Hi! Welcome to the achievement guide for Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back! This is my first time ever doing one of these, so I apologise in advance for any stupidity contained within. As one of my all-time favourite games, I felt it only right that I do this one.

Hey, guys, Gnemlock here! I have been performing some edits to add more content to this guide, especially with the addition of some new achievements. I have been playing this game since it first come out, so hopefully I have been able to add some helpful content, especially for some of those newer achievements that seem to be giving everybody a hard time.

Number of Playthroughs: 1 (Although you will need to play each level at least twice)

Difficulty: 5/10 (Between the tighter controls, new abilities and more forgiving levels, this is much easier than the original)

Time to Master: 5 - 20 Hours (15 Hours Median)

Number of Achievements: 80 achievements worth 852 points.

Number of Missable Achievements: 4 (officially, there are three; but you can still miss a fourth)

Set Developers: FBernkastelKues and AmericanSlacker

Guide Authors: Kezisthename and Gnemlock

This will be updated once the additional components have been added.

To earn a majority of the achievements, you will need to visit each of the 25 levels (and 2 secret levels) and unlock the crystals for completion. You will also need to unlock all of the gems for 100% completion (mostly by breaking all of the boxes, but in some cases by completing additional tasks). For a majority of the completion achievements, you will need to break every box and complete the level without loading a checkpoint (i.e. dying in a bonus area or without breaking a checkpoint box doesn't count). Veterans may be quick to point out that this was always a requirement to unlock the gems in the first game; however, even so, this game is far easier to complete.

You will also earn a select few achievements by beating each boss (fought between every five levels), and sometimes by defeating the boss with an additional restriction (such as limited attacks, or without using a certain ability).

You will also earn one achievement per level by completing a time trial. This is where the second replay comes in - you will not be able to collect every box AND complete the level in the given time. These achievements also require a deathless run. Unlike the N Sane Trilogy, there are no time boxes to smash in this game: you must beat the time trials with no pausing of the timer. Most of these achievements are pretty easy with the strategies outlined in Advanced Controls.

Finally, there are a few miscellaneous achievements we will run into along the way, such as breaking all boxes in the introduction level, and completing the dark levels without the help of the fireflies.

There are four missable achievements in this game:

• Good Habits Start Early requires you to break every box in the introduction level. This is incredibly easy; the only problem is that you can not return to this level once you reach the warp room. Worst case, you can just start a new game and complete this one without saving. It is literally the start of the game.
• An N.Furiating Nemesis requires you to return from any level three times without having collected the crystal. The first three times you do this, you will experience cutscene with Cortex. This only triggers if you have not already collected that levels crystal, so you must do this before collecting all twenty-five crystals. Worst case, you can once again just start a new game and complete this one without saving. Once you hit the warp room you can unlock this in minutes by simply entering any incomplete level, and immediately exiting back to the warp room from the pause menu.
• Roo Will Be Raging, Realizing You Robbed His Ruby requires you to collect the red gem from "Snow Go" without using the secret entrance. I am not going to lie - this is a very controversial achievement; just take a look at the comment wall if you don't believe us. You will need to utilise the slide spin jump to collect the gem; and will lock yourself out if you collect it the normal way. Worst case, this level is in the first warp room - so once again, you could do this from a new game quite easily. We will speak about the strategies more when we talk about it in the actual level guide.
• Most Miserable Life requires you to earn ten lives through a secret in the second warp room. This achievement is not currently flagged as missable; however - under a specific edge case, it is. You only have one chance to earn the lives; once they start being dropped, you can not trigger them again. If you hit the maximum number of lives before the full ten are given, you will have locked yourself out of this achievement. There are also bugs that can sometimes prevent the full ten from being given, so for safety, perform a save when you reach the second warp room. Worst case, you will need to collect the first five crystals and defeat Ripper Roo to get back to the second warp room on a new save.

You, Crash Bandicoot, are the blue pants wearing creation of one Dr. Neo Cortex. Following the previous game where you set his castle on fire and knocked him off his weird floaty ship thing, he fell to what would ordinarily be certain death. Cortex discovered a power crystal within the cave he landed in, however, and realised he can use them to power his Cortex Vortex, a device that will turn the Earth into mindless slaves for him. One afternoon, Crash's sister Coco asks you to fetch her a laptop battery, and you venture on. Not far into the jungle, however, you are suddenly teleported to a Warp Room, to be met with Neo Cortex's hologram face telling you you need to help him save the world by collecting the crystals for him. And so, as this is a video game, you will do it.

D-Pad moves you in the direction you push.

X Button will allow Crash to jump

O Button when pressed and held will crouch. Pushing forward after doing so will let you crawl.

Square button will spin, which will defeat most enemies.

Pressing the O button while moving will let you slide, some enemies can only be defeated this way, such as lizards & robots in the late-game.

Pressing the O button while in the air will let you body slam, this will break reinforced boxes. (Other than that its only real use is to kill the plant-splitting flowers if you wish.)

If you prefer, R1 serves the same function as the O button.

The triangle button will bring up your menu: this will show you your lives, your collected boxes, and your amount of Wumpa fruit. Collecting 100 Wumpa fruit gives you an extra life. Helpful, but not important when most of your runs are going to need to be deathless.

D-Pad moves you, X jumps.

Pushing O/R1 while riding Polar will let you charge forwards.

Pushing O/R1 quickly followed by a jump (X) will give you a high jump.

D-Pad moves you.

Square or O button allows you to boost.

O button while you are airborne will let you perform a body slam. This can break normal boxes too but it's only really there to break iron boxes.

These are mostly only for those wishing to aim for the time trial achievements, as they are speedrun strats and will take time to learn!! They are mostly not required - but one technique (the slide-spin-jump) is required for one achievement, and might also help get you out of some tricky situations

NSS, aka Neutral Slide Spin

Slide forwards, and upon doing so, let go of all directional inputs and hit the square button. You will move faster than you ordinarily would. This is the fastest movement method for the game, and will make most time trials a breeze. (Though some of them are still kinda evil.)

Slide Spin Jump

Similar to the above. Slide forwards and then jump and spin at the same time while still in the slide, and you will be able to jump higher than usual. This isn't just used for skips, but can also be used to recover from certain sections where you would otherwise have locked yourself out of some boxes. This is also required to unlock Roo Will Be Raging, Realizing You Robbed His Ruby.

There is a bit of controversy on the requirement to be able to pull off this technique; however, it isn't all that hard. However; it is definitely much easier to perform on a controller. Assuming the standard PlayStation controller and mapping, you want to move your thumb across the slide button (O - not the shoulder) from the right, and keep moving it across the buttons in a way so that it fluidly proceeds across the jump button and onto the spin button. You want to perform this all in one motion - practice in Turtle Woods by trying to get out of or across the pits. This technique is at least easy to get 90% of the time, which is fine for the requirements of this guide. All skips or tips this guide mentions using this technique have been tested on the NTSC-U version, but if you can get your hands on the PAL version this technique also gives you slightly more heaight.

