Doctor N-Gin

N. Gin
'Crash Bandicoot' character
File:GinTitans.PNG Doctor N. Gin in Crash of the Titans.
First game	Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1997)
Created by	Naughty Dog

Doctor N. Gin (ドクター エヌ ジン, Dokutā Enu Jin, sometimes spelled N-Gin) is a fictional video game character and secondary villain in the Crash Bandicoot series of video games.

Doctor N. Gin is a defense industry phycisist-turned-cyborg who usually acts as a boss in the series. He is Doctor Neo Cortex's right-hand man (replacing Doctor Nitrus Brio), helping him create numerous doomsday weapons and other unpleasant devices virtually without question, regardless of the consequences (although he is seen working away from Cortex in Crash Twinsanity). His personality and appearance are based on that of the stereotypical deranged henchman, with the addition of effeminate and masochistic mannerisms later in the series.

Conception and creation

Jason Rubin is credited for the concept of Doctor N. Gin. N. Gin has a live missile in his head, which can give him a headache when it becomes active. Coincidentally, Jason Rubin suffered from chronic migraine headaches. N. Gin's name is a play on the word "engine", referring to his occupation as a physicist.

Actor portrayal

During the Naughty Dog era, N. Gin is depicted as having a somewhat nasal voice, which is digitally altered to include what appears to be a second, high-pitched voice echoing N. Gin's regular voice, giving his voice a robotic quality. During this period, N. Gin is voiced by Brendan O'Brien, who voiced a number of other characters in the series during the Naughty Dog era. In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, N. Gin is voiced by Corey Burton (who also voices N. Tropy in the same game), and the robotic effect is missing. N. Gin is voiced by Quinton Flynn in Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Twinsanity. Once more, the robotic effect to his voice is present, but in comparison to his previous appearances, it is not as noticeable. N. Gin is voiced by TMNT star Nolan North in Crash Tag Team Racing and Crash of the Titans, and by Kazuhiro Nakata in the Japanese dub of the series from Cortex Strikes Back to Twinsanity, with Mitsuru Ogata (who also dubbed over Nitrus Brio in the same series) taking over the role as of Tag Team Racing.

Characteristics

Personality

Like most of Doctor Cortex's henchmen, N. Gin follows Cortex's every order without question, more so than Tiny and Dingodile, as N. Gin is Doctor Cortex's right-hand man, replacing Doctor Nitrus Brio after the events of Crash Bandicoot. However, like Nitrus Brio before him, N. Gin is less impulsive than Cortex or Uka Uka, preferring to think over the situation rather than rushing to a solution, which usually leads to a loud rebuttal by his psychopathic superiors whenever he questions their way of doing things, as shown in the opening cinematics of Crash Bandicoot 2 and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the latter in which N. Gin actually contemplates the fact that Crash Bandicoot might simply be too powerful for him and the others to defeat. Nevertheless, his words of wisdom don't always fall on deaf ears, as Doctor Cortex occasionally takes N. Gin's advice into consideration if it benefits him in any way.

N. Gin's behavior becomes more deranged by Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Twinsanity, becoming prone to fits of giggling. In a deleted scene from Crash Twinsanity, it is shown that he has developed somewhat of a crush on Crash's sister, Coco, as evidenced when Cortex disguises himself as Coco and is kidnapped by N. Gin as a result, who attempts to make "her" his sea bride. No reference to this crush is made in the finished version of Twinsanity, rendering the crush non-canon. In Crash Tag Team Racing, Doctor N. Gin is depicted as a bipolar, masochistic, suicidal, and effeminate madman, prone to fits of yelling, sobbing, and giggling, and making doomsday weapons out of such odd items as fuzzy slippers. He is also shown to have low self-esteem, at one point asking Crash to buy him a ballerina outfit, so that he can feel pretty. N. Gin is shown to be even more unbalanced in Crash of the Titans, incoherently rambling over his factory's intercom and having a conversation with himself in his last scene, he posesses a somewhat effeminate side, proving by yelling and some mannerisms. N. Gin briefly shows a misogynistic side when he informs Crash of his sister's whereabouts, expressing disgust at the thought of girls. This seems to contradict with a statement he makes over the intercom, in which he expresses a desire for women.

Appearance

File:Ngin.PNG

N. Gin during the Naughty Dog era

Doctor N. Gin is a stocky, red-haired (black in Crash Tag Team Racing and dark blue in Crash of the Titans) cyborg with only half a face. He wears an identical attire to Cortex, with a notable difference being a numerous amount of large bolts located all over his lab coat. A distinguishing feature of his is the large missile protruding from the right side of his head. After the incident that provided the missile, N. Gin reconstructed it as a life-support system, turning nearly half his head into metal. The missile is still live, and was only thought to activated only when N. Gin was stressed or angry, but as revealed in Tag Team Racing, he can activate the missile at will, usually to stabilize a vehicle. While the eye located on the non-mechanical side of his head is somewhat small, the eye on the other side of his face is large, circular, and with a small black pupil occupying it (although in Nitro Kart, this eye is replaced by a black electronic eye with a red pupil). In terms of height, N. Gin is somewhat shorter than Cortex, but appears to be as tall as him in Tag Team Racing. In the same game, N. Gin's skin takes on a grayish tone, as opposed to the pink/yellow of earlier games (Doctor Cortex once described N. Gin as "hav[ing] bad complexion). In Crash of the Titans, N. Gin's skin and hair color take on a bluish scheme, and the pupil on the robotic half of his face is larger. Besides these differences, N. Gin looks similar to what he did in past games.

As a child in the Academy of Evil, N. Gin is shown to have a paper airplane stuck in his head, foreshadowing the head rocket later in his life. This is revealed in an unlockable piece of concept art in Crash Twinsanity.

