Dr. Neo Periwinkle Cortex, commonly known as Dr. Neo Cortex or just Cortex, is the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot franchise and the deuteragonist of Crash Twinsanity.

He is an evil scientist who uses his great intellect in his plans for world domination, and is both the arch-nemesis and creator of Crash and Coco Bandicoot. He is also the primary servant of Uka Uka, the evil younger twin brother and archenemy of Aku Aku. Although Cortex's usual intentions are to destroy Crash, he has on occasion worked with him to defeat an even greater threat, making him an anti-hero.

As an adult, he has been voiced by the late Brendan O'Brien in Crash Bandicoot, Clancy Brown from Cortex Strikes Back to Crash Nitro Kart and Lex Lang in every game since Crash Twinsanity. In his younger forms, he has been voiced by Debi Derryberry and Corey Burton. In the Japanese dub, he was voiced by the late Shōzō Iizuka.

Appearance[]

Cortex appears as a rather short man with a large head with a flat top and a large "N" on his forehead, as well as yellow skin and black hair. He sports a goatee, bushy eyebrows and hair only at the top of his head and going around the back of it with two large twirls at each side of it. For attire, he wears a white lab-coat with what appears to be a black leotard underneath and yellow gloves. For some reason, he also has a dolphin tattoo on his left thigh.

As a child, Cortex had a full head of hair, no goatee and his "N" was lowercase.

Personality[]

Very much like any other mad scientist super-villain, Dr. Neo Cortex is vindictive against every other scientist for ridiculing his outlandish ideas, even if they did work. Initially, it was believed to be his main reason for wanting world domination. However, after Uka Uka was freed and revealed to be his superior, it is now known that he was doing it under orders. Cortex tends to be very bossy, conceited and authoritative because of his knowledge and intellect, but it also makes him very childish whenever his plans are constantly foiled. At times, he is shown to be quite cowardly whenever he feels that his life is being threatened, often leaving his minions to do all of the hard work for him.

Because of his child-like behavior, Cortex can be extremely obstreperous, pompous, loud and boastful, as well as unable to tolerate any form of delays and failures. He is also known to have a temper, which he can sometimes lose if things don't go his way, and can get so bad that he will even engage in a physical brawl with his tormentors, regardless of the situation. For the most part, Cortex doesn't care about anyone else but himself, with the exception of his niece Nina. But after she betrayed him and took over his plans to destroy Wumpa Island, he cast her off to Public School of Evil as punishment, showing that he is still highly selfish and vengeful. Also, it's unlikely that he regrets replacing her hands with bionic replacements.

Cortex is not above lying to get whatever he wants, such as when he manipulated Crash Bandicoot into collecting Power Crystals so he could enslave all life on Earth. His lying also applies to feeding his own ego, such as when he proudly stole N. Brio's credit for inventing the Evolvo-Ray, only to admit the truth to Crash. Cortex was not above betraying his master Uka Uka, whom he initially feared, and would go on to have him captured and drained of his Bad Mojo for his plans. Through many of his actions, Cortex is displayed as a sadistically power-hungry and psychopathic megalomaniac, willing to ruin any form of life for his own selfish purposes. Throughout the series, Cortex becomes more and more obsessed with destroying Crash Bandicoot for constantly ruining his plans, bursting into tantrums whenever he is beaten.

In Crash Twinsanity, he was at his most nice and endearing in a charismatic sort of way. As he goes from attempting to trick Crash into his mischievous schemes at first, but later then teams up with Crash Bandicoot and willingly aiding Crash in their quest to defeat his evil twin pet birds and foiling their plans. Meaning the two got a friendly relationship in terms of foiling against his birds' nefarious plans.

In Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Cortex is shown to be increasingly tired of his life of villainy and constant defeats against Crash. He showed little enthusiasm over N. Tropy's schemes to take over the multiverse and after being defeated by Crash yet again, he broke down and cried about wanting to end his constant battles with Crash. Cortex temporarily formed an alliance with Crash when N. Tropy reveals his true motivations behind the Dimensional Rift Generator, and for a while was genuine about wanting to be a helpful ally, but after N. Tropy was dealt with, Cortex's obsession with defeating Crash got the better of him and he backstabbed Crash yet again in a desperate attempt to rewrite history and prevent Crash's creation. When this failed and Cortex was banished to the end of the universe, Cortex took his defeat well, feeling he finally had the freedom he wished for away from Crash, though this was short lived when Uka Uka appeared in front of him.

