Coco Bandicoot

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Coco Bandicoot (ココ・バンディクー in Japanese) is a major character in the Crash Bandicoot series and is the highly intelligent and spirited younger sister of Crash Bandicoot. She often aids her big brother by building gadgets ideal for the situation or even tagging along with him in his journeys, using self-taught martial arts to defend herself. She first appeared in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Her first appearance as a playable character was in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Since then, she has appeared in every Crash game.

Just as her brother was, Coco was an ordinary Bandicoot until she was taken from the jungle and genetically enhanced by Doctor Nitrus Brio to help Crash defeat Neo Cortex. It is unknown how she came to live with Crash afterwards as she was not seen in the first game stating how Crash and Tawna were created.

History

Naughty Dog Era

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Coco is first seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back living on N. Sanity Island with Crash. One day, when the battery for her laptop runs out, she sends Crash off to find a replacement battery for her. When Coco discovers that Crash is gathering crystals for Cortex, she becomes suspicious of Cortex and decides to hack into his computer to see what he's really up to. What she finds are detailed schematics for an improved Cortex Vortex and a suspicious-looking space station. She learns of Cortex's real plan, just as Crash has gathered all the crystals, and reveals Cortex's intentions to Crash before he can give the crystals to Cortex.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (in which she is a playable character), Coco is called upon by Aku Aku to use Doctor Nefarious Tropy's Time Twister Machine and gather the powerful crystals in their original places before Cortex does so. Coco helps by gathering the crystals in 17th century China, the 18th century Pacific Ocean, and World War I Europe. She is also responsible for the defeat of Doctor N. Gin on the moon, with her new pet tiger, Pura, assisting her.

Traveller's Tales Era

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

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Coco in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex.

In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Coco activates a new portal chamber she created for Crash to use when the Elementals wreak havoc on Earth. She helps Crash gather the power crystals needed to stop the Elementals by collecting them in a tsunami-ravaged Asia and an avalanche zone. She also stops an armada of Cortex's space stations from striking Earth. Near the end, she helps Crash and Crunch escape from Cortex's malfunctioning space station.

Crash Twinsanity

File:Twinsanity Coco.jpg

Coco Bandicoot in Crash Twinsanity.

In Crash Twinsanity, Coco is ambushed by Doctor Neo Cortex in order to lure Crash into a trap. Many moments later, Coco believes that Cortex kidnapped Crash, and travels to the Iceberg Lab to confront him. With a swift kick, she attacks Cortex and sends the Power Crystals he was holding flying into the Psychetron. The resulting chain reaction leaves Coco unconscious until the end of the game. In an earlier version of the game, Coco was to have a much larger role, helping Crash and Cortex gain access to the Airship by hacking into the security system of Cortex's old castle in stages that parodied the Matrix series. Additionally, a deleted level named "Gone a Bit Coco" would see Cortex traveling into Coco's Brainovial Hyperbarium through a malfunction in the Psychetron, encountering many "pastel-colored horrors". Crash will be hurt if he touches her while she's paralyzed.

Radical Entertainment Era

Crash of the Titans

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Coco in Crash of the Titans.

In Crash of the Titans, Coco is in the intro where she is seen with a device to recycle butter. She is captured by Dr. Neo Cortex's airship and is taken to Cortex Castle. When Nina replaces her uncle, Dr. Neo Cortex, Nina has Coco brainwashed and is forced to finish the Doominator. As you can see, Coco looks more like a teen in this game. She ends up completing the Doominator, but is rescued by Crash and is able to stop it at the end of the game. She eats pancakes with Crash and Crunch in celebration at the end of the game (hence Crash saying "Pancakes!"). When the Doominator crashes down on Wumpa Island, she cares more about her stuff.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant

