Crash Team Racing

Crash Team Racing
Also known as: Crash Bandicoot Racing (JP) Developer: Naughty Dog Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: December 16, 1999 Released in US: October 19, 1999 Released in EU: October 20, 1999 This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused items. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

To do: Document about the unused spring item.

Crash Team Racing is Sony's answer to Mario Kart 64, in which characters of the Crash Bandicoot series are pitted against each other in a race to save the planet.

Received a remake in 2019 entitled Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, which gave the game an 4K make-over and added online multiplayer, tracks from Crash Nitro Kart and about a billion “Games-as-a-Service” hooks.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Audio

Placeholder Dialogue

The American version of the game contained placeholder dialogues used for character sounds which weren't implemented in the game yet. Whilst most samples were removed from the retail disc, two samples were particularly notable for not merely existing within the game's code, but actually playing in-game via a mistake and contrasting largely from the rest of the character's audio. Penta Penguin's audio bank in particular contains voice samples from Gavin James, saying "Penguin yay one" and "Penguin yay two" in a deadpan tone. According to Rob Titus, the developers didn't notice about this until they played the retail copy themselves, which by then was too late to be fixed because the game's disks had been burned. This was later fixed in the European and Japanese versions. The placeholder dialogue still exists in the re-release on the Playstation Network store.

Penguin "Yay" 1

Penguin "Yay" 2

This placeholder became a reference in the game's remake, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, where Penta Penguin actually said "Penguin yay one" when unlocking him with the classic cheat code, after boosting when landing and in his victory quote.

Title Announcement

A rather unusual sounding Dr. Neo Cortex announcing the title of the game, it was most likely to be used on the title screen. The enunciation in this clip is rather poor, thus impairing the music playing in the background. International versions lack any announcements at the title screen.

Menu Announcement

Press Start to Play

Select Player

Select Players

Choose a Racetrack

More unused voice clips from that "Clancy Brown sounding guy" found both in the final and prototype. It seems the menu was planned to have a announcer.

Unused Adventure Voice Clips

There exist numerous audio clips by Aku Aku and Uka Uka which were intended for Adventure Mode but are rendered unused in the final game.

The majority of them relating to hardware problems with the PlayStation.

Hardware Issue Notices

Issue	Aku Aku	Uka Uka	Quote
No Controller Notice			No controllers are plugged into controller ports. Please insert a controller into a controller port.
No Memory Card			There are no memory cards in any of the memory card slots. Put a memory card in a memory card slot and try again.
No CTR Memory Card Data			There is no Crash Team Racing data on this memory card.
No Memory Card Space			The current memory card is full. Put in a different memory card, or erase files from the current memory card.

The latter 6 clips were likely intended to be used in conjunction with the Load-Save Screen, but these warnings are displayed by text as opposed to voice, rendering the recorded audio unused.

Boss Key Congratulations

Good job! You've earned a key!

A congratulatory message for obtaining a Boss Key. The message was likely removed as a result of being deemed redundant by Naughty Dog, as the bosses congratulate you themselves in an in-game cutscene after beating them in a race.

CTR Token Congratulations

Excellent work! You've collected a CTR Token!

A similar case occurs with the CTR Tokens: Although audio does exist of the masks congratulating you on obtaining them, they aren't used and after the race has concluded, you spawn outside of the level's Warp Vortex with no message from the masks.

Ripper Roo speaking in English

Wa hahahaha! Are you crazy enough to race me?! Ya hahaha! I should face Oxide in the big race! Hahahahaha! I'll show you wild driving! Last one across the finish line is a ROTTEN BRAIN!

You ARE crazier than me! Hahahaha! Best get head checked if you think you can beat Oxide! Ya hahaha! Have a key! Wa hahahaha! Good luck, you'll need it!

At some point in development Ripper Roo was supposed to talk like in the Japanese version but it was scrapped in flavor of stock clips of Ripper Roo laughing along with subtitles added in.

Nitros Oxide as a playable character

According to Rob Titus, former Naughty Dog developer, Nitros Oxide couldn't fit into memory for multiplayer, plus he was too big in-game, so he got cut as a playable character. They ran out of memory all the time because the game is not streamed like the previous Crash games. However, when playing as him via GameShark codes, there will be extra voicelines that only appear when he is a playable character, such as hitting the wall, spinning or doing a big air jump:

Nitros Oxide would later become a playable character in the game's remake, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Unused Nitros Oxide Dialogue

N. Oxide has also unused voice recordings found in the American version of the game. These recordings have a slightly different voice to the final Oxide, indicating that these were made during a different recording session.

Time is short, so find your best driver and get ready to race for the fate of your planet!

An extended version of a sentence Oxide says during the intro.

I'm sorry to interrupt this pitiful little party, but I am waiting, you know. What? No champion yet? So far, you slowpokes savages don't look like much of a challenge! You race so slow, I think it's more fun to watch Forgundian grass grow! Well, hurry up and bring me those trophies! I grow impatient!

