Prerelease:Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex/Early Builds

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.

Earliest Build

This is the earliest screenshot of the game to be publicized. There is only one photo of this build, and it just so happens to take place in a level that was completely removed without a trace!

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General Differences

• All the models lack shading.
• The fur that goes up the middle of Crash's chest is a solid color.
• Crash has bright red shoes.
• Crash is doing a "star" jump animation, seen in several pre-release images and videos, which was cut early in development in favor of the "guitar riff" jump. The guitar riff jump animation is even called "StarJump" internally!

Scrapped Sewer Level

• The level seen here was removed early in development and has no documentation outside of this screenshot. The outside area has a blue-green sky and is grassy with trees, stones, and a concrete wall on the right. The level then leads into a water-filled pipe looking similar to that of the sewer levels from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. The fence in the back of the pipe has a light blue background unlike that of the sky.

Early Teaser Build

Sourced from old gaming internet outlets such as Gamespot, this is the earliest video footage of the game, showcasing two levels from a very primitive build. The video was released before Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was given a name. Despite its low resolution, the video contains many notable differences from the final game.

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General Differences

• The HUD uses 2D graphics instead of 3D models.
• The crate counter does not show how many crates are in the level, similar to Crash 2.
• Crash can't spin away Wumpa fruit.
• Wumpa fruit disappear after being picked up with no effect showing the fruit going from the level into the counter.
• When obtaining a life, the life counter will go up without the effect of the new life going into the counter.
• Arrow crates break after being jumped on.
• Life crates use the same 2D mugshot for Crash that is used in the video's early HUD.
• Crash's model appears different. The most telling difference is his brown ears.
• All of Crash's animations are different except for his tip-toeing animation. His running animation is notably less exaggerated.
  • Most noticeably, Crash's spinning animation does not use a separate model that uses smeared textures for a blur effect, but rather simply uses an animation of Crash's real model spinning with his arms and a leg out.
• Crash has black shoes.
• Crash's idle animation is different - his feet are straight in front of him.
• Crash has a generic circle shadow as he did in the first 2 games instead of a stencil shadow.
• The fur that goes up the middle of Crash's chest is a solid color.

Crash and Burn

• The section of Crash and Burn in the screenshot was cut from the level's layout - it was part of the original beginning area of the level.
• The level doesn't have a rain effect.
• The footage shows many parts of the level that were cut from the final game, such as a section of the level involving jumping between small islands until you reach the island where you spawn in the final version of the level and another section containing a throne where the gorilla miniboss would spawn.
• Coco Bandicoot can be seen in a cage and later on in the edge of the volcano. Coco herself has no code other than standing in place, rotating to look where Crash is.
• The kamikaze parrots do not have their main "suicide" attack yet, as seen when Crash gets near them.
• Crabs move faster, are capable of turning their model around 180°, and don't appear to have any animations at all.

Eskimo Roll/Ice Station Bandicoot

• Eskimo Roll has a completely different layout from when the game had "arenas," which were more open-roaming levels.
  • In addition, the map for this early level was eventually used in Ice Station Bandicoot, which is a Copter Pack race level...so how does one know that this is Eskimo Roll and not Ice Station Bandicoot? Because in the E3 demo, Eskimo Roll uses a screenshot from this early layout as the level preview, meanwhile Ice Station Bandicoot isn't brought up once in the game's code in that build of the game.
• This level actually takes place on foot instead of being an Atlasphere level.
• The polar guard that Crash races in the final version of Ice Station Bandicoot appears as an on-foot enemy.

Early Dev Update Build #1

In this build, the final shoe color for Crash is used. Some of these screenshots are sourced from the internal development presentation that listed the new features that the game would have and others are from magazine articles. This build is dated around November 2000.

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General Differences

• TNT crates have the same brown texture as normal crates.
• Crash's model appears different. The most telling difference is his brown ears.
• Crash's shoes are their final color, but the soles do not have grey and light red stripes on them.
• The fur that goes up the middle of Crash's chest is a solid color.

Compactor Reactor

• Crash is running on the bridge when he is normally in the minecart (and jeep in earlier versions) during this section.