Coco is a playable character in the cooperation mode of the Wii and Xbox 360 versions of Crash: Mind Over Mutant. Because her animations would take up too much memory in the PlayStation 2 version of the game, she is replaced by Carbon Crash, a white version of Crash Bandicoot. At the beginning of the game, Coco converts the Doominator's eye into an entertainment system. After seeing an infomercial advertising the "NV", a do-anything personal digital assistant, she receives an NV along with Crunch and quickly becomes addicted. Soon enough, the NV transforms her into a ferocious beast who tries to destroy Crash using a giant basketball-launching machine. After being defeated and informed (to her disappointment) that the NV had a negative influence on her, she uses the Doominator's eye to access Cortex's blog and learn what Cortex is planning. She is accessible as the second player's character from that point on. Coco has one other available skin that can be worn by accessing the chest inside of Crash's house. This other skin is the same clothing from Crash of the Titans (minus the headband) and her hair is in a pony tail. Carbon Crash is also one of Coco's skins.

Spin-offs

Crash Team Racing

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Coco is a playable character in Crash Team Racing. Her home track in the game is Coco Park. In the game's epilogue, Coco opens up her own internet dating service after the events of the game. Even though it isn't going well, share prices are through the roof.

Stats:

Speed: 4/5
Acceleration: 5/5
Turning: 2/5

Crash Bash

In Crash Bash, Coco is summoned by Aku Aku to battle against Uka Uka's team in a fight of good and evil alongside her big brother. But, Aku Aku forces Uka Uka to hand over two of his team as he has too many and chooses Tiny Tiger and Dingodile. Her stats are equal to her big brother. In the Crate Crush mini game, she can spin crates far while moving, although her throwing range isn't good. In Polar Push, she can push two times in a row and has great pushing power. In Tank Wars, she shoots average moving fireballs. Her best stat is in the Pogo mini games where she is faster than Crash on her pogo sticks. Her taunt is whistling at the other players in the game. When she wins, she yells " Ha ha ha ha!".

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure

In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Coco builds a device that reverses the effects of Cortex's Planetary Minimizer with the power of the crystals.

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced

In Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, Coco is abducted by N. Trance and is hypnotized alongside Crunch and Fake Crash. Coco battles Crash in a large battleship inside an active volcano, with Crash attacking the craft while it is reloading it's weaponry. Upon snapping out of N. Trance's control, Coco becomes a playable character, gathering two crystals in space whilst escaping a fireball. See also Coco Bandicoot (boss fights).

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage

In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage, Coco teams up with the Professor to track down Ripto and Doctor Cortex. Later in the game, they're both kidnapped by Doctor Cortex's niece, Nina Cortex, who keeps them locked up in cages. After being freed from her cage, Coco suggests that Crash and Spyro put a tracer on Cortex and Ripto as to allow the heroes to track the villains back to their hideout. Coco's last major contribution to the story is constructing a portal to Cortex's and Ripto's lair.

Crash Nitro Kart

She returns as a playable character in this game and is a member of Team Bandicoot with Crash, Crunch and Fake Crash. She has a turn like N. Gin, Polar and Zam. In the intro, Coco is on her laptop and next to the kart. After Team Bandicoot defeats Nash, she hacks into his brain and puts him to sleep, saying he needed some. In the end, she's seen reading a book with Polar next to her.

Stats:

Speed: 2/7
Acceleration: 4/7
Turning: 6/7
Difficulty: Beginner

Crash Tag Team Racing

Coco is a playable character in Crash Tag Team Racing. Her clashed weapon is the Sticky Lightning Gun. In the game's story, Coco discovers the sole clue to whoever stole Von Clutch's MotorWorld's Power Gems has led to Wumpa Whip. Because of Crash's high consumption of the beverage, she briefly believes (along with the others) that Crash is the culprit, despite the fact that Willie Wumpa Cheeks is the park's lone source of Wumpa Whip. At the end of the game, Coco, Crash and Crunch were offered the park's deed, but Coco returns it to Von Clutch, to whom she feels it belongs. Here, Coco's notable change is her personality, which differs from the other games.

Crash Boom Bang!

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Coco as she appears in Crash Boom Bang!.

Coco plays a central role in Crash Boom Bang!, in which she is invited by the Viscount to the World Cannonball Race in his search for the Super Big Power Crystal.

