CRASH TOTAL TWINSANITY
(Prompt: Cut Content)
To say that 2004's Crash Twinsanity had a troubled development would be an understatement. Many different ideas and plot points from the team were as easily dropped as they were thought of. There was no unified vision of what the final product would be until it was too late. At least, that's how the stories go. But aren't they a questionable thing, stories? What was told about could be a good alibi, but there were going to be a lot more unhinged elements involved.
The project, originally titled "Crash 5: Total Twinsanity" for the first few months of its life, was going to try and branch Crash out into more open spaces, the Spyro games by Insomniac being a major inspiration. Those employed at Traveler's Tales, wanting to push their concepts further than the lackluster returns of The Wrath of Cortex, decided to throw Crash into a mature, dystopian direction. In early builds of the game, the story would start with a standard typical Crash level of the bandicoot platforming up to the top of Cortex Castle, still an ashy and decrepit mess from the first game. There, the Evil Twins would make themselves known, and would reveal they captured Coco with a torture device helmet similar to shock therapy. They tell Crash and Aku Aku to bring Cortex to the location so they can "exact the same amount of pain (they've) felt for years". This then cut to an open icy area, similar to Cortex's iceberg lair in the final game except more barren. In the center would be Cortex in a vast igloo maze Crash would have to go through. After telling Cortex about the Evil Twins, Cortex thinks to himself, and imagines him using Crash as a shield for the Evil Twins' attacks, then going for a killing blow.
Not much else was completed except a few cutscenes. One shows Crash and Cortex about to fight the Evil Twins (Nina was conceived later in development) only for them to shock Coco so much she faints and tumbles into a machine. The footage cuts off there. One more shows Cortex bound in shackles, being put before a court of kangaroos. Ripper Roo, in his sophisticated attire from Crash 2, says something that isn't heard completely, only a vaguely muffled mention of "depravity". Cortex gets taken away by Tiny Tiger and Koala Kong, but not before saying "my brain has claimed its glory over me". Being strapped to the Evolvo-Ray, now retrofitted with the machine the Evil Twins used against Coco. N. Brio, enjoying seeing his former employer in chains, pulls a lever and begins the torture. Credits roll as he gets shocked, Cortex's cries slowly morphing into him laughing maniacally. Through the credits, we see a silhouetted side-profile view of Cortex, a big window where his brain would be now occupied by Crash continuing to run around like a hamster on a wheel. The laughing continues, growing more vindictive as the procedure continues. After the credits are done, we see a quote atop a black and red swirling background:
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.