Death Battle Predictions: Crash VS Spyro

When the PlayStation was first launched in 1995, few could have expected how the wave of titles from that era would go on to define a generation of gamers. Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Medievil, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, PaRappa the Rapper, Legend of Dragoon, Ridge Racer, Xenogears and much more have etched themselves into legend as some of the greatest games ever made, and while most of those main characters have become legendary figures in their own right, none have been as heavily associated with the brand as much as these two heroes:

Crash Bandicoot, the magnificently mischievous mutant marsupial from the Wumpa Islands. Spyro the Dragon, the persistent and proud pint-sized powerhouse from the Dragon Realms. Since their first appearances in 1996, countless evildoers have fallen to these icons as they blasted and bashed their way through many adventures in their near two decade runs. Their legacies have long been tied to one another, and although they have crossed paths on occasion, neither have had the opportunity to prove which PlayStation platforming pioneer would win in a fight to the end… until now.

(Note: As of Spyro’s preview, it’s been confirmed that he will take more after his Legend timeline games, and his backstory here will reflect that. However, for the sake of being utter completionist dorks as we are wantlike to do, we’ve taken the liberty of compiling feats through all three of his incarnations, just to be sure.)

This probably isn’t how the fight will go:

Background

Crash

“Whoa!”

Somewhere in the remote Wumpa Islands, Dr. Neo Cortex and his colleague Nitrus Brio laid out their plans for world domination after years of being labelled as the laughing stocks of the scientific community. Using his Evolvo-Ray, Cortex began mutating the local wildlife to become part of his own personal army, the “Cortex Commandos”, with which he hopes to take over the world with. In a great act of irony, the process to breed his super-soldiers led to the creation of the very being that would foil the mad doctor’s plans time and time again, remaining a thorn on his side: Crash Bandicoot.

Once a normal Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Crash was taken from the wilderness and mutated into his current form. However, he was deemed a failure when the doctor’s Cortex Vortex was unable to brainwash him into obeying Cortex’s commands, and was subsequently kicked out of his lair. Bent on revenge, and to rescue a female Bandicoot named Tawna, Crash fought his way through Cortex’s goons and eventually the doctor himself. He was able to do this by allying himself with Aku Aku, the guardian spirit of the Wumpa Islands who opposed Cortex’s harm of the wildlife.

Since then, Crash tried to retire and spend the rest of his days in peace with his sister Coco and Aku Aku. However, as Cortex and other supervillains continue to rise up and try to take over the world once more, he is often forced back into action to stop them. Although he prefers to lazily lie in the sun all day and would prefer to not cause trouble if he could, he enjoys fighting and laughing in the face of danger among the many adventures he has embarked on.

Spyro

“The world is breaking apart. But I think I can stop it. I think I'm meant to.”

In a distant realm, the “Year of the Dragon” takes place, where new dragon eggs are brought into the world. Along with the normal batch, one of the eggs bears a rare purple dragon, prophesied to come every ten generations in order to determine the fate of their era. Having known of this, Malefor - the Dark Master and the Dragons’ arch-nemesis - raided the Dragon Temple to find the egg and destroy it. To keep it safe, the Fire Guardian Ignitus sent it down a river, leaving it to be adopted by a family of dragonflies in a nearby swamp. Upon the egg’s hatching, they named the newborn dragon Spyro, and raised him with another dragonfly born on the same day, Sparx.

While growing up, Spyro spent a lot of time fooling around with his brother, never somehow realizing that he was adopted by the dragonflies. He only came to this conclusion when he managed to breathe fire to stop an attack from a rampaging group of beasts. Seeking to find out his true heritage, Spyro left the swamp to find the other dragons, while Sparx accompanied him on his quest. The “brothers” encountered Ignitus, who brought them up to speed on Malefor’s plans and implored them to help stop the rise of his dark magic from corrupting the realm.

To fulfill the role fate decreed for him, Spyro started fighting Malefor’s forces, and trained under the other Dragon Guardians, who taught him how to harness the elements. In time, he and Sparx found an ally in Cinder, a dragon from the same batch of eggs who they saved from the Dark Master’s influence. She and Spyro would begin a budding relationship along their journey to save their world before all was lost.

Abilities

Crash

Tornado Spin

Crash’s signature attack. By spinning in place, he can defeat most of the enemies he meets on a regular basis, as well as smash open crates, reflect projectiles, and trigger switches. The upgraded variant, called the Death Tornado, gives Crash added mobility in mid-air, allowing him to glide short distances and fly higher than normal.

Depending on the terrain, Crash could also use this technique to drill underground to sneak up on enemies and evade bees. He can still spin opponents away while underground.

Slide

Like Sonic, Crash can slide underneath small spaces, which can also kick opponents away in a similar fashion to his Tornado Spin. Crash can also crawl in said small spaces with only a minor loss of speed.

