Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Prototype Info Prerelease Info

Unused Animations#

Crash#

The N. Gin boss fight contains an unused animation (CT19V) depicting Crash throwing Wumpa fruits. This animation was later introduced in the remake.

While the first frame of the CdKoV animation is used when Crash gets electrocuted, the rest of the frames of this animation which shows Crash returning to his idle pose (intended for use when you get electrocuted with an Aku Aku mask) are never seen in the game.

Enemies#

This animation (We6aV) depicts the welder lab assistant shaking its head. In early versions of the game, this lab assistant would only get stunned if you attacked it once, and this animation would play when it was no longer stunned. This animation went unused when it became possible to defeat the welder in one hit. The old behavior and this corresponding animation are used in the June 15th, 1997 prototype.

Unused Objects#

Bear Down Extra Gem Slot#

The level Bear Down contains one crystal and only one gem, but its entrance portal in the warp room holds a third crystal/gem slot with an internal name similar to those used for the secondary gems found in some other levels. The slot does not correspond to any gem or crystal, and if a gem is assigned by hacking, the lighting will also be incorrect.

Easy/Hard Signpost#

As shown in the E3 demo, the level Ruination once featured a stone signpost denoting the "easy" and "hard" paths throughout the level. Although this signpost is no longer present in the final release, its object code and model data still remain in the game's files and are fully functional. It raises when Crash gets near it. Ignore the clear gem platform outline and the checkpoint's position, they were added by the hacker.

Unseen Boxes in Totally Bear#

Not technically "unused", but in the level Totally Bear, there are two boxes which are never seen during normal gameplay. These two boxes, a TNT and a life crate, are destroyed due to a mistake in drawing the TNT crate, as some TNT crates automatically destroy other crates when too far away.

In-game	In a level viewer

Missile Patterns#

The N. Gin boss battle has data for 20 missile paths, as shown in the beta versions of the game, even though only 10 are used in the final. Some of these unused paths are also mispositioned and can't hit Crash directly but will still damage him.

Beehive Objects#

The Alpine levels contain obj_hive objects which go unused as they do nothing since the beehive's position is calculated through the obj_bee_hive object.

Debug Mode#

Like in the previous game, this game also contains similar hidden debug features that can be enabled by changing a GOOL global variable, such as the use of various buttons and button combos.

8006CC80 0100

8006CF18 0100

8006DA7C 0100

8006D98C 0100

Startup#

• Pressing R2 in the title screen will launch the next level demo.

Warp Room#

In the warp room, three button combinations can be inputted:

• Press Right, Down, Down, Left, Down, Circle, Square, Triangle: Give all colored gems, unlock the elevator, and open all secret entrances.
• Press Right, Down, Down, Left, X, Circle, Circle: Trigger the hologram cutscenes by pressing R2. They will play in chronological order of appearance, except for the three annoyed Cortex scenes (when you exit a level without any crystal early in the game) and the two Brio scenes, which always play last.
• Press Right, Down, Down, Left, Down, Circle, Triangle, Circle: Turn off active cheats and remove all gems.

A life sound effect will play upon entry.

Memory Card#

• When accessing the Load/Save screen, there will be an option to unformat the Memory Card. If the Memory Card is already unformatted, you will be prompted to format it instead.

Pause Menu#

• L1: Set lives to zero.
• R1: Get all crystals and gems ("all" meaning all 64 possible ones).
• R2: Max out box count (only the counter at the end of the levels is directly affected by this, breaking a box after using this code reverts the box count back to what it should be).

Player#

If Crash is standing still (not ducking), two button combinations can be inputted:

• L1 + L2: Set debug invincibility (invulnerable to most hazards, including bottomless pits). Using it during mask invincibility will make the effect last for the rest of the level.
• L2 + Up: Gain an Aku Aku mask - prone to crashing in certain levels where Aku Aku is not normally allowed.

Holding R1 before Crash respawns after dying will immediately revive him and act as if he had been hurt instead. You will still lose a life and can game over, though.

