Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10; see individual games below [highly skill dependent] [Achievement Difficulty Rating]
- Offline: 77 [3000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 40-50+ hours; see individual games below [highly skill dependent] [Estimated Time to 100%]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: Multiple of each level in each game for collecting gems and relics; see breakdown below
- Missable achievements: C2 | Cortex N. Furiated (20G) in Crash Bandicoot 2 is the only missable achievement in the collection
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No difficulty option in any of the games
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
 

• Crash Bandicoot
  • Difficulty: 8/10 [highly skill dependent]
  • Time to 1000: 15-20 hours [highly skill dependent]
  • Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed: at least 2 of some levels, but at least 3 of most levels
  • Missable achievements: None

• Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
  • Difficulty: 7/10 [highly skill dependent]
  • Time to 1000: 10-15 hours [highly skill dependent]
  • Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed: at least 2 of some levels, but at least 3 of most levels
  • Missable achievements: C2 | Cortex N. Furiated (20G) is missable, but is right at the start of a save file

• Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
  • Difficulty: 6/10 [highly skill dependent]
  • Time to 1000: 10-15 hours [highly skill dependent]
  • Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed: at least 2 of some levels, but at least 3 of most levels
  • Missable achievements: None

Introduction:
Welcome to the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, a collection of the first three Crash Bandicoot games, originally released on Playstation but now remastered in all their glory. If you played the original releases of any of these games, you may remember them as being quite challenging. Your memory serves you correctly, but do know that a couple tweaks were made that make these games easier to get the completion than the original releases. The biggest is that you no longer need to break all boxes without dying to earn the gem in a stage. Instead, you just need to break all boxes no matter how many times you die. This makes things significantly easier. That being said, these are still older platformers, meaning you can expect a hefty amount of challenge, especially from the older ones. Even so, with some practice, the completions are very manageable. Let's get started. 

Abbreviated Walkthrough:
While each game is completely independent of the others, and you may be tempted, based on the overviews above, to start with the third game because it's easier and work up to the hardest one, I don't recommend that. You should be playing them in order, because each one builds off of mechanics and movement from the previous game. You'll start off with a pretty challenging experience with the first game, but the good news is that once you conquer it, you'll know that it means you'll be able to tackle the other two games for sure. 

Crash Bandicoot:
The first game in the series is actually the hardest, mainly because of the rougher controls and jumping mechanics, which can be frustrating to get used to at first. You'll also have to adjust to judging depth in this game so you can clear gaps toward and away from the camera better. Be prepared to struggle more up front as you throw away what you're used to with modern platformers and jump back into an era before they were as refined as they are now. Here are some general tips:
 

• Not only do "coyote frames" exist in this game, they are absolutely mandatory for even some of the early levels, to clear many of the jumps. It'll definitely take some adjusting to get used to jumping from platforms so late, but the only way to get through this game and the completion is to adjust to how late you need to jump from platforms to be able to clear gaps
• Enemy hitboxes can be really awkward. It's fully possible to feel like you're jumping on an enemy only to take damage and not bounce. It can be annoying, and all you can really do is learn the hitboxes of various enemies, and try to avoid jumping on certain ones that are problematic (such as turtles).
• Be prepared to work on your depth perception a lot. It can be pretty tough at first to get used to judging depth in this game, and you'll assuredly miss many simple jumps because of it, dying a lot. It's frustrating, but keep practicing and you'll eventually get used to it. That's all you can really do.
• Don't hesitate to watch videos. Often, you'll find someone taking some shortcut you didn't know existed, or doing a section in a different way that makes it much easier.
• Sometimes faster is better. Thankfully, like many good platformers, this game was designed with the time trials in mind, meaning you'll often find that many levels having obstacles and enemies and timing set up such that if you don't stop between them, things sync up perfectly. This isn't always the case, but it is most of the time in many levels. So, while you may go slow at first to see what's coming next and figure out how to deal with it, after dying a bunch, you'll likely find that your dwindling patience that makes you move quicker actually helps you get through sections more consistently, because it's easier to make sure your timing is the same every time

On to the levels themselves and progressing for this completion. There will be many instances of needing to revisit levels in this game in order to get all of the gems, but this is how I recommend proceeding:
 

