Story
Somewhere out there, the evil Dr. Cortex cowardly kneels before the mighty Uka Uka. Uka Uka is furious because Cortex has failed him so many times in his search for world conquest, and begins to wonder just why he keeps sparing him. Cortex begs for another chance, as he declares to have a flawless plan which Crash couldn't possibly ruin. Uka Uka angrily gives him a new chance.

Cortex puts his plan into action. He has created a machine called the Planetary Minimizer, which can shrink any planet to the size of a grapefruit. His target is, of course, planet Earth. As soon as he zaps the planet with it, it shrinks down massively as predicted. Now much bigger than Earth itself, Cortex declares himself as its new ruler.

Realizing what's going on, Aku Aku tells Crash that he must collect the Earth's Crystals. Coco holds the key to create the opposite effect with one of her machines, but she needs Crystals to power it up. And so, Crash gets going in this now miniscule World.

Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Aku Aku/Uka Uka/Dr. Cortex/Dingodile
N. Gin/Tiny Tiger/Polar/Mega-Mix

Generalities
Crash's first handheld outing is exactly what you'd expect: a simple game that makes use of most of the series' trademark features, basing itself on 2D gameplay. Even though the GBA's hardware can't handle good 3D, they still wanted the game to look like it. The solution was to create sprites with ripped frames from the previous games' 3D models. The result is satisfactory, at best. The music and environments all come from previous games as well, but dumbed down once again. So while the game is exactly what a portable Crash should be like, you can't help but think of it as a lazily-developed title.

The gameplay, as mentioned, is everything you saw before (except in 2D), so if you're not familiar with the mechanics, refer to the previous games' pages. These mechanics are well recreated, with minor differences here and there. There are fewer levels and only 4 Super Powers now (the bazooka is gone), but Time Trials are still present to make things lengthier. You'll sometimes engage in pseudo-3D levels, where you're either running away from a yeti while riding Polar, or flying forward and shooting down blimps with the Jet-Pack.

Character Moves
Jump- Press A to jump in the air. For a higher jump, hold the A button longer. To get maximum height, hold the A button whilst bouncing off of enemies and crates (2 crates height).
Note: The Double Jump power has a 4 crates height.

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

Crouch- Press the R button to duck and avoid hazards.

Crawl- Holding down the R button and moving around makes Crash crawl. Useful for getting through low barriers.

Slide- Moving and pressing the R button makes Crash slide forward. Used as an attack, it's especially useful against enemies with harmful/protected upper halves.

High Jump- By holding down the R button and pressing A, Crash will jump higher. To jump farther, use the slide move and jump at the same time (3 crates height).
Note: Combine this with the Double Jump power to get a 5 crates height.

Belly Flop- Jump and press the R button to make Crash perform a belly flop. It's useful for breaking Locked Crates.

Hang- To hang from meshes, simply jump up to them. You can move around and spin while hanging, but spinning will stop you from moving.

Underwater- When underwater, Crash can swim around; spin; swim faster (by tapping the A button repeatedly).

Super Powers- Double Jump/Death Tornado/Super Belly Flop/Crash Dash

Rides
Polar- When riding Polar, you'll be in constant movement and you can't turn around. To go faster, hold down the B button. You can jump to avoid obstacles.

Jet-Pack- You can move freely around the screen with the Jet-Pack. Dodge sideways with the L and R buttons and shoot down enemy ships and blimps.

Hoverbike- When zooming with the Hoverbike, you can't stop, so just move up or down to avoid obstacles.