Crash Team Racing
| Crash Team Racing | |
|---|---|
| Crash Team Racing (US cover art). | |
| Developer(s) | Naughty Dog |
| Publisher(s) | SCEA |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release | November 30, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Crash Team Racing (CTR) is a racing game for the PlayStation, made by Naughty Dog, featuring Crash Bandicoot. It was released in 1999. It is very similar to Mario Kart, although CTR takes much longer to beat. This was the last Crash game that Naughty Dog made. After this game, they left Universal (now Vivendi Universal) and became an in-house developer for SCEA.
There is a sequel to CTR for PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox called Crash Nitro Kart.
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to that of Mario Kart; the following are gameplay elements original to CTR. Collecting 10 wumpa fruit improves any item used. The game has a special "power slide" move that gives the player a speed boost while turning.
In the races, boxes contain weapons or other powerups that give the player an advantage. Green and black arrows on the ground (Turbo boosters) will give the player a short speed increase. Most of the courses contain obstacles that cause a loss of speed, and must be avoided.
As in Mario Kart, CTR has a battle mode, in which players attack each other in one of several special battle arenas, some of which are unlockable.
Collectible items include trophies, crystals, gems, and relics. A number of secret characters can be activated throughout the course of the game.
Characters
Default characters:
- Speed = Good
- Acceleration = Good
- Turn = Good
- the star of the Crash series. A good all-round character.
- Speed = Good
- Acceleration = Good
- Turn = Good
- the villain of the Crash series. Another good all-round character.
- Speed = Great
- Acceleration = Weak
- Turn = Poor
- A huge tiger. His weight gives him high speed but bad turning.
- Speed = Good
- Acceleration = Great
- Turn = Good
- Crash's brainy sister. Special computer chips give her kart exellent acceleration.
- Speed = Good
- Acceleration = Great
- Turn = Good
- Cortex's missile-headed assistant. His brilliant engineering has made his kart accelerate better.
- Speed = Great
- Acceleration = Weak
- Turn = Poor
- A flamethrower weilding dingo/crocodile hybrid. His weight gives him high speed but bad turning (like Tiny).
- Speed = Weak
- Acceleration = Good
- Turn = Great
- A small cutesy polar bear cub. His small weight enables his kart to turn well but go very slow.
- Speed = Weak
- Acceleration = Good
- Turn = Great
- A small cutesy tiger cub. His small weight enables his kart to turn well but go very slow (like Polar).
Unlockable characters:
Ripper Roo - The first boss in adventure mode. A deranged blue kangaroo. Has unlimmited TNT crates.
- Unlock by: gaining the the red gem cup in Adventure mode.
Papu Papu - The second boss in adventure mode. An incredibly obese tribesman. Has unlimmited beakers.
- Unlock by: gaining the green gem cup in Adventure mode.
Komodo Joe - The third boss in adventure mode. The thinner and smarter leader of the Komodo Bros.
- Unlock by: gaining the blue gem cup in Adventure mode.
Pinstripe Potoroo - The fourth boss in adventure mode. A gangster potoroo with a tommy gun. Has unlimmited bowling bombs.
- Unlock by: gaining the green gem cup in Adventure mode.
Fake Crash - A "fake" version of crash.
- Unlock by: gaining the purple gem cup in Adventure mode
N. Trophy - A strange Crash villian.
- Unlock by: beating N. Tropy's ghost on every track in Time Trial mode.
Penta Penguin - A tiny cutesy penguin.
- Unlock by: entering a secret code. There is no other way to gain this character.
Unplayable characters:
Nitros Oxide - The main villain of the story and the final boss. An alien who loves to race (new villain). Has every weapon, unlimited. This character is NOT unlockable, even if you beat his ghost on every track in Time Trial mode you do not gain him as a racer.
Tracks
- Crash Cove: A short, easy course with water elements and a ship.
- Tiger Temple: A roughly elliptical track with fire hazards, jumps, and a secret passage.
- Blizzard Bluff: A snow level with frozen ponds and boulders that threaten to crush drivers.
- Coco Park: A colorful course with a paved road throughout.
- Roo's Tubes: A race through underwater tubes with fairly tough turns and many turbo boosters.
- Sewer Speedway: A race through a sewer environment, based on the sewer levels in Crash Bandicoot 2. It contains jump gaps in the roadway and barrels that crush drivers.
- Dragon Mines: A windy underground course with mining carts circulating that can crush drivers and a sharp spiral ascending turn.
- Dingo Canyon: A roadway enclosed by high rock walls with obstacles such as rolling armadillos, water, and a jump.
- Mystery Caves: An underground course which features moving jumps over ponds and turbo jumps through flaming rock obstacles that can cause the driver to spin out.
- Papu's Pyramid: An elevated track that starts out with a climb up a pyramid with four sharp 90 degree turns and carnivorous flowers which were seen in previous Crash games.
- Cortex Castle: A relatively long course that is very similar to Bowser Castle from Mario Kart. Hazards include spiders that drop from the ceiling, a large turbo jump, and numerous ways to fall off the track.
- Tiny Arena: A dirt course with many large and small dirt jumps and many sharp turns. The main hazards in this course are mud pits.
- Polar Pass: A very long snow track with numerous difficult turbo jumps, frozen ponds, and seals which cause drivers to spin out.
- N. Gin Labs: A laboratory-themed course with many turbo jumps, large barrels that can crush drivers, a turbo tunnel, and multiple bottomless pits.
- Hot Air Skyway: A track that is suspended in the air, with a high risk of falling off on both sides. The only obstacle is a large turbo jump that has a high likeliness of error.
- Slide Colliseum: A flat track with a road surface and turns with large tires providing barriers. There are a few turbos as well.
- Turbo Track: This track is similar to Slide Colliseum, but, as the name implies, it is littered with numerous turbo boosters. The trick is knowing where these boosters are in order to maintain speed. This track is not included in any of the four Cups.
- Oxide Station: This track is only playable on Adventure and Single Player modes (and is the final course where the player faces Nitrous Oxide), and it contains huge turbo jumps and numerous turbos. Certainly the fastest course in the game.