FootofaFerret: Hello and welcome to another episode of A Brief History. Today’s episode Crash Bandicoot. Ready? Set? G-
Beta64: Ho-Hold up there! What do you think you’re doing? FootofaFerret: Oh, didn’t you hear from the intro? I’m doing A Brief History on Crash Bandicoot. Beta64: Well, that’s all good and fine, but… this isn’t FootofaFerret. This is Beta64. Plus, didn't you already do an episode on Crash Bandicoot on the Game Theorist channel? FootofaFerret: Oh! That’s right. Sorry, man.
Beta64: No, no, it’s OK. I was gonna to do an episode on the beta of Crash Bandicoot anyway. Hey, you wanna collab? FootofaFerret: Hey, that would be pretty fun! And I’m totally up for it! I always wanted to know about those two leaked prototype builds of the game. Beta64: OK then, it’s settled! On this episode of Beta 64, FootofaFerret and I are gonna to talk about the beta of Crash Bandicoot. Beta64: Crash Bandicoot was first conceived in August of 1994, while Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin were moving the company Naughty Dog from Boston to Los Angeles after signing a deal with Universal Interactive Studios to create 3 games for them.
During this move, they began to study to current trends in arcade games and noticed that the games were beginning to move into the 3rd dimension.
Both Jason and Andy looked at this as an opportunity to take their favorite game genre, the action- platformer, into fully rendered 3D.
In order to focus entirely on this new and innovative game, the tag team duo chose to scrap their previous game idea; a side-scrolling game called Al O. Saurus and Dinestein, a game about time traveling scientists who are genetically merged with dinosaurs!
FootofaFerret: Once Naughty Dog finished their move onto the Universal Interactive Studios backlot, they met with Mark Cerny who loved this, at the time, nonexistent 3D platformer. While deciding on what system this game should be for, they decided against the 3DO, Jaguar, Saturn, and 32X because they were all ripe with poor sales and what they had called “clunky” development units. Instead, they chose the Sony PlayStation mostly because it came without a mascot character to compete with. And after become a licensed Sony developer, Naughty Dog purchased a PlayStation development kit for $35,000 to begin the game’s development.
Beta64: While considering what character to use, Naughty Dog decided to go the same route as Sonic the Hedgehog; creating a cute, real animal that few people knew about. The team went and purchased a guide about Tasmanian mammals and decided on three animal choices: the wombat, the potoroo, and the bandicoot. I wonder which one they’re going to pick…
FootofaFerret: Well, they obviously picked the bandicoot. Beta64: Actually, not at first.
FootofaFerret: Say what now?
Beta64: The first name they picked was actually Willie the Wombat. Though, it was only a temporary name, because they found it too dorky, and by October of 1994, the bandicoot was chosen.
FootofaFerret: And rightly so.
Beta64: At this point, the voice of the star of the game had to be decided, and they decided on… nothing really. Voices used for main characters in the past were often considered lame and kept the people from really identifying with the character. So just some small sounds were recorded for this character.
FootofaFerret: Due to the fact that the main character had been chosen to be a Tasmanian animal, it was decided that the game world would be an island with any environment possible included with it. While designing the levels, Joe Pearson tried to avoid any 90 degree turns or straight lines. The artists also wanted to make sure that lighting was able to separate the objects in the game, so the team frequently squinted their eyes while playing to make sure the player could easily see where everything was. In order to keep the amount of polygons on screen to minimum, the team also decided to have the character move on a track with the camera either following behind, in front, or on the side with a limited field of view.
