finally goes mad and swallows him up.
• This Is Gonna Suck: After you whack Dingodile during his boss fight, he tries to get back up as his flamethrower erupts, and eventually just covers his eyes and awaits the inevitable boom. Cortex takes the same position when the time twister implodes around him.
• This Is the Part Where...: Cortex is supposed to be angry after all the Crystals were collected by Crash before his minions did. Much Lampshade Hanging follows.
• Threatening Shark: While Crash explores the ocean bottom, sharks are patrolling certain areas and if he blunders into one, it eats him. Coco also has to avoid sharks patrolling near the surface during her jet ski levels. Sharks were originally billed to appear as enemies in the first Crash game, but they were cut from the final product and had to wait for this game and its appropriate water levels before they were introduced.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: A type of the Arabian swordsmen from the medieval Arabia levels continuously throw blades in a straight line, one after the other, even when Crash cannot possibly be hurt by them.
• Tide Level: The level "Tomb Wader" has the water rising up and down at intervals in certain sections. Crash cannot swim, so when the water goes up, he has to quickly find a tall footing or a floating platform to keep himself safe.
• Time Travel: The main gimmick of the game.
• Time Trial: The game introduces a mode which allows you to replay any level you have completed with a timer, with some of the crates turned into Time Crates that stop the timer for a few seconds when broken. You are handed different-colored Time Relics depending on how quickly you finish. Thankfully, you get the ability to dash after beating the Final Boss.
• Title Scream: Crash Bandicoot: WARPED!!!
• Tomorrowland: "Future Frenzy" and "Gone Tomorrow". The final warp chamber is themed around this setting as well. In those levels, Crash has to venture across a passageway that goes through a futuristic city; as he does so, he will find missile-launching Mecha-Mooks, laser barriers, and conveyor belts.
• Took a Level in Badass: Coco Bandicoot, who goes from a computer hacker extraordinaire to a full-blooded action hero, like her brother.
• Trampoline Tummy: Knocking down the double-headed Lab Assistants in "Double Header" causes them to fall on their backs. In this state, Crash can bounce on their round bellies.
• Transforming Mecha: N. Gin's mecha, which combines with a larger ship and transforms into an anthropomorphic form for increased firepower.
• Trick Boss: Doctor N. Gin starts in a robot not too different from the one he used in the game before (he even tells Coco he'd "made a few modifications" to the old robot he used in Cortex Strikes Back), which uses similar attacks to the old one. It goes down after you shoot the same areas, only for it to flee and dock with a much larger spacecraft, complete with tougher weaponry and a new life bar.
• Tropical Epilogue: Suggested by Dr. Neo Cortex in the bad ending of the game as an idea of what to do now that he's been beaten yet again, shortly before his boss, Uka Uka reminds him they could still triumph by getting all the Gems. The good ending, unlockable via 100% Completion, has instead the villains trapped in a past era after their time machine goes haywire.
• Under the Sea: "Under Pressure" and "Deep Trouble". Crash uses a diving gear in them because he's otherwise unable to survive underwater (in other levels, water drowns him instantly).
• Unexpected Shmup Level: "Bye Bye Blimps", "Mad Bombers", and "Rings of Power", which are set in World War II for the former and World War I for the latter two as a sky dog-fighting (or, in the latter, a sky racing where you Pass Through the Rings). Also the fight against N. Gin where Coco rides a space fighter.
• The Unfought: Uka Uka is the Big Bad and you never get to fight him. Instead, while Aku Aku keeps him busy, you have to take out Cortex (who'll drag Uka Uka with him). You do, however, have to avoid the attacks he throws at Aku Aku, and he indirectly deprives you of your extra hit points due to that fight.
• Unique Enemy:
  • The coal carriers in "Midnight Run", the Bandifish in "Dino Might!", the whirlpool generators in "Deep Trouble", the two-headed beasts in "Double Header", the anchor-swinging pirates in "Tell No Tales", the scarabs and shield bearers in "Tomb Wader", and the missile-firing robots in "Gone Tomorrow".
  • The second set of spears on "Tomb Time"'s Purple Gem path, the only ones in the game to operate in three waves.
• Vanity License Plate: Dr. Cortex's Lab Assistants in the motorcycle levels drive cars with license plates that read CRTX.
• Vegetarian Carnivore: Baby T. is often shown to eat grass in his Idle Animation, despite being a predator. This is more apparent in the N. Sane Trilogy version.
• Video-Game Lives: The rules of the last game carry on over to this one.
• Villain Decay: Compared to the first game, where he was downright ruthless, and Cortex Strikes Back, where he played a Chessmaster role, Cortex is much more pathetic in this game, constantly complaining about how his head aches and primarily serving as a Beleaguered Assistant to Uka Uka.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • N. Tropy puts on a smug, composed front when he first confronts the bandicoots, assured they won't touch any of his area's Crystals. As you collect more and more, he gets increasingly infuriated, and by the time you collect them all, he throws a snit fit.
  • Subverted for Cortex and Uka Uka; when they have seemingly failed, Cortex laughs and apologises calmly for not throwing the necessary tantrum, but, as Uka Uka points out, now they can just swipe all of your Crystals from you. Play straight in the 105% ending however, when both of them are send into the Prison of Time which Uka Uka screams in terror.
• Voice of the Legion: When Uka Uka possesses Cortex in the Japanese version, they speak in sync. In the English version, only Uka Uka talks. This is because in the English version Uka and Cortex share a voice actor, while they have different ones in the Japanese version.
• Word Sequel: Whereas the second game used Revenge of the Sequel in its title, this game resorts to only having "Warped" as its subtitle. This refers to the overarching Time Travel concept, which Crash uses to warp through time.
• You Fool!: Uka Uka, especially after the third boss battle, when N. Tropy is defeated.
• You Have Failed Me: Subverted: Cortex looks like he's in for one of these at the beginning, but since it was Cortex who indirectly freed him, Uka Uka spares his life.
  Uka Uka: But, since your bumbling has managed to set me free, I am feeling... generous.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: You beat Cortex for the first time, preventing him and Uka Uka from getting their hands on any crystals at all. Cortex is thinking about retiring after being defeated by Crash for the third time now, but Uka Uka reminds him that the gems are still out there and they can use them instead, meaning the player is not done yet.

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"It is difficult to say what has happened to our enemies. But, I doubt we will see them... for a looong time."

— Aku Aku

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