With Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time‘s recent release, fans finally have a modern take on the original Crash formula. As well as satisfying older fans, Crash Bandicoot 4 is also generating a new generation of fans. Many new fans will soon be looking for what else the Crash series has to offer. The N. Sane Trilogy remaster of the original games will likely be their first stop, although there is one other entry that follows the original formula that may take their interest.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex divides fans. Although the gameplay and level design are noticeably weaker than Naughty Dog’s entries, it does do a decent job of bringing the Crash formula from the PS1 to the PS2, with box-collecting, linear level design, and chase sections all returning. Another feature that The Wrath of Cortex has in common with the PS1 entries are the relics. Naughty Dog added replay value to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped by implementing speedrunning as a gameplay mechanic. Traveler’s Tales kept the relics in The Wrath of Cortex, and many of the platinum relics, the hardest relics to obtain in the game, are amongst the most difficult in the series.
10 Smokey And The Bandicoot
The Wrath of Cortex tried to put its own spin on Warped‘s racing stages by removing Crash’s frustratingly stiff motorbike and replacing it with a nippy jeep. The stages are one of the few that are superior in gameplay to its Warped counterparts.
However, achieving platinum time is by no means simple. The jeep’s loose steering makes it difficult to hit the essential Time Crates. Furthermore, the old trick of waiting for all of the other racers to finish the race before you start the time trial, ensuring that you don’t have to worry about bumping into them, no longer works. As to obtain any of the stages relics, you must win the race. The Smokey and the Bandit-inspired level only just makes it into this list, though, as it has a generous platinum time allowance of 1:00.00.
9 Crashteroids
The flying stages are another idea carried over from Warped. The level is simple enough; players simply need to shoot down three space stations and their surrounding shields. What makes the stage difficult is the circling enemies who will constantly shoot at players, subsequently draining their health.
Although similar enemies appeared in Warped, they did far less damage than in Wrath of Cortex. These tough enemies make Crashteroids a deceivingly difficult level to platinum.
8 The Gauntlet
The Gauntlet, as a level, does what it says on the tin. The stage is tough to traverse with magic firing wizards, swinging axes, and giant fireballs all out to kill the unfortunate Bandicoot. The Gauntlet’s plethora of obstacles makes it one of the best levels, but also one of the hardest.
The end of the level throws one final wrench in the works, too. Players can easily get tunnel vision when seeing the final portal, causing them to completely miss a giant pillar than will smash down on them in an instant. As well as having the frustration of seeing a squished Crash just inches away from the level’s end, players will be forced back to square one.
7 Banzai Bonsai
Banzai Bonsai is the first Crash Bandicoot level where players can control Coco in a platforming stage. Similarly to The Gauntlet, it is one of the toughest stages in the game. Adding to the difficulty is that Coco is slightly different to control than Crash. Although the changes are minor, the differences in movement can cause players to mistime jumps, as they’re more accustomed to the weight and feel of playing as Crash.
Banzai Bonsai also features some of the game’s most infuriating enemies. The leaping piranhas, in particular, can cause players many issues. Although a similar enemy appeared sporadically throughout the original trilogy without causing much trouble, their jumps are far quicker and less telegraphed in Wrath of Cortex.
6 Gold Rush
Gold Rush is more of a marathon than a sprint. It’s not one of the game’s most difficult levels, but, with no checkpoints allowed in the time trials, it’s a test of players’ endurance.
The hanging sections, in particular, test player’s patience. Jumping early to try to shave a second or two off of their time will result in a one-way trip back to the start of the level again. Gold Rush also has a punishingly short platinum target time, forcing players to discover multiple time cutting techniques throughout the lengthy stage to stand a chance.
5 Avalanche
Along with being another Coco platforming stage, Avalanche has the game’s most difficult chase section. Players are required to avoid a fast-approaching avalanche on a snowboard. What makes this difficult is the snowboard controls that take some getting used to.
Moreover, only two levels feature the snowboard, giving players minimal practice with the jarring controls. Because of this, players will frequently miss Time Crates that are essential for obtaining the platinum relic. Furthermore, a small section of the level requires players to dodge a series of Nitro Crates that litter an icy path. Ice physics are the bane of any Crash Bandicoot fans existence, and Avalanche is no different in that regard.
4 Eskimo Roll
The Atlasphere, a hamster-like ball that Crash Bandicoot rolls around in, was one of the few features that Wrath of Cortex introduced to the Crash series. Many people enjoyed the ball stages, though few will deny that they aren’t suited for speedrunning.
The Atlasphere can reach a high speed fast. This isn’t as beneficial as it sounds, though, as going too fast will put players in immediate danger of falling into inconvenient ball-shaped holes or Nitro Crates that litter the stage.
3 Crate Balls of Fire
Crate Balls of Fire does a great job of immediately winding gamers up by sticking unnecessarily long hanging sections at the start of the level, infuriating player’s as they have to re-do them each time they die or restart. After the hanging section and some challenging platforming, players will hop into Crash’s Mech Suit.
The Mech Suit was a prominent feature of the game’s marketing prior to release. However, many players spend their time in the suit just wishing that they weren’t in it at all. As well as having minimal benefits, the suit makes Crash control far more sluggish and causes him to be a bigger target for enemies. This makes wearing the suit for the level’s chase section one of the most game’s most frustrating moments.
2 Droid Void
Droid Void is essentially Crate Balls of Fire but made even more infuriating. Not only does the first half of the level consist almost entirely of painfully slow hanging sections, but, once players finally get past this, they almost immediately hop into the Mech Suit for the rest of the level.
This Mech Suit section is where Droid Void’s time trial difficulty comes from. The section isn’t too difficult when playing normally, as players can just stand still and shoot enemies with the suit’s fruit bazooka attachment. When speedrunning the stage, however, players don’t get this luxury. With the giant Mech Suit and its slow movement, players need to run, jump, and dodge as fast as they can to stand any chance of getting the platinum relic.
1 Coral Canyon
Coral Canyon is not just the toughest level to platinum in The Wrath of Cortex, but one of the toughest to platinum in the entire Crash Bandicoot series. The level begins with Crash in his submarine, which somehow manages to be even more of a handicap than the Mech Suit. The submarine fills a comically large amount of the screen and makes dodging fast-swimming fish a nightmare.
The enemies are the toughest part of the level; some bombs sit just out of sight, dropping down on players in a flash, and the level is full of tentacles that suddenly appear from the ground, along with fast-moving fish than can obliterate Crash’s futuristic submarine with just a touch of a fin. Coral Canyon doesn’t compensate for this difficulty with a generous platinum relic target time either, as its 0:48.35 time is punishingly short.
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