| Crystal Castles |
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| | Developer(s) | Atari | | Publisher(s) | Atari | | Designer(s) | Project Leader: Scott Fuller Programmer: Franz X. Lanzinger Hardware: Sam Lee | | Platform(s) | Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Acorn Electron, ZX Spectrum | | Release date | 1983 | | Genre(s) | Action | | Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns | | Input methods | Trackball, 1 button, | | Cabinet | Standard and cocktail | | Display | Raster, standard resolution (Used: 256 x 232), 19 inch, horizontal |
This article is about the arcade game. For the band, see Crystal Castles (band). Crystal Castles is a 1983 arcade game by Atari. The game is somewhat inspired by Pac-Man, but takes place in a three-dimensional world with more varied opponents. The original Crystal Castles is a trimetric-projected game.
Game playThe player controls the main character, Bentley Bear, who has to collect gems in three-dimensional castles. Crystal Castles uses a trackball for controlling the main character's movements. Gems are collected by simply walking over them. The jump button can be used to make Bentley jump over opponents, which will also serve to stun some of them. Crystal Castles makes good use of the three-dimensional setting. There are stairs, elevators and even tunnels that the player can use as shortcuts. When all gems in a castle have been collected, the player moves on to the next castle. The game has 10 levels with 4 castles each, other than the final level, which features a single castle. After clearing this one, the game ends. The player can skip some castles — and also acquire additional lives, greater than the three otherwise allotted — by using secret warps, which require the player to jump at special locations. Unlike similar games, not only can the player collect gems, some of the opponents can as well. The only difference is the lower score, as the player only gets points for the gems that he collected himself, plus an extra bonus for finishing a castle that will be granted if the player collects the last gem. If one of the enemies collected the last gem, the player would receive no bonus. While collecting, there are a number of opponents that try to stop Bentley Bear. If he touches any of them (with two exceptions, detailed below), he will lose one of his lives. There are basically two different types of enemies in the game: those that track Bentley, and those that do not. Of the enemies that track Bentley, the most difficult is probably the tree, which tries to move towards Bentley in a straight line. The crystal balls are a bit more flexible, and can sometimes work their way around obstacles because of their momentum. Finally, the bees move in the same way as the tree, but only land on the maze periodically, mainly to protect the honey. Although the rest of Bentley's foes in the game don't go after him directly, they still pose problems, mainly by getting in the way. One of the most troublesome of this type of opponent are the gem eaters, who not only block the way, but can take away gems, and therefore points, by eating gems they happen upon. Note that the tree and the balls can also eliminate any gems they touch. One effective way to eliminate the gem eaters is to simply touch one while it is eating a gem. This will remove the gem eater from that board, and award the player 500 points. This is easy to do in the lower levels, but hard on level 7 and above, as the enemies move much more quickly. Bentley has less of a threat from the ghost, and the skeleton, both of which move about randomly. However, they differ in that the movements of the ghost are somewhat faster than the skeleton. Finally, there is a non-moving obstacle in the game in the form of a cauldron. Bentley will die if he touches it, so all that is needed is to jump over any cauldrons placed in the way. To complete a maze, all the gems must be picked up. There is a bonus if Bentley can collect the last gem on a maze, so be sure none of the enemies gets it first. The main way to earn points is to collect the gems themselves, which start out at 1 point each, and increase up to 99 points each. It is important to move quickly in the game, and collect the most gems possible, as this is the key to high scores. On most mazes, a hat, and a honey pot, appear. The hat is worth 500 points if Bentley picks it up, and, more importantly, it will make him invulnerable for a few seconds. Note that Berthilda the witch, who appears on every fourth maze, can be eliminated if Bentley touches her while wearing the hat. 3,000 points are also awarded for killing her, so quick timing is important. Finally, the honey pot is worth 1,000 points. Picking it up can delay the bees landing, but when they return, they will land at the spot where the honey was.