Cancelled Games

Crash Landed

Coco would have appeared in Crash Landed. It is unknown what her purpose would be in the game.

Relationships

Crash Bandicoot

Crash and Coco have a strong brother/sister relationship which is due to their opposite personalities. Although Coco frequently uses Crash as an errand boy, she genuinely cares for his well-being and goes as far as physically attacking Cortex when she believes that Crash was "kidnapped by Cortex" . Like her brother, Coco has a fearless nature and is willing to take any chance, unafraid of making mistakes. Despite not being as adventurous as her big brother, Coco still tags along with him to help with any technological problem.

Aku Aku

Like Crash, Aku Aku treats Coco as his own child. There are times where they may reach conflict, thought they care very much for each other. As stated in Crash Bash, Aku Aku is very overprotective of her. Aku Aku is one of two characters who act as a parent to Coco yet be ignored by her, the other being Crunch.

Crunch Bandicoot

While her personality can go well with Crash, Coco may conflict with Crunch especially when Crunch attempts to order Coco around: this results in the two having a mixed relationship. In Crash Tag Team Racing, she comforts him when Von Clutch dies, but in Crash: Mind Over Mutant, she tells him he's not the boss of her or Crash. Despite this, she uses Crunch to threaten Crash from time to time, due to his metal arm and the fact that he's bigger than both of them: ("Wait until I tell Crunch! You are toast buddy!" - Crash Tag Team Racing).

Pura

During Crash Warped, Coco found Pura on the Great Wall of China, to which he helped her get across to get the crystals. Pura later helped Coco battle against N. Gin on the moon. After the Time Twister collapsed, Crash, Aku Aku and Coco rescued Pura along with Baby T and Coco took the tiger in as her own pet. They're very close, as shown by their concept art.

Characteristics

Personality

From the moment she is introduced, Coco is established as a "mistress" sort of character and uses Crash to perform certain errands whenever she sees fit. Her work ethic can be best described as domineering; most of the time, she only works on what she wants to do and largely ignores what really needs to be done, such as cleaning the house (as displayed in Crash: Mind Over Mutant). Despite this, Coco is generally depicted as cheerful and high spirited, her educated wit often contrasted by an innocent childlike demeanour. Despite their contrasting personalities, Coco is far from prissy and is generally tolerant, if not outright amused by Crash's behaviour. She also shares his altruistic code, even to some enemies (as Crash had taken sympathy on Krunk in Nitro Kart, Coco felt pity for Nash, using her hack smarts to make the "poor shark thingy" take a long needed nap).

She is great with technology as she carries a pink/turquoise laptop occasionally and is skilled at hacking, as seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, when she intercepts Cortex's messages to convince her brother not to listen to him. Below the Bandicoot House lies Coco's VR Hub System, which resides in a secret lab seen in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. It works similar to the Time Twister in that it can warp to different places around the world, the only difference being in the present time. She is a fan of martial arts films and masculine sports such as wrestling and NASCAR, stating that she could be. In Crash Tag Team Racing, Coco's personality is different: she is more feminine, preppy, sassy, often take eccentric poses, and has liking of beauty and shopping. Coco has an unexplained grudge against Nina Cortex starting from Crash Tag Team Racing, something that ends up requited after she openly competes for superiority above her in Crash of the Titans.

Coco is generally depicted a lucid foil for Crash, often taking the role of straight man or spokesman whenever Aku Aku isn't around. She is not without her own dizzy moments however, and is certainly not immune to the same slapstick buffoonery that so often befalls her brother.

Physical Appearance

Coco Stunned — Coco stunned in Twinsanity.

