Crystalis

''Crystalis'' is a 1990 action role-playing video game developed and published by SNK for the Nintendo Entertainment System. A port for the Game Boy Color developed by Nintendo Software Technology and published by Nintendo was released in 2000.

The game begins with a young magician awakening from the cryogenic sleep he was placed in by the villains of the Great War before nuclear war rained down in the year 1997. Even though he is unable to recall his name or who he was, he exits the Mezame Shrine and discovers that he may be the key to save this world from destruction. Aided by four wise sages and a mysterious woman, he rises up against the tyrannical Draygonian Empire to ensure that humanity ultimately does not repeat the Great War.

The original NES version has been re-released via the '' SNK 40th Anniversary Collection'' on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

Gameplay

''Crystalis'' is an action role-playing game. The world is presented in a top-down perspective so the player character can be moved in eight directions using the control pad. One action button is used for attacking with a sword while the second is mapped to either an equipped magical power or an item from the player's inventory. The start and select buttons bring up the status screen and the inventory menu, respectively. In addition, the player can equip various suits of armor and shields. Defeating monsters allows the player to gain experience points which increases his level thus boosting his health, defense, and attack strength.

The primary means of defeating monsters is through the use of four elemental swords scattered throughout the game (the fifth sword, Crystalis, is obtained in the final dungeon). The swords are capable of both normal slashes and powered-up attacks that launch elemental projectiles. Each of the four swords is imbued with a distinct elemental power (wind, fire, water, and thunder), making each sword more effective than the others in various situations. The elemental nature of each sword also provides a necessary means of traversing otherwise impassable obstacles; certain barriers succumb to the power blasts of individual swords, and the Sword of Water creates a bridge of ice across some shallow, narrow sections of rivers. Some enemies are immune to certain types of elements and must be killed using the opposing element (for instance, ice creatures are weak against fire). Also bosses and enemies require the hero be a certain level or else they cannot be harmed, even if the correct sword is used. The player can also jump over enemies, and certain enemies can form puddles to slide under the sword's reach.

Synopsis

Plot

''Crystalis'' takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in 2097, one hundred years after "1997, October 1, The END DAY", when a global thermonuclear war began that reverted civilization to a primitive, medieval existence populated with fierce mutated creatures. Science and advanced technology have been abandoned, with the survivors deciding to study the ways of magic. The survivors of the destruction built a floating "Tower" to prevent any future cataclysms, as its occupants would have the power to govern the world, due to the Tower's weapons systems. A man known as Draygon, however, revived the forbidden ways of science and combined them with magic. With these skills, he controls the world's last remaining military power and seeks to conquer what is left of the planet by attempting to enter the Tower.

The protagonist awakens with no memory, but, guided by four wise sages, gradually learns that the world is sinking into turmoil, due to the Draygonia Empire's destructive influence. Entrusted with the Sword of Wind, he seeks to aid Mesia, another survivor from his time, and to combine the four elemental Swords of Wind, Fire, Water, and Thunder into the legendary sword, ''Crystalis''. Together, they must defeat Draygon before he uses the Tower to achieve his evil ambitions.

Characters

The anonymous male protagonist (named SNK by default in the NES version, Simea in the Game Boy Color version) and his female accomplice, Mesia, are scientists who were cryogenically frozen, to be released when the tower began to activate. The protagonist is assisted by four sages named Zebu, Tornel, Asina, and Kensu, primarily in learning magic spells and gaining information about the world and the quest. They are encountered frequently throughout the game, and the player can seek their advice using the telepathy spell. In the GBC version, the sages are each responsible for creating one of the four swords: Zebu for Wind, Tornel for Fire, Asina for Water, and Kensu for Thunder. The original game does not mention who forged the ancient swords.

There are also four recurring boss characters, "Dragonia's Finest Four". Comprising this group are: General Kelbesque, Sabera the Witch, the Swordsman Mado, and Karmine the Wizard. Each of them has a distinct elemental weakness and, with the exception of Karmine, each is encountered twice during the adventure. Though not the final adversary in the game, Emperor Draygon is the ultimate antagonist

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases