Crash Twinsanity - December 2003 Prototype

This page describes some of the differences found in the prototype version 8.016, which is shown in the video below recorded and played by Traveller's Tales' founder, Jon Burton.

As of the time of this writing, this is the earliest shown prototype of Crash Twinsanity, having been built on December 4, 2003 (almost a year before the final version was released). The video shows N. Sanity Island and Jungle Bungle. While the latter is mostly similar to what you see in the commercial release, N. Sanity Island is completely different. Let's take a look at the most noteworthy changes between this prototype and the final version.


Placeholders and Changed/Missing Elements
Placeholders and Changed/Missing Elements
Placeholders and Changed/Missing Elements
Placeholders and Changed/Missing Elements

Placeholders and Changed/Missing Elements

  • The HUD uses a plain font in place of the icons you'd normally see.
  • Since this is a development build, there are plenty of debugging tools accessible from the pause menu.
  • The music wasn't done at this point, so the prototype simply plays the similarly-titled Jungle Rumble track from The Wrath of Cortex.
  • Almost all of the sound effects come from previous Crash games.
  • Cortex's dialogue wasn't recorded yet, so he's completely silent.
  • Particle effects, like those produced by Wumpa fruits, tend to be different from usual, or sometimes missing like in the case of bioluminescent mushrooms.
  • The camera often gets inside objects instead of circumventing them. Jon also mentions its controls are inverted compared to the final game.
  • A lot of minor elements are placed differently. For example, there are many more butterflies around Crash's house, but no birds in that area. Speaking of which, some of the birds that do appear have unique blue coloring.
  • Gems, plunger crates, and tribesmen are entirely absent.
  • Aku Aku is only seen as a pick-up when you break his crates. He doesn't actually follow Crash yet.

N. Sanity Island
N. Sanity Island
N. Sanity Island
N. Sanity Island
N. Sanity Island

N. Sanity Island

  • The introductory hub has a totally different layout compared to the final version, and in fact, most other known prototypes. The area is very large and barren, featuring just a few of the interactive elements you'd normally see.
  • The monkeys behave a little differently, fleeing from Crash while flailing their arms if they're not going up a tree. Jon attacks a couple of them, but they don't die. It's unclear whether they take more than one hit or you can keep hitting them all you want.
  • The large Wumpa seeds you can roll around are green instead of dark red. They do sprout Wumpa trees when you roll them into holes, even those placed on the wooden ramps spread around the beach.
  • The flocks that fly overhead can get pretty close to Crash instead of staying in the far distance.

Jungle Bungle
Jungle Bungle
Jungle Bungle
Jungle Bungle
Jungle Bungle
Jungle Bungle

Jungle Bungle

A lot of the cutscenes with Cortex acting as your tutor don't exist in this version. The ones that do often have wonky camera angles. In addition, the cutscene where Cortex is smacked into the pit by a swinging log doesn't work properly, because there's an invisible object in the path that he just keeps running into. Perhaps this was a placeholder to indicate where the swinging log should be.

As with the rest of the prototype, there are many objects with a different placement compared to the final version. Since there are too many to list, hereare some of the most noteworthy changes:

  • Crash's yard has a couple of crates that aren't there in the final version, but it's missing the interactive objects like barrels and haystacks. The tiki bomb puzzle is absent as well.
  • Before the small cave section, there is usually an optional area with a cannon puzzle to the left. This area isn't present in the prototype, nor is the entrance there.
  • In that same area, the tribesmen are missing. There is a plant nearby that's not usually there, though.
  • The small cave itself is darker and less green than usual. The final cave's textures make it look like it's being lit by the bioluminescent mushrooms, which also happen to lack particle effects here. Additionally, you can't walk out of the cave when you reach the other side, being forced to jump through the exit.
  • The optional area with the Tikimon-esque statue near the worms is missing.
  • The area below the trees is inaccessible due to being covered in spikes, rather than a waterfall with a hidden life crate nearby.

The Bug Run

The Bug Run

The spot where Cortex teaches Crash to belly-flop the worms has a divergence in its path, indicated by an illustration on the wall with a tribesman running away from bugs. This was intended to be an optional chase scene where Crash would run away from bugs (which would later be moved to Cortex's section of Classroom Chaos). While the hole that would eventually lead Crash to this route does exist in this prototype, it's also closed off, and the actual segment wouldn't be implemented until a later prototype.


Spiky Tortoise

Spiky Tortoise

The skunk that refuses to do his job near the Nitro crates isn't present. Instead, there's a large tortoise with a spike-covered shell in its place. This enemy doesn't appear in the full game at all, though a non-spiky version can be seen in the unlockable concept art. There's no cutscene for the tortoise, and the only way to attack it is by sliding into it. This makes more sense from a gameplay standpoint, since you can kill the skunk without having it land on one of the Nitro crates up ahead. This is the only tortoise seen in the prototype.


End

End

The area where the first boss would be is simply empty. Reaching it crashes the game.


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