In contrast to Crash's cartoony physical appearance, Coco's figure is more svelte and realistic. Like most characters in the series, her stature is inconsistent, frequently switching between being shorter or taller than her "big brother". In all of her appearances, she is shown to have a full head of blond hair, usually tied up in a ponytail and with a blue/ pink/ purple/ green flower stuck on the side. From her first appearance up to Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Coco wears a white shirt, light-blue overalls (with one strap undone), pink shoes and hair tied up at the back. Starting with Crash Nitro Kart, Coco changed from a young girl to a grown-up teenager. Although she still wears a flower in her hair, Coco's clothes and physique became visually more mature and feminine. For example, in the cutscenes in Crash Nitro Kart, she has more of a figure and has developed a rounder backside. She also wears blue jeans and a white midriff-baring T-shirt with a red star on it. An unlockable costume in Crash Tag Team Racing has Coco dressing up in a blue and pink princess attire. Nitro Kart set the standard for all of Coco's following outfits - consisting of the tight jeans and white midriff-baring crop-top.

In Crash of the Titans, Coco's attire is very similar to what she wore in Crash Tag Team Racing, though the sleeves on her T-shirt have become a light-blue color. Coco does not wear her hair in a ponytail or wear a flower in it in this installment, instead having her hair straight down and wearing a blue headscarf and is seen as much more grown up. The shape of her head is also altered. Coco's design is altered once more for Crash: Mind Over Mutant, in which her head is back to the original shape. She once again wears her hair in a ponytail with two strands up front, wears goggles on her forehead and has larger, more expressive eyes. Her jeans also became yellow and her shoes went from pink to brown.

Manga

Coco appears in Dansu! De Jump! Na Daibouken where she tries to help Crash get over his loss over Tawna. She appears in her classic look and can be a bit irritated by her brother's attitude at times. She doesn't have that much involvement where she doesn't try to hack into Cortex's network to see what he's really planning.

Abilities

Coco possesses most abilities that is shared with her brother, Crash, with the exception of immunity from mind control. However, she's not as physically active as Crash.

Scientific Genius - Level Intellect - Coco's most notable trait is her high intelligence; her intelligence quotient is said to be as much as 164. With such high intelligence, Coco is able to create a number of complex machines and hack into virtually any computer. She also was able to construct an entire warp room in the house for traveling across the globe (Wrath of Cortex).
Expert Combatant - Aside from her high intelligence, Coco is able to physically fend for herself, knowing an array of martial arts leg moves, one powerful enough to create a large shock wave and she can also spin like her brother can.
Aptitude - Coco is also shown to be a skilled scooter, snowboard, tiger, airplane, spaceship, kart, and tank rider. She's also a fast learner, picking up information and creating new machines or gadgets faster than Doctor Neo Cortex with greater reliability.

Portrayals

In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Coco is voiced by Vicki Winters in the English version. She is voiced by Hynden Walch in the English version of Crash Team Racing. She is portrayed by Laurence Dourlens in the French version of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Sauvane Delanoë in the French versions of Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash. Monica Ward voices Coco in all of the Italian versions. Haruna Ikezawa voices Coco in the Japanese versions of all her PlayStation appearances. In the Italian versions, Coco is voiced by Antonella Baldini. In the English versions of all her speaking appearances as of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, she is voiced by Debi Derryberry, who, as of 2008's Crash: Mind Over Mutant, is the voice actor with the longest stay in the series. She is voiced by Lucille Boulanger in the French version of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and by Patricia Legrand (who also voices Nina Cortex and the Brat Girls in the series) in the French versions of her speaking appearances as of Crash Nitro Kart. In the Italian version, Coco is voiced by Federica Valenti from Crash Tag Team Racing to Crash: Mind Over Mutant. She is voiced by Ema Kogure in the Japanese versions of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Twinsanity, by Satomi Arai in the Japanese version of Crash Tag Team Racing and by Risa Tsubaki in Crash Boom Bang!.