Suggesting that there was going to be a cutscene where Oxide taunts the player.

Think you can save your planet? Believe me, it's doomed. No one has ever beaten Oxide in a race, ever! Still, you savages amuse me, so a fair chance is in order. Bring 16 trophies to my spaceship, proving you are the world champion. Then will we race for the fate of your planet.

Audio suggesting that Oxide was at one point going to taunt the player into bringing all 16 Gold Trophies to his ship.

You're the fastest racer so far? You're the best this planet can offer? This is going to be a bigger joke than that last civilization I challenged. What was it called... on that red planet so close to here... Oh, yes. I think you call it Mars. Now that was an easy win. What? You say there is no civilization on the planet Mars? [laughs] Not anymore! They lost the race!

This one has Oxide explaining that he is the main reason as to why there is no civilization on Mars.

I win! This planet is toast!

This voice clip was meant to be used when the player lost Oxide's battle race.

Unused N. Tropy Dialogue

N. Tropy has a different recording of the same line that was found it the files, but not used in-game. It also features minor dialogue changes.

Unused	Quote	Final	Quote
	Think you're fast, eh? Well, let's see if you can beat this track's speed champion.		Think you're fast, eh? Well, let's see if you can beat my fastest time on this track.

Race Position Dialogue

In the American version, most of the characters have more lines than in the normal game, including some grunts and, more interestingly, comments according to which place they finish the race. Not all of these lines were done, as some are just placeholders voice by Gavin James. Since these lines for Crash, Dingodile and Fake Crash were missing, it's possible this feature was already scrapped at the time the voices of these characters were being recorded.

Character	1st place	2nd place	3rd place
Crash Bandicoot
Dr. Neo Cortex
Tiny Tiger
Coco Bandicoot
N. Gin
Dingodile
Polar
Pura
Ripper Roo
Papu Papu
Komodo Joe
Pinstripe
Fake Crash
N. Tropy
Penta Penguin
N. Oxide

Unused Strings

CHANGE CART

It seems there was a planned feature that would allow the player to change their vehicle at some point. Pre-release articles mention the "gold wrench" feature, which would allow the player to upgrade the kart stats, and move them to multiplayer arenas.

ENGLISH
FRENCH
GERMAN
ITALIAN
SPANISH
DUTCH
BABYTALK
ESPERANTO

The game mentions two extra languages that never appeared in the final game (Babytalk and Esperanto). These were most likely a developer joke.

BONUS ROUND

There is an unused fly-in intro for Crystal Challenge where it says "Bonus Round". Since the intro was disabled for this mode, this string became unused.

N. OXIDE
PENGUIN
F. CRASH

The High Score name list contains default names for Penta Penguin, Fake Crash, and N. Oxide. Since they never appear in the records by default, it became unused. Default scores for Penta Penguin and Fake Crash were present in the September 3rd, 1999 prototype.

PENTA PENGUIN became a news weatherman for one of the big three networks.
Sporting a groomed look and great screen presence, he gleefully predicts an impending new ice age each night.  Ratings are up!

FAKE CRASH still contends he is the real Crash Bandicoot.
Submitting to a DNA test on 'The Jimmy Spranger Show,' the test results were destroyed when Fake Crash tried to dance, and the show erupted into a brawl.

Penta Penguin and Fake Crash never appear in the credits, however their epilogues are present in the files. These strings were used in the September 3rd, 1999 prototype.

The game has text variations of all Aku Aku/Uka Uka dialogues in the game stored along with other hints, including unused ones. However, the following texts do not fit as an appropriate tip, so they went unused in the final game.

GREETINGS!
WELCOME TO THE ADVENTURE ARENA.  YOU CAN TRAVEL AROUND THIS AREA AND PRACTICE YOUR DRIVING SKILLS.  THE DOTS AND STARS ON THE MAP REPRESENT WARP PADS WHICH LEAD TO RACES.  WHEN THEY FLASH, IT SIGNIFIES THEY ARE OPEN TO PLAY.  TO ACCESS A RACE TRACK, DRIVE ONTO A WARP PAD THAT HAS AN ACTIVE WARP VORTEX, AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE TRACK'S START LINE.  FINISH A TRACK IN FIRST PLACE TO WIN A TROPHY.  AS YOU COLLECT MORE TROPHIES, OTHER TRACKS WILL TURN ON AND OPEN TO YOU.   GOOD LUCK AND DRIVE FAST!

This one was divided into "Map Information" and "Using a Warp Pad". The welcome paragraphs, however, were scrapped because they do not provide useful information for the player.

NO MEMORYU CARD IN MEMORY CARD SLOT WARNING
THERE ARE NO MEMORY CARDS IN ANY OF THE MEMORY CARD SLOTS.  PUT A MEMORY CARD IN A MEMORY CARD SLOT AND TRY AGAIN.

MEMORY CARD FULL WARNING
THE CURRENT MEMORY CARD IS FULL.  PUT IN A DIFFERENT MEMORY CARD OR DELETE BLOCKS FROM THE CURRENT MEMORY CARD.

