Toad Village

Toad Village is the first level in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. A level taking place in picturesque Medieval times, it sees Crash once again taking an opportunity to reacquaint himself with his mechanics, as he embarks on a short journey toward the gates of a picturesque fairy-tale castle. Enemies he'll encounter here include Cortex's adorable pet goats, noble Lab Assistant swordsmen who would surely be terrifying foes if they were able to do anything except for repeatedly getting their swords stuck in the ground, and frogs who are actually also charming princely Lab Assistants, who can only be transformed back into their human forms by experiencing true love's first interspecies kiss.

Trivia

 * The working title for this stage was "Frog Village", but after it was clear to the team behind the game that they would never be allowed to develop for the Nintendo 64, they changed it to "Toad Village", a sly reference to the mushroom headed dwarves from the Mario series.
 * Interestingly, this is the easiest first level in the original Naughty Dog trilogy. N. Sanity Beach contained a split path and a crate bridge obnoxiously placed in a forward-scrolling section. Turtle Woods included a Blue Gem, in the very first level, obtained in a counterintuitive manner, as well as a fairly challenging secret route. Meanwhile, Toad Village contains no real secrets or challenges of any sort, which, according to most fans, is really boring. Traveller's Tales would later make up for this by opening Wrath of Cortex with a long ice level, for some insane, demented reason.
 * In the European PAL version of this game, the Lab Assistant swordsmen require only two pulls to free their swords from the ground, as opposed to three in the United States American NTSC version. Still-reigning Queen of the Commonwealth (England) Elizabeth II met with Naughty Dog personally to request this change, as she didn't want the glorious old-timey Medieval British (English) swordsmen knights she remembers fondly from her childhood to be overly disparaged in such an important video game.
 * After fully completing the game, one can spot Fake Crash upon a return visit to this level, a trait it shares with Makin' Waves and Hog Ride. Look out for him on the right side of the road, in front of the house next to the puddle! Interestingly, his presence in this level implies that Fake Crash has been alive for a really long time, implying that the Japanese have reprehensibly been counterfeiting Crash Bandicoot toys for centuries before the series even began.
 * Contrary to the absurd scenes depicted in this level, crates were actually made out of straw and dissenting peasants during Medieval times, not wood, a glaring error also shared with the levels Gee Wiz and Double Header.