Levels#

N. Gin#

If you enter the N. Gin boss fight with debug mode enabled, the game will display the path point for N. Gin's mech, along with a text string for each of his actions at the top of the screen.

Interestingly, the third phase is referred to as the fourth phase here, suggesting that a phase was cut from the game.

Unused Text#

UNKNOWN

A level name string that is displayed whenever an empty/unnamed level slot is loaded.

%04d.%03d STAGE 1 DEBUG
%04d.%03d STAGE 2 DEBUG

Two debug strings related to the N. Gin's boss fight. These two stages never play when the strings are displayed.

Unused Object code#

To do: Find it all. There's lots of it.

Some of the in-game objects have different behavior not used in the final version of the game and that can only be accessed through hacking. These include a homing space bomb from the jet pack levels used in early versions of the game, crate code leftovers from the first game, etc.

Old Revision Leftovers#

Old Sewer or Later Gem Path Leftover#

The E3 demo did not have a yellow gem path, as the gem platform was not there, and the gem path was instead a "hard" path, accessed by falling in the hole (the way up used the generic x-shaped platform encountered through the game). The scenery of the hard path is also directly connected to the main path, which is not the case for any other section where the camera instantly changes, and is also why a piece of it can be seen near the area with the bonus platform.

The zone "g1_aZ" is a leftover zone (an interactive area of the game, with collision, objects and/or cameras) from that version. It contains a small fraction of collision belonging to the pipe where the clear gem is hidden, but is placed as if the path would split at that point, as it did in the E3 demo.

Old Cold Hard Crash Bonus Leftover#

Using a level editor, it is possible to see that the end of Cold Hard Crash's bonus was originally connected to the first hole after Crash falls down from the sloped ice-skating section, meaning that the platform would've gone up to that hole instead of near the bonus' start. This was probably removed due to being too unfair as the player would miss the death route and other crates on the main path.

Old Air Crash Leftover#

The way the death platforms are named and set up in Air Crash would indicate that the player would be able to return to the main path while in the death route. However, this is turned off in the game.

Old Road to Ruin Leftovers#

In the files for the level Road to Ruin, one can find some objects that are placed VERY far away from the actual level. These include a leaner, 2 falling platforms and 2 crumbly falling platforms. Putting them back into their (supposedly) original positions will make them clash with some of the existing scenery.

Unused Textures#

Item Slots#

There are leftovers of some gem/crystal graphic slots, but most importantly, filled slots that originally would be 2D textures, which would be later replaced by the actual 3D models. This idea was most likely scrapped as these filled slots could be difficult to distinguish due to their similarities to the unfilled ones.

Crystal slots.

Red gem slot.

Blue gem slot.

Clear gem slots.

Green gem slot.

Yellow gem slot, featuring a similar shape from the first game.

Save Icon Placeholders#

These four placeholder images are loaded in the graphics data for the save icons until the save/load menu is accessed.

TNT Textures#

Grouped with the Ripper Roo files are some TNT textures with the numbers 1 to 8 on them. TNTs are never shown with the number 7 or 8 during the battle, making them unused.

Dirt Particles#

In the Chase and Alpine levels (which share the same texture pages), there are three unused textures of brown dirt particles. Pre-release footage reveals that these were related to the diggable terracotta soil in the Alpine levels, appearing whenever Crash jumped in/out of the soil, or navigated underneath it.

Warp Room Portal#

Prerelease screenshots from the earliest publicized versions of the game show an early iteration of the first warp room including an unknown entrance which was subsequently cut from all other revisions. While most textures used for this were either re-used in the warp chamber inside levels or simply removed, one unused texture from it remains in the warp room data as a vestige of this scrapped setpiece.

