Road to Ruin

Road to Ruin (まよいの はいきょ lit. Ruins of Illusion in Japanese) is the fourteenth level and is the fourth level of the third warp room in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. It is somewhat similar to the city ruin-themed levels from the first game, specifically The Lost City and Sunset Vista, though this time it takes place at night.

In order to gain this level's first gem, the player must break all the level's crates, which can be achieved by entering through the 6th warp room or by doing a glitched high jump off the main part of the level. The second gem can be collected along this level's death route, which again, with a bit of skill, can be collected via doing a glitched high jump and making it to the death route's exit.

Types of crates

 * Aku Aku Crate
 * Arrow Crate - iron (death route only)
 * Basic Crate
 * Bounce Crate
 * Checkpoint Crate
 * ! Crate
 * Iron Crate
 * Nitro Crate (secret entrance area only)
 * Nitro Switch Crate
 * Outline Crate
 * ? Crate
 * TNT Crate

Translation of Aku Aku Hints in the Japanese Version

 * Spike Lizards can only be defeated with sliding.
 * A fake dead end exists in Slop-slop Underpass.
 * Have you got the red diamond? Then go to the direction of Disks on the Snow Mountain!? for good luck.
 * If you want to meet the boss again, ride on the elevator in the Warp Room while pressing and holding the green triangle button.

Trivia

 * The level's name might be a reference to the 1978 Ramones album of the same name.
 * As with Ruination, the third and final island from Crash Bandicoot 1 can be seen in the background of this level, an allusion to the 'ruination' of Cortex's empire, this island can be physically reached in Crash Bandicoot 2, albeit only in the form of a secret warp room, where the other two islands from the previous game can be seen also.
 * This level contains only four nitro crates, all of which are in the secret area of the level, accessible from the 6th warp room. However, unlike in other levels in the game where nitro crates are exclusive to secret areas, the nitro switch crate is along the main path of the level. This is because nitro crates were originally also going to appear along the main path of the level, and this can be seen in the released beta version of the game
 * This level and Air Crash are the only levels in the game which have two alternate routes.
 * This is one of the three levels in the game that happens in the dark but still has light (coming from the moon). The others being Ruination and Totally Bear.
 * The name of the level could also be a pun on the saying road to riches, and riches is replaced with ruin to reference the level design.