Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex is the first platforming game in the series not to be developed by Naughty Dog. It also happens to be the first entry that is on multiple consoles.

Debug Menus
At least 4 separate debug menus of varying functionality can be accessed via cheat codes, the text pertaining to them consequently still existing in memory.

Cutscene Debugger
As the name implies, this "menu" tests the "cutscenes" which play in the game. Note that this isn't a comprehensive list, as it omits any "vortex conversations" with the Elemental Masks and Crunch, in addition to the hologram conversations which play upon defeating a boss or starting a new game.

Draw Settings
Presumably controls the draw settings in the game. While options are present and selectable, it is unknown if the values can be altered at will. DRAW DISTANCE: %i/%i FOG NEAR: %i/%i FOG FAR: %i/%i FOG RED: %i/255 FOG GREEN: %i/255 FOG BLUE: %i/255 FOG OPACITY: %i/127 HAZE RED: %i/255 HAZE GREEN: %i/255 HAZE BLUE: %i/255 HAZE WOBBLE: %i/255

Memory Information
Shows how much memory is being used up by the game at a current moment in time, relative to the presumed limit. SUPERBUFFER USED: %.2fMB/%.2fMB HIGHALLOCADDR: %.2fMB/32.00MB

"The Cheat Menu"
This menu contains the options typical of a debug menu in a platformer, and was likely used extensively during testing. Any option labelled in bold can be toggled on or off.

Unused Graphics
The aptly named "STUFF" folder found in the main directory has an assortment of seemingly random bits and pieces dated far earlier than most of the content on the disc, some of them predating the game's release by a good year and a half.



Dated all the way back to June 9th 2000, this simplistic looking font is chronologically one of the earliest resources put into the game. The file name ("ARIEL32") suggests it is merely the word processing font Arial, used as a placeholder by the developers until the typical stylised font was created. However, the font is clearly closer to Franklin Gothic than Arial, as can be seen by the uppercase G and Q, as well as the lowercase g.



"COL16", dated June 13th, 2000. Some kind of 16-color test image, featuring a green-to-red gradient and some solid colored rectangles.



"COL256", also dated June 13th, 2000. The same image as above, but with a 256-color palette.



"ENVTXT", dated October 26th, 2001. A basic bumpy chrome texture.



A very early smoke texture, dated even earlier than ARIEL32 (May 3rd, 2000). It may have been a remnant from the project animation demo of Crash And Burn, which was pitched to Universal Interactive by Travellers Tales prior to coding the game.

"SPECTXTF", a small white dot with no obvious purpose. The "SPEC" part of the filename may imply that it was used as a specular highlight.

"TTUNNEL", a larger white spot, purpose unknown.

"CLOUDSLO", an even larger white spot. May have been an early cloud texture that was replaced with a far more refined graphic.

The Test Zone
b\testzone\test TEST ZONE References to an area known as the "Test Zone" exist in memory, grouped in with the text for all of the level names, internal or otherwise. It can't be accessed by any means in-game unfortunately, but its existence can be proven by these references.

Development Instructions
An absolute crapload of decompiled text related to game development, graphic pointers and errors exist on the disc. There is far too much to put on one page, but a sample of what it contains can be seen below:

unknown condition code %d unknown condition '%s' at line %d Tex Anim Assembler Fatal Error: too many labels Tex Anim Assembler Fatal Error: too many global labels scriptname untiltex TexAnim Processor Alert: Call Stack Overflow at (%d) TexAnim Processor Alert: Call Stack Underflow at (%d) TexAnim Processor Alert: Too Many Nested Repeat Loops at (%d) TexAnim Processor Alert: REPEND without REPEAT at (%d) TexAnim Processor Alert: UNTILTEX without REPEAT at (%d) Alpha multiply underflow unsupported rendertarget type unsupported texture format Quantized - %d colours Texture width MUST be a power of two, not %d Texture height MUST be a power of two, not %d Loaded default mpg Unknown Viftag (%08d)- stopping decode VIF code decoded length does not match dmatag length Duff frame pointer Misaligned DMATAG Misaligned DMATAG reference Unknown tag id NuGCutRigidSysFixUp: cannot fixup rigid object EnableFlags Debug Id

Provisional Level Names
Viewing the game's text in a hex editor shows a few early level names grouped next to their finalized counterparts in memory.

BANDICOOT ON ICE Appears directly before "Arctic Antics", the first level in the game. It was likely changed due to bearing too much of a resemblence to the existing level name "Ice Station Bandicoot".

ROK A GO GO An early name for "Rumble in the Roks", the first boss battle against Crunch with the Earth Elemental. It is unknown why it was changed.

H2O- OH NO! An incredibly minor change was made to make this name flow more effectively - it therefore changed from "H2O - OH NO!" to "H2 OH NO".

Miscellaneous
Test message A very generic test message. Hey, if it works...

proximity_crate A crate type which goes unused not merely in this game, but in the entire series! As the only indicator of this crate's existence is textual, it is unknown how it would function in-game.

MIDGET A placeholder name closely tied to the cheat menu documented above, that seems to replace any selected name upon using the "RESET GAME" function. It is more than likely an internal joke between the developers.

Unused Stages
Three unused stages can be found in the game, all of which retain some form of playability.

Fire Island
An all red level with geysers and volcanoes that was called "Fire Island". There are no sounds for any of the fire effects, volcanoes, or geysers. brXCe8gUL34

Airship Level
You needed to destroy Neo Cortex's generators with a plane that shoots fruit. vS-Ky4_RRW4

E3 Warp Room
A warp room presumably used at the game's E3 2001 presentation is surprisingly still present on the disc, although most of its features have been removed. This old remnant contains numerous differences to the warp room used in the retail product, for starters, it is far more primitive in design and only contains 5 warp pads, and in addition to this, the collision is mostly removed, rendering the hub difficult to navigate. The warp pads themselves also prove interesting, as they feature holograms depicting the respective level overlaid onto the pad itself, a feature which wasn't carried over to the final version. They also don't warp you anywhere, and attempting to walk onto the pads causes you to fall through the floor, as the pads also lack collision. cGlXzIgnIuo

Revisional Differences
The original PS2 version of the game is notorious for its long load times, averaging around 47 seconds. The Greatest Hits re-release shrunk them down to a much more tolerable 17 seconds.