Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a platformer title that serves as a retcon of the games that initially succeeded Crash Bandicoot: Warped. It was developed by Toys for Bob (with help from Beenox) and published by Activision. Despite its name, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the eighth installment of the main Crash Bandicoot series. The game was first released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2020, and was later released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, the Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows in 2021.

Story
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is set in alternate timeline following the events of the first three games, while all other mainline titles, including a couple of Game Boy Advance games in the Crash Bandicoot franchise, are retconned in its place. After Crash Bandicoot's last triumph, Uka Uka attempts to bust himself, Dr. Neo Cortex, and Dr. N. Tropy from their prison in the past. His latest effort tears open a hole in the fabric of space and time and puts him in a deep sleep due to exhaustion. Cortex and N. Tropy swiftly escape, leaving Uka Uka, and discover that the Quantum Rift they use links their universe to the rest of the multiverse, leading them deciding to make use of it to conquer all dimensions. To ensure success, the pair creates the Rift Generator, capable of opening other Quantum Rifts, and recruit aid from Dr. N. Gin and Dr. N. Brio to provide an army in anticipation of their enemies' interference. Meanwhile, Aku Aku, Uka Uka's older twin brother, senses the disturbance in space and time emanating from N. Sanity Peak and enjoins Crash to investigate. Upon arriving, he comes across Lani-Loli, whom Aku Aku recognizes as one of the Quantum Masks—four ancient witch doctor masks that have great power over space and time, and who would only appear if something has opened up the multiverse. Lani spots a rift and suspects there is suspense, leading to Crash and his sister Coco agreeing to follow him across the multiverse and find the other Quantum Masks, while dealing with the anarchy Cortex is creating.

The pair arrives at the Hazardous Wastes where N. Gin suddenly appears to warn them that he will try harder and telling them to prepare for his metal concert with his new mech: the Weapon of Mass Percussion. As Crash and Coco are on their way to the show, they hear a mysterious being, who hooks the Doom Rig onto a chain. After successfully evading the monster truck, Crash and Coco make it to the concert where they defeat N. Gin. En route to rescue Akano from the clutches of Louise in the Salty Wharf, the Bandicoots end up being captured by the pirates. However, the mysterious being is able to stop the pirates and rescue Crash and Coco, revealing herself to be an alternate version of Tawna, Crash's old girlfriend. They are thrilled to see each other, and yet, Tawna declines to explain what happened to Crash and Coco in her own dimension and insists on working alone. After confronting and defeating Louise, the Bandicoots are joined by Akano.

As Crash and Coco arrive at Tranquility Falls, N. Brio abruptly appears and tells them to go to his battlefield to get a reward after defeating his creatures. Tawna encounters the doctor just as he was about to toss a beaker of potion onto the Bandicoot. She surprises him, causing him to miss his shot. However, when Tawna prepares to fight Brio herself, he escapes using his beakers. Crash and Coco later arrive at Brio's testing grounds to battle him. After getting badly damaged, he drinks the potion and transforms into a hulking form to Crush the Bandicoots. Akano is able to help Crash and Coco knock him out of his grounds; however, N. Brio has eventually survived his defeat, having transformed into a pterodactyl form, in an attempt to deal the decisive blow, only to lay an egg that Crash claims and fly off, mortified, much to Coco's shock. Meanwhile, in Mosquito Marsh, Dingodile, who has recently retired from villainy to run his own restaurant, finds himself caught up in the chaos as his business is burned down by a rival restaurant, and he is sucked into another dimension by a Quantum Rift after exacting revenge on a group of Wumpashiners after they detonate his business, and he traverses through dimensions in his search for home to rebuild his diner. When Crash and Coco traverse across the bayou, Kupuna-Wa joins the duo.

Crash and Coco enter the 11th Dimension where they hear a warning message from a hologram of Cortex; he informs them not to freeze while they try to find him on the mountain. As the Bandicoots make it to the ship, Cortex pulls out a button that will explode upon pressing it, attempting to blow the bandicoots into smithereens, only to sneeze hard and inadvertently press the button too early, thus failing his plan. When Crash and Coco climb their way across the mountain, Tawna comes across a button and upon pressing it, it raises a platform full of Nitro Crates, which the Bandicoots proceed thanks to Kupuna-Wa. The Bandicoots use Polar to give chase on their way to Cortex's airship, where he is awaiting their arrival. Following their confrontation against Cortex, N. Tropy betrays him and reveals that he and his new partner—eventually revealed to be an alternate version of himself from Tawna's universe—are seeking to use the Rift Generator's power to reset the timeline in all dimensions as gods. They put the multiverse in turmoil and plan to subsequently erase Cortex, the bandicoots, and the Masks from existence. A mad Cortex agrees to team up with the bandicoots.

The three arrive in the Eggipus Dimension where they rescue the final Quantum Mask, Ika-Ika. They eventually arrive at Bermugula's Orbit where they meet up with Dingodile and Tawna; together, they see the Tropies on a television with Nitros Oxide. The female N. Tropy orders Oxide to take his ship to planet Bermugula to protect the Rift Generator, leading Cortex making his way through the interior of his space station in order to prevent him from leaving inside his spaceship. Cortex later makes it to the control panel and presses a big red button that stuns the ship. As Crash and Coco arrive at the ship, Tawna captures them and leaves them bound as she goes to face the Tropies at the Rift Generator herself. After Dingodile and Cortex free Crash and Coco, they happen upon Tawna struggling against the female Tropy, who tauntingly reveals that she killed Crash and Coco herself in Tawna's dimension. The Bandicoots defeat the Tropies, lead the Quantum Masks destroying the Rift Generator, sealing all the space-time disruptions.

However, when the group takes a celebratory trip to Neon City in the Sn@xx Dimension, Cortex accidentally kidnaps Kupuna-Wa and uses her powers to travel back in time to 1996 (the year of his original bid for world domination) in an attempt to preclude Crash's creation. In the end, he is unable to both convince his past self to cancel the experiment and repel the present Crash, Coco and Aku Aku, who followed him from the future. When the Quantum Masks banish him to the end of the universe, the past Cortex proceeds with the experiment, preparing to brainwash the past Crash with the Cortex Vortex; the present Crash inadvertently destroys the Vortex's power source, causing it to malfunction and fail to brainwash his past self, thereby ensuring his own creation thanks to a casual loop. Dingodile rebuilds and reopens his diner, Cortex relaxes on the end of the universe and enjoys the peace and quiet, and Crash, Coco, Tawna, Aku Aku and the Quantum Masks play video games at their home on N. Sanity Island. Following an epilogue narrated by Crash detailing the fates and whereabouts of the game's characters, Cortex's relaxation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Uka Uka.

Levels

 * N. Sanity Island, Present Day
 * The Hazardous Wastes, 2084
 * Salty Wharf, 1717
 * Tranquility Falls, 1402
 * Mosquito Marsh, A Few Days Ago
 * The 11th Dimension, 1954
 * Eggipus Dimension, 88 Million B.C.B
 * Bermugula's Orbit, ???
 * The Sn@xx Dimension, 3023
 * Cortex Island, 1996

Trivia

 * Despite this game's chronology placement, some characters who do not appear physically, like Crunch Bandicoot and Nina Cortex, have made visual cameos.