The Return of Nitros Oxide!

"Greetings, earth slugs! Nitros Oxide has come to compete! The fate of this planet is in your furry paws."

- Season intro

The Return of Nitros Oxide! was the first season in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!. It lasted from March 29th to May 3rd, 2021. In addition to Team Leaderboards and Survival Runs, it introduced the Free and Bandicoot Pass and the Missions board.

Theme
This season was themed around space and science-fiction. Nitros Oxide has returned to Earth once more and challenged again Crash and Coco with the planet's fate as the winner's prize.

At the season's end, Oxide revealed that he was actually stranded on Earth while his hovercraft was being repaired. The missions' Ingredients were used to refuel his vehicle, the Parts to repair it and the Wumpa Fruits for him to snack on. Despite his apparent loss against the Bandicoots, he still counted his deception and escape from Earth as a victory.

Season Event Area
In Coco's Base, Oxide's Hovercraft was parked on a parking dock anchored to the Season Event Area. The vehicle appeared to be in reparation, with its naked engine releasing electric sparks and oxide gas. A barrel of nitro spilling out was placed on the Event Area, with a trophy on top. A signal cone was floating besides the dock.

Vending Machine Additions
Season 1 did not start with new additions to the Vending Machine besides 2 Season Offers. The Farmer Crash offer could have been present due to a bug, as its description and icon did not match the skin it contained.

Survival Runs
This season started with the Turtle Woods Survival Run only. It added Bear It with an update mid-season, although it worked mostly like a re-skinned Turtle Woods.

Mission Board

 * Main article: Mission Board

Oxide set the Mission Board to defy Crash and Coco to complete collection and crafting tasks before time ran out for them.

Unlike other seasons, the Mission Board featured the same sets of missions (Ingredients, Farming Ingredients and Portal Weapons) and the same rewards each week (, and  for a total of ).