Doctor Neo Cortex

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Neo Periwinkle Cortex
Cortex in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
Game series	Crash Bandicoot
First game	Crash Bandicoot
Creator(s)	Naughty Dog
Voice actor(s) (English)	Brendan O'Brien Clancy Brown Lex Lang
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Shōzō Iizuka Yousuke Akimoto (CBB)

Doctor Neo Cortex (ドクター ネオ コルテックス, Dokutā Neo Korutekkusu^?) is a video game character, and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series. Cortex's appearance and personality is often viewed as stereotypical and cartoonish, although others consider him as perhaps one of the most devloped characters in all (non-RPG) video games, with his misplaced ego being a running joke. He is a mad scientist bent on world domination.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 General 1.2 Childhood 1.3 Crash Bandicoot 1.4 Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back 1.5 Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped 1.6 Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex 1.7 Crash Twinsanity 1.8 Other appearances 2 Weapon 3 Theme tunes 4 Trivia 5 Voice actors 6 List of games in which Cortex is the final boss 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] General

Cortex is in many ways a typical mad scientist, being cocky, pompous, egotistical, arrogant, and cowardly. Cortex's massive intellect fuels his ego, and despite being very physically weak, Cortex seems to think he is not only highly attractive and popular, but invincible (especially in Crash: Nitro Kart), which can get him into trouble. However, his most loyal and powerful creation, Tiny Tiger, soon comes to his aid and protection, whom Cortex can hide behind, further convincing Cortex of his power. Although most loathe him, his small group of minions (Doctor N. Gin in particluar)look up to and obey him without question. Cortex himself is a servant of Uka Uka in return, who feels Cortex is imcompetant and treats him very badly, in contrast to Doctor Nefarious Tropy, whom Uka treats more as an equal. The possible jealously that would stem from this has not yet been explored, but Cortex's warped view of himself may prevent him from ever feeling jealously, instead considering it the fault of others if they do not like him. In a reflection of Uka, Cortex treats Tiny rather badly, and blames him for most of his mistakes, although he relies on him for much of his evil deeds.

[edit] Childhood

Cortex spent most of his childhood in Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil, as evidenced in Crash Twinsanity. He was apparently the source of much jealousy and hatred among the other students, contrary to what he believes.^[1] There, he created the prototype of the Evolvo-Ray, giving birth to his ambition to create an army of genetically-advanced animals. His first subjects were his two pet parrots Victor and Moritz, the creatures he claims to be the only ones he didn't loathe or eat.^[2] Unfortunately, the Evolvo-Ray prototype ended up sending the parrots to the 10th Dimension. But Cortex showed little sympathy for the parrots and continued his studies.^[3]

[edit] Crash Bandicoot

Upon graduating and entering the scientific community, he was ridiculed by the other scientists for his outlandish (yet nearly workable) theories concerning the Evolvo-Ray. From this day forth, Cortex became motivated by one driving force: to shut those know-it-alls up once and for all. After teaming up with Doctor Nitrus Brio, creator of the Evolvo-Ray, he began creating his mutant army of once-animals, now-armored beasts that'll supposedly help him achieve global domination. Upon these beasts was Crash Bandicoot, whom Cortex decided to make his general and leader of the "Cortex Commandos".^[4] But upon being inserted into the untested Cortex Vortex, Crash was deemed a reject and a failure by Cortex, and chased him out of his castle base. Before the female bandicoot Tawna could be subjected to the Cortex Vortex, Crash returned to the castle from N. Sanity Island and burned the castle to the ground. Determined to eliminate Crash from this world, Cortex pursued Crash on his Cortex Glider, armed with a blaster gun. However, Crash defeated Cortex and sent him plummeting to his assumed death. If Crash gets 100% then Cortex leaves and is never heard from again, ultimately causing the other games to never exist.^[5] However, this ending is considered non-canonical.

