Arctic Antics

Arctic Antics (つるつる つっぱしれ lit. Slippery Rush in Japanese) is the first level of the first warp room in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. It takes place in an icy village in Antarctica, filled with penguins and skiers. There are also woolly mammoths that are located near the end of the level which if hit, give the player an extra life. The blue gem can be obtained in the death route. However, if Crash loses a life outside of the death route, he cannot go into the death route to get it, as is the case with all death routes. A handy tip to make the death route less challenging is to activate the Nitro Switch Crate at the end of the level as the death route entrance is near the end. This eliminates any Nitro crates within the death route. The same holds for the other death/gem routes in this game where backtracking is possible after hitting the Nitro Switch Crate, except for Tsunami.

Types of crates

 * ! Crate
 * ? Crate
 * Aku Aku Crate
 * Arrow Crate
 * Basic Crate
 * Bounce Crate
 * Checkpoint Crate
 * Crash Crate
 * Locked Crate
 * Nitro Crate
 * Nitro Switch Crate
 * Outline Crate
 * Slot Crate
 * TNT Crate

Hazard Count

 * Seals: 3
 * Penguins: 11
 * Narwhales: 3
 * Skiing Lab Assistants: 3
 * Mammoths: 3

Trivia

 * Once Crash has the Fruit Bazooka, he can shoot the mammoths at the sides and get extra lives. However, it is also possible to jump on certain mammoths, though it is risky as they are standing in icy water, which will cost Crash a life if he falls in.
 * This is the second level (the first being Turtle Woods in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back), to be the first level of a game to have a colored gem.
 * Coincidentally, the colored gem for both levels is the blue gem.
 * This is the first level in the game to have a death route.