The new upcoming Crash Bandicoot game titled Crash Team Rumble will feature a non-binary character inspired by David Bowie.
Crash Team Rumble is an upcoming instalment in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. However, this one is centered more around the online multiplayer experience more so than the usual platformer style.
Marketed as a party game inspired by Super Smash Bros. Crash Team Rumble is a 3D extravaganza that pits four players against each other.
More importantly however, the game will feature the series’ first ever non-binary character.
Crash Bandicoot‘s First Nonbinary Character
The character in question is Catbat who will be joining the roster alongside Crash, Coco, Dingodile and Tawna.
In a recent interview with Kotaku, Toys for Bob creator Dan Neil and co-studio head Paul Yan confirmed Catbat’s gender identity.
Catbat, as you can probably guess, is a half bat/half cat inspired creature. It has been confirmed by the team that they will go by they/them pronouns and the colours of their design is even inspired by the colours on the non-binary flag.
David Bowie-inspired
The character’s artist Nicholas Kole revealed that they knew Catbat would be non-binary back in November 2022. Additionally, they are inspired by the late singer David Bowie who was no stranger to being genderfluid.
“The concept from the art side of things was this attraction to a David Bowie-like character,” Kole explained.
“Aesthetically, Bowie had this kind of rock star androgynous look that we really loved. As we started to flesh out that character and its design, and we finally got to a point [where] we had a model sheet, as a team, we started referring to Catbat as ‘they’ and it was a very natural thing.
“It wasn’t a ‘Hey, guys, we need to get together and have a meeting about this.’ It was a very organic way of describing that character and that just sat with us throughout.”
Crash Team Rumble launches on June 20 for PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Read: Crash Team Rumble release date and beta access
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