History VideoGame / CrashBandicoot1996

This game, along with ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Cortex Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'', were [[VideoGameRemake remade]] on the Platform/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XBoxOne and PC with updated graphics and new features, as part of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy''.

** Cortex sounds completely different; in this game, he is voiced by Naughty Dog series mainstay Brendan O'Brien, whose take on him is completely different from what Creator/ClancyBrown in [[Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack the next game]] and later on Creator/LexLang would do with it.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Dr.Nitruous Brio is this as he possesses a whopping NINE hits! (10 in N.Sane Trilogy)

** The map system also makes the levels follow an untold but coherent story (Crash's journey from N. Sanity beach, where he escapes aborigenes on the first island, fights mutants who saccage the second island, and attacks the power plant to destroy Cortex Castle on the third island), while the two following games' levels are only excuses for various settings and wacky gameplay changes. The story-focused succession of levels will not come back before ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' 8 years later, and ''It's About Time'' 24 years later.

So, begins ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' for the [[Platform/PlayStation Sony PlayStation]], which is the very first game in the series. The goal is simple: Destroy crates and defeat enemies as you reach your goal. If you break enough crates, you'll earn a Gem in each level. Getting a certain amount of clear gems will earn you the HundredPercentCompletion ending. This game also has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as there's no sliding, belly-flopping or [[TeenGenius Coco.]] Just traditional [[SpinAttack spinning]], {{Goomba Stomp}}ing and Crash's girlfriend, [[DamselInDistress Tawna.]] Aside from the main levels, there are also {{Bonus Stage}}s and boss fights, some of which can be real challenging unless you got pure gamer skills.

* BraggingRightsReward: There's a secret path with a tons of extra lives. However said path is A) in Castle Machinery, which is rather late into the game, and B) needs to be unlocked by getting the Green Gem, which is obtained via NoDeathRun in [[NintendoHard The Lost City]]. If you got it, you probably don't need that many lives anyway, especially since gems require a NoDeathRun.

* EasyLevelTrick: The otherwise NintendoHard bridge levels that are "Road to Nowhere" and "The High Road" can be cheesed if the player gets Crash to jump onto the bridge ropes and walk across them, bypassing all the invincible wild boars and the plethora of pitfalls.

* MeaninglessLives: Lives are not quite as meaningless in this game as they are in future installments. Loading the game or using a password resets your lives to 5, and [[NintendoHard you're going to need as many as you can get]]. However, collecting the green gem opens a shortcut in the level "Castle Machinery", which will take you to the exit in 10 seconds and give you '''25 extra lives'''.

* NintendoHard: ''Crash 2'' and ''3'' aren't by any means easy, but this game takes the cake. The fact that you can only save in bonus rounds makes it even worse. Gaining gems is also very different:
** There are brutal sidepaths that hold little value besides some crates you need to break to get the gem for the level. Later games would have no crates on these paths (most of the time) and give the player a second gem instead.
** You have to finish the whole level from start to finish in one life, including levels like "Sunset Vista" which may be longer and is certainly more difficult than any single level in the second and third games.
** In the second game, you will be told how many crates you missed just before the finish, and the third game keeps count for you during the level. In here, there's no sign of whether you have all of the crates at the end of the level, just a message afterwards saying "Great! But you missed X [of the most cheaply hidden] crates [of all time]".
* NoDeathRun: Half of the requirement for getting a Gem in each stage. Even if you die before hitting a single Checkpoint, you're out of luck because, upon completing the level, the game will immediately go back to the map, completely skipping over the sequence that would normally award you the gem.

* TheDragon: Dr. Nitrus Brio is this to Dr. Neo Cortex, serving as the penultimate boss of the game.

%%* FourEyesZeroSoul: The lab assistants.

* MadScientistLaboratory: "The Lab", which is filled with electronic equipment and yellow slime enemies.

This game, along with ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Cortex Strikes Back]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'', were [[VideoGameRemake remade]] on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 4}}, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XBoxOne and PC with updated graphics and new features, as part of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy''.

So, begins ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation Sony PlayStation]], which is the very first game in the series. The goal is simple: Destroy crates and defeat enemies as you reach your goal. If you break enough crates, you'll earn a Gem in each level. Getting a certain amount of clear gems will earn you the HundredPercentCompletion ending. This game also has some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as there's no sliding, belly-flopping or [[TeenGenius Coco.]] Just traditional [[SpinAttack spinning]], {{Goomba Stomp}}ing and Crash's girlfriend, [[DamselInDistress Tawna.]] Aside from the main levels, there are also {{Bonus Stage}}s and boss fights, some of which can be real challenging unless you got pure gamer skills.

%% *GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Because of persistent misuse, this example was removed. Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the trope's current definition.

** Because the game was released before analog sticks were common in gaming, this was the only home console Crash game not to make any use of the analog stick found on the later PlayStation controller models such as the Dual Analog Controller and the DualShock.

* EpicFail: When you beat a stage, you're beat over the head with the crates you missed. In the ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane Trilogy]]'' UpdatedRerelease, Crash physically reacts to the crates, covering his head - after ten crates, he takes a knee; after twenty crates, he flops on the ground, covering his head. After 30 crates, he gives up and just lets them pummel him. [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender The same happens]] to [[PromotedToPlayable his sister Coco.]]

* AbsurdlyShortLevel: The penultimate level, The Great Hall, only consists of a short hall with a BottomlessPit you have to jump over, after which the finish is a few steps more. There's an alternate path if you've collected all of the gems in the other levels, which leads to [[MultipleEndings a different ending]] with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, but even that path only extends the level by about 30 or so seconds.

** TNT crates (which have a countdown) are the only explosive crates, with Nitro (which explode on touch) only appearing from the second game onwards. They also flash randomly and also on each second they're counting down. A programming oddity about TNT crates here is that they don't explode nearby crates if the camera is away from them. [[HitboxDissonance This affects breaking all crates in levels where the camera is close to Crash's perspective, like Toxic Waste, or when a player is too far from TNT crates when they progress through a level.]]

** TNT crates (which have a countdown) are the only explosive crates, with Nitro (which explode on touch) only appearing from the second game onwards. They also flash randomly and also on each second they're counting down.

* PowerupMount: The boar levels.

* GiantSpider: Appears as enemies in the dark temple and castle levels.