Trivia

Coco's voice actor is one of the only three listed in the credits (and using real words) in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back.
Debi Derryberry, the voice actor for Coco, is also the voice behind many TV characters, such as Jimmy Neutron. Coco and Jimmy actually have a lot in common, for the both have several "nerd" qualities.
In one of her artworks, she is seen holding a TNT Crate, however, the TNT crate would normally begin a countdown and then explode.
It's still unknown who created Coco.
In Crash Tag Team Racing, Coco says "Time to show you what a 1.6.4 IQ can do". She also says she thinks N. Gin is cute, even though she fought him in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, if Crash approaches one of Coco's levels, he falls on his face before he can reach the warp orb, allowing Coco to enter the level.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is the only game where Coco does not have any dialogue.
She was the only other playable character in the main continuity until Crash Twinsanity was released.
She is the second character to gain a power or ability; the first and only other being Crash.
- However, the only powers she receives from Crash are the improved Stomp (Belly Flop, called Stomp when used by Coco.) and Dash powers. She cannot use the other powers Crash receives for some reason (probably due to Crash having more experience and the fact that she kicks rather than spins).
She is also the only character in the Crash series known to speak in "Leet" (internet slang). This is demonstrated in Crash Nitro Kart. Two of her quotes are "Roxxor!" and "Suxxor!" These, when translated out of "Leet": mean "rocks!" and "sucks!" respectively. As a result, she acts much like a tomboy.
Along with Crash, Doctor Neo Cortex and Doctor N. Gin, Coco is one of the only characters who is playable in all the racing games.
Coco seems to be the only bandicoot that keeps aging throughout the series. From her introduction in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back until Crash Tag Team Racing came out, Coco seemed to look like a little girl (possibly 6 years old at the time of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and 11 years old at the time of Crash Tag Team Racing). Starting from Crash Boom Bang, Coco started to look much more like a teenager, possibly being 12. By Crash: Mind over Mutant, Coco seems to be at least 14 years old.
In Crash Team Racing, Coco has her own race track known as Coco Park.
In Crash Twinsanity, when she kicks the two crystals Cortex is holding out of his hands, she appears to have also kicked him in the groin, as is evident when Cortex's voice goes high when he says "My crystals!" This may also be because he lost the crystals he was holding.
According to the qualifications here, she breaks the fourth wall numerous times in the latest Crash installments by referring to things such as NASCAR, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and TiVo. She also uses leet speak in CNK and hums the theme song, which can also qualify.
Coco's personality change is most recognizable in Crash Tag Team Racing, where she acts completely dominant, albeit preppy, partially more feminine and a perfectionist, becoming much nice in the process rather than acting only as a computer genius as she was before.
Coco apparently misses her mother, as stated in one of her quotes in Crash Tag Team Racing when she's hit by Crash: ("I'm telling mom... if we had one").
- In Crash: Mind over Mutant, sometimes when Crash attacks her, she will say is "I'm telling Mom...Who is she anyway?.
She was originally meant to be playable in Crash Twinsanity, where she would assist Crash and Cortex. Like in Wrath of Cortex, she would have her own levels which include one where she rides an ostrich and an underwater level (both reminscent to NaughtyDog's Crash).
In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, the sunlight spots on Coco's hair are permanent, no matter which way she is facing.
Except for Crash of the Titans and Crash Nitro Kart 3D, Coco has always had her hair in a ponytail.
Coco is 1 of the 5 playable female characters. The other 4 being Tawna, Nina, Pasadena and Yaya.
Coco's laptop was always pink in the Naughty Dog games and The Wrath Of Cortex. However, in Crash Nitro Kart, it became the same shade of blue as her jeans. Whether she changed the color or the laptop is unknown.
In Crash Team Racing, when Coco loses, there is the Naughty Dog Logo on her laptop that can be seen when she comes in second place. When she comes in third place, you can see the Naughty Dog signature paw print on the screen.
Coco has 2 outfits she was meant to wear but weren't seen: in Crash Warped, she wore a biker outfit consisting of a white top, black skirt and heels while in Tag Team Racing, she was supposed to wear a costume resembling Pura.
Coco's 4 voice actors as English is voiced by Vicki Winters in 1997 and first appeared Crash 2, Hynden Walch in 1999 for Crash Team Racing, Anna Garduno in 2000 from Crash Bash as uncredited, and Debi Derryberry in 2001 to present for first appeared out of game like The Wrath of Cortex.