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Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy revives our favourite platforming marsupial with a gorgeous visual makeover in this excellently remastered trilogy out now on Nintendo Switch.

Those of you who were fortunate enough to play the originals back on the original PlayStation might remember that Crash Bandicoot is pretty challenging – particularly the first instalment. You can easily lose entire evenings to the more dastardly levels like High Road or Native Fortress.

But all of that challenge pales in comparison to beating the game 100%. Not only does that require you to smash literally all of the boxes in every single level, it also requires you to do that without dying in a select few of them.

That sounds hard already, but if you bear in mind that Crash doesn't have a health bar and dies in a single hit, it's a recipe for frustration-fuelled disaster.

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Fortunately, the latter two entries do mix things up with new methods of unlocking each gem, and not all of them are so brutally difficult.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to get every single coloured gem in the entire Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. We won't cover the white gems, as they simply require you to smash all of the boxes in each level, but we will tell you which gem unlocks what in which level. Let's do this.

Crash Bandicoot - How The Coloured Gems Work

In the original Crash Bandicoot, there are two different types of gems: white and coloured. You unlock white gems by breaking all boxes in a level, and coloured gems for doing the same but without dying. Coloured gems only appear in a select few levels.

Coloured gems are worth the trouble because they unlock special routes in previous levels. These routes contain their own boxes, so you can't actually get a white gem in certain levels until you've unlocked the specific coloured gem you need.

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It's worth noting at this point that a bonus round death does not count towards you dying in a level, so you can attempt these as many times as you wish and still get the coloured gem at the end, provided you don't die at any point during the actual level. You can also die before reaching the first checkpoint as many times as you want.

The point in collecting all of these gems is to both beat Crash Bandicoot with a 100% rating and to unlock a special secret ending you can view.

Crash Bandicoot Coloured Gems Walkthrough

Coloured Gem Beat This Level Without Dying To Unlock Unlocks Gem Paths In These Levels
Green The Lost City Jungle Rollers / Castle Machinery
Orange Generator Room Upstream
Blue Toxic Waste Rolling Stones / Cortex Power / Jaws Of Darkness
Red Slippery Climb Native Fortress / Road To Nowhere
Purple Lights Out Boulder Dash
Yellow The Lab The Great Gate / Lights Out
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Crash Bandicoot - How The Keys Work

As well as coloured gems, there are also keys to collect that unlock bonus levels. You'll find these right at the end of the Neo Cortex bonus rounds, which require finding three Neo Cortex tokens in particular levels to access.

Crash Bandicoot Keys Walkthrough

Below, we've listed the levels in which you'll find a Neo Cortex Bonus Round that you must beat in order to unlock a key. We've also included the name of the bonus level you'll unlock by grabbing the key.

Beat The Neo Cortex Bonus Round In These Levels To Unlock A Key Unlocks This Bonus Level
Sunset Vista Whole Hog
Jaws of Darkness Fumbling In The Dark

Crash Bandicoot Neo Cortex Tokens Walkthrough

To make your life a little easier, we've tracked down the locations of each Neo Cortex Token to help you grab the keys and unlock the bonus levels a little easier.

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Level First Neo Cortex Token Second Neo Cortex Token Third Neo Cortex Token
Sunset Vista Get to the top of the third-floor ruin and beat the lizard. Head inside and smash the crates to get the first Neo Cortex Token. Keep moving until you reach a set of moving walls. Get in the middle of them, then bounce between the crates to land on the second moving wall to get the second Neo Cortex Token. Reach the Neo Cortex Bonus Round teleport, and head inside the passageway behind you. Move left to find the final Neo Cortex Token.
Jaws of Darkness Right after the sequence where you have to jump through fire on moving platforms, smash the bottom crate of a stack topped with TNT to get the first Neo Cortex Token. Keep moving forward until you reach a snake. Beat the snake and the second Neo Cortex Token is in the crate behind it. Take the secret platform to the left of the second Neo Cortex Token and smash the crates to get the third.

