Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Also known as: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex no Gyakushuu! (JP) Developer: Naughty Dog Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: December 18, 1997 Released in US: November 1, 1997 Released in EU: December 6, 1997 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

To do: Add miscellaneous executable text.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back serves as the direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot, and sets the standard for the rest of the series by introducing Crystals, new abilities for Crash, an improved save system, and Coco Bandicoot.

It's bigger, deeper, even wider!

Unused Objects

Unused 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.

Unused Easy/Hard Signpost

As shown in some E3 preview footage, the level "Ruination" once featured a stone signpost denoting the "easy" and "hard" paths through the level. Although this signpost is no longer present in the final release, its object code and model data still remain in the game files and are fully functional. It raises when Crash gets near it. Ignore the clear gem platform 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

Unused Gem Platforms

As shown in the image above, a clear gem platform is still left in the game and can be accessed through hacking. It is colored exactly like a clear gem and behaves exactly like the other colored ones.

There is also a "default" faulty gem platform. The colors are not mapped correctly, but it is mostly green with some pink and yellow areas. It also doesn't spin around.

Unused Missile Patterns

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

Unused Beehive Objects

The levels "Diggin' It" and "Bee-Having" contain obj_hive objects which go unused as they do nothing since the beehive's position is calculated through the obj_bee_hive object.

Unused Object scripts

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

Some of the in-game objects have different behaviors 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 space levels, flashing TNTs (a feature present in the first game), etc.

Old revision leftovers

Old Sewer or Later Gem Path leftover

The E3 demo did not have a yellow gem path, the platform was not there, and the gem path was instead a "hard" path of the level and was accessed by falling in the hole (the way up is unknown). 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 bonus platform.

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 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 a checkpoint and other crates.

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

Save Icon Placeholders

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

Unused 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.

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.


• The floating robotic enemies in Night Fight and Totally Fly are strangely named obj_dragonfly.


• The gorilla enemies in Road to Ruin and Ruination are named obj_gorilla_boulder despite actually throwing logs.


• The electrical enemies in Piston It Away and Spaced Out are named obj_fred.


• The Komodo Brothers are called obj_kimodo.


• 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.


• N. Gin is called N. Jin in the texture page names.

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, which would further prove that the level "Bear Down" was going to have an extra gem.

Regional Differences

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

Japan

• The title screen music is completely different.


• Crystals are localized to "Power Stones".


• (as seen on the right) When Aku Aku is collected, he will sometimes inform the player about various aspects of the game in a tutorial-like manner. This is similar to the first game, but features facial animations and audio rather than on-screen text. On a side-note, this is the model you see in Crash Team Racing whenever Aku Aku speaks to you.


• The "TNT" label on TNT boxes has been replaced with an image of a bomb.


• A death animation was slightly altered. When Crash is hurt by a crushing object in the American version, Crash is shown to have his body compressed into a head and shoes. In the Japanese version, this image is made completely flat. According to Andy Gavin's blog, this was done to avoid a striking resemblance to a serial killer's actions in Japan at the time.


• The cutscene that plays when you collect your 25th Crystal in the US and European versions now plays when you collect your 24th Crystal. A very short cutscene with Coco Bandicoot plays at your 25th Crystal instead.


• A hidden bonus video can be accessed by holding Left + Circle + L1 + R1 at the PlayStation logo when booting the game. You must reset your console after the video has finished playing.


• Crystals give you 1% instead of 2%. 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 give the same percentage, but discovering the hidden easter egg in the warp room gives the last point.


• Vibration support for the DualShock controller.

Europe

• The radius of Crash's bodyslam attack is greatly increased in the European version, fixing an issue where players can get stuck inside a stack of steel bodyslam crates.


• A bug exists in the waterboard level time challenges where a player can enter the bonus round and commit suicide to reset the timer. This bug is partially fixed in the European version (the timer disappears, but only graphically).


• The shield enemies move slower.


• Crash moves faster and jumps higher.


• During the Tiny Tiger boss fight, the pause menu correctly displays the boss name as "Tiny Tiger". This was incorrectly displayed as "Taz Tiger" in the American version.


• TNTs take exactly 3 seconds to explode, as opposed to slightly more than that.


• An analogue stick calibration option was added.