Belly Flop

Crash flops on the ground front-first which can shatter wooden crates and turn small enemies into pancakes. With the upgraded Super Body Slam, Crash uses the technique to create shockwaves that can send opponents flying and smash crates without touching them.

Martial Arts

While the Tornado Spin was Crash’s main method of melee attack for a long time, eventually, Crash could use basic martial arts to get the job done.

Power-Ups

Death Tornado

With this power-up, Crash is able to do a more powerful spinning move.Crash is able to spin for longer which allows him to go over large gaps.

Double Jump

Much like the Scout, Crash can jump off of absolutely nothing for extra vertical or horizontal distance. This could also allow for a longer distance when using the Tornado Spin for gliding.

Crash Dash

Normally, Crash jogs his way around the world. With Crash Dash, Crash simply sprints his way to the end without tiring out.

Supercharged Body Slam

This increases the radius of the body slam technique. It can also blow up Nitro Carts without getting hurt

Super-Slide

This powerup allows Crash to slide much greater distances than he normally could. However, this powerup could lead Crash into danger since he could slide into a Nitro Crate.

Rocket Jump

This technique allows Crash to jump much higher vertically allowing him to reach high platforms and get the jump on enemies.

Sneak Shoes

Normally, whenever Crash bounces on a normal wooden crate, it shatters. With TNT crates, the bounce sets the TNT off. With Nitro Crates, they explode immediately and it proves fatal for Crash. With his Sneak Shoes, Crash can move on top of any type of crate with no issue, although it requires him to do so very slowly.

Mojo

Mojo is a substance that was used Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant.Mojo has multiple different types including blue which is the normal type of Mojo. The different colours of Mojo simply provide Crash with more MoJo. He is also able to stun enemies and increase his fighting capabilities - learning new skills and techniques by using MoJo.

Spyro

Pyrokinesis

Spyro is able to manipulate the element of fire. He can surround himself with fire and perform a dashing attack. He can also create a fiery meteor attack

Electrokinesis

Spyro can manipulate the element of electricity. Spyro is able to create an electric tornado that causes him to rotate as well use electricity to create an electrical explosion. Spyro is able to summon forth storms to create thunder and lighting.

Cryokinesis

Spyro is able to manipulate the element of ice. He can create ice-based attacks including ice pillars, ice spikes, surround himself is an ice tornado (which sends ice shards flying everywhere) as well as freeze his own tail and extend it’s range to perform a wide ranged spinning attack.

Aerokensis

Spyro is able to manipulate the element of wind, and is able to create miniature tornados. He is able to create as much as 6 tornadoes at once which will surround him and blow away anyone near him as well as slam himself to the ground to create a wind shockwave.

Geokinesis

:

Spyro is able to manipulate the element of Earth. He can surround himself with rock to create a huge earth boulder around himself which can easily run over most normal enemies. He is able able to fire rock boulders from his mouth as well as rock stalagmites.

Aether Manipulation

According to Legend of Spyro lore, Aether is a spiritual matter that the universe is made of and is Spyro’s true element. It is often referred to as spiritual energy and is the most powerful energy that Spyro can manipulate. Spyro in his normal form utilizes Light Aether. He can channel Aether through the use of beam attacks as well as use Aether to heal himself and open portals to other dimensions. Its major downside is that Spyro can become extremely exhausted after using Light Aether and can temporarily lose his elemental abilities.

Dragon Time

During the Legend of Spyro Series, Spyro learned from the Chronicler that he is able to manipulate time to some extent. Spyro has been shown using it in combat against, being able to slow time down in order to give him more time to react and attack enemies. He is also able to create a Time Crystal using both Spyro’s own Magic and Dragon Time. This seals anyone inside a stasis crystal (basically they are frozen in time). The Time Crystal is able to survive having a mountain collapse on top of it.

Fire Breath

A staple when it comes to dragons, Spyro can breath hot fire to burn his enemies down, or shatter wooden containers. This fire is also hot enough to turn metal red. Assuming it’s stainless steel, this means Spyro’s flame can reach temperatures up to 1,077 degrees Fahrenheit. In Legends, he can shoot balls of fire that explode on impact and can home in on foes.

Electricity Breath

Does exactly what you think. It zaps opponents and knocks them out.

Ice Breath

Freezes opponents as well as any water that comes into contract with it.

Wind Breath

Wind Breath is able to push enemies away from him allowing him to not get overwhelmed at close range. In the Legend Games he is able to fire a beam of wind.

Aether Breath

Spyro can shoot purple beams of energy that can also take the form of his head. This can also presumably take out Dark magic, as that’s what happened to Cynder.

Flight

Spyro normally glides short distances, but if he needs to go incredibly far distances, he straight up flies.

