The document discusses the history and evolution of the Crash Bandicoot video game franchise on PlayStation consoles. It covers the success of the original trilogy developed by Naughty Dog, as well as later games developed by other studios that received mixed reviews. While the first three games were hugely popular, later titles struggled to capture the same magic and started to send the franchise downhill. The document examines the key factors in the original games' success and the missteps of subsequent installments as the Crash Bandicoot franchise moved to new developers and consoles.

1. Idea Development and Planning
By Oliver Keppie

2. MoodBoard
 I have chosen this image
because I will be using
this pixel style of art for
my intro to my web
series. The reason I want
to use this animation and
aesthetic style is because
the overall theme of my
web series is going over
different retro games. it
also helps reflect what I
will be speaking about as
the crash games on ds
are pixelated.
 I have chosen this image because I
really like the animation style of this
specific cut scene. The way that the
characters move in this cut scene are
very realistic to how puppets would
move and be controlled in real life. I
also think it is a little more light
hearted than most other animation
styles. I would also like to use this
animation style because this style of
animation is going to be the topic of
my documentary for a while, so I
would like to use this style for an
animated character which will speak
every now and again. I think this
would be a good character style to
pop up every now and again and act
as a devil and angel character which
can be used to show both sides of an
argument or speak a bit more about
a point.
 I have chosen this image because of the background.
Even though this image is taken from a YouTube video I
think that the background is a good extra thing to have
instead of just a plain background or a still image. This
background also creates a more homely feel and makes
the audience feel a little more at ease and makes it feel
like they can trust and relate more to the person
speaking. The only difference in this image is that this is
the narrator and I will only be showing the interviewee.
 I have chosen this image because of the way that the
interview is shot. Even though I would most likely
have the interviewee facing towards the left hand
side of the screen but sat on the right, I would have
the rest of the layout the same or very similar. I also
think that the lighting on this interview is very good
and the background (even though it is a still image)
still adds a bit more life to the interview.

3. MoodBoard
 This image is from an animation
on YouTube called Little Runmo.
The reason I have chosen this
image is because the animation
style is very similar to the
puppets one from the cut scene in
crash. You can tell that the
characters and backgrounds are
all split into layers which gives
each limb more of a free
movement. This is also a good
way to get around drawing a lot of
different frames over and over
with slight modifications. I also
like the art style of this animation
because it is very cartoon and
squishy which has aspects of my
favorite animation style which is
 The reason I have chosen this image is
because it’s a screenshot from a pixel art
intro. Although its for a YouTube channel I
could easily transfer the art and animation
style from this example and put it into a
more serious intro. Also the music in this
intro will be similar to the music I am using.
 I have picked the crash soundtrack
because I would like to use a
pixelated and retro sounding
version of the crash songs in my
video as backing music. The reason
I want to use this music is because
the sound of the retro music suits
the style of documentary I am
creating. I have picked to use the
crash bandicoot theme as it is the
game I am speaking about in this
documentary. Although I would like
to create an original song for my
intro music as it would have to be
the same in every episode of the
web series that I create.

4. Contentand
Structure
 In my documentary the things I would like to include will be:
-Animation
-An Interview
-Different Opinions
-Characters
-Music
Animation: The way I will use animation in my documentary is by
creating a pixel art animated introduction for the fake production
company and also a title card for the start of the documentary. I am
also going to create 1 or 2 characters which can pop up at certain
parts of the documentary and back up or go against points that the
narrator or interviewee has said. Another way I can use animation is
by using simple text and image transition effects between some of
the clips or images that I will be showing. The reason I want to use
animation in my product is because I want to learn and try out more
new skills and techniques. This was the best way for me to practice
animation before my FMP.

5. Contentand
Structure
 Interview: The way I will use an interview in my final documentary is
to speak about how somebody who has grown up with this game has
found the newer adaptations and the overall evolution of the game. I
am going to have clips of the interview cut to and from the persons face
to clips or pictures of the game or specific aspect they are speaking
about. I would like to try and get a interview in person with a crash fan
although if I cant find anyone I will be happy to do an online interview.
I would also like to have an interview as it could also allow me to have
a story in my documentary which may let the audience connect with
the documentary on a more emotional level. I would also like to get a
story so I could recreate scenes to show a bit of a story as done in the
documentary “Black Sheep”.
 Different Opinions: To get across different opinions instead of making a
bias documentary off my views and what I have found online, I will
create small animated characters which can pop up on the bottom left
or right hand side of the screen and give an opposing view to what I
have said. They could also appear to back up a point that the narrator
or interviewee has said or made. This is also another reason for me to
do an interview in ,y documentary, so I can have the views of somebody
else who isn't the narrator. If possible I would like to get a few
interviews although I will be happy with one.

