Story
It's a fine sunny day in Crash's home island. Things are quiet and peaceful all around the beach, except perhaps inside Crash's house. A few noises can be heard in there- the first one is Crash's loud snore, as he carelessly sleeps as usual. Engine noises can also be heard from the garage, where Coco works on improving her kart model. Crunch lifts weights nearby, discussing the latest diets with Aku Aku. This is when things start going wrong. The house is suddenly surrounded by a very bright light, and then, abducted.

Meanwhile, Cortex walks back and forth inside his castle, thinking of a way to defeat his bandicoot enemies and conquer the World. Tiny is sitting close, playing a game of checkers by himself. He makes a fuss when he hears Cortex mention the word "bandicoots", so he's sent to check up on N. Gin, most likely to leave Cortex alone.

N. Gin is using the Evolvo-Ray to conduct an experiment with his kart. He is being assisted by Dingodile, who is soon smashed between the wall and the door, as Tiny rushes in. At that very moment, the same bright light that took the bandicoots starts enveloping the castle, leading N. Gin to think Tiny broke something. The tower with the villains breaks loose from the rest of the castle, and it's promptly abducted as well.

Crash finally wakes up. As he goes outside, he notices he's probably not at the beach anymore, judging by the amounts of small aliens cheering from the stands around him. Crash finds himself in an odd coliseum, built on an enormous meteor. Coco and Crunch come outside to check what's happening, as do the villains from inside their tower. Tiny and Crash don't seem very pleased to see each other, and neither does Cortex, who thinks this is the bandicoots' doing. He is suddenly interrupted by a large hologram of a green alien, who calls himself Emperor Velo the 27^th.

Velo proclaims to be the ruler of the galaxy. He provides racing entertainment for his subjects and himself. He's heard about the bandicoots and the baddies' racing skills, likely from none other than Nitros Oxide, who watches from a stand with his cronies. N. Trance is there too, and he's captured and brainwashed Dingodile and Polar. Velo commands everyone to race against his champions. Should they refuse, planet Earth will be destroyed. Everyone's answer is obvious, and thus begins another intergalactic championship.

Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Crunch Bandicoot/Fake Crash/Aku Aku
Uka Uka/Emperor Velo 27^th/Dr. Cortex/N. Gin/Tiny/Dingodile/N-Trance/Polar/Pura
Nitros Oxide/Zam/Zem/Krunk/Nash/Norm/Big Norm/Geary/N. Tropy

Generalities
CNK is, essentially, CTR for the 128-bit consoles. The gameplay is almost exactly the same, with very few innovations. The graphics are sharper-looking (barring the inconsistent frame rate from the PS2 version), and the FMVs definitely deserve mentioning- a first in the series, and well executed at that. The music, on the other hand, could be better. While it somewhat resembles the old style from the original games, it mostly goes unnoticed. It's also probable that the character taunts will annoy you.

Regardless, there are still a few new features, which could have been more interesting. One of those is Team Frenzy. In Adventure mode, you will always have someone of your team racing with you. If that character happens to be close to you, a bar slowly starts filling up. When it's full, you get unlimited random weapons to fire as fast as you can, for a short time. Speaking of, most weapons work the same way they did in CTR, just with different names and appearances.

Another new feature is the Arena Editor, which you can use to "create" your own Battle Arenas. Except you can only place Crates in pre-made arenas, so it's not so much of an editor as it is an item placer. The arenas are much bigger than they were in CTR, but this can pose a problem, in that it's harder to catch an opponent. There are a few new modes for the arenas, like Capture the Flag.

Another thing that should be mentioned is how you no longer have to stick with the same character all through Adventure mode. When you start a new game, you get to choose between 2 teams: Bandicoot and Cortex. Each team has 3 members (Crash, Coco and Crunch for Team Bandicoot and Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny, for Team Cortex). Before you start a race, you can switch from your current character to another one from the same team. Each team has its own cutscenes and endings, so this adds replay value and compels you to finish Adventure mode another time.

What doesn't add to replay value is the fact that you only get 13 race tracks this time. They're fewer, but also much bigger, so it's up to you if you don't mind this change. Keep an eye out for "!" Crates, which trigger traps that you can use against your enemies, just as long as you don't fall into them yourself.

