Story
Eager to get rid of his arch-nemesis, Dr. Cortex resorts to join forces with a worthy partner. He has somehow found his way into a different dimension, where the evil sorcerer Ripto shares the same desire for conquering the World. Ripto is in the same situation as Cortex- he wants to dominate the World he lives in, but his plans are constantly foiled by the same hero (in his case, a small purple dragon). And so, the two villains agree to work together and defeat Crash and the dragon at the same time. With his vast genetic knowledge, Cortex has modified Ripto's minions, the Riptocs, into stronger beings. The Riptocs are sent to Crash's world, disguised as purple dragons. The opposite happens in the young dragon's world, where Riptocs disguised as orange bandicoots begin terrorizing the realm.

In the Wumpa Jungle, Coco and Aku Aku notice the strange purple beasts rampaging about. Aku Aku screams his non-existent lungs out to call Crash, who is the only hero they have handy. Aku Aku and Crash set out to clear the jungle of those disturbing creatures, only to find a castle along the way. A purple dragon sits on top, and he seems to have some crossed wires- he believes Crash is the source of the mess his realm is in. The two fight each other, but the dragon realizes Crash seems different from the other orange monsters he's encountered. The dragon introduces himself as Spyro. Aku Aku tells him that Cortex is probably the one to blame for this mess, whereas Spyro believes this is Ripto's work. Soon after, they realize that Cortex and Ripto have joined forces. United for the same cause, Crash and Spyro become allies and set out to defeat the evil duo.

Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Crunch Bandicoot/Aku Aku/Dr. Cortex/Nina
Tiny Tiger/Fake Crash*
Spyro Characters: Spyro the Dragon^TM/Sparx/The Professor/Blink/Ripto/Hunter/Bianca
Moneybags/Sgt. Byrd/Gulp
*Cameo
Multiplayer Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Dr. Cortex/Nina
Crunch Bandicoot**/N. Gin**/N. Tropy**/N. Trance**/Dingodile**/Tiny**/Polar**/Fake Crash**
Spyro the Dragon***/Hunter***/Sgt. Byrd***/Blink***
** Characters only accessible by linking two copies of Crash Fusion/Purple together.
*** Characters only accessible by linking Crash Fusion/Purple to Spyro Fusion/Orange.

Generalities
Crash's third handheld entry involves a cheesy crossover with its buddy franchise, Spyro. This game is half-platformer, half-party-themed (think Crash Bash with platform levels as hubs). The graphics look slightly nicer than in previous GBA games, mostly because of the new, better-looking sprites (except for Crash's, which looks the same as before, probably out of laziness). Unlike in the previous GBA platformers, all of the music is new.

Crash will battle both his enemies (read, Lab Assistants) and Spyro's (the Riptocs). The platform levels serve as means to gather fruit, and they also home the mini-games. To get anywhere in this game, you need to collect the usual jewelry from them. Some mini-games are okay, most are dull.

A new thing in this game that is sure to be appreciated by some - and ignored by others - is the Trading Card set. Trading Cards are rare collectibles that you find/win/buy in the game. They aren't needed for progress, so they should only really appeal to players who like this kind of stuff, or those who want to get everything in the game. Trading Cards involve both the Crash and Spyro universes, but you can only get most Spyro cards by trading them with an owner of Spyro Fusion, the second "half" of this game. You get the most of the Fusion adventure by having both games, but unless you really want to get all the cards, you're not missing out by only having the Crash half. Clever marketing? Maybe. Evil? Definitely: there is one Crash card you can only get by linking two copies of the Crash game together. This means that both you and your friend will end up buying the two Fusion halves to get all the cards (in theory), which means they were trying to sell 4 games instead of 1. Allow me to try and save your money: having all cards does nothing. Take that, evil executives.

Crash controls the same way as before, but with less moves. A second jump can be performed at any time during mid-air, regardless of how much time it passes after the first jump. Wumpa Fruit returns as the most common pick-up, but it serves a different purpose now. Fruits no longer award lives, instead acting as currency. As such, you can stack up to a grand limit of 9999 Wumpa Fruits. Being loaded means you'll be able to buy things from greedy bear Moneybags. These things are usually cards or prize contests to win (or lose) even more fruit.

Double Jump- Press the A button twice to get twice the height. The second jump can be used at any time, regardless of how long you've been falling down (4 crates height).

Spin Attack- Press the B button to spin, enabling Crash to defeat enemies that make contact with him.

Rides
Copter- Crash is located inside a spherical command center. From there, you can control a tiny helicopter and use it to protect Crash. Use the B button to shoot and the A button to lift Crash and the command center. Use the D-Pad to move the helicopter up or down.

Raft- Move the raft around the water with the D-Pad, whilst trying to avoid mines, torpedoes, suction holes and Nitro Crates. For a turbo boost, hold down the B button.

Jet-Pack- You only need to use the A button for the Jet-Pack. Pressing it down makes Crash go up, so in order to keep him airborne, you should tap it. Release the button to make Crash go down. Watch out for obstacles.

Tank- Move the tank around with the D-Pad. To rotate the turret, press the L or R buttons. To shoot, press the B button. Try to ricochet your shots in walls to eliminate enemies without being exposed to them.

Ball Ship- Press the B button to kick walls forward, and the A button to attract them. Don't let all the balls get behind you, or you lose. The objective is to make the balls hit all the enemies in the arena, for 3 rounds per game.

Spaceship- Move around with the D-Pad and press the B button to shoot lasers forwards.

Polar- As usual, Polar can't go back, and you'll be riding from left to right, and trying to avoid obstacles and holes. Press the A button to jump, and hold down the B button to go faster.

Bat- You will be in constant movement while riding the bat, and you can't backtrack. The screen scrolls from left to right, but you can move the bat around the screen with the D-Pad. Press the A button to launch a missile, or hold it down for a while and release it for 3 simultaneous missiles. Press the B button to drop a bomb (the longer you hold the button, the more resistant the bomb will be).

Crash Bandicoot: Fusion/Crash Bandicoot: Purple (R) game and all the pictures in this page are (C) to Vivendi Games.