Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - General Findings

The official demo places the red gem directly above a seal. To prevent players from bouncing off the seal and get the gem directly, the final version has a bottomless pit beneath the gem, and the seal is moved to the left. This proved to be inefficient, because with a bit of luck, you can still bounce off the seal and get the gem by belly-flopping close to it.

The TNT seen in this screenshot was removed.

This screenshot can be seen in the back cover of the game. It shows the first ice-skating segment of Snow Go. The 3 iron boxes with the 1UP on top weren't always on the ice. They were initially placed a little further ahead. They may have been moved so that the player could get better acquainted with skating and jumping by trying to get that 1UP.

This screenshot was scanned from a very old, unofficial guide. Tiny lacks the name on his life bar, once again proving he was named late in development (this is also evidenced by the NTSC-US version, which displays the placeholder name "TAZ TIGER" on the pause menu).

Though you probably can't tell just by looking at the screenshot, it's showing the very first Warp Room cutscene with Cortex, when he tells Crash about crystals. From this angle, you'd think that was the hologram depicting the crystal in the middle, but it's actually the crystal from Crash Dash, already retrieved and in place. This is odd because this hologram conversation normally happens before any crystal can be found.

The ground you could burrow through used to be grayish-brown instead of red.

The final version doesn't have snow in this patch.

While the game was in development, you'd be able to move Crash during holographic projections.

Some unseen segments from the level Bear Down.

N. Gin didn't always have 3 phases. At first he only had the red laser and missile phases, lacking the final green laser from its robot's stomach.

This picture is from the Brady Games guide. Click the thumbnail to see a description of a hidden Crate that was removed from the game.

An old unofficial guide mentions that certain levels used to have different crate counts:
   - Crash Crush (47 instead of 57)
   - The Eel Deal (81 instead of 79)
   - Sewer or Later (56 instead of 57)
   - Bee-Having (100 instead of 92)

In early versions of the game, Crash would flash white if he took damage with Aku Aku protecting him. Interestingly, one of the only textures used in his model (the back) wouldn't.