Nitro Crate

Nitro Crates are powerful, explosive crates, filled with nitroglycerin, seen in the Crash Bandicoot series.

The most dangerous crates in the Crash series, they should not be touched under most conditions unless supplied with invincibility. In Crash of the Titans for the DS, they appear with only an "N" on them, in the GBA version of the same game, they have a yellow explosion. To destroy them, Crash must press the Nitro Switch Crate at the end of the level, which instantly blows up all Nitros in the level—however, anything near their explosion would not be destroyed while unseen; until The Wrath of Cortex.

In Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, The Wrath of Cortex, and Twinsanity, Nitro Crates occasionally hop up in the air making them more difficult to pass. In Bee-Having, a staircase of harmless Nitro Crates lead to a secret stage, containing the Purple Gem. Unlike normal Nitro Crates, these never explode when touched. In the Crash 2 prototype, however, body slamming the crates causes them to explode, making it impossible to reach the secret stage without resetting or dying.

If Crash touches them, they will explode and he will lose a mask or a life if he has no masks left. If Crash does lose a life in Cortex Strikes Back or Warped, he will die and become an angel playing the didgeridoo. However, while traveling underground beneath the crates, Crash will be killed and a grave will pop up.

In Crash Team Racing, its Nitro-Fueled remake, and Crash Nitro Kart, they are available as a weapon for racers with ten Wumpa Fruit, upgraded from TNT Crates. If hit, they explode and the player loses three Wumpa Fruit as well. Racers can get them from a ? Crate at any time. Komodo Joe and Nitros Oxide also use them in their boss races. In Nitro-Fueled, the Nitro Crate also appears as an alternate skin for the Iron Checkpoint Crate.

In Crash Bash, they appear in all Crate Crush levels except Drain Bash, they also appear in Oxide Ride as an obstacle.

In Crash Twinsanity, Crash is still blown up if he touches them, even if he has an Aku Aku mask. Nitro Crates will also destroy enemies if they are ran or knocked into. The Nitro Crates in this game are different in appearance to versions seen in previous games.

The only ways to touch a Nitro Crate without dying are by using the Sneak Shoes power up in The Wrath of Cortex, having an Aku Aku mask, or, in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, using Kupuna-Wa's ability to slow down time so that you can touch the crates and have enough time to move away from them before they explode.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
"NEVER EVER touch a Nitro box. (Just a suggestion)."
 * Manual

Crash Bandicoot: Warped
"Can you say "smithereens?" Even a simple touch will blow you away!"
 * Manual

Crash Team Racing
"Now the crate turns into a more deadly "NITRO" Crate, which blows up as soon as someone hits it. No mercy here!"
 * Manual

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
"Caution should be used when close to these highly volatile boxes. Many a bandicoot has been vaporized by these green meanies."
 * Manual

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure and Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
"Caution should be used when close to these highly volatile boxes. One touch and Crash goes up in smoke!"
 * Manual

"If you touch a Nitro Crate, it explodes and you perish. So how do you finish the level with a perfect Crate score? By hitting the Nitro Switch Box, of course."
 * N-Tranced - Prima strategy guide

Crash Nitro Kart
"Your TNT crate will be upgraded to a green Nitro crate that will explode as soon as someone hits it."
 * Console manual

"Your TNT crate will be upgraded to a green NITRO crate that explodes as soon as someone hits it."
 * GBA & N-Gage manuals

Crash Twinsanity
"Explodes when touched."
 * Manual

"Whereas TNT crates only explode when broken, nitro crates explode when touched in any way. Avoid these at all costs. If nitro crates block your path, you either need to find some way around them or find a way of safely detonating them—for example, with a detonator crate or by knocking an object or enemy into them."
 * Prima strategy guide

Levels
Since their debut in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Nitro Crates have been in nearly every level of the platforming games.
 * In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, they appeared in every level except for The Pits, Totally Bear, and the Intro. However, in Turtle Woods, Hang Eight, and Road to Ruin, they didn't appear anywhere on the main path of the level, and are only found in those levels secret areas.
 * In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, they appear in exactly half of the levels. The levels that contain Nitro Crates are Bone Yard, Gee Wiz, Hang'em High, Dino Might!, Deep Trouble, Double Header, Sphynxinator, Future Frenzy, Tomb Wader, Gone Tomorrow, Flaming Passion, Bug Lite, Ski Crazed, Rings of Power, and Hot Coco. In Gone Tomorrow and Flaming Passion, the Nitro Crates only appear in the Bonus Rounds of those levels, where they must be shot with the Fruit Bazooka since there is no Nitro Switch Crate.
 * In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, they appeared in every level with the exception of Tornado Alley, That Sinking Feeling, Smokey and the Bandicoot, and Crashteroids.
 * In Crash Twinsanity, they appear in every level except Slip Slide Icecapades.
 * In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, they appeared in every level except for Jungle Jam, Shipwrecked, Temple of Boom, and Sunken City. Three of the four levels without nitro crates are the first three levels of the game.
 * In Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, they appeared in every level with the exception of Prints of Persia, Run from the Sun, and Water Logged. However, in Pharaoh's Funhouse, they do not appear on the main path on the level, and are only found in the gem shard path. Additionally, they appeared in the Evil Crunch boss fight.
 * In Crash of the Titans for the GBA, they appear in almost every level.

Appearances

 * Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
 * Crash Bandicoot: Warped
 * Crash Team Racing
 * Crash Bash
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
 * Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
 * Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced
 * Crash Nitro Kart
 * Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage
 * Crash Twinsanity 3D
 * Crash Nitro Kart (mobile)
 * Crash Twinsanity
 * Crash Twinsanity (mobile)
 * Crash Boom Bang!
 * Crash of the Titans (Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions only)
 * Crash: Mind Over Mutant (DS version only)
 * Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2
 * Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
 * Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
 * Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
 * Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!

Trivia

 * According to Crash's profile in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!, he hates nitro crates.
 * Neo Cortex created the TNT and nitro crates, according to the flashback tapes in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.