Mysteries

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Old Unofficial Guide
The following monochromatic screenshots come from an unofficial guide that was released a long time ago. It's unique in that it shows several screenshots and informations from a beta version. They are as follows: Load/Save Monitor - Presented here is a very old Load/Save screen. In fact, it doesn't even resemble the second one (see "old time twister"). It's extremely simple, with no levers or text. Notice also how Coco is on the right side, instead of being to the left. - If you look into the first screenshot, you'll notice what seems to be a removed animation for the lift. Although it could also be one of his yoyo animations. If Crash didn't just come up from the secret room at the bottom, then he shouldn't be displaying it. He's also not centered in the lift, but it's impossible to tell if the player came up from the secret room and moved Crash.

Load/Save Screen - The Load/Save screen used to be like Crash 2's, in that it showed the number of lives on each slot instead of the number of Relics.

Crash Mug Yet another sighting of the old Crash icon on the level HUD.

Neodyne Systems - The secret chamber where all the Lab Assistants are created used to be called "Neodyne Systems" instead of "Neo-Cor Systems".

Hang 'em High Times and Mugs - This screenshot shows that the player managed to get a Sapphire on Hang 'em High with just 1:28:63, which is lower than the Sapphire requirement. It also shows that the Gold requirement is about 20 seconds slower. - The character icons on the left are missing. This isn't the only screenshot in the Neo-Cor Systems where that happens, so it's possible that the icons weren't implemented in this chamber at this time

Beta Gin This screenshot of the N. Gin battle shows various differences in relation to the final version. Some of them are quite odd: - Pura is nowhere to be seen. By the time N. Gin's mech morphs into the second form, Pura's ship is already attached to Coco's. - N. Gin's mech seems to be lacking all kind of textures. If this is true, and considering N. Gin himself is a texture in the final game, then perhaps he was real 3D early in development. This is only a possibility, however, since they could have just added him as a texture there. It's impossible to tell from the screenshot. - Coco's has 0% of health left, which indicates that it was probably not possible to die in this version yet.

Superfluous Bug Lite Checkpoint - This is the Yellow Gem passage from Bug Lite, with an Iron Checkpoint that isn't usually there.

Sphynxinator Relic A Sapphire was awarded in Sphynxinator for the time of 1:45:90, which is much lower than the requirement in the game. Oddly, the guide states that you need 1:42:00 for it, which is the actual requirement you'd see. This might mean that the screenshots were taken from an older version than the one they used to write the text in the guide

Submitted by Keiji Dragon Double Trouble? There's a strong possibility that the guide has a typo there, but otherwise, Level 15 might have been called "Double Trouble" instead of "Double Header" at first.

Submitted by Ntropydude Different Box Counts -The guide references each level's box total. A lot of them, however, differ from the game. These numbers aren't typos, because some of these totals can be seen in screenshots. This means that the following levels had different box totals: - Hang 'em High: 81 instead of 96. - Deep Trouble: 88 instead of 83. - High Time: 89 instead of 85. - Road Crash: 29 instead of 25. - Sphynxinator: 104 instead of 105. - Future Frenzy: 134 instead of 133. - Gone Tomorrow: 88 instead of 87. - Flaming Passion: 76 instead of 75 (a Crate was removed from the Bonus section).

Demo Differences
The NTSC and Spyro demos show a bunch of things that were changed in development. Both demos are essentially the same, but the one found in Spyro the Dragon (via cheat code) is of a later build. Note: These screenshots were taken using an emulator, so some fonts and textures may look off-coloured.

General Differences
Submitted by Keiji Dragon and Crashpro Different Plane HUD - This screenshot, taken from the movie part of the demo, shows how the plane HUD used to show an icon of Crash's plane, instead of a drawing of his head wearing a pilot outfit. Since Coco wasn't originally intended to have her own plane, it's safe to assume an icon of her plane was never made. - The right side of the HUD shows a blimp icon instead of a red plane one, possibly because there wasn't one made at the time. Oddly though, it displays "0/0". Submitted by Keiji Dragon Old Time Twister As shown here, they still used the old Warp Sphere with a texture of what the old Time Twister looked like.

Submitted by Keiji Dragon Gems The pause screen shows that there used to be only 40 Gems in the game, instead of 42 (45 if you count the secret ones).