6. Contentand
Structure
 Characters: I would get characters into my documentary
by adding animated characters into my final product. I
will animate these characters on After Effects and
Photoshop with a green background and then ultra key
them onto the part of the video there on. This will make
my documentary a little more different and original than
most other documentary's.
 Music: I will use music throughout my whole
documentary. The first time I will use music will be for the
introduction to my web series. I would like to create this
music by myself on beep box. I will then use a retro
version of the crash bandicoot theme song for the rest of
my video. I will start off by playing the theme regular
volume as the crash bandicoot intro plays that I will
animate and then I will fade the volume of it to be a bit
more quiet and it will play in the background to make the
video a little less boring. The only time the music may
change throughout the documentary is if I am speaking
about a certain sound or music piece and I will play that
instead.

7. Production
Schedule
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Thursday
Refine any
changes I
would like to
make to my
script or
schedule.
Start on the
animation for
the intros.
Get my
interview or
interviews
done
hopefully and
start to cut
and edit
them
together.
Start to
collect clips
and images
for my
narrated
sections.
Continue
editing my
documentary
overall.
Animate
characters,
transitions
and other
things
needed.
Finish
animating
characters,
transitions
and other
things
needed.
Friday
Finish intros
animation.
Start some
character
design for the
original
characters
and create
models of
them in
Illustrator
Finish
collecting
clips.
Record the
narration.
Start to put
the clips and
pictures in
order to
match the
narration.
Continue
editing my
documentary
overall.
Animate
characters,
transitions
and other
things
needed.
Create and
add music to
my intros
and the rest
of my
documentary.

8. Script:Intro
 Narrator: On September the 9th 1996, the team from
Naughty Dog introduced the world to a character who
would be an instant hit with children and adults
around the world. The original Crash bandicoot game
kick started one of the most iconic and well known
gaming franchises in the world, reaching 725,000 sales
in Europe by February 1998. As the first game was so
well received, and Naughty Dog still has the rights to
crash bandicoot they decided to create two more games
releasing October 31st of 1997 and October 31st 1998.
this concluded the original crash trilogy, but
unfortunately for the bandicoot, the road didn’t stop
there. Today we will be talking about the games on the
PlayStation console. My name is (Narrators Name) and
this is Crash Bandicoot: Rise and Demise.

9. Script:Part1
 Narrator: When the first Crash Bandicoot game was released in
the mid 90s it was created to compete with other 3D platforming
games at the time such as Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.
The Bandicoot was created to be the unofficial mascot of
PlayStation and he definitely lived up the the creators
expectations. In this game the player had to make it through
hallways style obstacle courses avoiding weapons and enemies
whilst collecting the now famous wumpa fruit. The game was an
instant hit and until 1998 when Spyro came along he was the
biggest mascot for the PlayStation 1. The formula of the game was
simple to understand so was great for kids but also had
challenging and a little more tricky elements to it. One of the
main reasons Crash was such a worldwide hit is because of its
bright and attractive color scheme and great graphics for the time.
The PlayStation 1 could only show a certain amount of polygons
on screen at once to run a game without lag. The way crash
overcame this was by placing very specific objects that were made
of less and larger polygons to hide parts of the game that were a
lot of polygons until they needed to be seen on screen. This
allowed for crash to be somewhat ahead of its time and have
exceptional graphics for its time. Another key factor to the success
of the Crash franchise was the selection of characters. Crash had
a large array of characters with interesting and quite wacky looks
and stories. Many of these such as Neo Cortex, Aku Aku and Coco
being some of the most well known characters of the franchise.
The soundtrack was one of the most memorable parts of this
game. Composed by Mark Isham the soundtrack to this game and
the others in the original 3 were amazing. fun but not silly and
enjoyable to hear from both young and old audiences. The game
seemed perfect.

10. Script:Part2
 Narrator: Until the second game came along. The second
game in the series was Cortex Strikes Back. This kept all
of the best features from the first game such as the
amazing graphics, great characters and most importantly
the captivating and revolutionary gameplay. Crash
Bandicoot 2 was arguably better than the original game
and still to this day a large majority of fans still think it it
better.
 Character 1: Personally I would say Cortex Strikes Back
is the best game in the series it introduced levels such as
Bear It and Totally Bear, some of the best levels to this
day in 3D platforming history.
 Narrator: That is correct and Crash 2 also introduced
some of the most iconic bosses such as N Gin and Tiny the
Tiger. By February 1998 Cortex Strikes Back had sold
800,000 in Japan and 340,000 in Europe alone.
 Character 1: I think it was safe to say Naughty Dog has
smashed it out of the park with yet another brilliant
game.
 Narrator: I couldn’t agree more.