Zigzag

This is the act of hitting your d-pad inputs left and right very quickly while airborne, which allows you to gain speed and cross gaps that you normally wouldn't make. There is a knack to it and it takes time, but if you imagine yourself to be panicking about falling to your death and mashing the buttons to try to save yourself, that's probably the most accurate way to sum it up.

Spinjump

This relates to TNT boxes. If you jump on a box, spin, then very quickly jump again away from it, you will blow up the TNT while not taking any damage. This is a muscle-memory thing and takes a while to get used to, and is by no means required, but is pretty cool to do once you get used to it.

Boxes will be your biggest foe in this game, so here I will describe the different types you will encounter.

Standard boxes are just that, standard. They can be either spun, jumped on, or slid into. They often contain one Wumpa fruit.

? Boxes contain several Wumpa fruit. Same as above.

Bounce Boxes are boxes that contain ten Wumpa fruit if you jump on them repeatedly. If you spin these, you will get nothing from them. They often appear with one above another, so you can jump between them.

C Boxes will save your progress in a level when you break them.

Iron Boxes exist in order to justify the body slam. You can only break them with your stomach. They normally appear in groups but some levels like to chuck one random one in there just to be annoying.

Aku Aku (Witch Doctor's Mask) boxes will give you an Aku Aku mask, this will protect you from damage once. You can get two masks, and getting a third mask will grant you invincibility for a short time.

! Boxes are plain grey boxes with a yellow exclamation mark on them. These do not count towards box counts of levels, however they usually activate other boxes in the level. If you see the outline of a boxes somewhere in a level, it's likely one of these is nearby which will turn them into actual boxes.

Arrow Crates come in breakable and grey varieties, and have an upwards-pointing arrow; these will bounce you high in the air. If you hold the X button while bouncing on them, you can get extra height, which may sometimes be required.

TNT Boxes, returning from the first game, are explosive boxes. If you spin these, you will die (unless you have a mask). Jump on these and you get three seconds before they explode. You can also spinjump off of them if you are experienced, but this takes practice to master.

Nitro Boxes are new to this game, and they are the worst. If you touch these you will die, unless you have a mask. If you're invincible you can just walk straight through them, though. But in general, avoid like the plague.

Green ! Boxes (AKA Nitro Detonators) are green metal boxes with an exclamation mark on them; when hit, these will destroy every nitro in the entire level. These will almost always be needed for your box gems, and are sometimes in secret locations.

It is worth noting that this guide was originally written by Kezisthename, and playtested and edited by Gnemlock while playing the NTSC-U version of the game on DuckStation 0.1-10903 (Windows 11). There may be slight differences in how the game behaves on alternate platforms, emulators or DuckStation versions. There may be other version differences between the different regions, but the only major difference I am aware of is that the slide spin jump achieves a greater height in the PAL version.

Throughout each main level, this guide will focus on obtaining the achievements related to gems and the time trials. However, each level also includes a crystal that will be needed to progress the main game. You will naturally run into them as you go - they are not exactly hidden. This guide will not explicitly state it, but you should obviously try to pick them up whenever you see them.

The game starts with Coco asking Crash to fetch her some batteries. Veterans may be ready to pause the game and 'exit to warp' out of muscle memory; **do not do this** as you need to complete this level for an achievement. This level is intended to give you a short venture to get use to the controls. Make your way forward, breaking every box until you are whisked away to the warp room. This unlocks your first missable achievement.

If for some reason you missed this achievement, just start a new game and go for it, again. You can load an existing save as soon as you hit the warp room.

Good Habits Start Early (1)
Break all 10 crates and beat the Intro Level

The first warp room is jungle themed. You can tackle any of the five levels in any order; however, for the purpose of this guide, you will at least want to unlock the blue gem from "Turtle Woods" before visiting "Hang Eight", as this unlocks a coloured gem path.

Boxes: 62 | Second Gem: Blue | Gem Requirements: None | Time Trial: 1:28

The first thing you are going to want to do, when you enter your first level, is pause the game and exit to the warp room. Crash will exit the level empty handed, leading to a short cutscene where he gets a dressing down from Cortex. Wash and repeat this three times to unlock your second missable achievement.

This achievement can be achieved by performing this action three times across any level where you have not already collected the crystal. Pausing to exit the level is the quickest way to trigger these cutscenes, but exiting the level the normal way works, too. If for any reason you miss this achievement and collect all twenty-five crystals, you can do this from a new game quite easily.

An N.Furiating Nemesis (1)
Ignore Cortex's request to collect crystals for him 3 times.

Obtaining the Sapphire gem is simple enough: beat Turtle Woods without smashing any boxes. For the most part this is relatively easy: take the side paths around the deep mud to help avoid the boxes stuck within. When you reach the wall of boxes, jump on the bounce box: you will be able to bounce on it to get over without breaking it - just be careful of the Aku Aku box directly behind it. Once you reach the end of the level with zero boxes, the blue gem will be waiting for you inside the exit, along with your next achievement. You can now exit the level and re-enter for the regular gem; but you keep collected gems on death, so it is quicker to simply backtrack and throw yourself down a hole.

For the second run, you are going to want to be mindful of a few things:

• You will come across a section of floor that looks like a face in the ground, with an Aku Aku box directly ahead. Body slam on it to reach a hidden area that contains additional boxes and the Nitro detonator.
  • In this hidden area, there will be a section where you have to navigate a mine field of Nitro boxes. Instead of jumping down after breaking the breakable arrow box, you can slide spin jump over to the platform in the sky.
  • Further along, you will come across some ostriches. After a short moment, they will crouch and stick their heads in the ground. This will normally make reaching the platforms in the sky impossible; but the slide spin jump will give you the height you need to reach these platforms even if you are slow.
• After the first pit where you will need to fight some moles (or not - see the time trial section for more on that), there will be a spiked turtle with a ? box high in the air. You need to high bounce off the turtle (by holding X as you land) to reach it. If you make a mistake and spin away the turtle, you can stand on the rock to the left and slide spin jump up to reach the box.

Baby Blue (5)
Obtain the Sapphire in Turtle Woods.

Turtle Power (5)
Break every box in Turtle Woods without dying.

This time trial requires a completion time of 1:28.

• Jump along the sides of the level to get through the deep mud, as the mud will slow you down.
• Make sure you do not enter the hidden area or bonus level. This goes without saying, but unless otherwise stated, avoid all coloured gem paths in future levels, too. Secret exits will also negate the achievements unless you still exit via an exit warp room.
• There are multiple ways to quickly overcome the pits without having to fight all of the moles.
  • A well placed slide spin jump can clear the pits; and can sometimes even be used to get out of them as soon as you fall in.
  • The easiest way to bypass a pit is to use the slide spin jump to jump into the cavities to the sides, as this lets you clear the pit in two jumps.
  • If you still get stuck, you can high bounce off the moles to get out of the pits early, instead of having to defeat them all and wait for the mushrooms to grow.

Shell Shocked (10)
Get to the end of Turtle Woods in less than 1:28.

