Nostalgic fans are heartbroken by the news (pic: Twitter)
Brendan O’Brien voiced not just Crash Bandicoot but several of his villains in the Naughty Dog era of PlayStation 1 games.
Long time fans of the Crash Bandicoot games are in mourning at the moment, as they have recently learned of the death of one of its original voice actors, Brendan O’Brien.
Both of O’Brien’s parents were actors and he primarily worked for movies and TV shows, but he was perhaps best known for being the voice behind Crash Bandicoot.
He may never have spoken full sentences, but he provided all of Crash’s various yelps and screams (including the now memetic ‘woah!’) which many fans still remember dearly.
It wasn’t just Crash either. He did the voices of several of the series’ villains as well, including Tiny Tiger and N. Gin. He even voiced main antagonist Dr Cortex, at least for the first game.
Aside from the original trilogy of PlayStation 1 games, O’Brien worked on the kart racer Crash Team Racing, party game Crash Bash, and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex (the first post-Naughty Dog mainline entry).
He took a hiatus from acting in 2004 but did pop up in an episode of Riverdale as a maths teacher in 2020.
His voice lines for Crash were re-used for a handful of Game Boy Advance games but he was eventually replaced by Jess Harnell in 2005, who voiced Crash for the next 14 years of games.
The current voice of Crash is Scott Whyte, who took over with Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.
More: Gaming
O’Brien actually died a couple of months ago on March 23, at the age of 60, altthough fans only just found out after someone came across and shared his obituary.
‘One of [Brendan’s] proudest moments was coming up with the original voices for the Crash Bandicoot video games during the Naughty Dog years of 1996 to 2004,’ it reads.
‘He encouraged nostalgic Crash fans in their own pursuits and loved signing their memorabilia. Like music, designing character voices for animation, radio and video games came naturally to him.’
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Nintendo Switch review – switching mascots
MORE : Fans hope for new Spyro the Dragon game after tease from Crash Bandicoot 4 developer
MORE : Naughty Dog’s next game should be Jak And Daxter 4 – Reader’s Feature
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they’re seen on the site.
Brendan O’Brien voiced not just Crash Bandicoot but several of his villains in the Naughty Dog era of PlayStation 1 games.