Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a 3D action platforming game developed by Naughty Dog as the sequel to Crash Bandicoot.

Bear Down Extra Gem Slot
The level "Bear Down" contains one crystal and only one gem, however its entrance portal in the warp room holds a third crystal/gem slot with an internal name similar to those used for the secondary gems found in some other levels.

Ruination Easy/Hard Signpost
As shown in some E3 preview footage, the level "Ruination" once featured a stone signpost demarking the "easy" and "hard" paths through the level. Although this signpost is no longer present in the final release, its object code and model data still remain in the game files and are fully functional.

Unseen Boxes in Totally Bear
In the level "Totally Bear", there are two boxes which are never seen during gameplay. These two boxes, A TNT and a life crate, are destroyed as the TNT detonates before coming on-screen.

Save Icon Placeholders
These 4 placeholder images are loaded in the graphics data for the save icons until the save/load menu is accessed.

Regional Differences
Excluding language, there are some minor differences between the different regional releases of the game:

Japanese Differences

 * The title screen music is completely different.
 * (as seen on the right) When Aku Aku is collected, he will sometimes inform the player about various aspects of the game in a tutorial-like manner. This is similar to the first game, but features facial animations and audio rather than on-screen text.
 * The "TNT" label on TNT boxes has been replaced with an image of a bomb.

European Differences

 * The radius of Crash's bodyslam attack is greatly increased in the European version, fixing an issue where players can get "embedded" inside a stack of steel bodyslam crates.
 * A bug exists in the waterboard level time challenges where a player can enter the bonus round and commit suicide to reset the timer. This bug is partially fixed in the European version.