Boxes: 74 | Second Gem: Red | Gem Requirements: None | Time Trial: 1:25

This level contains the red gem. Normally, you would come back through a secret warp entrance to collect it; but for our next missable achievement, we are going to have to utilise the slide spin jump and some very specific movement as soon as we come to the red gem floating in the sky.

1. Jump onto the steel arrow crate to the right. Spin as you land, and if you time it right, your spin will nullify the bouncing. This will allow you to slide off the crate.
2. Perform a slide spin jump to the right, towards the red gem. This can be tricky, as you will probably fall short and hit the dropped ceiling on most attempts. At this stage, you should be coming up directly under the gem, but falling just a little bit short.
3. For that last bit of extra height, you want to perform a body slam. This little bit of extra height is what you need to collect the gem.
4. If you are playing the NTSC-U version, you may still be falling short. The height needed in this version is a little less forgiving. If you pay close attention, you will notice that the gem sort of hovers up and down. You need to catch it at the bottom of this movement loop. I have been told the aim is to start sliding just as it reaches the peak, but the loop is so small that I have performed this multiple times without deliberately trying to time it. If you are really still having a bad time, consider playing on the PAL version, where this last point is not applicable.

If you collected this gem the intended way, you have locked yourself out of the last missable achievement. Luckily, this is once again reachable from the start of a new game. Just head straight to the warp room, enter Snow Go and perform the above as required.

Once you fall down into the second section where you move forward, away from the camera, there are two hidden boxes:

• Immediately after you fall down, head towards the camera for the nitro detonator.
• When you reach the steel arrow crate with the bounce box above it, break the bounce box and high bounce higher for a hidden ! box. This will trigger the two outline boxes you past, shortly before.

Buried in the Snow (5)
Break every box in Snow Go without dying.

Aka to Kuro (10)
Obtain the Ruby in Snow Go.

Roo Will Be Raging, Realizing You Robbed His Ruby (10)
Collect the Ruby from Snow Go without using the secret entrance

This time trial requires a completion time of 1:25.

• Make sure you grab the Aku Aku mask at the start of the level for safety.
• Make sure you are taking advantage of slide mechanics on ice. Sliding on ice naturally increases your speed. That mask you collected will let you slide straight through the nitro boxes at the end of the first section - how handy!
• You already want to go fast under the stone stompers; but if you are not going to make the log stompers that stomp on a timer, than wait. Even with an Aku Aku mask, you will be locked into an animation that takes more time than it does to wait for them to rise back up.

Snowfalls (10)
Get to the end of Snow Go in less than 1:25.

Boxes: 74 | Second Gem: Clear | Gem Requirements: Blue Gem | Time Trial: 1:48

To start with, it is worth mentioning that this level has two gems. The second gem requires a time trial that is significantly less forgiving than the related achievement - so it will be covered under the 'Beating the Time Trial' section. For now, ignore the timer, if it appears.

When on a jet board, make sure you grab all boxes in the water. Once you jump off at the dock, you can not go back, so any missed boxes will be lost. You can drift into boxes close to mines by moving towards them from a distance, and releasing any directional input. Turn around as soon as they break and you will be safe. You should have the blue gem from 'Turtle Woods' to gain access to the blue gem path; this is required for all of the boxes. This section is a little trickier, but with patience it is a piece of cake. Just make sure that you back track to collect all of the outline boxes in the water, once you trigger the ! box. You will need to boost off the ramps to hit them all. The end of the blue gem path also contains the nitro detonator.

Catch a Wave (10)
Break every box in Hang Eight without dying.

This time trial requires a completion time of 1:48. You also earn the second gem for completing the level in almost half that time, so you will actually be aiming for about 1:10 - 1:20 - the timer appears when you near the first jet board, but actually starts ticking when you enter the level. If you do not see the timer appear, restart the level.

• You can slide spin jump across every section that would require using the platforms that fall into the water. This is helpful, but not required.
• Make sure to grab both Aku Aku masks along the way, as this will all but guarantee easy jet board sections.
• You can boost along the sides of the whirlpools - just don't boost straight over them.
• Assuming you have the two Aku Aku masks, you can pass both jet board sections with ease by mostly boosting while hugging the right. This will avoid most mines and get you over the whirlpools. There are only two spots where mines can hit you, which the Aku Aku masks will tank.

Surfer's Stomp (10)
Get to the end of Hang Eight in less than 1:48.

Boxes: 53 | Secondary Gem: None | Gem Requirements: None | Time Trial: 1:25

This level contains a split path; when you reach it, you want to start down the left path. This path contains a ! box that triggers boxes on the right side. Make sure to defeat each enemy, as this will make it easier to backtrack. Once you collect the crystal, slowly make your way back and complete the second path. In the bonus round, you will need to cross the section with the bounce boxes three times, backtracking to the outline boxes once you hit the ! box further along. Keep this in mind so as to not break them all - though a well placed slide spin jump will clear this gap if making your way to the right, as you already start from height.

Down in the Hole (10)
Break every box in The Pits without dying.

This time trial requires a completion time of 1:57.

• There is nothing new to add for this level; the time savers are pretty much all on overcoming the pits.
  • A well placed slide spin jump can clear the pits; and can sometimes even be used to get out of them as soon as you fall in.
  • The easiest way to bypass a pit is to use the slide spin jump to jump into the cavities to the sides, as this lets you clear the pit in two jumps.
  • If you still get stuck, you can high bounce off the moles to get out of the pits early, instead of having to defeat them all and wait for the mushrooms to grow.

Hole to Feed (10)
Get to the end of The Pits in less than 1:57.

Boxes: 74 | Secondary Gem: Red | Gem Requirements: None | Time Trial: 1:25

This is your first boulder chase level; you will be running towards the camera, with a big boulder chasing you. You will not be able to back track; so if you miss a box, you will need to restart the level. You can actually get some pretty good leads on the boulders, compared to Crash Bandicoot; however, note that this level does not have a nitro detonator. You will need to let the boulder detonate the nitro boxes by rolling over them, so do not go too far, as they will de-spawn if they are not on screen. For the boulder straight after, you do want to get as far ahead as possible; so use your slide spins, take advantage of the boost pads and try not to hit any mines. Just before the exit warp room there are three electric fences that have boxes behind them, and stopping to collect them will cost you some time.

Dash-A-Long (10)
Break every box in Crash Dash without dying.

This should also be the last clear gem for this warp room.

Jungle Boogie (10)
Obtain every clear gem in the Jungle Warp Room.

This time trial requires a completion time of 1:56.

• Whenever you reach a safe spot, the boulder crashing into the arch behind you throws Crash forward to the ground, which will cost you a few seconds. You can prevent this with good timing by jumping forward and bouncing off a box as this happens. The checkpoint boxes are always good for this.
• Be sure to take advantage of the boost pads, and try not to hit any mines.

Mad Dash Melody (10)
Get to the end of Crash Dash in less than 1:56.