• Play through a level and beat it, getting all boxes along the way. This won't be possible in many levels until you have all of the color gems, but do it in each level in case you can complete it.
• Immediately after completing a level, go for the gold relic on it. It's much more efficient to do the time trials while the level is still fresh in your mind, and right after you probably spent a bunch of lives dying and getting better at various parts of it. Color gems aren't needed for any gold relics, so you can do every single gold relic as you progress. This will not be easy, because you must complete the level without dying to get the relic, but practice makes perfect here, and thankfully most levels aren't very long. Refer to C1 | Practice Makes Perfect! (70G) for more help on any levels you're stuck on. Definitely watch videos for each level, because you'll often find quicker ways to get through areas, and like noted above, in the previous section, often times going quicker means stuff will be synced up better and you'll be able to get through the level more consistently. Like all platformers through, you'll need to practice and develop some muscle memory for each level to get the gold relic.
• On six of the levels, you need to break all boxes in the level in a single run without dying to get the color gem in that level. Once again, I highly recommend doing this right away so the level is still fresh in your mind. Doing it right after your relic run will mean you're able to beat the level without dying already, so now you can take your time and break all of the boxes too. Unfortunately, you can't get the purple gem until you proceed to the final stage to get the yellow gem, and then you can replay Lights Out to get the purple gem. The levels that have color gems are:
  • The Lost City (Green Gem)
  • Generator Room (Orange Gem)
  • Toxic Waste (Blue Gem)
  • Slippery Climb (Red Gem)
  • Lights Out (Purple Gem)
  • The Lab (Yellow Gem)

Finally, after progressing to the end of the game and unlocking all six color gems, you can then go back and replay all of the earlier levels that you don't have the clear gem in. Refer to C1 | The Ultimate Gem Path (70G) for more information on the color gems and finding all boxes for the clear gems.

With all levels complete, gold relics on them all, and 100% completion (all 26 gems), it's time to move on to the hardest part of the game: Stormy Ascent. Before heading to that extra level, if you haven't already, head to the second-last level, Castle Machinery, and quickly grind out 99 lives (refer to C1 | On Cloud 99 (50G) if you need an additional explanation). You'll want plenty of lives to ensure you don't run out. Now, head to Stormy Ascent (either from the very first stage or very last stage) and you'll now need to do the same thing on this level: beat it once while breaking all boxes to get the clear gem (this unlocks C1 | The Crown Jewel (35G)) and then do the time trial on it to get at least a gold relic (which unlocks C1 | An Ancient Antiquity (70G)). The latter is notorious for being the hardest achievement in the game, and the hardest in this entire collection. However, I personally didn't find it as hard as The High Road's relic; it only took me trying for an hour or so at most. Just like with the base game levels, practice makes perfect. So, don't be intimidated by the length of this level, and keep at it. Once you manage the gold relic, the worst is over.

Lastly, with all of the difficult stuff done, if you're still missing an miscellaneous achievements, refer to the guide to quickly take care of them, wrapping up this game in the collection.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back:
First and foremost, be aware of the missable achievement in this game, C2 | Cortex N. Furiated (20G). It's unlocked right at the start of a new game, so it's not a huge deal if you miss it (you can start a new game on a new save slot to get it without affecting your current save). Might as well get it out of the way so you don't have to worry about it though.

The second game in the series will likely feel much, much better to play. The controls are tighter and so is the platforming. However, the second brings with it a bunch of new mechanics that, for some reason, the game doesn't tell you about at all. You therefore might be left wondering how to reach certain areas, break certain boxes, etc. Here is a list of the new things you need to be aware of to stand any chance of succeeding in this game.
 

• Belly Flop - for some reason the game doesn't tell about this move, but while in the air you can press  to do a belly flop. This stops you in your tracks and makes you smash all the way to the ground, but most importantly, it's the only way to destroy those metal caged boxes you'll come across in various levels
• Sliding - you can press  while holding a specific direction to slide. You don't actually need to be moving to slide, just pressing a direction when you press . This is required to get under some obstacles, but it also can be used to kill multiple enemies that can't be spin attacked or jumped on
• Long High Jump - if you jump immediately after sliding, you'll perform a long jump. You want to press a direction and  to slide, then immediately press  as soon as you start to slide. This will make you not only jump a much farther distance, but it will also make you jump higher. You can use this to cross bigger gaps more efficiently, but also can use it to reach higher platforms or boxes than you'd otherwise be able to do
• Even Longer Higher Jump - building off the previous one, you can actually make the Long Jump slightly higher and slightly longer by adding in a spin attack. You need to spin as early as possible, counterintuitively (spinning at the height of your jump won't extend it). So, you want to slide with , immediately jump with , and immediately spin with . It's a very fluid and continuous motion of    to do this

With those mechanics in mind, you now stand a chance of progressing through this game, getting all the gems, and getting all the relics. Speaking of which, I recommend a different approach in this game versus the first game. The main reason is that gold relics won't be readily obtainable until you beat the game. Beating the final boss rewards you with Running Shoes that allow you to hold  to run faster whenever you want. Therefore, you're going to progress and completely ignore the relics.

