Doctor Nitrus Brio

Brio vs. Crash Bandicoot

Dr. Nitrus Brio (also known as N. Brio, or simply Brio) is a fictional character in the Crash series. He is an evil scientist and chemist who used to work for Doctor Neo Cortex. He first worked with Cortex in order to destroy Crash. He attended Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil along side N. Gin and Cortex. He was also the creator of the first fully functional Evolvo-Ray. His latest appearance was in Crash: Mind over Mutant.

Early years

Brio made his first appearance in Crash Bandicoot, where he aids Cortex in forming the Cortex Commandos. Little did they know that they would soon be trying to destroy one of their creations. He was the second-to-last boss of the game, where he attacked Crash by throwing chemicals (possibly mutagen) in beakers at him. He then used the mutagen on himself, transforming him into a Hulk-like monster known as Green Monster Brio. Crash eventually defeated him. He then fled Cortex Castle, and his exploding chemicals were most likely the cause of the fire. In the credits, it is said that he left to tend bars, but since that information is non-canon, it is believed that he left because he hated Cortex.

Life after Cortex

Brio in Crash Bash

After Crash 1, he soon got wind of Cortex's plan to use Crystals to take over the planet using the new and improved Cortex Vortex. He is arguably the main antagonist of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, since even though he tried to get Crash Bandicoot to gather the Gems after he was sent to gather the Crystals by Cortex, he was still responsible for most of the enemies in the game that stood in his way, including Tiny Tiger, Ripper Roo, and the Komodo Bros. He then appeared again in Crash Bash, working under the instructions of Uka Uka. This was Brio's first and only playable appearance.

He was then not seen again until Crash Twinsanity.

Alliance

Brio in Crash Twinsanity

In Crash Twinsanity, Brio returned, working with N. Tropy and N. Gin. After hearing from Dingodile that the Evil Twins, Victor and Moritz, were in possession of a treasure, they joined forces in order to obtain the riches. Crash confronts them near the Iceberg Lab, where Brio and N. Tropy attempt to interrogate him. When that didn't work, they resort to attacking him. This plan fails as well, despite Brio using his new "Frog Beast" mutagen. They did end up locating the Treasure Vault before Cortex, but were attacked by Spyro.

In this game, Brio had a physical change as with most other characters. He was wearing a white lab suit and had somewhat darker skin, the opinion that so is to look scarier plausible.

NVasion

Brio in Mind over Mutant

Brio soon appeared again in Crash: Mind over Mutant. He and Cortex decided to work together once more. He did not appear as a boss in this game, but was the one in charge of the "Recycling Program," that was taking place at the junkyard. His minions in this game were the Doom Monkeys, who had abandoned N. Gin. He was ordering Crunch around, and was also the one who triggered the Crunch boss battle. Brio claims to invented many things in this game, including recycling, the Evolvo-Ray, mutagen, The Bible, the heroes of the world, Slinkies, the Space Head, endings and the design of NVs. He even broke the fourth wall by saying he was in the first Crash Bandicoot game. After the fight against Crunch, he fled Wumpa Island, and it is unknown were he went although he was seen trying to hicthhike a car when he left. Many fans hope for him to reappear in the next Crash game.

Personality

When Brio speaks, he often stammers, whether excited or not (i.e. "...g-g-gather the Gems, not the C-C-C-Crystals"), behavior of which is evident whenever he won in a minigame in Crash Bash.

Brio has been known to switch from evil to good and back/neither from time to time; for example, he was first seen aiding Cortex in taking over the world, and then Crash in saving it (in Crash 1 and then 2, respectively), and siding with Cortex again in Crash Bash (although Bash was not likely to be canon). In Twinsanity, however, he did not side with Cortex nor Crash, but against both alongside N. Tropy and N. Gin. He's sided with Cortex again in Mind over Mutant, but still shows his disliking of Cortex taking credit for past inventions he made.

Trivia

• It is possible that "N. Brio" is a pun on the word "embryo" (but no doctor character has an 'm').
• Although Brio's potion beakers were items in CTR, Brio himself was not present at all (except as a cameo, obviously). Thus, he, along with Koala Kong, Komodo Moe, Tawna and Baby T are the only known characters of the Crash universe before Crash Bash that were not playable characters in CTR.
• In the Crash games made by Naughty Dog, Brio had the second most hit points (nine), beaten only by N. Gin in Warped, whose two machine forms had five and seven equaling twelve; Brio's hit points, also, equal the ones of N. Tropy in N-Tranced, which, altogether, reach the count of nine as well. Despite this, Brio is still the one with most hit points shown on screen at once.
• In Crash: Mind over Mutant, Brio is voiced by animation veteran Maurice LaMarche, famous for characters such as Egon Spengler from "The Real Ghostbusters", The Brain of "Pinky and the Brain" and most recently Inspector Gadget.
• Also in Mind over Mutant, Brio is always seen with a beaker of green liquid which is mutagen. However, instead of turning him into a monster, it seems to calm him down. One possible explanation is that he's taken so much of it over the years it has a diluted effect.
• In the strictest sense, Dr. Cortex DID invent the Evolvo-Ray. Or at least a cruder, less efficient prototype with an unintended side-effect of interdimensional displacement. What Brio really did was PERFECT the design and make it a more effective weapon. So Cortex's claim of inventing the weapon is at least partially true. Brio's issues with Cortex may probably be based partially on Evil Mad Scientists being egomaniacal jerks who want the glory all for themselves.