Ripper Roo is the first boss fight, and will automatically trigger when you first move to the second warp room. For those new to Crash Bandicoot boss fights, the name of the boss will appear on the screen with a broken up health bar to represent their hit points. Most bosses will have three. The arena is one giant mosaic of Ripper Roo's head. Ripper Roo will jump between the tiles and turn them into explosives - a wave of TNT boxes, than a wave of nitro boxes, always in that order. Every time the nitro boxes go off, they will stun Ripper Roo; run up and perform a spin attack to take out a piece of his health bar. The placements are always the same, so we just need to stand at the designated spots for safety. However; the second achievement is unlocked by beating this boss without jumping - so if you do jump, pause the game, exit and reload the fight.

As mentioned, just move to these spots before he lays the explosives, and you will be fine. Just make sure to spin attack whenever he is stunned:

1. To start, stay on the bottom left corner tile.
2. Once the first wave of TNTs explode, move to the bottom right corner tile.
3. Once you have performed your first attack on Ripper Roo, move to the very bottom middle tiles.
4. Once the second wave of TNTs explode, move back to the bottom right corner tile.
5. Once you have performed your second attack on Ripper Roo, move to the left side tile where his ear sticks out the most. This would be the far left column, three rows up from the bottom.
6. Once the third wave of TNTs explode, move to the very bottom row, and stand between the third and fourth tile, right on top of the "/t" in the "a = v/t" equation.

Insane in the Brain (5)
Defeat Ripper Roo.

You Got the Dud! (5)
Defeat Ripper Roo without jumping

As soon as you hit the second warp room, save your game. We are going to go for the last missable achievement; and it is only missable because it can be a bit unreliable.

Outside the level "Bear It", you will see a polar bear. Jump on him ten times, and he should start giving you some free lives. He will give a maximum of ten - and you need all ten for the achievement. If he stops giving lives, you are out of luck - he will not give any more. He seems to give less lives if you have a lot of lives already, so we recommend doing it while low on lives.

If you have locked yourself out of this achievement, your only option is to start a new game and complete the first warp room. This will be far simpler, since you do not need to collect anything except crystals. It is worth noting that this achievement is not currently listed as missable - it is most likely that the author intended it to always go off. A ticket has been logged to either flag this as missable, or correct the achievement logic and description text.

Most Miserable Life (5)
Obtain 10 extra lives from the Warp Room.

Snowflakes ~Break every box in Snow Biz without dying.

Snow Biz is a rather nasty one for this early in the game. With the red gem in hand, you can gain access to the secret area, which is where a large portion of the boxes are hiding, as well as the nitro detonator. The porcupines are dangerous, but if you are quick enough to hit them just before they start their animation, you can kill them even with their spines up. If you're rather new though, I recommend just jumping them or waiting for the spines to go down before spinning them away. The red gem route has, along with some banger music, lots of nasty stuff. You will have to activate a TNT box and get out of the way in order for it to activate a grey box that will make the grey boxes appear for you to continue the level. Take note that in the very next section with the TNTs and the penguin, you should wait until the TNT detonates with you still on screen: it has been known to happen that if you activate the TNT and keep going, the game deloads them. So I suggest waiting for them to blow up. There are some jumps here you can only make with slide jumps, so make sure to do those wherever you see large gaps, especially the last one near the end before you reach the porcupine. The icicles will fall down when you get close to them, so I recommend standing near them til they fall, then continuing safely past them. Eventually you'll reach the end, don't forget to hit the nitro detonator! Then jump on the platform and it will take you to finish the rest of the level. If you can hold on to a mask through the secret route, you can spin the TNT in the bonus level to get out of it faster, but this is not necessary and it can be risky with the ice physics, so it's your call.

Angel in the Snow ~Get to the end of Snow Biz in less than 1:38.

Sliding over ice bits will help tremendously. Other than that, lots of running and be careful not to fall into the bonus level!

Surfin' USA ~Break every box in Air Crash without dying.

**You cannot get the Air Crash gem on your first visit, as there is a secret entrance to this level hidden elsewhere. If you're playing the game in order, leave this one until after you have found the secret warp spot in Bear Down.**

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Starting from the secret entrance, move your jetboard carefully around the mines and nitros, breaking the few boxes that are scattered around. This section is pretty nasty, so be prepared. Once you're off the jetboard, smash that nitro detonator and you will spawn back in Air Crash, where you can continue on as normal. Most of the rest of the level is pretty standard. Once you reach the final checkpoint, you will see there is random panels in the water again. If you jump on these and follow them upwards, you'll come to 4 boxes you must break. If you get on the jetboard before doing this, you can miss the boxes; but if you have a mask, you can bump into one of the mines and angle yourself so you land on the panel with the boxes on it, thus being able to still break them without having to die and reset. If you're unfamiliar though, the safer option is just to jump across and come back to the jetboard.

Country Air ~Get to the end of Air Crash in less than 1:42.

Boost, boost, boost your jetboard will be your way to winning this one. If you can hold onto a mask, after the final checkpoint I suggest just boosting through the mines so you don't have to wait for them. Beware the mines at the end of the last two fences as well!

Going on a Bear Hunt ~Break every box in Bear It without dying.

I have personal beef with this level, it is not my friend. There are two sections in this level that are going to be a pain. The first comes at the spot with the icy ground and the four boxes. Try to limit your movement so that you only slightly have to go left in order to hit all 4, as otherwise you may miss them. I wish I could be clearer than that but even I sometimes still miss stuff in this level, it is just the way it controls. The second comes at the very end, where three boxes are placed in the most obnoxious possible way conceivable. You can brute force these but since your aim is not to die in order to get the achievement, trying to learn the way to get them might help. Ideally, you want to jump so that you land in front of the left hand box, then quickly head right and left as soon as you hit the first box. The timing on this is very tight, and if you miss it a few times, don't worry: literally everyone has missed this at least double digit times. Eventually you will get it, but it may take some practice. This is definitely going to be one of the harder achievements for this game, so be ready to hate Bear It as much as I do!

Running Bear ~Get to the end of Bear It in less than 1:26.

Comparatively to the above, this is actually pretty simple. Not needing to hit the boxes makes this level infinitely better. Boosting and boost jumping will help you nail this one, just watch out for the gaps and the posts. With practice and learning the level layout, this time will be yours.

Rolling Rock ~Break every box in Crash Crush without dying.

Similar to Crash Dash, you have to learn the layout to stand a chance of getting these boulder level achievements. There is no strategy to help you, it's all about muscle memory. Take note that you have to take the right turning when you reach the end of the path, as there's a couple of boxes hidden up there. Slide under the electric fences and take the platform back to continue on. When you reach the final stretch, get as much distance as you can from the boulder, as there's a box near the end that you need to body slam, so you want as much distance as possible from the boulder so you have time to pull it off and not get crushed. Once you learn the level, you'll fly through this one though, as there's quite a long stretch of distance before the box. The speed arrows on the ground especially will help you there.

Ready Set Roll ~Get to the end of Crash Crush in less than 2:14.

Similar to the last one, you just have to know the level by heart, then it's a breeze. Practice practice practice.

Emerald Labrinth ~Obtain the emerald in The Eel Deal.

