History ThatOneLevel / CrashBandicoot

** Checkpoints now remember the boxes you've broken, so previously infuriating levels like ''Native Fortress'', ''Sunset Vista'' and the "Elite Four" on the third island aren't as gruelling to 100%... but the exceptions are the Coloured Gems. ''Those'' still require you do it all in a single run, presumably to replicate the "Skull Route" challenges in ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2']]' and ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'' (which is how you get most of the Coloured Gems in those games). As such, ''The Lost City'', ''Generator Room'', ''Lights Out'', ''Toxic Waste'', ''Slippery Climb'' and ''The Lab'' retain their original difficulty and become this trope in comparison to most of the other levels.

* There was going to be a follow-up level that was even ''harder''. Luckily, this level was cut from the game and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone later unearthed by hackers]]. Then again, prototype Sunset Vista was, somehow, even more insanely difficult, so it balances out.

* Level 13, ''Smokey and the Bandicoot'': somehow more difficult than Area 51 in ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]''. The relic challenge is easier, but that is the only mercy given here. The jeep you are given handles like a shopping cart that is filled with rocks, which makes even getting the crystal a challenge, and the recommended strategy for getting the gem is to go as slow as possible. And the handling ensures that you'll ''still'' miss some boxes. Did I mention there are 17 (non-secret) levels to go?

* ''High Seas Hijinx''. Firstly, it takes approximately thirty minutes to complete. It opens with large and annoying fields of nitro crates on slippy-slidey ice (and when a life crate is opened, even if this was because you hit a nitro crate and were instantly reduced to shrapnel, the life is lost until your next replay). After this, it moves on to crossing a series of semi-rotating platforms while rhinos that do CollisionDamage swing around, seemingly just because that way they can be a nuisance; there are two life crates that can be accessed, but doing so will probably cost you at least three lives due to accessing the detonator crate to get a stack of nitros out of the way. After this, things settle down to merely annoying until you come to a water room with a huge axle just under the surface; you have to walk along the rotating bulges without falling into the water, and this will almost certainly lead to a nice time falling into the drink and dying instantly. After you've managed that you have to take on N. Gin himself by making him destroy his own crow's nest; the battle consists mainly of running in circles, and then being knocked over the edge by an explosion when you run afoul of the one gap in the spiked wall around the circumference of the battlefield and are unable to escape his rains of missiles. When Gin eventually plummets, you have to run away from a SuperPersistentPredator walrus chef along a massive field where no life crates you pick up will be worth what it does to your time, and by which point your thumb will hurt enough to interfere with your ability to control Crash. And when you've finally managed that? There's ''another'' boss fight that just comes out of nowhere on an iceberg that gets fractured before you've really gotten started. And if you run out of lives, you have to do it all over again from the slidey ice with nitros area.

** Checkpoints now remember the boxes you've broken, so previously infuriating levels like ''Native Fortress'', ''Sunset Vista'' and the "Elite Four" on the third island aren't as gruelling to 100%... but the exceptions are the Coloured Gems. ''Those'' still require you do it all in a single run, presumably to replicate the "Skull Route" challenges in ''[[CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2']]' and ''[[CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'' (which is how you get most of the Coloured Gems in those games). As such, ''The Lost City'', ''Generator Room'', ''Lights Out'', ''Toxic Waste'', ''Slippery Climb'' and ''The Lab'' retain their original difficulty and become this trope in comparison to most of the other levels.

* Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''[[CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'' were too easy, and so created ''Future Tense'', a (thankfully optional) DLC level. It's based on a cut level from the original game, which explains the NintendoHard difficulty, but expects you to have the Double Jump, Tornado Spin AND the Bazooka moves! The level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; which is, of course, even harder, and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''[[CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2]]''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level is pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]

* Level 13, ''Smokey and the Bandicoot'': somehow more difficult than Area 51 in ''[[CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]''. The relic challenge is easier, but that is the only mercy given here. The jeep you are given handles like a shopping cart that is filled with rocks, which makes even getting the crystal a challenge, and the recommended strategy for getting the gem is to go as slow as possible. And the handling ensures that you'll ''still'' miss some boxes. Did I mention there are 17 (non-secret) levels to go?

* Level 18, ''Crashteroids'': It's basically ''Mad Bombers'' from ''[[CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'' in space, as in you have to destroy specific parts of your targets (here it's necessary to shoot three shield generators of each of three space stations, then to shoot the stations themselves) and enemies have [[MoreDakka rapid-fire attacks]] that can destroy you fast. What makes is even worse is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course]], omnipresent asteroids, which deal massive damage or outright [[OneHitKO destroy your ship]].

* While the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime game]] as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard N. Sane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from Mosquito Marsh, the 5th dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''[[CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2]]'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.

* ''Bears Repeating'' in the sixth dimension. After two [[BreatherLevel Breather Levels]] spent introducing you to [[TimeMaster Kupuna-Wa]]'s time-manipulation mechanics and a deceptively easy (by this game's standards) opening section, you then find yourself riding Polar once more, except now he's even faster and slippier, making hitting boxes about three times as hard as it was back in ''[[CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2]]''; and once again, the Flashback Tape is wayyyyy into the level, in the midst of Polar's section, forcing you to re-do the entire first four-fifths of the level if you die once. This level also features a secret Yellow Gem path, containing an homage to ''The High Road'' from ''Crash 1'' - yes, they brought back the infuriating broken bridge of doom, with everything that implies.

** Checkpoints now remember the boxes you've broken, so previously infuriating levels like ''Native Fortress'', ''Sunset Vista'' and the "Elite Four" on the third island aren't as gruelling to 100%... but the exceptions are the Coloured Gems. ''Those'' still require you do it all in a single run, presumably to replicate the "Skull Route" challenges in Crash 2 and 3 (which is how you get most of the Coloured Gems in those games). As such, ''The Lost City'', ''Generator Room'', ''Lights Out'', ''Toxic Waste'', ''Slippery Climb'' and ''The Lab'' retain their original difficulty and become this trope in comparison to most of the other levels.

* Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''Warped'' were too easy, and so created ''Future Tense'', a (thankfully optional) DLC level. It's based on a cut level from the original game, which explains the NintendoHard difficulty, but expects you to have the Double Jump, Tornado Spin AND the Bazooka moves! The level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; which is, of course, even harder, and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''Crash 2''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level is pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]

* Level 13, ''Smokey and the Bandicoot'': somehow, more difficult than Area 51 in ''Warped''. The relic challenge is easier, but that is the only mercy given here. The jeep you are given handles like a shopping cart that is filled with rocks, which makes even getting the crystal a challenge, and the recommended strategy for getting the gem is to go as slow as possible. And the handling ensures that you'll ''still'' miss some boxes. Did I mention there are 17 (non-secret) levels to go?

* Level 18, ''Crashteroids'': It's basically [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Mad Bombers]] in space, as in you have to destroy specific parts of your targets (here it's necessary to shoot three shield generators of each of three space stations, then to shoot the stations themselves) and enemies have [[MoreDakka rapid-fire attacks]] that can destroy you fast. What makes is even worse is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course]], omnipresent asteroids, which deal massive damage or outright [[OneHitKO destroy your ship]].

* While the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime game]] as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard N. Sane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from Mosquito Marsh, the 5th dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.

* ''Bears Repeating'' in the sixth dimension. After two [[BreatherLevel Breather Levels]] spent introducing you to [[TimeMaster Kupuna-Wa]]'s time-manipulation mechanics and a deceptively easy (by this game's standards) opening section, you then find yourself riding Polar once more, except now he's even faster and slippier, making hitting boxes about three times as hard as it was back in ''Crash 2''; and once again, the Flashback Tape is wayyyyy into the level, in the midst of Polar's section, forcing you to re-do the entire first four-fifths of the level if you die once. This level also features a secret Yellow Gem path, containing an homage to ''The High Road'' from ''Crash 1'' - yes, they brought back the infuriating broken bridge of doom, with everything that implies.

