After accepting a publishing deal from Universal Interactive Studios, Naughty Dog co-founders Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin set out on a cross-country road trip from Boston to Los Angeles.

[9][10] In a secluded archipelago 300 miles (480 km) west of Tasmania,[11] the mad scientist Doctor Neo Cortex uses his "Evolvo-Ray" to genetically alter the local wildlife into an anthropomorphic army of soldiers for the purpose of world domination.

Papu Papu sells the remains of Cortex's castle to a resort developer and uses the proceeds to open a plus-size clothing shop; Ripper Roo undergoes intense therapy and higher education, and authors a well-received book discussing rapid evolution and its consequences; Koala Kong moves to Hollywood and becomes a film actor; Pinstripe opens a sanitation company in Chicago and prepares for a gubernatorial campaign; and Brio rediscovers a love for bartending.

[21] At that year's Winter Consumer Electronics Show,[22] Naughty Dog founders Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin displayed their latest game Way of the Warrior (1994) in search of a publisher; by chance, their booth was situated in close proximity to that of Universal Interactive, where Biniaz and Mark Cerny served as its representatives.

[23] They figured that in a 3D perspective, the player would be constantly looking at the character's back rather than their profile, and thus jokingly called the hypothetical project "Sonic's Ass Game".

Deciding that the 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Sega 32X, and Sega Saturn were unsatisfactory options due to poor sales and development units they deemed to be "clunky", the team ultimately chose to develop the game for Sony's PlayStation, considering the company and console "sexy" and taking into account the company's lack of an existing competing mascot character.

As they settled into Universal Interactive's back lot, Gavin, Rubin and Baggett befriended Taylor Kurosaki, a visual effects artist who was working on the television series seaQuest DSV (1993—96) in the same building.

[24][31] In March 1995, Universal Interactive and Naughty Dog recruited Joe Pearson of Epoch Ink to aid in the visual aspect of production.

[28] Pearson created a concept bible that included detailed backstories for Crash and Cortex and established the game's setting as the remnants of the lost continent of Lemuria.

[32] Naughty Dog decided early on that there would be no connection between a real animal and Crash's final design, which would instead be determined "51% by technical and visual necessity and 49% by inspiration".

[28] Crash was originally written as a speaking character who, as a result of his subjection to the Cortex Vortex, communicated in a series of bizarre non sequiturs derived from classic literature and pop culture.

[33][34] The team ultimately decided that Crash would be mute because they considered past voices for video game characters to be "lame, negative, and distract[ing] from identification with them".

[28] Gavin and Rubin described Cortex to Zembillas as "[having] a huge head but a tiny body, he's a mad scientist, and he dresses a bit like a Nazi from The Jetsons (1962—63)".

The vertex animation method allowed Crash to display a much wider range of facial expressions than competing video game characters at the time.

Since only 900 polygons could be visible on screen at a time, parts of the game's landscapes are hidden by trees, cliffs, walls, and twists and turns in the environment.

[32][51] After developing the core gameplay, Naughty Dog realized that there were many empty areas in the game due to the PlayStation's inability to generate multiple enemies on-screen.

Although Stormy Ascent was fully playable, Naughty Dog deemed the level too difficult and lacked time to make it easier, and decided to cut it from the game before submitting the gold master to Sony.

Siller proposed that rather than conventional music, Gavin could create an "urban chaotic symphony" where random sound effects, such as bird vocalizations, vehicle horns, grunts, and flatulence, would be combined.

After Naughty Dog rejected this proposal, Siller introduced them to the music production company Mutato Muzika and its founder Mark Mothersbaugh.

[40] The voice acting was provided by Brendan O'Brien, who came in contact with Rubin through Pearson and recorded his dialogue below the Universal Studios Lot's Hitchcock Theater.

[32][58] In September 1995, Andy Gavin and Taylor Kurosaki, using the latter's connections to the seaQuest DSV crew, spent two days in the series' editing bay creating a two-minute demo film and gave it to a friend who would show it to Sony Computer Entertainment.

[23][24][52] While preparing for the game's demonstration at the 1996 E3, the team decided to finally rename the title character "Crash Bandicoot", a name credited to Kurosaki and Dave Baggett.

While Naughty Dog was able to retain the "Crash Bandicoot" name after threatening to leave production, they chose to omit Tawna from subsequent entries in the series based both on this experience and to appease the desire of Sony's Japanese marketing team for a more girlish female supporting character.

[32] Ami Matsumura-Blaire of Sony served as the marketing manager for Crash Bandicoot and worked in collaboration with Erik Moe and Chris Graves of TBWA\Chiat\Day to create the game's advertising campaign.

During a break following the initial meeting, Gavin approached Charlotte Francis, the artist responsible for the renderings, and gave her fifteen minutes to adjust Crash's facial features.

A screen in which Crash is struck by falling crates the player had missed in a level was altered after the Japanese children testing the game reported being disturbed and upset by the image.

[e] Particular notice was given to the Gouraud shaded textures,[f] colorful and detailed backgrounds,[g] lighting and shadows,[71][73][74][76] smooth animation,[72][76][79] and special effects such as flames and water transparency.

[84] In 2015, the staff of Fact ranked Mancell's score as the 69th greatest video game soundtrack, describing it as "the best Funky house riffs this side of Crazy Cousins".

[95] In May 1997, Crash Bandicoot became the first non-Japanese game to receive a "Gold Prize" in Japan for sales of over 500,000 units, and in September 1997, it was inducted into the Greatest Hits budget range.

[109] In April 2024, a prototypical port of the game for the Sega Saturn was created by homebrew developer Frogbull, with a playable build being revealed in August.