The kart handling is a bit different now. The karts are slower and much heavier than in CTR, so you might need some time to adjust. You can't jump as high, but now you can drive upside down in certain segments. The rest comes directly from CTR- Relic Races, Time Trials, gathering letters, keys for bosses, and so on.

Controls:
Accelerate- [PS2: X / GC: A / Xbox: A]
Brake- [PS2: Square / GC: B / Xbox: X]
Reverse - Continue holding down the brake button after you've stopped.
Use weapons [PS2: Circle / GC: X / Xbox: B]
Toggle map/speedometer- [PS2: Triangle / GC: C-Stick vertically / Xbox: Y].
Jump- [PS2: L1 or R1 / GC: L or R / Xbox: L or R]
Mirror view- [PS2: L2 / GC: Z / Xbox: Black]
Power Slide- Hold down the jump button and push the left analog stick/D-Pad sideways.
Slide Boost- When Power Sliding, press the alternate jump button you're not holding whenever the smoke coming out from the exhaust pipes becomes black (3 times per slide).
Team Frenzy [PS2: R2 / GC: Y / Xbox: White]- If you get close to the racer from your team, the Frenzy bar will fill up. Once it's full, you will have access to unlimited weapons for a short time.

Weapons (note: get 10 Wumpa Fruits for juiced up versions and increased kart speed):
Missile: engages pursuit on the nearest opponent.
Juiced up: it tracks enemies and avoids collisions better.

Explosive Crate: a TNT crate is dropped behind. Whoever hits it will blow up in a few seconds unless that person manages to jump enough times to get the Crate off of his/her head.
Juiced up: It turns into a Nitro crate that explodes on contact.

Bowling Bomb: Roll this bomb forward or backwards (pull the left analog stick/D-Pad backwards). It will detonate once it hits someone or something, or if you decide to press the Circle button again.
Juiced up: Bigger blast radius.

Static Orb: an electrifying blue orb is left behind. Anyone who hits it will spin uncontrollably and won't be able to use weapons for a short time.
Juiced up: an electrifying pink orb is left behind and the effect lasts longer.

Ice Mine- a blue mine is dropped. Anyone who hits it will spin uncontrollably and freeze into an ice cube. The character can continue to race, but the slippery ice makes it difficult.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

N. Tropy's Clock: Time temporarily slows down for everyone except for the person who uses it. The opponents will also undergo an uncontrollable spin at first.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Turbo Boost: An extra boost for the go.
Juiced up: The boost lasts longer.

Shield: A green shield appears around the character, enabling the player to suffer 1 hit point without inflicting damage. Anyone who touches the character will get bumped high into the air and the shield will disappear. Will wear off eventually.
Juiced up: The shield won't wear off with time now, and is blue-coloured.

Invincibility mask: You'll be invincible for a short time, and any contact with the opponents bump them high into the air.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Tornado Top- It sends out a tornado that automatically hits everyone in front of you, and will not be destroyed by colliding with objects or walls. When a character is hit, he'll spin high into the air by the Tornado.
Juiced up: The Tornado's hitting effect lasts longer.

Invisibility (Battle Mode only): you'll be temporarily invisible to opponents, but you can still see your own kart wheels.
Juiced up: The effect lasts longer.

Turbo engine (Battle Mode only): You'll get an extremely long speed boost. It will work even after braking.
Juiced up: The boost lasts even longer.

Red Eye Missile (Battle Mode only): Instead of locking onto opponents like the normal missile, this one is controlled by the player in first-person view mode. The player comes to a complete stop when using it, and will not be able to avoid damage. If the player gets hit while controlling the missile, it will be deactivated.

Game Modes:
Adventure- The main story, and where you unlock most stuff (single player only).

Arcade- Choose a track or cup to compete against other characters (single and multiplayer).

VS- Play in a track or cup against human players only (multiplayer only)

Battle- Blast your opponents in closed arenas (multiplayer only). Available choices are:
   - Normal Battle
   - Limit Battle
   - Capture the Flag
   - Steal the Bacon
   - Crystal Grab

Time Trial- Race freely through any of the available tracks to get the best time, with no opponents or power-ups. You can save your ghosts in the Memory Card, and if you're fast enough, you'll unlock N. Tropy's ghost for that track. If you can beat that, you'll get to race against Velo's ghost.

Arena Editor- Here you can can place all the objects you want in any place of a specified arena. You can save your work into a Memory Card.

Cutscenes- Watch the cutscenes you've unlocked from Adventure mode.