Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (Playstation) - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki

Intro

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.

Story

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.

To complete the game, you need only to obtain all 25 crystals, 1 from each level. These are placed prominently and near-impossible to miss. If you want to go for 100%, you will need all of the gems. Some of these are obtained from smashing every box in the level, which we will call box gems. Some are obtained from completing certain parts of levels, and some are obtained in ways that make zero sense when you really think about it. But don't worry! We will cover every gem in great detail.

Time trials were not a part of this game, however there are achievements related to it. As such, 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. Some of these are pretty tough, I will not lie, but doable with practice.

Controls (Basic)

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 belly flop, 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. You want those.

Controls (Bear)

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.

Controls (Jetboard)

D-Pad moves you.

Square or O button allows you to boost.

O button while you are airborne will let you flop on your belly. This can break normal boxes too but it's only really there to break iron boxes.

Controls (Advanced)

These are only for those wishing to aim for the time trial achievements, as they are speedrun strats and will take time to learn!!

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 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. Not particularly useful for most of this game aside from one or two minor skips.

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

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.

Question mark boxes contain several wumpa fruit. Same as above.

Wumpa 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.

Checkpoint boxes will save your progress in a level when you break them.

Iron boxes exist in order to justify the belly flop. 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 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. Please keep in mind, however, that if you are attempting time trials you absolutely do not want to get invincibility - WITH THE EXCEPTION of Hangin' Out, which I will address more when we get to it.

Exclamation mark 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.

Bouncy boxes are grey boxes with 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.

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 be very needed for your box gems, and sometimes are in secret locations.

Achievement Summary

There are currently 75 achievements worth a total of 1,393 points.

Achievements Guide

Baby Blue ~Obtain the Sapphire in Turtle Woods.

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 sinking parts rather than jumping on the boxes stuck within. You will reach a section with a row of boxes stacked on top of each other blocking your way; to get past these, jump on the wumpa box: this box will not smash from being jumped on, so you can simply jump over it. Once you reach the end of the level with 0 boxes, the gem will be waiting for you inside the exit. I recommend turning around and jumping to your death after you have the gem, as you keep any gems or crystals you collect even if you die, so you can restart at the very beginning and get the box gem in the same go without having to re-enter the level. But ultimately it's your choice.

Turtle Power ~Break every box in Turtle Woods without dying.

Quite self-explanatory, just break every box in the level. Keep in mind to belly-flop the face on the ground shortly before the first checkpoint box, as this will take you to a secret area underneath the level that contains some boxes and a nitro detonator.

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

The first time trial. I suggest jumping on the sides of the swamp parts, avoiding you sinking into the mud. When you reach the pits where the rats emerge, you have two options for a quick way past. First, you can jump to the side and land on the terrain, allowing you to just jump again to clear it. Alternatively, if you fall in, if you do a spinjump against the exit of the pit, you can make it back out. With these two shortcuts, this time trial is fairly easy.

Aka to Kuro ~Obtain the Ruby in Snow Go.

The good old red gem. Ah, many an hour spent as a youth being taunted by that floating red object, dangling just out of reach. Inside level two, Snow Go, you will come across this red gem floating there, unable to reach it. The game wants you to get this by way of a secret warp that takes you to a secret path of the same level, located in Air Crash. When you hit the first checkpoint, you will see there are some boxes around a random panel of flooring. This panel is actually a secret warp, and if you jump on the boxes, you can bounce over to it and be teleported in front of the secret entrance to Snow Go.

But we have stuff to do, so there's actually a much simpler way to do it. There is a video I will link below that demonstrates this, as it will probably be easier to learn this way than by reading text. But this is a very good area to practice spin jumping, and I promise you will be able to do this every time easily after a bit of practice. Jump on the bouncy box, but spin as you land: this will stop you from bouncing. From there, slide off it to the left and do a spinjump so that you are underneath the red gem, then quickly belly flop and the added height will let you collect it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loAVkVem67M

Buried In The Snow ~Break every box in Snow Go without dying.

Fairly straightforward. Be aware when you fall down the level after the sideways section, you will need to look behind you, as the nitro detonator is hidden there just off screen. Near the end, when there is a seal and a bouncy box, you need to bounce and hold the X button in order to hit a box off screen: this will activate two boxes behind you that were previously inaccessible. Other than that, pretty much smooth sailing.

Snowfalls ~Get to the end of Snow Go in less than 1:25.

No real shortcuts to mention here, you just gotta go fast. NSS's will make cake out of this, but if you aren't doing those just run for it.

