Crash Bandicoot

=Crash Bandicoot / クラッシュ バンディクー=
 * Species: Eastern Barred Bandicoot (Perameles Gunni)
 * Gender: Male
 * Alignment: Good

Crash Bandicoot is a marsupial, a defender of good, and a bit of a nut. Originally a simple Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Crash was captured by Dr. Neo Cortex and turned into the subject of his mad experiments, along with several other marsupials. With the help of a machine called the Evolvo-Ray, the maniacal Cortex genetically modified Crash into a smart and anthropomorphic creature. In other words, Crash now looks and acts like people. Somewhat.

Cortex noticed Crash's potential and decided to make him the general in his army of super animals. Things didn't go as he planned, however, since his mind-control device, the Cortex Vortex, failed to brainwash Crash. The bandicoot was promptly banished by Cortex, unaware he had just created an arch-nemesis for life. Thus, Crash has since been foiling Cortex's plans for world domination.

Crash is very adventurous and he likes to explore his surroundings as he deals with the local wildlife (usually by greeting them with a swift spin attack). He has a tendency for breaking things, especially crates. When not out on an adventure, Crash is laid-back and enjoys basking in the warm sun, eating Wumpa fruit and sleeping loudly. He is almost always in a good mood and is generally silly, but he's not much of a talker. Despite his somewhat reckless behaviour, Crash doesn't go looking for trouble - it usually ends up finding him instead. In fact, he would probably get along just fine with his enemies if they didn't try to destroy him all the time. Crash's one big love interest to date was Tawna, a female bandicoot who received the same mutation treatment as him. Rescuing Tawna was Crash's main incentive for his very first adventure. Despite succeding at rescuing Tawna from the clutches of Dr. Cortex, she did not stay with Crash*.

The orange bandicoot lives with his biological sister Coco, another mutated bandicoot who is highly intelligent and much more sophisticated than him. Despite this contrast, the two of them are close and stick out for each other. Also living with Crash is his trustworthy sidekick - the spirit of an ancient benevolent witch doctor known as Aku Aku, whose physical representation is a flying wooden mask. Aku Aku doubles as a fatherly figure to both Crash and his sister.

He may not look very intimidating, but Crash is cunning and agile, and he always finds a way to save the day. Spinning is Crash's favourite attack. He can turn into a furious orange tornado that devastates everything in his path. Other signature moves include a slide-tackle and his fearsome belly flop. Additionally, Crash can borrow Aku Aku's mystical powers for protecting himself or even controlling stunned enemies - an ability called Jacking. Crash's main weaknesses are his gullibility and inability to swim (at least without scuba equipment), but he has the advantage of being strangely immune to mind control.

Crash's change from an ordinary marsupial to a questionable hero has put him in more places than he could ever have dreamed of. His eternal fight against evil has led him to travel almost everywhere in the World, as well as journeying through time, galaxies and even dimensions. It's all in a day's work for Crash Bandicoot!


 * The story about Crash and Tawna's relationship was elaborated upon in Japan. The manuals there, as well as some of the in-game text and mangas, explain that Tawna left Crash for Pinstripe Potoroo. This change was created specifically for Japan and is not considered canonical elsewhere.

Trivia:
 * Crash originally started out as a wombat in early designs, with the appropriate name of Willy Wombat. The most noticeable peculiarity in this design was his long tail. Crash was created by Naughty Dog and designed by Charles Zembillas.
 * His name comes from his tendency to break crates and other stuff in general.
 * Though his fanbase is very large all around the globe, Crash is one of, if not the most popular Western platformer protagonist in Japan.
 * He was featured on the MTV Multiplayer blog as part of the article "Video Game Animals — Nominations For The Best Of The Rest", which was dedicated to the animal species that hadn't been featured in their previous articles.
 * In 2007, Crash became the mascot for the School and Youth Programs, a part of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.