11. Script:Part3
 Narrator: Then in 1998 the world got what they had been asking
for, another Crash Bandicoot game. Although it would be hard to
step up to the hype of the game after the immense success of the
second game, Naught Dog release Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
Although not quite as good as the second game, Warped was
another great addition to the franchise and was a great place for
the iconic Crash Bandicoot trilogy to end. The introduction of
another iconic villain was introduced, Uka Uka was the evil twin
brother of Crash Bandicoots friend and companion Aku Aku, a set
of magic voodoo masks. Overall Crash Bandicoot: Warped was a
very good game and a hit with Crash fans and new player.
 As Naughty Dog did not renew the contract with Sony to continue
creating Crash Games. One last PlayStation 1 game was created.
In 1999 Crash Team Racing was released. On the surface it was
simply a Mario Kart clone, although if a player was to play the
game they would understand it has many unique features.
Although the drift mechanic had been seen before, there was
never a game which relied upon making the player drift so
heavily. It also had a mechanic where a racer would collect 10
wumpa fruits to gain a small speed boost and upgraded power ups
which could be used to attack other players. Fans were excited to
see there favorite Crash franchise characters and some new ones,
in a classic kart racer. This game also added a running meme in
the crash community to the game. The one and only Fake Crash.
After a bootleg Crash plush toy went on sale in japan the
developers caught wind of this and decided to add him into the
game. The plush had large teeth and an overall funny appearance.
 Fake Crash: Hey!

12. Script:Part4
 Character 1: So everything was good and all the games were
enjoyed, the end.
 Narrator: Not quite. One last game to be released on the
PlayStation 1 was Crash Bash created by Eurocom. This was the
first of many games that would start to send the Crash Bandicoot
franchise downhill. It was a 4 player minigame collection that
entailed the characters from the previous games to do small
games that had no relevance to the story at all. The game sold
300,000 copies in the UK although the reviews of the game were
”mixed or average”. So overall the game was not a bad game but
compared to the crash games before, it was not on the same level.
It was also a lot worse than other minigame collection games such
as Mario Party. The rights for crash bandicoot were sold to
Travelers Tales for the games on the new generation of console,
the PlayStation 2.
 Character 1: But surely the gameplay would stay the same and
the graphics and characters could only get better, resulting in a
better game.
 Narrator: Well… Crash Bandicoot Wrath of cortex was released in
2001 with open arms from Crash fans after the previous game not
being so great. The game was released in 2001and had once again
“mixed or average” reviews. Many critics rated it 3/5 and overall
the game was a great success in sales but in fan and game service
was only an average game. This game had the same gameplay
mechanics as the origional trilogy although the levels were very
different. The team at Travelers Tales had tried a new formula of
levels and designs which didnt sit as well with fans as the
previous games.

13. Script:Part5
 Character 2: It sounds like the games are about to take a turn for the worst.
 Narrator: Not just yet there's still one average game. Crash Nitro Kart
released in 2003. The second racing game of the series and although it not
being as well received as the first game it was not by any means a bad game.
Most of the maps were good, the battle mode was a slight improvement from
the 3 modes on the first game to 5 in this one. The story line was strong
although slightly similar to Crash Team Racing. Overall this game received
better reviews than the last two games.
 Character 2: Onto the bad games.
 Narrator: Well being the narrator I cant be bias so I will speak fairly about
all of these games and try to keep my opinions to a low. Crash Twinsanity
was a zany childish game and had too much content target at young
children instead of keeping the series open to all ages. The jokes and gags
were childish and take a look at these…(insert clips) what were they
thinking. And the music is no where near as nice as the origionals.
Composed by a cappella band Spiralmouth which made the music sound like
it was not fit for a game. The game tried to keep the core gameplay
mechanics the same although for me and many others the game was too self
aware and tried too hard. The game went for an open world feel although
the map was just less hallway obsticle courses like the origionals, which
worked quite well and instead went for a little more freedom. Alhtough the
game was made to look like an open world game, it just pushed the player
towards the objective through paths which wee very similar to the hallway
levels. It does not compare well with good open world games such as GTA or
The Simpsons Hit & Run. Overall the game got average reviews from critics
although most fans found it a little bellitling to the great origionals and
even some crtitics rated it as low as 3.5/10. This game was meant to have a
sequal where Crash and Neo Cortex got sucked into many different TV
shows and had to make it through each level in a new show such as wild
west shows and hospital dramas. For some strange unknown reason the
game got canceled.
 Character 2: The smart people at Vivendi Universal decided not to create it.

