Proto:Crash Bandicoot/April 8, 1996 build

The April 8, 1996 prototype of Crash Bandicoot was released by drx in October 2011.

General Differences

 * The music is completely absent from this build.
 * The level-completion screen is absent. The game simply sends the player back the map.
 * Aku-Aku masks never turn gold. Crash also never runs any faster when collecting three of them.
 * There are POW Boxes in this version. They don't hurt the player, but they do explode.
 * The player can only have up to nine lives.
 * There are no gems.

Graphical Differences

 * In the password screen, rather than entering buttons, the player has icons.
 * A different font is used for the HUD, likely temporary.
 * TNT boxes do not have countdown sequences.
 * Checkpoint boxes have the word "CONTINUE" come out of the box when the player opens it rather than "CHECKPOINT". Also, the letters swirl upward rather than have each letter come up one at a time, then fly away.
 * The end-of-level warp pad has a different sparkling effect. It is much simpler as it is composed mostly of twinkles, as opposed to the yellow lines encircling it in the final.

The title screen is completely different.

The map screen is a 2D picture instead of a 3D model, with no levels being marked by name. Crash's 3D model is replaced with an extra life icon which scrolls across the three islands akin to Donkey Kong Country, with boss icons representing their respective level on the map.

Level Arrangement
The prototype's level arrangement differs considerably to the final order. The tentative order as follows, with differences emphasized on the table in bold:


 * Boulders and Hog Wild were switched around (likely due to difficulty balance, as Boulders is considered one of the easiest levels in the game).
 * Up the Creek and Ripper Roo concludes the first island as opposed to starting off the second.
 * Jaws of Darkness was originally situated on the second island before being relocated midway through the third. Jaws of Darkness being a ruin-themed level in the same style as Temple Ruins would fit better in its original position, but again, difficulty likely pushed it to the third island. Road to Nowhere underwent the opposite shift, initially a very late level before being moved to an earlier spot between Temple Ruins and Boulder Dash.
 * Cortex Power comes before Heavy Machinery and thus serving as the first level of the third island. Seeing as the level starts in a jungle area before Crash moves inside the building, this actually makes sense compared to the final where Crash sort of just starts in an industrial location.
 * Slippery Climb comes after Lights Out, seamlessly blending into Cortex Castle and directly leading to Brio as opposed to just kind of coming after The High Road. Seeing how Stormy Ascent, which shares the same theme, leads directly to Cortex in the prototype, it serves as a nice parallel in terms of having to climb up Cortex Castle to fight both doctors.
 * Fumbling in the Dark serves as a normal level as opposed to a hidden one, likely due to the lack of Cortex bonus rounds, which meant the concept of hidden levels and keys did not exist at this point.

Additionally, the prototype features the infamous unused level Stormy Ascent as the penultimate level of the game. The lack of gems to collect in this build suggests that The Great Hall had not been developed yet. Whole Hog and Castle Machinery are also exempt in the prototype because, as previously mentioned, the Cortex bonus rounds (and therefore the key which would have unlocked Whole Hog) were not yet developed, but the presence of one level on the prototype map (situated between Fumbling in the Dark and Stormy Ascent), which crashes if one tries accessing it, has been speculated to be an unfinished version of Castle Machinery.

N. Sanity Beach

 * The box placement is slightly different, like an extra regular box at the beginning and two vertical line boxes on each side of the first checkpoint.

Hog Wild

 * The boxes are arranged differently, and if gems had been implemented in this build it would be impossible to collect because at one point there are two sets of boxes on each side of the level.
 * There is a bug in this version where, if you fall into a pit, the trotting noise continues. You can continue to "stack" the trotting sound effects by consecutively falling into more pits.

Cortex Power

 * The camera is set on a upright view rather than a top-down view.

Lights Out

 * The background is completely missing, making it much easier to see what's ahead of you, even when it's totally dark.
 * Some floors are not textured or modeled, but their collidors exist.
 * The rats are different in appearance in comparison to their final look.

Test Level
gHWQfyWouW0 A very unfinished test level. Oddities include Crash turning green upon getting to the top of the hill and the TNT box not having a countdown. Andy Gavin personally used this level to test the animations for spider and Lab Assistant enemies, its small size hugely shortening the rendering time needed for the level to load.

''"Haha. That isn't a mini game. That's a recording of "level0″ which was my programming test level. I was just testing spiders and the labass. It was always very useful to have a level that was super small (hence I could process it in 3 minutes instead of 6 hours). I'd just stick whatever creatures I was programming there first and do all the programming I could on them BEFORE putting them in a real level."

Lava Cave
Although not accessible through attempting to use the level modifier on the internal level list, the code refers to a "level2", which Andy Gavin claims was a level known as Lava Cave, which was one of the first levels produced for the game. Allegedly, the level was cut for multiple reasons, including that it used up too much memory due to the immense amount of polygons, that it didn't synergize well with the game's linear style of platforming and that the color of the lava severely distracted from Crash's vibrant orange color.

"Our first two test levels "the jungle, level1" and "lava cave, level2" were abysmal, and neither shipped in the final game. First of all, they were too open with way too many polygons. Level1 had over 10 million, whereas a shipping level tended to have around a million (a lot back then). Level2 was better, but not much."

"There are no lava levels, a staple in character action games, because Crash is orange. We made one in Demo, and that ended the lava debate. It was not terribly dissimilar to trying to watch a black dog run in the yard on a moonless night."

Flowing Waters
qA2rndxt_-M A glitchy unfinished level with no sound. Also known as the waterfall level, this one was cut from the final. Players dodged and weaved through falling platforms, catapults, slippery surfaces, rotating platforms, and the aforementioned waterfall you went in front of and behind while climbing to the top. Enemies here include red plants, skunks, turtles, and a cut dingo enemy. When you die on this level, you may start to glow green for some reason.

There is no way to complete this level, as the player comes across a dead end.

Acid Rain
Wn2f065PuMw Another level with no sound. Just about anything can kill you here, even the walls. However, it has no enemies, obstacles, or any way to complete the level.

Astound The Skunk
bHazAMSrWKw The last unfinished level in the proto. Glitches include walking on thin air, the HUD icons appear to be corrupted, some random green shit on Crash's back, being able to walk under the stage, random objects disappear and appear as Crash walks into them, invisible platforms, being able to walk behind the stage, untextured platforms, and as always there is no way out of the level.