Crates, bonus areas and clear gems
Understand the box counter and build a repeatable route for a crate gem.
Original 1997 PlayStation release. The guides cover its movement, gem routes and Warp Rooms, not the 2017 N. Sane Trilogy remake. Coco is a story character here rather than a selectable campaign hero; remake time-trial relics are outside this guide.
Count the bonus-area crates
A level's crate gem includes boxes in its question-mark bonus area. Enter the platform and solve that short route before continuing your hunt. A failed bonus attempt can be repeated without consuming a normal life, making it a useful place to practice a jump sequence. Work from one crate stack to the next and leave a bounce box intact until you are sure it is no longer needed for height.
Handle each dangerous box deliberately
Bounce onto TNT to start its countdown, then leave the blast area. Nitro explodes on contact, so avoid touching it during ordinary platforming. Find and hit the green exclamation switch that detonates the stage's Nitro boxes. Reinforced locked crates need a belly flop. Read the box before using a spin through a stack; a fast attack becomes costly when an explosive sits directly behind an ordinary crate.
Use checkpoints without assuming a perfect run
The original sequel's ordinary crate gems do not demand the first game's deathless full-level run. Checkpoints retain the crate progress attached to that checkpoint, so use them after clearing a section thoroughly. Boxes broken after the checkpoint may need to be collected again if you die. Inspect the counter as you travel and establish a consistent path; repeated improvisation makes it harder to remember which branch you already finished.
Investigate a missing branch
A low final count can mean a missed bonus area, a colored-gem path or an extra entrance reached from the secret Warp Room. Air Crash and Road to Ruin are useful reminders that the visible main entrance is not always enough. Write down the level and missing route instead of repeatedly replaying the same forward line. Look for the corresponding secret exit in another stage before attempting the crate gem again.
Before leaving a crate cluster, decide whether its bounce box is still needed to reach another stack.
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