* The first real indication of the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996 game]]'s [[NintendoHard difficulty]] is level 8, Native Fortress, which concludes the first island. It is much longer than any level before it, has omnipresent BottomlessPits, sections where you ascend vertically and have to spin timed platforms to set them, and should you fall down, you need to start over that part, and is full of enemies. The gem is really nasty one, because, besides the obligatory NoDeathRun, you have to acquire the red gem first to get access to some boxes, and [[GuideDangIt others are hidden behind the background]] where you can jump on certain points.
* Sunset Vista, level 14. You need to do the whole thing in one life, and you don't know how many boxes you missed until you've already finished the level. This makes a lot of levels just nightmarish to get a gem on, but Sunset Vista is a huge hard level with a couple hard-to-see crates that really takes the cake.

* This game also has a streak of difficult levels in the third island: "The High Road" (level 19), "Jaws of Darkness" (level 22), "The Lab" (level 24), and "Fumbling in the Dark" (level 27, or secret level 2). They have [[GoddamnedBats annoying enemies]], [[FakeDifficulty hard jumps]], [[BlackoutBasement dark areas]], [[PrideBeforeAFall and bottomless pits everywhere.]] If you can even ''beat'' these levels, let alone get the gems from these areas, you should be proud of yourself for accomplishing one of the hardest goals in a game ever.
* ''Cortex Power'', level 16. One of the most unholy examples of FakeDifficulty ever conceived. CameraScrew, multiple forks in the road, backtracking, and being forced to do it in ONE life if you want even a chance for the gem makes for one of the most difficult levels in games and a high rate of broken [=TVs=].
* Toxic Waste, level 18. You must avoid barrels being thrown at you as you run down the path, and there are very few areas to hide. Later on, there are ''bouncing'' barrels coming down at you, and it takes hundreds of tries and deaths in order to learn and memorize their movement patterns, and how you can get underneath the barrels without being flattened.
* Slippery Climb, level 20. It has little fixed ground and thus you'll be mostly walking and jumping between platforms floating in every possible direction and [[GoombaSpringboard moving oversized birds]]. Even stationary ground is mostly covered by [[SurpriseSlideStaircase Surprise Slide Staircases]] with SpikesOfDoom or {{Bottomless Pit}}s at their end. The worst is the second part, which has platforms floating in erratic pattern with varying speed, timing jump on which can be difficult. And this fairly long level has only [[CheckpointStarvation one checkpoint]] (two if you collected all bonus round tokens).
* Like Sunset Vista, Slippery Climb also had a removed follow-up, this one named Stormy Ascent. On one hand, it does have three checkpoints. On the other, everything that made Slippery Climb a horrible level to get through is squared in this one, complete with long bits that you ''have'' to complete in one go because pausing for a single second means plummeting. These include stretches where the only things saving you from hitting spikes are birds that can go below them and die when bounced on, platforms that move insanely fast, and extremely erratic platform movement on the last third. This one was removed precisely because of its horrible difficulty, though it's still possible to access through Gameshark; those who have played it report it might just be the hardest level in ''the series as a whole''. This level was eventually released as a level proper in the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'', as optional DLC. And it's definitely deserving of that reputation. Reports claim that Vicarious Visions had one of their best players lose no less than '''sixty''' lives trying to clear it for the first time, and ''even the very person who DESIGNED Stormy Ascent in the first place had trouble with it''.

* Diggin' It, Level 17, is this if you're going for HundredPercentCompletion. Like Cold Hard Crash, it has a split path Death Route containing some boxes, which means {{Backtracking}}. But here it is ''not'' a sidescroller, so you'll have to run [[EventObscuringCamera towards the camera]] at least on one occasion. Additionally, you'll have to do this through the segments with bees. And yes, bees always start chasing [[PlayerCharacter Crash]] even if he comes ''from the opposite direction'', meaning the sound will be your only clue to spin them off. Oh, and [[MookMaker beehives]] cannot be destroyed.
* Level 18, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Cold Hard Crash]], is a nightmare if you're trying to get the [[HundredPercentCompletion "destroy all crates" Gem]]. You have to play through the first half of the level without dying to reach the DeathCourse, a difficult, [[CheckPointStarvation checkpoint-free]] path covered in crusher traps and nitro mines, almost entirely on slippery ice. When you reach the end of the death course, you need to activate a switch and do the course BACKWARDS to get the new crate the switch spawns at the beginning of the level, at which point you take the platform back to the main level and complete it. [[GuideDangIt Oh, and there's a single, hard-to-find crate hidden just offscreen.]] Missed it? DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN. It's at this point one will wonder if that stack of steel crates that suspiciously resembles a hand [[FlippingTheBird giving the middle finger]] to the player [[TrollingCreator really is just a coincidental shape]].
* Level 20, Bee-Havin'. It's a mountain-ish level with various nasty enemies like plants that spit explosive seeds and lumberjack androids that can flatten you with their hammers, but none of that matters, because in this level, you'll be too busy worrying about your biggest threat: [[BeeAfraid the bees]]. Throughout the level are beehives that will spawn bees when you walk past them. Level 17 (Diggin' It) had the same theme, same enemies, and it also had bees, but there, the bees came out one at a time. Here, the hives spawn FIVE bees at once, and unless you time a spin ''perfectly'', you won't be able to kill them all and will get hit by the one or two bees that you missed. You can outrun them or get away entirely by digging underground, but if you don't have any ground to dig under (which, coincidentally, usually happens when you have electric fences and seed-spitting plants to deal with as well)...hope you have pretty good timing. You will learn to ''dread'' [[HellIsThatNoise that ominous "buzzzZZZZ..." sound]] that means a new swarm of bees just appeared. The secret area is no picnic either.
* Warp Room 4 in general is practically That One Hub Room, especially if you're going for all the Gems. It has Cold Hard Crash, Bee-Having, Diggin' It, ''and'' Ruination, which is one of the toughest levels in the game already for [[DepthPerplexion a few reasons]] and has a difficult secret area to boot. The only level in there that ''isn't'' nasty is level 16, Hangin' Out, and even it has an easy-to-miss secret area.
* Piston It Away, Level 21, is just sadistic. The ordinary level is irritating enough as is. Except the developers chose to go "Screw you!" and make you run almost to the end of the level, break ''one box'', and run back to the second checkpoint, if you want either gem. The problem with this is that you can't actually die. You need to go through the level, backtrack (mercifully, it is a side-scrolling stage), and then survive the Death Route if you want either of the two gems. Furthermore, [[ViolationOfCommonSense you have to remember to keep a particular enemy alive when you go through for the first time]], so you can use it to bounce back up a steep wall on the trip back to the Death Route; of course, most players won't think to do this and will just kill the enemy right away since it's a normal, unremarkable enemy, only to find that there's no way to backtrack past that steep wall without it, forcing them to start the whole level over. The pain of this level can be alleviated somewhat by entering the Death Route right away and immediately dying - doing so will teleport you back to the main level but also guarantees the Death Route platform will stay there forever, so you only need to complete the first section of the level without dying. It also helps to save the Bonus Level for the return trip, as it acts as a checkpoint when completed and is very close to the Death Route.
* The [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack game]] has its two jetpack levels, Rock It (level 22) and Pack Attack (level 24), found in the final world. They have terribly floaty controls and are especially annoying when getting the clear gems.

* The original version of Hot Coco wasn't a cakewalk: the draw distance wasn't especially far on the [=PS1=], making it a pain to scout through the level and find that one box you were missing since they wouldn't appear until you were pretty close to them. However, ''N. Sane Trilogy'' turns the secret level even worse, due to physics changes that make Coco's jetski handle much more realistically. While entering the level itself is much easier (thanks to a bird splatting into the sign that warps you there), the level itself asks you to navigate a sandbox-style ocean. All you need to do to leave is drive to a Nitro switch on the other side of the level to clear the way to the exit behind where you started. But you get nothing just for doing this; you can only get the Gem by destroying every crate in the level, most of which are right next to awkwardly-placed gauntlets of Nitro crates and mines, so even if you destroy the Nitros first you'll still have a tough time, as the altered physics mean it's very easy to slip and slide into said mines. And there are no Aku Aku crates [[DevelopersForesight (to prevent you from just driving through the Nitro crates blocking the exit)]]. It gets even harder in Time Trial mode, as you must figure out the fastest route to and from the Nitro switch, and which Time Crates are worth going out of your way for.
* "Mad Bombers". Unforgiving even for being in the last warp hub. You're flying Crash on a biplane and your objective is to destroy five planes. Unlike in the previous flying level with Coco, however, shooting blindly at vehicles itself is not enough. To destroy the plane, you have to snipe two tiiiiny engines on each before the plane falls to its doom. Consider the awkward targeting that's determined by where the plane is pointing, and you have a pretty frustrating level on your hands. This not even mentioning that the enemy planes can shred your plane to scrap in seconds.
* Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''Warped'' were too easy, and so created Future Tense, a (thankfully optional) DLC level. It's based on a cut level from the original game, which explains the NintendoHard difficulty, but expects you to have the Double Jump, Tornado Spin AND the Bazooka moves! The level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; which is, of course, even harder, and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''Crash 2''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level is pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]

* [[UnderTheSea Coral Canyon]], level 19. Underwater levels in ''Crash Bandicoot'' games tend to be on the annoying side already (thank goodness they all play entirely in 2D), but this one is probably the worst of the bunch, though it's not as evil as some of the other examples here. It is full of dangers that can seemingly come out of nowhere if you haven't memorized the level layout (the submarine can be killed by [[GlassCannon contact with a fish]], for crying out loud), and it is ''long''. The sheer length makes this one one of the most annoying levels in the game to do on Time Trial mode. At least [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the background music is pretty nice-sounding]].
* The Blue Gem pathway, filled as it is with ''single-block-wide'' platforms above instant-kill water arranged in such a way that you often have to jump ''diagonally'' from one to the next), among other things. The Red Gem pathway is almost just as bad, being filled with ''tons'' of Nitro crates instead.

* Smokey and the Bandicoot is, somehow, more difficult than Area 51 in ''Warped''. The relic challenge is easier, but that is the only mercy given here. The jeep you are given handles like a shopping cart that is filled with rocks, which makes even getting the crystal a challenge, and the recommended strategy for getting the gem is to go as slow as possible. And the handling ensures that you'll ''still'' miss some boxes. And this is Level 13!
* Crashteroids or level 18. It's basically [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Mad Bombers]] in space, as in you have to destroy specific parts of your targets (here it's necessary to shoot three shield generators of each of three space stations, then to shoot the stations themselves) and enemies have [[MoreDakka rapid-fire attacks]] that can destroy you fast. What makes is even worse is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course]], omnipresent asteroids, which deal massive damage or outright [[OneHitKO destroy your ship]].

* "High Seas Hijinx". Firstly, it takes approximately thirty minutes to complete. It opens with large and annoying fields of nitro crates on slippy-slidey ice (and when a life crate is opened, even if this was because you hit a nitro crate and were instantly reduced to shrapnel, the life is lost until your next replay). After this, it moves on to crossing a series of semi-rotating platforms while rhinos that do CollisionDamage swing around, seemingly just because that way they can be a nuisance; there are two life crates that can be accessed, but doing so will probably cost you at least three lives due to accessing the detonator crate to get a stack of nitros out of the way. After this, things settle down to merely annoying until you come to a water room with a huge axle just under the surface; you have to walk along the rotating bulges without falling into the water, and this will almost certainly lead to a nice time falling into the drink and dying instantly. After you've managed that you have to take on N. Gin himself by making him destroy his own crow's nest; the battle consists mainly of running in circles, and then being knocked over the edge by an explosion when you run afoul of the one gap in the spiked wall around the circumference of the battlefield and are unable to escape his rains of missiles. When Gin eventually plummets, you have to run away from a SuperPersistentPredator walrus chef along a massive field where no life crates you pick up will be worth what it does to your time, and by which point your thumb will hurt enough to interfere with your ability to control Crash. And when you've finally managed that? There's ''another'' boss fight that just comes out of nowhere on an iceberg that gets fractured before you've really gotten started. And if you run out of lives, you have to do it all over again from the slidey ice with nitros area.

* Rush Hour, from the 9th dimension (the Sn@xx Dimension) is the [[MarathonLevel longest level in the game]] and a nightmare to get a perfect relic on as a result. For Dingodile you've got a section with jumping on moving vehicles(the smaller ones will fall down if you stand on them too long) and avoiding nitros, some of which are carried by flying drones, the four boxes at the end are damn near impossible to suck up without taking at least one hit because of the sheer amount of drones and nitros in the way. Then Tawna's section has several rail grinding sections where you have open electric gates and jump over moving cable cars not to mention two insanely fast and stress-inducing sections where you have to cross over moving vehicles, only this time you also have to deal with oncoming traffic in some lanes that can hit you(and even if you have a mask they can still push you off the edge to your doom if you aren't careful) and the cars all move in varied directions and speeds that make it incredibly easy to fall to your doom. The N. Verted version of this level is even longer because of the slow water physics, and said physics make it easy to miss boxes on the rails as the filter makes it tough to judge how close you are to the boxes(and also makes the grapple-hook prompts difficult to see).

* Diggin' It, Level 17, is this if you're going for HundredPercentCompletion. Like Cold Hard Crash, it has a split path Death Route containing some boxes, which means {{Backtracking}}. But here it is ''not'' a sidescroller, so you'll have to run [[CameraScrew towards the camera]] at least on one occasion. Additionally, you'll have to do this through the segments with bees. And yes, bees always start chasing [[PlayerCharacter Crash]] even if he comes ''from the opposite direction'', meaning the sound will be your only clue to spin them off. Oh, and [[MookMaker beehives]] cannot be destroyed.

* While the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime game]] as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard N. Sane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from the fifth dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.

* ''Out For Launch'' can be pretty tricky just to get through normally when playing for the first time, chiefly because it's the level that introduces [[GravityMaster Ika-Ika the Gravity Mask]], and just halfway into the level you're thrown into the deep end with precise and unforgiving gravity-manipulation sections, littered with tricky box placement and [[DemonicSpiders plasma-toting Gasmoxians]] with the accuracy of a [[VideoGame/Halo2 Jackal Sniper]] and a devious habit of baiting you into charging at them before shooting - ''and'' they sometimes hang about on the walls and ceilings, to boot. Needless to say, if you don't have a good grasp of how to use Ika-Ika when going into this level, you ''will'' by the time you finish.

