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

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

Development Build #1

This video includes early versions of Jungle Rumble, Banzai Bonsai, and Crash and Burn. This build is most likely dated sometime in February 2001, as screenshots and footage were released in March.

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General Differences

• Bonus levels do not exist yet.
• Crates and Wumpa fruit are now animated in the HUD, and it tells you how many crates have been broken, but the font and life icons still use the early variants.
• The life crate uses Crash's face in levels that use Coco as a playable character.
• Crash still uses his animations from the earlier builds, but now his face has been updated to be animated in addition to using his final model and he uses the final spin animation.
  • Crash's face is animated when he crouches and tip toes, but he uses his default face when he does either of these in the released product.
• Crash turns invisible when he loses an Aku Aku mask. The effect is similar to when he breaks an invisibility crate.
• Crash doesn't turn blue when he turns into an angel.
• The pause menu is a list of options over a still frame of the game similar to the final's debug menu. The options are "Continue," "Options," "Exit Level," "Restart Level," "Reset Level." Options only contains invincibility mode and coordinates, Restart Level is only available during time trials in the final, and Reset Level likely respawns all crates in the level as it does in the debug menu. Exit Level gives you a second chance to reconsider whether you want to exit, which was kept in the game but removed in the PS2 version.
• Coco's running animation is quicker and she does not move her arms around slightly as much.
• The "CHECKPOINT" message that appears when you break a checkpoint crate used to cover your entire screen and was part of the HUD.
• The warp teleport is actually a portal made out of stone in this version.
• The Copter Pack was used solid color blue and yellow textures instead of metal green textures.
• The glider does not have the glowing red and green lights.

Arctic Antics

• Crash doesn't have a shadow in this level.

Tornado Alley

• The level is sunny instead of stormy and windy.

Jungle Rumble

• Jungle Rumble has 25 crates.
• Jungle Rumble uses a flat gradient for the backdrop, even though earlier screenshots show it with its final sky.
• In Jungle Rumble, the crate pillars are all iron and it leads to another crate pillar to the right which has the reinforced crates. The iron crates were replaced with reinforced crates and the aforementioned second pillar was removed in the final.
• The jungle tribesmen have not been added to the game yet.
• Water uses flat textures instead of the dynamic effect the final product uses, and as a result looks very ugly.
• Crash does not jump into the jeep in Jungle Rumble. Instead, the game will swiftly switch his character model to the variant with the jeep as the rhinoceroses spawn. The game also removes his jeep in the same way.
• A giraffe can be seen in the horde of rhinoceroses.

Banzai Bonsai

• Banzai Bonsai has 28 crates.
• Banzai Bonsai is much more sparsely decorated with enemies and buildings. For one, the lizards, gong assistants, and cranes are all completely missing.
• Banzai Bonsai started off with a long platforming section down a garden, using lily pads, floating blocks, and corks to get to the other side.
• The labyrinth section of Banzai Bonsai doesn't position the camera above the maze.
• The last section of Banzai Bonzai was mirrored entirely.
• Coco has to jump across iron crates on the Cortex sumo statue in order to get to the portal on the right side of the statue. The statue was moved to the center-front of the statue in later versions.

The Gauntlet

• The bat and wizard don't show up near the giant rock-dropping machine in the final game.
• Crash is seen sliding off the front of the 2D section platform. In the final game, barriers prevent you from walking off in that direction during 2D segments.
• There's a purple box under the rock-dropper platform for some reason.
• The fire pit from the final level is there, but fire doesn't come out of it.

Tsunami

• This section where Coco is on a ship was removed.

Fahrenheit Frenzy

• Crash only has solid colors as textures in the screenshot.
• The machines from the cave section emit bubbles instead of green waves.

Crash and Burn

• Crash and Burn has 21 crates.
• This video uses a variant of Crash and Burn which is shorter than the earlier version but longer than the one in the final. The beginning 2D section of the level and the sinking ship in this video were removed in the final, but the enemies and particles related still remain in the final in addition to having the cave.
• The stone blocks that float atop lava are small circles. Crash does not move with them, so he will fall off if he does not try to stay on.
• A section of the bridge in the cave in Crash and Burn has no collision data.
• The boulder has not been added to Crash and Burn.
• There are much more monkey enemies spread throughout Crash and Burn.
• An alternate 2D angle can be seen in one screenshot of the level.

Intermediate Builds

This is a collection of builds from in-between the development build and the trailer that do not have any traits to distinguish them from one another. These screenshots were used for extensive press release during E3 2001 despite being taken beforehand. They're likely from March 2001.

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General Differences

• Aku Aku would sometimes make a surprised expression.

Tornado Alley

• The playable region of the level has a smaller size.
• There doesn't seem to be any tornado generators or crates implemented yet.

Wizards and Lizards

• Crash seemed to play his shivering animation in this level.
• There were 6 bats out of reach at the beginning of the level.
• The pattern texture for the floor was a whole different red pattern with gold-colored lines.

Compactor Reactor

• Crash was meant to take control of the mech at one point inside the research base.

