Bear It Demo

This is a sub-page of Proto:Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.

The first and only public demo of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back released to the European and Australian audiences, available on some demo compilation discs. It features Bear It as a playable level. The modification date of the files suggests that this demo is dated around August 12th, 1997.

General Differences#

Gameplay#

• The warp spawn animation doesn't make any sound effects.
• Crash only has the sigh idle animation. The shivering and breathing on his hands to warm them in snowy and rainy levels is missing.
• Crash's moves are slightly more limited: during the landing animation after a high or long jump, Crash has no movement control until the animation finishes.
• Crash can cancel out a spin by either crouching or sliding.

• The snow footstep sound effect is different.
• The Nitro detonator does not play the explosion sound effect when triggered.
  • The total number of broken crates is not updated in the box tally either.
• The box counter does not disappear after you collect the gem and lose a life, meaning that if you break all the crates again, the gem will respawn.
• Whenever Crash jumps into the exit portal, he doesn't display his usual exit animation where he's sucked up. Instead, the screen simply turns white.
  • The exit portal does not emit a sound effect either.
• The ice stops reflecting the player if they die once.

Level Differences#

Bear It#

• There are four additional checkpoints throughout the level, which were presumably added to make the demo less frustrating. These crates can also turn into checkpoints in the final game as part of the dynamic difficulty adjustment system.
• The bear is silent.
• There is no invisible barrier to prevent Crash from jumping past the bear before riding him. Going too far will make the bear despawn, and Crash will be stuck in his hurling animation until he is thrown forward and dies.
• There is no galloping sound. It plays the snow footstep sound instead.
• The sound effect for landing out of a jump is slightly different.
• Jumping over ? crates will make the bear bounce on them.
• You don't twirl on a checkpoint after respawning.
• Crash shouts "Whoa!" after smacking into a totem statue.
• The bear's walking sound effects will play when he approaches Crash after they trip over a fallen totem.
• There is a glitch where the player can fall through the ground while going uphill, right after the third checkpoint.
• If you die and respawn at the last checkpoint, the game will always remove a box from the counter, making it impossible to collect the gem as there will always be a box missing.
• There is no sound effect when the bear launches Crash across the giant chasm.

Soundtrack Differences#

At this point in time, the game's soundtrack appears to be identical to the E3 demo:

Unused Content#

Level Names#

By using a memory viewer, it's possible to see all the strings of text used in the pause menu:

• Bee-Having is called "Bee Haven".
• Totally Bear and Totally Fly were absent at this point.

Unused Animations#

• The animated Aku Aku model used in the hints feature of the Japanese localization is present in the level file, even though the model can only be found in the final Japanese release.
• Crash's dance animation is also present. In earlier versions, Crash would perform the dance as an idle animation anywhere as seen in some Japanese commercials, but in the final Japanese release it is restricted to the warp room.

Leftover Code#

To do: Finish documenting this.

While the demo only contains Bear It, much of the code found in the level is practically universal and can be applied to most other levels in later versions. Implementing the code into other levels results in new behavior not seen even in later prototypes:

General Differences#

• Debug mode lacks some features:
  • Pressing L1 does not set lives to zero.
  • Pressing R1 will only give you all the gems instead.

• Exiting to the main menu from the warp room will result in a glitch where no voice clips or 3D models besides the backdrop will be present during the title screen.

Aug 12	Final

• The text that flashes occasionally in like the "CONTINUE?" text in game over screen and the "ONE YEAR LATER" text in the intro is grey with a gradient.
• The arrow in the game over screen is also grey instead of matching the color of the selected option.

Aug 12	Final

• The blue and yellow gem pickups in levels use the default gem shape. As seen below, they actually use their final shape in the pause menu.
• After a boss is defeated, Crash will just leap up in joy, then the level will immediately end.
  • Crash takes a while to start celebrating.

Pause Menu#

Although not normally accessible, as pressing Start does nothing, the pause menu can be restored by hacking.

Aug 12	Final

• The crystal is slightly to the left.
• You cannot exit the level while Crash is in the middle of a jump or not touching the ground, just like in the first game.
• Un-selected options are grey with a gradient. The highlighted option, level name, and completion percentage do not flash white.
• The gem stats area has a lighter background.
• The clear gem is smaller and the colored gems are slightly placed to the right.
• The blue and yellow gems use their final shape despite using the default shape when they are pickups. In later prototypes, they were erroneously changed to use the default gem shape before being fixed again in time for the final.
• Only the audio option exists. As a result, there is no sub-menu with screen centering or analog calibration settings.
• The Music and FX sliders move between percentage values much more slowly when adjusted.
• The crystal and gem count automatically increases whenever any of them are grabbed.
• Pressing Start to unpause the game while hovering over the audio output option will toggle it.
• No sounds are made when navigating or confirming an option.

Warp Room#

Aug 12	Final

• Items found inside levels will already appear inside the warp room slots instead of Crash taking them out of his pocket.
• The crystal in the warp room item slots is red and does not glow, a remnant of the early crystal pickups seen in the July prototype. It is also much larger than the final's crystal.
• Gems of any kind will not appear in the warp room item slots.