Catch a Wave ~Break every box in Hang Eight without dying.

In order to get all the boxes in this level, you will first need the blue gem from Turtle Woods: this will activate a blue platform that will take you to a secret route containing the nitro detonator. The secret route can be pretty tough with the mines in the water. You will need to go near the end of the jetboard section, but not exit it: you will see a grey exclamation mark box. You need to hit this and then make it back to the start of the jetboard section, past the fast-moving mines. You will see that all the boxes have been activated and you can now break them. If you leave the secret area with 65 boxes, you are fine so far. Keep in mind that if you miss boxes in a jetboard section, you can't re-enter them once you are off the jetboard, so take care to make sure you hit them all.

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

With the jetboard boosting, you should be able to make this one relatively easily. Just beware the mines and you should be fine.

Down In The Hole ~Break every box in The Pits without dying.

The Pits is a rather annoying level, but there is a quickest, easiest way to do it. Ultimately if you wish to just adventure through it yourself, that's fine. If you are confident though, this is the quickest route. Once you reach the first split path, go right and hit the two boxes directly over the first gap, then turn back and go the left direction. Continue on through this way smashing everything along your way until you reach the end of the split. At this point, turn back and go right. There is a gap in this path, so go slowly if you are unsure. Jumping over this, you will reach the little hut area with 4 boxes to smash. You need to get these, then continue going backwards, avoiding the turtles, until you reach the Checkpoint box. Once you have the checkpoint box, you can go back the way you came, now able to actually see what you're doing. If you have 27 boxes when you leave the split path, you have everything. After that it's fairly straightforward, just a bonus round and a couple of pits.

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

Pretty clean, just take the left path for the safer route and jump over the pink birds. If you want to be cheeky, try spinning when you land on their backs when they attack you; you'll get a little boost.

Dash-A-Long ~Break every box in Crash Dash without dying.

I know these are the ones people will **hate** but once you are used to them they're not so bad. Muscle memory is the only real way to avoid death in these boulder chase levels, so the best advice I can give you here really is just to practice and practice. I promise that if you do, before you know it you will not even think about it when you beat these levels. Also, be aware that you need to have the four nitro boxes and the boulder breaking them actually ON SCREEN for the game to count them as smashed. If you run ahead and can't see them, the game deloads them. Many times i've gotten to the end of this level and been like "where did I miss 4 boxes?" So yeah, make sure to do that. You can stand pretty far back while still keeping them on screen, so no need to worry. Other than that, you just have to memorise it. It sucks, I know.

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

More of the above really, the only way to rush through these is to know where all the holes, mines and electric fences are. It really is just a case of practice. Other than that, you just gotta run. Don't stop, don't accidentally hit the bonus panel, take advantage of the arrows on the ground as they will make you speed up for a brief moment and put some distance between you and the big fat rock.

Jungle Boogie ~Obtain every clear gem in the Jungle Warp Room.

Get every gem from Turtle Woods, Snow Go, Hang Eight, The Pits and Crash Dash. Hang Eight has a clear gem you get for beating a timed challenge. When you enter the level, after the first checkpoint a timer will appear on screen: if you can reach the end of the level in time before this timer runs out, you will get the other clear gem. The rest are the obvious coloured gems and the box gems. You will soon make short work of these.

Insane in the Brain ~Defeat Ripper Roo.

Ripper Roo has become an educated gent since you blew him up in the first game, but all it takes is the sight of your face again for him to go back to his old ways. Ripper Roo will hop across the platform, setting up TNTs. There will be gaps where there is none, your goal is to stand there when he blows them up so that you avoid them. He will then do the same but with nitros; these are more dangerous and if you even walk across them before he blows them up, you are dead. The pattern is the same every time, so it may take a few tries before you have it down, but after that, you can defeat the guy with ease. Congrats, you're on your way to warp 2!

Most Miserable Life ~Obtain 10 extra lives from the warp room.

This achievement gave me a little bit of trouble, so you may have to take a shot at it a few times. The way to do this is once you enter warp room two, jump on the polar bear outside the level Bear It repeatedly. After a few, he will drop lives to you. Be aware that if you have a lot of lives already, he doesn't give as many, so I recommend doing it while low on lives. But with that, the achievement should pop. If it doesn't, you might just have to retry it a couple of times. There are helpful comments on the achievement itself, too, if you need more info.

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.**

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 belly flop, 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 belly flop. 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.

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 bellyflop it, 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.