Banzai Bonsai

• It almost uses its final layout, but all of the side platforms are not here. The cork-like platforms that appear in the middle of the final level take their place.
• The crate placement is wholly different.

H2 Oh No

• It is in a very primitive state. The water in the electrified area is blue and there are no crates in the water to help Crash get across.
• There is an Aku Aku crate right before the electric water.
• Light rays aren't coming in from the windows inside the research base.

Smokey and the Bandicoot/Gold Rush

• At this point in time, Smokey and the Bandicoot uses the map from Gold Rush. It should be known that this is not actually Gold Rush because, as with Ice Station Bandicoot and Ghost Town in earlier builds, Gold Rush doesn't exist in the E3 demo code (which was released after this build was made).
• The scorpion doesn't show up at this point of the level in the final version.
• The prerelease image seems to take place where the level ended in the final game, but there is no portal in sight. Instead, a pile of crates is there, which means it is possible that this level was longer.

Fahrenheit Frenzy

• Crash stops using the Copter Pack as soon as he reaches the research base in the final level, but he is seen inside the base with the Copter Pack on here.

Crash and Burn

• In the screenshot, Crash is confronting the cut gorilla miniboss that kidnapped Coco in early storyboards for the game cutscenes.

PlayStation 2 Trailer (Version 1)

This version of the PlayStation 2 trailer is the earliest out of the 3.

General Differences

• All the text in the game is orange (for example, the "BONUS" text appears orange instead of green).
• Aku Aku would perpetually play a talking animation while idle.
• Aku Aku's second form glows green and has the textures of his first form instead of having a "gold" texture and sparkling.
• Knight lab assistants had spears that would kill Crash instead of shields.
• The knight assistants also follow an assigned path instead of trying to block Crash, making it much simpler to kill them as you can just walk up to the side of them.
• Despite the main HUD using Crash's final life icon, his beta life icon appears in the bonus round HUD and on crates.

Tornado Alley

• None of the projectiles have particle trail effects.
• Cortex's cohorts would shoot massive bullet models at you instead of small, flaming particles.
• The level doesn't have any special HUD such as the plane health.
• The weather machines are very, very small and are capable of moving around.

Wizards and Lizards

• The dragon starts chasing Crash earlier than in the final level.
• The level is missing the bonus level pad.
• The dragon has a sillier running animation that resembles a trot more than a run.

Compactor Reactor

• The beginning of Compactor Reactor situated Crash inside of a jeep instead of a minecart. There are no minecart tracks and the crate placement is also different to accommodate for the jeep controls.
• The level doesn't have any enemies at all.

Jungle Rumble

• The sky appears to be a light yellow-to-brown gradient.
• A single giraffe appears on the right-hand side of the rhinoceros herd. The stampede also appears with one giraffe in Development Build #1.

The Gauntlet

• The level doesn't have any spinning blades or maces yet.

Eskimo Roll

• Eskimo Roll has 104 crates instead of 82.

Fahrenheit Frenzy

• There was a stone pillar in the copter-pack sequence that would collapse as Crash moved past it. This pillar appears in a screenshot from Development Build #1.

Crash and Burn

• This level has 85 crates instead of the final number of 138.

PlayStation 2 Trailer (Version 2)

This is the most publicized version of the PlayStation 2 trailer of the game out of the 3 that were released. It was filmed before E3 2001 and after the first trailer, putting the recording date somewhere in April 2001. This trailer uses new footage in addition to the clips from the previous trailer.

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General Differences

• Crash doesn't turn blue when he freezes into an ice block.
• If Crash dies in his glider, the camera would follow him down all the way until he crashed into the ground before restarting.
• The jeep was capable of being stopped and turned around instead of automatically going forward.
• The jeep can't collect Wumpa fruit.

Warp Room

• A giant version of each elemental mask appeared above the warp room section that it belonged to. The game also showed the name of the warp room section as if it was a level.
• The background of the warp room shows that the game used portals that could be walked into like Crash 2's warp room.

Arctic Antics

• Arctic Antics has a section missing. There is an ice water pit and another bottomless pit with ice blocks that Crash had to walk on.

Tornado Alley

• In Tornado Alley, the Crash glider was dropped from a plane and not a blimp.

Wizards and Lizards

• The level has a green and white checkerboard texture used throughout the map for the floor.

Compactor Reactor

• The winding road sign at the start of the level is not present.

That Sinking Feeling

• Crash controlled the glider in That Sinking Feeling instead of the Firefly.
• Crates, gunboats, ships, and enemy planes weren't implemented into this level yet.

The Gauntlet

• There's a moving, spinning blade; none of these spinning blades move in the final level.

Fahrenheit Frenzy

• Fahrenheit Frenzy has Crash spawn further back inside the beginning cave.
• All of the crates and enemies in the on-foot portion of the level have not been added yet.

Crash and Burn

• This level has 106 crates.

Late Press Release Build

The screenshots from this build were given out to several publications.

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General Differences

• The render distance for crates and Wumpa fruit is increased here.

Jungle Rumble

• Crash doesn't gain control of the jeep as early in the level as he does in the screenshot.

H2 Oh No

• There are some above-ground jellyfish enemies for some reason. These were cut from the final game.
• The crate layout in the electrocuted water segment is totally different.