History

Past history

Like the rest of the characters in the series, N. Gin's exact age is uncertain. However, in a piece of unlockable concept art in Crash Twinsanity, N. Gin is shown to have gone to the same school as Neo Cortex and Nitrus Brio, and thus is about the same age as the latter two. N. Gin's Peter Lorre-esque accent and polka theme in Crash of the Titans suggest that he is of Austrian ancestry, though no other evidence of this exists in the games. In Crash of the Titans, N. Gin claims to have once had a superficial brother named George over his factory's intercom system.

Before teaming up with Doctor Neo Cortex, N. Gin was a well-known physicist in the defense industry, though it is implied in the Game Boy Advance version of Crash of the Titans that he once worked at a stapler factory. Due to a budget cut, one of his missile projects went awry and found itself lodged into N. Gin's head. N. Gin has since stabalized the weapon, and went on to become Doctor Cortex's henchman one year after the events of Crash Bandicoot.

Present history

1997-1998

While helping Cortex study the power of their newly-found Master Crystal, N. Gin reveals that 25 Slave Crystals are needed along with the Master Crystal to harness the power of the upcoming planetary alignment and use it to enslave mankind. When Cortex recruits Crash to retrieve the Crystals for him, Doctor N. Gin attempts to take them as the penultimate boss in the game. However, the weapons on N. Gin's mech turn out to be weak points, and Crash is easily able to toss Wumpa Fruit into the weapons, causing the mech to malfunction and self-destruct, leaving N. Gin floating in the vacuum of space. He is somehow able to reach Cortex's space station before the final boss battle, as evidenced by quotes said by Cortex before the battle against him.

In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, N. Gin returns as the penultimate boss of the game. Under the orders of Uka Uka and Cortex, N. Gin is sent to eliminate the Bandicoots with his new double-phased mech, which starts out as a suit of mobile armor. When all of the weapons on the suit have been destroyed, the suit transforms into a space fighter and docks with a large weapon platform. After a battle with Coco and Pura on the Moon, N. Gin is once again sent flying into the vacuum of space.

2001-2004

In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, N. Gin is an attendee of Uka Uka's bad guy convention, and is ultimately the one who reveals the secret of Crunch Bandicoot, Cortex's new superweapon. For the rest of the game, N. Gin serves as an obstacle in some of the levels.

In Crash Twinsanity, N. Gin appears during the first boss battle, piloting the Mecha-Bandicoot in an attempt to eliminate Crash. When all of its weapons are destroyed, the Mecha-Bandicoot stomps a hole into the floor and falls into a cavern. N. Gin is later seen as the captain of his own battleship. At the crow's nest, N. Gin tries to destroy Crash again with a barrage of missiles, occasionally tossing a TNT Crate. This leads to the eventual collapse of the crow's nest, causng N. Gin to land on his head onto a pile of TNT Crates, causing a large explosion that sinks the battleship. N. Gin is last seen teamed up with N. Tropy and N. Brio, with all of them trying to steal the Evil Twins' riches. However, they are driven out by Spyro the Dragon.

2007-present

N. Gin makes a return appearance in Crash of the Titans. In his first scene, he is seen serving hot tea to Doctor Neo Cortex, who repeatedly spits it onto his face due to shock induced by upcoming events. N. Gin, being his usual masochistic self, takes great pleasure when this happens. When Cortex faces replacement, N. Gin, along with Cortex and Tiny Tiger, protest by praising Cortex's stationery. N. Gin is next seen in his weapons factory, which appears on the outside as a version of the Statue of Liberty modelled after N. Gin. This factory constantly bombards the surrounding area with all kinds of explosives in an attempt to hinder Crash. Crash eventually finds a way inside through the statues "bottom". Inside the factory, N. Gin communicates to his workers through the factory intercom, usually to make announcements, sing inspirational songs, or alert the workers of Crash's prescence. In the factory's crown, N. Gin spends his days performing on his enormous pipe organ. When confronted by Crash and Aku Aku, N. Gin indirectly reveals to them that he has mixed feelings over Cortex's replacement to Nina. One side likes Doctor Cortex and the abuse he brings to him, and wishes for his return, while another side approves of Nina's new way of doing things, believing that she is a more efficient leader than Cortex. Eventually, the two sides reach a compromise, and tell Crash of Uka Uka's whereabouts in hopes that he will also free Cortex, planning to shower them with doom later on. He is not seen in the game after that.

Other appearances

N. Gin is a playable character in all three of the Crash racing titles, with his car usually being high in acceleration points. In Crash Nitro Kart, N. Gin is one of the racers in Cortex's team, which pilots red vehicles. At one point, N. Gin considers creating cybernetic sharks as new henchmen after racing Nash. In Crash Tag Team Racing, N. Gin convinces Neo Cortex to join in the search for Von Clutch's missing Power Gems so that he can use Von Clutch's theme park as a new base of operations (although Cortex later claims the idea as his own).

N. Gin has cameo appearances in the two Crash party games, appearing as an obstacle in a Ballistix minigame in Crash Bash, and appearing in the "Silhouette Quiz" minigame in Crash Boom Bang!.

In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, N. Gin serves as the second boss in the game, battling Crash in the skies with a weapon platform similar to the one he piloted in Warped. He is later merged with Doctor Cortex, Tiny and Dingodile, and becomes Mega-Mix. After chasing Crash down a space station hall, Mega-Mix is left inside the space station, which explodes with the villains in it.

See also

• Austria
• Bipolar disorder
• Cyborg
• Doctor Neo Cortex
• Effeminacy
• Peter Lorre

External links

• Crash Mania's Crash-O-Pedia article on Doctor N. Gin