Dr. Neo Cortex

"Moron! This bandicoot will be my general, and he will lead my Cortex commandos to world domination. This time I shall reign triumphant!!"

- Dr. Neo Cortex to Dr. Nitrus Brio. "You fool! You think I'm unaware of the situation? If we don't have any friends left on the surface, then we need to find... an enemy!"

- Dr. Neo Cortex "Get ready to face my wrath, Crash Bandicoot! MOWHAHAHAHA!"

- Dr. Neo Cortex

'''Dr. Neo Periwinkle Cortex' is the first main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot'' video game series. He is an evil genius who uses his intellect in his plans of world domination. Although his intentions are to destroy Crash Bandicoot, he and Crash had worked together, in the 2004 Crash Bandicoot video game, Crash Twinsanity, appearing as the deuteragonist, forcibly working with Crash to stop the game's antagonists, the Evil Twins, he and Crash also worked together in Skylanders Imaginators teaching Imaginator Skylanders how to use certain weapons and is a sensei along with Crash.

Crash Bandicoot
Neo Cortex has always been a knowledgeable scientist. However, he was mocked by the scientific community for his absurd theories. Cast aside by them, he isolated himself in the distant N. Sanity Island, where he started to devise his plans to get revenge and rule the world. Alongside his partner Nitrus Brio, he created the Evolvo-Ray, a machine capable of evolving animals at a super fast speed. Cortex had also created the Cortex Vortex, a machine designed to brainwash every minion that first went through the Evolvo-Ray. Cortex once experimented Cortex Vortex with Crash Bandicoot, but the machine didn't affect Crash at all, allowing Crash to escape the laboratory, but only to come back later on and fight Cortex in his blimp. Crash obviously won the battle, escaping once again with his girlfriend Tawna.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
However, Cortex fell into a cave and found the "Master Crystal", taking it to his lab to study it. Along his new right-hand N. Gin, they discover that these "Slave Crystals", which exists, have an incredible power, enough to destroy the world. But as they are unable to retrieve the crystals by themselves, Cortex decides to trick Crash to get the crystals for him. When Crash enters the Warp Room, an ancient temple built to give easy access to all parts of the island, a hologram of Cortex appears, saying that a big catastrophe will happen if he does not get the crystals. Unfortunately, both Crash's sister Coco and Nitrus Brio, who double-crossed Cortex, hacked the hologram signal and unmask Cortex's true intentions, to use the crystals as a new power source for the Cortex Vortex. Crash once again defeats Cortex, and using Brio's laser device, destroy the Vortex for good.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped!
In another strange turn of events, the pieces of the Vortex fall into an ancient sealed temple, as an evil laugh spreads across the island. The evil shaman mask Uka Uka had been accidentally freed from his confinement. Uka Uka finds Cortex and mocks him for his incompetence in conquering the world, as it turns out that Cortex was working for Uka Uka all the time. Cortex begs for another chance, so Uka Uka calls his trusted friend Nefarious Tropy, who brings his time machine to create portals to different times in history and retrieve the crystals from different ages. Aku Aku, sensing the danger, uses his power to enter the time machine and sends Crash and Coco to stop Cortex once again. Crash makes his way to Cortex once again, and fights him as the two masks fight each other. The battle ends with Cortex and Uka Uka being sucked into a time portal as their battle broke up the time machine.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
After returning to the present, Cortex began working day and night on a secret super weapon that he hoped to use against all who opposed him in his global conquest. However, Cortex still needed a great enough power source to make his weapon operational. During a 'bad guy meeting', N. Tropy and N. Gin mentioned Cortex's super weapon which forced the doctor to spill the beans on his creation. After Cortex revealed why his weapon can't be used, Uka Uka realised that by reawakening group of evil magical masks called the Elementals, Cortex could use their power to finally activate his weapon: Crunch Bandicoot. Although Cortex does succeed in freeing the Elementals and awakening Crunch, Crash and his allies still managed to fight back use the energy of Power Crystals they've collected. In Crash's final battle with Crunch, Cortex used an machine to aid the latter but Uka Uka, in a rage, accidentally damaged it, which freed Crunch from Cortex's control and caused an explosive chain reaction on the villain's space station. Cortex and Uka Uka flee using an escape pod but became stranded somewhere in the arctic.

Personality
Cortex tends to be very bossy because of his knowledge, which also makes him a coward, leaving the hard work for his minions. He is also pompous, loud, but also very sophisticated and refined.

Trivia

 * Dr. Neo Cortex is similar to a couple villains:
 * Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog) - Both are comical Mad Scientists, bent on world domination but are usually thwarted by their mammalian foes, thus causing them to make experiments to defeat their foes.
 * Shredder (1987 TMNT cartoon) - They both want to take over the world with certain army of mutants, though the certain mutants betray them and stop their plans of world domination (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Shredder, Crash Bandicoot for Dr. Neo Cortex), whilst the certain remaining mutants who are loyal to their creators are often dimwits (Rocksteady and Bebop for Shredder, Tiny Tiger for Cortex).
 * Bowser - They are the main villains of their respective franchises (Mario and Crash) and became Skylanders with one of their enemies (Bowser and DK in Super Chargers and Cortex and Crash in Imaginators).
 * Yosemite Sam - Both are villains who have a best friend (Elmer Fudd for Yosemite Sam and Dr. Nitrus Brio for Dr Neo Cortex) and both are archenemies of the main protagonist (Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny; Dr Neo Cortex, Crash Bandicoot).