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Proto:Crash Bandicoot/April 8, 1996 build
This is a sub-page of Proto:Crash Bandicoot.
 | This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article? |
The April 8, 1996 prototype of Crash Bandicoot was released by drx in October 2011.
| 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.
- Tawna bonus rounds are completely different in this version; they bear more visual resemblance to a Brio bonus round in the final with a dark background.
- The password system is different; it consists of a sequence of six character icons instead of the button sequences in the final. They likely had to move to a more complicated system after gems were introduced.
- TNTs take slightly longer than 3 seconds to explode.
- Pressing R1 + L1 at the main menu will cause all the levels to unlock.
- Pressing R1 + L1 while doing nothing while playing a level will cause Crash to be invincible to all dangers, except for pits in jungle-themed levels (N. Sanity Beach, Jungle Rollers, Boulders, Rolling Stones, Boulder Dash) and the water/acid.
- The options menu has an option that changes controller type from A to B and vice-versa. This has no impact on the controls whatsoever.
- The camera bots in Heavy Machinery, Generator Room and Castle Machinery can only be killed by explosions in this version. They also have a completely different appearance.
Graphical Differences
- TNT boxes do not have consistent countdowns.
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The title screen is completely different.
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A different font is used for the HUD, likely temporary.
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In the password screen, rather than entering buttons, the player has icons.
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Checkpoint boxes have the word "CONTINUE" come out of the box when the player opens it rather than "CHECKPOINT". Also, the letters swirl upward rather than have each letter come up one at a time, then fly away. Also, a generic warp sound is heard when breaking checkpoints in this build, but was totally removed from the final version.
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The end-of-level warp pad has a different sparkling effect. It is much simpler as it is composed mostly of twinkles, as opposed to the yellow lines encircling it in the final.
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Boss health is represented by dots instead of meters.
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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 three islands akin to Donkey Kong Country, with boss icons representing their respective level on the map.
Level Differences
Level Arrangement
The prototype's level arrangement differs considerably to the final order. The tentative order as follows, with differences emphasized on the table in bold:
| Prototype | Final | |
|---|---|---|
| The First Island | N. Sanity Beach Jungle Rollers The Great Gate Hog Wild Upstream Papu Papu Rolling Stones Boulders Native Fortress Up the Creek Ripper Roo |
N. Sanity Beach Jungle Rollers The Great Gate Boulders Upstream Papu Papu Rolling Stones Hog Wild Native Fortress |
| The Second Island | The Lost City Temple Ruins Boulder Dash Sunset Vista Jaws of Darkness Koala Kong |
Up the Creek Ripper Roo The Lost City Temple Ruins Road to Nowhere Boulder Dash Whole Hog Sunset Vista Koala Kong |
| The Third Island | 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 (Unknown) Stormy Ascent Dr. Neo Cortex |
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 |
- Boulders and Hog Wild were switched around (likely due to difficulty balance, as Boulders is considered one of the easiest levels in the game).
- Up the Creek and Ripper Roo concludes the first island as opposed to starting off the second.
- Jaws of Darkness was originally situated on the second island before being relocated midway through the third. Jaws of Darkness being a ruin-themed level in the same style as Temple Ruins would fit better in its original position, but again, difficulty likely pushed it to the third 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 comes before Heavy Machinery and thus serving as the first level of the third 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 comes after Lights Out, seamlessly 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 shares 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 serves as a normal level as opposed to a hidden one, likely due to the lack of Cortex bonus rounds, which meant the concept of hidden levels and keys did not exist at this point.
Additionally, the prototype features the infamous unused level Stormy Ascent as the penultimate level of the game. The lack of gems to collect in this build suggests that The Great Hall had not been developed yet. Whole Hog and Castle Machinery are also exempt in the prototype because, as previously mentioned, the Cortex bonus rounds (and therefore the key which would have unlocked Whole Hog) were not yet developed, 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.
N. Sanity Beach
- The box placement is slightly different, like an extra regular box at the beginning and two vertical line boxes on each side of the first checkpoint.
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.
Upstream
- The Aku Aku box at the very beginning of the level is completely offscreen in this build, though it can still be broken. In the final it was moved upward a little bit so you could see it right from the get-go.
- An checkpoint crate was added in the final about 30 seconds into the level that is not present in this build.
- The leaves used to cross the lake move slower in this build.
- An extra life crate was added about a minute into the level in the final.
- At one point in the level, there is a "!" box that triggers lily pads to appear below it just before a waterfall, an interesting function that is not seen anywhere in the final game. This would be replaced with the yellow gem path.
- The level ends a little earlier in the final, going on a little longer if you choose to take the gem path. In this build, since there are no gems, the first exit does not exist and the level just continues on normally.
Rolling Stones
- There is a pit at the beginning of the level that is not in the final.
- The checkpoint boxes have different locations in this build.
- A good chunk of the collapsing wooden posts were altered to be standard stationary ones for the final.
Boulders
- In the final game, there are a few boxes lying around during the boulder chases; this version does not have any. On a related note, the second checkpoint has a few boxes that are not present in the final.
Native Fortress
- There are three stacks of two boxes at the beginning of the level; the final only has one.
- The Aku Aku box and "?" box you reach from bouncing on the turtles are not present here.
- The level only has two checkpoints in this build; the final added a few more likely due to player frustration.
Cortex Power
- The camera is set on a upright view rather than a top-down view.
Generator Room
- The scenery doesn't electrocute Crash unlike in the retail version.
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.
- The game crashes about a thirdway to the level.
Dr. Nitrus Brio
- He starts out with no health represented, and dots appear depending on the number of experiments currently alive. He also takes more hits to defeat in his mutant form.
- The experiments start out red and can't be destroyed, before becoming yellow and green (vulnerable).
Dr. Neo Cortex
- The purple bullets in the retail version are orange instead.
- During the last phase, where he only shoots green bullets, the bullets are colored purple instead.
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 02 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 synergize well with the game's linear style of platforming and that the color of the lava severely distracted from Crash's vibrant orange color.
"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."
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. Also, the acid doesn't kill you at all.
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.