Unused Models#

In the Ripper Roo boss fight, the files RT06G/RT06V, RT16G/RT16V, RT26G/RT26V, RT36G/RT36V, RT46G/RT46V, RT56G/RT56V and RT66G/RT66V are used as the graphics for the TNT tiles used by the boss ("TNT", then the numbers 1 through 6, respectively). However, there are two extra files RT96G/RT96V, though it is simply an untextured and un-colored version of the crate tiles.

Unused Scenery#

Although the game does not have unused areas, it does have some unused scenery polygons never seen in the game from older versions of those levels. Them being Turtle Woods, The Pits, Crash Crush, Un-Bearable, Hangin' Out, Diggin' It and Bee-Having.

Internal Object Names#

During the game's development, each game object was assigned a name to allow developers to identify the objects more easily. These names are still present in the game's files, some of which are noteworthy.

• Crash's spawn position in each level is marked by an object named obj_willy, a reference to the name Willy the Wombat which was used during development before the name Crash Bandicoot had been chosen.
• Checkpoint crates are internally called obj_box_continue. In the April 8th, 1996 prototype of the first game, these boxes would have the text "CONTINUE" appear when broken, later changed to "CHECK POINT". The "checkpoint" mechanic is internally called "continue point," a common alternate name for it.
• The warp room object that generates portals, load/save screen, etc. is internally known as obj_monty_hall, likely a in-joke referring to the late former host of the U.S. game show "Let's Make a Deal", where, in an analogue to what you have Crash do, contestants could choose from a set of doors, to choose what could be real or fake prizes, in some of its games.
• The spiked saucer enemies in the Night Jungle levels are named obj_dragonfly, as an earlier design for that enemy was indeed that of a large dragonfly.
• The gorilla enemies in the Ruins levels are named obj_gorilla_boulder despite actually throwing logs.
• The sparky tentaclebot unit enemies in the Dynamo levels are named obj_fred.
• Many of the lab assistant enemies in the game include "ass" (standing for assistant/lab assistant) as a lone word somewhere within their names. Excluding obj_ass_banger, most of these names are rather tame. However, this trend eventually escalated to much more profane names in the sequel.
• The Komodo Brothers are called obj_kimodo_joe and obj_kimodo_moe. They were originally slated to appear in the first game as "Kimono & Kimodo," although which brother had which name switched around during development. When they returned for Crash 2, their names were both changed to the "Kimodo Brothers" until the final name was set.
• Tiny is referred to as obj_taz_tiger, as well as being called "Taz Tiger" on the pause screen in the American version due to an oversight. Like the Komodo Brothers, he was originally designed for the first game, where he supposed to, in fact, use this name.
• N. Gin is called "N. Jin" in the texture page names.

Oddities#

Save Icons#

The game contains icons for each level intended for use in the load/save screen. However, some icons reveal differences from a prototype version of a game: information from prerelease footage and prototypes reveal that these screens are from an early version of the game dating around August. Because of this, some inconsistencies can be seen between the retail product and the build used when these screenshots were taken:

Save icon	Final

• The save icon for the final boss fight against Cortex uses a screenshot of the opening cutscene. Here, the reflection effect that makes it appear as if stars are floating by in space as Cortex looks outside is not present.

Save icon	Final

• The diggable soil in Diggin' It is a faded tan-grey color instead of the vibrant terracotta color that the final uses, and it does not have a border texture for when the floor is on the edge of a wall. This version of the soil can also be found in the September 13th, 1997 prototype.

• The save icon for the intro level depicts Crash doing his dance, whereas he can't do this anywhere in the game except in the warp room (and even then, he only does it after you collect something). Demos of the game compiled around this time reveal that Crash was meant to be able to dance in any level as an extra idle animation.

Extra Ending Gem#

The ending unlocked after collecting all gems and crystals features a tall tower of gems at the start. However, there are 38 clear gems and 5 colored gems in said tower, totaling 43 gems, alluding at the existence an extra gem.