Dark Spyro

Spyro was infected by Aether after being blasted by a geiser laser of it (bad explanation, but roll with it). This gave him the ability to let his negative side take over and transform into Dark Spyro.

Dark Spyro has all the abilities that Spyro has, while adding on the abilities to petrify foes, turning them into solid stone, and short ranged telekinesis, able to lift objects up with his flowing energy. He can also manipulate the dark version of Aether called what else but “Dark Aether” for extremely powerful attacks. We also know that it gives him a stat boost.

Dragon Kata

This is an ancient style of Martial Arts. In order to do this fighting style, Spyro must have his Shadowstone with him. Dragon Kata utilizes horn and tail attacks but most importantly Chi. For those who don’t know, Chi is fundamental life force that flows through all and everything and Spyro can tap into that energy to enhance his attacks. Dragon Kata has various moves including:

• Horn Jab: Spyro does a quick forward jab with his horns
• Horn Slide: Spyro charges up and then slides along the floor with his horns in front.
• Horn Toss: Spyro uses his horns to flip an enemy over
• Tail Hammer: Spyro does a hammer like attack with his tail causing damage to airborne enemies.
• Tail Swipe: Spyro quickly spins around - knocking enemies back with his detail
• Tail Stab: Spyro jabs the enemy with his tail
• Tail Thunder: Spyro spins in the air vertically with his tail
• Chi Wings: Spyro focuses his Chi energy, channels it toward his wings, and swipes at enemies in front of him which causes a powerful attack as it releases his Chi Energy
• Chi Punch: Spyro concentrates his Chi energy and then fires a Chi fireball
• Chi Roar: Spyro channels his Chi energy and then does an all-mighty Dragon Roar which creates a powerful shockwave

Arsenal

Crash

Fruit Bazooka

This is Crash’s main long ranged weapon that he obtained after defeating N Tropy in Crash 3: Warped. Basically he pulls out a Bazooka and fires the Wumpa Fruit as a projectile. It can hit foes as well as TNT/Nitro Crates at a distance. However, it takes time for him to aim and then fire the weapon. It also has unlimited ammo.

Yo-Yo

In Skylanders, Crash is able to use his Yo-Yo like a weapon, hitting enemies from a distance as well as tying them up. He can also use this combination of his spin-attack. However, due to Crash’s mind, he mostly ties himself up rather than tying someone else up.

Jetpack

This was used in Crash Bandicoot 2 in several Jetpack levels. It allows Crash to float in mid air as well as travel in space. It is fast enough to catch up to N Cortex’s Jetpack.

Go-Kart

Crash Bandicoot has been in many,many racing games and thus has his trusty go-kart when he is wanting to get somewhere in a hurry or just simply blow them up, Crash Bandicoot can use numerous items while on the Go-Kart including:

• Tracking Missiles - Crash fires missiles from his Go-Kart which causes the enemy far to become temporarily stunned for a few seconds.
• Bowling Bombs - Doesn’t home in onto the enemy racer like the Tracking Missiles but has a much bigger radius and can affect multiple people
• Power Shield - Can create a shield to protect Crash from projectiles.
• Explosive Crates - Can drop explosive crates from behind to stun enemies.
• N. Tropy Clock - Causes anyone nearby to spin uncontrollably
• Turbo Boost - Gains a boost in speed.
• Red Eye Missile - A much more powerful missile.
• Ice Mine - Drops a mine that freezes anyone that comes into contact with it
• Tornado - Causes anyone hit by it to spin around
• Invisibility - Becomes completely cloaked

Motorcycle/Space Motorcycle

Crash has a motorcycle that he mostly used in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Crash also has a space variant in Crash Bandicoot 2: N-tranced which allows Crash to go into space as well as maneuver in space.

Mech

This mech-suit was used in Wrath of Cortex. The yellow version shoots Wumpa Fruit out of it’s air which can be used as a range projectile. The red version is able to shoot out water. It is used to defeat enemies.

Mecha-Bandicoot

The Mecha-Bandicoot is a 40 foot metal version of Crash that he used during the final battle against the Evil Twins in Crash: Twinsanity. It was originally used against Crash in the first boss battle of the game. The Mecha-Bandicoot has a chainsaw, rockets and plasma blasts

Spyro

Shadowstone

The Shadowstone is an extremely powerful amulet that allows the user to access both the shadow realm and the real world. It enhances the magic of anyone who uses it including Spyro. It can also be used to trap people in the Shadow Realm. It was used by Spyro in Spyro: Shadow Legacy.

Support

Crash

Aku Aku

A mysterious floating mask who serves as Crash’s spirit adviser, Aku Aku teamed up with the bandicoot to fight Cortex and preventing his misuse of the Wumpa Island’s inhabitants for his own personal gain.

