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Ai yah. This one brings back memories, but here it goes. I'll be using a mix of my memories and online refreshers to give you a basic understanding of how thigns go.
In the first game of this series was more of a giant board game resembling Super Mario Bros. in how you made progress. Wumpa(sp?) Fruit are just like coins. Get enough of them and you earn an extra life. In some situations, they are also both currency.
The characters were as follows:
Heroes
Crash Bandicoot - MC, 'heroic, agile and mutated marsupial' that jumps and spins as attacks. He also seems to be a fan of blue jean shorts and red sneakers. He also has other powers, but they change according to the game and level as well as Aku Aku himself.
Aku Aku - A floating 'voodoo' mask who is actually the spirit of some witch doctor. He guards the island in which Crash and his friends live on. On top of that, he's also a field item that, when picked up during a stage, can save you from dying once or grant you temporary invincibility.
Tawna - Crash's voluptuous girlfriend that he saves from cruel experimentation and aides him throughout his journey. (Sites saves he saves her from experimentation, but I don't recall actually seeing her in danger as she is in every level helping you if you find her. This game was her only appearance though.
Coco Bandicoot - Crash's younger sister. She was a some point experimented on by Cortex and is now smarter from it. She's the reason for the start of Crash 2 and returns as a PC in the third installment of the series. She also has a pet tiger cub whom she rides through her levels, as well as a polar bear cub. (Crash can also ride this same cub on a certain level, but can't recall where.)
Crunch Bandicoot - (The stuff you learn from reading and not playing.) Honest to all that are video games, I did not know who this guy was until I read it. Even the game, THE GAME, doesn't mention this. EVER. Crunch showed up in the second game as one of Cortex's genetically altered experiments. He is twice Crash's height, has three times the muscles, and has a mechanical right arm that packs one helluva punch! Later, he becomes your ally. But get this, he is actually Crash AND Coco's younger brother. (This is startling because of how young and small Coco is. She can fit perfectly on the back of a cub! Crash is big enough to ride a human motorcycle. And given the measurements of Crunch to Crash...this guy is - ugh. Crash Logic, I hate you.)
Villains
Dr. Neo Cortex - MA (main antagonist). This guy is like Bo- Uh...haha...hahaha. No, no. I can't compare those to. If anything, they are a stark contrast. Cortex is a small bodied human with a HUGE head in comparison and a brain capacity to fill it. (Jimmy Neutron might be his descendant...) The only thing Cortex and Bowser have in common is their inability to foil the hero and fail at whatever devious plans they have each and every time. Dr. Cortex was a genius scientist who was ridiculed by his inhuman theories. So he ends up on Wumpa Island, experimenting on the animal life to prove himself life. The last thing he expected was a marsupial to stand up to him. I mean, at least Bowser has the decency to get his butt handed to him by a human, a plumber at that. But a marsupial? Hahaha! Cortex is a joke, but you have to give him points. His evil entourage are about as annoying as they are helpfully...irritating to the player.
Papu Papu - How well do you remember the Aztecs? How about their culture? That's this guy in a nut-shell. Now, I normally don't make take cracks at...erm...big people. But Papu Papu makes Fat Albert look slim. He defines the term obese. Unfortunately for us, this guy knows how to throw it around. Using his girth to create his own earthquakes with every body slam. Throw in a short-temper and Crash in for becoming a pancake disaster. (I've seen it. Not pretty at all.)
Ripper Roo - No...oh no. Please...PLEASE! Not this guy. This guy...is the stuff of insane-in-the-membrane asylums. Heck, he could make it inside Gotham Asylum and be no crazier for it! This guy here is a kangaroo in a straight-jacket (that he NEVER takes off) with razor-sharp toenails and an insatiable taste for - gulp - TNT and Nitro boxes.
(This is where I stopped to explain. TNT and Nitro are both obstacles that are very dangerous to Crash. TNT are red boxes that blow you to kingdom come as every knows. If Crash touches on of these things, they count down from 3...2...1...BOOM!!! Each time. What you DON'T know is...if Crash is still around when this happens...all you'll have left of him are eyeballs.
Nitro boxes on the other hard, are far worse. These boxes are green. And you never, ever, EVER want to touch them. Even if it looks like you have no choice, don't do it. These things are a different kind of explosive. Chemical, gassy, and instant death. Crash touches this and he'll grab his throat in breathless agony before turning into angel strumming a harp.)
Back to Ripper Roo - In the first game, this crazy ... ... ... traps you on a 5x5 square platform. (5 by 5 being squares large enough for Crash to stand on individually.) Then he proceeds to pogo-stick (that's how he looks/sounds in action) in random patterns, dropping a load of TNT boxes, the last one ALWAYS being a Nitro box to set off the chain reaction. If you get caught, you're dead. If not, you get a crack at hitting the stunned psychopath. And that laugh - ARRRGGGH! I...I need to move on now before I remember anymore.
There are loads more characters to add, but I've hit up most of the mains. So here's something on the gameplay. In the first game, it was all side-scrolling, just like Mario. Only difference is, it started with 3D slide graphics. The movement has always been fluid. (Unless you're on ice. Then all coordination, both yours and Crash's, goes to you-know-where.) Crash also has a penchant for, at least three times in each game, getting chased by some sort of creature. In the first game, it was strictly side scrolling. This was both good and bad. Good since it was classic platforming, bad since you could never see outside of that, limiting your every move.
So it was a breath of fresh air when, in every following game, you got room to breath. The camera angles change repeatedly throughout each stage. From facing forward, side-scrolling, backwards, and even aerial. The stages were just as challenging, but fun and easier to maneuver. Though, the chase stages were typically the only ones with the camera aiming behind Crash. When you can see Crash facing you, that's almost always means that you're about to get chased. Be it a boulder, triceratops, or a mad-mad-mad machine. Before worry not, simply following the Wumpa fruit's path will save your life.
As for game setbacks...honestly, this game was near perfect. The setbacks were typically always something you could easily get around or over. I don't even recall glitching either. If I just had to make one complaint, every level with Coco riding either the tiger cub or polar bear cub pulls that old 'fork in the road' thing on you. One path leads for closer to the goal and the other leads to your doom/death/demise. Main problem is - you can't tell which for nothing! You have to guess. Each time, you must guest. After a while, it gets killer annoying.
{More will be added on a later date.}
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