* Rush Hour is the [[MarathonLevel longest level in the game]] and a nightmare to get a perfect relic on as a result. For Dingodile you've got a section with jumping on moving vehicles(the smaller ones will fall down if you stand on them too long) and avoiding nitros, some of which are carried by flying drones, the four boxes at the end are damn near impossible to suck up without taking at least one hit because of the sheer amount of drones and nitros in the way. Then Tawna's section has several rail grinding sections where you have open electric gates and jump over moving cable cars not to mention two insanely fast and stress-inducing sections where you have to cross over moving vehicles, only this time you also have to deal with oncoming traffic in some lanes that can hit you(and even if you have a mask they can still push you off the edge to your doom if you aren't careful) and the cars all move in varied directions and speeds that make it incredibly easy to fall to your doom. The N. Verted version of this level is even longer because of the slow water physics, and said physics make it easy to miss boxes on the rails as the filter makes it tough to judge how close you are to the boxes(and also makes the grapple-hook prompts difficult to see).
* ''Toxic Tunnels'' and ''Cortex Castle'', [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the final two levels of the game]]. Toxic Tunnels is almost incomprehensibly long and jam-packed with boxes, most of which are hidden away inside the secret path which requires all four Coloured Gems to access - if you can't access it, the chances of getting even the first Wumpa gem is next to nil. It also pushes your grasp of Crash/Coco's basic platforming skills to the limits, with numerous slippery wall-riding sections and swinging platforms which will incinerate you if you're not fast enough to get off, dotted with [[DemonicSpiders possibly the worst enemy in the game]] - electric bugs that take up entire platforms with their attacks, and at a few points will purposely change their timing just to herd you into shocking range. Cortex Castle, meanwhile, is [[FinalExamFinale an exam of how well you can handle the Quantum Masks]] - you must use all four masks throughout the level, culminating in a finale where you must switch between each of them in rapid succession to get past a death gauntlet of lasers, moving platforms, and huge chasms which must be bounced across on TNT or Nitro crates - towards the end, the masks are practically ''side-by-side''. Even the ''music'' for this part [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aIMfD3jnbA sounds designed to put you on edge]] - and it turns on ''right at the part where the Flashback Tape shows up''! Yes, every level in the final dimension practically puts the Flashback Tape right at the end, so you can't make any mistakes - if you do, have fun restarting from the beginning and listening to Cortex blabber on about Willy the Wombat for the tenth time.

* Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''Warped'' were too easy, and so created Future Tense, a (thankfully optional) DLC level. It's based on a cut level from the original game, which explains the NintendoHard difficulty, but expects you to have the Double Jump, Tornado Spin AND the Bazooka moves! The level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; [[UpToEleven which is, of course, even harder]], and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''Crash 2''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level is pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]

* ANY of the motorcycle levels. We have level 8 (Hog Ride), level 14 (Road Crash), level 22 (Orange Asphalt), and level 28 (Area 51?). All of them make you ride a motorcycle and race against several other vehicles (cars in the first three, [=UFOs=] in the fourth), all of them require you to come in first place just to get the crystal (except for level 28, which gives you a gem instead), all of them have [[CheckpointStarvation exactly zero checkpoints]], and all of them prevent you from going backward if you happened to miss a crate. Also, with each successive race, the levels become longer, the obstacles become more difficult and more numerous, and the margin of error becomes smaller. You have to drive practically PERFECTLY to get first place in level 28. They're still hard in [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy the N. Sane Trilogy]] but for a new reason, and that is the time trials. Hog Ride in particular is notorious if you are going for the Platinum relic, as you have to hold the wheelie for the entirety of the level. The controls are also more sloppy and based on real physics, making the turns harder to execute. Some players got so raged that they even wait for the opponents to end before even trying for the relics. The fourth game has a few racing levels as well, but they tend to be ''much'' easier.

* Rush Hour is the [[MarathonLevel longest level in the game]] and a nightmare to get a perfect relic on as a result. For Dingodile you've got a section with jumping on moving vehicles(the smaller ones will fall down if you stand on them too long) and avoiding nitros, some of which are carried by flying drones, the four boxes at the end are damn near impossible to suck up without taking at least one hit because of the sheer amount of drones and nitros in the way. Then Tawna's section has several rail grinding sections where you have open electric gates and jump over moving cable cars not to mention two insanely fast and stress-inducing sections where you have to cross over moving vehicles, only this time you also have to deal with oncoming traffic in some lanes that can hit you(and even if you have a mask they can still push you off the edge to your doom if you aren't careful) and the cars all move in varied directions and speeds that make it incredibly to fall to your doom. The N. Verted version of this level is even longer because of the slow water physics, and said physics make it easy to miss boxes on the rails as the filter makes it tough to judge how close you are to the boxes(and also makes the grapple-hook prompts difficult to see).