14. Script:Part6
 Narrator: The next game would be released just 1 year after Crash Twinsanity in 2005
and be the third kart racer to the series, Crash Tag Team racing. The fans weren’t asking
for a third Kart racer as the first two were good although this one was about to change
things. The game only had 6 returning characters and then tried to add new characters
such as “Willie Wumpa Cheeks” and “Chick Gizzard Lips”. The Story is not very good and
it a little strange.
 Character 2: Your acting like a giant yellow headed man making a bandicoot a mutant is
normal.
 Narrator: Well for these games its what we all know and love. The maps and modes were
very average and the game received 5-7/10 ratings overall from critics. The next 2 games
were released in 2007 and 2008 and are arguably the worst Crash Bandicoots available on
the Play Station.
 Character 3: I thought you weren’t meant to say your own opinion.
 Narrator: Everybody thinks this. Crash of the Titans was released on PlayStation 2 and
was the second best selling game in its first week of release in Australia, coming in after
Halo 3. Both the games tried to go for the free roam look again although it didn’t work for
Twinsanity. Once again the Crash games don’t work this way and the games both ended
up with an open world looking hub and then levels which span off of them which are very
far from free roam levels. The most visible change, for the worst, was the aesthetics of the
levels and the characters. Crash has tribal tattoos and Crunch just looked very, very
weird. Also they have once again made crash very dumb for comedic purpose which just
isn’t funny for anyone over the age of 9. The gameplay is quite boring and the combat is
very tedious and repetitive. These games also got rid of the wumpa fruits and replaced
them with blue orbs which was not really needed or wanted. One thing most fans hated
was the Mind Over Mutant cut scenes. Each one had a different animation style which
was different but unfortunately not worth the risk.
 Character 3: Maybe so, but I am literally in the style of the puppet cut scene from this
game.
 Narrator: I said most fans but I quite enjoy the different animations although I think it
would make a better TV series than cut scenes in one of the biggest every gaming
franchises. It feels as if the developers have not taken these games seriously enough. One
think that is quite good is the way the mutants are controlled and look but that’s about it.

15. Script:Part7
 Narrator: Overall Crash has had its fair share of good and
bad games. Still the remakes of the first 3 games were
very good and well received by players everywhere. And so
was the remake of Crash Team Racing and Crash Nitro
Kart were also loved by all Crash fans. I wouldn’t say
these two new Crash remasters make up for the last 3
crash PlayStation games being bad and then an 8 year
gap between the first remake but it will keep us Crash
fans busy for a while. Next week on Rise or Demise we
will be talking about everyone's favorite purple dragon,
Cynder… and how she single handedly ruined Spyro. So
until next week this has been (Narrator Name) and well
see you next week.
 Crash from Mind Over Mutant: Why do we get blamed for
ruining the series.
 Cynder: Yeah what about Hunters mouth in Spyro 2 and
3.
 Hunter: (Insert Clip)

16. EditingIdeas
 If I were to cut some parts of the script due to it being
too long I would remove the parts about the three
crash racing games and leave the information about all
of the platforming games in there. I would also
probably keep the animations short as I would not like
to overplay them and make it look tacky. One thing I
would really like to do is keep the sound design very
good throughout the whole documentary so the viewers
don’t even notice it.

17. Questions
 1) What was your earliest memory with one of the
Crash Bandicoot games and how did you get
introduced to the series?
 2) What are your opinions of the first 3 games?
 3) How did you find the transition of the Crash games
onto PS2?
 4) How do you feel about the games Crash of the
Titans and Mind over Mutant, going for a more open
world approach and all of the character redesigns?
 5) Do you think the remasters, N Sane Trilogy and
Crash Team Racing alone are enough revive and make
up for the previous games?

18. Script2:Intro
 Narrator: On September the 9th 1996, the team from
Naughty Dog introduced the world to a character who
would be an instant hit with children and adults
around the world. The original Crash bandicoot game
kick started one of the most iconic and well known
gaming franchises in the world, reaching 725,000 sales
in Europe by February 1998. As the first game was so
well received, and Naughty Dog still has the rights to
crash bandicoot they decided to create two more games
releasing October 31st of 1997 and October 31st 1998.
this concluded the original crash trilogy, but
unfortunately for the bandicoot, the road didn’t stop
there. My name is Oliver Keppie and this is Part 1 of
Crash Bandicoot: Rise and Demise, where we will take
a look at the first 4 crash bandicoot games released on
the Play Station 1.

