 Willie 's final game model was made from 512 polygons with the only textures being for the spots on his back and his shoelaces . It took Andy Gavin a month to settle on that number of polygons . Because of the game 's use of vertex animation , Willie was capable of more facial expressions than other video game characters at or before the time . Willie 's jumping , spinning and <unk> mechanisms were refined as the Naughty Dog team developed the levels " Heavy Machinery " and " Generator Room " . While preparing for the game 's demonstration at the Electronic Entertainment Expo , the team decided to finally rename the titular character " Crash Bandicoot " ( the particular name being credited to Dave Baggett and Taylor Kurosaki ) , with his surname being based on his canonical species and his first name stemming from the visceral reaction to the character 's destruction of boxes ( " Dash " , " Smash " and " Bash " were other potential names ) . The marketing director of Universal Interactive Studios insisted that the game and character be named " Wez / <unk> / <unk> the Wombat " or " Ozzie the <unk> " . The name Crash Bandicoot prevailed after Naughty Dog threatened to leave the production . 