[edit] Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, it is revealed that Cortex survived through the fall from the last game. It transpires that Cortex landed in a cavern that contained a powerful Crystal that could assist him in his plot for world domination. During the course of a year, Cortex built a space station with a Cortex Vortex of planetary proportions mounted on it, and hired a former defense industry physicist named Doctor N. Gin to be his new henchman. When it is discovered that additional "Slave Crystals" are needed along with the "Master Crystal" for the Cortex Vortex to reach full power, Cortex decides to deceive Crash into gathering the Crystals for him,^[6] communicating with him through the use of holograms. When Coco reveals his plan to Crash, Cortex flees into outer space with the Crystals in hand. However, Crash attacks him and caused his jetpack to malfunction, stranding him in space.

[edit] Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Cortex is saved from the depths of space by one of the very few people he actually fears: the sentient mask Uka Uka, who turns out to be Cortex's boss. Cortex is scolded by Uka Uka for losing both the Gems and the Crystals,^[7] but his life is spared since he indirectly set him free.^[8] From that point on, he merely becomes a servant to Uka Uka, complaining about his aching head while he's at it, and at one point even contemplating retirement.^[9] In the end, he is once again defeated by Crash and is caught in the imploding Time Twister, trapped in the prison of time alongside Uka Uka and Doctor N. Tropy as a baby with a lower case "n" on his head, with seemingly no possible means of escape.

[edit] Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

After somehow escaping from the time prison, thought by many to be Doctor N. Gin, who was the only one not stuck in time, Cortex began laboring over a genetically-advanced superweapon that'll supposedly wipe Crash Bandicoot off the face of the Earth forever that he keeps a secret from the other villains. However the project is inadvertedly revealed by Doctor N. Gin during a bad guy convention inside Cortex's new space station.^[10] He claims that the superweapon is unbelievably strong, but it is still missing a power source.^[11] He soon decides to use the Elementals as the power source, which successfully bring the secret weapon to life. But the superweapon once again fails to defeat Crash, and ends up making friends with the Bandicoots. Frustrated with their failure, Uka Uka prepares to kill Cortex, but in the process of trying to do so, he hits a vital part of the space station, which results in a critical overload. Uka Uka and Doctor Cortex flee into an escape pod, which lands in the frozen wastes of Antarctica. They're both forced to live on a large sheet of ice.

[edit] Crash Twinsanity

After spending three years floating across the Indian Ocean on a block of ice, Cortex finally makes it back to N. Sanity Island, where he ambushes Coco, disguises himself as her, and lures Crash over to the bay where he attempts to eliminate Crash with the 40-foot tall Mecha-Bandicoot piloted by Doctor N. Gin, which Crash easily disposes of. Frustrated with his defeat, Cortex throws a tantrum and attacks Crash in an underground cavern, eventually coming across the Evil Twins, who've come to destroy Crash's island and devastate Earth. Crash and Cortex team up to destroy these two upstarts with the Psychetron, a machine that'll allow them to travel between the infinite dimensions. However, it soon becomes apparent that these twins are from Cortex's past. Recruiting his niece, Nina Cortex, the trio set out to right the wrongs and sweep the rug (or "wrong the rights and sweep the past under the rug" as Cortex plainly puts it).^[12] Coming to a final confrontation in the 10th Dimension (in which everything is opposite), the Evil Twins are eventually defeated and eaten by Evil Crash. Back in the Iceberg Lab, Cortex has Crash stand under the Psychetron and tells him that he was wrong about Crash. He tells him that his creation was a mistake, and his existence has been a painful reminder of that mistake. He then says that he has learned something: you can't run away from your mistakes, but you can bury them. And with that, Cortex pulls a lever that would supposedly kill Crash. Unfortunately for him, the Psychetron malfunctions, and sends Cortex into Crash's brain.

