Retro Replay Retro Gaming History, Reviews & Emulation
Crash washes up on the beach, gets his bearings, and finds his first crates waiting a few steps away. That’s the opening most players know. But the original Crash Bandicoot could have greeted you with something much closer to a Saturday-morning cartoon.
Universal had hand-drawn animation made during development, with an introduction and ending intended for the game. The footage exists. It just never made it onto the adventure players bought.
Crash gets the cartoon treatment
Producer David Siller brought the unused material to public attention in July 2015. His upload presented a very different-looking Crash. Even a still gives the flavor: a huge toothy grin, enormous eyes and Tawna beside him with her blonde hair flowing across the picture. It looks ready to follow the ads for breakfast cereal.
According to Siller’s explanation, reproduced by PlayStation LifeStyle, Universal Animation produced the test footage early in development. It also gave Universal something to work from while considering a possible animated series if Crash took off. That doesn’t mean a whole television show was secretly completed. The material was exploring where this new character might go, including into the game itself.
You can see why he’d suit the format. Crash already approaches a dangerous situation with the expression of someone who hasn’t read the warning label. Give an animator that face and there’s plenty to work with.
Sony wanted the PlayStation to look like the future
The game was heading in another direction. Siller said that once Universal licensed it to Sony for publication, Sony didn’t want the footage used because it was heavily pushing 3D.
Put yourself back in front of that first PlayStation. The camera follows Crash into the jungle, a boulder comes charging towards the screen, and suddenly you’re trying to judge a jump in depth. Showing off those spaces was a big part of the appeal. A hand-drawn opening would have introduced the same character through a completely different sort of spectacle.
Siller also said the animation wasn’t tucked away inside the game as an Easter egg. So if you’ve spent years wondering whether some spectacularly obscure button combination unlocks it, you can give your controller a rest.
The cartoon survives separately, and it’s worth watching beside the finished game. Then start a new save: there’s Crash on the sand again, with no animated fanfare to delay that first encounter with a crate.
Sources
- David Siller: unused Crash Bandicoot animation upload, the producer’s release of the material.
- PlayStation LifeStyle: “Unused Crash Bandicoot Animation Released by Game Producer, Was Shelved by Sony” (19 July 2015), reproducing Siller’s explanation of the footage, Sony’s 3D emphasis and the possible series.
- Crash Mania: Unused 2D Animation, documenting the intended introduction and ending, with the footage embedded.
- Retro Replay: Crash Bandicoot, for the original packaging and gameplay image.
More #RetroReplayFYI
Crash has an even stranger namesake in the story of the real fossil named Crash bandicoot. For another screen-to-game connection, try Indiana Jones helping inspire Zelda.
