Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998)
Naughty Dog's 91-Metascore Time-Traveling Pinnacle of the PlayStation Platformer Trilogy
Crash Bandicoot: Warped (Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped in Europe) is a 1998 platform game directed by Jason Rubin and engineered by Andy Gavin at Naughty Dog for Sony Computer Entertainment. Pitting Crash and newly playable sister Coco against evil mask Uka Uka, Dr. Neo Cortex, and time-master Dr. Nefarious Tropy, it earned a 91/100 Metascore and sold over 7.1 million copies worldwide.
The Time Twister Hub, Playable Coco, and Genre-Hopping Variety
Completing Naughty Dog's annual PlayStation platforming trilogy, Warped opened as wreckage from Cortex's orbital space station smashed an ancient temple, freeing Aku Aku's malevolent twin brother Uka Uka alongside chronokinetic villain Dr. Nefarious Tropy. Stepping through five warp chambers inside the Time Twister Machine, players alternated between Crash's tight corridor platforming across Arthurian England, Arabian rooftops, prehistoric swamps, Egyptian tombs, and futuristic megacities and brisk vehicle stages—including Coco Bandicoot galloping atop baby tiger Pura along the Great Wall of China and weaving jet-skis around mines, Crash racing 1950s hot-rod motorcycles along Route 66, and WWI biplane dogfights.
Boss Power-Ups, Time Trial Relics, and GOOL Engine Mastery
Pushing Andy Gavin's custom Lisp-based GOOL engine to render reflective water surfaces, expressive cartoon squash-and-stretch facial animation, and Josh Mancell's percussive era-themed melodies, Warped added two transformative replayability hooks by designer Evan Wells. Defeating each boss permanently expanded Crash's movement kit—awarding the Super Belly Flop, Double Jump, extended Death Tornado Spin, Wumpa Fruit Bazooka, and Speed Shoes—while touching a floating stopwatch restarted any cleared stage as a crate-freezing Time Trial for Sapphire, Gold, and Platinum Relics. Selling 7.13 million copies (including historic million-seller status for a Western-made title in Japan), it crowned Naughty Dog's mascot era before Crash Team Racing.