NO CRASH DATA ON MEMORY CARD WARNING
THERE IS NO CRASH TEAM RACING DATA ON THIS MEMORY CARD.

NO CONTROLLER WARNING
NO CONTROLLERS ARE PLUGGED INTO CONTROLLER PORTS.  PLEASE INSERT A CONTROLLER INTO A CONTROLLER PORT.

These hardware issue texts do not fall under the hints category for obvious reasons. Also, in the unused Aku Aku/Uka Uka audios for memory card space, they actually say "erase files" instead of "delete blocks".

WHEN PLAYER WINS A TROPHY
CONGRATULATIONS!  YOU WIN A TROPHY!

WHEN PLAYER WINS A BOSS KEY
GOOD JOB, YOU'VE EARNED A KEY!

WHEN PLAYER WINS A RELIC
GREAT, YOU'VE EARNED A RELIC!

WHEN PLAYER WINS A CTR COIN
EXCELLENT WORK, YOU'VE COLLECTED A CTR TOKEN!

WHEN PLAYER WINS A GEM
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE WON A GEM!

Again, there were no reason to put these texts into the hints category since they don't explain anything. Also, the CTR Token title still calls them "CTR Coin".

Oxide Station Multiplayer Model

In multiplayer modes, Oxide Station is always disabled from level select screen, which means when playing with someone else, you'll never be able to access the track. However, in the game's files, there are two unused models that were planned to be used on 2-Player and 3/4-Players modes, meaning the developers were planning to make it playable, but the idea was scrapped due to time constraits. With hacks, attempting to force the game to load it on 2-Player mode will work fine.

Regional Differences

American and European

Scrapbook

The scrapbook in the European version was shortened considerably, most likely due to disc space limitations. The space that the larger American scrapbook originally took up was replaced with the text and sounds for the multiple languages that the European version supported.

Hub World Names

In the European and Japanese versions, driving between the different areas causes the name of the area to show at the bottom of the screen. No such feature is seen in the American version.

Penta Penguin

Penta Penguin has different stats depending on the game's region. In the American version, Penta Penguin shares his stats with Polar and Pura, while in the European and Japanese versions, Penta has all his stats maxed out.

In the American version, when Penta gets a mask power-up, the icon shows up as Uka Uka, but when activated, Aku Aku appears. This was fixed in the European and Japanese versions, by showing only Aku Aku in both cases. This error was once again referenced in the remake, where Penta Penguin can obtain both Aku Aku and Uka Uka masks, though the icon inconsistency was fixed.

Default High Scores

Every default best time for each track is 9:59:00 in the American version. They have all been changed to regular times in other versions.

American/European and Japanese

Someone in charge of the Japanese localization apparently decided to have a field day and change just about everything in the game. As this version is based off the European version, changes from that version have been retained.

Intro

The Japanese intro has an announcer reading out the messages before the start of the game, and the music is completely different.

Main Menu

International	Japan

The logo of the game featuring Crash holding a trophy has been changed to him sitting in his kart.

Ripper Roo Dialogue

Ripper Roo now speaks in an actual language now, rather than his crazed laughing, which also means he no longer needs subtitles.

Characters Icons

Name	International	Japanese
Crash Bandicoot
Coco Bandicoot
Dr. Neo Cortex
Fake Crash
Penta Penguin
Pura
N. Tropy

Some character icons were changed to a larger, different design, most likely to appeal more to the Japanese market.

Bonus Video

Like with the Japanese versions of the previous two Crash games, a hidden video has been added and can be viewed by holding L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 at the PlayStation logo during startup. Again, you have to reset your console after the video has finished playing.

(Source: Hacc)

Miscellaneous

• TNT crates no longer say TNT on them, instead sporting a generic bomb picture on them.
• The theme song is completely different, like most other Japanese localizations of the Crash Bandicoot series.
• When selecting a track in Arcade mode, there are Wumpa Fruit indicating how difficult the track is. The international versions have no such feature.
• Due to the title change, the C, T and R items have been changed to C, B and R (Crash Bandicoot Racing).
• You must have two boss keys and also open the Gem Cups door in order to unlock CBR/Crystal Challenges.
• There is a counter on the HUD that appears when you chain 3 or more turbos during a race, and displays your highest turbo chain at the end of a race. This can be activated in other versions via cheat code. A similar boost counter is used in all regional versions of Crash Nitro Kart.
• Some of the cheat codes were changed. For example, a different code is required to unlock Penta, and to access the Spyro 2 demo, you have to hold a specific button combination during the Playstation logo (much like the bonus video) as opposed to putting in a code at the main menu.
• The trophy girls all have brown eyes as opposed to light blue for Isabella, green for Ami, red for Megumi and purple for Liz. Their eyes are in their original colors in the end credits.
• The scrapbook is also different in this version, featuring a few pieces of art not found in the other versions mainly from Japanese promotional material and the bonus videos found in the Japanese versions of the Crash games.