Relationships[]

Family[]

• Nina Cortex (niece)
• Sharon (mother)
• Unnamed father
• Crash Bandicoot (creation)
• Coco Bandicoot (creation)
• Tawna Bandicoot (creation)
• Crunch Bandicoot (creation)
• Victor and Moritz (former pets)

Allies/Friends[]

• Dr. N. Brio (best friend and servant)
• Dr. N. Gin (best friend and servant)
• N. Tropy (formerly)
• Nina Cortex
• Lab Assistants (servants)
• Uka Uka (boss)
• Ripper Roo
• Tiny Tiger
• Pinstripe Potoroo
• Dingodile (formerly)
• Ripto (partner in crime)
• Bowser (Skylanders Imaginators)

Enemies[]

• Crash Bandicoot (Arch-nemesis)
• Coco Bandicoot (Arch-nemesis)
• Madame Amberly (Archenemy and former mentor)
• Tawna Bandicoot
• Crunch Bandicoot
• Aku Aku
• Uka Uka (formerly)
• Dingodile
• N. Tropy (arch-rival)
• Kaos (Skylanders)
• Victor and Moritz
• Fake Crash
• Evil Crash
• Spyro
• Dr. Nitrus Brio (formerly)
• Nitros Oxide
• Female Dr. Nefarious Tropy