After you pass the first checkpoint in Eel Deal, you will come to a two way split. If you take the split on the right, you'll see a room absolutely packed with green nitro boxes. If you jump past them all, you will discover that the back of the room is not solid, and you can actually walk straight through it. Get to the end of this very electricity filled section, and you will discover the green gem!

Electric Feel ~Break every box in The Eel Deal without dying.

When the water turns yellow, it will shock you and kill you if you have no mask, so make sure to wait for it to be clear before walking through it. Make sure when you get to the split you head to the right and break the one life box hidden amongst the first stack of nitro in the nitro room. If you hit the nitro detonator, the game decides not to blow up this box with it. When you pass the bonus round and the spinning fan, head left, there you will find a bunch of iron boxes you need to body slam. Go back and head right, continuing on as normal. Make sure to still hit the nitro detonator before you cross the monkey bars. At the end, you may have to wait for the enemies at the end to lower themselves so you can jump over them. These are indestructible and will kill you instantly no matter what you do if you touch them, so yeah.. don't touch em. Unless you have an Aku Aku mask, then feel free. Lots of stuff in this level wants to kill you, so be persistent and you will eventually make it.

Electric Shock ~Get to the end of The Eel Deal in less than 1:47.

No real tricks for this one, you just have to run a lot. Some NSS to get past the electricity going on and off in the water would help you massively with this level in particular, but that is, as stated, advanced tech so it's not required. An easy bit of save is if you can hold on to a mask, you don't have to wait for the enemies at the end of the level, as you can just let Aku Aku take the hit and run through to the end of the level.

Transparent ~Obtain every clear gem in the ice warp room.

Reminder that you cannot get this until you do Air Crash's secret route, so don't fret if you have reached Boss 2 and this hasn't pinged yet.

Blood Brothers ~Defeat the Komodo Brothers.

This boss is crap. You will spawn with an Aku Aku mask every time, though, which is a saving grace. You cannot hit the guy in the middle directly, you have to hit the other one. What you have to do is wait for him to finish spinning around: once he's flashing white, spin or slide him and he will slide into his brother, giving him one hit. Then he will throw his swords around in an anticlockwise direction, for about 3/4 of the direction he starts doing it in. When he stops, the process repeats. The spinning follows you where you stand, so a good technique is to stand still initially until he heads your direction, then sidestep him. Or, you can just run away. Beware that if you run too close to the guy in the middle, he will swing at you and you'll take damage. Eventually you'll get it down and this annoying boss can be put to rest. Warp 3 awaits!

Golden Sneer ~Obtain the Topaz in Plant Food.

Warp 3 onwards is where shit gets real. Plant Food is the last jetboard stage, and it makes sure you know it. When you begin the level, an invisible timer begins. When you reach the first checkpoint, it will pop up on screen. You then have that amount of time to reach the end of the level, where the yellow gem will be waiting for you in the exit. Run out of time, and it disappears and you must restart the level. First and foremost, you want to get the Aku Aku mask after you jump on the jetboard. Don't think about the other boxes, just boost as much as you can, but beware of the whirlpools and the mines. Once you come off the board, just run past the bonus panel, spin the plant, and get back on the other board. Begin boosting immediately and grab the other Aku mask, hopefully you have two by this point. This will be your biggest help. Try to avoid getting bit by any of these plants, but if you do, you should still have one left so you can still do it. If you get bit, don't stop, just keep going and boosting, because you can utilize your invincibility frames to get past the rest of the dangers in that area. Depending on how much time you have, you can either take the path at the right to try to quickly kill the plants ahead and rush back to the board, or you can jump straight on the board and take the hit from the first plant. When the first plant hits you, you have invincibility for long enough that you can boost past the other two plants blocking your way. From there, hug the right of the area as much as you can and the plant in the middle will not be able to touch you. Jump the nitros, and obtain your Topaz. This will probably take some practice, as it is no easy feat, but it is doable with relative ease.

Bridge over Troubled Water ~Break every box in Plant Food without dying.

Plant Food in general is pretty nasty, but with the Topaz obtained the worst is over. There is a decent amount of checkpoints, so you can comfortably smash all the boxes. None of them are hidden anywhere, and the box count is not massive for plant food, barely hitting the 50s even with some being nitros. Be wary in the bonus round that the TNTs need to explode while you have them on screen as well, or else they sometimes deload. You should be leaving the bonus round with 12 boxes. Go ahead and head up the right path before you jump on the last jetboard, because there's two boxes there you need to break. Smack that nitro detonator at the end and you should be good.

Green River ~Get to the end of Plant Food in less than 1:50.

If you've gotten the Topaz, this should come pretty easily. Just get masks, boost boost boost, and you can make this.

The Sewers of the Strand ~Break every box in Sewer or Later without dying.

Sewer or Later is a bit convoluted. The guys who blow fire at you are hard to avoid, so if you didn't enter this level with an Aku Aku mask, you will have to just wait until he finishes before attacking him. Be quick about this though, as he doesn't wait for very long before starting his fire back up. The nitro is pretty dangerous so i advise jumping on the boxes next to it rather than spinning. Soon you will come to an area with a checkpoint and a hole in the floor. With your yellow gem in hand, it opens up a secret route: there are no boxes in this secret route, but it _does _ have a clear gem. Hit the checkpoint before you go down there, and as soon as you get the gem, just jump into the electric water. It'll put you right back where you were, except now you have an extra gem. Continue on. Following the bonus, you will reach the fans. You can jump through these while they have two on, but it's hard to get consistent, so it's safer to just spin the little dudes into the fan until it's gone. Repeat this and then when you enter the next room, hit the other little guy and he will fly into a ton of TNT. Break the iron boxes after the explosion settles, then head right. Spin both the grey box and the nitro detonator, then backtrack and head left. If you have masks, which you should hopefully have by this point in the level, you can just take the fire guy's hit and spin him while you're invincible, or you can wait if you wish. At the end of this pathway is three boxes, break them and head back the way you came. Turn right and there will be a fire guy again, same process. Wait, spin him, continue on, avoid the electricity. The last room has the same setup, so repeat, and then you can head to the exit and grab your gem.

Creeping Through the Sewers ~Get to the end of Sewer or Later in less than 1:06.

You should go into this level with two masks. You can get through it by damage abusing, but for the sake of being a simpler guide, you can just as easily do it with invincibility. Wait for the first fire guy to stop and then run past him, then hit the box. Following that, you grab the third mask and go invincibile, run past everything, past the first fan and then wait a moment until your invincibility runs out. Hit the mask box by the second fan and you should have invincibility for the rest of the level. Even if it runs out, you can keep running and take fire abuse which won't kill you, meaning you don't have to stop at all. With that, you can breeze this.

Paddington Bear ~Break every box in Bear Down without dying.

Bear Down is pretty chill compared to the other levels involving the bears. Unfortunately as is the case with lots of these levels, memorization is key. But you don't move particularly fast in this level, so with a little bit of time, you will be able to clear this pretty simply. Beware of the guys lifting the boxes, the dolphins. If you're not familiar with the level layout, boosting can be risky, so try to learn that before you start boosting everywhere. When you reach the end of the stage, hit the nitro detonator, go grab your gem, but then come back. You might have noticed as you were falling off the bear a bunch of random platforms in the water. These will sink when you jump on them, but if you jump on them until you reach the white patch of land, you will be warped to the secret sixth warp room, where you will spawn in front of the entrance to Air Crash, allowing you to finish said level.

