| Crash Nitro Kart |
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The European Xbox version box art depicts Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, and Nitrous Oxide in their respective karts. | | Developer(s) | Vicarious Visions | | Publisher(s) | Universal Interactive | | Series | Crash Bandicoot | | Engine | Intrinsic Alchemy | | Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage | | Release date | NA November 11, 2003
EU November 28, 2003
AUS December 4, 2003
JP July 8, 2004
| | Genre(s) | Racing | | Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer | | Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E)
OFLC: G
PEGI: 3+ | | Media | DVD |
Crash Nitro Kart, released in Japan as Crash Bandicoot: Bakusō! Nitro Kart (クラッシュ・バンディクー 爆走!ニトロカート, Kurasshu Bandikū Bakusō! Nitoro Kāto?) is a racing game published by Universal Interactive and developed by Vicarious Visions for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox consoles; it has also been created for the Game Boy Advance and N-Gage, but with some minor differences. It was released in North America on November 11, 2003, in Europe on November 28, 2003, in Australia on December 4, 2003, and in Japan on July 8, 2004; the N-Gage version of the game was released on July 28, 2004, and the mobile phone version was released on September 20, 2004. The game is the ninth installment in the Crash Bandicoot video game series, which begin with Crash Bandicoot in 1996. It is an indirect sequel to Crash Team Racing and the first full motion video based game in the series. A sequel entitled 'Crash Nitro Kart 2' was released in 2008 for mobile phones and the N-Gage.
GameplayCrash Nitro Kart plays much like its predecessor, Crash Team Racing. The player races against other characters, which can be computer controlled or controlled by other players. Crates are placed throughout the tracks, which, when broken, grant power-ups. Collecting ten Wumpa fruit from special crates improves the effect of any power-up. New to this game is the Team Frenzy Mode, which allows players to race as part of a team. A victory by any one team member counts as a victory for the team. Additionally, getting close to a team member for long enough during a race grants unlimited weapons for a short time. In Adventure Mode, the player chooses to play as either Team Bandicoot or Team Cortex. The player must travel through four worlds, collecting three trophies in each world by winning the three races there. Each world also features a boss which must be raced after collecting all three of a world's trophies. Defeating a boss earns a Boss Key, collecting all four of which allows you to race the final boss. The player must also collect other items, such as relics, obtained by finishing a race in under a certain time, CNK tokens, obtained by finding the letters C, N and K in a race track, and gems, obtained by winning special races. In Battle Mode, players battle against each other in a number of competitions. These battles take place in special arenas. The Arena Editor allows the player to change arenas by placing crates and other objects anywhere within an arena.
TracksIn the Gamecube, Xbox, and Playstation 2 versions of the game, there are a total of 13 tracks to race on and 5 battle arenas to play the Battle Mode on in the game. Like its predecessor, many of the tracks contain obstacles, which, if not avoided, will briefly cause the racer to come to a complete stop. Many tracks also include secret and/or difficult-to-reach passageways that could serve as shortcuts (and/or hide one of the 3 letters that need to be collected in order to complete the CNK Challenge mode). New to the series is that, in certain parts of many tracks, the racer's kart automatically transforms to allow it to drive sideways or even upside down (like in F-Zero X). Also new is that, on some tracks, there are crates with exclamation points (!) on them that, when run over, cause a nearby object to activate, such as opening a pitfall, moving a tractor beam, or dropping an oversized ball onto part of the track.
Plot
CharactersCrash Nitro Kart features 16 playable characters, most of whom require unlocking. Only six characters are available to play in Adventure mode and they are in turn divided into two teams, with Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot and Crunch Bandicoot forming Team Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex, Doctor N. Gin and Tiny Tiger forming Team Cortex. In all races (except boss races), two members of each team compete against each other. Two additional teams compete alongside Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex in the races, both of whom are not playable in Adventure Mode, but are playable in all other modes. One team consists of Nitros Oxide and his two new minions Zam and Zem. The other team consists of N. Trance, Polar and Dingodile. Both Oxide and Trance are available to play at the start of the game, but Zam, Zem, Polar and Dingodile have to be unlocked by winning a purple, green, blue and red gem (respectively) in Adventure Mode. Like in Crash Team Racing, the two teams have to content against various bosses, whom are represented by the champions of their respective planets, as described frequently by Emperor Velo. In order, the two teams face off against Krunk, Nash, Norm and Geary before confronting the evil Emperor himself. Only Velo is playable; he is unlocked after winning the game with both teams, although he does not participate in any races outside his own. As well as the three main members, each team has a fourth member that does not participate in any races unless they themselves are being used. With the exception of Velo, none of them appear in Adventure Mode. Pura is unlocked by successfully performing 50 consecutive slide boosts using a member of Team Bandicoot. Fake Crash is unlocked by doing the same thing with Team Cortex. Much like his appearance in Crash Team Racing, Doctor Nefarious Tropy is unlocked by beating all his ghosts in Time Trial mode. Once unlocked, these three characters are playable under N. Trance's team, Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex, respectfully. Velo, upon being unlocked, is playable under N. Oxide's team. Like in Crash Team Racing, Aku Aku and Uka Uka appear every so often to give hints to Team Bandicoot (in Aku's case) and Team Cortex (in Uka's case), as well as to protect their respective teams, plus bonus members, as a race power-up. A third mask, which resembles Velo, is used to protect Oxide and Trance's teams. The Game Boy Advance version differs slightly from the console version. In this version of the game, 19 characters are playable. All of the bosses can be unlocked after beating them in Adventure Mode. N. Oxide is an unlockable character in this version of the game, whilst Polar and Dingodile are available for play at the beginning. N. Tropy (also locked) competes alongside the other characters in this version. Pura, Zam and Zem are all absent, whilst Spyro the Dragon appears as a bonus character.