Regional Differences#

Excluding language, there are some minor differences between the different regional releases of the game:

European#

• There are various physics differences as a result of retiming the game to run at 25 frames per second. These include:
  • Crash runs slightly faster & jumps a little bit higher.
  • TNTs take closer to 3 seconds to explode, as opposed to 3.6 (which can make some levels harder, but also the Polar levels easier).
  • It's now possible to go through the jet pack lab assistants by spinning them once while thrusting forward. The fire wall does nothing to impede Crash's progress.
  • The pusher lab assistant enemies move slower.
  • The attract mode demos have been rerecorded.
• An anti-piracy warning splash screen is now displayed before the game starts, similar to the European release of the previous game.
• There is an option at the title screen to select English, French, German, Spanish or Italian languages. The characters are fully dubbed, but the level names stay the same.
• The large menu title textures displayed on the Memory Card menus are now replaced with the actual text strings, as there wasn't enough space to allocate these textures for each language.
• No sounds are made when navigating or confirming an option in the pause menu.
• The radius of Crash's body slam attack is greatly increased in the European version, fixing an issue where players can get stuck inside a stack of locked crates.
• During the Tiny Tiger boss fight, the pause menu now correctly displays the boss name as "Tiny". This was incorrectly displayed as "Taz Tiger" in the American version, which is a leftover of his original name.
• The music in Bear Down takes a bit of time to load.
• No sound is played when Crash digs or leaves the diggable soil in the Alpine levels.
• For unknown reasons, Crash will not play his spawn animation at the beginning of Rock It, and may also randomly fall through the floor and die right at the beginning. This also happens in the gameplay demo of the American version, when you leave the game idle at the title screen.
  • A similar glitch occurs where if you skip the Komodo Bros. intro right away, you'll also lose a life.
• The memory card save icon is no longer animated.

Japanese#

International	Japan

• The "Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. presents" text at startup has a gradient applied to it.

• The opening theme was changed to the Crash Banji-kyuusu theme song, featured in most Japanese media and promo material associated with the series.

• The "TNT" label on TNT boxes has been replaced with an image of a bomb, and the "Nitro" label is written in Katakana.
• Crystals are referred to as "Power Stones".
• Crash can now perform his dance as an idle animation while in the warp room.
• Collection percentages were revised: Crystals give you 1% instead of 2% and colored gems give you 2% instead of 1%. Bosses give you 4% when beaten. Cortex gives you 6% instead of 3% when beaten. Secret warps still have the same percentage, but discovering the hidden easter egg in the warp room gives the last point.
• A death animation that occurs when Crash is crushed by a pillar, resulting in Crash being crushed into just his head and shoes, was flattened in the Japanese version. According to Andy Gavin's blog, this was due to a serial killer in Japan at the time leaving his victims in a similar manner to Crash's original crushed death animation.
• Like in the European version, the radius of Crash's body slam attack has been increased, fixing an issue where players can get stuck inside a stack of locked crates.
• Road to Ruin has 88 crates instead of 89, as the first Aku Aku crate is now merged into the pile of crates next to the first fire-breathing tiki statue.
• The cutscene that plays when you collect your 25th crystal in the international versions now plays when you collect your 24th crystal. A very short cutscene with Coco Bandicoot plays at your 25th crystal instead.
• The gem stats area has a lighter background in the pause menu, which can be seen in earlier builds.
  • As with the European version, no sounds are made when navigating or confirming an option either.
• Vibration support for the DualShock controller was added. Reportedly, this was also planned for the international versions but was removed at Sony's behest.

Aku Aku Hints#

When Aku Aku is collected, he will inform the player about various aspects of the game in a tutorial-like manner. This is similar to the first game, but he now has facial animations and voice rather than onscreen text. As a sidenote, the Aku Aku model you see in Crash Team Racing whenever he speaks to you is based on this one.

Bonus Video#

Watch on YouTubeA hidden bonus video exclusive to the Japanese version can be accessed by holding Left + Circle + L1 + R1 at the PlayStation logo when booting the game. However, the game freezes after the video ends, requiring the console to be reset.

References#