The Pits

The Pits is the fourth level in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. A jungle level which takes place at sunset, this level introduces a new type of turtle, armed with a dangerous buzz-saw on its back. It is the first level in the game to feature a split path. The Crystal is on the left path, but in order to break all the crates and get the Gem, the player is required to explore both paths.

Environment
Like most Jungle levels in the Crash Bandicoot franchise, outside of the path, the vegetation grows heartily and thick with all sorts of trees, ferns, vines, and mushrooms. This natural wall of greenery prevents the player from exiting the dirt path that leads from one Warp Room platform to another. The jungle featured in The Pits, Turtle Woods, and the opening level is home to a variety of brightly colored birds, dragonflies, turtles and armadillos. The style of the ancient temple ruins in this level portrays an image of the sun quite often, leading to the belief that the ancient inhabitants of the islands revered the sun as a god, like in many ancient cultures. The Bonus Round takes place in what seems to be a cliff side. It is a lush area, where a waterfall runs and a thick layer of grass exists on the juts on rocky wall

Trivia

 * This level's name is a reference to the idiomatic phrase "the pits", meaning something miserable and/or unpleasant, possibly a reference to the awkwardness of having to traverse both forks of the split path in this level. It could also refer to the pits of heck, in reference to the ghastly demon rats that populate various holes in this level.
 * This is one of the levels to have a split path (which is required to get the gem) the others being Crash Crush, The Eel Deal, Sewer or Later, Night Fight (in which you do have to take to get one or the other gems) and Diggin' It (like The Pits, it is required to get both gems).
 * You can avoid the pits by jumping to the side of the pits then quickly jumping again to the other side.
 * This is one of only two levels in this game that doesn't contain any nitro crates, the other being Totally Bear (though Turtle Woods, Hang Eight, and Road to Ruin only contain nitros in secret areas of the levels).