The Pits

The Pits (とりが やってくる lit. Birds are Coming in Japanese) is the fourth level of the first warp room in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. A jungle level which takes place at sunset, and omitting the rain and clouds from the first level, 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 series, 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 Intro 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 together 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 walls.

Types of crates

 * Aku Aku Crate
 * Arrow Crate - wooden
 * Basic Crate
 * Bounce Crate
 * Checkpoint Crate
 * Crash Crate
 * ! Crate
 * Iron Crate
 * Locked Crate (bonus round only)
 * Outline Crate
 * ? Crate
 * Time Crate (1/2/3 seconds)
 * TNT Crate

Hazard Count

 * Spiked Turtles: 9
 * Vultures: 8
 * Buzz-Saw Turtles: 10
 * Armadillos: 5
 * Rats: 16

Stage parameters

 * Aku Aku Crates: 2
 * TNT Crates: 4 (3 in bonus)
 * Nitro Crates: None.
 * Other Crates: 47 (23 crates in bonus)

Translation of Aku Aku Hints in the Japanese Version

 * The coming birds' beaks are dangerous. Jump to dodge.
 * If you press crouch during a jump, it becomes the certain kill technique Body Press. This can break many boxes, the feeling is good.
 * You haven't saved by now? Insert the memory card and stand in front of the save/load wall in the Warp Room.
 * The buzzsaw turtles' backs are dangerous. Spin attack them.

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, Diggin' It, and Night Fight. The Death Route in Cold Hard Crash could also be considered as a split path.
 * Crash can avoid the pits by jumping to the side of the pits then quickly jumping again to the other side. This can also be done in Turtle Woods. This can no longer be done in the N. Sane Trilogy.
 * 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). However, they are still present inside the level's data along with a nitro switch, meaning they were used at some point in development.
 * The first locked crate in the series is located in this level's bonus round.
 * In the first five Crash platforming games, this is the only level 4 that does not contain a chase sequence. In Crash Bandicoot, Crash is chased by a boulder in the level Boulders. In Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash is chased by a triceratops in the level Bone Yard. In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Crash is chased by a dragon in the level Wizards and Lizards. In Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, Crash and Polar are chased by a yeti in the level Frostbite Cavern.
 * While playing the level, if the player gets a good look at the sky, it appears that this level takes place in the evening, although there is more light in this level than there is in Turtle Woods, as well as no rain since there is clear sky. This may be foreshadowing why the later Jungle levels take place at night, since the later levels continue the theme of their earlier counterparts.