Aku Aku is not an active combatant, but supports Crash by increasing his defensive capabilities. Finding his masks on the field allows Crash to take an incoming hit, and getting three makes him temporarily invincible. He can serve as a shield or skateboard for Crash to use to move around faster, and if need be perform energy attacks to defend the two of them in a pinch.

Aku Aku can also teleport himself to distant locations, and to a limited extent can do the same with others at his side. He can also shapeshift into a mask which Crash can use to jack Titans.

Titans

Using some sort of mojo abilities, Aku Aku can collect data of the Titans Crash has jacked in the past. However, it’s unclear which specific Titans are at Crash’s disposal. For the sake of argument, we’ll list the best Titans in the entire games, while not going over all of them considering they’re either useless or are boss enemies exclusively.

Battler: Can create cyclones, has razor sharp wings, and can fly

Ee-Lectric: Manipulates and calls down lightning for attacks

Magmadon: Slow brutes that can ignore fire and lava

Ratcicle: Freezes foes solid

Rhinoroller: Armor plated and curls into a ball to knock down enemies

Scorporilla: Scorpion & Gorilla mix that can attack at quick and brutal power

Snipe: Small and fragile but attacks at long range

Spike: Creates spikes from the ground. Also competed and won Titan Idol.

Spyro

Sparx

A dragonfly from the Dragon Realms, Sparx and Spyro became lifelong best friends and travel companions when the latter saved the former from being eaten as a child.

Sparx is a visual indicator of how much health Spyro currently has; he remains in his normal golden form is Spyro is health, and degrades until he disappears, indicating that Spyro is near-death. He also acts as a second set of eyes, capable of spotting treasure for Spyro to collect.

Feats

Crash

Overall

• Became a living,breathing meme
• Defeated Dr. Neo Cortex multiple times (including in Crash 1,Crash 2 and Crash 3: Warped and many,many more games)
• Defeated Aku Aku’s rival Uka Uka
• Defeated Nitros Oxide in a race
• In Crash Bash - defeat  Papu Papu, Bearminator, Komodo Brothers, and Nitros Oxide again with the help of his allies
• Defeated Crunch Bandicoot multiple times, despite being against the power of the Elementals
• Cortex claims that these Elementals have enough energy to crush mountains and demolish entire cities, and Uka Uka says that they were responsible for earthquakes, ice ages, and floods. And when they were set free due to Cortex and Uka Uka, they caused volcanoes to erupt, and created thunderstorms and tidal waves
• Defeated Mega Mix who is a fusion of all the previous bosses
• Defeated Doctor Nefarious Tropy
• Defeated Emperor Velo XXVI in a race
• Helped Spyro defeated both Cortex and Riptor
• Using the Mecha Bandicoot - defeated the Evil Twins
• Defeated Nelia and her mechanised Titan
• Defeated N Cortex who made himself stronger with a potion

Power

• Tornado Spin can shatter and knock back boulders
• Can ram into asteroids and knock them out of orbit.
• Can stun titans with one kick through the power of Mojo
• Can easily break wooden crates with a spin-attack or a body slam
• Is able to throw objects - great distances with relative ease

Speed

• Can evade the aforementioned asteroids and moves so fast, it doesn’t seem like they’re moving at all. (this was with the Jetpack)
• Outruns a giant bear chasing after him
• Outruns a giant boulder chasing after him
• Reacts to an ice beam heading towards him
• Is easily faster than a Lion as well as being able to avoid Tiny’s attacks

Durability

• Ramming into the aforementioned asteroids does nothing but stun him for about 1 or 2 seconds.
• Survived atmospheric freefall while in Cortex’s ship
• Survived an explosion that sunk an ocean liner. The 27 TNT crates in the area are half as tall as Crash. Assuming they were filled to the brim with gunpowder means the entire explosion inputs over 17.5 tons of TNT, City Block Level

Spyro

Overall

• Saved the dragons from extinction multiple times
• Defeated Gnasty Gnorc who was powerful enough to encased the dragons in Crystal
• Defeated Riptor as well as his minions - Crash and Gulp multiple times including one time where he teamed up with Crash to defeat Riptor and Cortex
• Defeated Neo Cortex in the Spyro/Crash Crossover Game
• Defeated Black Mage Wielder - the Sorceress
• Defeated Fire/Ice Wielder - Grendor
• Defeated Fallen Dragon Elder - Red both in his Dragon Form and his mechanised form
• Defeated Black Mage Wielder - Sorcerer in his normal and dragon form
• Defeated Dark Aether user - Cynder
• Defeated the Demon Ape - Gaul
• Defeated the Destroyer
• Defeated Fallen Dragon Elder - Malefor (with the help of Cynder)
• Defeated Fake Crash in a mech
• Defeated Kaos and his upgraded form - Super Kaos
• With his power alone, pieced the entire crumbling planet back together.

