Analyzing specific games and their music styles: Crash Bandicoot Series

The Crash Bandicoot series of games was an older series involving a bandicoot platforming through 3-dimensional levels while collecting fruit and crystals. The series was very island focused, as Crash even lives on an island and most of the bad things happen on the main island of the game. As expected, the songs sound very tropical and junglish, combining the use of instruments such as marimbas and bongos with newer instruments like piano and strings.

The song "Rumble in the Rocks" from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex illustrates this combination perfectly. It combines instruments in a similar way to the Kirby series, where normal instruments combine with synthesized instruments. This song uses alot of marimba to give an islandish feel, and combines it with various synth drums and strings to give the feel of intensity as this song plays during the 1st boss of the game. Crash Bandicoot has it's own style just like every other game which provides the question: "Is there a specific genre for video games?"

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