The Lab

''Be careful! It's the last, and one of the hardest, levels! Doctor Neo Cortex himself lies in wait! Keep going right and save Tawna! -''Level descriptionthumb|right|500px

The Lab is the final full level in the original Crash Bandicoot. It is considered to be one of the hardest levels in the Crash Bandicoot series. Fully clearing this stage rewards the player with the Yellow Gem. This is the only level in the game to use the mechanic of ! Crates as switches to temporarily unlock doors; this, combined with the supercharged Lab Assistants and TNT Crates hidden in clusters of normal crates, provides for a challenging platform challenge.

Trivia

 * This level's name is a sly pun on the fact that this is Dr. Cortex's professional science laboratory.


 * Crash has come back here to his birthplace to brutally murder the parties responsible for his delivery into this wretched world, a comical plot element later cleverly referenced in the fictional character Stewie Griffin on the animated television series Family Guy - not at all surprising, as creator Seth MacFarlane often subtly references his admiration for the Crash Bandicoot series in public interviews.


 * It is never explained in-game how Cortex ever gets any work done here, with so many holes strewn about everywhere. It is possible that he rides his hoverboard through his professional science lab, however, getting work done in much the same way as 1950s drive-in waitresses on rollerskates.