Aku Aku Crate

The Aku Aku Crate is a type of crate featured in every game of the main Crash Bandicoot series, starting with the first Crash Bandicoot game. When broken, the crate releases Aku Aku, who then tags alongside Crash throughout his journey. Aku Aku serves as an extra hit point for Crash, and disappears if Crash hits either an enemy or an obstacle. If Crash breaks an Aku Aku Crate but already has Aku Aku at his side, then Aku Aku turns a gold color, allowing Aku Aku to withstand two hits. If broken a third time, then Aku Aku becomes temporarily invincible, like what the Invincibility Mask item does in the racing titles.

In Crash Bandicoot's two dark levels, Lights Out and Fumbling in the Dark, if Aku Aku is released from an Aku Aku Crate, he lights the path ahead but only for a short period of time. Crash can break more Aku Aku Crates along the way to add more time to Aku Aku lighting the path ahead. In these two levels, breaking more Aku Aku Crates does not grant any additional hit points to Aku Aku.

In Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, they are named Aku Aku Boxes. The game depicts Aku Aku Boxes as having an angry face. Despite this, the game's associated artwork for an Aku Aku Box (later reused for both Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure and Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced) shows it having a different expression. This expression would later be reused for the Aku Aku Crates in Crash Twinsanity and its associated artwork for Aku Aku Crates.

In both Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy, the Aku Aku Crate only appears as a blue trading card, and is ranked as lowest value. In the former game, Aku Aku Crates are replaced by a similar type of iron crate, Aku Aku Boxes, a name that was previously used for regular Aku Aku Crates in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage's instruction booklet erroneously lists Aku Aku Crates instead of Aku Aku Boxes, and it even has the Aku Aku Crate artwork and describes it as being breakable.

In Crash Twinsanity, whenever Crash breaks an Aku Aku Crate a second time, Aku Aku glimmers instead of appearing gold. When playing as either Doctor Neo Cortex or Nina Cortex, the Aku Aku Crate summons Uka Uka instead, owing to them being villains. This does not occur when Doctor Cortex breaks an Aku Aku Crate in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.