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 SNK
is not exactly known for churning out excellent adventure games but that is
exactly what they did in 1990 with Crystalis. SNK combined the exploring and sword
upgrade style of The Legend of
Zelda along with the experience point system of Zelda II – The Adventure of Link to create a game that many felt
was a truer sequel to Zelda than Zelda II.
The story to the game is a little deeper than the typical NES
game. You are the main character
who has woken from a cryogenic sleep 100 years after a nuclear war. You have no memory of what happened and
you are slowly given your backstory through four Wiseman and a mysterious
woman. You do know, though, that
there is an evil emperor who is attempting to take control of the world
and it is your job to stop him.
Along the way you will pick up four swords, lots of important
items and a handful of necessary magic spells. The game is called Crystalis because your goal is to get the most powerful sword
in the game, which is called Crystalis.
You must use the sword to defeat the end guy of the game.
Along with finding swords you must purchase equipment and earn
experience points to become stronger.
You can move all the way up to a level 16 in the game and
thankfully it is pretty easy to reach this level. You won’t find yourself leveling up for
hours just so you can enter a certain area of the game, there are plenty
of bad guys that are easy to kill that offer up at least a hundred
experience points.
One interesting aspect is that the game is a lot more linear than it
first seems. The game is split up
into a few different areas and you will not be able to move beyond the
area that you are in until you have done everything you need to do. This means that you should feel free to
explore all the land in the area you are in because it all has to do with
whatever your current mission is.
Each area has at least one town, which of course features
important information along with an inn and stores to buy items. Although you can never move beyond an
area until you are ready, you should always teleport back to old towns to
see what they are up to.
Crystalis proved to be a
popular game on Nintendo Power’s Top 30 poll. It stayed on the chart for over two
years and ranks #16 in total points on the poll. Surprisingly, it has never received any
sequels with only a Game Boy Color remake following up this classic NES
title.
Positives:
 If
you are a fan of Zelda then chances are you will like this game. Many of the things that made the Zelda
series so great on the NES are accounted for in Crystalis. You have a
big overworld to explore, you have to buy items to keep your health up,
you have to talk to townspeople to get clues and you have to go through
dungeons where you find items that will be used in order to continue on
in the game. Crystalis also has unique magical spells such as the ability
to transform yourself into townspeople you meet along the way, the
ability to put townspeople to sleep and the ability to telepathically
talk to wisemen at any time during your journey. I also appreciate how quickly the main
character moves, at first I thought the next game I played was extremely
slow but then I realized it was only because your guy really hightails it
in this game. This one will keep
you busy for awhile but will never have you so frustrated that you want
to break your controller.
Glaring
Negatives:
The main negative is that the game is extremely linear. The main reason it isn’t very
frustrating or difficult is that the game won’t let you into certain
areas until you are ready. This gives
you clear boundaries on where items will be hidden and makes the world
feel a lot smaller than The Legend
of Zelda even though it is probably bigger. I also found it a bit annoying to have
to constantly switch between your swords to figure out which one each
enemy on the screen was weak against.
The menu system is also very clunky – you have to press select to
bring up the weapons screen and if you want to hold an item you usually
cannot use your sword as well.
Graphics
and Sound: Good
Although some of the color schemes are a bit odd, overall the graphics
are very good. There is a nice
variety of enemies and terrain. I
like how when you walk in the grass you are partly covered up and some
enemies can be barely seen in it.
The sound is fine with a bunch of peppy tunes pushing you
throughout the game. The sound
effects are solid and important because if you try and kill an enemy with
the wrong sword you will hear a sound that lets you know to switch
swords.
Gameplay
and Controls: Great
The gameplay is where the game shines.
You will enjoy exploring the terrain, killing bad guys and talking
to townspeople. The controls are
pretty good although there are times when you get hit because you aren’t
lined up perfectly with your sword and the bad guy just walks through you
instead (often leaving you poisoned in the process).
 Features: Battery
Crystalis features a battery
so you can save your progress. It
is a little tricky though because you have to press Select and then Start
to bring up the save screen. To
load a game, you have to start a new game and then press Select and Start
to bring up the load screen. Many
people think that their game didn’t save but you just have to know how to
load it up.
Fun?:
Definitely
You will definitely have a ball going through this game. There is a lot of exploring, talking to
townspeople and of course slaying of bad guys.
Challenge:
Medium
Crystalis only has a couple
points that leave you really confused on where to go next. Luckily you can always ask your elders
with your Telepathy spell, they usually will tell you what to do next
when you are lost. Leveling up is
much easier than in other experience point games.
Replay:
A little
There are a few hidden items that can be pretty tricky to find but
other than that I can’t imagine replaying this game any time soon. I could see myself playing through this
game in a few years, though, once I’ve forgotten where everything is.
2
Player: No
That is not an option.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
You can find all the NES manuals
at Nintendo
Age.
Bottom Line: If you love Zelda, you’ll love
Crystalis
Some people say that Crystalis is
better than The Legend of Zelda. I say that those people drank too much
Kool-Aid. While Crystalis is an excellent
adventure/RPG it does not measure up to the greatest adventure game of
all-time. But the fact that it is
even close tells you that it is an extremely fun game that should be
picked up by any adventure game fan.
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