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- Latest update: 11/01/2008

Plot holes. Most series have them, some more than others. It's almost an inevitable thing. How does an animated series like Crash Bandicoot stand up in all of this? With many plot holes, that's how. Some aren't really important, some can be explained, and some are just plain kooky.

Do you care enough about the plot holes in the series to read the rest of this page? Find out now, by reading the rest of this page!

Note 1: This page contains high levels of plot holes that most people who play games about crate-busting marsupials won't care about. The theories that accompany them are generally not meant to be taken seriously. Various SPOILERS to follow.

Note 2: Crash Boom Bang is a one-of-a-kind non-canonical game, with a different style and ambient from the rest of the series (for example, there are anthropomorphic animals everywhere in this game). As such, it won't be discussed.

General Plotholes

Nitros Oxide and his many comebacks: After the events of CTR, Nitros Oxide said he wouldn't come back ever again. However, he did return lots of times.
Theories: Oxide is more stubborn than a mule.

The return of the grown-ups: In the end of Crash 3, Cortex, Tropy and Uka Uka get sent into a very distant past, and Cortex and Tropy get turned into babies. It was never explained how they re-appeared in the next games, and as adults again.
Theories: Someone must have somehow fixed the Time Twister and brought back the evil trio. It's possible that the baby forms were temporary, or Cortex and Tropy grew up again in the past. It's also possible that someone might have given them back their adult forms (like with the aid of a device or so).

Ricola!: In the end of Twinsanity, Cortex finds himself trapped in Crash's brain. How he ever got out is a mystery, as is the explanation to how he returned to his normal size.
Theories: There is a lot of things that could have happened after this event. One such theory is that someone managed to get Cortex out of Crash's brain (likely Coco, since she's a girl genius and was there when the incident happened). Then Cortex could have just been re-enlarged by some kind of device, or perhaps the shrinking effect was merely temporary.

Crash Bandicoot

The castle in the distance: The first bridge level, located on the second island, shows Cortex Castle far away in the distance. However, the second bridge level, located on the island with the castle itself, shows the castle at the exact same distance as before, even though Crash is much closer to it now. This happens because the background was re-used.
Theories: It's illogical. It could be assumed that Crash was warped into the rest of the first bridge later on, but the map shows the second bridge right on the island with the castle.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Which side is Cortex on?/The Crystal Conspiracy: In this game, Dr. Cortex wants Crash to succeed, since Crash is helping him by retrieving the Crystals. But if that's so, why did Cortex build so many robots designed to slow Crash down in his process? (Note that this refers to the robots in Cortex's space station and the Lab Assistants. All the other enemies in the game appear to be working for Dr. Nitrus Brio.)
This, in turn, leads to two other questions: how did some of the Crystals wind up in Cortex's space station in the first place, and why didn't he just retrieve them himself?
Theories: It's always possible that Cortex's robots went berserk, and he wasn't able to control them. If this is the case, it's also possible that Cortex already had a few Crystals before getting Crash to help, and stored them in his space station. If you consider his robots were out of control for some reason, he surely wouldn't want to risk his life getting them back, and thus sent Crash to do it for him.

The Master Crystal: The Master Crystal is seen in the introduction for the game. After that, it is never seen or mentioned ever again, neither in this game, or in the rest of the series. No one knows whatever happened to it.
Theories: The Master Crystal could have drifted off in space, after the Cortex Vortex blew up.

Where do Cocos come from?: Crash's sister Coco first appears in this game, but she's given no introduction at all. She wasn't seen in the first game, which makes things all the weirder.
Explanation: This plot hole has actually been officially explained through the manual from The Wrath of Cortex, which indicates that Coco was captured and evolved by Dr. Neo Cortex. It was never explained where she was during the first game's events, though.

Where has Tawna gone?: Tawna isn't seen in this game at all. As a matter of fact, she disappeared from all the main games after Crash 1. This was never explained in the games.
Theories: The easiest and most logical theory is to just assume that things didn't work out between her and Crash, and she left to set her own life amidst the one-year interim that precedes the story in Crash 2.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Time paradox theories won't be discussed here. Those are far beyond the point of a cartoony game that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Future Crystals: The basis for this game's plot consists of travelling through time, in order to retrieve the Crystals in their original locations, as they were no longer accessible in the present (it was never thoroughly explained why, though). However, two of the Crystals are found in the future, which is obviously set after the time when the Crystals became inaccessible.
Theories: If what made the Crystals inaccessible in the first place was the fact that they lodged themselves in the Warp Room from Crash 2, then a lot of theories could be put in order. Maybe the Warp Room was destroyed in the future, releasing the Crystals, and so forth. If the Crystals simply disappeared after Crash 2, this plot hole cannot be solved.

