 Before the development of Crash Bandicoot , Naughty Dog wanted to do what Sega and Warner Bros. did while designing their respective characters , Sonic the Hedgehog and the Tasmanian Devil , and incorporate an animal that was " cute , real , and no one really knew about " . The team purchased a field guide on Tasmanian mammals and selected the wombat , potoroo , and bandicoot as options . Gavin and Rubin went with " Willie the Wombat " as a temporary name for the starring character of the game . The name was never meant to be final due both to the name sounding " too dorky " and to the existence of a non @-@ video game property of the same name . The character was effectively a bandicoot by October 1994 , but was still referred to as " Willie the Wombat " as a final name had not been formulated yet . It was decided that the main character would be mute because past voices for video game characters were considered to be " lame , negative , and distracted from identification with them . " The villain of the game was created while Gavin , Rubin , Baggett , and Cerny were eating " mediocre Italian " near the Universal studios . Gavin idealized an " evil genius villain with a big head " who was " all about his attitude and his minions " . Rubin , having become fond of the animated television series Pinky and the Brain , imagined a " more malevolent Brain " with minions resembling the weasel characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit . After Gavin performed a " silly villain voice " depicting the attitude in mind for the character , the villain 's name , Doctor Neo Cortex , was instantly formulated . 
