For veterans of the series, the colorful gems hidden throughout  Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time come as no surprise. For others, the hidden treasures offer a surprise additional challenge beyond that of collecting the standard diamond-like gems.
Crash Bandicoot 4 isn't the first of its kind to feature countless collectibles, in fact, the franchise is well-known for its relatively large number of in-game treasures. Each game in the Crash Bandicoot series offers players a vast number of hidden items to discover, and although the items themselves often vary, certain items like crates, and gems, always seem to make an appearance.
Whereas players earn standard, colorless, gems, for completing tasks like breaking crates during a stage, there are hidden tasks and puzzles that will allow players to ultimately discover four special gems: a blue, yellow, green, and red gem. These colorful gems each come in a unique shape too, and allow players to access new paths/portions of certain stages. Once gathered, the four gems will grant a player access to yet another special area.
Of all four gems, the blue one is arguably the most straightforward to obtain. Players will need to head to one of Crash Bandicoot 4's newly designed areas, Tranquility Falls, and enter the "Draggin' On" level. Once there, instead of searching for the gem somewhere on the stage, players simply need to focus on avoiding all crates.
To earn the Blue Gem, a player will have to complete the Draggin' On stage without destroying a single one of its 139 crates. That's more than one crate for every stage in Crash Bandicoot 4, so players should prepare to journey across a minefield-like stage.
First and foremost, players will want to acquaint themselves with the LT/L2 button - this displays how many crates have been destroyed on a given level. If the counter rises to anything above zero, simply let Crash/Coco die and try again (no need to exit and re-enter the stage, as dying resets the stage's crates.) The other main technique to bear in mind is pacifism.
It may be tempting to bop a few enemies en route to the finish line, but a careless attack can cause enemies to bump into a crate and unintentionally ruin chances at the Blue Gem. Touch nothing. Once a player manages to complete the stage without harming a crate, the Blue Gem will simply appear. Considering the lack of an intricate Crash Bandicoot puzzle, or a tricky technical maneuver, this Blue Gem may very well be first on most collectors' lists.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.