December 4th 2003 Build

General

This video is the earliest form of gameplay seen of the game, showing a build dated December 4th 2003 - Version 8.016

• The HUD is made of debug font text.
• There are many placeholder sounds and music, some coming from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, or earlier Crash games.
• The pause menu includes debug features and additional settings not seen in the final game.
• The camera is unlocked all the time.
• Crash makes the classic death noise upon dying.
• The life pickup visual is Aku Aku at this point.
• Pickiing up Aku Aku doesn't cause him to appear beside Crash.
• The game stutters after crossing chunks.
• There aren't any invisible walls.
• Picking up wumpa and lives doesn't make the HUD show up.

N.Sanity Island

• The game starts at Crash's hut as opposed to the beach area.
• Many puzzles, collectibles and crates are not present.
• Instead of multiple worm jumps, a ramp leads to the area near the boss arena.
• The ramp leading to the farm is exactly the same as in the demo.
• There is no second small island off the coast.
  
• The beach area extends along the coast to the area blocked by rocks later in development.
• The extended area features wumpa tree nut puzzles not seen in the final game.
• The wumpa tree nut is green as opposed to brown.
• The nut also has a max distance it can travel before respawning unlike in the final game.
  
• After a simple puzzle the area ends in a dead end.
• Enemies, bird clumps and seagulls are all present in this extended area.

Jungle Bungle

• The second camera angle during the first cutscene is different.
• The first fallen tree has crates on top of it. This layout is done later on in the final game.
• After the turn there is a skunk enemy instead of a double jump tutorial.
• The parrot has a blue-ish texture as opposed to a red-ish one.
  
• The crates in this area are placed differently.
• There is no extra section on the left side.
• There are no shielded tribesman in the area, just a piranha plant instead.
  
• The cave is shorter and the loading zone is closer to the cave entrance.
• The mushrooms don't emit particles.
• Grass at the end of the cave section is solid, requiring a jump to progress.
• There are crates behind the piranha plant.
  
• The path splits in two after the turn, with a piranha plant guarding it.
• On the left side there's a hole leading into a cave area.
• The left path was supposed to lead to the Bug Run at some point, though it's been confirmed to be empty in the build.
  
• The worm jump tutorial has 4 additional angles in place of a moving camera.
  
• At the top area spikes guard the pit instead of a harmless lake.
• The detonator puzzle is replaced with another TNT puzzle.
  
• The checkpoint is closer to the cutscene than usual.
• The piranha plant is also after the swinging log rather than before.
• In this build, CoCortex has trouble getting into position to get hit by the swinging log due to a solid object.
• There are locked crates on the right side of the area.
  
• The turtle guards the area as oppposed to the skunk.
• The build crashes in the boss area, without the boss arena being there.