 Crash was created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin , and was originally designed by Charles Zembillas . Crash was intended to be a mascot character for Sony to use to compete against Nintendo 's Mario and Sega 's Sonic the Hedgehog . Before Crash was given his name ( which stems from the visceral reaction to the character 's destruction of boxes ) , he was referred to as " Willie the Wombat " for much of the duration of the first game 's production . Crash has drawn comparisons to Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog by reviewers . His animations have been praised , and his voice has been criticized , while his redesign in the Radical Entertainment games has drawn mixed reactions . 
