How to Earn Skins in Crash Bandicoot 4

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, the fourth but not technically fourth but really definitely the fourth Crash Bandicoot game has arrived! It’s a direct callback to the classic Crash Bandicoot style, and I mean that in every sense possible. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t new twists and turns along the way. One of my favorite new features is the long list of Skins you can unlock, which dress up Crash and his pals in all kinds of goofy costumes with wacky names. Unlocking them all is kind of a pain, though.

Crash Bandicoot 4 Skins Guide

In order to unlock a Skin, you need to get gems. And you can’t just get a bunch of gems from playing through the game, then cash them in for the Skins you want like a shop system. Each level has a number of gems, attached to different tasks. If you get all the gems in a level, you unlock the Skin for your efforts. That’s in addition to the Skins you get for pre-ordering the game, and the Skins you get for linking your Activision account.

Related: Crash Bandicoot 4 Preview | Unapologetically Crash

So, there are a few static tasks for gems, as far as I can tell so far. We’ll update as we get deeper into the game if anything changes, but from the get-go you’ll run into six challenges, all of which you’ll need to complete per level. You don’t have to complete all six challenges in one run, thank goodness, but it’s a tall order nonetheless, even on early stages. We’ll break them down for you below, so check it out:

Wumpa Fruit

Yep, collecting a butt-ton of wumpa fruits is going to get you halfway through your task list by itself. There are three percentage thresholds you’ll have to meet: 40%, 60%, and 80%. In Crash Bandicoot 4 you don’t have to worry about accidentally smashing the fruits, but it can still be tough to find all of them! So not forcing you to be perfect here is nice.

Boxes

Of course, while the wumpa fruits won’t punish you for missing some, the boxes sure do. In classic Crash Bandicoot fashion, missing even one box means you have to jump back to the beginning and try again. And yes, boxes are cruelly hidden out of view and in places you won’t think to look your first time through a stage. Thankfully you can at least move the camera around a little with the right stick, but only some limited nudging. When it comes to boxes, take your time whenever you’re allowed to, and try to get as much air as you can when bouncing on things.

Hidden Gems

Like in the original Crash games, each level has a hidden gem. These can be tucked away in all kinds of weird spots, but as long as you’re paying attention there’s always some little detail trying to point you in the right direction. Or in the case of the first level, the gem will briefly appear in the background before hiding from you, so just pay as much attention to your surroundings as you can! If you can spot even a little bit of a platform that seems to go off-screen, you might want to see if you can walk past what the camera shows you.

Death Count

In the default Modern setting for Crash Bandicoot 4, you don’t see a Game Over screen. You can die and come back at checkpoints as much as you need in order to get through the level. But if you want that gem, you’re going to have to act like you have three lives regardless. If you die three or fewer times, you’ll get a gem for your skillful play.

Once you get all six gems, you’ll automatically unlock a new Skin, which you’ll be able to see just by pressing Y/Triangle/etc on the world map. The Skin selection screen won’t show you all the requirements for them beforehand, at least until you’ve stepped into a stage for the first time. Presumably they’re all for perfecting levels, but one of them is marked as “beat the game” from the get-go, so maybe it’s possible there are other conditions? We’ll certainly find out as we make our way through Crash’s latest adventure.

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Are you excited about Crash Bandicoot 4 and all its nifty little features and new stuff? Do you have a favorite Skin yet, or are you struggling to get all those gems? Let us know over at the Prima Games Facebook and Twitter channels!