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'':
** The first real indication of the game's [[NintendoHard difficulty]] is level 8, Native Fortress, which concludes the first island. It is much longer than any level before it, has omnipresent BottomlessPits, sections where you ascend vertically and have to spin timed platforms to set them, and should you fall down, you need to start over that part, and is full of enemies. The gem is really nasty one, because, besides the obligatory NoDeathRun, you have to acquire the red gem first to get access to some boxes, and [[GuideDangIt others are hidden behind the background]] where you can jump on certain points.
** Sunset Vista, level 14. You need to do the whole thing in one life, and you don't know how many boxes you missed until you've already finished the level. This makes a lot of levels just nightmarish to get a gem on, but Sunset Vista is a huge hard level with a couple hard-to-see crates that really takes the cake.
** There was going to be a follow-up level that was even ''harder''. Luckily, this level was cut from the game and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone later unearthed by hackers]]. Then again, prototype Sunset Vista was, somehow, even more insanely difficult, so it balances out.
** This game also has a streak of difficult levels in the third island: "The High Road" (level 19), "Jaws of Darkness" (level 22), "The Lab" (level 24), and "Fumbling in the Dark" (level 27, or secret level 2). They have [[GoddamnedBats annoying enemies]], [[FakeDifficulty hard jumps]], [[BlackoutBasement dark areas]], [[PrideBeforeAFall and bottomless pits everywhere.]] If you can even ''beat'' these levels, let alone get the gems from these areas, you should be proud of yourself for accomplishing one of the hardest goals in a game ever.
** ''Cortex Power'', level 16. One of the most unholy examples of FakeDifficulty ever conceived. CameraScrew, multiple forks in the road, backtracking, and being forced to do it in ONE life if you want even a chance for the gem makes for one of the most difficult levels in games and a high rate of broken [=TVs=].
** Toxic Waste, level 18. You must avoid barrels being thrown at you as you run down the path, and there are very few areas to hide. Later on, there are ''bouncing'' barrels coming down at you, and it takes hundreds of tries and deaths in order to learn and memorize their movement patterns, and how you can get underneath the barrels without being flattened.
** Slippery Climb, level 20. It has little fixed ground and thus you'll be mostly walking and jumping between platforms floating in every possible direction and [[GoombaSpringboard moving oversized birds]]. Even stationary ground is mostly covered by [[SurpriseSlideStaircase Surprise Slide Staircases]] with SpikesOfDoom or {{Bottomless Pit}}s at their end. The worst is the second part, which has platforms floating in erratic pattern with varying speed, timing jump on which can be difficult. And this fairly long level has only [[CheckpointStarvation one checkpoint]] (two if you collected all bonus round tokens).
** Like Sunset Vista, Slippery Climb also had a removed follow-up, this one named Stormy Ascent. On one hand, it does have three checkpoints. On the other, everything that made Slippery Climb a horrible level to get through is squared in this one, complete with long bits that you ''have'' to complete in one go because pausing for a single second means plummeting. These include stretches where the only things saving you from hitting spikes are birds that can go below them and die when bounced on, platforms that move insanely fast, and extremely erratic platform movement on the last third. This one was removed precisely because of its horrible difficulty, though it's still possible to access through Gameshark; those who have played it report it might just be the hardest level in ''the series as a whole''. This level was eventually released as a level proper in the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'', as optional DLC. And it's definitely deserving of that reputation. Reports claim that Vicarious Visions had one of their best players lose no less than '''sixty''' lives trying to clear it for the first time, and ''even the very person who DESIGNED Stormy Ascent in the first place had trouble with it''.
** The ''N. Sane Trilogy'' has made two levels that weren't considered that hard in the original Crash 1 into ThatOneLevel: ''Road to Nowhere'' and ''The High Road''. While certainly no walks in the park in 1996, it's now ''much'' easier to fall in between the gaps in the bridge, forcing the players' jumps to be ''absolutely'' precise. This [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-07-04-fans-may-know-why-jumping-is-harder-in-the-crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy article]] explains why. In short, Crash falls slightly faster and his hitbox is pill-shaped rather than cube-shaped, meaning it's possible for him to slip off after having just made it.
** The N-Sane Trilogy fixes a few things with the stages, but these fixes can actually make things ''harder'':
*** Checkpoints now remember the boxes you've broken, so previously infuriating levels like ''Native Fortress'', ''Sunset Vista'' and the "Elite Four" on the third island aren't as gruelling to 100%... but the exceptions are the Coloured Gems. ''Those'' still require you do it all in a single run, presumably to replicate the "Skull Route" challenges in Crash 2 and 3 (which is how you get most of the Coloured Gems in those games). As such, ''The Lost City'', ''Generator Room'', ''Lights Out'', ''Toxic Waste'', ''Slippery Climb'' and ''The Lab'' retain their original difficulty and become this trope in comparison to most of the other levels.
*** You can now retry Bonus Rounds as much as you like... but this means that their boxes are now required to get the Gem. This makes certain Bonus Rounds much more difficult because you can't just ignore everything and go straight for the exit. This especially applies to the Bonus Round in The Lost City, which features a long line of Quadruple Bounce Boxes that are just about impossible to bounce through perfectly.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'':
** Diggin' It, Level 17, is this if you're going for HundredPercentCompletion. Like Cold Hard Crash, it has a split path Death Route containing some boxes, which means {{Backtracking}}. But here it is ''not'' a sidescroller, so you'll have to run [[CameraScrew towards the camera]] at least on one occasion. To top if off, you'll have to do this through the segments with bees (see below). And yes, bees always start chasing Crash even if he comes ''from the opposite direction'', meaning the sound will be your only clue to spin them off. Oh, and [[MookMaker beehives]] cannot be destroyed.
** Level 18, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Cold Hard Crash]], is a nightmare if you're trying to get the [[HundredPercentCompletion "destroy all crates" Gem]]. You have to play through the first half of the level without dying to reach the DeathCourse, a difficult, [[CheckPointStarvation checkpoint-free]] path covered in crusher traps and nitro mines, almost entirely on slippery ice. When you reach the end of the death course, you need to activate a switch and do the course BACKWARDS to get the new crate the switch spawns at the beginning of the level, at which point you take the platform back to the main level and complete it. [[GuideDangIt Oh, and there's a single, hard-to-find crate hidden just offscreen.]] Missed it? DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN. It's at this point one will wonder if that stack of steel crates that suspiciously resembles a hand giving the middle finger to the player [[TrollingCreator really is just a coincidental shape]].
** Level 20, Bee-Havin'. It's a mountain-ish level with various nasty enemies like plants that spit explosive seeds and lumberjack androids that can flatten you with their hammers, but none of that matters, because in this level, you'll be too busy worrying about your biggest threat: [[BeeAfraid the bees]]. Throughout the level are beehives that will spawn bees when you walk past them. Level 17 (Diggin' It) had the same theme, same enemies, and it also had bees, but there, the bees came out one at a time. Here, the hives spawn FIVE bees at once, and unless you time a spin ''perfectly'', you won't be able to kill them all and will get hit by the one or two bees that you missed. You can outrun them or get away entirely by digging underground, but if you don't have any ground to dig under (which, coincidentally, usually happens when you have electric fences and seed-spitting plants to deal with as well)...hope you have pretty good timing. You will learn to ''dread'' [[HellIsThatNoise that ominous "buzzzZZZZ..." sound]] that means a new swarm of bees just appeared. The secret area is no picnic either.
** Really, Warp Room 4 in general is practically That One Hub Room, especially if you're going for all the Gems. It has Cold Hard Crash, Bee-Having, Diggin' It, ''and'' Ruination, which is one of the toughest levels in the game already for [[DepthPerplexion a few reasons]] and has a difficult secret area to boot. The only level in there that ''isn't'' nasty is level 16, Hangin' Out, and even it has an easy-to-miss secret area.
** Piston It Away, Level 21, is just sadistic. The ordinary level is irritating enough as is. Except the developers chose to go "Screw you!" and make you run almost to the end of the level, break ''one box'', and run back to the second checkpoint, if you want either gem. The problem with this is that you can't actually die. You need to go through the level, backtrack (mercifully, it is a side-scrolling stage), and then survive the Death Route if you want either of the two gems. Furthermore, [[ViolationOfCommonSense you have to remember to keep a particular enemy alive when you go through for the first time]], so you can use it to bounce back up a steep wall on the trip back to the Death Route; of course, most players won't think to do this and will just kill the enemy right away since it's a normal, unremarkable enemy, only to find that there's no way to backtrack past that steep wall without it, forcing them to start the whole level over. The pain of this level can be alleviated somewhat by entering the Death Route right away and immediately dying - doing so will teleport you back to the main level but also guarantees the Death Route platform will stay there forever, so you only need to complete the first section of the level without dying. It also helps to save the Bonus Level for the return trip, as it acts as a checkpoint when completed and is very close to the Death Route.
** ''Crash Bandicoot 2'' also has its two jetpack levels, Rock It (level 22) and Pack Attack (level 24), found in the final world. They have terribly floaty controls and are especially annoying when getting the clear gems.
* ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'':
** ANY of the motorcycle levels. We have level 8 (Hog Ride), level 14 (Road Crash), level 22 (Orange Asphalt), and level 28 (Area 51?). All of them make you ride a motorcycle and race against several other vehicles (cars in the first three, [=UFOs=] in the fourth), all of them require you to come in first place just to get the crystal (except for level 28, which gives you a gem instead), all of them have [[CheckpointStarvation exactly zero checkpoints]], and all of them prevent you from going backward if you happened to miss a crate. Also, with each successive race, the levels become longer, the obstacles become more difficult and more numerous, and the margin of error becomes smaller. You have to drive practically PERFECTLY to get first place in level 28. They're still hard in [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy the N. Sane Trilogy]] but for a new reason, and that is the time trials. Hog Ride in particular is notorious if you are going for the Platinum relic, as you have to hold the wheelie for the entirety of the level. The controls are also more sloppy and based on real physics, making the turns harder to execute. Some players got so raged that they even wait for the opponents to end before even trying for the relics. The fourth game has a few racing levels as well, but they tend to be ''much'' easier.
** The ''N. Sane Trilogy'' turns the secret level Hot Coco into this, due to physics changes that make Coco's jetski handle much more realistically. While entering the level itself is much easier (thanks to a bird splatting into the sign that warps you there), the level itself asks you to navigate a sandbox-style ocean. All you need to do to leave is drive to a Nitro switch on the other side of the level to clear the way to the exit behind where you started. But you get nothing just for doing this; you can only get the Gem by destroying every crate in the level, most of which are right next to awkwardly-placed gauntlets of Nitro crates and mines, so even if you destroy the Nitros first you'll still have a tough time, as the altered physics mean it's very easy to slip and slide into said mines. And there are no Aku Aku crates [[DevelopersForesight (to prevent you from just driving through the Nitro crates blocking the exit)]]. It gets even harder in Time Trial mode, as you must figure out the fastest route to and from the Nitro switch, and which Time Crates are worth going out of your way for.
