Crash Bash

Crash Bash is a party video game featuring eight playable characters with differing powers and skills: Crash, Coco Bandicoot, Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, Cortex, Doctor Nitrus Brio, Koala Kong, and newcomer Rilla Roo. The gameplay consists of 28 different mini-games divided into seven categories with multiple variations each. The categories consist of: "Ballistix", in which players pilot hovercraft to deflect steel balls away from their goal; "Polar Push", in which players riding polar bear cubs must knock opponents off of an icy arena; "Pogo Pandemonium", in which players navigate a grid on pogo sticks to paint squares with their color; "Crate Crush", in which players throw or kick stone crates at their opponents to deplete their health and eliminate them from play; "Tank Wars", a tank battle involving mines and missiles; "Crash Dash", a multi-lap race on a circular track; and "Medieval Mayhem", a variety of challenges played within a circular arena. Crash Bash includes multiplayer compatibility for up to four human players with the use of the PlayStation Multitap.

Crash Bash features three distinct modes of play: "Adventure", "Battle" and "Tournament". In the Adventure mode, one or two human players must win all 28 mini-games and retrieve trophies, gems and crystals by accomplishing certain challenges presented for each mini-game. The mini-games are accessed from a series of "Warp Room" hub areas, with the first Warp Room consisting of four mini-games. A trophy is won by achieving victory in three rounds of any given mini-game.

The Adventure campaign features a story centering on Aku Aku and Uka Uka, who seek to resolve their feud via a contest between teams who battle in their stead, as the brothers are forbidden from fighting each other directly. During the course of the campaign, Uka Uka plots to use the crystals obtained by the player, a scheme which Aku Aku becomes wise to. The ending is determined by the player's choice of character. If the player chose a character from Aku Aku's team, Aku Aku locks the crystals away and banishes Uka Uka into the vacuum of space, but if the player chose a character from Uka Uka's team, Uka Uka wields the crystals' destructive power to his own ends. If two players complete the campaign with a character from each team, the characters are subject to a special tie-breaking game to decide which team prevails.

Following the release of Crash Team Racing in 1999, Crash Bandicoot creator Naughty Dog began development on Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for the PlayStation 2, and were soon acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment, with Universal Interactive retaining control of the Crash Bandicoot intellectual property. As Naughty Dog's deal with Universal expired, Universal president Mark Cerny departed the studio and formed the independent consultancy Cerny Games to continue his relationship with Naughty Dog and Sony.

Universal's first Crash Bandicoot game without Naughty Dog's involvement would be the Eurocom-developed Crash Bash, with Cerny and Michael John of Cerny Games acting as designers. Naughty Dog, however, donated its entire Crash Bandicoot-related art database for the game's development. Eurocom's Jon Williams, Sony's Grady Hunt, and Universal's Vijay Lakshman served as producers. The programming team consisted of Dave Pridmore, Stuart Johnson, Julian Walshaw-Vaughn, Steve Bak, and Kris Adcock.

Crash Bash received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewers widely compared the game to Mario Party and the then-upcoming Sonic Shuffle. While perceiving a lack of depth and originality, they nevertheless regarded the multiplayer experience as enjoyable.

Shawn Sparks of GameRevolution commended the variety of mini-games, but was displeased by the requirement of playing through the Adventure mode to unlock mini-games in the multiplayer modes. Matt Helgeson of Game Informer admired the challenge and innovative concepts provided by the mini-games, but felt that the Adventure mode was monotonous and lacked purpose. Greg Sewart of Electronic Gaming Monthly interpreted Eurocom's eschewing of the board game formula established by Mario Party in favor of a more action-based format as an attempt to not appear completely derivative, which he deemed unsuccessful. He also complained of the lack of diversity in the Tournament mode, which grouped together mini-games of the same basic type, and felt that it made the mini-game completion requirement of one of the players winning at least three rounds especially tedious.