Lanzinger (who later moved on to work at Tengen). These are the initials of the programmer Franz X. On level 5‒4, killing Berthilda and going to the corner of the area where she was and jumping, causes "FXL" to appear in the southeast corner of the screen.Moving into the southeast corner of the first level and jumping at least 100 times causes the word Atari to appear in level 1-2.A working prototype of the game is actively traded between Atari enthusiasts. The Atari 5200 version of the game, as a casualty of the video game crash of the 1980s, was developed but never released. The game was both published and developed by Atari, Inc. It is one of the firstarcade games to feature a definitive ending, as apposed to continuing until a loss of lives. The arcade version is controlled using a trackball, and takes its name from the castles the player inhabits in order to obtain the "Crystals" or "Gems". Even with it's flaws Crystal Castles is an awesome and loveable game.Crystal Castles is an arcade game released in 1983 where the player controls " Bentley Bear" who must collect gems while avoiding enemies. It adds a lot of character to the maze collecting genre that is filled with to many clones. FS Game: Atari Crystal Castles SoCal 1400 obo Thread starter VidyaGamez Start date VidyaGamez Well-known member. Darryl B.)Ĭrystal Castles is a must have for 2600 owners.
ATARI CRYSTAL CASTLES GAME FREE
(Note: a trackball was released for the 2600, which I think Crystal Castles was compatible with it, but obviously Brendan hadn't used one for this game if anyone has, feel free to put up their experience with it in the comments section at the bottom! - Assistant Ed. But with a little bit of practice you can control Bentley with ease. The joystick control is far from the Arcade version's track ball and could have used more work. Movement seems to be a bit stiff and the jumping is hard to pull off at first. This is where Crystal Castles seem to take a turn for the worse. Crystal Castles is one of the few 2600 games that are actually pleasant to listen to and is easy on the ears. other sounds like picking up gems or dying are also well done and when you finish a round a sound effect is used when you teleport to the next castle. But the game's graphics are sure to please anyone.Ī nice little tune is used to kick off each round as they begin. My only problem is with the gems that are simply lines and that is disappointing. Sprites move smoothly like the elevators and enemies. Bentley has plenty of detail to make him look like a bear and the enemies are easy to recognize without reference to the manual. This adds a whole new dimension so to speak to the maze collecting genre and is probably what makes the jumping system possible. Just like the cover art would imply Crystal Castles is presented in isometric 3D.
![atari crystal castles game atari crystal castles game](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/VGQAAOSw8JxewVbm/s-l300.jpg)
Eventually you will work around the gameplay issues. But I have found these things to be minor annoyances and don't cause enough wrongful deaths to be a big problem. Sometimes enemies will even get stuck behind walls leaving you to try and use yourself as bait to get them unstuck so you can get the gems they are sitting on. But enemies always try to take a direct course towards you so they may get you on your landing If you aren't careful. You can also jump over enemies which allows for more skill than Pac-Man and even a little more strategy. It doesn't prove to be to big of a problem though and will only happen a couple of times during a game. You may have to go back and pick up a couple of gems but that is a problem when there are enemies around.
ATARI CRYSTAL CASTLES GAME ZIP
Most of the time you will zip through gems just to have one not be picked up. Collision detection when trying to pick up the gems isn't the greatest though. The game plays like a 3-dimensional Pac-Man for the most part.
![atari crystal castles game atari crystal castles game](https://teeherivar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/210730AFD30058-1.jpg)
If you pick up a hat then you will be invincible temporarily. Enemies such as skeletons, trees and a witch will try and stop you and any contact with them will take away one of your lives.
![atari crystal castles game atari crystal castles game](https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/YGsAAOSwVClfU-Id/s-l300.jpg)
The only way he can get out of the castle and move on to the next one is by picking up all the gems and then be teleported. It seems that our friend Bentley Bear is trapped in an evil witch's castle. So I plugged the cartridge into my deck and was pleasantly surprised when I played this little gem (no pun intended). I didn't know what to think when I saw the label on the cartridge though. Now you can see how shocked I was when It turned out to be an arcade game with a bright boot wearing bear making his way through castles. I imagined that it would be some kind of adventure or rpg with a sword wielding hero making his way through castles. Before I played the game the name of it gave me a completly different idea of gameplay. Crystal Castles is based on the arcade game of the same name.