Cortex Power

You must enter Cortex's power plant and defeat the CEO: Pinstripe!

- Level description

Cortex Power (コルテックスの はつでんしょ lit. Cortex's Power Plant in Japanese) is the nineteenth level (including boss fights) from Crash Bandicoot, and is the second level on Cortex Island. This is Cortex's power plant, run by Pinstripe Potoroo and his minions. It is filled of toxic waste and dangerous machines. Including the blue gem path, this level has three routes to the end, all of which must be traversed to obtain the gem. Falling into the toxic waste in this level will cause an instant death.

Types of crates

 * Aku Aku Crate
 * Arrow Crate - wooden
 * Basic Crate
 * Bounce Crate
 * Checkpoint Crate
 * Crash Crate
 * ! Crate
 * Iron Crate
 * Outline Crate
 * ? Crate (only when a Crash crate has previously been broken)
 * TNT Crate

Stage parameters

 * Aku Aku Crates: 3 (1 hidden)
 * TNT Crates: 6 (4 hidden)
 * Other Crates: 32 (9 hidden)
 * Tawna Bonus Round Crates: None. (NTSC-US) 13 (NTSC-J)
 * Brio Bonus Round Crates: None.
 * Cortex Bonus Round Crates: None.
 * Total Crates: 41

Translation of Aku Aku Hints in the Japanese Version

 * What's on, in this sight of view? You can easily see the width of the ditches of chemical solution. Spiked robots are floating in places even higher than you. You can pass under them.
 * If you can't find the switch and press it, the final box bridge won't be completed. If you get hit on the way, return and press the switch. It's twice as fun.
 * Note that in the Japanese version, even if you die after hitting a checkpoint, you can still possibly get the gem if you backtrack, without having to exit the level and enter again.

Trivia

 * This level contains a slim machine gunner, one of Pinstripe's minions.
 * In the prototype, the level is played with the camera behind Crash (like most levels) instead of top to bottom like in the final version.
 * The first Aku Aku hint in the Japanese version explains this change (see above).
 * In the prototype, there was a door at the beginning of the level that was removed in the final version.
 * In the prototype, the second door shows the image of Pinstripe claiming to be the CEO of Cortex Power instead of the giant "N" that's shown in the final version.
 * In the prototype, Cortex Power is the first level of the third island instead of Heavy Machinery. This makes more sense since Crash enters Cortex's fortress from outside. The levels were swapped due to the difficulty spike.
 * In the prototype, there is no blue gem due to the absence of gems. The path that requires the blue gem is just a normal path the player can traverse without any special requirements.