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Crash Team Racing is a racing video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on September 30, 1999 and in Europe and Australia later the same year. It was re-released for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up in 2000 and for the Platinum Range on January 12, 2001. It was later added to the European PlayStation Store on October 18, 2007, then on the Japanese store on June 11, 2008 and then finally to the North American store on August 10, 2010. Crash Team Racing is the fourth installment in the Crash Bandicoot series. It is the first Crash Bandicoot game in the racing genre and the last Crash Bandicoot game to be developed by Naughty Dog. The game's story focuses on the efforts of a ragtag team of characters in the Crash Bandicoot series, who must race against the egomaniacal Nitros Oxide to save their planet from destruction. In the game, players can take control of one of fifteen Crash Bandicoot series characters, though only eight are available at first. During the races, offensive and speed boosting power ups can be used to gain an advantage. Crash Team Racing was praised by critics for its gameplay and graphics, though the audio was met with mixed opinions. An indirect sequel, Crash Nitro Kart, was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance and N-Gage. Crash Team Racing is a racing game in which the player controls characters from the Crash Bandicoot universe, most of whom compete in karts. While racing, the player can accelerate, steer, reverse, brake, hop or use weapons and power-ups with the game controller's analog stick and buttons. Two distinct forms of crates are scattered throughout the tracks and arenas of Crash Team Racing. Crates with question marks (?) on them hold power-ups and weapons, which can be obtained by driving through and breaking apart the said crates. When the player collects a weapon or power-up, it will appear in a box at the top of the screen. The player can activate the weapon or power-up to wreak havoc on the other racers or supplement the player's own performance. “Fruit Crates“ carry “Wumpa Fruit“ that increase the speed of the player's kart and strengthen the player's weapons and power-ups if ten of them are obtained. A crucial maneuver in Crash Team Racing is the power slide; the player executes the slide by holding down one of the shoulder buttons to perform a hop, and steering before the kart lands. While sliding, the “Turbo Boost Meter“ on the lower-right corner of the screen fills up and goes from green to red. At the same time, the exhaust gas from the player's kart turns black. To get a speed boost, the player quickly presses the opposite shoulder button while the Turbo Boost Meter is red. The player can execute three speed boosts in a row during a power slide, with the third speed boost being more powerful than the previous two. If the player waits too long into the power slide for a boost, the kart back-fires and the chance for a speed boost is lost; power sliding for too long causes a spin-out. Aside from power slides, speed boosts can be obtained by gathering hang time when leaping over gaps in the track. The longer the player is in the air, the bigger the speed boost will be when the kart lands. ________________________________________________ PlayStation - PlayStation Network Naughty Dog - Sony Computer Entertainment 1999
