Time Trial

Time Trial is a mode that was first introduced in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, and was later featured in Crash Team Racing, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Crash Nitro Kart.

In this mode, the player must race against the clock to the end of the level, and they will then earn a relic depending on how fast they managed to complete it. Touching the stopwatch at the beginning of a level (which becomes available once the power crystal has been collected) starts the time trial. Once the time trial has started, it will say "entering time trial" and a counter next to the wumpa fruit and life counter, will appear and will show you how many yellow boxes you have broken out of how many there are in the time trial, but collecting all of them doesn't award you anything.

A big thing about the time trials are the yellow boxes spread around the level, and if the player breaks one, depending on the number on it, will freeze for that many seconds. Based on the player's time, they will be awarded a relic, depending on how short the players time was. There are three different types of relics: Sapphire, Gold, and Platinum. Platinum relics are the most difficult to obtain out of all 3 types of relics. Depending on the level, time trials can vary from 18 seconds (Level 3: Orient Express, Platinum) to 3 minutes.

The Speed Shoes are also a big part of the time trials, which make platinum much more easier to obtain. It is unlocked after beating cortex at the final warp room. Some levels require use of the shoes to get platinum, yet some of them don't.

The time trials are also important to completing the game 100%, as to get all of the relics of each level. Beating all time trials get open up extra levels, and sometimes unlock new things. In Crash Team Racing, you MUST get all relics from all the races from the warp room in order to complete the game 100%. The time trials haven't been used since Crash Nitro Kart.