I'd like to think I'm pretty decent at platformers. But my gosh this level is killing me :( it's probably one of the most frustrating things I've encountered in a video game in quite sometime. They give akus if you die a whole bunch and those don't even help with alot of the platforming sections.

Is anyone else having trouble with this, or is it just me?

Yeah it's an absurd difficulty spike. Just take it slow. Very slow. Get every life in the level. Near the ending there are 3 fire jumps in a row. You have to land on the first one while the fire is still there.

If you're asking for 100%/time trial help then just look at youtube videos. Im not even going to bother trying to do that.

I'm trying to remember from back in the day: this is the first 2d level in the first game, right? I don't recall it being particularly bad.

Yeah, I just played that one this morning and it was tough as hell. I also hit the part where they kept giving me Akus but they weren't doing a thing - if anything, I was playing worse with them, as I was slacking on some of the non-pitfall obstacles knowing that I'd be safe if I hit them.

I eventually got through that three-fire jump thing at the end by burning a mask in the process. Didn't feel good about it, but fuck that level.

The real ass kicker was "Temple Ruins", though. It's on the island after Ripper Roo. That took me like a goddamn hour, hated that level.

@acidpops91: wait. So you have to jumo on it while it's still on fire? Doesn't that kill you? Or would I have to use a aku? O_o

I remember there being a bunch of difficulty spikes in this game. I never got past one of the foggy bridge levels in the original game, and I'm dreading it now since I was watching a stream where the guy talked about how some of the jumps were so unreliable because of how this new game works, that it's easier to jump on the ropes suspending the bridge (which is still unreliable) than it is to actually play the level the way it was intended.

I want to do the whole 100% runs for all three games in this collection but I don't think I have the ability to pull some off this stuff off.

Yeah, Crash 1 has a bunch of bullshit in it, you're not alone.

@giantlennonx_x: as the fire is going out the last couple of frames when the fire is small wont hurt you.

I watched 4 different youtube videos and they all used the Aku mask but I figured that couldn't possibly the intended way to do it so I tried my method and it worked. Plus I kept losing the Aku mask.

I gave up in Temple Ruins and just started playing Crash 2 instead. I'd rather not break my controller in half when I've only played the first game of the whole trilogy. I'll give it another go later, but I'll at least finish Crash 2 first.

Yup, I'm in the same boat. Some of the tips in here'll probably help though.

I beat it earlier. Native Fortress was where I remember why I both love and hate Crash Bandicoot as a series.

Still, I will say that I am loving this package and I'm happy they've released it. I just wish that they would have included the original PS1 games in there as well.

At those three fire platforms you have to jump on at the end their is a flat piece of fencing above the second one you can land on and wait for them to go out before jumping onto the third one. You can also skip a whole heap of that level by jumping behind the fence at the top part of the level after the first checkpoint up their, the broken piece of fence is near a turtle with an Aku box above it.

Yes I was stuck on Native Fortress for a while, that difficulty spike is crazy. The levels immediately following it are way easier.

I think they realized that and put secrets in to get around the tougher spots. Look for the spikes without points on them and jump into the background for easy passage.