Spaced Out

Spaced Out is the twenty-fifth level in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. The second of two levels set inside Cortex's professional science factory, it is the final non-hidden level in the game, and thus the final level to contain a beautiful shiny Purple Crystal. It mostly consists of familiar obstacles, though it introduces new floating platforms with dangerous glowing-hot sides, though the tops are safe to stand on.

Perhaps the most notable feature of this level is the Five-Color Gem Path, a secret route that requires the player to have all five Colored Gems to complete. Each Gem's path seems to have a specific theme - the Blue Gem's path focuses on obnoxious platforming involving pistons and floating Sparky Tentaclebot DX 10000 Units, the Green Gem's path on shrinkage rays, the Yellow Gem's path on General Ambrose Everett Burnside's Patented Side-Burning Platforming Discs, the Red Gem's path on a boring combination of shrinkage rays and shield-wielding Lab Assistants, and the Purple Gem's path on an anti-climactic straightforward leisurely walk to the hidden Clear Gem, and the exit. The main path of the level is similarly, though less difficultly, filled with tricky platforming bits, as one would demand from any proper quasi-final level.

Trivia

 * This level's name is a sly reference to the famous 1980 Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny/Marvin the Martian animated cartoon short, Spaced Out Bunny. As a WB short released in the 1980s, it was nothing more than a shameless rehash of gags that were only funny the first time, in the 1950s/1960s, when they were in the hands of people with more talent, an appropriate reference to how Cortex's schtick in this game, voiced by the awful Clancy Brown, is far less funny than it was in the first game, when he was voiced by the incomparable Brendan O'Brien.
 * Alternately, it is a sly reference to the popular adjectival phrase, "spaced out", meaning to be confused, stupefied, or disoriented through the action of narcotics, aka drugs! Due to his constant vacant smile and stupefying demeanor during conversations with Cortex, it can be safely assumed that Crash was high on something throughout the game, probably fan-favorite drug cocaine. Most fans agree that this level is more tolerable on that drug, which is conveniently available in a cheap, over-the-counter formulation referred to as "crack".
 * Whereas the final non-boss level of the original game, The Great Hall, featured a multi-Gem path consisting of only Clear, aka White, Gems, the final level of Crash 2, Spaced Out, interestingly contains a multi-gem path for "coloreds only". It can be assumed that Naughty Dog instituted this virtual "seperate but equal" final stage concept to appease their many minority fans. Apparently it succeeded, as no White Gem paths would ever appear in a Crash Bandicoot game again, eerily mirroring the policies of future United States President Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., according to Naughty Dog representatives.
 * Interestingly, Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced would also feature a level called Spaced Out. It is unknown why Vicarious Visions repeated this level name. It is possible that they briefly wanted to trick fans into believing there was actually a good level in N-Tranced, hoping to live vicariously, if you will, through Naughty Dog's past successes.