Power

• Can shatter stone walls and rock with ease 
• Can hurt mechanised creatures which are made out steel such as the Mechanical Gulp whom he took down in a few hits
• Used his magic to pull together a planet.

Durability

• Can withstand the effects of the Shadowstone which can kill most magical creatures.
• Can tank attacks from the likes of Riptor and Sorceress who were extremely potent magic wielders
• Tanked attacks from Cynder who has been shown to be Spyro’s equal in terms of magical capabilities
• Got crushed by a mammoth’s foot
• Tanked attacks from the Fire Golem which is strong enough to easily destroy a building (Spyro can also survive being crushed by the Fire Golem’s Hand).
• Withstand the Destroyer's Fire which is definitely Magma
• Tanked Malefor who had enough power to destroy the planet
• Got slammed into a wall by Malefor (the wall also had fire)

Speed

• Is able to catch up and reach Gnasty Gnorc in time before he escapes
• Can run fast enough to easily ram into enemies
• Outflown a large wave of fire heading towards them
• Was able to keep up with Moneybags who was running away
• Dodged point blank cannonballs
• Had dodge lighting as shown through the final battle against Malefor

Weaknesses

Crash

To say Crash can be outright stupid or insane at times is underselling him. While he does deserve credit for routinely defeating one of his world’s smartest minds as well as using his guile and cunning to win fights, he can often be tricked and manipulated to his detriment. Crash lacks training in hand-to-hand combat and often relies less on skill and more on the seat of his pants to win a fight.

Spyro

Spyro’s headstrong attitude usually leads to him rushing into dangerous situations right away without any concern for his own well-being or strategies. His own confidence in his abilities borders on arrogance and more often than not puts him in perilous situations he cannot properly prepare for. In addition, Sparx has no real combat function for Spyro outside of being a second set of eyes, and although Dark Spyro boosts his powers, how much it is boosted by is currently unquantifiable. Aether while being Spyro’s most powerful magic, outside of Dragon Time, does have a limit and he can become significantly drained if he uses it too much.

Summary

Crash

“You may remember me from my last adventure where, iunno… saved the world! You’re welcome. And now, I have to do it… again.”

Advantages:

• Can certainly beat Classic and Skylanders Spyro, given the large power difference in Crash’s favor.
• Aku Aku is better combat support than Sparx.
• Jacking is a trump card he could play to turn the tables.
• Mojo Crash could counter Dark Spyro 

Disadvantages:

• Lacks the stats and feats needed to defeat Legends Spyro. If the fight composites Spyro, Crash dies. Bad.
• Is less intelligent than Spyro
• Lacks the combat experience compared to Crash
• Lacks versatility when compared to Spyro
• Has no way of countering Spyro’s Dragon Time

Spyro

"I know this is not the path you would choose for me, but I have to walk my own path... and do what I know is right."

Advantages:

• His Legend timeline feats put him highly above Crash for an assured win.
• More intelligent than Crash.
• Has more combat experience than Cras
• Has more versatility than Crash
• Has the maneuverability advantage in both air and ground
• Time Slow can allow Spyro to avoid all of Crash’s ranged attacks
• Possibly unable to resist a Jacking attempt from Crash if it comes down to it.

Disadvantages:

• On the other hand, the classic incarnation is much weaker than Crash, and if those versions take precedence (especially the classic one given the theming), then Spyro is likely to lose.
• Mojo Crash could counter Dark Spyro
• Spyro could become exhausted and open to counter attack if he uses too much Aether
• Sparx provides less combat support than Aku Aku.

Verdicts

RocketTrashPanda

(Tekken music worked for Ratchet vs. Jak, it works here too)

Contrary to how I’ve done my verdicts in the past, as well as others on the blog thus far, I think I should probably get my most important point out of the way first before further discussion: Spyro is winning this fight. While this does bum me out given that I much like the other guy here, I can take solace in the idea that Crash is somehow going to die in the most over-the-top, cartoon-y way possible.

Speaking of Crash dying...

Delightful. Wonderful.

Anyway, onwards to my point. The main reason why I have to go with my brain and pick Spyro is mainly due to the show’s tendency to composite different incarnations of the same character, barring very specific instances. Unless Spyro becomes one of those instances, he’s being composited, and thus has access to one specific feat from his Legend version that ultimately seals the deal for him: rebuilding the planet after his final battle with Malefor. That alone puts him way above anything his original incarnation or Crash has to offer.

You might then wonder, “what if we simply stuck to Classic Spyro?” “After all,” you may think, “Classic and Legend Spyro are two vastly different versions of the same character, and the original material should take preference given how the OG games were the reason why he has a rivalry with Crash in the first place.” You’re sort of right. In that case, the win goes to Crash.

Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself, so I should at least provide comparisons. As mentioned earlier, Legends!Spyro has that planet feat, and the only real show of strength or destructive capability Crash has displayed which comes remotely close to matching it is in the final boss fight against Cortex in Cortex Strikes Back, where Crash’s spins can deflect meteors. Beyond that, there’s also scaling to the Elementals he’s beaten in Mind Over Matter; said folks had the power to destroy entire cities and mountains, and while impressive, they’re not topping the opposition.

With Classic!Spyro, the showings become a lot trickier. On his own, this version of Spyro doesn’t have that many obvious or over-the-top feats Crash or Legends!Spyro have, and at best, scaling via wins over Ripto and Gnorc still doesn’t give a huge impression, and place him comfortably lower than both of those other guys. Even when it comes to speed, he lacks solid feats to match the lightning-timing showings of both Crash and Legends!Spyro in one area those two are solidly equal in.

That said, surely there must be something in Crash’s arsenal that could turn the tide, right? Yes, but I’ll get into that issue later. With pick-ups and all their gear, Crash and Spyro have relatively even firepower. Spyro’s breath attacks can be reflected by Crash’s Tornado Spin, but he still has a small edge in the range game as Crash’s only form of ranged offense is his Fruit Bazooka, which Spyro can move around to avoid being hurt. Crash does have a bit more to work with in melee range as he’s primarily a close-quarters fighter, and does have a few techniques to use up-close, but that’s countered a bit by Legends!Spyro’s own expertise in the field. There’s also Crash’s stupidity, only rivaled by Spyro’s brash-headedness. Then, of course, there’s Dark Spyro, which Crash has no true counter to.

Assuming that the DB follows the information listed here, we’re going to assume that Aku Aku and Sparx will show up to help in the fight as combat support, and this helps out Crash a lot. Sparx is more or less just a visual indicator of how much trouble Spyro is in, and outside of finding treasure, he doesn’t contribute to fights much. Aku Aku, on the other hand, can boost Crash’s defense to the point of invulnerability, shoot lasers to improve Crash’s ranged offense, hover around to increase mobility and even teleport.

By far the biggest contributor to Crash’s possible success and victory is Aku Aku’s ability to possibly Jack Spyro. You might point out that Spyro is not a Titan, and thus should not be susceptible to Jacking, but you’d be ignoring what a Titan is in the first place. A Titan is simply a creature exposed to larger amounts of Mojo, defined as the “essence of life.” That definition implies that all living beings have it, and Spyro should be no exception. With Spyro’s lack of mental resistances, he should be vulnerable to a Jack, allowing Crash to possibly turn his own strength on him for the win. After all, if Crash doesn’t have the power to put Spyro down for good, the next best thing is to have the other guy do the dirty work, wouldn’t it?

There are a few problems with this theory, though. For one, it requires Crash to have enough strength to at least force Spyro into a vulnerable enough state for Aku Aku to Jack him, and he’d need to be really lucky given the huge power discrepancy and Spyro being in a position to one-shot him if the opportunity presents itself. Even then, Crash has never used his Jacking abilities to force a Titan to commit suicide or otherwise hurt themselves, and to assume that Crash could do such a thing would require me to make a non-supported claim of my own about Spyro, like again, incinerating Crash in one hit before the fight even begins.

Now, then - back to my earlier point. Spyro’s win here is mainly assured due to the fact that one of his incarnations is way past beyond Crash’s pay grade, and to not include said incarnation in the fight means that he loses because by then, Crash would hold the advantage in every other category. You could make the argument that they could limit Spyro to just the classic version, but again: Death Battle’s habit of compositing characters even with large power gaps involved (and the previews) ensure that Legends!Spyro, and the dragon’s win, is set in stone.

Even then, I feel like doing so would be nitpicking. Yes, Crash does legitimately beat Classic!Spyro on feats alone, but considering that the presence of Legends!Spyro provides a lot more information and stuff the original didn’t have as well as that aforementioned policy of the show means that it comes across as a bit of bias and favoritism towards Crash and would be highly unfair for his opponent. Trust me, I really want Crash to win this fight; with the circumstances of it all though, I feel like it’d be more fair for him to lose a fight against Spyro’s best as opposed to beating him at his weakest.

Tl;dr Spyro wins if you give them everything, Crash wins most cases otherwise but since DB likes doing everything, the bandicoot is going to burn.

TheGamingNewsGuy

(Since a Dragon is coming to DEATH BATTLE, i have to use this song, it’s too good)

Oh boy, this fight has been a long time coming. Admitelly i didn’t grow up with Mario and Sonic like a lot of people did - i grew up with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon so i am very much looking forward to this fight especially since it’s going to be animated by Torrian Crawford. Now as for who wins. I am going to say that for sure Spyro Wins. For this verdict i am going into cover some areas that you may not think are important but in the long run really do secure Spyro the win.

