Crash's appearance in this game kicked off the revival of the franchise after it had been neglected since 2010, with Crash's last appearance having been in Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 for iOS.
The Crash content was announced at E3 2016 at the same time as Crash Bandicoot Remastered. This revival was previously alluded to by the president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Shawn Layden, who wore a Crash shirt back at PlayStation Experience 2015.
Crunch was considered to make an appearance, but he was scrapped in favor of having Fake Crash as an unexpected villain.
The Crash dance in this game is missing the pelvic thrusts, as it was considered a bit inappropriate for a Skylanders game.
The reason Nitro crates weren't included is because their nature involves instant deaths, which doesn't fit with the Skylanders gameplay.
While creating the Crash Bandicoot content, Vicarious Visions dug up tons of old concept art and notes from the original games to ensure that they got the feel just right.
Skylanders Academy, an animated tie-in show with the franchise, features an entire episode dedicated to Crash. In this show, Crash speaks fluent English with an Australian accent and is portrayed as a sort of super-hero.
Since the game is compatible with every previously released Skylanders figure, this makes Skylanders Imaginators on the Wii U Crash's first official crossover with Nintendo's Super Mario series, thanks to Bowser and Donkey Kong's figures from the previous game, Skylanders SuperChargers. Unlike Crash and Cortex, Bowser and Donkey Kong are exclusive to Nintendo platforms and aren't compatible with other consoles. (Thanks to Bruno for the screenshots.)