[edit] Other appearances

• Cortex is a playable character in the games Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash, Crash Nitro Kart, and Crash Tag Team Racing.
• Cortex has a villain role in the game Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, where he tries to conquer the world by shrinking it.
• Before the third stage in Crash Boom Bang!, Cortex attempts to steal the Viscount's map and find the Super Big Power Crystal himself. When Cortex and the Viscount struggle for the possession of the map, it tears into four pieces. Cortex sends his Lab Assistants to find the pieces before anyone else can, but is unsuccessful in the search.^[13]

[edit] Weapon

Cortex's main weapon is a ray gun, which he uses mostly on every boss fight with Crash. Sometimes, he uses other weapons such as bombs or detonating land mines.

[edit] Theme tunes

• In the first 3 games, Neo Cortex's theme largely consisted of the bass guitar, with the drum kit becoming more prominent in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and the steelpan added in Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

• If the Cortex Castle theme can be considered Cortex's theme tune, it starts out as a quiet pair of plucked string instruments and drum kit cymbal taps, but then expands after a short while to include brass instruments, cymbal crashes, snare drum, and a couple of woodwind instruments.

• While all of the music in Twinsanity is performed a capella, Cortex's theme during his boss fight is meant to imitate a slow, steady piece of heavy metal guitar, drum kit, and synthesizer.

[edit] Trivia

• It is revealed in Crash Twinsanity that he can speak penguin.

• He drives three cars in Crash Tag Team Racing: Imperium, Deadinator, and Probulot 2000.

• His full name is Neo Periwinkle Cortex, as revealed in Crash Tag Team Racing by Ebeneezer Von Clutch.^[14]

• He has directly appeared in every single game thus far except Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, although he is mentioned by name and is a playable character in the two-player mode if it is linked up to Crash:The Huge Adventure.

• It appears that Cortex has no connections with his parents, but if you listen closely as you go through the 2nd Moulin Cortex house you can here a woman shouting his name and Cortex responding with "Mother?!".

[edit] Voice actors

• He is voiced by Brendan O'Brien in the first Crash Bandicoot game

• He is voiced by Clancy Brown from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back to Crash Nitro Kart

• He is voiced by Lex Lang in Crash Twinsanity and Crash Tag Team Racing.

• In the Japanese dubs of the games, he is voiced by veteran seiyū Shōzō Iizuka.

• In Crash Boom Bang!, he is voiced by Yousuke Akimoto.

[edit] List of games in which Cortex is the final boss

• Crash Bandicoot (PlayStation)
• Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PlayStation)
• Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PlayStation) (sharing with Uka Uka)
• Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure/Crash Bandicoot XS (Game Boy Advance)
• Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (PlayStation 2) (sharing with Crunch Bandicoot)
• Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage (Game Boy Advance) (sharing with Ripto)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Crash Mania's Crash-O-Pedia article on Cortex
• Ultimate Bandicoot's article on Cortex
• Sagertooth's character info article on Dr. Neo Cortex

[ Edit ]

 

Crash Bandicoot characters, items, and places

Good Guys	Crash | Tawna | Aku | Coco | Polar | Pura | Rex | Trophy Girls | Crunch | Pasadena | Penta | Fake Crash | Ernest | Chick | Stew | Von Clutch | Park Drones |
Neutral	Brio | Papu | Velo | Krunk | Nash | Norm | Geary |Viscount
Uka Uka and His Villains	Cortex | Ripper Roo | Kong | Pinstripe | N. Gin | Komodo Bros. | Tiny | Uka | Tropy | Dingodile | Rilla Roo | Elementals | Trance | Nina | Rusty
Other Villains	Oxide | Evil Crash | Amberly | Tikimon | Zam | Zem | Evil Twins | Bearminator | Ripto | Willie
Enemies	Tribesmen | Lab Assistants | Piranha Plants | Ants
Items	Crystals | Gems | Wumpa Fruit | Relics | Gem Shards
Areas	N. Sanity Island | Cortex Castle