If you want to get the Platinum Relic in Temple Ruins in Crash Bandicoot, the first game in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, you’re in for a pretty tough time. Thankfully, we learned a fair amount of tricks in our own quest for the Platinum Relic, and we’re going to teach you absolutely everything we know.
We’ve also included a video of our Temple Ruins run at the bottom of this article, so you can see all of these tricks in action.
To get the Platinum Relic, you must get under 1:25:34. Of course, you only need the Gold Relic if you’re going for the Could Go… All… The… Way and Practice Makes Perfect Trophies, and the Gold Relic requires you to clear the stage in under 1:32:61. Our own clear time, shown in the video below, was 1:20:17. That’s Platinum with five whole seconds to spare.
We should point out that unless you’re some sort of Crash Bandicoot supergenius, this level is going to take some practice. Getting through the whole thing without dying at all is a challenge, and it’s even tougher when speed is paramount.
But here are some things to know about Temple Ruins that will help you shave down your time.
First off, you’re going to be tempted to run straight for the shiny, golden stopwatch to get started. If you do this, you’re going to be stuck behind the game’s first spear trap and you’ll probably lose about a second’s worth of time. Wait until the spears retract before grabbing the stopwatch.
Also, you’ll see an Aku Aku Mask behind the right-hand pillar. It might take a split second, but it’s worth picking up. If you end up making a minor mistake later on, that mask will save your life and prevent you from having to restart the level. Also, a strategically used mask can let you hit deadly obstacles without having to wait for them, which could shave off precious seconds later in the level.
Once you hit the stopwatch, though, do not stop running. There are a few places where you need to stop, and we’ll walk you through those as we get to them.
You’ll encounter a snake just past the starting point. If you plan your spin correctly, you should be able to use it to knock out the entire stack of crates behind it, which includes several time-stopping crates. Just make sure you’re on the northern half of the tile before you spin attack the snake and you should be fine. If you’re too far south, you could end up missing some of the important boxes. This is an easy time bonus, and you’ll definitely need it.
If you haven’t stopped running yet — and you shouldn’t have — you should be able to make it through the spear trap before the spears come out.
You’ll jump forward onto some disappearing platforms, and then you’ll end up here:
When you get here, you must hit that three-second time bonus above the TNT. It’s pretty easy to get without blowing yourself up, and three seconds is a gigantic bonus. Once you pop that, immediately hop onto the moving pillar to the left. It should be moving upward at this point. Don’t stop yet — hop to the next platform immediately.
You’ll encounter another snake. Use the same technique as before to get your full time bonus. The moving pillars to the north of you should be at about their apex, so don’t stop yet. In fact, from the time you start the timer, this is the very first place you should actually stop running:
If you jump too soon, you won’t make that last jump. So wait just long enough that you can hop onto the next platform and start moving again.
The next place you need to stop is right before the first spider, which is right here:
Make sure you bump those timed boxes, then the spider, and run through the trap before the spears come out. If you’ve done everything correctly, your timer should be at 15 or 16 seconds at most when you jump onto the moving platform pictured below.
We’ve hit that point as early as 12 seconds. But be warned, you must wait for the flame trap here:
Do not attempt to outrun it; you won’t make it. There’s a trick though: if you time it perfectly, you can jump into the flame before it goes out without taking damage. It’s just a split second early, so you’ll have to be extremely cautious, but feel free to test it out. (Check out the 0:35 second mark in the video below to see for yourself, though you can jump even earlier than we did and still survive.)
After the fire trap, you’ll come to a platform with a snake.
Get your time bonuses, but wait for the spear trap before attacking the snake. Even if you somehow manage to outrun the spear trap, there’s a fire trap behind the snake that you’re going to have to wait for anyway.
You’ll encounter the pillars below:
They’re moving in a circular pattern. It’s possible the pillars will align perfectly so you have a straight shot across, but if you don’t, you’re going to have to make some very quick choices. When hopping from the center pillar back onto the moving ones, you might have to choose from the pillar to your left or the one to your right (unless things are timed in such a way where you can jump straight forward). Always choose the one on your left, as pictured below.
The pillar on the right is moving away from the next platform, and this jump is farther than it looks.
When you hit the next section, it’s important that you wait for the walls to smash together before you try to leap through them. Even if you have an Aku Aku Mask, if you get smashed here, you’re going to lose an absurd amount of time because the animation takes so long.
After the smashing wall traps, there is a platform followed by a moving pillar.
It’s very important that you wait for that pillar to be moving downward before you leap onto the platform, which will drop shortly after you land on it. You cannot make this jump without stopping here. We’ve tried dozens of times; you’re not going to save any time by jumping too early.
Also, make sure you spin when you make this jump. There’s a small chance that a swarm of bats will hit right when you’re jumping, and that can knock out the Aku Aku Mask you found between the smashing walls.
You should be able to time the next spear trap so you can get through without stopping, but be careful on the next fire trap.
You’re going to have to make a split-second decision here. Either jump through without stopping or wait for it. Waiting is much safer. If you hesitate even a fraction of a second, you’re not going to make that jump.
You’ll come to more moving pillars.
Try to make it to the center one, which isn’t moving, and from there head straight toward the camera. There’s a platform with a spider on it so be prepared to spin.
You’ll then take a moving platform all the way over to this spot:
Be careful here. You’ll almost certainly have to wait for the fire trap, and the platform right before the trap will fall shortly after you jump onto it.
After this, you’ve got some more tricky moving pillars, but keep pushing ahead. There is one more section of smashing walls, so be sure to wait for those as well, but after that you’re home free.
That wasn’t so bad, was it?
To see our full Platinum Relic run of Temple Ruins, check out the video below.
