History YMMV / CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack

* EsotericHappyEnding: Hooray, you detonated Cortex's space station...except the debris hits Uka Uka's prison and unleashes an even BiggerBad. Resultantly, this means Crash has spent ''the entire game'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero helping the bad guys or making things worse]].

* EsotericHappyEnding: Hooray, you detonated Cortex's space station...except the debris hits Uka Uka's prison and unleashes an even BiggerBad. Resultantly, this means Crash has spent ''the entire game'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero helping the bad guys]].

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Or rather, ''Company'' Original Sin. Creator/NaughtyDog has become rather infamous for their love of [[ThatOneLevel overly-frustrating]] [[DownTheDrain sewer levels]], popping up everywhere from ''VideoGame/Jak3'', to ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'', to ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', and they all stem from this very game. However, unlike those examples, the sewer levels in ''Crash Bandicoot 2'' are often seen as the BestLevelEver.

** Death-Warping. Once you collect a crystal or gem, it will remain in Crash's inventory as long as he remains in the level, even after he dies. Since extra lives are handed out like confetti, simply killing yourself the moment you get a gem from an alternate path seems far more appealing than backtracking manually. This also allows you to get the purple gem in Bee-Having without getting through the rest of the secret path and get 2 gems at the same run from Turtle Woods, Hang Eight, Plant Food, and Spaced Out when you normally need separate runs for each of them. You can also reduce the run from 3 to just 2 in Air Crash by dying after getting the Death Route gem.

** [[SlippySlideyIceWorld "Cold Hard Crash"]], a nightmare if you're trying to get the [[OneHundredPercentCompletion "destroy all crates" gem]]. There's ''155 crates'' in this level, more than any other level in the game by far. You have to play through the first half of the level without dying to reach the DeathCourse, a difficult, checkpoint-free path covered in crusher traps and nitro crates, almost entirely on slippery ice. When you reach the end of the death course, you need to activate a switch and backtrack ''all the way to the beginning of the area'' to get the new crate spawned there by the switch, at which point you take the platform back to the main level and complete it, because the Death Route's exit takes you to a later segment of the main level. [[GuideDangIt Oh, and there's a single, hard-to-find crate hidden just offscreen in the bonus stage]]. Missed it? DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN. Thankfully, this issue is rectified in the ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane Trilogy]]'', so the crate is more visible on-screen.

* NightmareFuel:
** The level "Un-Bearable". Most levels in the game where you run towards the screen have you running from a boulder. However, in this level, you are chased by a large polar bear with a creepy grin.
** "Diggin' It". That frightening buzz and the killer bees coming with their stings ready... it gets worse in Bee Having where a group of bees come together and only a well-timed spin can defeat them all, if you fail, they ''will'' get you.

* TheScrappy: Crash himself. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not in the game]], mind you, but in the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TTrB0c3tc trailer]]''.
-->'''[[WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}} Caddy]]''': I'm sorry, but I just ''don't'' get this... Take a character with no voice at all... Give him a voice... And make him Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger '''''[[SensoryAbuse 10 OUT OF 10!]]'''''

* MemeticMutation: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TTrB0c3tc The game's advertisement]], due to how [[SoBadItsGood terrible]] it is.

** "And now, I have to do it... [=AgAAAAaaiN=]!"
** Crash telling Cortex to "Take a twelve step program off a ten step pier". [[labelnote:note]]In other words, he's telling him to jump off a cliff.[[/labelnote]]

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Some of the secret route entrances and colored gems tend to be this. Most of them are given away by abnormal level design (a pile of Nitro crates in the form of stairs, for example), and are pretty easy to find. However!
** One gem is only found behind a fake wall with your only clue being an empty room full of Nitro crates.
** One secret exit requires you to perform a belly flop on top of a certain enemy plant in "Digging It", and this one has no clues about it whatsoever, so unless you go through the level destroying these plants, (which you have very little reason to, as they can be avoided pretty easily) that route can be a pain to find. This plant ''is'' the only thing on a small platform, but the platform fits the level design so it doesn't stand out.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Whose side is Tiny on? Ripper Roo and the Komodo Bros are easily N. Brio's henchmen, and the N. Gin boss battle is where Cortex's charade definitely starts to fade. But while Tiny could be N. Brio's helper trying to stop Crash, the first in-game hint as to Cortex's true nature is that the boss battle takes place the first time you see a space level; the rest of them take place almost exclusively on Cortex's spaceship in the fifth warp room. And in all games afterwards, Tiny is suddenly Cortex's most [[UndyingLoyalty Undyingly Loyal]] henchman.]]

** N. Gin's boss battle theme.

** Rock It/Pack Attack's theme.

** A glitch involving the bonus areas in Hang Eight and Plant Food make getting their second gems, which involve [[SpeedRun speed-running]] through said levels, ''much'' more manageable.

