Video Game / Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure

4 Following

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, known as Crash Bandicoot XS in Europe and Crash Bandicoot Advance in Japan, is the first portable installment in the Crash Bandicoot series, developed by Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. It is a handheld GBA recreation of the PlayStation titles, with about the same level of visual fidelity and almost entirely a 2D platformer compared to the 2.5D/3D console series; It was generally critically acclaimed, and was the highest rated original Crash Bandicoot game on Metacritic that wasn't developed by Naughty Dog until Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

Following Uka Uka's disappointment for Cortex having failed him again, Cortex promises he has a new plan that will not fail. He builds a Shrink Ray that minimizes the Earth down to the size of his hand, and it's up to Crash to try and stop him by collecting Crystals to power up Coco's machine that can reverse the shrinking effects.

Vicarious Visions followed The Huge Adventure with two sequels with the same basic gameplay: 2003's Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced (a sequel with the same core gameplay but with many additional features such as gem shards, different plot with new enemies such as N. Trance, Atlasphere and Space levels, boss battles against new opponents, and several new music compositions), and 2004's Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (a Spyro the Dragon Crossover with more mini-games), plus a handheld version of Crash Nitro Kart in between.

Tropes used in this game:

• Advancing Boss of Doom: The true final 'fight' against Mega-Mix requires you to use the Crash Dash (here called Turbo Run) in order to escape its clutches.
• Advancing Wall of Doom: The snow levels have you outrunning a giant yeti; not only are you running towards the camera in this game like all the others, the camera is the farthest zoomed in it's ever been for these segments, making it quite difficult to react to things coming at you.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: The final boss has a metal helmet over half his face, which switches if you somehow get past him.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: As with every Crash Bandicoot game until recently, the game was given cuter designs in the Japanese release.
• Amphibian Assault: Frogs appear as enemies in the level Drip, Drip, Drip and Just Hangin's green gem path. They hop around and try to body-slam Crash.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Just like in past games, this game will supply you with a free Aku Aku mask after enough failures. Unlike the past games, this game requires you to die a lot more before it gives you one.
  • The game has a lot of Fake Difficulty due to the cramped GBA screen, which would make the Time Trials difficult as well because of all the things coming from off screen and the leaps of faith. And yet, the times for the Platinum Relics are pretty generous. If you play at your absolute best, You can win the Platinum by about 15-20 seconds.
• Attack Its Weak Point:
  • The blimp mini-bosses in the flying stages have a logo of Cortex's face on the side that Crash must shoot in order to damage them.
  • N. Gin's flying machine has four weak points, all of which must be destroyed in order to defeat him. These include the two missile launchers on the sides, the bomb dispenser on the top, and the cannon on the underside.
• Backtracking: One of the space levels requires you to skip a life crate situated above some nitro crates barricaded by two walls, hit the green exclamation box at the end of the level, and backtrack to get the life crate. However, you can avoid having to do this if you sacrifice an Aku Aku mask on the nitros.
• Bag of Spilling: Crash retains absolutely none of the powers he obtained in Warped for this game. This would make it the second time this happened after Wrath of Cortex.
• Bears Are Bad News: Inverted with Polar, who once again appears as a Power-Up Mount for Crash in the ice levels, but played straight with the bigger polar bears, who went from an Advancing Wall of Doom in the second game to a minor enemy in this one.
• Body Horror: The true ending involves the Planetary Minimizer malfunctioning and fusing the game's bosses together into a grotesque abomination called Mega-Mix, which proceeds to chase Crash through the space station.
• Bonus Stage: The bonus stages from Cortex Strikes Back and Warped return here, with the difficulty of them ramped up pretty significantly.
• Console Cameo: One of Crash's idle animations involves playing a GBA.
• Crate Expectations: As with previous Crash games, the levels are filled with boxes which the player should break in order to obtain Gems.
• Crosshair Aware: The boss fight with Cortex places the camera behind the doctor as he tries to shoot Crash with the Planetary Minimizer. His aim is indicated by a large crosshair, which Crash must take advantage of in order to avoid the shots.
• Cut and Paste Environments: All of the game's set pieces are taken from either Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back or Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, which you probably figured out by reading just up to this point. The game makes a heavier use of 2's environments, but Crash 3 elements still crop up here and there.
• Demoted to Extra: Despite having been previously playable in Warped and Wrath of Cortex, Crash's sister Coco gets downgraded to an NPC in this game.
• Down the Drain: The sewer setting from Cortex Strikes Back returns. The levels that takes place in it are "Just in Slime" (level 5), "Just Hangin'" (level 8), and "Drip, Drip, Drip". Notably, these levels feature pools of toxic waste, which the Crash 2 sewers lacked.
• Extended Gameplay: If you beat the final boss with all the gems, all the bosses in the game fuse together, and you're subjected to a race to the end of an extra level before the boss hits you too many times.
• Fake Difficulty: Due to the limited resolution of the Game Boy Advance screen, sometimes it's impossible to see the platforms Crash is supposed to land on after a jump, leading to leaps of faith.
• Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: The bosses are significantly easier than the levels that surround them, mostly sticking to very predictable and easy to dodge patterns.
• Hover Bike: Crash uses a hoverbike in the "Ace of Space" level and to escape from the exploding Planetary Minimizer station in the end.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: More like Incredible Shrinking Planet. This of course means that practically all of the gameplay stays in proportion with Crash.
• Jet Pack: Particularly unusually, this game not only brings back the jet pack from Crash 2, it uses it in a Crash 3 set piece (that is, the airplane levels).
• Jungle Japes: The jungle setting from Cortex Strikes Back appears here. The levels that take place here are "Jungle Jam" (level 1), "Temple of Boom" (level 3), "Ruined" (level 10), and "Down the Hole" (level 14). They combine elements from other settings, like Ruins for Ruins' Sake and Underground Level, especially "Down the Hole" which goes through an extended rocky hollow.
• The Many Deaths of You: Downplayed. Though some death animations from previous games return, the hardware limitations means that the angel transformation is the most recurring one, as it's used for almost every enemy and hazard.
• Merging Mistake: The True Final Boss is Mega-Mix, a monstrous amalgamation of the four antagonists that comes to life after Crash accidentally causes Cortex's shrink ray to zap them simultaneously.
• Over 100% Completion: The standard completion score is 100%, but the game hides an extra 1% unit behind beating the True Final Boss.
• Power-Up Mount: Polar makes a return in this game, helping Crash evade a Yeti during the snow levels' 3D sections.
• Put on a Bus: Dr. Nefarious Tropy is the only major character from Warped to be absent. The sequel uses this as part of its setup.
• Puzzle-Platformer: With less 3D space to work with, more attention is given to navigation puzzles with TNT and Nitro crates. Mostly seen in the bonus rounds, which have double the usual number of crates and often put in odd positions to make you think before you just start breaking them open as it may lead to you breaking the only path to reach some boxes.
• Recycled Soundtrack: As with the Cut and Paste Environments, all of this game's music is recycled from 2 and 3.
• Screen Crunch: The game use the smaller handheld screen to hide boxes and enemies or, and outright forces a Leap of Faith situation due to the game not making it clear where the next platform is after a jump (or even worse, having hazards that are also impossible to see along side this). The developers somewhat compensated for this by being noticeably more generous on using wumpa fruit to route the levels compared to other games in the series, but this hardly helps in the time trial mode which gets rid of wumpa fruit almost completely, essentially forcing the player to know the exact locations of every hazard they can land on during said leaps of faith.
• Shrink Ray: Cortex creates a weapon called the Planetary Minimizer that allows him to shrink the entire planet to fit in his hand.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The ice levels from Cortex Strikes Back are featured here.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Given that the game runs entirely on a Recycled Soundtrack, this is to be expected. However, the game predominantly subverts this trope, using songs from Cortex Strikes Back and Warped where they should be. ...With four exceptions.
  • Dingodile uses N. Gin's boss music from Warped.
  • N. Gin uses Tiny's boss music from Warped.
  • Tiny uses Dingodile's boss music from Warped.
  • The Bonus Stages use Rings of Power's music from Warped.
• Space Zone: The space station levels from Cortex Strikes Back make a return, but with enemies that came from Warped's future-themed levels.
• Sprint Shoes: The last obtainable power is the Turbo Run, which is acquired after beating the final boss. It lets the player sprint by holding the L button.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: During his boss fight, Cortex will periodically aim the Planetary Minimizer directly at Crash and follow him closely before locking on and firing a shot. Crash must use this to trick Cortex into firing at the three colored Gems powering the machine on the higher platforms.
• Time Trial: After completing a level for the first time, the player can revisit it to enter Time Trial mode. Finishing the stages under a set amount of time rewards Crash with Relics, which are necessary to unlock the true ending.
• True Final Boss: Mega-Mix, a Merging Mistake consisting of all 4 bosses in the game. Though it's more of a chase than a boss fight.
• Two Beings, One Body: In the real ending, Cortex's laser malfunctions and merges him with Tiny, Dingodile, and N. Gin. The resulting hybrid, understandably pissed, then chases Crash across the next level.
• Under the Sea: The underwater levels from Warped make an appearance here. Each Warp Room has at least one level where Crash swims around in his scuba gear. The levels in question are "Shipwrecked" (level 2), "Shark Attack" (level 9), "Sunken City" (level 13), and "Air Supply" (level 17).
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: Entering the gem path hidden in Ace of Space will suddenly place Crash in an Auto-Scrolling Level where he flies through space on a floating motorcycle and crashing through crates while avoiding Nitro crates. Upon reaching the end, he will be returned to the stage and move on like normal.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: Rocket Racket, Blimp Bonanza, and No-Fly Zone are auto-scrolling flying levels where Crash flies above the clouds with a jet pack, and uses a laser gun to shoot at crates attached to balloons, as well as Cortex's minions, who fly around in planes and try to shoot at him. Each stage has three blimp mini-bosses that break the stage up and act as checkpoints upon defeat.
• When All Else Fails, Go Right:
  • Subverted in the "Down The Hole" level. The stage is navigated forward to the right at first, but then Crash actually goes underground by placing the exit on the far left.
  • The scuba levels alternate between going left and right, but "Shipwrecked" places the entrance after a left-facing portion, and "Shark Attack" skews this entirely by having the exit be an upward-facing pipe.