Crusher



The Crusher was first introduced in Portal 2, and is a derivative of Aperture Science's Panel technology. Crushers are an environmental hazard present in several test environments. If the player makes contact with a Crusher, they will be forced into the nearest hard surface and killed instantly. Crushers appear as large grey panels with a number of steel spikes firmly attached to them.

Crushers become more frequent during the final parts of the game, and also appear frequently in Co-op mode.

Function
Any object, including the player, will be perforated instantly upon contact with a Crusher. When active, a loud crunching noise is emitted in order to warn the player that they are approaching a Crusher, thereby allowing the player to avoid them.

In Co-op mode, if the player comes in contact with a Crusher while floating in an Excursion Funnel, the damage caused will be periodic until the player moves away or dies.

Trivia

 * Crushers were originally intended to appear in Portal, but were removed in the early stages of game development due to the additional complexity they added to test chambers.
 * Crushers appear in Portal: The Flash version, a 2D flash game released prior to Portal. Later, they appeared in the Portal: The Flash Version MapPack modification, and were eventually introduced into Portal: Still Alive.
 * Crushers originally lacked spikes and were ordinary steel plates.