** The original version of Hot Coco wasn't a cakewalk either: the draw distance wasn't especially far on the [=PS1=], making it a pain to scout through the level and find that one box you were missing since they wouldn't appear until you were pretty close to them.
** "Mad Bombers". Unforgiving even for being in the last warp hub. You're flying Crash on a biplane and your objective is to destroy five planes. Unlike in the previous flying level with Coco, however, shooting blindly at vehicles itself is not enough. To destroy the plane, you have to snipe two tiiiiny engines on each before the plane falls to its doom. Consider the awkward targeting that's determined by where the plane is pointing, and you have a pretty frustrating level on your hands. This not even mentioning that the enemy planes can shred your plane to scrap in seconds.
** Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''Warped'' were too easy, and so created Future Tense, a (thankfully optional) DLC level. It's based on a cut level from the original game, which explains the NintendoHard difficulty, but expects you to have the Double Jump, Tornado Spin AND the Bazooka moves! The level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; [[UpToEleven which is, of course, even harder]], and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''Crash 2''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level is pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex'':
** [[UnderTheSea Coral Canyon]], level 19. Underwater levels in ''Crash Bandicoot'' games tend to be on the annoying side already (thank goodness they all play entirely in 2D), but this one is probably the worst of the bunch, though it's not as evil as some of the other examples here. It is full of dangers that can seemingly come out of nowhere if you haven't memorized the level layout (the submarine can be killed by [[GlassCannon contact with a fish]], for crying out loud), and it is ''long''. The sheer length makes this one one of the most annoying levels in the game to do on Time Trial mode. At least [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the background music is pretty nice-sounding]].
** The Blue Gem pathway, filled as it is with ''single-block-wide'' platforms above instant-kill water arranged in such a way that you often have to jump ''diagonally'' from one to the next), among other things. The Red Gem pathway is almost just as bad, being filled with ''tons'' of Nitro crates instead.
** Any level where you play as Coco, as she handles significantly worse than Crash (indeed, [[HardModeFiller Level 26 is Crash's Level 11]], except edited so Coco can complete it).
** Smokey and the Bandicoot is, somehow, more difficult than Area 51 in ''Warped''. The relic challenge is easier, but that is the only mercy given here. The jeep you are given handles like a shopping cart that is filled with rocks, which makes even getting the crystal a challenge, and the recommended strategy for getting the gem is to go as slow as possible. And the handling ensures that you'll ''still'' miss some boxes. And this is Level 13!
** Crashteroids or level 18. It's basically [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Mad Bombers]] [[RecycledInSpace in space]], as in you have to destroy specific parts of your targets (here it's necessary to shoot three shield generators of each of three space stations, then to shoot the stations themselves) and enemies have [[MoreDakka rapid-fire attacks]] that can destroy you fast. What makes is even worse is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course]], omnipresent asteroids, which deal massive damage or outright [[OneHitKO destroy your ship]].
* ''Videogame/CrashTwinsanity'':
** "High Seas Hijinx". Firstly, it takes approximately thirty minutes to complete. It opens with large and annoying fields of nitro crates on slippy-slidey ice (and when a life crate is opened, even if this was because you hit a nitro crate and were instantly reduced to shrapnel, the life is lost until your next replay). After this, it moves on to crossing a series of semi-rotating platforms while rhinos that do CollisionDamage swing around, seemingly just because that way they can be a nuisance; there are two life crates that can be accessed, but doing so will probably cost you at least three lives due to accessing the detonator crate to get a stack of nitros out of the way. After this, things settle down to merely annoying until you come to a water room with a huge axle just under the surface; you have to walk along the rotating bulges without falling into the water, and this will almost certainly lead to a nice time falling into the drink and dying instantly. After you've managed that you have to take on N. Gin himself by making him destroy his own crow's nest; the battle consists mainly of running in circles, and then being knocked over the edge by an explosion when you run afoul of the one gap in the spiked wall around the circumference of the battlefield and are unable to escape his rains of missiles. When Gin eventually plummets, you have to run away from a SuperPersistentPredator walrus chef along a massive field where no life crates you pick up will be worth what it does to your time, and by which point your thumb will hurt enough to interfere with your ability to control Crash. And when you've finally managed that? There's ''another'' boss fight that just comes out of nowhere on an iceberg that gets fractured before you've really gotten started. And if you run out of lives, you have to do it all over again from the slidey ice with nitros area.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'':
** While the game as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard N. Sane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from the fifth dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.
** The level's Dingodile timeline version, ''No Dillo Dallying'', isn't any easier; for starters, after finishing Dingodile's section, it expects you to complete basically the entire second half of the regular level, starting from the boat ride, an already hard section made even ''harder'' by trickier box placement (and if you thought the bounce crate from before now actually lead somewhere, you thought wrong). Thankfully, there's no Flashback Tapes on the timeline levels.
** ''Bears Repeating'' in the sixth dimension. After two [[BreatherLevel Breather Levels]] spent introducing you to [[TimeMaster Kupuna-Wa]]'s time-manipulation mechanics and a deceptively easy (by this game's standards) opening section, you then find yourself riding Polar once more, except now he's even faster and slippier, making hitting boxes about three times as hard as it was back in ''Crash 2''; and once again, the Flashback Tape is wayyyyy into the level, in the midst of Polar's section, forcing you to re-do the entire first four-fifths of the level if you die once. This level also features a secret Yellow Gem path, containing an homage to ''The High Road'' from ''Crash 1'' - yes, they brought back the infuriating broken bridge of doom, with everything that implies.
** ''Out For Launch'' can be pretty tricky just to get through normally when playing for the first time, chiefly because it's the level that introduces [[GravityMaster Ika-Ika the Gravity Mask]], and just halfway into the level you're thrown into the deep end with precise and unforgiving gravity-manipulation sections, littered with tricky box placement and [[DemonicSpiders plasma-toting Gasmoxians]] with the accuracy of a [[VideoGame/Halo2 Jackal Sniper]] and a devious habit of baiting you into charging at them before shooting - ''and'' they sometimes hang about on the walls and ceilings, to boot. Needless to say, if you don't have a good grasp of how to use Ika-Ika when going into this level, you ''will'' by the time you finish.
** ''Out For Launch'' also has a Cortex timeline version, ''Shipping Error'', which may be the first seriously difficult non-Crash/Coco level in the game, particularly since you have to deal with the same tricky enemies as Cortex, with his more limited platforming abilities, plus ascending up narrow shafts while bouncing on enemies-turned-goo-platforms to turn ''other'' enemies, timed ''just'' right so you don't instead careen right into them. All of this pales in comparison to the room where you must hop across ''extremely'' fast-moving platforms using Cortex's dash, which requires you to dash into ''thin air'' and hope that the brief hang-time after using the dash will be enough to let you land on the next platform.
** ''Rock Blocked'' isn't that hard if you're going for 100% or even the Perfect Relic, the Platinum Relic on the other hand is a different story as this is hands down the most difficult platinum in the entire game to get because of how incredibly unforgiving the time requirement is. You pretty much have to take every single shortcut imaginable without getting slowed down even once and get invincibility to have even a fraction of a chance of getting the Platinum. Then to top it off, it's also by the far the buggiest level in the game with Dingodile having a tendency to randomly get stuck on the sides of those rising log platforms. Nothing worse then having a perfectly good run ruined because the game randomly decided to screw you over.
** ''Crash Landed'' is [[MarathonLevel one of the longest levels in the game]], and plays almost like a highlights reel of the most difficult parts of the game up to that point - the level is slick with ice physics sections, there's ''two'' parts where you must ride a schnurgle in auto-scrolling obstacle courses like Polar, there's a few sections where you must bounce across the backs of floating alien tortoises to hit crates, and the two schnurgle-riding segments are broken up by another Ika-Ika gravity-manipulation assault course - and of course the Flashback Tape is, once again, very far into the level. It also has one of the highest box counts of any level in the game, in a game where levels with 200+ boxes are the rule rather than the exception - if you can't access the Blue Gem path, you'll be lucky if you can even get the Wumpa gems. On top of all this, it also has one of the hardest Bonus Rounds in the game, where you must somehow hop over a bouncing metal crate while sliding all over pink goo, while simultaneously avoiding the Nitro just on the other side - the Ika-Ika segments of the round are almost a piece of cake in comparison, which is saying a lot.
** Rush Hour is the [[MarathonLevel longest level in the game]] and a nightmare to get a perfect relic on as a result. For Dingodile you've got a section with jumping on moving vehicles(the smaller ones will fall down if you stand on them too long) and avoiding nitros, some of which are carried by flying drones, the four boxes at the end are damn near impossible to suck up without taking at least one hit because of the sheer amount of drones and nitros in the way. Then Tawna's section has several rail grinding sections where you have open electric gates and jump over moving cable cars not to mention two insanely fast and stress-inducing sections where you have to cross over moving vehicles, only this time you also have to deal with oncoming traffic in some lanes that can hit you(and even if you have a mask they can still push you off the edge to your doom if you aren't careful) and the cars all move in varied directions and speeds that make it incredibly to fall to your doom. The N. Verted version of this level is even longer because of the slow water physics, and said physics make it easy to miss boxes on the rails as the filter makes it tough to judge how close you are to the boxes(and also makes the grapple-hook prompts difficult to see).
** ''Toxic Tunnels'' and ''Cortex Castle'', [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the final two levels of the game]]. Toxic Tunnels is almost incomprehensibly long and jam-packed with boxes, most of which are hidden away inside the secret path which requires all four Coloured Gems to access - if you can't access it, the chances of getting even the first Wumpa gem is next to nil. It also pushes your grasp of Crash/Coco's basic platforming skills to the limits, with numerous slippery wall-riding sections and swinging platforms which will incinerate you if you're not fast enough to get off, dotted with [[DemonicSpiders possibly the worst enemy in the game]] - electric bugs that take up entire platforms with their attacks, and at a few points will purposely change their timing just to herd you into shocking range. Cortex Castle, meanwhile, is [[FinalExamFinale an exam of how well you can handle the Quantum Masks]] - you must use all four masks throughout the level, culminating in a finale where you must switch between each of them in rapid succession to get past a death gauntlet of lasers, moving platforms, and huge chasms which must be bounced across on TNT or Nitro crates - towards the end, the masks are practically ''side-by-side''. Even the ''music'' for this part [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aIMfD3jnbA sounds designed to put you on edge]] - and it turns on ''right at the part where the Flashback Tape shows up''! Yes, every level in the final dimension practically puts the Flashback Tape right at the end, so you can't make any mistakes - if you do, have fun restarting from the beginning and listening to Cortex blabber on about Willy the Wombat for the tenth time.

