Proto:Crash Bandicoot/April 8, 1996 build

This page details one or more prototype versions of Crash Bandicoot.

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: Lots of stuff.

General Differences

• The music is completely absent from this build.
• The level-completion screen is absent. The game simply sends the player back the map.
• Aku-Aku masks never turn gold. Crash also never runs any faster when collecting three of them.
• There are POW Boxes in this version. They don't hurt the player, but they do explode.
• The player can only have up to nine lives.
• There are no gems.

Graphical Differences

Prototype	Final
File:Proto-Crash Bandicoot-title.png

The title screen is completely different.

• In the password screen, rather than entering buttons, the player has icons.
• A different font is used for the HUD, likely temporary.
• TNT boxes do not have countdown sequences.
• Checkpoint boxes have the word "CONTINUE" come out of the box when the player opens it rather than "CHECKPOINT". Additionally, the letters swirl upward rather than have each letter come up one at a time, then fly away.

Prototype	Final

• The map screen is a 2D picture instead of a 3D model, with no levels being marked by name. Crash's 3D model is replaced with an extra life icon which scrolls across the 3 islands akin to Donkey Kong Country, with boss icons representing their respective level on the map.

Level Differences

General

• The level order has completely changed, accounting difficulty, level structure and more to create a different order which would even survive up to certain demo discs. Here is the beta order as compared to the regular order, with differences being bolded:
  • Beta:
    • Island 1: N. Sanity Beach - Jungle Rollers - The Great Gate - Hog Wild - Upstream - Papu Papu - Rolling Stones - Boulders - Native Fortress - Up the Creek - Ripper Roo
    • Island 2: The Lost City - Temple Ruins - Boulder Dash - Sunset Vista - Jaws of Darkness - Koala Kong
    • Island 3: Cortex Power - Heavy Machinery - Generator Room - Toxic Waste - Pinstripe Potoroo - Road to Nowhere - The High Road - Lights Out - Slippery Climb - Nitrus Brio - The Lab - Fumbling in the Dark - ??? - Stormy Ascent - Dr. Neo Cortex

• • Final:
    • Island 1: N. Sanity Beach - Jungle Rollers - The Great Gate - Boulders - Upstream - Papu Papu - Rolling Stones - Hog Wild - Native Fortress
    • Island 2: Up the Creek - Ripper Roo - The Lost City - Temple Ruins - Road to Nowhere - Boulder Dash - Whole Hog - Sunset Vista - Koala Kong
    • Island 3: Heavy Machinery - Cortex Power - Generator Room - Toxic Waste - Pinstripe Potoroo - The High Road - Slippery Climb - Lights Out - Fumbling in the Dark - Jaws of Darkness - Castle Machinery - Nitrus Brio - The Lab - The Great Hall - Dr. Neo Cortex

Notable differences include:

• Boulders and Hog Wild were switched around (likely due to difficulty, as Boulders is considered one of the easiest levels in the game)
• Jaws of Darkness was originally situated on the 2nd island before being moved midway through the 3rd (and in this E3 build where the 3D map was decided on is still in this position). Jaws of Darkness, being a "ruin" level in the same style as Temple Ruins, would fit better in its old position, but again, difficulty likely pushed it to the 3rd island. Road to Nowhere underwent the opposite shift, initially a very late level before being moved to an earlier spot between Temple Ruins and Boulder Dash.
• Cortex Power coming before Heavy Machinery and thus serving as the first level of the 3rd island. Seeing as the level starts in a jungle area before Crash moves inside the building, this actually makes sense compared to the final where Crash sort of just starts in an industrial location.
• Slippery Climb coming after Lights Out, seemlessly blending into Cortex Castle and directly leading to Brio as opposed to just kind of coming after The High Road. Seeing how Stormy Ascent, which has the same theme, leads directly to Cortex in the prototype, it serves as a nice parallel in terms of having to climb up Cortex Castle to fight both doctors.
• Fumbling in the Dark serving as a normal level as opposed to a hidden level, likely due to the lack of Cortex Bonuses, which meant keys and the concept of hidden levels didn't exist at this point.
• Up the Creek and Ripper Roo ending the 1st island as opposed to starting off the 2nd.

