In Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange:  The Cortex Conspiracy, Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash's nemesis) and Ripto (Spyro's nemesis) have accidentally met up through underground portals and are set on taking over the entire universe.  In an attempt to share resources and expand their territories, Cortex and Ripto are using portals to flood their two worlds with their evil minions.  Crash and Spyro must team up with each other to discover the identity of the new menace and save the universe from this evil plot!

In these single-player side-scrolling adventures, gamers can also link up with as many as three friends for numerous multi-player modes, including Party Games, Wager Games and Card Trading.  Players can compete and win in mini-games galore, found throughout the environments, which reward with trading cards -- a new feature for both franchises.  Connecting both titles gives gamers the option of unlocking special content and allows them to trade and/or wager the cards with their friends.