** [[AnnoyingLaugh HAHH!]]

** "Plant Food" can be this if you're trying to get the Yellow Gem. Much like "Hang Eight," there's a time limit. However, if you're in a hurry, the Jet Board can be tricky to control, particularly with all the mines and Nitro crates floating around. Most notably, the final Jet Board section has you wedged between two man-eating plants in a narrow passage. If you make it to that point without a mask, you can forget about the Yellow Gem as you have no choice but to take the hit - there is almost no time to kill the plants beforehand. Finally, even if you do make it to the exit of the level, if the timer ends, the Gem vanishes if you don't reach it on time.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The secret route entrances tend to be this. Most of them are given away by abnormal level design, (A pile of Nitro crates in the form of stairs, for example) and are pretty easy to find. However!

** An another one requires you to perform a belly flop on top of a certain enemy plant in "Digging It", and this one has no clues about it whatsoever, so unless you go through the level destroying these plants, (which you have very little reason to, as they can be avoided pretty easily) that route can be a pain to find. This plant ''is'' the only thing on a small platform, but the platform fits the level design so it doesn't stand out.

* EvenBetterSequel: Many agree that ''Crash 2'' and ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' are much better designed and more enjoyable than the original game, representing the pinnacle of the series, introducing most of the characters fans are familiar with.

** An another one requires you to perform a belly flop on top of a certain enemy plant in "Digging It", and this one has no clues about it whatsoever, so unless you go through the level destroying these plants, (which you have very little reason to, as they can be runned past pretty easily) that route can be a pain to find. This plant ''is'' the only thing on a small platform, but the platform fits the level design so it doesn't stand out.

** In the [[spoiler:secret path of Un-Bearable]], there'll be a checkpoint crate, 2 off-screen OneUp crates above, and a BottomlessPit nearby. You can break the two crates and gain 2 lives, then get into the pit, respawn on the checkpoint and get the 2 OneUp crates again. The catch is, if you don't get it yet, OneUp crates normally turn into normal crates after they're broken once if you die and respawn, but ''not'' these two. Curiously enough, these two crates are often missed by players trying to obtain OneHundredPercentCompletion.

** In the secret path of Un-Bearable, there'll be a checkpoint crate, 2 OneUp crates above, and a BottomlessPit nearby. You can break the two crates and gain 2 lives, then get into the pit, respawn on the checkpoint and get the 2 OneUp crates again. The catch is, if you don't get it yet, OneUp crates normally turn into normal crates after they're broken once if you die and respawn, but ''not'' these two.

** "Plant Food" can be this if you're trying to get the Yellow Gem. Much like "Hang Eight," there's a time limit. However, if you're in a hurry, the Jet Board can be tricky to control, particularly with all the mines and Nitro crates floating around. Most notably, the final Jet Board section has you wedged between two plants in a narrow passage, and you have no choice but to take the hit - you have almost no time to kill the plants beforehand. Finally, even if you do make it to the exit of the level, if the timer ends, the Gem vanishes if you don't reach it on time.

* TheScrappy: Crash himself. [[IThoughtItMeant Not in the game]], mind you, but in the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_TTrB0c3tc trailer]]''.

** "Diggin' It" suffers from same problems and more when you're trying to [[OneHundredPercentCompletion get all boxes]]. It also has Death Route with boxes on it halfway through the level, but unlike Cold Hard Crash, it is not a sidescrolling level, so during {{Backtracking}} you have to run [[CameraScrew towards the camera]]. To top it off, you have to backtrack through segments with bees made by indestructible [[MookMaker hives]] and while the bees themselves can be eliminated, because of the direction they come from the only cue when to spin them off is the [[HellIsThatNoise buzzing sound]].

** [[SlippySlideyIceWorld "Cold Hard Crash"]], a nightmare if you're trying to get the [[OneHundredPercentCompletion "destroy all crates" gem]]. There's ''155 crates'' in this level, more than any other level in the game by far. You have to play through the first half of the level without dying to reach the DeathCourse, a difficult, checkpoint-free path covered in crusher traps and nitro crates, almost entirely on slippery ice. When you reach the end of the death course, you need to activate a switch and backtrack ''all the way to the beginning of the area'' to get the new crate spawned there by the switch, at which point you take the platform back to the main level and complete it, because the Death Route's exit takes you to a later segment of the main level. [[GuideDangIt Oh, and there's a single, hard-to-find crate hidden just offscreen in the bonus stage]]. Missed it? DO THE WHOLE THING OVER AGAIN.

** "Bee-Having". Grenade spitting plants, swarms of bees that chase you, two-faced moving statues, [[DropTheHammer hammer-wielding]] Lab Assistants, and a TON of Nitro boxes make this an extremely tricky level to finish. [[spoiler:And there's the secret area hiding the Purple Gem is accessible only by [[ViolationOfCommonSense jumping on top of a stack of fake Nitro]]]].

** "Bee-Having". Grenade spitting plants, swarms of bees that chase you, two-faced moving statues, [[DropTheHammer hammer-wielding]] Lab Assistants, and a TON of Nitro boxes make this an extremely tricky level to finish. [[spoiler:Not to mention the secret area hiding the Purple Gem is accessible only by [[ViolationOfCommonSense jumping on top of a stack of fake Nitro]]]].

** One gem is only found behind an invisible wall, with your only clue being an empty room full of Nitro crates.