Additionally, the prototype features the infamous removed level Stormy Ascent as the penultimate level of the game, and due to the lack of Gems, The Great Hall didn't exist at this point. Whole Hog and Castle Machinery are also exempt from the prototype because as previously mentioned, Cortex Bonuses (and therefore the key which would have unlocked Whole Hog) are not present, but the presence of one level on the prototype map (situated between Fumbling in the Dark and Stormy Ascent) which crashes if one tries accessing it has been speculated to be an unfinished version of Castle Machinery.

Hog Wild

• The boxes are arranged differently, and if gems had been implemented in this build, it would be impossible to collect, because at one point there are two sets of boxes on each side of the level.
• There is a bug in this version where, if you fall into a pit, the trotting noise continues. You can continue to "stack" the trotting sound effects by consecutively falling into more pits.

Cortex's Power

• The camera is set on a upright view rather than a top-down view.

Lights Out

• The background is completely missing, making it much easier to see what's ahead of you, even when it's totally dark.
• Some floors are not textured or modeled, but their collidors exist.
• The rats are different in appearance in comparison to their final look.

(Source: Nintendogen64, PeteThePlayer, dessertmonkeyjk, Bryan Velayo (YouTube))

Removed Levels

Test Level

A very unfinished test level. Oddities include Crash turning green upon getting to the top of the hill and the TNT box not having a countdown. Andy Gavin personally used this level to test the animations for spider and Lab Assistant enemies, its small size hugely shortening the rendering time needed for the level to load.
"Haha. That isn’t a mini game. That’s a recording of “level0″ which was my programming test level. I was just testing spiders and the labass. It was always very useful to have a level that was super small (hence I could process it in 3 minutes instead of 6 hours). I’d just stick whatever creatures I was programming there first and do all the programming I could on them BEFORE putting them in a real level."

Lava Cave

Although not accessible through attempting to use the level modifier 04 on the internal level list, the code refers to a "level2", which Andy Gavin claims was a level known as Lava Cave, which was one of the first levels produced for the game. Allegedly, the level was cut for multiple reasons, including that it used up too much memory due to the immense amount of polygons, that it didn't synergise well with the game's linear style of platforming and that the colour of the lava severely distracted from Crash's vibrant orange colour.
"Our first two test levels “the jungle, level1” and “lava cave, level2” were abysmal, and neither shipped in the final game. First of all, they were too open with way too many polygons. Level1 had over 10 million, whereas a shipping level tended to have around a million (a lot back then). Level2 was better, but not much."
"There are no lava levels, a staple in character action games, because Crash is orange. We made one in Demo, and that ended the lava debate. It was not terribly dissimilar to trying to watch a black dog run in the yard on a moonless night."

(Source: Andy Gavin (http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/03/making-crash-bandicoot-part-2/), (http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/05/making-crash-bandicoot-part-4/))

Flowing Waters

A glitchy unfinished level with no sound. Also known as the waterfall level, this one was cut from the final. Players dodged and weaved through falling platforms, catapults, slippery surfaces, rotating platforms, and the aforementioned waterfall you went in front of and behind while climbing to the top. Enemies here include red plants, skunks, turtles, and a cut dingo enemy. When you die on this level, you may start to glow green for some reason. There is no way to complete this level, as the player comes across a dead end.

Acid Rain

Another level with no sound. Just about anything can kill you here, even the walls. However, it has no enemies, obstacles, or any way to complete the level.

Astound The Skunk

The last unfinished level in the proto. Glitches include walking on thin air, the HUD icons appear to be corrupted, some random green shit on Crash's back, being able to walk under the stage, random objects disappear and appear as Crash walks into them, invisible platforms, being able to walk behind the stage, untextured platforms, and as always there is no way out of the level.