4-S: Clash of the Brandicoot
| 4-S: CLASH OF THE BRANDICOOT | |||
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| General | |||
| Layer & Part | GREED /// SECRET | ||
| Music | The song that plays in the level colloquially known as 4-S | ||
| Collectables | |||
 Clash Mode Cheat
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| Enemies | |||
 14 Filth 4 Strays 3 Schisms 4 Soldiers 2 Streetcleaners 2 Virtues
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4-S: CLASH OF THE BRANDICOOT is Greed's secret level, accessed through an exit in 4-2: God Damn the Sun. 4-S is a direct homage to the Crash Bandicoot games, swapping the fast agile shooter gameplay of the regular levels for a tight platforming move-set, all while collecting boxes and coins throughout the level. 4-S also has the special Clash Mode Cheat, an unlockable cheat that allows the player to use the special platformer controls outside of 4-S, unlocked by breaking all the crates scattered through the map.
Mechanics
Upon walking out of the exit gate, the player will be suddenly sent into a third person perspective, with V1 standing in front. The player has no weapons to attack with and instead replaced with a spin attack performed by pressing the melee key or primary fire.
If the spin attack connects to an enemy, it will be instantly killed no matter how much health it has. The spin attack also has a slight effect on the player's movement when not stationary. When walking, sliding, or dashing, the spin attack will shortly boost the momentum forward, and if the player is in the air, their velocity will speed up.
Health is also different when in this mode, as any point of damage will immediately kill the player, however this can be affected by collecting a Skull power up, which gives the player one extra hit before they are killed.
COLLECTABLES
Scattered throughout the level are various crates for the player to find and collect, with 78 crates in total throughout the level. Most crates give coins for the player to collect upon breaking, converting into 100 points per coin after the player finishes the level:
Normal Crates give one coin before breaking.
"?" Crates give 5 coins upon breaking.
Bounce Crates bounce the player upon contact, for a total of 5 times before breaking, giving 1 coin per hit.
Checkpoint Crates act as standard checkpoints, returning the player to that point after they are killed.
Protector Crates act as increases to the amount of times the player can be hit before dying, being able to stack it up to 3 times if the player avoids getting hit.
- One Protector crate will give the player one extra hit of damage, shown as a Blue Skull circling around the player. Collecting a second protector crate will show as a Red Skull, which will give a total of 2 more hits of damage. Collecting a third protector crate will show as a special Purple Skull upon V1's head, which also grants invulnerability and causing enemies to die upon contact, lasting for 20 seconds until it wears off back to a Red Skull.
Level
Start
The start of 4-S is a set of platforms and bridges along the dunes of Greed's desert, with stone structures and pyramids in the distance. However unlike Greed's other levels taking place with a haze of yellow, the sky within 4-S is bright blue and sunny. Moving forward will eventually cause 2 Filth to spawn on the platform ahead of the player: prompting to showcase the spin attack's unique properties.
Nearby a pillar of crates a tutorial prompt is shown down below on jump height:
The player can then jump onto the crate, then bounce into the crates above to break them, teaching the player about their ability to change the height of their bounce.
Following after a small drop leads to a small broken walkway, where a Stray will spawn at the far end. While usually insignificant in regular gameplay, due to the player's one point of health, the Stray turns into a challenging obstacle with its fast projectile, requiring the player to time a dash or slide to avoid getting hit.
The next platform afterwards holds a special Protector Crate, which upon breaking will grant a one time protection from any source of damage. Walking forward will then summon a Virtue at a platform far away from the player, requiring the player to rush towards it while jumping across a series of small platforms, with 4 Filth and a Stray spawning to get in the way of the player.
Tower Climb
The next part of the level is a tall winding tower, with the player needing to climb up the face of the wall to reach to the top. The first section of it starts off with a bounce pad that sends to a small step, along with a set of 3 crates in the middle. If the player breaks any of the crates, a Stray will spawn onto the platform. After a small rest stop with a checkpoint and a skull crate, the player reaches a walkway with another bounce pad, which walking towards will spawn 2 Soldiers in front of the way.
Bouncing off of the bounce pad leads to top of the tower, where 2 Streetcleaners and 2 Schisms will spawn beside the player. After all the enemies are cleared, the player can then descend through a staircase inside.
Interior Course
After the corridor from outside, the player enters a massive pitch black chasm situated by various moving and stationary pillars, with a checkpoint in front after entering. The next obstacle following is a set of 3 small moving platforms, connecting to another set of moving platforms with a Stray on the other side. The path then turns to the right, where 2 moving platforms connect across a large pit with a set of crates blocking the path. Then afterwards, the path leads to a raised platform connected by shifting steps, with a checkpoint once the player makes it over.
After the checkpoint, the player then needs to head to the left across a set of 4 rising platforms, with one of them holding a Protector Crate on top. As the player ventures across, a single Virtue will spawn on a platform above where the player cannot reach to yet, forcing the player to tread across while constantly dodging its beam of light. After the rising platforms, the path connects by two sets of rotating fast moving platforms, until the player is able to get to the Virtue and kill it, before proceeding down a small set of platforms before the next checkpoint.
Sidescroller
The player will then enter a hallway with a checkpoint, along with a ramp and a secondary set of crates beside it. Jumping onto any of the crates will cause 2 Soldiers to spawn in, with one on the top and bottom floor. After the small encounter, the player comes across a gap in the walkway with a triangular formation of crates in the middle, and after choosing to break or skip them, the path will turn down to the bottom to a set of platforms, where 4 Filth and a Schism try to stop the player before making it to the next checkpoint.
Boulder Chase
The final segment of 4-S consists of a long stretch of hallways, dotted with crates, small platforms and tight movement obstacles. Above the starting checkpoint is a large version of the 
Malicious Face, which once the player crosses forward will start to roll across the hallways chasing the player; as it is tradition of Crash Bandicoot levels to have a boulder segment as the final part of the level.
The first obstacle consists of various gaps within the floor for the player to side step across and jump over, leading to a chasm with 3 small platforms each with a crate on top. Making it past will then summon 4 Filth in front of the player before a long pit of small moving platforms stands in front. Once the player has made it across; a final stretch of crates await for the player to break them before the end of the course, where the Malicious Face will stop at the entrance and block the player from returning into the level.
End
Within the small room lies a glowing blue platform, with the amount of crates the player has broken shown on a hologram. If the player had managed to collect all the crates within the level, the hologram will then be replaced with the Clash Mode Cheat icon.
Upon coming into contact with the icon, the player will see V1 on the pedestal performing a small celebratory dance, ending with a message prompt below:
The player can now have free access to the platforming controls whenever they have Cheats enabled or within the Sandbox.
Once the player walks towards the exit gate to the back of the room, they will be returned to the regular control scheme and back into first person. Awaiting in the elevator lies a Testament Terminal standing before the pit. Completing the level will send the player to the next level, 4-3: A Shot in the Dark.
Testament Log
UNCOUNTABLE CYCLES OF CREATION WASTED
UNCOUNTABLE FORMULAS FOR A MIND WITHOUT
FREE WILL WASTED
DAMNED IS MAN FOR FAILING TO FOLLOW MY
RULE, MY WORD, MY LAW
DAMNED TO AN ETERNITY OF TORTURE AND
SUFFERING,
THE WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
I HAVE CREATED HELL...