Smokey and the Bandicoot/Ghost Town

• The level is known as "Western Arena" at this time.
• Just like Eskimo Roll, Smokey and the Bandicoot was meant to be an on-foot level.
• The level layout is completely different and more open. The layout was scrapped and then reused for the bonus level Ghost Town. We know this version of the level isn't actually Ghost Town because Ghost Town hadn't even begun development by the time the E3 demo - a way later build of the game than this one - released.
• The scrapped Close Circuit Cortex Crate appears to be in the background of the ingame screenshot.

Crash and Burn

• The turtles that carry Crash to the island are designed in a much more realistic style.
• The skybox is much more blue.
• The water is flat, not using the final game's wavy ocean effect.
• There are 2 iron arrow crates that bounce up to the boardwalk.
• The row of crates on the boardwalk is 2 blocks wide instead of 3.
• The TNT crates on the boardwalk are on the top row of crates instead of bottom.
• The palm tree to the right of the boardwalk has not been added.
• A ring can be seen in a sky in the boardwalk screenshot.
• Large piles of nitro crates can be seen as Crash enters the main island. The crates were moved to appear later on in the level and with less quantity.
• Coco is in the cage that appears in Crash and Burn. This is because, as explained in early storyboards for the game, the original story for the level would be that Crash had to rescue Coco from a tribe of monkeys and its gorilla leader that had kidnapped her. When this story was canned, Coco was removed from the level and her presence in this area was replaced with a skeleton.
• The area that can be seen in the background was replaced with the cave in the final version of the level.

Early Dev Update Build #2

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General Differences

• The game has started using a Crash player model more similar to the final version's, but he still has brown ears.
• Crash now has facial expressions, but his idle animation still uses the default smiling face.
• Crash's mouth is pitch black.
• Crash's running and walking animations have a very, very strange facial expression that is reminiscent of the face he makes in Cortex Strikes Back when he flies off Polar's back.
• Crash's shadow is cast from an angle, rather than straight down.
• Crash's model was coded to stand perpendicular to whatever surface he was standing on.
• Crash makes a different face when he's in the jeep. It actually uses his early model when he is inside the jeep.
• Crash is doing a "star" jump animation, seen in several pre-release images and videos, which was cut early in development in favor of the "guitar riff" jump. The guitar riff jump animation is even called "StarJump" internally!

Arctic Antics

• The level is known as "Blizzard Level" at this point in time.
• The level's layout has changed drastically.
• The crate layout is terrifically different.
• The polar guard from Ice Station Bandicoot is back with a vengeance! Unfortunately for him, he was removed from this level in the final game.
• The scrapped snowhog can be seen in the background of the first screenshot.
• The ice has a rougher texture.
• The first ice section originally had pits.

Crash and Burn

• The level is known as "Volcano Island" at this point in time.
• The crab near the tubes was replaced with a flock of parrots in the final version.
• The stream of lava coming from the volcano near the end of the level was thin enough to jump across.
• The trail of Wumpa fruit on the volcano trail was replaced with an arrow crate, a slot crate, and a life crate.

Compactor Reactor

• The crate placement is different to accommodate for Crash not being in a vehicle.

Jungle Rumble

• The level isn't rainy.
• In one screenshot, Crash is running from the horde of animals when he is normally in the jeep during this part of the level.
• Giraffes and hippopotamuses were some of the animals that would chase Crash on the jeep. In the final version, only rhinoceroses chase him.
• Only one animal is chasing Crash in each screenshot instead of a whole group (although an undiscernible animal can be seen behind the hippo).

The Gauntlet

• There is an Aku Aku crate and an arrow crate that leads to an exclamation crate which is probably the same crate that spawns the iron crate bridge in the final game.
• The level doesn't seem to have the fire pit at the end of the hallway.

Fire Island

• This scrapped level can be seen in one screenshot. It is much more complete than what is present in the final game, as by attempting to load what remains of the map in the final game it becomes apparent that you do not have a proper spawnpoint in the map and do not even spawn inside a jeep in addition to the skydome being missing.