Crash Mania- Twinsanity


E3 Demo

General Differences
Cavern Catastrophe
Jungle Bungle
Totem Hokum
Surprises by hacking

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This page describes the demo of Crash Twinsanity. The PAL demo goes by the name of Crash Bandicoot Unlimited (the original title for Twinsanity), whereas the later NTSC demo is called Crash Bandicoot Twinsanity, something that's a lot closer to the final name. This demo was being handed out in booths at E3 2004, but can also be found in certain magazines. The PAL demo comes with the UK's Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, Issue 50.

The demo has differences in moves, dialogue and even level layouts. Not only that, but it also contains some unseen stuff that can only be accessed through hacking.

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Title: Crash Twinsanity used to be called Crash Bandicoot: Unlimited. Right in the beginning, you see some doors opening, and the old logo appearing. This logo is different from the one released in magazines and websites (see above). For more, see the video in Totem Hokum.

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Punch:
Crash originally had an extra attack. If you spun and pressed the crouch button, Crash would perform a rather cool-looking punch, which would slide him a bit forward. The punch was powerful enough to break Locked Crates. But because it was so powerful, it had to be removed. By performing this attack during the Cortex boss fight, the ground would crumble down as if a bomb hit it. And so, the punch was removed from the final game for being much too effective (and thus, ironically defective).

Idle Animations: Crash has a wide variety of idle animations in the final version, but he only had two in the demo: scratching his stomach and stretching out.

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Warp Room:
The Iceberg Lab serves as a Warp Room in the demo, which makes things reminiscent of the classic games. You can walk around in the 2nd floor of the Lab, the place where you fight the Ants in the final version. The difference is that all doors open in the demo, and each leads to one of the 3 present levels.

At each door is a humorous audio description of the level, narrated by Lex Lang (Cortex's voice actor). At the center of the lab, Cortex stands in a chair, surrounded by a force field (so you can't interact with him). The NTSC demo, however, has Cortex lying down, which is another proof that that demo is a later build. 

There is a little tune that loops continuously when you're inside the Lab. It's somewhat quiet and slow, but suiting. It was most probably composed by Spiralmouth, as it would leave anyone to believe.

The Warp feature was only intended for the demo (otherwise the entire maps would have to be present in order to access the levels, like in the game). Also worth mentioning, the levels load extremely quick in the demo (much quicker than in the game).

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Relics:
If you pause in the demo, you'll notice a Relic drawing. The Relics' role in the game and how they were going to work is unknown. Notice also that the Gem order is different here. The icons don't wobble either. The pause menu also shows how you can get back to the Warp Room (or 'hub', as shown here).

Dialogues: Many lines were redone for the final version of the game. This is most noticeable in the Totem Hokum level, where Cortex has a provisory voice actor. The other levels already feature Lex Lang as his actor, but some lines are still different.

Skipping Cutscenes: Something that was inexplicably omitted in the final version is present in this demo- the ability to skip cutscenes after you watch them once.

Glitches: The final version is pretty glitchy, so the demo is even worse. There are lots of bugs here and there, especially with Crash and Cortex as partners. For instance, if you spin into Cortex and immediately press the crouch button, Crash will throw Cortex too soon and get carried forward (resulting in accidental pit deaths). This often makes the Crystal freeze in mid-air.

Music: The music is basically the same, but incomplete. Each theme loops back about halfway through, and it comes to a small stop before it does. As mentioned in the Warp Room description, the Iceberg Lab has a very short theme, unheard in both the game and the official soundtrack.

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Fonts:
The life and Wumpa counters have the old Crash font. In the game, an all-new font appears.

Jumping: You can double jump ala Crash Bandicoot Fusion here- after you jump once, you can make a second jump at any time before you land, regardless of how long it is between jumps. In the full game, you can only make a second jump shortly after the first one.

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Aku Aku:
Aku Aku doesn't automatically appear each time you respawn or commence a level. He animates differently too: when you jump, he'll face up (being parallel to the ground), and when you get hit, he almost seems to pop like a balloon. Additionally, he has a blue feather, like in most of the previous games. In the full game, he has two red feathers instead.

I live!: As opposed to what would happen in the game, being caught in an explosion from a TNT or Nitro will not kill you, as long as you have Aku Aku with you.

Lives: Though Life Crates look the same, they contain Aku Aku masks instead of Crash mugs (but they do award you with extra lives). This was probably a filler object until proper life icons were placed. Also, while 100 Wumpa Fruits give you an extra life as usual, there is no sound confirmation for it, and the counter doesn't pop up.
If you drown in the NTSC demo while on your last life, you will respawn at the last Checkpoint and it won't be game over. You can do this infinitely.

Gems: A lot of Gems are misplaced or missing.