While things have been quiet when it comes to the Crash Bandicoot franchise since the release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, rumours have been around of a Crash Bandicoot 5 that was reportedly cancelled. Now, some concept art has popped up that was seemingly for the development of Crash Bandicoot 5. As caught by Hector Lizard, the concept art has been credited as belonging to Microsoft, developer Toys for Bob, and artist Nicholas Kole, and was dug up thanks to an investigation by Liam Robertson.
Rumoured to have been titled Crash Bandicoot 5: The Academy of Evil, the concept art shows us plenty of things about the cancelled game, including new locations, levels, and characters. The entire game would have seemingly taken place in the titular Academy of Evil, with one piece of concept art being that of the hub level, which in turn could lead into other levels throughout the game. Judging by the concept art behind some of the new characters and their names, it looks like the title would have explored the past and family life of long-time Crash Bandicoot antagonist Dr. Neo Cortex.
Among the characters that were seemingly going to be present in the game are Mama Cortex, sister Cerebella Cortex, elder brother Hugh G Cortex, and nephew ID. Another new character with concept art is Madame Amberly. However, how she is related to the Cortex family isn’t quite clear from the art itself.
When it comes to some of the locations, we get to see art of Tiny Tiger’s mindscape castle, his lair, his mindscape tower, his treasure room, and the location where the Tiny Tiger boss fight would have taken place. Where Tiny Tiger’s levels would have seemingly taken on the aesthetics of a castle, Pinstripe, on the other hand, seemingly took cues from noir and mob films for his levels. The final piece of concept art indicates that Crash Bandicoot 5 would have involved a young Neo Cortex becoming friends in some way, as it has Crash and Neo trying to escape from a circus mindscape.
It is worth noting that, since this is presumed to be concept art for a game that was ultimately cancelled, all of this is worth taking with a grain of salt.
Rumours of Crash Bandicoot 5 being in development, and ultimately cancelled, came about last year. According to a report from July 2024, the game would have featured art work by illustrator and character artist Nicholas Kole, who took to social media to announce that their project was cancelled. The game was internally codenamed Project Dragon. However, when asked on social media about whether this was a new Spyro game, Kole responded by saying that it wasn’t.
There were also rumours that indicated that the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro universes may have collided in the cancelled game. According to a report from August 2024, there were internal concepts and pitches for Crash Bandicoot 5 to also feature Spyro the Dragon, who would be a second playable character.
For more details about the last Crash Bandicoot game–Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time–check out our review.
