Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex - Late Prototypes

The final logo has green smoke coming out of the two bottom pipes. Here they look like blue jets. Don't mind the different text; it's just in French.

The VR Hub System is quite different in these screenshots, especially the first 2. Each entrance has the respective Elemental, so the third picture is probably for the last hub, since it has Cortex on it. The third picture is from a more recent prototype than the others, since it uses the green background from the final version. Each hub shows its name on top of the screen once you enter it.

These screenshots make it look like the Elementals are talking to Crash, like they do sometimes when entering a level.

The computer and the background used to be completely different. Coco is nowhere to be seen and the Load/Save screen appears without zooming in on the monitor. Said screen is different as well.

Some really ugly lighting going on in Wizards 'N Lizards.

This little segment with boats was cut from Tsunami.

An unused camera angle for the scooter segment in Tsunami. You can spot it on the back of the PlayStation 2 cover.

• This is Tornado Alley, but the weather is actually nice in the first three pictures, with no signs of a dark sky (tornados are still present, but they can't be seen in these pictures). They show camera angles you never get to see in the game too, likely used for promotional purposes only.
• The fourth picture shows the same level in a more advanced stage of development. A hands-on at GameSpot reveals the following:
  "In this minigame, Crash must pilot a glider while dogfighting against Cortex's fleet of fighter planes, avoiding several tornadoes and exploding canisters located throughout the level.".

Instead of the Crash blimp, there used to be an airplane that would drop Crash in Tornado Alley.

The Crash Glider is being used in That Sinking Feeling instead of the Firefly. This is actually a separate version of the glider coded with the same lock-on system as the Firefly. It can be found in the final version through hacking.

Crash! You forgot your skin and organs! This sight is usually reserved for X-Ray walls, and there seems to be no logical reason why Crash's skeleton is displayed here.

• The first screenshot has a different camera angle.
• The second screenshot shows a removed segment with a bridge and a crab, as well as a different placement for the crystal. The crystal itself looks different.
• You can find out more about this level's history here.

You don't get to use the Heli-Pak in this part of Fahrenheit Frenzy in the final version. LXShadow theorizes:
"I'm not at all sure, but at the time they might have just been playing around with the level's crates. When you put a checkpoint crate at around the end of the vehicle segment, you can get through without losing the vehicle, by opening the crate and then dying. The level also looks empty, which might mean they were working on the crates at the time."

• There are green bubbles coming out of the tubes in Fahrenheit Frenzy, instead of the usual green lasers.
• Crash and the Copter-Pak seem to lack textures.

The Wumpa Counter used a different font.

• Coco looks fairly different.
• The crates are all different. There is a checkpoint on the left, an Aku Aku mask over an arrow crate, a life crate on the left and some other, different crates next to the wall up ahead. Notice that the Aku Aku and life crates have different icons too.
• The usual platforms are but a circular plate and a bridge here.
• Both the bird and the lizard enemies are missing from this spot.
• There is a trail of fruit not found in the final version of the level.
• There is no lamp hung behind the Aku Aku crate, but there is a different kind of lamp on the bridge (which itself was removed).
• The lighting is quite different.

Here is an unseen area from what appears to be Banzai Bonsai. The background and the platforms are different, and the rotating platform on the left is in a different place from usual.

This is H2 Oh No, but with flying jellyfish enemies that usually only appear underwater. One possible reason why they were removed is drawing problems. LXShadow explains:
"If you look at the jellyfish on the left side of the mystery image, you'll notice that the lower half of the jellyfish has a sort of error with the drawing, where part of the jellyfish seems to go through the floor in the distance. This was never fixed so that might be why they (these particular ones) are gone now."

He also adds:
"Something perhaps interesting to add to this mystery, though: The Wrath of Cortex has "model lists", that tell the game which levels certain enemies will appear in. Most of the time, the lists are kept clean of enemies that won't appear in a level, but it turns out that the played-on-foot level, Crate Balls of Fire, actually has this jellyfish in its model list. That suggests that the flying jellyfish was planned to appear in that level... um, for some reason... as well."

The electrified water also looks blue instead of yellow.

Aku Aku often moved his mouth as if he was talking and would sometimes go into an "OH!" expression. Crash had an animation where he looked at his hands. His running animation was quite different from the final one. It was a faster-looking, more sprint-like animation.

• Crash didn't always turn blue when frozen or turned into an angel.
• You can see a stone bridge in the first picture, which was taken from Artic Antics. Neither the pit or the bridge appear in the game. The bridge looks like it would collapse with Crash's weight.

At some point, Crash turned into a very shiny, transparent angel, instead of a plain, run-of-the-mill blue one.

This flamingo doesn't appear in the final version. Instead, it's replaced with a crane wearing oriental clothing. The flamingo supposedly attacked the same way, but it was likely replaced because it didn't suit the oriental theme going on.

This screenshot is from the second boss fight of the game. It shows that there used to be more to it than meets the eye. Learn more about it here.

A noticeably early version of Banzai Bonsai with different elements, colors, and design.

The knights in Wizards and Lizards used to have tridents instead of shields and could attack Crash.

Apparently, Cortex used to wear a tuxedo for some reason.

• This is an early version of the level Crashteroids. It shows Coco's Space Fighter shooting projectiles that look somewhat like fireworks, as opposed to red double lasers.
• The counter at the bottom-right shows that there used to be 6 satellites to destroy, as opposed to 3.

A removed segment from the level Gold Rush.

The trolley scene from Gold Rush in a different camera angle.

• Instead of the word "MOO!" in the carriage on the right, the word "ACME" was there instead. This is evidenced by the second screenshot, which shows the carriage model as is in the game. It's still present in the final version as part of the scenery in Smokey and the Bandicoot.
• The box count for Gold Rush shows 199 Crates instead of the usual 209.

First the Jeep and now the Mech. Compactor Reactor always had its fair share of gadgets.

The level Jungle Rumble wasn't always rainy.

The lasers are thick, straight lines in this screenshot. In the game, they're thin, wavy lines coming out from each side, and colliding into a white sphere.

The Bamboozled level had 126 Crates instead of 125.