Crash Bandicoot - How To Unlock Coco

Unlocking Coco is pretty darn easy in Crash Bandicoot. Simply beat the boss Papu Papu – AKA the easiest boss in the entire game – and you'll unlock Coco's Time Machine. Visit it to unlock Coco, at which point you can swap between her and Crash Bandicoot at any point by pressing 'ZR'.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - How The Coloured Gems Work

Coloured gems work a little differently in Crash Bandicoot 2, but they're no less challenging to unlock. Rather than just smashing all of the crates in a level without dying, this time you may have to beat a level without destroying any crates, access a level via a secret entrance, or find a secret area in a level.

At least it varies things up a bit, eh?

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Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Coloured Gems Walkthrough

Coloured Gem Unlocked In This Level Do This To Unlock It Unlocks Gem Paths In These Levels
Blue Turtle Woods Don't destroy any crates Hang Eight / Spaced Out
Red Snow Go Access Snow Go from the bonus entrance, found in Air Crash Snow Biz / Spaced Out
Green The Eel Deal When you reach a fork, head right and go through the wall behind the Nitro crates Ruination / Spaced Out
Yellow Plant Food Beat the time attack section Sewer Or Later / Spaced Out
Purple Bee-Having Jump onto the Nitro stairs Spaced Out

Crash Bandicoot 2 - How Secret Warps Work

Certain levels have Secret Warps that will throw you to another level entirely. Often, you'll need to use a Secret Warp to unlock a secret like a coloured gem in the level you warp to.

Crash Bandicoot 2 - Secret Warps Walkthrough

Levels With Secret Warps Do This To Find It Warps To
Air Crash Reach the first checkpoint and jump over the jetski and the floating crates to a platform on your right hand side Snow Go
Bear Down At the end of the level, head back across the floating platforms on foot Air Crash
Un-Bearable After your thrown off the bar, slide-jump over the chasm to get back to it Totally Bear
Hangin' Out Drop through the hole that leads to a checkpoint, and walk towards the camera to find another hole leading to this Secret Warp Totally Fly
Diggin' It Belly flop on the plant that throws bombs at you near the end of the level Road to Ruin
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Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped - How The Coloured Gems Work

The coloured gems are mostly unlocked via Death Routes in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, and by that we mean reaching the end of a level without dying to unlock a secret area.

As before though, coloured gems unlock Gem Paths in other levels, which will help you gather all of the white gems in the game.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped - Coloured Gems Walkthrough

Coloured Gem Unlocked In This Level Do This To Unlock It Unlocks Gem Paths In These levels
Red Deep Trouble Hit the '!' crate at the end to access a secret area with the red gem inside Bone Yard / Bug Lite
Purple High Time Take the Death Route at the end of the level Tomb Time / Bug Lite
Blue Tomb Wader Take the Death Route at the end of the level Sphynxinator / Bug Lite
Green Flaming Passion Take the Death Route at the end of the level Gone Tomorrow / Bug Lite
Yellow Hang 'em High Enter via the secret entrance in Warp Room 6 Dino Might! / Bug Lite

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped - How Secret Levels Work

There are a number of secret levels in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped that require you to perform specific actions in certain levels to unlock. Here's how to unlock each level.

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Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped - Secret Levels Walkthrough

Secret Level Do This To Unlock It
Hot Coco Jump on the second Pterodactyl sitting on the tree just after the dinosaur chase
Eggipus Rex Knock over the black alien sign 

Ski Crazed

 Gather five Relics and unlock in the Basement Warp Room
Hang 'em High Gather 10 Relics and unlock in the Basement Warp Room
Area 51? Gather 15 Relics and unlock in the Basement Warp Room
Future Frenzy Gather 20 Relics and unlock in the Basement Warp Room
Rings of Power Gather 25 Relics and unlock in the Basement Warp Room