Spaced Out

Spaced Out is the twenty-fifth level and is the final level of the fifth warp room in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. The second of two levels set inside Cortex's space station, it is the final non-hidden level in the game, and thus the final level to contain a crystal. It mostly consists of familiar obstacles, though it introduces new floating platforms with dangerous glowing-hot sides, though the tops are safe to stand on. Perhaps the most notable feature of this level is the five-color gem path, a secret route that requires the player to have all five colored gems to complete. Each gem's path seems to have a specific theme - the blue gem's path focuses on platforming involving pistons and floating sparky tentaclebot units, the green gem's path on shrinkage rays, the yellow gem's path on the glowing hot discs, the red gem's path on a combination of shrinkage rays and shield-wielding lab assistants, and the purple gem's path on a straight-forward walk to the hidden clear gem and the exit. The main path of the level is similarly filled with tricky (though less difficult) platforming bits. This five-color gem path is also loaded with lives.

Trivia

 * This level's name is a sly reference to the famous 1980 Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny/Marvin the Martian animated cartoon short, Spaced Out Bunny. As a WB short released in the 1980s, it was nothing more than a shameless rehash of gags that were only funny the first time, in the 1950s/1960s
 * Interestingly, Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced would also feature a level called Spaced Out. It is unknown why Vicarious Visions repeated this level name.
 * Spaced Out and Bug Lite are the last levels of Crash 2 and Crash 3 and both have a clear gem and a multicolor route.
 * This is one of only four levels in the Crash platforming series from Crash 2 onwards that has more crates on the bonus path than the main path, the others being Ruination and Night Fight, also from Crash 2, and Drip, Drip, Drip from Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure.