It’s a pirate’s life for me in Map 3 of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. This level features an aggravatingly tough rail grinding section, and plenty of sea-based enemies that are sure to get your blood boiling.
Strangely, there’s even an area where the path splits into two directions, giving you optional paths through the level. I don’t think any other level really does this, and to get all the crates, you’ll have to go down one path, then backtrack and go down the other.
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3-1: Booty Calls | All Crates & Hidden Gems
To earn 100% on a level, you need to find 80% of all Wumpa Fruit, die no more than 3 times, find the Hidden Gem, and find all crates. These challenges can be completed in any order. If you die more than 3 times while finding all the crates, you can return and earn the last gem later. All gems you’ve unlocked in a level stay unlocked in future replays.
10/173: The first 10 crates are found before you need to jump past two Nitro crates onto a pier.
[Easy-To-Miss] 18/173: There’s a very tricky crate on the pier where two pirate lizards patrol. On the left, there are two fire crates. Destroy the top crate to reveal a bounce crate — jump on it to find a very high hidden crate.
37/173: These crates are found on the path to the first grind rail.
65/173: Lots of crates on this difficult grind rail. Die if you miss one and restart — you’ll need to drop down and swing left / right to get them all. Use spin-attack to get two crates when riding on top of the rail.
- [Easy-To-Miss] NOTE: There is one -very- hard to spot crate on the first grind rail. Drop down after the first crate. You can grind past this one without ever noticing.
74/173: Fight through the hermit crab enemy and destroy all the crates. Down below, there are two optional path.
84/173: Take the left (straight) path first. Destroy the trio of fire crates, then backtrack and ride the moving platform back to the start of the pier.
101/173: Back at the pier, take the right path and clear all the crates until you reach a high ledge that allows you to drop down back on the main path.
102/173: There’s a Checkpoint crate inside the cavern. The Bonus Room is just ahead.
[Bonus Room] 125/173: All these crates are in the Bonus Room. The trickiest part is a crate between a Nitro and TNT crate. Either go in with an Aku-Aku mask, or carefully jump and spin-attack to hit that one crate.
130/173: 1 Crate near the Bonus Room, and drop down and look right for 4 more crates.
Hidden Gem: Stand near the 4 crates you destroyed for the previous entry. There’s an easy-to-miss platform in the foreground. Ride it to a small platform and attack the chest.
141/173: On the platforming sequence before reaching the massive gates. Hit the “!” block to make more blocks appear at the front-right corner. This set includes the checkpoint.
173/173: Clear the last crates on the final path and hit the Nitro detonator.