Bear the Burden ~Get to the end of Bear Down in less than 1:31.

Appropriately named achievement for sure, this one is pretty hard. My time only beats it by 7 seconds. Boost jumps are your friend for this. Just boost jump, boost jump, boost jump, and you will eventually make it. But it is pretty brutal, I wouldn't be surprised if this time eventually gets changed.

My City of Ruins ~Break every box in Road to Ruin without dying.

This one is sure to piss off lots of folks. Road to Ruin is notorious among speedrunners and casual players alike, and for good reason. In order to get this gem, you will also need to find it's secret entrance, which means that you cannot complete this level until you reach Diggin' It in Warp 4, so come back once you've found it.

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You start in front of 32 boxes, with one of the boxes being a TNT. Don't go spinning the whole pile, or you will hit the TNT and die. Hop on the boxes until you hear the sound of the TNT starting, then slide jump forwards over the nitros and onto the platform. The TNT will break every box remaining in the pile. Wait for the first statue to stop breathing fire, and try and time your jump so that you land right before he's about to start, because the statue next to him will also be breathing fire when the other one isn't. Sounds complicated, but you'll understand what I mean when you're playing it (I hope.) Continue forwards, sliding away the lizard. Beware when you spin the rat, because very occasionally he will go flying into the TNTs and blow them up, so if you jump straight after spinning the rat and he does that, it'll kill you. Continue on, you can ignore the death platform because the death route has no boxes in it. Wait for the fire to stop and then move on, kill the lizard etc. Hit the grey box to spawn the boxes, then break them. Continue forward, break the pile of boxes, go down and back up the sideways path. The bonus is relatively safe, just be wary of the box by the platforms that break when you stand on them. I like to bounce on it rather than spin it, but it's personal preference. After the bonus, you have two statues to avoid; a high spinjump will get you past them, but you can be safer just waiting for them to stop breathing the fire. After that, there'll be a monkey hopping about, but as long as you spin as he lands, you're fine. Jump on the TNT and keep moving forward, holding X will get you enough added jump height that you'll completely go over the top of the lizard's head. Hit the nitro detonator, the TNTs will blow up on their own, then just make sure to spin the monkey and make your way out. Road to Ruin is pretty brutal, so don't be hard on yourself if this one takes you a while.

Race Among the Ruins ~Get to the end of Road to Ruin in less than 1:10.

Slide-spin jumps will get you over the statues' fire, but as stated that is somewhat advanced tech. Normal slide jumps can barely make it, but it's not as consistent. This one is pretty lax. Tiny tip, when you reach the part where you slide down and then back up, just after the pile of boxes, if you slide and hold right you can just slide from platform to platform without falling or having to jump, saves a couple of seconds. And bouncing on the rat and holding X will cut you a jump off from getting back up as well. In general though just efficient movement will get you this. The achievement does have a video posted in the comments.

Dangerous and Moving ~Break every box in Un-Bearable without dying.

Much like the boulder levels, this is one that you will simply have to memorize. It's especially brutal because it has by far the most ways to kill you. This level hides most of it's boxes in a secret area. When the bear chases you down the really long wooden board path, you will see him fall into the abyss below. If you hit the checkpoint and then jump in after it, you will be in a secret side-scrolling area. Hunter enemies continuously fire bullets in your direction, so you have to be constantly jumping every time you see them approaching. This will take you a while to get right, and it is for sure pretty difficult. When you reach the checkpoint in this level, there is an area with a waterfall and a bunch of grey steel boxes. Nestled on top of the screen is two life boxes; MAKE SURE YOU GET THESE. You do not want to reach the end of the level to see you're missing two boxes, trust me i've been there. If you stand on the little platform below it and crouch jump, you can reach it. Alternatively, you can bounce off the Aku Aku crate, holding X, and get high enough to spin them. Once you reach the end you continue on through the level as normal. When you reach the end, grab your gem and then turn around and head back out. You can slide jump over the gap in the level to walk back through the level a bit where Polar is just sitting there chillin. If you walk up to him, you'll be teleported out of the level into the secret warp room again, in front of the level Totally Bear.

Nas Ne Dogonyat ~Get to the end of Un-Bearable in less than 2:49.

Once you know the level layout, this is actually a very generous time trial. If you can get them down, NSS will save your life here. If not, you can still definitely make it.

Straight out the Sewer ~Obtain every clear gem in the Sewer warp room.

Again, you will not be able to get all the gems until you've reached Road To Ruin's secret entrance in Diggin' It, so you will get this one when you return back there.

Tiger in a Spotlight ~Defeat Tiny Tiger.

Tiny is random. You hop from platform to platform and he chases you. After a few moments, some of the platforms will flash twice and then fall. The goal is to get him to land on one of the ones that flashes. He is slow, so if you time it right you can still get him to jump on them even if they've already fallen. A good way to do this is to slide jump to the left or right when there's a hole in the middle, and he will jump straight into it. There is no way to predict the patterns to my knowledge, though, so you just have to wait for it. If one disappears that he's nowhere near or that he just missed, don't risk it, just wait for another one. Music is sick at least. Warp 4!

Just Hanging Out ~Break every box in Hangin' Out without dying.

When you start the level, wait for the fire guy immediately outside to stop, then kill him. The robots will come down this hallway every few seconds, so be ready for them to either jump them or spin them away. Watch out for the barrels and make your way to the end, make sure to hit the boxes before jumping down the hole or you have no chance of getting that box gem. Head down the monkey bars and dodge the enemies, and once you reach the end of this area, again, make sure not to miss any of the boxes before you head down the hole. Hit the checkpoint, grab the crystal, dodge the rats and go into the bonus. This bonus is pretty harsh, and will likely take a lot of practice. Following that, dodge more barrels, jump on the rat to kill it and hit the nitro detonator, but step back a bit when you do as the explosion is quite large. After that, it's just simply waiting for the water not to be electric, and riding the platform to the exit. Levels from this point on get pretty challenging, so they're going to take practice.

Hang You From the Heavens ~Get to the end of Hangin' Out in less than 1:50.

You want to enter Hangin' Out with two masks to make this an absolute piece of cake. Make sure you make it to the end of the first set of monkey bars without taking any damage. Once you are on the other side of them, hit that third mask box and you are invincible. When you jump on the monkey bars while invincible, you suddenly move super quick for some reason. You should be able to get to the end of the monkey bars before you lose invincibility, at which point you can continue as normal, damage abusing if you so choose to. But with the timesave from the above, this should be pretty safe to get.

Dig It Up ~Break every box in Diggin' It without dying.

