Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Story

After being defeated by Crash Bandicoot, Dr. Neo Cortex finds himself falling down from the sky at great speed. He makes a rough landing inside a cave where he spots a large crystal in front of him. Hatching a plan in his oversized cranium, Cortex laughs maniacally.

One year has passed. Cortex has built a spatial Cortex Vortex that sits in planet Earth's orbit. In its interior, he discusses the final phase of his plan with Dr. N. Gin, a physicist who was taken by Cortex a long time ago, now serving as his right-hand man. He plans to use the new Cortex Vortex to harness the power of the master crystal, the very same mineral he found in the cave one year ago. However, the master crystal alone isn't enough to power up the Cortex Vortex. They still need the 25 slave Crystals to reach full power. Cortex is well aware of the situation and has already thought ahead.

Back on Earth, Crash is sleeping in the woods next to his sister Coco, who types frantically on her laptop until the battery dies out. Coco wakes Crash up and asks him to bring her another battery. Crash gets going, only to be abducted and suddenly disappear in a flash of light along the way. His body soon materializes inside a mysterious circular hall called a Warp Room.

Oblivious to what's going on, Crash is met with a holographic display of Cortex's head projected right in front of him. Cortex speaks to Crash and briefly asks him for help. He explains that the place he's in is called a Warp Room, and each portal surrounding the area will take him to a different place where a crystal can be found. Cortex asks Crash to retrieve the crystals by tricking him into thinking he's out to save the world from a mysterious planetary force, caused by the alignment of all the planets in the Solar System. Crash is led to believe that the crystals are the only means of stopping this force, so he sets out to get them for Cortex. Meanwhile, Coco is busy trying to communicate with Crash, to no avail.

Later on, another holographic display appears. This time it's Dr. Nitrus Brio. Still bitter at Cortex for always taking credit for his inventions, Brio tells Crash that if he wants to save the world, he must gather the Earth's gems, and not the crystals. This way, he can create a laser beam capable of destroying the Cortex Vortex. To show that he means business, Brio declares that he'll send his forces to stop Crash until he gives up on the crystal hunt.

With no idea which scientist to believe, Crash decides to play it safe and sets out to collect both the gems and the crystals. Far away from all of this, Coco picks up Cortex's signal and conducts a little research of her own...