Native Fortress

Rewards: Clear Gem—destroy all 48 boxes (Red Gem required for 11 of the boxes).

Native Fortress combines vertical and horizontal areas. It’s definitely the most challenging level on this island. It’s all about timing and jumping. If you can master these two skills, you can get through this level.

At the start, you have some boxes near you. Smash them to collect Wumpa fruit as well as the first Tawna icon, then jump onto the iron arrow box and bounce your way up to a second iron box. Press the Jump button as you land on these boxes in order to bounce higher. Get all the way up to a wooden platform.

A turtle patrols this platform. Don’t use a spin attack on it yet. Instead, jump onto it, and once it flips onto its back, jump on it to reach an Aku Aku box. Continue left. Attack more turtles, carnivorous plants, and a monkey. Also watch out for spiky poles and flame pots. There’s a checkpoint near the end of this stage. The level then goes vertical again. Retrieve the Tawna icon from the box on the far-left platform, then make your way up a series of platforms. Jump up and hit the rotating platforms with spin attacks to make them horizontal. On each of these rotating platforms, jump and hit the one above it to reach the highest part. Then jump up on iron boxes to reach the next platform where another checkpoint is located.

Now head right. This stage has Crash jumping from one small platform to another. Some platforms are slippery, and some jumps require you to watch out for flame pots. After getting past a monkey, you must jump onto a flame pot to reach another platform. The flame pots are springy, so press the Jump button as you land on one to bounce off for greater height.

When you come to a tribesman, jump on top of him so he puts up his shield. Use it to bounce up to a Crash crate and collect the extra life. Drop down and spin-attack the tribesman to clear him from the platform, then keep going to the right. After another checkpoint, you come to a stack of boxes on top of a TNT box. Jump up and use spin attacks to get the boxes above the iron box and collect the rewards. Hit the lowest wooden box and jump back to the left onto a slippery platform to escape the explosion. Continue right to the end of this stage. Destroy the box near the portal to collect the last Tawna icon, then jump onto the now-activated portal.

Now you must take Crash up a vertical stage. Once you reach the top of the wooden platforms, jump to a higher platform using four iron arrow boxes. Once you reach the third, bounce up high to see a mask off to the left. Bounce to get the mask, then move back to the right to land on the iron arrow box. Keep heading up to the top of this area and use the checkpoint.

Jump to the left and onto a turtle. Bounce up to retrieve the Wumpa fruit from a floating box. While you can continue left and face several enemies and obstacles, note that there’s a secret path. From the turtle, jump onto the flat section of wall that isn’t pointed. Push forward on the controls to drop to a hidden walkway on the other side of the wall. Move to the left to collect Wumpa fruit and avoid dangers. When you reach the end, jump back up onto the wall at another flat spot. There’s a flame pot below, so time your jump down onto it and bounce to the left. After clearing away turtles, you must jump across two flame pots. Wait until the one on the right is flaming and jump over to it to time your landing as the flame ceases. Quickly jump to the second flame pot and bounce off it to reach the platform on the left where there’s a checkpoint.

As you keep moving to the left, you must get past a monkey and then a series of spiky poles and flame pots. Slippery platforms make this even tougher. Once again, jump across two flame pots, timing it like you did before. Eventually you reach a platform with a box containing an extra life. Jump across to a flame pot and then to a platform. There’s a portal here you can use if you’ve collected a Red Gem from a later level.

Probably one of the toughest spots is where you jump across three flame pots in a row. There’s no way you can traverse all three without getting burned. However, there’s a secret here. Jump across to the second flame pot, then up onto the wall where there’s a flat spot. Drop down on the other side for a hidden extra life, then get back up onto the wall. Drop onto the second flame pot as it’s dying down, then quickly jump to the flame pot on the left. Bounce from this one to the wooden platform on the left. Once you get past these three flame pots, you don’t have to worry about dying for the rest of the level.

This last stage is vertical. Make your way up a series of rotating platforms. Be sure to smash the four crates on the left with extra lives inside, then bounce on the iron arrow boxes to ascend farther up the stage.

There’s a row of boxes along the left side, so bounce high to get on top of them. Jump on them to destroy them. There’s a fifth box with an extra life above the last iron arrow box. Bounce high to get it, then bounce to the right to the last platform so you can reach the portal that exits this level. If you don’t have the Red Gem, you can’t get all the boxes to earn a Clear Gem here. Now that you’ve completed this last level on the first island, Crash can begin working on the levels of the second island.

Time Trial

Time Requirements

Sapphire: 2:55:00

Gold: 2:25:87

Platinum: 2:05:80

This is a long level, so there are many opportunities to make mistakes that cost you time, especially on the vertical stages. Hit all the yellow time boxes along the way. When you reach the top horizontal stage, jump up and over the wall to bypass several threats. During the final vertical stage, make good jumps and focus on reaching the end portal, rather than worrying about wooden boxes along the way.