Stats

If we were going by Classic Spyro vs Classic Crash then Crash would win this hands down but since Legends Spyro will be used and that’s the strongest version of Spyro - then it should be considered. Crash’s best strength feat is that he is strong enough to easily break through rocks (including asteroids with relative ease as well). Classic Spyro is easily able to break through steel doors with his headbut. However, in terms of pure strength feats both are relatively even though i would say that Crash has the slightly better pure strength feats. Though if we are factoring destructive capability into this then Spyro wins this category hands down - as he managed to hurt both Malefour and the Destroyer - The Destroyer was strong enough to break the planet and Malefor was able to use his magic to lift a big part of the mountain and yet Spyro fought both of them and there’s also the infamous planet level feat where Spyro uses his magic to restore the planet - this should put his Destructive Capability at Planet Level. So if we go by pure strength feats than Crash and Spyro are relatively equal. If we go by Destructive Capability Feats than Spyro wins.

What about Speed then, we'll faster than a Lion but also has Massively Hypersonic reactions since Crash is able to dodge lightning based attacks. Spyro’s best feat is that during his battle with the Destroyer he was able to outfly a giant pool of magma heading towards him as well as being able to dodge and react to lighting. I would say that overall Crash is slightly faster but both are fairly equal in terms of reactions.

Finally there’s durability and this is not a contest. This is a massacre - Crash’s best feat in terms of durability is when he survived an explosion that sunk an ocean liner. The 27 TNT crates in the area are half as tall as Crash. Assuming they were filled to the brim with gunpowder means the entire explosion inputs over 17.5 tons of TNT, City Block Level. Spyro on the other hand tanked hits from Malefor who was able to lift a mountain as well as The Destroyer who almost destroyed the planet. This puts Spyro’s durability at least when concerning Legends at Planet Level. So Spyro wins.

Overall i would say Crash has the slight edge in terms of speed and strength but Spyro beats him in terms of Destructive Capability and Durability - he edges out over Spyro.

Weaponry/Abilities

I am putting these in one category since Crash relies on weaponry while Spyro relies on abilities/magic.Crash’s main tools that he uses for combat are his Yo,Yo and Mech Suit but he also has a lot of travel options from the Go-Kart, Motorcycle and the Jetpack. He also has moves such as the Death Tornado and the Super Slam.This allows Crash some versatility in terms of fighting style but sadly Crash is also beaten in this category - not only does Spyro have 6 different types of Elemental Breath attacks but he can also command the five elements - Fire,Water,Earth,Air and Lighting for some wide and deadly attacks. Amplifying his physical abilities with the elements. He also has Time Manipulation which allows him to maneuver past Crash’s attacks as well as Aether Manipulation which gives him a healing factor (which is something that Crash doesn’t really have) but also Aether can also lend to very deadly attacks. He also has Dark Aether when he goes Dark Spyro which is even more powerful. Crash is simply outmatched in this area as well

Close Quarters Combat

Crash Bandicoot is a close ranged fighter for sure - while he does have some ranged weapons like the Wumpa Bazooka and of course the Yo-Yo. He is at his best when he is at his at a close distance from his enemy and laying down the hurt and you may think that Spyro is naturally a long ranged combatant due to reliance on breath attacks, Well you would be right and wrong. In the orginal games (aka 1,2,3) - Spyro mostly relied on his fire attacks to get the job done but with games like Shadow Legacy and the Legend Series that changed. Shadow Legacy in particular gave Spyro a fighting style called - Dragon-Kata that he was trained in and able to use thanks to the Shadowstone which boosts Spyro’s magic. This fighting style uses Chi in order to boost his own attacks. The issue with Crash in terms of close range combat is due to his lack of intelligence he mostly relies on overpowering a foe through spin attacks while Spyro’s Chi based Dragon Kata allows him to maneuver around foes and utilizes his Draconic Capabilities to their fullest. Please with the added bonus of Chi (aka natural energy) then i feel that even when concerning close range fighting which is where Crash is best at he still loses to Spyro

Overall:

As you can see, Spyro is the clear winner of this DEATH BATTLE. If this was simply just Classic Spyro vs Classic Spyro then this fight would be a lot closer - honestly Crash would probably win but since Legends is being used then i can safely say that Spyro with his superior stats, better close ranged combat as well as having better abilities than Crash so overall - looks like Crash won’t be be Woahing his way to victory because he will crash and burn

Brobuscus101

(Both are my childhood, so a remix between two of their theme’s would be fitting)

My reaction to this fight happening

Yeah, it should be pretty clear that I really wanted this fight to happen. While Mario VS Sonic is a gaming battle for the record books, this one sticks out more to me. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon are my childhood icons when it comes to gaming. Knowing about them and playing their games since I was at least 5 years old, they’ve easily become some of my favorite characters in video game history, despite characters like Mario, Sonic, Snake, Rayman, Pac-Man, and Mega Man existing. And since I got into VS, this has been the matchup I wanted to happen the most. And now that it’s happening, and since Torrian is the animator, my hype hasn’t risen this high since Iron Man got announced for the show.