Smokey and the Bandicoot

• The HUD telling you what place you are in is not present.
• Crash's jeep doesn't have a shadow.
• The section of the level seen in the screenshot was cut from the final version of the level.

Fahrenheit Frenzy

• The lasers are thick straight lines instead of thin wavy lines.

Avalanche

• The snowboarding area is thinner.
  • The flagpoles are closer together, too, as a result of this.

Gold Rush

• The light and environmental fog was blue instead of yellow.

Game Manual Build

This is a build that was used for screenshots for the game's manual and an alternate version of the trailer.

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General Differences

• The game uses another font for the numbers in the HUD.
• The box counter is blue instead of a gold color.
• Crash's life icon and the other HUD numbers are all facing a different angle than they do in the final - this is because they used to all subtly rotate around before being edited to be static. Some levels like Tornado Alley still keep this old rotating effect for character health icons.
• The Wumpa counter is only green instead of a red-yellow-green gradient.
• All flight levels are missing the mini model HUD next to the object count, only showing the numbers (for example, the tornado generators that show up in the bottom right corner of the HUD in Tornado Alley are missing).
• "Sound Options" has the ambiguous title of "Sound" in the pause screen.
• Similarly, "Adjust Screen" is labeled "Screen."
• Relics don't glow in the pause screen.
• Tiny Tiger is missing his back rows of teeth. In addition, his teeth are less detailed in general.
• Dingodile's model is completely different. He has textured fur and blue eyes which are applied as 2D textures to his model instead of the 3D eyes in the final. He also has more teeth, his nostrils are larger, and his snout doesn't have fur on it.

Intro

• The space station scene gives a much more obvious green tint to everything.
• The intro shot in the space station where Uka Uka berates Cortex and his henchmen has brighter lighting.
• The shot of Cortex and his henchmen's reactions is also taken from a higher angle.
• A glow with a solid green gradient comes out of the middle of the table instead of the more blurred effect the final game uses.
• All the particles in the scene - the ones coming from the green glow and the ones under the table glass - are missing.
• The island jet ski scene in the intro had uglier lighting that caused the characters to have a much darker shadow.
• The island scene also had a yellow-blue sunrise sky.
• The lighting in the scene where Aku Aku confronts Uka Uka and the Elementals was brighter.
• The confrontation scene does not appear to take place in space like it does in the final version.

Warp Room

• The pad for the bonus level platform would go is missing, which results in being able to see the model of Crash's reflection under the hole.
• The lines of electricity that prevent you from entering locked hubs are 4 rather straight lines instead of 2 high-frequency lines.
• This version still shows the name of the VR Hub section you're in, but the walk-in portals now use their final models.
• Each level has a second gem, likely as a placeholder.
• Coco is not standing alongside the save/load screen.
• The game uses an early load/save screen that is not stylized. It lacks the machinery around it and it and looks identical to the level icons that show up when you stand on a portal in the final game.
• The camera does not zoom into the load/save screen when you interact with it.
• The save slots lack an opaque black box behind them.
• Gems, crystals, and relics do not glow in the save/load screen.

Wizards and Lizards

• There were 2 wizards and 5 bats in the beginning segment of Wizards and Lizards (however, the bats aren't coded to move at all).

Tsunami

• The floor texture is basically a solid color.

Avalanche

• The level takes place during day time.

Crashteroids

• Coco's projectiles from Crashteroids were bright red fireballs instead of green lasers.
• Coco had to destroy 6 space stations in Crashteroids.

Gold Rush

• Gold Rush only has 199 crates instead of 209.

Ghost Town

• Crunch doesn't have a model in this level, so Crash races a clone of himself instead.
• You had to complete 5 laps across the track to beat the level.
• The level apparently doesn't have any crates or additional scenery like rail bridges in it, as the developers have just begun to convert the scrapped Western Arena level into this.

Development Build #2

Not much is known about this beta build which was demonstrated by Jon Burton, the founder of Traveler's Tales, on his YouTube. It's likely from August 2001.

General Differences

• The title screen is very different. The title itself has an electric effect around the subtext while lacking the green smoke coming out of the pipes on the bottom of the logo.
• The background of the title screen takes place in Coco's VR hub workstation in the Bandicoot house instead of in space.
• Choosing letters while setting your name plays the crystal pickup sound.
• The screen textures on the pause menu are colored green.
• A water-type sphere blocks you from entering any levels you have not unlocked yet, such as boss levels.

Warp Room

• Instead of waiting to be teleported in the warp room, Crash dives into the warp portal.
• The machinery around the load/save screen is missing.
• Coco is facing the middle of the warp room like she does in Crash Bandicoot: Warped because her computer hasn't been added to the warp room scenery yet.

Crashes to Ashes

• The boss level is in an early state, lacking a proper ending and health bar HUD.
• The crate counter is visible.
• Instead of running to the end of the level to get onto the mech, Crash would be inside the jeep for the whole boss.
  • The jeep could shoot green blobs of jelly that were later changed to water. By hitting Crunch with 6 of these blobs, you would defeat him.