To answer your question, probably not. Between the idea of using that secret portal to unlock button 31 getting scrapped and Eggipus Rex being a thing, there's a gap that 's at least 3 weeks wide. On the August 26th 1998 build, the idea had already been scrapped, since the secret exit in level 11 had already been removed. I estimate that the idea was born and scrapped somewhere between August 17th (PAL Gee Wiz demo build date, looking at the .NSF with a hex editor shows that Hot Coco is still very likely behind button 26, and called Ski Crazed) and August 24th (PAL Tell No Tales demo build date from Spyro The Dragon, looking at the .NSF with a hex editor shows that Hot Coco is behind button 31, with the place holder name of Secret Ski, but we have no way to know if the idea had already been scrapped at this point, since we'd need to check Dino Might! for the secret exit to do so). As for Eggipus Rex, we have an idea for how last minute this level was by opening the NTSC-U/C demos for Under Pressure and Midnight Run with a hex editor, build date September 16th 1998. If you check the code within these 2 levels, there's still no evidence of Eggipus Rex existing. First time we ever see this level is in the September 26th 1998 build of the game, barely 2 weeks before the final build. That said, considering how simple this level's structure is, the fact that they already had assets ready from bonus rounds for Bone Yard and Dino Might! and considering that devs were able to put together much more complex levels at a rate of 1 per week on average (Source: interview with Jason Rubin from early April 1998, PSM - 100% Independent Playstation Magazine, June 1998 issue), we can safely assume that this level was put quickly together somewhere between September 16th and September 26th 1998. So, with the info we have, the gap between the 2 ideas is somewhere between 21 days (August 26th, September 16th 1998) and 40 days (August 17th, September 26th 1998), with an average gap of about 30 days. Sorry if took me a while to give you an answer, but laziness and procrastination are strong within me.

​@@AntonioO1996 That answers my question why when I saw the prototype version of Tell No Tales, it seemed familiar to me like I saw this and played this somewhere else. I was thinking that this was like the demo that was in Crash Bandicoot Warped, but someone told me that the demo had level 5, and then I started to think that person was right. It seems like Spyro The Dragon did have the demo of Tell No Tales, and I have played it, so that's why the level seemed familiar when I saw the prototype version for it.

My guess is that they weren't satisfied with hot coco as a warp room 6 level, so they decided to make it a secret level instead, and modified it to make ski crazed (a lot of assets from ski crazed are also seen in hot coco, so there's a good chance that it is, in fact, a heavily modified hot coco so that it's linear). Also eggipus rex feels like a very last moment level, not sure if your theory about the orb taking you to eggipus rex is valid, as even in the final version, if you restore the portal, it still takes you to hot coco. Also, i don't see a reason as to why they should have assigned hot coco's ID to the portal if they had intended to give it to eggipus rex instead, since they could've just kept it unassigned just like in the alpha, plus there's the fact that it got removed before eggipus rex was even made. Btw, i already knew that getting 31 crystals unlocked button 31 in the beta, i just didn't feel like it was necessary to add it in the video, just like the fact that if you get 30 or more crystals in the alpha, all the buttons disappear, with no chance of unlocking the levels again

@@AntonioO1996 Yeah I think your theory about Hot Coco makes sense. Another theory for Eggipus Rex is that it may have been planned to be level 29. Look at the warp orb for level 29 in the beta. It's prehistoric. It's no secret that many of the warp orbs were placeholders, but level 29 is the only instance where the orb doesn't match the theme of the level. Or maybe the yellow gem path in Dino Might was originally to be a secret entrance level 29?

@@mikejoseph6654 keep in mind that future levels didn't have a warp orb at all, so while with other levels in the warp room they could at least default it into the warp orb from another level of their kind, they couldn't with future levels yet. Portal 19 defaults into gee wiz's portal, and level 21 defaults into tomb time's, so portal 29 defaulting to level 4's warp orb might just be random (mysteries of coding). Anyway, i don't think that's enough evidence to theorize whether that had something to do with eggipus rex or not, considering there's a good chance they hadn't even thought of making it at that point yet

Turns out that the warp orb in LV11 was simply supposed to let you access Warp Room 6, in crash 2 style, but I guess they scrapped that in favour of the platform that lets you access it at any moment after you get enough relics. I still have no idea why it unlocks button 31, tho, maybe it was because it was programmed to open all buttons in warp room 6 to begin with, as they would supposedly be locked by default. This is just speculation, tho, we might never know the exact reason.

I was also thinking that the alien sign in Road Crash was originally planned ti take the player to Area 51, because it looks like that's what the alien sign was indicating. I do not see how it makes sense for Hot Coco, because there's no aliens there, and if Crash hit the sign, it makes no sense Coco got warped to the area. I think the original idea was to find the entrance to each level in the secret warp room area, and they would be in different levels, but that's just me comparing it to Crash 2, so I could be wrong.

Eggipus Rex was a very last minute level, if you have demo discs like PSUnderground or the Official US PSMagazine that have both level 2 and 10 in the files, you'll see that their build date is september 16th 1998, while the final build of the game is october 10th, and this sep. 16th build doesn't even have eggipus rex within the code

When I did it on the august 14th alpha it just made the pterodactyl freeze in place, meaning it won't fly away when you approach it. It will, however, grab you and kill you if you touch it.

Yeah, manuals did often use early builds of the game for screenshots, and of course the version you had was the retail version

@@AntonioO1996 and PAL no less

@@williefleete yeah, i own all 3 versions of crash 3 myself, cuz why not

I can't really explain, i use psxfin as it's the easiest to use, and the rom works on a real ps1, so my guess would be that it's something with the emulator

and finally, 3000... yay

You win a title in beta, you lose a title in beta You got Hidden Treasure, and you got Aye Matey

Thanks

@@AntonioO1996 I didn't even know it was possible to unlock the 31st button

@@norman157 You mean in the retail version? That had been known for quite a while, you can probably find videos about it dating back quite a few years ago

@@AntonioO1996 Yeah I literally searched it after this video, the retail version yeah. I think I've heard about it but never saw it.

My first guess would be no, as in the retail version that portal from Level 11 does take you to Hot Coco, but it doesn't unlock button 31

Can confirm, they fixed it on the PAL version

See the file called "Dongle"? Set it as your memory card on your emulator

@@AntonioO1996 thanks for your help but now it crashes after 10 seconds do you use psxfin?

@@notpsx yeah, i do

My version already includes solidsnake11's patch, you can just download it

@@AntonioO1996 Isn't your version modded tho?

@@FunkyPrince yeah, but the only difference is literally the extra portal at the end of level 11, which i readded and lets you unlock Hidden Treasure (Hot Coco)

​@@AntonioO1996 I know, but that will change the offsets to use within Cheat Engine, I would need the offsets the closest to the original ones for this project of mine: github.com/FrancescoBis/cb3_cheat_table , it's a reverse engineering of a lot of stuff found in the various CB3 games. I would prefer to know how to make the memory card works but I guess the most don't use RetroArch for PS1 roms, not sure :< p.s. If you want to test that cheat table and need help with it, just ask. (I can write in italian).

@@FunkyPrince i'll upload the patched version with no mod then