WarpsIn addition to playing the game starting at the beginning, and going through the 10 levels one at a time, there are warps that exist to allow the player to skip certain levels. - On level 1-1 go to the upper left hand corner (only Bentley's outline will be visible) and jump to warp to 3-1. If the last player beat level 1 there will be a door visible on 1-1 on the next game. If the player enters and jumps here, they will be taken to the last level where the previous player managed to clear at least the first castle. This means that if the previous player lost their last life on the second, third or fourth castle of level 5, the warp hole would lead to level 5. However, if the previous player lost their last life on the first castle of level five, the warp would only lead to level 4. To earn a good time bonus for completing level 10, the player had to play so that they could warp as high up as possible from level 1. This warp would not take the player beyond level 8, though.
- On level 3-1 grab the hat. Race to the lower-left elevator and ride it up to the upper platform. Run down the steps to the back left corner of the maze (only Bentley's outline will be visible) and jump, to warp to level 5-1.
- On level 5-3 go to the upper left corner and jump to warp to 7-1.
All the warps increase the number of lives (the amount of which depending on the configuration of the arcade machine) and the player's score would rise to a certain amount (70,000 x the previous level's number).
Easter eggs- Jump 100 times or more in the southeast corner of level 1-1 (the bees will probably attack twice). Clear the maze and then ATARI appears on level 1-2.
- On level 5 (Berthilda's Palace) get the hat and go in the door to kill Berthilda. Go to the corner of the area where she was and jump; FXL will appear in the southeast corner of the screen, which stands for Franz X. Lanzinger, a designer of Crystal Castles.
Trivia- Bentley Bear 'cries out' in a distinctive manner when a life is lost, based upon how many lives remain. This is done by the use of word balloons similar to those used in cartoons published in newspapers. If three or more lives remain, he says "BYE"; if two lives still remain, the quotation is "OH NO"; if one life is left, it is "OUCH"; and finally, for the last lost life (which ends the game), he says "#?!", so as to imitate an obscenity.
- The 3-letter initials of the player with the highest score are visible as a part of the first level's structure when the play is restarted.
- Bentley Bear later made a cameo in the game Atari Karts for the Atari Jaguar, where he was a selectable racer.
- This game was one of, if not the first arcade game with an actual ending, whereas most games of the time either continued indefinitely, or simply just restarted from the first level.
- Bentley Bear's name was 'Braveheart Bear' in the game's early development. His girlfriend's name is Bertha Astolphi Bear.
- Crystal Castles was the first game to use the Leta chip, a custom trackball controller chip designed by Scott Fuller. It was also the first game to use the Potato chip, a custom vertical scrolling controller chip, also designed by Scott Fuller.
- "Tree Wave" is a Dallas-based band named for the second stage of the first level in Crystal Castles, in which the only enemies are four trees. The band uses old computers, including Commodore 64s, an OPL3-based sound card for the IBM PC, and a dot matrix printer, running custom machine code written by one of the band members, as instruments.
- The band Crystal Castles was not named after this game; rather, they named themselves after the Crystal Castle in the animated series She-Ra: Princess of Power.
- ^ Peek-A-Boo Records Catalog
PortsCrystal Castles has been ported to the following home computers and video game consoles: - Apple II - Simpler graphics, but the gameplay is quite close to the original.
- Atari 2600 - Because of the technical limitations of the Atari 2600, the game has been simplified.
- Atari 8-bit - Graphically better than the 2600 version, the mazes actually resemble the arcade. Was finally released as an XE cartridge. Very rare.
- Atari ST - Although the ST would have been capable of a graphically near-perfect port, all graphics have been repainted, making it look quite different from the arcade version. Gameplay is about the same as the original except for the difficulty level, which is lower than that of the arcade original.
- Commodore 64 - Simpler graphics, but the gameplay is quite close to the original.
- BBC / Acorn Electron - Good graphics, close to the original
- ZX Spectrum - two-colour graphics in the main gameplay area due to the Spectrum's attribute clash problems.
- PC, PlayStation and Dreamcast - Arcade version as part of the Atari Anniversary game.
- Xbox and PlayStation 2 - (both in arcade and Atari 2600 format) as part of Atari Anthology (2005).
In addition, certain ports use dimetric projection, as opposed to the arcade version's original trimetric projection, to display environments.
External links- The unofficial Crystal Castles Homepage
- Crystal Castles at the Killer List of Videogames
- Crystal Castles guide at StrategyWiki
- Crystal Castles at MobyGames
- Crystal Castles at World of Spectrum
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