19. Script2:Part1
 Narrator: When the first Crash Bandicoot game was released in the mid 90s
it was created to compete with other 3D platforming games at the time such
as Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. The Bandicoot was created to be
the unofficial mascot of PlayStation and he definitely lived up the the
creators expectations. In this game the player had to make it through
hallways style obstacle courses avoiding weapons and enemies whilst
collecting the now famous wumpa fruit. The game was an instant hit and
until 1998 when Spyro came along he was the biggest mascot for the
PlayStation 1. The formula of the game was simple to understand so was
great for kids but also had challenging and a little more tricky elements to
it. One of the main reasons Crash was such a worldwide hit is because of its
bright and attractive color scheme and great graphics for the time. The
PlayStation 1 could only show a certain amount of polygons on screen at
once to run a game without lag. The way crash overcame this was by placing
very specific objects that were made of less polygons to hide parts of the
game that were a lot of polygons until they needed to be seen on screen. This
allowed for crash to be somewhat ahead of its time and have exceptional
graphics. Another key factor to the success of the Crash franchise was the
selection of characters. Crash had a large array of characters with
interesting and quite wacky looks and stories. Many of these such as Neo
Cortex, Aku Aku and Coco being some of the most well known characters of
the franchise. The soundtrack was one of the most memorable parts of this
game. Composed by Mark Isham the soundtrack to this game and the others
in the original 3 were amazing. fun but not silly and enjoyable to hear from
both young and old audiences. The game seemed perfect.

20. Script2:Part2
 Narrator: Until the second game came along. The second
game in the series was Cortex Strikes Back. This kept all
of the best features from the first game such as the
amazing graphics, great characters and most importantly
the captivating and revolutionary gameplay. Crash
Bandicoot 2 was arguably better than the original game
and still to this day a large majority of fans still think it it
better.
 Character 1: Personally I would say Cortex Strikes Back
is the best game in the series it introduced levels such as
Bear It and Totally Bear, some of the best levels to this
day in 3D platforming history.
 Narrator: That is correct and Crash 2 also introduced
some of the most iconic bosses such as N Gin and Tiny the
Tiger. By February 1998 Cortex Strikes Back had sold
800,000 in Japan and 340,000 in Europe alone.
 Character 1: I think it was safe to say Naughty Dog has
smashed it out of the park with yet another brilliant
game.
 Narrator: I couldn’t agree more.

21. Script2:Part3
 Narrator: Then in 1998 the world got what they had been asking
for, another Crash Bandicoot game. Although it would be hard to
step up to the hype of the game after the immense success of the
second game, Naught Dog release Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
Although not quite as good as the second game, Warped was
another great addition to the franchise and was a great place for
the iconic Crash Bandicoot trilogy to end. The introduction of
another iconic villain was introduced, Uka Uka was the evil twin
brother of Crash Bandicoots friend and companion Aku Aku, a set
of magic voodoo masks. Overall Crash Bandicoot: Warped was a
very good game and a hit with Crash fans and new player.
 As Naughty Dog did not renew the contract with Sony to continue
creating Crash Games. One last PlayStation 1 game was created.
In 1999 Crash Team Racing was released. On the surface it was
simply a Mario Kart clone, although if a player was to play the
game they would understand it has many unique features.
Although the drift mechanic had been seen before, there was
never a game which relied upon making the player drift so
heavily. It also had a mechanic where a racer would collect 10
wumpa fruits to gain a small speed boost and upgraded power ups
which could be used to attack other players. Fans were excited to
see there favorite Crash franchise characters and some new ones,
in a classic kart racer. This game also added a running meme in
the crash community to the game. The one and only Fake Crash.
After a bootleg Crash plush toy went on sale in japan the
developers caught wind of this and decided to add him into the
game. The plush had large teeth and an overall funny appearance.
 Fake Crash: Hey!

22. Script2:Ending
 Narrator: These were the first four games to the crash
bandicoot franchise on the PlayStation 1. Overall these
were Crash Bandicoots best years and it only goes
downhill from here. Make sure to watch part 2 of this 3
part series to find out about how Crash Bandicoot
evolved for the worst over the years. This has been
Oliver Keppie, and well see you next week on Rise and
Demise.