[E3 Build] Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

It's finally here the May 15th 2001 Build... the E3 Build of Crash: Wrath of Cortex.

There are 5 levels to demonstrate here today, there's also relics that are available to do but I didn't think it was necessary to actually demonstrate it here as there's not really a time requirement.

Let's see what differences we can find such as; no bonus theme music, no sounds when jumping on a TNT, Aku not having a feather difference when 2 masks are acquired and the Crash dying sound effect when hitting a Nitro Switch Crate.


0:00 - Load and Warp Room
So probably, the most noticeable thing, and the most talked about thing back in the day was how the E3 Build of the Warp Room looked like and here it is.

1:26 - Crash and Burn || Original: Level 21
Box Count E3 vs Final: 114 v 138

Straight out of the gate with a level in the final warp room. The only thing that's noticeably missing in this build is the Death Route.

5:09 - Tornado Alley || Original: Level 2
Box Count E3 vs Final: 14 v 15

You're not rewarded with a Crystal or a Gem when completing the level, it just ends which is alright as a demo.

6:57 - Enter the Dragon (Wizards and Lizards) || Original: Level 4
Box Count E3 vs Final: 70 v 128/129

Now for the level with a title change, a enemy change and was not in a complete state with a lack of a Bonus Round and Death Route.
Basically, the enemies with the spears were turned into shield users so that you know that you can slide to attack them.
The lighting has been changed and the dragon doesn't break any of the boxes in the chase sequence (if it does in the E3 Build, then I must've gotten unlucky with my attempts).
The level in the final release just added a bunch of Nitro Boxes and regular boxes to fill in the space.
You can also fall off of the stage in the sidescrolling section at the very start.

9:12 - Banzai Bonsai || Original: Level 8
Box Count E3 vs Final: 113 v 152/154/165

Yeah... that box count is dumb in Final considering the amount of re-releases this game ended up getting.
One of the important differences to know is that there's no Red Gem path in this E3 Build, most of the level is the same with some variations in box types.

12:22 - Eskimo Roll || Original: Level 14
Box Count E3 vs Final: 87 v 82

Note the lack of Tiny Tiger, N. Tropy and Dingodile in this level.

Emulator Usage:
PCSX2 Dumped at the native resolution in Software Mode and then de-interlaced with an external program.
Software Mode is used to avoid all Graphical Glitches that appear in Direct3D / OpenGL, and cause it's more accurate.
Until a console capture happens the greenish aura around 2nd mask Aku is actually correct.

#CrashWoC #E3Build #Spikestuff #NoCommentary