Coco Bandicoot

Coco Bandicoot is a major character in the Crash Bandicoot series and is the highly intelligent and spirited younger sister Crash Bandicoot. She often aids her big brother by building gadgets ideal for the situation or even tagging along with him in his journeys, using self-taught martial arts to defend herself. She first appeared in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Her first appearance as a playable character was in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Since then, she has appeared in every Crash game.

Just as her brother was, Coco was an ordinary Bandicoot until she was taken from the jungle and genetically enhanced by Doctor Nitrus Brio to help Crash defeat Dr. Neo Cortex. It is unknown how she came to live with Crash afterwards as she was not seen in the first game stating how Crash and Tawna were created.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Coco is first seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back living on N. Sanity Island with Crash. One day, when the battery for her laptop runs out, she sends Crash off to find a replacement battery for her. When Coco discovers that Crash is gathering crystals for Cortex, she becomes suspicious of Cortex and decides to hack into his computer to see what he's really up to. What she finds are detailed schematics for an improved Cortex Vortex and a suspicious-looking space station. She learns of Cortex's real plan, just as Crash has gathered all the crystals, and reveals Cortex's intentions to Crash before he can give the crystals to Cortex. She appears beside N. Brio and her brother when they are blowing up the Cortex Vortex.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (in which she is a playable character), Coco is called upon by Aku Aku to use Doctor Nefarious Tropy's Time Twister Machine and gather the powerful crystals in their original places before Cortex does so. Coco helps by gathering the crystals in 17th century China, the 18th century Pacific Ocean, and World War I Europe. She is also responsible for the defeat of Doctor N. Gin on the moon, with her new pet tiger, Pura, assisting her. Coco is mute and does not speak in Warped, which is unusual been as in all the other games she's very loud and excitable.

Personality
From the moment she is introduced, Coco is established as a "mistress" sort of character and uses Crash to perform certain errands whenever she sees fit. Her work ethic can be best described as domineering; most of the time, she only works on what she wants to do and largely ignores what really needs to be done, such as cleaning the house (as displayed in Crash: Mind Over Mutant). Despite this, Coco is generally depicted as cheerful and high spirited, her educated wit often contrasted by an innocent childlike demeanor. Despite their contrasting personalities, Coco is far from prissy and is generally tolerant, if not outright amused by Crash's behavior. She also shares his altruistic code, even to some enemies (as Crash had taken sympathy on Krunk in Nitro Kart, Coco felt pity for Nash, using her hack smarts to make the "poor shark thingy" take a long needed nap).

She is great with technology as she carries a pink/turquoise laptop occasionally and is skilled at hacking, as seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, when she intercepts Cortex's messages to convince her brother not to listen to him. Below the Bandicoot House lies Coco's VR Hub System, which resides in a secret lab seen in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. It works similar to the Time Twister in that it can warp to different places around the world, the only difference being in the present time. She is a fan of martial arts films and masculine sports such as wrestling and NASCAR, stating that she could be. In Crash Tag Team Racing, Coco's personality is different: she is more feminine, preppy, sassy, often take eccentric poses, and has liking of beauty and shopping. Coco has an unexplained grudge against Nina Cortex starting from Crash Tag Team Racing, something that ends up requited after she openly competes for superiority above her in Crash of the Titans.

Coco is generally depicted a lucid foil for Crash, often taking the role of straight man or spokesman whenever Aku Aku isn't around. She is not without her own dizzy moments however, and is certainly not immune to the same slapstick buffoonery that so often befalls her brother.

Physical Appearance
In contrast to Crash's cartoony physical appearance, Coco's figure is more svelte and realistic. Like most characters in the series, her stature is inconsistent, frequently switching between being shorter or taller than her "big brother". In all of her appearances, she is shown to have a full head of blond hair, usually tied up in a ponytail and with a blue/ pink/ purple/ green flower stuck on the side. From her first appearance up to Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Coco wears a white shirt, light-blue overalls (with one strap undone), pink shoes and hair tied up at the back. Starting with Crash Nitro Kart, Coco changed from a young girl to a grown-up teenager. Although she still wears a flower in her hair, Coco's clothes and physique became visually more mature and feminine. For example, in the cutscenes in Crash Nitro Kart, she has more of a figure and has developed a rounder backside. She also wears sky blue jeans and a white midriff-baring T-shirt with a pink petaled smiling flower on it while her shoes' soles were slightly heightened, making her a little taller. Her jeans have pink stripes on the sides in Crash Twinsanity. In Crash Tag Team Racing, her outfit was altered: her flower symbol was replaced by a red star, her shoes gained orange lines and her jeans appeared to be denim and have a white belt to hold them up. An unlockable costume in the same game has Coco dressing up in a blue and pink princess attire. Nitro Kart set the standard for all of Coco's following outfits - consisting of the tight jeans and white midriff-baring crop-top.

In Crash of the Titans, Coco's attire is very similar to what she wore in Crash Tag Team Racing, though the sleeves on her T-shirt have become a light-blue color. Coco does not wear her hair in a ponytail or wear a flower in it in this installment, instead having her hair straight down and wearing a blue headscarf and is seen as much more grown up. The shape of her head is also altered. Coco's design is altered once more for Crash: Mind Over Mutant, in which her head is back to the original shape. She once again wears her hair in a ponytail with two strands up front, wears goggles on her forehead and has larger, more expressive eyes. Her jeans also became yellow and her shoes went from pink to brown.

Role in the Series
Like Crash, Coco's role in the series has yet to be decided.