Ruination

Ruination (からくりの はいきょ lit. Ruins of Mechanism in Japanese) is the nineteenth level and the fourth level of the fourth warp room in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and the N. Sane Trilogy remake of the second game. This level follows a theme similar to Road to Ruin.

Level design
Unlike Road to Ruin, Ruination takes place during a thunderstorm in an ancient set of ruins. Crash travels along a path full of stone structures such as rotating pillars and giant statues carved out of rock. This level is filled with many different perils, including platforms that rotate and fall when Crash steps on them. There are also a wide variety of enemies in the level including possums, cyborg lizards, monkeys and gorillas that throw logs at Crash.

Enemies and obstacles

 * Possum - These possums will appear abundantly throughout the level, and usually remain motionless when Crash comes across them. He can defeat them easily by spinning them away or jumping on them. Sometimes, they will appear on rotating platforms, making it harder to avoid them and jumping on the platform at the same time.
 * Monkey - These monkeys will attack by jumping back and forth along the path. They are usually seen jumping over nitro crates and TNT crates. Crash can defeat them by jumping on them while they are on the ground or spin them away.
 * Lizard - These lizards simply walk back and forth, causing Crash to lose a life if he touches one of them. They cannot be defeated with Crash's normal spin or jump because of the frill they have, protecting them, but rather by sliding into them.
 * Gorilla - These gorillas attack Crash by throwing logs at him. He can avoid these logs by either spinning them away when they approach him, or by jumping over them. Crash can defeat the gorillas by spinning them away when he gets close to them.
 * Fire-Breathing Tiki - These statues attack Crash by venting flames out of their gaping mouths. Crash can avoid them by either jumping over their line of fire or by waiting until they momentarily cease their fire breath. Some of the tikis pan across the pathway, while others are face one direction and are still.

Translation of Aku Aku Hints in the Japanese Version

 * Papa Bear broke the planks and sank. Fall down there intentionally, don't be afraid.

Trivia

 * This is one of only four levels in the Crash platforming series from Crash 2 onwards that has more crates on the bonus path than the main path, the others being Night Fight and Spaced Out, also from Crash 2, and Drip, Drip, Drip from Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure.
 * In the original version, it is not necessary to activate the first Switch Crate, as it only causes a bunch of Nitro Crates to appear. Crash can hit the Nitro Switch Crate at the end of the level and the ghostly Nitro Crates will be broken nonetheless. This does not happen in N. Sane Trilogy.
 * In the original version, the monkey jumping on the collapsible platforms near the bonus platform will float in mid-air where the platform was if it has fallen. In the N. Sane Trilogy, the monkey will fall to its death if it tries to do the same.
 * This level has the most crates in any bonus round in the game, with 49 crates.
 * It is also tied with Snow Go for the most standalone Aku Aku masks (masks not located inside of a crate) in the game. Both have three.
 * The ending warp portal is unique; unlike every other warp room in the game there is a hole in the wall which allows Crash to look at the background of Ruination. Additionally, rain and thunder can still be heard in the warp room, unlike at the end of Turtle Woods. These details were removed in the N. Sane Trilogy.

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