User:Superstarxalien

Superstarxalien
First appearance	Crash Bandicoot (1996)
Latest appearance	Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (cameo) (2020)
Species	Bandicoot
Latest portrayal	Misty Lee (2019)

Tawna Bandicoot is a female bandicoot with blonde hair that appears in the first Crash Bandicoot game as Crash Bandicoot's girlfriend. She became absent in later entries in the series, albeit with cameos, with Coco Bandicoot serving as the female supporting character of the series in her stead. She eventually reappeared in Crash Boom Bang! as a playable character, and would later appear in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled in the same role.

Although she doesn't appear in the game, an alternate universe counterpart of Tawna appears as a playable character in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

Overview

Games

Crash Bandicoot

Tawna first appears in the original Crash Bandicoot game as an ordinary bandicoot that was captured by Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. N. Brio and mutated by N. Brio's Evolv-O-Ray, and one of the only mutant animals not yet brainwashed by the Cortex Vortex along with her boyfriend Crash Bandicoot. After Crash is placed into and rejected by the Cortex Vortex, Crash escapes Cortex's laboratory which causes Cortex to select Tawna as his replacement for the general of his army of mutants. Crash eventually defeats Cortex and reunites with Tawna on top of his blimp as they fly into the sunset. Alternatively, once the player has collected all gems, the player can access The Great Hall, wherein Tawna awaits Crash on the balcony of Castle Cortex, after which the two of them fly away on a large bird.

Tawna also appears throughout the game at the end of bonus levels accessed by collecting tokens resembling her face. However, she cannot be interacted with.

Crash Boom Bang!

Tawna appears as an unlockable playable character in Crash Boom Bang!, which marks her first major appearance in a game 10 years after the original Crash Bandicoot, and her first voiced appearance in a game, where she is portrayed by Akiko Toda. Much like the other playable characters in the game, she participates in Viscount's World Cannonball Race in order to win $100,000,000.

Her in-game description suggests she is romantically interested in Pinstripe Potoroo, who is also a playable character in the game.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Tawna makes an appearance in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled as a Bronze Tier reward in the game's first Grand Prix, Nitro Tour which launched on July 3, 2019. Prior to version 1.12 of the game, Tawna's Driving Style was Acceleration. She appears alongside Ami, Isabella, Liz, and Megumi to form the Nitro Squad.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

While the regular Tawna isn't present in the game, an alternate universe counterpart of her shows up to rescue Crash and Coco Bandicoot from pirates in the Hook, Line, and Sinker level. After being rescued, Coco mentions how she and Crash had lost contact with Tawna.

A cushion sporting Tawna's mugshot can also been seen at the end of the game's very first Bonus level, atop a sofa where she presumably would have waited for Crash as she did in her bonus levels from the first Crash Bandicoot.

Other appearances

A portrait of Tawna appears on the fireplace of Crash's house in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and later Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Crash's ending in the Japanese version of Crash Bash has Crash mistake a hologram Coco created, modeled after an imaginary future version of herself, to be Tawna. Tawna also appears on the sign of Moulin Cortex, a burlesque club, in Crash Twinsanity's Slip Slip Icecapades level.

Although she doesn't appear in Crash Team Racing, internal game data suggests that Ami, Isabella, Liz, and Megumi were all based on her.

Other media

Japanese Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back manual

While Tawna is completely absent from the game, the instruction booklet for the Japanese version of the game provides additional details as to what transpired after the first game; namely, Tawna leaves Crash and the Wumpa Islands for Chigago, USA in order to be with Pinstripe Potoroo. The events described serve as the backstory for the manga Crash Bandicoot: Dance! De Jump! Na Daibouken, released around the same time. These tidbits are completely absent in any other version of the game, and are only mentioned in the Official Strategy Guide for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and in Crash Boom Bang!.

Profiles and statistics

Crash Bandicoot

• US manual

"Love of Crash's life, this unfortunate she-bandicoot is next on the list for experimentation by the nasty Doctors. What's a bandicootess to do (other than pout convincingly) to let her hero know he'd better hurry if he wants somebody to come home to."

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

• Japanese manual

お兄ちゃんの元恋人。せつかく助けてあげたのに、お兄ちゃんのおバカなところに愛想がつきてタスマニアから出ていってしまったの。ウワサでは、囚われている間に仲良くなったピンストライプという男を追っかけて、アメリカのシカゴに行ったらしいわ。 (Crash's ex-girlfriend. Even though he saved her, she grew tired of his silliness and left Tasmania. Rumor has it that she travelled to Chicago, USA, in pursuit of a man named Pinstripe, whom she befriended during her time as a prisoner.)

Crash Boom Bang!

• In-game

"Tawna, the blonde bombshell, is crazy about Pinstripe."