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

• Cortex's full name interestingly happens to be a pun on the neocortex, a part of the brain.
• What is also interestingly known is that Doctor Cortex's full name is derived from Greek and Latin origins meaning that his name "Neo Periwinkle Cortex" translated as "New Bark Flower" or "New Flower Shell".
• The "N" on his forehead most likely stands for his first name "Neo". However, the backstories say it was tattooed on his forehead when he was three and stands for "Nerd".
• When Doctor Neo Cortex is turned into an infant, he still has a beard. Strangely enough, he did not have a beard when he was 8 years old.
• In one concept design, Dr. Cortex appears to have a hunched back.
• Lex Lang’s favorite scene that has Dr. Cortex is where he was talking to the penguins in Twinsanity.
• Doctor Cortex bears a very strong resemblance to the British actor Roger Delgado. This could most likely explain his somewhat British accent and debonair in Crash Bandicoot 2-3 with him finishing a sentence with a "ta ta for now". Ironically, to some of his minions (namely N. Gin) Cortex is replied to gracefully as "The Master", a role Delgado was famous for playing in the British TV series Doctor Who.
• Dr. Cortex's nationality can debated among fans as to whether he is British or Hispanic in origin. Some evidence can be pointed out that he is British given his elegance and cunning in the sequels made by Naughty Dog, along with his ending catchphrase "Tata for now" and him sporting a cup of tea in Crash of the Titans (stereotypical traits of British people). It can also be proven that Dr. Cortex favors big game hunting as a hobby since he kills his own Titans for fun and hangs their heads as trophies. One of the earliest versions of Crash Bandicoot development bible hints that he is actually of Roma descent, although he was still born in the USA according to it. It may also be possible that Cortex is of Asian descent as he points in Crash Tag Team Racing that his family's metaphor is "Revenge is a dish best served with fava beans", and fava beans are commonly grown in Asia.
  • His first part of the sentence is a reference to the Klingon proverb "Revenge is a dish best served cold" from the Star Trek franchise.
  • The second part of his line is a reference to Hannibal Lecter's famed catchphrase "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." from The Silence of the Lambs.
• Doctor Cortex serves as the final boss of every main series PS1 Crash Bandicoot game.
• Through most boss fights with Doctor Cortex, each theme goes through a subsequent pattern, going from slower to faster and then slower again.
• In Crash 1's level 'Generator Room', the 'N' on his forehead is missing whenever he appears on the TV screens.
• In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Doctor Cortex is revealed to have red irises. However, promotional art from Crash Bandicoot have shown Cortex to be having pink irises.
• When he is turned into a baby at the end of Warped the 'N' on his forehead is lower case.
• Cortex's middle name has been revealed to be "Periwinkle" by Ebenezer Von Clutch in Crash Tag Team Racing.
  • Cortex's initials are, ironically, "NPC" (an acronym for "Non-Playable Character" in video-game lingo), despite him being one of the playable characters in Tag Team Racing.
  • Since then, Cortex's full name has been revealed to be "Neo Periwinkle Cortex". However, since the game itself was never canon, this name's canonicity is debated by Crash Bandicoot fans. However, he does refer to himself as "Neo Periwinkle Cortex" in the Nintendo DS port of Crash of the Titans.
• Cortex, along with Crash, N. Gin, and Coco are the only four characters that are playable in all of the Crash racing games.
• In CTTR, one of Cortex's quotes is: "1.2 gigawatts of power!" which is a reference to Doc Brown from the Back to the Future franchise.
• Ironic to the general opinion about them, the Spanish dubbing of the Titans duology has the most similar portray of Cortex in the games where he was voiced by Lex Lang. twinsanity being the least similar.
• In CTTR, Cortex has a chance of saying "Burn baby, burn! ...Disco Inferno!" when destroying another racer's car. This is a reference to the famous song "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps.
• In Crash Tag Team Racing, it is implied that Cortex had once served in the Vietnam War, in the Da Nang Air Base. This gives much of clue of what Cortex's age was during the war, though it is highly unlikely what year he did join. If he did serve at Da Nang back in the beginning of the war, and the first Crash Bandicoot game took place in 1996, he chronologically would be 37 years old during the years of the Naughty Dog trilogy.
• Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is the only game not to feature Cortex because he blundered to stop Crash Bandicoot in A Huge Adventure, but he does appear in multiplayer mode.
• Doctor Cortex appeared in all main series Crash games as a final boss except Crash Twinsanity, and Crash of the Titans.
• Dr. Cortex is one of the few characters to ever break the fourth wall during the series, with Coco, Dr. N. Brio, Tiny, Ebenezer Von Clutch, Dr. N. Gin and certain Crash of the Titans enemies being the only others.
• Apart from Dr. N. Brio, Dr. Cortex is the second mad scientist to ever actually resurrect prehistoric animals back to life (i.g. the Titans).
• In Crash Twinsanity, there is a glitch that enables the player to play as Doctor Cortex at the Iceberg Lab level.
• In Crash Twinsanity​, Cortex will frequently use teleportation in order to reach distance or to return to Crash Bandicoot after he has thrown him. This ability cannot be used during stages where he is a playable character.
• Doctor Cortex almost called Nina his daughter once but corrected himself when he saw Crash Bandicoot coming up behind him, which makes his and Nina's real relationship unclear.
• After Crash Twinsanity, Cortex seems to have somewhat befriended Crash in a way. In Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash helps Cortex out a lot, though they are still enemies. This might be a direct homage to DBZ characters, Goku and Vegeta who started off as enemies once and later off befriended one another despite their history.
• In Crash of the Titans, Doctor Cortex proves to be more evil compared to Naughty Dog's Dr. Cortex as it is shown in one of the last levels that his Titans' heads are placed on mantles in the corridors of the Doominator, presumably by Cortex himself.
• Despite Doctor Cortex claiming that Crash Bandicoot is his worst creation, logically, Crash is Cortex's best creation, being able to operate many mechanical items with ease, being able to fend of any enemy or boss, and being able to survive most conditions and hazards. Crash mostly appears to be brave, running into dangerous situations with a clear head (whatever that may be for Crash). There have been times (other than boss battles) that he's even outsmarted and reacted to events faster than his creator, like in Crash Twinsanity, even if it does mean Cortex gets put through some pain and distress.
  • This technically makes Ripper Roo Doctor Cortex's most destructive creation but, despite being almost hyper intelligent, he is completely unstable, highly destructive, and extremely erratic. The irony of it is that Cortex was not able to control Crash and is rather annoyed on his personality.
    • It is also notable that Cortex's high bolstered ego is what also ruined his chances of controlling Crash, if he had listened to Doctor N. Brio and took more caution into the Cortex Vortex machine, he most likely would have complete control over Crash to this day.
• According to Clancy Brown during an interview, he stated the reason why he stopped doing the voice of Dr. Cortex was because Universal Studios gave minimum wages to the actors and that he was never told about the Crash Bandicoot games (Wrath of Cortex and Crash Nitro Kart) during the time.
  • Another reason for voice actor Lex Lang replacing Clancy Brown was that in an interview, Lang stated that parents did not like Clancy's impersonation of the character and thought it was too mean for younger audiences and wrote letters to Universal about the problem.
• Because of his appearance and personality change in Crash of the Titans and his voice being provided by Lex Lang, Cortex has met mixed receptions among his fans, even though the change in voice acting and personality dated back to Crash Twinsanity. Some fans prefer Cortex's original appearance and have favored Clancy Brown as the iconic voice for Doctor Cortex while others are more accepting of the changes and have praised Lex Lang for his voice work of the Doctor.
• In the original versions of the first three games, Doctor Cortex uses a different boss icon for each of them. In Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, Cortex uses the same boss icon for the remastered versions of the first and second games. Since the icons Cortex uses in the original first and second games are very similar anyway, it is understandable why the developers did not trouble themselves in making his icon different for all three remastered games.
• Apparently, Cortex does not like clowns or anything he considers very similar to clowns, such as mimes. This is shown when he insults Big Norm after defeating him in Crash Nitro Kart.

External links[]

• Dr. Neo Cortex on the Heroes Wiki

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