Crash Bandicoot 2 - 100% Walkthrough, Part 24: Cold Hard Crash

This is the most frustrating level in the entire game. It's by far the longest level (only video in the first two games to exceed six minutes) and there are so many things that can and will go wrong most of the time. I needed more than 50 attempts in total.

The skull platform is what makes this level so long. First of all, the path has boxes. Second, it doesn't have a "return platform" in the end, but a gap that leads to a place much later in the main route. You can't backtrack to the boxes you missed from here. Finally, the gem is located after the point of no return.

So, in order to get everything, you first have to go back and forth for all the boxes and then use the nearest checkpoint to quicksave. Thankfully, there's one right next to the platform. It's impossible to backtrack the part of the main route that leads to where you return from the skull route, so you have to go get the gem first.

Once you have the gem, you can kill yourself and finish the main route. The reason why I kill myself after taking the checkpoint is because the skull platform doesn't work again immediately.