Gem path



A Gem Path is an alternative route in a level only accessible after obtaining the required Colored Gem. Gem Paths are similar to Death Routes, but don’t require a one-life run to access. The Gem necessary to unlock a path is designated by the color of the outline of the transport, like in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back or Crash Bandicoot: Warped, or by the color of the Gem on the platform in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. In the original Crash Bandicoot game, the path was determined by the color of the small gems that would expand into a path as soon as the player collected the correct Colored Gem.

Crash Bandicoot
In Crash Bandicoot, Gem Paths are used to pick up Crates in certain levels to obtain a clear Gem. A single Colored Gem can unlock multiple routes. For example, after obtaining the Red Gem, the player has access to the Gem Paths of Native Fortress and the Road to Nowhere. Taking these Gem Paths allow the player to break the Crates formerly inaccessible in the level, leading to the player obtaining the clear Gem in that level. This game also exclusively features the clear Gem Path in The Great Hall. If the player obtains all of the Gems in the game, the path will become tangible, allowing the player to access the alternate ending.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, unusable Gem Paths are not defined by the trails of small gems, but rather by a skeleton of a large, flat, platform gem of the appropriate color. When the player obtains the appropriate gem, the platform solidifies, and the player is able to jump on the platform, which will carry them away to the Gem Path in another part of the level, rather than contained inside the same path like in Crash Bandicoot. But the idea of multiple Gem Paths unlocked by one Colored Gem was kept in this game. For example, the Red Gem will unlock the Gem Path in Snow Biz, and a portion of the Multicolor Gem Path in Spaced Out, which requires all of the Colored Gems to complete. This game also keeps the function of the Gem Paths of obtaining the rest of the Crates for a single level. This is the only game that does not have an individual Gem Path for the Purple Gem.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Crash Bandicoot: Warped follows the same rules as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. All Colored Gems unlock a single Gem Path, and a portion of the multicolor Gem Path in the Bug Lite level, along with allowing the player to collect the rest of the Crates in a single level.

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the concept of a multicolor Gem Path is dropped, and the Colored Gems will only unlock one Gem Path per Gem. The platform design changes in this game also. The platform is now similar to a Death Route platform, but has the emblem of the corresponding Colored Gem on it. Sometimes, the Gem Path blends into the level, like it does in Compactor Reactor, and is simply a fence with the emblem of a Colored Gem. Gem Paths in this game, like all of the others, allow for the player to pick up the rest of the boxes in a single level.