Beta64: The first two test levels that were created for this game, never made it into the final version because they were too open and had WAY too many polygons on the screen at once. These levels actually resembled the camera style of the final level, Cortex Power. The next levels created were for Cortex’s factory, so that way they didn’t have to worry about that complex forest design yet. The first two levels that were successfully created were Generator Room and Heavy Machinery, which include many classic platforming elements from Donkey Kong Country. The first Jungle level that was kept in the final game was called Jungle Rollers and actually uses parts of the first test map. While playing these levels, one problem stuck out to the team. They were just too barren. Because the PS1 didn’t have power enough to create many enemies on the screen at once, the world felt… empty. Plus, play-testers were solving puzzles way too quickly with nothing in their way. Something had to slow them down. And that something was Wumpa Fruit. These collectables were placed around the world as 3D objects rendered as 2D textures, so they could put TONS of them on the screen at once!. But even then, it still wasn’t exciting to players. There was no joy in picking up fruit. So Gavin decided to step it up a notch with crates. And it’s been there ever since. FootofaFerret: In September of 1995, Andy Gavin and Taylor Kurosaki recorded video of the game in action and edited it into a VHS that they deliberately leaked to Sony thanks to a friend they knew who worked there. March 1996, Sony agreed to publish the game, and by April, the game was in alpha. So, E3 was coming and Naughty Dog were prepared to show off their game, the only problem was that they still didn’t have a name for the main character that they liked. While the marketing director was insisting on Wuzzle, Wez, or Wezzy the Wombat or Ozzie the Ottsel, the team decided on something different. Because this character smashed into crates now, they decided to either go with Dash, Smash, Bash, or Crash. And after threatening to leave the company, the marketing director finally allowed the game to be called Crash Bandicoot.
Beta64: The musical aspect of Crash was a last minute decision as well. Universal Interactive’s producer proposed that they make the music what he called an “urban chaotic symphony”, which would be created using random sounds that were randomly selected and then combined into the track. This was rejected, and instead they went for a more convention style that still today has a Crash feel to it. Throughout the development of Crash Bandicoot, Universal Interactive was constantly trying to take credit for creating the game. In fact, Naughty Dog was told they couldn’t go to E3 at all. Even more cruel is the fact that the temporary box art and press materials for E3 didn’t have any sign of the Naughty Dog logo at all.
FootofaFerret: That is messed up.
Beta64: Yeah it is. In response to this messed up plan of Universal Interactive, Jason Rubin printed a thousand copies of what was called “Naughty Dog, creator and developer of Crash Bandicoot” to hand out in front of E3. But before that, Jason brought a few of these flyers to pass out at the Universal interactive meetings for
"review", which has you can expect angered Universal Interactive’s president. Crash was later shown at E3 1996 where it received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response.
There are some screenshots of Crash Bandicoot while it was in development as well, and many of them show quite a few changes. One such change is the Title Screen. It’s a lot plainer, bluer, and gradient-er than the final version.
FootofaFerret: This screenshot here shows a boss battle, and it looks like there’s a definite change with the boss’s health bar. In fact, instead of a bar, they’re dots. And speaking of bosses, this early picture of Papu Papu shows him with a yellow head ornament and yellow bracelets instead of blue. Also, the crystals in the Koala Kong fight are pink instead of green. Beta64: One really big change is in the screenshots where Wumpa Fruit are visible. It turns out that they weren’t always apple-like, but were also pineapples, strawberries, and some kind of green fruit. So it looks like Crash originally picked up different kinds of ordinary fruit at first.
So now with that out of the way, let’s talk about those two released prototypes.
FootofaFerret: Awesome! I have been waiting for this.
Beta64: Great! Let’s start with the first prototype, which was built March 8th, 1996.
FootofaFerret: That’s almost 6 months before the final release!
Beta64: Yep. So you know that a lot of stuff changed. First off, the Naughty Dog intro looks way different than the final version. FootofaFerret: Oh yeah. The final is all animated and doesn’t have nearly as much information on it. Beta64: Moving on to the title screen…
FootofaFerret: Woah.
Beta64: Yeah. It’s really different. Think you can list all the differences?
FootofaFerret: Well, the background is obviously different, though I really like how all the characters are animated sprites. Tawna looks different color-wise in this background as well. Also, I see nowhere to input passwords. Where’s the password screen?
Beta64: Actually, the load game button takes you to a password screen. There’s no saving functionality in this build, and I’m going to guess it’s just because they hadn’t added it in yet. The password screen is different than the final game, though, as it uses faces instead of button presses for the password. You can actually see one of these passwords here. When you start a game, you’re presented with a much different island map.
FootofaFerret: Oh wow! It resembles more of Donkey Kong Country’s map than the the 3D one in the final game. It actually looks really cool. I wonder what else changed once we get into the game. Beta64: Well, first you’re presented with a very much placeholder loading screen. And speaking of placeholder screens, the Game Over screen lacks any bit of awesomeness that the final version has, though Crash and Cortex do run across the screen in both versions. Alright, let's start with the first few levels, what do you see differently? FootofaFerret: Well, there's obviously no music yet. The checkpoint says continue instead of checkpoint and the letters swirl up in prototype making a warp sound that’s not in the final game. It also looks like the font changed, and the end uses sparkles instead of swirls. Tawna’s tokens are different to match her different color style, and there are some new crates with the word POW on them. When dying, it also doesn’t zoom in on Crash. Should I just start listing these changes off?
Beta64: No, every single level in the prototype has at least something different, and if we got into all that, we’d be here a long while. However, Whole Hog and Castle Machinery are not in this build and gems haven't been added yet, so there's no Great Hall to be found. There’s also some levels that were never seen in the final game. One of these levels is a test level called “level0.” In it, there is a spider, lab assistant, a TNT crate without a timer, and a hill that when Crash stands on it, he turns green. Odd, right? Well, it turns out that Andy Gavin used this level to test various objects and enemies in a small area, so that way he could process it a lot quicker than testing an entire level, which could take hours to compile. At the time this prototype was built, he just so happened to be testing those two enemies. If Crash kills the spider, it actually shows an unused death animation, though, that was removed from the final game.
FootofaFerret: There’s also a level taking place in a Cavern that many creatively refer to as the Cavern Level. There's no sound, no enemies, no way to finish the level, even the acid stuff can’t kill you. But you know what can? The walls. THE WALLS CAN KILL YOU. There’s also another cut level of a cliff. This level is seriously glitched. You can walk on air, under the level, behind the level, Crash’s back is green, the icons and numbers are messed up, and as always, there’s no way to finish the level.
Beta64: There was also a lava level that was removed (a staple of the platforming genre). Even though this level is mentioned in the game’s files, trying to load it sadly freezes the game. This level was actually one of the first two created for the game aptly titled, level2. This level was removed for various reasons. One, it was too open, so it took up way too much memory. Plus, the level didn’t flow well with the linear platforming style of the rest of the game, and due to the lava’s color, it was very easy to lose Crash in all of the orange.
FootofaFerret: The last level in the prototype that was removed from the final game is this waterfall level. It’s incredibly complex compared to the other levels, and it actually looks really fun to play. Sure, it’s glitchy, platforms disappearing and reappearing, no sound, but every level’s got it’s flaws, right? The end of the level is a dead end, so once again, this is another level that cannot be completed. In this level, there’s also a scrapped enemy called a dingo. It won’t move, it can’t hurt the player, and it can’t be defeated. Beta64: Alright, let’s look at the changes of the second prototype that was built May 11th, 1996, which is almost 4 months before the final release. This build was actually made for E3, so it can’t be saved, and can’t be finished past the second island, but it does now include the final HUD, gems, and music. FootofaFerret: The first obvious difference is the title screen, which we saw earlier, and the end sparkles and boss health meter are the same as the last proto. Collecting two Aku-Aku masks doesn’t make the mask gold as it does in the final game, instead it emits sparkles. And also, if you collect three masks, you don’t run any faster, which is different than the final game.
Beta64: When returning from a bonus round in the final game, the name of the level the game is returning to is shown. But in this build, it just says “Return to Round.” Some music tracks changed as well, but I’d like to focus on N. Sanity Beach. There’s an additional intro to the music that was removed from the final game, but it's still heard in this build. Take a listen. FootofaFerret: Alright, so this is the part of the show where we talk about unused objects and stuff, right? Beta64: Correct! You’re really getting the hang of this.
FootofaFerret: Mind if I take a crack at it? Beta64: Not at all! Go ahead.