Another harsh level. To start, head forwards and dodge the plants spitting bullets at you. The statues move randomly, so you will have to wait to see if they're going left or right, then run past them. When you reach the section with the Aku box next to nitros, do not spin the box, as it's very easy to hit the nitros too. Bounce on it instead. Up ahead you'll see two electric fences: you want to wait until it's about to finish it's cycle, then hit the speed arrow so you can get behind it before it comes back on. This way you will spend the least amount of time possible waiting. You can walk around the second electric fence by just going to the right. Following that you will reach the bonus round. Complete the bonus round as normal, but wait a moment after you resurface in order for the boxes to all be counted. Hitting the checkpoint before this is done can mess up your box count for the level. Head forwards and go to the left, onto the death platform. You must jump your way around these nitros, the left side area is the safest. Go ahead and break the two wumpa crates, then backtrack back onto the platform. This is difficult but the alternative is harder in my opinion. Go back and take the right route, continue as normal. Once you reach the end of the path, go back left and you can jump onto the left side of the stage, allowing you to jump across the gap. From here on out you should take it carefully, but this is a backwards death route so some practice will almost certainly be needed before you can do it. You want to go back, grab the gem, and get to the checkpoint. Once you've hit that checkpoint, you can go back through the death route and you will have all the boxes from it, meaning you merely need finish the rest of the stage at that point. Make your way to the end and grab your box gem. At this point you can either leave the stage or you can get yourself killed and discover the secret portal. By the final checkpoint, when you see the plant on the platform to your left, if you jump over and body slamit, you will be taken to Road to Ruin's alternate entrance, allowing you to get your warp 3 all-gems achievement. If the aforementioned strategy is too difficult for you to manage, you can of course attempt to do the death bonus route first and then backtrack the easier path. Unfortunately, regardless of which way you go, some backtracking is required. Good luck!

Dig! Dig! Dig! ~Get to the end of Diggin' It in less than 2:55.

The electric fence bit will be crucial for acing this, a lot of the rest of it is just dodging bullets. Be quick, try to squeeze in an NSS here and there and you will have this in no time.

Cold As Ice ~Break every box in Cold Hard Crash without dying.

Everyone knows it's coming, Cold Hard Crash. Yes, pretty horrible level. Personally I highly recommend learning how to do the box dupe to get this, but for those who don't want to learn that, I will explain the way the game wants you to do it. You need to get yourself to the death route, that's the biggest thing with this level. That, and the bonus. **DON'T MISS THE BOX IN THE BONUS, IT'S HIDDEN ABOVE A WUMPA CRATE BARELY ON SCREEN!!!** Once you reach the death route, your goal is to get to the end, hit the clear exclamation mark box, and get all the way back to the start of the death route, at which point you can finish the rest of this already relatively hard level. There's no way to get out of it, the level is just pretty hard. _That said_, the box dupe method cuts your time in this level in half. All you must do is play the level normally until you reach the death route, **BUT DON'T HIT ANY CHECKPOINT BOXES AND DON'T GO INTO THE BONUS YET**. When you've hit the two boxes on top of the checkpoint box, you go back and go into the bonus. Once the bonus platform lifts you up and you can move again, simply slide off the stage. The game will respawn you at the beginning, with the boxes still counting up, and all the other boxes restored. This means you essentially cut half of the level out. Go back and do it all again until you reach the death route. You should have 113 boxes when you get here, at which point you can go through the death route again, dropping down the other side. Keep your eyes on your box counter and ensure you have 155 boxes when you reach near the end of the stage. Having extra is okay, there are five at the very end, so I recommend checking your counter after you hit the nitro detonator. As long as you're at 150, you have enough extra boxes to smash in front of you, but if you have let's say 153, you only have to hit two boxes and ignore the rest. This will make Cold Hard Crash a lot less annoying.

The Snow Howling _~Get to the end of Cold Hard Crash in less than 3:06.

I find if you can make it to the death route with masks you can reach the Aku Aku mask and get invincibility, allowing you to just slide through the entire death route really quickly. That should give you more than enough time to make this. You actually don't need invincibility, as your invincibility frames from taking damage last long enough to get you through the whole route if you take damage from the start of the final set of nitros, but it's more casual friendly to just get invincibility.

Dancin' In the Ruins ~Break every box in Ruination without dying.

Another absolutely brutal level for sure, Ruination is a personal favourite of mine but only because of it's vindictiveness. Starting at the beginning, wait for the fire statue to stop and jump forwards. When you spin the boxes, do it from a distance, as they hid a nitro behind them. I like to walk sideways while I do it, but it's up to you. Following that, a lot of this level is about timing with the fire and crumbling platforms, so be prepared to fail, because this level IS difficult. Continue on, upon reaching the TNTs I like to jump on them both and just carry on, ignoring the monkey entirely as if you spin him he's likely to go straight into it and blow you both up. This upcoming clear box will spawn a bunch of nitros, however you do not need to spawn them for them to actually count, so you can ignore this completely and just walk past it. After hitting the checkpoint, a lot of it is more of the same: monkey, fire, crumbling platforms. Be wary when you enter the bonus, this level does not leave much room for movement, so you should ensure Crash's shadow is on the boxes you're stood on or else you are very likely to fall off if you move too fast or too much. After the bonus you're getting near the home stretch, be patient and you'll come to your second to last checkpoint. I usually completely ignore the lizard, as he is sandwiched between two TNT boxes and, again, will just blow you up with him if you slide him. Instead I jump on one TNT, jump over him, and then jump on the other TNT. But you can just as easily hit the first TNT, wait for it to blow up (and hopefully take him with it) and then just jump on the other one. The spinning platforms are quite fussy, just make sure to gently tap your d-pad when Crash is doing his "i'm slipping" animation in the direction toward the centre of the platform or else you will inevitably slip off. Once you reach the end of this and smash the boxes, you'll see four rats and a nitro detonator in the middle. If you're confident you can just jump on the detonator, but if you spin the rat you're likely to get it to hit the detonator if you don't want to risk it. Take the mask and make your way down to the last five jumps of this ruthless level. The monkey will throw logs at you periodically, but if you've made it this far you have a mask anyway so you are okay. You can spin these logs away if you know the timing, but they do come quite quickly and don't leave much room for preparation. Either way, get past him and you are out of here.

In the Time of my Ruin ~Get to the end of Ruination in less than 2:00.

The tiki heads with the fire will be your biggest enemy here. Patience and learning the level is really all the advice I can give you for this.

Purple Heart ~Obtain the Amethyst in Bee-Having.

When you come to a stack of six nitro crates, you may notice that they don't ominously bounce up and down. This is another entrance to a secret level, and if you jump on to the top of the crates, you'll be warped into a secret route. The funny thing is, however, you can get the Amethyst gem within about 20 seconds at most, as it's so close to the start of the route. There is no need to actually finish the route, as soon as you get the gem if you just fall through the floor you will be warped back to whatever checkpoint box you hit. Personally, I suggest hitting the checkpoint before the flower spitting bullets and then going back to the nitro crates, but this does require learning the level and involves a risky backwards journey past a beehive which will definitely kill you if you aren't quick enough. Even then, being warped back to a previous checkpoint box will still be faster and easier than finishing the secret route in this level. The purple gem is now yours!

