Trivia / Croc

• Dummied Out: As betas have shown, there were meant to be a total of 7 worlds, one of which, the Water World was entirely cut. In said Water World you would discover Atlantis and travel inside a giant whale. Remnants of this can be seen through hacking. There was also a snowboarding level, and Croc's snowboarding animation was left in game. Two of the worlds, Forest and Cave were combined into one, and several desert levels were removed.
• Follow the Leader: Still another object-collecting 3D platformer imitating Super Mario 64, though there's room to claim that Croc was in development from a period before it could copy Mario, and rumors and evidence that Argonaut Games accidentally inspired Nintendo to create Super Mario 64 to begin with. It's complicated, see What Could Have Been below.
  • While the first game is classic example of a 90s 3D platformer in the wake of Super Mario 64, it takes particular inspiration from Crash Bandicoot (1996). Both use a map system with multiple islands, levels that only ask you to get to the end and use a device to exit, Coloured Gems being important for 100% Completion, and ? Boxes that contain a collectible that gives you an extra life if you find 100 of them.
  • Croc 2 has more of its own identity, however the hub level structure and being able to talk to other characters in Simlish is very evocative of Banjo-Kazooie. The Jigsaw pieces however are not this: despite being large, yellow and important to 100% Completion, they function exactly the same as in the first game, which released a year before Banjo did.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: Croc 3: Stone of the Gobbos was rumoured to be in development in the mid-2000s as the final game in the Croc trilogy. Argonaut was closed before release, which led to the IP being sold to ZeniMax Media Inc circa 2004 or 2005. They continued the game until it was cancelled. It was reported to the reputable vaporware website, Unseen64, but the entire story was actually false. Argonaut still owns the Croc IP and ZeniMax never produced a Croc 3.
• Spiritual Successor: The Disney game The Emperor's New Groove has very similar gameplay (indeed, it uses the same engine as Croc 2 although the level design is like the first game), similar music, and the main setting follows directly on from Croc 2's last world, an Inca world set in the mountains.
• Stillborn Franchise: The first game was well-liked but still received a Meh... reception, which continues to this day. The second one had some improvements over the first one, but was less well-received due to often frustratingly long levels and the game being released incomplete. It didn't help that the series was overshadowed by other popular platformers of the time.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In its earliest design stages, Argonaut originally proposed Croc as a 3D Yoshi platformer to Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Nintendo ultimately declined the offer after not being entirely impressed by an early prototype build. Argonaut, to put it lightly, were not happy with the rejection (possibly because the company did previously have a good history with Nintendo by co-developing games with them, like the original Star Fox). As a "screw you" to Nintendo, the final build of Croc ended up being exclusive to Nintendo's biggest competitor of the time, the PlayStation (and a lesser known port to the Sega Saturn, rubbing salt in the wound). It's interesting to note, that the anatomy of Croc, the sounds and actions he makes, still bear a remarkable resemblance to Yoshi, despite the forced-rebuild. It's clear that Argonaut from this were very bitter Shigeru Miyamoto turned his back on them once too often.
  • If this piece of concept art is anything to go by, the game was originally going in a more mature direction, with Croc being a Rambo expy.
  • There is concept art for unused bosses that never came into the final such as a Giant Sea Slug (that possibly got replaced by Neptune the Tuna), A giant Dragon named Dino, A Giant Butterfly and a Minotaur-like Bull and Many many Others.
  • Originally there were snowboarding levels and a level that took place inside of a whale but those were cut.
  • The game's intro was presented as a story book showing off the character's moves and ability such as swimming, stomping, and attacking but it was made into the standard in-game cutscene intro.
  • Fox considered creating an animated TV series based on the games, a plan which never came to fruition (likely due to Fox Kids being on the decline).

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