FootofaFerret: Now let’s talk about unused graphics. The first, and only, unused graphic in the final game is the loading and press start text from the E3 demo. It’s loaded into VRAM on the title screen, as it should, but it isn’t shown on the screen. There’s also some unused text leftover in the executable file. One of them is really interesting, as it shows the file path to the folder “target”, which so happens to have been in the folder “Willie” or in other words “Willie the Wombat,” Crash’s placeholder name.
Beta64: Now let’s move on to some unused sounds, two of which were never heard in the final game at all. The first is from the earliest build of Crash Bandicoot when the player activates the checkpoint. FootofaFerret: The next unused sound is in the files for Pinstripe’s battle perhaps intended for when the power plant shuts down after he is defeated. But in the final game, Pinstripe shoots the glass wall in the background, and only the sound of glass breaking plays.
Beta64: The last unused thing in Crash Bandicoot that we’re going to talk about is the only unused level in the game: Stormy Ascent; a level Andy Gavin calls “one of the most brutal and fun levels ever to grace platforming.” And he would be correct. This level isn’t just hard, it’s really hard. It has the same look, feel, and sound as Slippery Climb, but the layout of the level is completely different. In fact, it makes Slippery Climb look easy, and if you’ve played Crash before, that means something. FootofaFerret: Oh yeah it does. Stormy Ascent is completely functional and can be accessed with a simple GameShark code. It was designed as a homage to the castle wall in Wizards and Warriors, according to Andy Gavin. This level was also originally home to the second Cortex bonus round, which is evidenced by the pixelated jumbly mess that appears on the top when you break special crates. You can also hear the sound effect that plays when collecting a token. Now how do we know that it’s specifically a Cortex token? It’s because when you press the triangle button, the jumbly mess appears on the bottom right which is the position a Cortex Token takes when pressing the button. Perhaps the reason we can’t actually see the token is because it was moved to Jaws of Darkness, the new home of the 2nd Cortex bonus round.
Beta64: The simple reason Stormy Ascent was removed from the final game is just because it was way too difficult. The team was planning on making it easier, but they didn’t have enough time to, so they removed it. Andy Gavin said that he wished they could have put it in as an easter egg, as he considered it one of his favorite levels in the game, but it never happened. What a shame.
FootofaFerret: So that’s it, right? We’ve covered everything.
Beta64: Not quite. FootofaFerret: There’s more?
Beta64: Yeah. One more thing. This: FootofaFerret: What on earth was that?
Beta64: That, my friend, is a Crash cartoon that was designed for the game’s intro. It was produced by Universal Animation while the game was early in development and was never put into the game in any form. When the video first surfaced, many thought it was an ad or a planned cartoon series, but it wasn't according to David Siller, who was one the producers of Crash Bandicoot. It was simply meant to play in the beginning of the game as an intro.
FootofaFerret: So, was that all they made? Beta64: Actually, no. There’s also an outro that was made for the end of the game that I'll show you right now. Beta64: Sadly, these two clips were not added into the game because Sony wanted to push their 3D “agenda” at the time. And since Universal Interactive licensed the game to be published by Sony, these clips were never used. So that’s the beta of Crash Bandicoot. What do you think?
FootofaFerret: Personally, I think a lot of the changes they made
were for the better. They all gave the game a better style, look, and feel, and
ultimately made it a more cohesive experience. Sure, Stormy Ascent and some of the other cut levels would have been nice to see fully implemented, but the game is
really hard enough as it is due to its lack of analog control and its
occasionally weird game logic. But in the end they were all choices that led to an
awesome game, which would then give way to even better games in the future. Beta64: Yeah, for me, I really wish that Stormy Ascent was kept in Crash Bandicoot as an easter egg of some kind. I could see video game competitions based on who could beat this level the fastest. But once again, GameShark now makes it possible, and I seriously don’t think I could thank GameShark enough for their indirect contribution to the beta scene.
So, this is Beta64
...and FootofaFerret… with the Crash Bandicoot beta. Thanks for
watching!
For those who only want to see the animation I mentioned in the title, please skip to the 16 minute mark!
Thanks for posting this, really fun video.