Submitted by Keiji Dragon (Left) and Zachcharge (Right). The Cheapest Relics Sapphire Relics underwent a few name and visual changes: - In the NTSC demo, they used to be called Silver Relics, with an appropriate white colour. They are still called that in the official Crash 3 site to this day. - In the (later) Spyro demo, they're called Bronze Relics. This change was probably made because Silver Relics looked too much like Platinum ones. However, they still look white in this demo, likely because they hadn't implemented a different colour at the time.

As we know, these Relics would be renamed into Sapphire, with a blue colour.

Checkpoints and Jewels - The Checkpoints are basically the same in the demo, but they don't reproduce the little tune that was implemented in Crash 3. - Getting a Crystal or a Gem doesn't display the small fireworks like in the game, nor does it play the heavenly tune (like in Crash 2, in other words).

Differences in "Tell No Tales"
Submitted by Keiji Dragon 60 Crates The HUD shows how this level only had 60 Crates instead of 61 at some point.

Submitted by Keiji Dragon I've Got Lives A line of 3 lives appears about halfway through the level. Note that this line actually does appear in the game itself, but it's in a different location (namely, behind a set of yellow buoys).

Submitted by Keiji Dragon Crystal - The Crystal is in a different place in the demo. It's suspended in mid-air, near the end.

Submitted by Werelion2367 Old Level List Some levels used to be swapped with each others by the time this demo was released. Additionally, some levels had different names altogether. Using GameShark, it's possible to see which ones were different:

General Differences
Old Warp Room This is, perhaps, the oldest screenshot ever released, showing what seems to be one of the very first builds. This is the old appearance of the first Warp Room. The buttons have a completely different style. Notice also how instead of a boss button, there's a number 6 button, and not in the centre either. The button where Crash stands on emits a light around him, something that doesn't happen in the final version. The most noticeable different is the presence of a light beam instead of the Warp Sphere (which doesn't have a picture). The background is also much too plain.

Submitted by Keiji/Dragon Dash Beta Footage This is a very old movie that shows some beta footage of Crash 3. It's worth noting is how "Under Pressure" lacked the background, as shown in these 2 screenshots below:

Green Mine The underwater mine is completely different, both in colour and design. It also appears to emit a small light beam from its top. The final mine is yellow and red, and has small bulbs.

Purple Blowfish The fish shown here is purple, instead of the usual red.

Different Crash Mug The Crash icon displayed on the left used to be a variation of the life icon, as opposed to the new mug that was made for the Crystal display.

Different Egg Placement This is level 4, "Bone Yard". The difference here is that there's a nest with a Baby T-Rex egg, which only appears in levels 11 and 32 in the final version of the game. See the next 2 screenshots for more:

Dino Chase Submitted by Crashnconker As demonstrated by the previous screenshot, Crash was supposed to ride the T-Rex in level 4. Though there isn't any media that shows Crash and the T-Rex running from the triceratops, this would most likely happen, since it'd be a waste to put the T-Rex up and running just for a few measely steps.

The Removed Bonus Stage Submitted by Crashnconker

Oblivious to many people, the medieval levels used to have an underground bonus theme filled with advanced machinery. This theme was probably taken off because it didn't make sense in the medieval era. The screenshots show Crash entering and exitting one of the removed bonus stages (which was going to be in Gee Wiz). - The entrance to the bonus stage is a lid that opens down, making Crash fall. These were commonly used in Crash 2 but were replaced Crash 3 with the hovering platforms. The bonus entrance is also wooden and doesn't appear in the final game (screenshots 1 and 2). - Then there's the bonus stage itself, which is fairly odd considering that the medieval era wasn't supposed to have technology (screenshots 3 and 4). - Finally, we see Crash exitting the bonus stage in a platform that has a different style from the entrance, something that is never seen. Though it resembles the future levels' platforms, it's actually different and isn't used in the final game.

Here's a better view of the same bonus stage.

Tap Tap - At one point, Crash would tap his left foot for a bit, after being sliced by a knight and before his legs ran away.