Lazy Uka Uka: Uka Uka has the power to blow things up with his energy, so it's unknown why he hadn't blasted his way out of his prison before Cortex accidentally blew it up.
Theories: Perhaps the prison Uka Uka was locked inside of somehow blocked his energy, preventing his ability to blast his way out.

Dumb Uka Uka: Uka Uka had been contacting Cortex over the years, but it was never explained why he never asked him to open up his temple prison.
Theories: Maybe neither of them knew that the door could simply be opened by blowing it up, and perhaps Cortex didn't want to do it either way, since he could have feared Uka Uka.

Tiny No Like You: Tiny Tiger, who was at the service of Dr. Nitrus Brio in the previous game, is now working for Dr. Cortex, without an explanation.
Theories: It's possible that Cortex could have persuaded Tiny to join his side, as Tiny doesn't seem to have a very strong mind either way.

Crash Bash

Play nice: In the beginning of the game, Aku Aku stops Uka Uka from fighting him, claiming that "The Ancients would not allow it.". Considering they already fought each other in Crash 3, this doesn't really make much sense.
Theories: Maybe the Ancients punished or forgave both Aku Aku and Uka Uka for fighting each other before, in Crash 3.

Struggling Brio: It was made clear that Brio and Cortex were rivals and that they don't like each other, even resorting to fights if needed. However, Brio and Cortex work together in this game.
Theories: This one is simple enough to explain. It's not so much that Brio wants to work with Cortex, but Uka Uka will probably make him pay if he doesn't work for him.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

5 X 4 = 25?: The objective of this game is to collect the Elemental Crystals to put the Elementals back to their hibernation state. However, Aku Aku clearly states that 5 are needed for each Elemental mask, which makes the last 5 Crystals completely pointless.
Theories: There isn't much ground for theories on mathematics. It can be assumed, however, that the last 5 Crystals were used by Coco to open the entrance to Cortex's space station, for some reason.

Can't sleep: Although the Elementals were supposedly put back to their hibernation state by level 20, they all re-appear in active form in the last fight.
Theories: Uka Uka might have woken them up the same way as before. It was never really explained how he woke them up in the first place anyway. This does make the Crystal gathering somewhat pointless though, if that's the case.

Elementals B-Gone: After Crunch is defeated, the Elementals are never seen or mentioned again, so it was never explained what happened to them.
Theories: They might have gotten locked back inside wherever they were before, but this would have to take place after Crash and the others return to Earth, since they escape almost immediately after Dr. Cortex is defeated, leaving no time for anything else.

Crash Bandicoot XS / The Huge Adventure
Realistic issues with the plot won't be discussed here.

Inconsistency in sizes: The point of Cortex's plan is to be bigger than everyone else. He does this by shrinking the planet. However, in the final boss fight, Cortex is the same size as before, when compared to everyone else (thus implying that he shrunk himself). This doesn't exactly make much sense to begin with, but when you consider that the Planet Minimizer also appears to have been shrunken somehow, just forget about it. It also leads to another question: how did Cortex and the other baddies get back to their normal size in subsequent games?
Theories: You could always assume Crash somehow enlarged himself again. How he managed to do this is beyond comprehension, though.

Crash Bandicoot: N-Tranced

Continuity Issues: This game is a direct sequel to XS/The Huge Adventure. XS seems to occur before The Wrath of Cortex, seeing as Crunch isn't present in it. But he does appear in N-Tranced, implying that The Wrath of Cortex occurred somewhere in-between. However, in this game, Uka Uka states that Dr. Cortex's latest plan thus far involved shrinking the Earth (the plot from XS), so The Wrath of Cortex couldn't come between XS and N-Tranced.
Theories: The only possible theory that can solve this plot hole is that The Wrath of Cortex occurred before both XS and N-Tranced, and that Crunch wasn't around in XS for some unknown motive. This happens because Crunch's introduction occurs in The Wrath of Cortex.

Crash Nitro Kart

Brainwashing Dingodile: In this game, Dingodile is on N. Trance's team, since he's been brainwashed to race with him. However, in the very beginning of the story, he is inside Cortex Castle, along with N. Gin, Tiny and Dr. Cortex. He just suddenly re-appears on N. Trance's team shortly after.
Theories: Perhaps N. Trance was quick enough to sneak into the castle, place a hypnotizing helmet on Dingodile's head and come back out.
(Corrected by Crash Master)

Crash Twinsanity

Vice-Versa Reverser Device: After Tikimon is defeated, Victor mentions a machine called Vice-Versa Reverser Device. This machine, however, isn't present in the game at all.
Explanation: It's already been confirmed that this machine would have played an important role in the game, but due to time constraints, it was never implemented in the game. Victor mentions it in a pre-recorded FMV sequence, so it wasn't possible to edit his line out in time for the game's release.

