At the age of 60, actor Brendan O’Brien passed away. He provided the original voice for the cherished PlayStation mascot Crash Bandicoot.
O’Brien passed away on March 23, but his passing wasn’t made public until May 9, according to an obituary that was posted on Legacy.
Creating and providing the voice for the enduring video game character from 1996 to 2004 was one of O’Brien’s finest achievements, according to the obituary.
“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,” the obituary read.
Nostalgic gamers paid tribute to O’Brien on social media, tweeting: “I hope Brendan O’Brien rests well. His voice talent he brought to the Crash series’ shouldn’t be forgotten.”
“Might stream one of the OG Crash games tomorrow in light of Brendan O’Brien’s passing, that guy voiced my childhood man,” shared another fan.
O’Brien also provided the voices for a number of additional series characters throughout the Naughty Dog phase of the Sony brand, notably Doctor Neo Cortex and Doctor Nitrus Brio.
The Crash franchise, which debuted exclusively on Sony’s PlayStation 1 in 1996, takes place on the fictional Wumpa Island, where mutated animals and humans coexist.
The main character of the series is Crash, a bandicoot that has undergone genetic enhancement. Crash was developed by the game’s antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex, who disturbs Crash’s peaceful existence on the island.
The Crash series became one of the first Western games to be a commercial hit in Japan after its first release.
According to Gamasutra, the original Crash game has almost 7 million copies sold as of November 2003.