However, you can get most of the gems on your first pass. Definitely get all of the color gems on your first time through. Refer to C2 | Laser Powered Vengeance (60G) for getting all the color gems, and all the clear ones too, if you want to try for them on your first pass through levels. They are much tougher this time around, versus the first game, so be aware. The other thing you should be doing as you progress through all the levels is discovering the secret exit in each applicable level. There is an achievement for each one, and the secret exits give you secret entrances to some levels. These are required to get all of the gems too, so definitely make sure to get all the secret exits as you progress.

After getting through all of the levels and beating the game (the bosses are quite easy in this one), you'll get the Running Shoes. Now it's time to go back to the beginning and redo all the levels to get gold relics. If you haven't gotten the gems yet, do those first to build your familiarity with the level, then immediately redo it with the time trial to go for gold. Like with the first game, there are a bunch of tough levels but then also easier ones. Be prepared to practice many of them, but persist and you'll get all the relics (and any gems you missed).

At this point, if you're missing any miscellaneous achievements, such as amassing 99 lives, refer to the guide for how to get each one. That'll wrap up the second game in the trilogy.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped:
The third game is actually nearly identical the second game in terms of gameplay and how you'll progress for the completion. There aren't any missables in this one, so jump right in. With the experience of (hopefully) just recently completing Crash 2, this game will likely feel significantly easier, with easier levels (no ice!) and easier traps and enemies. 

One exception here is that it's actually possible to get almost every gem (clear and color) on your first run, so I highly recommend doing so. I actually found it quite easy to find all the boxes myself in this game, unlike the previous two, but if you prefer to follow a video for every level, there's one in C3 | Bringing Down the House (50G) that shows every gem. In this game, most color gems are on the only Death Routes in the game, so you should take care of those right away too.

Also like the previous game, you get the Running Shoes after beating the game, and should therefore save the relics until later. You could, if you wanted, still get the gold relics on the vehicle stages, water stages, and tiger stages, since the Running Shoes won't affect them. It's entirely up to you though. If you wait, you can then come back and do them all in a row, making it easier to keep track. I actually found most of the gold relics to be much easier in this game than the previous two games, but there were still a few ones that were a pain. There's a video in C3 | Boo-yah, Grandma! Boo-yah! (70G) if you're struggling with any levels, as well as some general tips. 

Once you have the gold relics on the 25 regular stages, and once you've beaten the game, there's a bunch of mopping up to do.
 

• First, you'll need to find the secret exits in Dino Might and Road Crash (refer to each achievement for where to find them). Each leads to a bonus level that is only accessible through that secret exit (meaning there is no hub world access!). You need to get the clear gem in each one for an achievement, and will also need the gold relics too. 
• Second, now is a good time to grind out 99 lives if you haven't gotten that achievement yet. Best to do it now before the extra level since you're likely to die a bunch on it. Refer to C3 | A Stitch in Time Saves 99 (50G) for a pretty quick and painless way to grind that out. 
• Third, it's time to take on the extra level Future Tense, accessed from the silver platform. You need to get both clear gems in this level for an achievement, and one is behind a Death Route. Definitely refer to the video guide for this one, as the boxes are very sneakily hidden in it. It's up to you if you want to try for the gold relic here. It's the 31st relic in the game and you only need 30, so you could skip this one, or you could get it and skip another. 
• Fourth, it's time to take care of the last levels in the secret warp room, accessed by taking the yellow platform down in the center of the hub. There are three extra levels down there. However, if you've gotten all gems and relics up to this point, you actually don't need to play all three levels if you don't want to. You only need 45 gems (out of 47 available) and 30 gold relics (out of 31 available). So, depending on how you managed other levels, you could potentially skip an entire level down here. 

Once you unlock C3 | Bringing Down the House (50G) for 42 gems and C3 | Boo-yah, Grandma! Boo-yah! (70G) for 30 relics, you might need to get up to 45 gems to reach at least 100% completion on the pause menu. With that done, you can now finally unlock C3 | Accept No Substitutes (20G) in the first level of the game. 

Lastly, if you're still missing any miscellaneous achievements, quickly mop them up now. Refer to each one to see where to quickly get it. 

Conclusion:
The N Sane Trilogy is a fantastic remaster of the original Crash Bandicoot games. The graphics are so drastically improved that the originals will be barely recognizable, the gameplay and platforming is tight, and the gem collection is fun as ever. Like many older platforms, you can expect a decent amount of difficulty while you get used to the nuances, especially with the first game, but thankfully there are marked improvements from game to game, making each more fun and somewhat easier than the previous one. You can also thank the devs for some slight gameplay tweaks that also made these much easier than the originals. Hopefully you survived some of the early platforming challenges and made it through this well earned completion!