Going to the 10^th Dimension: It isn't revealed how N. Gin, Brio and Tropy arrive to the 10^th Dimension. Likewise, it's unknown how the Mecha Bandicoot appeared there for Crash to get it.
Theories: It isn't too improbable that Tropy could have the power to travel between dimensions, so he could have taken the other scientists with him. Alternatively, it's always possible one of the 3 scientists had come up with a contraption to send them there, like Cortex did. As for the Mecha Bandicoot, it could have been lying in Iceberg Lab, or Crash actually returned to his own dimension to get it.

Uka Uka on ice: The prologue for the game shows Uka Uka frozen inside an ice block with Dr. Cortex, due to what happened in The Wrath of Cortex. However, about halfway through the game, Uka Uka appears frozen inside an ice cave, way up in an iceberg, home to Dr. Cortex's lab.
Theories: It's always possible that Cortex was released from the ice before Uka Uka, assuming his side melted first. If so, perhaps he took the frozen Uka Uka and locked him inside the ice wall seen later in the game. Cortex would not lack reasons to have done this. After all, he does fear Uka Uka, so it would be natural for the cowardly scientist to want to get rid of him.

Crash Tag Team Racing

No point in racing: Von Clutch's goal is to retrieve his missing Power Gems. He does this by recruiting racers. The whole point of the races, however, is missing. Each race awards the winner with Crystals, which are needed to open the way through Power Gems. Since Von Clutch owns the park and makes the rules, he's literally racing to win the Crystals he already actually has. This makes the races utterly pointless and a complete waste of time (for him).
Theories: Von Clutch is an idiot.

Animal Farm: The new animal characters in this game don't appear to have been evolved by Dr. Cortex, since none of them knew who he was at first. This is especially noticeable with Pasadena, who acts as if she's lived in the countryside all her life. Normally, this wouldn't present a problem, since this is a cartoony game, after all. But the fact is that in the Crash series, every animal with human qualities has been changed by Dr. Cortex's Evolvo-Ray. Pasadena, Chick and Stew, however, didn't even know him.
HPZr theorizes: The evolution bit was probably retconned (or most likely overlooked) in this game. Ultimately, if you really want a theory that can explain this, you could assume Pasadena, Chick and Stew are Nitrus Brio's creations. However, there's still the problem with Pasadena acting as if she's always lived in the countryside, and the fact that her and Von Clutch seem to be old friends.
Venusy theorizes: The cutscene "Von Clutch Makes a Deal" clearly shows that Von Clutch has played all games featuring Cortex (therefore including CB1). If this is the case, what's to stop Von Clutch from taking inspiration from Cortex's/Brio's idea and building his own Evolvo-Ray in order to emulate his "favourite video heroes"? And if the previous statement is assumed to be true, then he could've tested it on an opossum and two chickens, creating Pasadena, Chick 'n' Stew.

Willy Wacko: Near the end of the game, Willie Wumpa Cheeks is found out to be the gem thief. In fact, he himself admits this, and that's exactly what's wrong here. Just a few seconds before he admitted it, he was shivering with fear, because the others were starting to catch on to him. This indicates he was afraid of being found out. Shortly after, when everyone pointed at Crash for thinking he is the thief, Willie pointed at him too. But just in the next scene, Willie got surprised at the others for pointing at Crash (when he did it too), and tells them he is the thief (when he didn't want to be found out).
Theories: Maybe Willie enjoys villain-esque fame. It still doesn't explain why he was shivering and why he pointed at Crash along with everyone else, though.

Stick to rhyming: Willie Wumpa Cheeks' motives for stealing the Power Gems are unclear, as he never explained why he did it in the first place.
Theories: It's possible that Willie was getting even with Von Clutch for bad working conditions, or any other reason that led Willie to hate him.

Undead Cyborg (by Crystal_Blue): Before Crash enters Astro Land, Von Clutch blacks out, and according to the FMV cutscenes, he stays blacked out until Crash accidentally finds the Black Heart Power Gem. However, he provides the voice-over for the first comment when you get to Astro Land, and he is also seen in races.
HPZr theorizes: Perhaps the voice-over was pre-recorded. As for Von Clutch appearing in races, those don't necessarily have to have anything to do with the story. A good example of this is how everyone keeps getting blown up, and then appears alive and well in the cutscenes.