Dull Shadows Crash 3 used to have the same shadow style as Crash 2 (round and dull). These screenshots are from a very early version, so Crash and Coco are seen with their Crash 2 shadows, and some enemies don't even have them (like the wizards). The knights and Egyptian flamers have an extra shadow because of the swords and flames, to make them look more real. All shadows in the final game are much more realistic.

Pre-historic Lab Assistant A Lab assistant that didn't make it to the final game, he was supposed to be riding the triceratops that chases Crash. Naughty Dog explains: "We originally envisioned one of Cortex's minions riding the triceratops as it chased Crash through prehistoric times. Rob Titus even did the animation. Whenever the trike got stuck, it thrashed the poor little guy around. The rider was cool, but had to be removed for technical reasons."

The Old Time Twister The Time Twister machine used to be rather different. There are several occasions that prove this fact, such as this screenshot that shows a Warp Sphere about to warp Crash into the old Time Twister.

Old Cortex Mug This old magazine scan from the Official PlayStation Magazine shows a different life icon for Cortex (the old one, used in Crash 1 and 2). In the final version, it uses a new icon.

Toad Wiz- Submitted by Slickboy The level "Toad Village" used to be switched with "Gee Wiz". There's no real explanation why they changed the order, but my guess is that since the "Gee Wiz" level is the first to contain Locked Crates, it was switched it Toad Village. It seemed like they wanted the Super Belly Flop to seem like the only thing capable of opening the Locked Crates, since they only appear once you get this super power (note that this is just speculation). Another reason that could be it is how "Toad Village" is much easier than "Gee Wiz", and as such, made a better first level. A third -and probably the most reasonable- explanation is that maybe only the level names were switched.

6 Super Powers?- Submitted by Slickboy The magazine that provided this early screenshot also stated that Crash would get 6 Super Powers in the the retail version. It also stated that Crash would win "extra speed, double jumps, a super belly flop, and the use of a grenade launcher". If the grenade launcher isn't a simple misinterpretation of the Wumpa Bazooka, this could be the sixth Super Power that they were talking about, assuming they didn't get the number wrong. There's currently no way to prove if this is true or a simple misinterpretation.

Tar and Crocodiles The picture here isn't clear, but here's a description of it: this is the beginning of Tomb Time, showing tar between the end of the first staircase and the hole with the jumping crocodile. The tar was removed in the final version. However, the first area where tar can usually be found does not have it in this early version (kind of like a switch, in a way).

Crash in Bye Bye Blimps It makes one wonder if Coco was actually intended to have her own plane from the start Different Barrel Carts The barrel carts used to be shorter. This is because, as shown here, they would only have a row of 3 barrels. In the final version, there is a row of 2 with another one of 3 on top of it. This might have been changed so that Pura wouldn't look so weird in case he smashed against one of these carts (if they remained this short, most of Pura's body would be smacked into thin air).

Jewels in my Boss Fight This screenshot, from an unknown source, shows the Cortex boss fight with a Crystal and 2 Gems in the HUD. As any player of the series should know, boss fights never contain jewels. So it is odd that they should be displayed here.

Time Trial Box It looks like in the old days, Time Trial Mode would be activated by hitting this metal box with a clock on it, instead of touching the golden stopwatch. Tiny Icon The icon used for Tiny's health bar is the same as the one from Crash 2. A new one was made for this game, eventually.

A Wizard Did It These pictures show how the level Gee Wiz used to differ in a few ways: - The first image shows an Aku Aku Crate that isn't usually there (though it does appear in Time Trial mode). - The second image shows a single Locked Crate, in place of the usual 8. - The third image shows that Gee Wiz originally had 93 Crates.

Submitted by Crashomestar Time Subtractions Time Trials used to work in a different way. Breaking yellow Time Crates would subtract seconds from the timer, rather than freezing it for the same number of seconds. This is indicated both in an old video interview with Jason Rubin and in the official Crash 3 site. While this ends up having the same results for the most part, it actually makes quite a difference towards the end of the level, since you could subtract seconds from your total just before the exit, provided there were Time Crates near it. Since the timer just freezes in the final version, you can't use this to your advantage.

Submitted by shadowcb Level 31 Button Level 31 is a hidden level in the game, and you can't usually access it without performing a certain kooky action. Fumbling with a GameShark device reveals that it originally had its own button just like most other levels in the game. It was located in the 6th Warp Room.