With Crash Bandicoot 4 being one of the biggest game releases of October, a lot of its success is owed to the furry creature’s renaissance of the past few years. 2017 saw the remake of the original three Naughty Dog games and the following year came the remake of the beloved kart racer, Crash Team Racing, so Crash 4 has a lot of momentum behind it.
As the game resets the timeline and pretends all of the middling follow-ups to the original trilogy don’t exist, the game still plays on the idea of multiple dimensions and going forwards and backwards in time. The developer Toys For Bob have taken advantage of this by including tons of hidden details for players to discover.
10 Crash’s Crib
Crash Bandicoot 4 starts just as all the games in the series do, by heading in to the jungle on N. Sanity Beach. Crash’s Crib has a few additions this time, and every nook and cranny is full of hidden details. The fridge magnets on the door make reference to Crunch Bandicoot and there’s a Spyro pool floaty in the water.
If players spin the TV, it will switch on and show the original Crash Bandicoot menu screen. And the surf board with the yellow pattern even references Crash’s tribal tattoo in Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant, one of the worst games in the series.
9 22 Tally Marks
When Neo Cortex and N. Tropy are discussing their next idea to take down the bandicoot, Cortex makes a reference to how many times he has tried to kill Crash, with the magic number being 22. That isn’t just a random number pulled out of thin air, as the number is important for a couple of different reasons.
There have been 22 Crash games previous to this one (including the N. Sane Trilogy,) and the third installment of the game was released in 1998, 22 years ago.
8 Spyro Balloon
As it was Toys For Bob who developed 2018’s remake of Spyro The Dragon, the developer clearly has an affinity for the character. Not only did the floaty show up virtually as soon as the game booted up, but further in to the game when Crash is jumping over rooftops during a parade, a giant Spyro balloon can be found bobbing up and down behind buildings.
During the parade there are also balloons of Pura, the tiger that Coco rides in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, and a Skylanders character.
7 Wanted Poster
Though he might be one of the characters we don’t want back, Pinstripe is a big part of the Crash Bandicoot legacy, being one of the bosses in the original game and never really appearing again aside from Crash Team Racing.
The character doesn’t appear in the game, but this wanted poster of him can be found in the New Orleans-type level, “Off Beat.” Pinstripe was a former used car salesman and is now a tommy gun wielding gangster, so it only makes sense that he’s now a wanted criminal.
6 Fake Crash
Fake Crash is a doppelgänger of Crash, only he has bushier eyebrows and bigger teeth. First appearing in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, the character became an Easter egg in various levels, as he was hiding in hard to reach areas. And Vicarious Visions added him to some levels the N. Sane Trilogy remake, but players can only find him if they have completed the game 100%.
Now, Fake Crash can be found in the level “Run It Bayou.” Toys For Bob may have even added him to levels where he’s only able to be found once players have completed the game 100% too, but as the game has already spawned loads of memes due to its crushing difficulty, it may be a while until that comes to light.
5 Uncharted Plane
This detail is hidden in plane sight, as it couldn’t be any clearer what is going on in the game, but many people may not know its origins or what it’s in reference to. Crash is jumping up cargo in the sky, trying and reach Neo Cortex’s ship. This exact same scene takes place in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.
As that game was developed by Naughty Dog, who also created the first three Crash games, this is clearly a homage to the developer. There are already loads of reasons that proves the theory that Crash is an alternate universe of Uncharted, and this just adds fuel to the fire.
4 Baby Cortex
Crash Bandicoot is one of the hardest games designed for kids, but luckily, in what is arguably the hardest stage in Crash 4, “Cortex’s Castle,” players don’t have to go too far in to the level to find one of the most interesting details the game has to offer.
In the first hallway there is a framed portrait of the evil Neo Cortex as a baby, who even at just a few months old is still playing with potions. Portraits of his parents can even be found in the same area, which reveals a little more about the dastardly scientist’s background.
3 N-Oxide’s Trophy Room
N-Oxide is a boss who was never in the original trilogy and his first entrance in to the series was actually in Crash Team Racing, where he was the game’s main antagonist, even above Cortex.
The evil alien has a cameo in Crash 4, and when Crash is transported on to his spaceship, the CTR trophy can be found encased behind glass. N-Oxide’s most prized karts are also on display beneath the glass floor.
2 Guitar Hero
Crash 4 has already become the most difficult game in the series, and that’s evident when it comes around to tackling the first boss, N. Gin. The level works similarly to most boss levels in the series, as players have to avoid objects or lazers being hurled and pointed at them, but what players might not notice is how the green and red rings traveling down the path looks a lot like the gameplay in Guitar Hero.
This is likely another homage, as the music game is published by Activision, the same publisher of Crash Bandicoot.
1 Ripper Roo
One the reasons why Crash is the superior game to Mario is because of the unique and varied cast of rogues, whether it’s the mad scientist Neo Cortex, a kart racing alien, or a gun toting potoroo in a pinstripe suit. But one of the first ever bosses Crash ever fought was the fan favorite Ripper Roo, a blue kangaroo in a straight jacket.
Unfortunately, Roo isn’t a boss battle or even part of the story in Crash 4, but he can be seen in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in “Off Beat.” As Crash is rail riding, players can find Roo jumping around on a rooftop behind the bandicoot.