Pura (Crash Bandicoot)

Pura
'Crash Bandicoot' character
First game	Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (1998)

Pura is a tiger cub who was first introduced in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. In the levels of Orient Express and Midnight Run, Coco Bandicoot can ride him like Crash Bandicoot rides Polar in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, meaning he is Coco's pet. He helped Coco during her fight against Doctor N. Gin, making her spaceship more powerful as well, so that he can repay her.

History

Naughty Dog Era

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

Pura was first found in two various levels of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Coco rides him through levels of Orient Express and Midnight Run, back when the Great Wall of China was being built. He then helps in the battle against N. Gin on the moon, backing up Coco and making Coco's ship more powerful. He can also be seen in the ending inside Crash's house with Coco.

Crash Team Racing

File:CTR Pura.png

Pura in Crash Team Racing.

In Crash Team Racing, Pura is seen resting with Coco when Nitros Oxide came to Earth. Pura's indigo/purple coloured kart specializes in turning and along with Polar, Penta and Ripper Roo, is classed as a beginner in difficulty. His garage, where he keeps his kart, resembles an ancient ruin featuring carvings of his face and large, green, leafy plants. When the player chooses to play as either N. Tropy, Ripper Roo, Papu Papu, Komodo Joe, Pinstripe, Penta Penguin or Fake Crash in Arcade Mode, Pura is the character out of the original 8 racers that's not included in the race. In the epilogue, Pura joined the Las Vegas tiger show of Zigfield and Floyd. His role came to an end when he closed his mouth "a tad bit too early" on Floyd.

Stats:

• Speed: 1/6
  
• Acceleration: 3/4
  
• Turning: 4/4
  
• Difficulty: Beginner

Traveller's Tales Era

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

Pura made a small appearance in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, taking a similar role to Polar in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. He is seen in the opening cut-scene building a sandcastle on the beach, while Aku Aku was resting before the Elementals announced their presence. He is also seen at the bandicoots' house when Aku Aku returns from a meeting with Uka Uka. Pura is also seen entering Coco's lab. Like Polar in Warped, Pura disappears from the game and does not feature in any of the levels. His final appearance is in the true ending when Crash, Aku Aku, Coco and the reformed Crunch return home after escaping Cortex's space station. Pura's physical appearance has changed slightly, as he seems slightly larger and stockier and now has whiskers.

Crash Nitro Kart

Pura would later be a racer in Crash Nitro Kart. In this game, N. Trance kidnapped and brainwashed him along with Polar and Dingodile. Pura can be unlocked as a playable character. In order to unlock him, the player needs to perform 50 turbo boosts in adventure mode with Team Bandicoot. In the GBA version, he is replaced with Spyro. He has good turning like Coco, N. Gin, Polar and Zam.

In Crash Nitro Kart, Pura is seen showing traits of cowardice. Examples of this are present when he has his head down during a particularly high jump. It is believed that this trait stems from being under the hypnosis of N. Trance, and is not present when he is not under his mind control. Pura appears to be much more insane and psychotic in this game, rather like Dingodile, and judging by his hissing sounds, more aggressive.

In the ending for Team Bandicoot, Polar is shown to have been released from N. Trance's mind control because he's relaxing on the beach with Crash, Coco and Crunch, and assuming Pura was released too, seeing as Pura, Fake Crash or N. Tropy are in no cutscenes for Crash Nitro Kart but it's very likely he was released.

Stats:

Speed: 2/7
Acceleration: 4/7
Turning: 7/7
Difficulty: Beginner

Radical Entertainment Era

Crash Tag Team Racing

There was going to be a costume for Coco in Pura's likeness, but it was cut and replaced with her Princess outfit.

Crash Boom Bang!

Pura made an appearance in Crash Boom Bang! as a playable character. In the game, he is now an anthropomorphic animal, and wears pants similar to Crash along with Polar.

Crash of the Titans

Originally, Pura and Baby T were going to get kidnapped in Crash of the Titans, instead of Coco and Aku Aku. There is no concept art for them, however.

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2

Pura made his latest appearance in Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, where he is a playable character. However he did have a voice in this game, he says "Strike" when he hits another player while racing.

Vicarious Visions Era

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Pura plays the same role he had in the remaster of the third game.

Appearances

• Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
• Crash Team Racing
• Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
• Crash Nitro Kart (Console Version Only)
• Crash Boom Bang!
• Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
• Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Relationships

Coco Bandicoot

After helping Coco across the Great Wall of China and beat N. Gin, Pura became Coco's pet and the only one who's not under Crash's care. He can easily be said to be very close to her due to all the references to their bond.

In Crash Nitro Kart, despite being brainwashed into racing for N. Trance, Pura does not show any signs of malice towards any of the characters, suggesting that he became a neutral character, rather than an evil one for this game.

Gallery

See: Pura/Gallery

Trivia

• Contrary to popular belief, Pura is male.
• Pura was originally intended to be a panda bear in Crash 3, but he was too similar to Polar who is a polar bear, so Pura instead became a tiger.
• In CTR, if the player selects an unlockable character in arcade mode, Pura gets taken out of the race (whilst all other 7 starter characters race).
• Pura has a voice box in Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2.
• Pura's name may come from the word "pura", meaning "temple" in Indonesian.
• "Pura" is actually a female given name in Spanish speaking countries, but this is not likely where his name comes from, particularly considering that he is male.
• Pura wears blue shorts in Crash Boom Bang!.
• Pura has green eyes. However, in Crash Boom Bang!, his eyes were changed from green to blue.
• Pura has a purple kart in the European version of CTR and indigo in the American version.
• Even though Pura is a tiger, he meows and makes noises like a cat; just like how Polar barks like a dog.
• Because of his shading of orange, meaning of name and his level location it is plausible that Pura could either be a South China Tiger or a Indochinese tiger.
• Some players consider Pura and Tiny to be related, though this isn't considered canon.
• Pura has a default Inferno Island race time in lap the trial mode for Crash Nitro Kart which is strange, given that he doesn't appear unless played.
• Pura is absent in the GBA version of Crash Nitro Kart. Instead of Pura, Spyro was in the game.
• Pura (alongside Baby T) was originally going to be in Crash of the Titans. They would've been kidnapped instead of Coco and Aku Aku.
• In Crash Nitro Kart, Pura has the same idle animation as Polar.

This article uses content from the Crash Bandicoot wiki.