But the only issue is that both of these characters are my childhood, so no matter what, my childhood dies. So now, it’s time for me to say who I think that will be.

But before I do that, I’m going to make a quick disclaimer here: There’s SEVERAL ways this fight could go, and it all stems from the different versions of Spyro that exist. Since, at the time of this writing, we haven’t been told which version of Spyro they’re going with, I’m going to split this up into 3 categories:

1: Crash VS Classic Spyro

What this category will do is cover Spyro’s chances without the Legends games and Skylanders. This includes PS1, PS2, and GBA games.

2: Crash VS Composite Spyro

What this category will do is cover Spyro’s chances with all versions combined together. Classic games, Legend of Spyro, and Skylanders combined into one.

Crash VS Classic Spyro:

Ok, so long story short, Crash slaughters badly. While the classic Spyro isn’t that much of a pushover, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a huge gap in stats between the two. Being City Level and roughly Sub-Relativistic, Crash one-shots and blitzes the Building Level Spyro that doesn’t have many speed feats. And Crash has dealt with elemental beings before and can reflect projectiles, so Spyro’s elemental breaths wouldn’t do much of anything. Not a lot Spyro can do there.

Crash VS Composite Spyro:

Ok, since this is what they’re going with, take this one more seriously.

TL;DR, Spyro curbstomps easily. Not only does he have more to work with, meaning Crash can’t counter everything anymore, but the overwhelming power gap between the two gives Spyro the win easily. While Crash keeps his speed advantage, Spyro has more feats to shorten the gap a bit, such as dodging lightning. That being said, Spyro molding the Earth together is enough to win on it’s own.

To clear up some confusion(maybe), I want to cover real quick about scaling to Malefor. Yes, he fought Malefor and yes, he beat him. But, not only did he have Cynder to back him up, but he also never actually showed the capability to destroy the Earth. That was his minion, the Destroyer, who Spyro also beat with help. Now, for all we know, Malefor might be more powerful than the Destroyer, but it wasn’t ever stated or shown to be the case. That said, he did drop a mountain on Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder before, which is roughly as strong, if not stronger than Crash, so yeah.

To give Crash the benefit of the doubt, he does have a few advantages. As said, he’s still faster via maneuvering around asteroids in Earth’s orbit. He’s also got more tools to work with, even though Spyro has more variety, and he has a better assistant. I love Sparx(except his Legends version), but he’s not super helpful here. He’s a visual representation of Spyro’s physical state, and that’s about it. Aku Aku, on the other hand, gives Crash more abilities to work with. He can teleport, act as a shield and skateboard, and can be used for a device that can mind-jack titans. Now, this may not sound like something that would work on Spyro, but titans in the Crash Bandicoot series are literally monsters with Mojo, which is basically lifeblood and fighting energy, which Spyro is full of via Aether.

Just for a side-note, if Crash DOES jack Spyro, he definitely could make Spyro commit suicide, or at least hurt himself. And it’s not like he hasn’t done it before. In Crash of the Titans, he jacks Uka Uka and destroys generators that power the Evolvo-Ray, the device that gave Uka Uka a new mutated body. And in Mind over Mutant, he jacks Cortex, and destroys machinery that had enough energy to knock the mutated scientist out-cold. And Aku Aku can store certain mutants that Crash can use for everyday use, but as far as I know, it’s never stated which titans Aku Aku stored before.

The issue with jacking titans is that he needs to make the titans vulnerable or knock them out in order to do it. And unless the titans Crash has have something we missed that reaches Planet Level, then knocking Spyro out won’t happen, and being a 1v1, distracting Spyro and making him vulnerable probably won’t happen either.

So despite Crash’s speed advantage, variety of equipment, and the better support, Spyro’s greater power and durability save him from loss against the Cycling Marsupial. While both characters are my video game heroes and I can’t physically root for either of them because of how much I love the other, that doesn’t mean I can’t say one can beat the other, and unfortunately, Spyro has too much to work with that Crash can’t handle. If this was Classic Spyro, Crash would be able to hold himself good there, and win handily, but it’s a composite Spyro, so unfortunately, he wins this one way too easily. Love ya Crash, but, to quote Kenshiro, “Omae wa mou Shindeiru(You’re already dead)”

TL;DR, Spyro should be the winner of this Death Battle.