But... we're a team.
For a game following in the same vein as the original trilogy, this one surprisingly tugs on the heartstrings a bit.
- It's brief, and the scene is mostly played for laughs, but Tawna hurriedly brushing off a joke from Coco about her Crash and Coco being dead is quickly followed by her sniffling as if fighting back a sob. Blink and you'll miss it but she legitimately starts to tear up before regaining her composure, which probably puts her 'loner' attitude toward them in a sadder light.
- Then we go to the end of "Out For Launch", just as Coco finds a N. Oxide's ship to use to get to the Rift Generator. She suddenly wraps them with her hookshot and ties them up, stating she isn't watching yet another pair of the siblings be killed before taking off. Coco looks and sounds legitimately hurt and betrayed by the action.
Coco: But... we're a team.- Eventually we find out later that Tawna's version of N. Tropy killed her version of the siblings right in front of her.
- After his boss fight, Cortex starts to get angry over his loss, but eventually breaks down and laments to Crash if this is all his life amounts to: fighting Crash and ending in failure. The music lightens the mood a bit, but you can't help but feel sorry for him.
- Cortex claims that Crash is his greatest failure. And Crash, upon realizing this... genuinely looks hurt.
- Even worse, Cortex didn't always feel this way. As the Flashback Tapes show, Cortex was actually developing a connection to Crash during his testing: he gave him his trademark pants (which are actually Cortex's old shorts), he accidentally admits to having a father-son connection, and he names Crash after himself ("Crashworth Cortex the First"). In Coco's Flashback Tapes, which takes place after the first game, Cortex tries to gaslight Coco about how Crash "abandoned" her, but it's clear that he still has a fondness for his favorite test subject. Many failures and years later, however, and Cortex is so fed up with the bandicoot that he's willing to wipe Crash from existence.
- The above gives a whole new context to Cortex's Heel–Face Revolving Door throughout the game. The first time Cortex is defeated and pulls a Heel–Face Turn, Crash is overjoyed and lovingly hugs his "father", happy to finally make amends. When he turns Heel again, however, what he says to Crash is essentially disowning him and wishing he was never created, leaving poor Crash genuinely shocked and hurt that his "father" would say such an awful thing to him, especially after they had only a short time ago joined forces to take down the N. Tropies.
- The normal ending shows Cortex finally content, ready to relax in solitude for the rest of his life... until the 106% ending sees Uka Uka having fully recovered and somehow managing to track down Cortex, and given what happened in the game's opening, the scientist is in for a world of hurt. The guy just can't get a break.
- Worse? Uka Uka has every right to be pissed off. While he may be a vile, tyrannical being, he was still left for dead by Cortex and N. Tropy (though only by the latter's volition) - and the fact that N. Tropy would later go on to betray Cortex and plot to destroy the multiverse makes it even more bitter, when even Uka Uka's presence seems beneficial by comparison. And now that he has Cortex in his crosshairs once again, it can be best assumed that mercy will not be shown.
- The tribute pre-credits artwork of Mel Winkler, the previous voice actor of Aku Aku who passed away on June 21, 2020. The fact that Toys For Bob willingly accepted fan requests to add this touching tribute into the game makes this touching and more tear-inducing.
- The way Oxide is treated in this game can make you feel quite bad for him, especially when compared to the boisterous conqueror he was in Crash Team Racing. First he is kidnapped and ordered around by the N. Tropies (who even flirt with each other around him, much to his discomfort) and the 100% ending reveals that he got addicted to caffeine, had to go into rehab and that he is in the middle of a messy divorce on top of it.
- It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for Dingodile, especially with him having turned down his villainous ways and just trying to earn a honest living. Especially after the bats blow up his diner and he gets caught in the interdimensional chaos, and he's simply trying to get back home.
- His sad tone when he sees his destroyed diner. "Aww, I made all these tablecloths myself..."
- Even Crash himself sometimes feels a bit depressing to watch. Due to his Flanderized incompetence and the Adaptational Seriousness of most of his allies, it's clear his relationships aren't as warm as in previous games, bordering on The Friend Nobody Likes. Coco and Aku Aku have repeatedly little patience for him, and even their nicer moments are somewhat condescending (and unlike previous games there are ZERO role reversals or Throw the Dog a Bone moments to really change that stance), the counterpart of his former girlfriend barely acknowledges him, preferring to bond with Coco, and for Cortex, the one guy who pays much notice to him, the focus is largely murderous hatred, even after Crash is willing to befriend him in their Enemy Mine. Even if the others don't hate Crash, it's clear they don't have much respect for him in this take, making him a third wheel in his own big return.