*** There was going to be a follow-up level that was even ''harder''. Luckily, this level was cut from the game and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone later unearthed by hackers]]. Then again, prototype Sunset Vista was, somehow, even more insanely difficult, so it balances out.

*** The original version of Hot Coco wasn't a cakewalk either: the draw distance wasn't especially far on the [=PS1=], making it a pain to scout through the level and find that one box you were missing since they wouldn't appear until you were pretty close to them.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', as a whole, has picked up a reputation for [[{{Pun}} N. Sane]] [[NintendoHard difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, but there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled:
** One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from the fifth dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.
*** The level's Dingodile timeline version, ''No Dillo Dallying'', isn't any easier; for starters, after finishing Dingodile's section, it expects you to complete basically the entire second half of the regular level, starting from the boat ride, an already hard section made even ''harder'' by trickier box placement (and if you thought the bounce crate from before now actually lead somewhere, you thought wrong). Thankfully, there's no Flashback Tapes on the timeline levels.

*** It also has a Cortex timeline version, ''Shipping Error'', which may be the first seriously difficult non-Crash/Coco level in the game, particularly since you have to deal with the same tricky enemies as Cortex, with his more limited platforming abilities, plus ascending up narrow shafts while bouncing on enemies-turned-goo-platforms to turn ''other'' enemies, timed ''just'' right so you don't instead careen right into them. All of this pales in comparison to the room where you must hop across ''extremely'' fast-moving platforms using Cortex's dash, which requires you to dash into ''thin air'' and hope that the brief hang-time after using the dash will be enough to let you land on the next platform.

*** And if you thought you only needed to endure the final death gauntlet once, the final Cortex timeline level, ''Seeing Double'', makes you do it again ''[[UpToEleven with even trickier box placement]]''; and since you also need to complete the N.Verted versions of each level if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, this means you have to ace that death gauntlet ''four times'' in total!

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', as a whole, has picked up a reputation for [[{{Pun}} N. Sane]] [[NintendoHard difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled:

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[{{Pun}} N. Sane]] [[NintendoHard difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled:

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'':
** While the game as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard N. Sane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from the fifth dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.

** There was going to be a follow-up level that was even ''harder''. Luckily, this level was cut from the game and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone later unearthed by hackers]]. Then again, prototype Sunset Vista was, somehow, even more insanely difficult, so it balances out.

*** The original version of Hot Coco wasn't a cakewalk either: the draw distance wasn't especially far on the PS1, making it a pain to scout through the level and find that one box you were missing since they wouldn't appear until you were pretty close to them.

** Level 18, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Cold Hard Crash]], is a nightmare if you're trying to get the [[HundredPercentCompletion "destroy all crates" Gem]]. You have to play through the first half of the level without dying to reach the DeathCourse, a difficult, [[CheckPointStarvation checkpoint-free]] path covered in crusher traps and nitro mines, almost entirely on slippery ice. When you reach the end of the death course, you need to activate a switch and do the course BACKWARDS to get the new crate the switch spawns at the beginning of the level, at which point you take the platform back to the main level and complete it. [[GuideDangIt Oh, and there's a single, hard-to-find crate hidden just offscreen.]] Missed it? DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN.

** Diggin' It, Level 17, is this if you're going for HundredPercentCompletion. Like Cold Hard Crash, it has a split path Death Route containing some boxes, which means {{Backtracking}}. But here it is ''not'' a sidescroller, so you'll have to run [[CameraScrew towards the camera]] at least on one occasion. To top if off, you'll have to do this through the segments with bees (see below). And yes, bees always start chasing Crash even if he comes ''from the opposite direction'', meaning the sound will be your only clue to spin them off. Oh, and [[MookMaker beehives]] cannot be destroyed.

** There was going to be another level that was even ''harder''. Luckily, this level was cut from the game and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone later unearthed by hackers]]. Then again, prototype Sunset Vista was, somehow, even more insanely difficult, so it balances out.

** Like Sunset Vista, Slippery Climb also had a removed level version, this one being a "sequel" to the level named Stormy Ascent. On one hand, it does have three checkpoints. On the other, everything that made Slippery Climb a horrible level to get through is squared in this one, complete with long bits that you ''have'' to complete in one go because pausing for a single second means plummeting. These include stretches where the only things saving you from hitting spikes are birds that can go below them and die when bounced on, platforms that move insanely fast, and extremely erratic platform movement on the last third. This one was removed precisely because of its horrible difficulty, though it's still possible to access through Gameshark; those who have played it report it might just be the hardest level in ''the series as a whole''. This level was eventually released as a level proper in the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'', as DLC. And it's definitely deserving of that reputation. Reports claim that Vicarious Visions had one of their best players lose no less than '''sixty''' lives trying to clear it, and ''even the very person who DESIGNED Stormy Ascent in the first place had trouble with it''.
** Toxic Waste, level 18. You must avoid barrels being thrown at you as you run down the path, and there are very few areas to hide. Later on, there are ''bouncing'' barrels coming down at you, and it takes hundreds of tries and deaths in order to learn and memorize their movement patterns, and how you can get underneath the barrels without being flattened.
** ''Cortex Power''. One of the most unholy examples of FakeDifficulty ever conceived. CameraScrew, backtracking, and being forced to do it in ONE life if you want even a chance for the gem makes for one of the most difficult levels in games and a high rate of broken [=TVs=].
** The ''N. Sane Trilogy'' thanks in due part to the change in jumping physics, has made two levels that weren't considered that hard in the original Crash 1 into ThatOneLevel: ''Road to Nowhere'' and ''The High Road''. Simply put, it is now ''much'' easier to fall in between the gaps in the bridge, forcing the players' jumps to be ''absolutely'' precise. This [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-07-04-fans-may-know-why-jumping-is-harder-in-the-crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy article]] explains why.
** The above trilogy collection also, at least, fixes a few things with the stages by making it so that you can retry a special stage as many times as you'd like with deaths within them not counting, and the most important part: boxes broken before the checkpoint still count even after you die... for the most part. Clear Gems are now less of an issue, and levels like ''Native Fortress'', ''Sunset Vista'', and the "Elite Four" now no longer have a no-death limit, though they're still quite difficult. The Colored Gems, however, even though they track your boxes even after you die... you still aren't allowed to die. The levels containing them only give you the gem if you break all the boxes without a single death, deliberately just like in the original game. As such, ''Lost City'', ''Generator Room'', ''Lights Out'', and the levels ''Toxic Waste'', ''Slippery Climb'', and ''The Lab'' retain their original difficulty and become this in comparison to most of the other levels. Also, since the Crash 1 levels in the remake now work like in Crash 2 and 3, that means you also have to get all the boxes in the Tawna Bonus Rounds. This makes certain Bonus Rounds much more difficult because you can't just ignore everything and go straight for the exit. This especially applies to the Bonus Round in The Lost City.

