Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Also known as: Crash Bandicoot 4: Tondemo Multiverse (JP), Crash Bandicoot 4: Najwyższy Czas (PL), Crash Bandicoot 4: Это вопрос времени (RU) Developer: Toys for Bob Publisher: Activision Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Windows Released internationally: October 2, 2020, March 12, 2021 (PS5/XSX/Switch), March 26, 2021 (Windows) This game has unused animations. This game has unused code. This game has unused models. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused music. This game has revisional differences.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

A brand new Crash Bandicoot game? It's about damn ti- oops, that joke was already made before.

That's right, The Wrath of Cortex wasn't the real sequel. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is moreso about dimensions (barely), but that wouldn't make as clever of a title. And they already did dimensions before too. Twice.

To do: There's a lot more unused music, including early versions of various level themes. There's a loooot of unused models! and apparently a naked model of Crash in the files somewhere. Find it. Please. Changes in exclusive demo builds of the game. Any differences in the Japanese version? With Crash Team Rumble out, document some of the stuff that would have later made it into that game.

Sub-Pages

Unused Models Oh boy, there's a LOOOOT of them!

Unused Videos Early loading screens and leftovers from other games.

Unused Data Early Data/Tags/Level Names and leftovers from other games.

Unused Skins and Characters/Rides

Unused Skins

Unused skin names for every character.

Player Folder

The player folder contains many, many folders for characters that aren't playable in any game mode, most of which don't have much left inside.

• CP15637_RollerBall repeats the textures from CL13389_Rollerball.
• CP36575_CatBat/CP36575_CatBat_MpSkins refers to the mysterious character from the 100% ending, who is a bat with a cat tail. Catbat would later appear as a playable character in Crash Team Rumble.
• CP3703_Ripper contains Ripper Roo's files. He was most likely placed in the playable characters folder to save loading time in Off Beat, since there are no other NPCs in the level. He was turned into a playable character in Crash Team Rumble.
• CPX0007_Voodoo has a Data folder.
• CPX0009_Hover has Blueprints and Data folders.
• CPX0015_Speedster has an Animations folder.

TemplateDummy and TemplateProjectile

TemplateDummy and TemplateProjectile, placeholders for a character.

"GearProxy"

To do: Actually add images of Tawna GearProxy?

Cortex, Dingodile, and Tawna wearing top hats and tails. It's more likely that these were intended for a level or cutscene as they are placed in the characters' general mesh folders alongside their weapons and alternate outfits (for example Cortex with skis).

A Hole in Space Unused Phases

A Hole in Space was meant to include not just one, but three unique extra phases that would have greatly increased the length of the fight. By modding the game, its possible to reimplement the cut phases where Crash or Coco would enter the Rift Generator to face off against a bullet-hell-esque direct fight against the Tropy duo.

Both male and female Tropy are fought individually, then in tandem for the third phase. Male Tropy's phase consists of lasers that could have been be phase shifted with Lani-Loli, and Female Tropy's phase is a huge wave of shiftable energy bullets and lasers. The final phase combines both types of attacks. At the end of each phase, either of the duo would approach the center of the arena where they could be hit for a point of damage. Male Tropy would be entirely vulnerable whereas Female Tropy would protect herself with a ring of purple energy orbs that circle the ground below her.

Its likely this was cut due to time constraints since there are a lot of missing pieces to it. The difficulty spike compared to the actual fight we got is dramatic, to say the least, especially when compared to the other bosses.

An official piece of concept art depicting this sequence exists, showing the Rift Generator falling apart and spewing fireballs. Oddly enough, an interview with a developer denied there being any sort of cut phases, regardless of the fact that a nearly-technically-complete concept of the fight still exists in the final product..

Unused Music

Several unused songs are present in the game data. Some of these are stock music, or music used in previous Toys For Bob titles.

Music	Song Title	Notes
	Take You To Paradise	Instrumental version of stock music by Jorden Milnes. Likely a placeholder.
	Aren't I Clever Mummy?	Stock music by Danny Fromajio and Peter Hajioff. Possibly linked to Crash's unused mummy skin.
	Bay Breeze	Stock music by Max Cameron Concors. Likely a placeholder.
	Roadrunner Rag	An unused variation of Off Beat's theme, possibly an earlier version.
	Roadrunner Rag (Ambient)	An ambient version of the theme above. Likely for when the player enters the cannons.
	Dynamic Duo	Based on the title, likely intended for something involving Crash and Coco.
	Killer Surf	Stock music by Matthew John Moore. May have inspired a cut level related to the various unused Halloween-themed skins.
	Parrots	Stock music by Didier Malherbe and François Causse. Likely a placeholder.
	Unknown Tawnaverse	Likely intended for a level/cutscene involving Tawna's universe.
	Home Cookin' (Bonus)	A bonus round variation for the level Home Cookin'. This level is exclusive to Dingodile, and bonus rounds only appear in levels where Crash/Coco are playable.
	Run it Bayou - Ripper Roo	A direct remake of Ripper Roo's theme from the original Crash Bandicoot. Would have probably been used in his cut boss fight.

(Source: AbdulTheArabicGuy)

Oddities

Oxide

As the Out for Launch cutscene is a .mp4 instead of being rendered in-engine, Oxide's model goes unused. It has animations, though the animation data seems to be gone, and judging by the file names they're simply the animations from the cutscene. His model also appears in the Enemy folder for some reason. He might likely either used as a placeholder for the Gasmoxian enemies or was planned to appear in the levels himself.

Revisional Differences

To do: Get dates for the changes. Also, these aren't consistent/correct across different consoles.

1.01

• Bug fixes.

1.02

• Data fixes.
• Bug fixes.

1.03

• Added fixes for some crashing.
• Fixed players reported glitches.
• Added gameplay optimizations.
• Added fixes for framerate drop and freezing issues.
• Added fixes for stuttering/lag issues.
• Other under the hood fixes.
• Format changes.

1.04

• Addressed crashing issues.
• Addressed loading screen issues.
• Added overall gameplay improvements.
• Added fixes for framerate drop and freezing issues.
• Fixed some audio-related issues.
• Other under the hood fixes.
• Data changes, most likely for save data.

1.05

• Increased the hitbox of Polar, allowing detection of crates to be much more reliable when moving in Bears Repeating.
• Fixed a bug with Nitro crates in the grinding section, allowing them to jump in Out for Launch.
• Save data can now be transferred across Next-Gen consoles like PlayStation 5, to suit the free upgrade on owning the PlayStation 4 version of the game and the same applies for the Xbox One and Series X. This excludes the Nintendo Switch and PC versions of the game and also transferring between different console families.

(Source: Reddit)