StoryAt the Bandicoot home, Crash is sleeping, Coco is working on her cart and Crunch is lifting weights while Aku Aku is watching him when suddenly a bright light appears and abducts their entire house. Meanwhile, at Cortex Castle, Cortex is trying to think up another plan to defeat the bandicoots, but as he sends Tiny to assist N. Gin with his latest experiment, the castle tower is abducted by the same white light. Crash, Coco, Crunch, Cortex, N. Gin, and Tiny exit their respective domiciles and find themselves in a large coliseum in the middle of space. Cortex immediately blames Crash, but a giant holographic display of a large alien head interrupts him. The head explains that he is Emperor Velo XXVII, ruler of the galaxy, that he has heard word about their racing skills, and that his people hunger for entertainment. He has taken them to this coliseum to race alongside Nitros Oxide, Zam, Zem, N. Trance, Polar, and Dingodile in his Galaxy Circuit. If they win, they win their freedom. If they refuse, Earth is destroyed. Faced with this threat, both teams agree to race for Velo in order to return home.
Audio
Voice castAt the time, Crash Nitro Kart had the largest voice cast of any Crash game, and was the first Crash game in which all the named characters had a voice actor. The game was also to be the last to feature Clancy Brown as the voice of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka. Brown, at the time, had been one of the longest-lasting cast members of the English series, having voiced Cortex (and later Uka Uka) in five games. Other actors also reprised their roles from previous games as well as obtaining some new ones, with Mel Winkler returning as Aku Aku and Michael Ensign returning to voice Doctor Nefarious Tropy, replacing Corey Burton who had voiced him in Wrath of Cortex. Debi Derryberry and Kevin Michael Richardson also returned as Coco Bandicoot and Crunch Bandicoot respectively, but in turn gained new roles; Derryberry also voiced Polar, whilst Richardson provided the voice of Velo's advisors. All the other voice actors who appear in the game are newcomers to the series. Some of the voice actors take over the roles of previous actors as well as original characters, with Steven Blum as Crash Bandicoot and Emperor Velo, Paul Greenberg as Pura and Geary, Dwight Schultz as Dingodile and Fake Crash, John DiMaggio as Tiny Tiger, Quinton Flynn as Doctor N. Gin and Nitros Oxide, and Tom Bourdon as N. Trance and Velo's minions. The cast for the game's original characters are Billy West as Nash and Zam, André Sogliuzzo as Norm and Zem and Marshall R. Teague as Krunk.
Reception- Gamespot
 - Amazon.com
 - IGN.com
- Neoseeker
References- ^ a b Crash Nitro Kart (PS2) on GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ a b c d e f Crash Nitro Kart (PS2) on GameFAQS. GameFAQS. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ Crash Nitro Kart (N-Gage) on GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ Crash Nitro Kart (Mobile) on GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ McEachern, Martin (April 2004). Crash Course. Computer Graphics World. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
External links- The Official Crash Nitro Kart Website
- VU Games' page on Crash Nitro Kart
- Crash Nitro Kart at MobyGames
| Crash Bandicoot series |
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| | Main series | Crash Bandicoot • Cortex Strikes Back • Warped • The Wrath of Cortex • Twinsanity • Titans • Mind Over Mutant | | | Racing games | Team Racing • Nitro Kart • Tag Team Racing | | | Handheld games | The Huge Adventure • N-Tranced • Purple | | | Party games | Bash • Boom Bang! |
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