** ''Crash Bandicoot 2'' also has its two jetpack levels, Rock It (level 22) and Pack Attack (level 24), found in the final world. They have terrible controls and are especially annoying when getting the clear gems.

** Level 20, Bee-Having. It's a mountain-ish level with various nasty enemies like plants that spit explosive seeds and lumberjack androids that can flatten you with their hammers, but none of that matters, because in this level, you'll be too busy worrying about your biggest threat: [[BeeAfraid the bees]]. Throughout the level are beehives that will spawn bees when you walk past them. Level 17 (Diggin' It) had the same theme, same enemies, and it also had bees, but there, the bees came out one at a time. Here, the hives spawn FIVE bees at once, and unless you time a spin ''perfectly'', you won't be able to kill them all and will get hit by the one or two bees that you missed. You can outrun them or get away entirely by digging underground, but if you don't have any ground to dig under (which, coincidentally, usually happens when you have electric fences and seed-spitting plants to deal with as well)...hope you have pretty good timing. You will learn to ''dread'' [[HellIsThatNoise that ominous "buzzzZZZZ..." sound]] that means a new swarm of bees just appeared. The secret area is no picnic either.
** Really, Warp Room 4 in general is practically one big That One Level, especially if you're going for all the gems. It has Cold Hard Crash, Bee-Having, Diggin' It, ''and'' Ruination, which is one of the toughest levels in the game already for [[DepthPerplexion a few reasons]] and has a difficult secret area to boot. The only level in there that ''isn't'' nasty is level 16, and even it has an easy-to-miss secret area.

** "Mad Bombers". Unforgiving even for being in the last warp hub. You're flying Crash on a biplane and your objective is to destroy five planes. Unlike in the previous flying level with Coco, however, shooting blindly at vehicles itself is not enough. To destroy the plane, you have to snipe two tiiiiny engines on each before the plane falls to its doom. Consider the awkward targeting and you have a pretty frustrating level at your hand. Not even starting with the fact that the enemy planes do much more damage here and can shred your plane to scrap in seconds.
** The ''N. Sane Trilogy'' turns the secret level Hot Coco into this, due to physics changes that make Coco's jetski handle much more realistically. To even access the level, [[GuideDangIt you need to crash into an odd road sign on Road Crash, a completely unrelated motorcycle level]] (though this is actually ''easier'' than it was on the [=PS1=] as the remake clues you in by having a bird splat into the sign). Hot Coco itself is, uniquely for the series, a non-linear free-roaming area; all you need to do is drive to a Nitro switch on the other side of the level to destroy the Nitro crates blocking the exit back where you started, except you get nothing just for doing this - you can only get the Gem by destroying every crate in the level, most of which are right next to awkwardly-placed gauntlets of Nitro crates and mines, so even if you destroy the Nitros first you'll still have a tough time, as the altered physics mean it's very easy to slip and slide into said mines. It gets even harder in Time Trial mode, as you must figure out the fastest route to and from the Nitro switch, and since there are no Aku Aku crates [[DevelopersForesight (to prevent you from just driving through the Nitro crates blocking the exit)]], you have to do everything in one clean shot.
** Someone at Vicarious Visions apparently thought the platforming stages in the original ''Warped'' were too easy, and so created Future Tense, an entirely new level made specially for the ''N. Sane Trilogy'' as DLC; and, while (thankfully) optional, it's the only level in ''Warped'' that approaches the first game's NintendoHard difficulty. For starters, the level is [[MarathonLevel extremely long]], taking roughly seven-to-eight minutes to complete, and is chock-full of spike traps, awkward conveyor belts, ''[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs spike traps ON awkward conveyor belts]]'', a lengthy section towards the end where you have to dodge missiles coming at you from the foreground while jumping across timed platforms, and box placement designed to trick you into committing suicide. Plus, if you want either Gem, you have to get through the entire first half of the level [[NoDeathRun without dying]], [[GuideDangIt shoot out an Iron ! Crate hidden off-screen BEHIND an elevator]] so it spawns a bounce crate you need, climb up through a perilous laser/conveyor belt obstacle course - again, without dying - and reach the Death Route; [[UpToEleven which is, of course, even harder]], and contains several boxes which you ''need'' for one of the Gems, as a throwback to the Death Routes from ''Crash 2''. Of note are a pair of boxes contained in the Death Route which are floating in a gap between two conveyor belts going in opposite directions, with timed lasers above them and missiles being fired at you from the other side - even shooting them out with the Fruit Bazooka is a pain since you need to stand still to do it, and they're placed ''just'' low enough that you practically have to be right on the edge to even hit them; and you could easily smash them only to fall into the abyss which must be bounced across on TNT Crates, or get blown up while ''Matrix''-dodging missiles ''in mid-air'', [[CheckPointStarvation sending you right back to the Death Route's one and only checkpoint at the start]]. Even the Bonus Level can be pretty tough, as you have to figure out the right order in which to do things - and you can't waste any time doing so, as it involves safely smashing switching ?/TNT Crates - or you'll wind up locked out of several crates and need to start over. [[SerialEscalation And then you have to RUSH through all this in the Time Trials...]]

** ''Rock Blocked'' isn't that hard if you're going for 100% or even the Perfect Relic, the Platinum Relic on the other hand is a different story as this is hands down the most difficult platinum in the entire game to get because of how incredibly unforgiving the time requirement is. You pretty much have to take every single shortcut imaginable without getting slowed down even once and get invincibility to have even a fraction of a chance of getting the Platinum and to top it off it's also by the far the buggiest level in the game, with Dingodile having a tendency to randomly get stuck on the sides of those rising log platforms. Nothing worse then having a perfectly good run ruined because the game randomly decided to screw you over.

** While the game as a whole has picked up a reputation for [[NintendoHard insane difficulty]], on par with if not surpassing the original title, there are a select few levels that seem especially reviled. One of these is ''Run It Bayou'' from the fifth dimension, roughly at the halfway point; a nasty DifficultySpike, ''especially'' if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, chiefly due to sadistic box placement, including a throwback to ''Crash 2'' where you must [[ViolationOfCommonSense defy common sense]] and ignore the surfboard to instead bounce across boxes floating in the water to reach the yellow gem. Then there's the lengthy section in the middle where you must ride a boat while smashing boxes (including a bounce crate that doesn't go anywhere and seemingly exists just to trick you), and the final surfboard section where it's extremely difficult if not impossible to go back and get boxes you missed due to the current. And of course, you could easily get through all of this only to find out you missed the boxes at the very beginning that were ''[[GuideDangIt hidden off-screen behind steps]]'', or the level's hidden gem which can only be accessed by hitting a ! crate hidden behind a non-descript barrel to create some metal boxes behind a non-descript tree [[OverlyLongGag off to the side of a non-descript bridge]]. On top of all this, it's the first level where the Flashback Tape - [[NoDeathRun which requires you to get through the whole stage without dying to pick it up]] - is very far into the level; a taster of what is to come, as this becomes increasingly common in later levels.

If there's one thing ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' is known for in particular, it's [[NintendoHard sadistic difficulty]]. If you play for long enough, you're guaranteed to run into a level that will Crash's accursed "WOAH!" into your brain. Hope you've got plenty of lives!

* '''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'':

* VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'':