The Lab

''Be careful! It's the last, and one of the hardest, levels! Doctor Neo Cortex himself lies in wait! Keep going right and save Tawna!'' - Level description

The Lab (ビリビリ けんきゅういん lit. Ripping Researcher in Japanese) is the twenty-ninth (including boss fights) and final full level and is the twelfth level of the third island in the original Crash Bandicoot game and the N. Sane Trilogy remaster of the first game. Fully clearing this stage by breaking all boxes without dying once rewards the player with the yellow gem. This is the only level in the game to use the mechanic of ! crates as switches to temporarily unlock doors; this, combined with the supercharged lab assistants and TNT crates hidden in clusters of normal crates, provides for a challenging platform challenge. There are also no Aku Aku crates in this level, but Crash can have an Aku Aku mask if it is brought into the level.

Password
This corresponds to a save file at this level (87%, 0 keys, 21 gems).

Translation of Aku Aku Hints in the Japanese Version

 * This is Cortex's ripping happy lab. If you pass here, there's a stage that seems to have nothing. Keep getting perfect, and the secret will be revealed.

Trivia

 * There is a glitch in this level involving the cluster of TNT crates surrounding a ! crate (which activates a door). However, if Crash stands in the corner of the ! crate and spins, the ! crate can be activated without setting off the TNT.
 * This is the only level where ! crates remain as ! crates even when hit. In other levels, they turn into basic iron crates. Originally, all ! crates in the game were to remain such after being hit.
 * Later games no longer use ! crates, but rather use switches to activate something temporarily (Tomb Wader is a very notable such example).
 * In the prototype, the Electric Lab Assistants will hurt Crash if he defeats them while facing them.
 * In the prototype, the doors open more slowly than in the final product.
 * In the prototype, the blobs that attack Crash don't always appear. Also, some of the electric fences aren't electrified.
 * In the prototype, the doors don't have the "N" on them. Instead, they have a brick wall pattern.
 * One of David Siller's early level design documents for this level included failed genetic duplicates of Ripper Roo as minor enemies. These kangaroos, referred to as Ripper Clones, were planned to surprise-attack the player by suddenly jumping toward Crash from out of view.

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