Bee in Your Bonnet _~Break every box in Bee-Having without dying.

Not a whole lot to this one, just stick to ducking underground if you're not confident you can outrun the bees. It's nitro central in this level. There is an extra life crate tucked behind some nitros early on in the level, make sure you don't miss that. Don't risk spinning anywhere near it, you have to carefully jump on it, land, then jump back over. Nitros be sensitive. The bonus level can sometimes be a bit weird with the end portion where the nitros are in a line underneath a bunch of boxes, as the bounce can sometimes screw up and push boxes above your head leading to you walking into death. But if it happens, just retry, as bonuses don't cost anything to fail. When you reach the end, make sure to hit the nitro detonation box, and you should have 92 boxes smashed, getting you this level's gem.

Bumble Bee (Sting Me) ~Get to the end of Bee-Having in less than 2:24.

The key to getting this easily is to outrun the bees, but this is no easy feat. If you can get yourself through the first couple of sections where the bees chase you, you'll have this one in the bag. I don't recommend trying to outrun the ones at the end, as it is a very tight squeeze. However, if you reach the end portion of the level with a mask, and want to take damage and just run past to the end of the level, this would certainly save you a lot of time.

Rocky Top ~Obtain every clear gem in the Mountain Warp Room.

Warp 4 is pretty brutal, but it actually involves no backtracking at the very least. You shouldn't have to come back to this warp room.

Master Exploder ~Defeat N. Gin.

Mash the circle or square button to throw fruit. N Gin will open his arms several times as he floats back and forth, fire wumpa fruit into his arms enough times and you'll break one off. After about ten seconds or so he will head to the side of the screen: this is the cue that he is about to start blasting his lazer at you, so be ready to evade. I don't recommend jumping, as he aims the lazer up and down, so I suggest just waiting til he goes upwards and then running under it in the opposite direction to him. Once you hit both of his arms enough times that they fall off, he'll wave his stubs at you and start floating back and forth a bit faster, opening his shoulder pads. You must hit each of these with five fruit for them to blow up. It is possible to take them both out at once if you learn the timing, and I do suggest doing this, as if he is left with one shoulder pad he will do a different attack involving a missile coming from off screen that you have to jump over. Either way, both are viable, and eventually you will knock both of his shoulders off so that he disappears. Be ready, because his last move is quite cheeky: he'll quite quickly rise back up and fire bright green energy at you. I suggest standing on either the left or the right panel, as you will want space to run. If you learn the timing, you can get a couple of hits in before running off, but don't take too long, as he fires rather quickly. Five more wumpa will send him.. presumably into space to die? I'm not too sure, but either way he survives til the next game, so maybe he's an alien or something. One final warp room remains!

Super Sharp Shooter ~Defeat N. Gin using no more than 75 wumpa fruit.

This is quite easily doable if you don't spam too much and make every hit count. Learning his patterns will be key for this, like much of this game. Don't panic, and remember that it doesn't actually take much fruit to kill him. If you miss, just wait his cycle out.

The Piston Cup](https://retroachievements.org/achievement/86140) ~Break every box in Piston It Away without dying.

Piston It Away is one of the most obtuse levels in the game. The devs chose to put the nitro detonation box at the end of a death route. The only way to get the box gem in this level involves backtracking and a death route, which means you will NEED to learn the level in order to avoid damage or death. The level features pistons, robots that you can only kill by sliding, and weird little tentacle robot dudes. These guys you can actually kill with a spin if they are facing upwards, but I still slide kill them out of habit personally. The key here is to reach the point, after killing two scientist guys, where a piston takes you upwards. You will see a row of two nitros with a life nestled in the middle. Completely ignore this, what you want is the box here, because this is the last box in the rest of the normal level. Once you have this box, you have to head back the way you came, all the way back to the death platform. Make your way through the death route. It has a checkpoint box after you get through the first tube section. There's not much to say other than it IS pretty difficult, so again, practice makes perfect with this. Luckily, the way the level is designed means you will get everything in Piston It Away in one go, as the clear gem is hidden inside the death route and impossible to miss.

Mechanical Dance ~Get to the end of Piston It Away in less than 2:30.

Depending on your experience and how much you died while learning Piston It Away, you can either choose to rush through the death route, or continue the normal path. The normal path involves having to wait for the scientists and pistons, making it a bit slower, but either is achievable. Memorize the level, and don't be frightened to rush past the pistons before they clamp down; they have a cycle that you'll start to intuit after playing the level for a while, and you'll get a feel for when they're going to do it. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes they are just BS.

Rocket Man ~Break every box in Rock It without dying.

This level isn't too taxing, but be wary of the hazards, particularly the electrical wires that emit sparks; these have a pretty wide range. Take it slowly; there are not tons of boxes, but there are quite a few hazards. Approach each opening door warily, as some of them have hazards placed right in front of you when you pass through them. I recommend waiting for the fire to form a cross before heading through one of the corners, but it is your call. The explosive wumpa fruits, I personally like to let them get close together and go around them, but you can also pass through the centre while they're apart: just make sure to do so before they start getting closer, as in my experience they can hit you pretty easily. The scientists can actually be spun immediately upon seeing them, but to be on the safe side I would suggest letting them do their electricity first before you hit them. Make sure to wait out their second animation of electricity, too, as I have found occasionally they'll do it for a fraction longer than usual and if you rush it it can kill you. You'll find the crystal past one last set of electrical wires, opening up to some wumpa and a scientist. Wait for the scientist to be in his idle animation and for the wumpa to be open and push through, spin him once, wait him out, and spin him again, and you will be in the clear. Whack the nitro detonator and the gem should be yours.

Short Bursts ~Get to the end of Rock It in less than 1:41.

Your Precious Moon ~Break every box in Night Fight without dying.

Enter the Darkness ~Get to the end of Night Fight in less than 2:07.

Darkness of the Unknown ~Get to the end of Night Fight without using any of the fireflies.

Jet Pack Kicks ~Break every box in Pack Attack without dying.

Robot Bird ~Get to the end of Pack Attack in less than 1:56.

Space Rock ~Break every box in Spaced Out without dying.

A Dream into Outer Space ~Get to the end of Spaced Out in less than 1:47.

Kosmos ~Obtain every clear gem in the Space Warp Room.

Perfect Enemy ~Defeat the final boss.

Rise and Shine, Ursine ~Break every box in Totally Bear without dying.

Dark Horse ~Get to the end of Totally Bear in less than 1:19.

Firefly ~Break every box in Totally Fly without dying.

Coming Out of the Dark ~Get to the end of Totally Fly in less than 1:48.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend ~Get to the end of Totally Fly without using any of the fireflies.

Little Secret ~Obtain every clear gem in the Secret warp room.

The Craziest Diamond ~View the Secret Ending.

yeah yeah

End

I hope this guide has been helpful!

• Achievements by: Flawestruck

• Achievement badges by: Flawestruck & SayuMyers

• Guide by: Flawestruck

• Hole-in-one tips courtesy of: Craymeco