Soundtrack reviews: Crash Bandicoot

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It’s September of 1996, the PlayStation has been around for a year, and Sony realises that Nintendo—with titles like Mario and Donkey Kong—has the foothold on the market of kids’ video games. They want a slice of that pie too, but they need a mascot of their own. Enter Naughty Dog.

The game studio was founded in 1984 by high-schoolers Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, who loved and studied arcade games. Eventually the studio was picked up by Universal Studios and consequently the two friends moved to LA. En route, they had an idea: what would a three-dimensional version of an arcade game look like?

Probably something like this.

So they get to work assembling a team. Composer Josh Mancell begins writing the banger soundtrack that we know and love today. After only a few months of development, Crash Bandicoot is ready to be unleashed upon the gaming world. Or, more relevantly, against Nintendo.

Ah, the nostalgia of passive-aggressive 90s ads. They don’t make them like this anymore.

Crash takes the world by storm. All the cool kids at school have already clocked the game four times, kids without PlayStations are spending all their time at their friends’ houses who are lucky enough to have one, and the game is the most requested Christmas gift from Santa that year (probably). That orange, goofy bandicoot is just about everywhere.

The hybrid mix of 2D platforming with 3D graphics made the game a powerful weapon to add to Sony’s arsenal, solidifying their place in the gaming industry. 24 years later and that orange boi is still going strong, and I reckon the soundtrack deserves a fair amount of credit for that too.

Jungle Rollers

Something I think this game captures very well is the fact that soundtracks don’t necessarily have to be over-the-top, in-your-face combinations of epic drum and bass scores. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – other games have done this exceptionally well. But there's something to be said about a track that lets you become immersed in the level by taking a backseat.

Filled with ambient rainforest noises and a steady drum beat, this track is so simple yet adds so much to the level. You don’t have loud music blaring telling you how to feel: this track makes you feel like you really are running through the jungle, jumping on skunks and collecting wumpa fruit. And it’s funky – it helps you forget the fact that you've died ten times in the past two minutes and are insanely close to a mental breakdown.

Hog Wild

This could be the theme to so many moments in my life: when I'm halfway to the shops and realise I've forgotten my face mask, or when I'm running to catch a tram before it leaves, or when I'm laying in bed at 3am and am hit with the sudden realisation that I'm disgusting and will never find love.

This was my favourite level as a kid, purely for the Crash’s eyebrow raise right before he mounts the hog.

Crash, what are you planning on doing?

The silly, eccentric music here totally matches the vibe of this difficult level.

I must come clean: I did end up really hating this song because I spent so long on this damn level. But now that bouncy banjo holds a special place in my cold heart <3

Temple Ruins

THE DRUMS. *MWAH*

What a bloody masterpiece, if you'll pardon my language. The quiet xylophone tones at the beginning make you feel like you’re tip-toeing through a castle, then the heavy drums kick in and holy HECK.

Moving platforms, spikes, snakes and those bats that would come flying into the camera nearly sending you into cardiac arrest; this level needed a track that would match its intensity. And Mancell hit the nail on the rusty ole head.

Road to Nowhere

I think I lost half my body weight from the stress of this level. I went from being six years old to sixty in a matter of minutes. I’ve still got the stress lines from this level to prove it. IT’S HARD. Not to mention it was nightmare fuel. The idea of falling off the side of this bridge and into… well, nowhere, terrified me.

Hearing it again just transports me right back to that damn level and that damn bridge. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm still salty, but the track here is almost taunting. That riff that plays throughout the song, that flute, and those drum beats that Mancell loves using: it's weirdly dark. And, of course, it's got that Crash vibe that makes this soundtrack so sick.

Cortex Boss Music

So you’ve just gone through the absolute peril of this game and you finally meet up with Dr Neo Cortex, MD.

This song is as evil as Dr Cortex was in this game. Sure, in later games like Twinsanity he became somewhat of Naughty Dog’s attempt at a meme character but in this game he truly was scary.

The lone, out-of-tune bass guitar gives the track a dissonant vibe as you battle Cortex high up in the air above his castle. Knowing that you could be knocked off the blimp any second adds urgency not only to the level but to the song, too. This whole game wasn’t an easy win, beat-it-in-one-day kind of game. It was a tough slog – and it needed a tough finish.

Here’s to Josh Mancell, another certified video game legend.