CRYSTAL CASTLES FUN FACTS
The following
information is basically just little tidbits about Crystal that
are neat to know. It's kind of like trivia facts, except in some
cases, the information is not only fun, it's informative, and
might just answer any 'burning questions' you have
unanswered. Here goes...
1. The game was originally supposed to be a variation on
the mega-hit Asteroids, and the working title was Toporoids! It
featured a one-legged robot and/or a spaceship placed in 3-D
mazes lined with asteroids, and the goal was (of course) to shoot
them. The mazes were similar to those in Crystal Castles.
2. The character Bentley Bear was originally named
Braveheart Bear in the released prototypes. But, Atari ran into
trouble over that name from the American Indians, and so had to
change it.
3. All of the musical themes in the game are from works of
classical music. Examples: the tune when you first start the
game, and the bonus life music, are both from The Mephisto
Waltz by Liszt. The last gem bonus music is from one of the
scenes in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. And, the
triumphant theme played when you complete level 10 is of course
from The 1812 Overture, again from Tchaikovsky.
4. If you hadn't noticed, the color schemes of the castles
change during the game, and from one game to the next. The colors
in the first level are always the same. From level 2 thru 6, they
appear in a set order, but every 100 paid games, this set order
changes. Finally, in levels 7 and up, the color scheme is picked
randomly. A most odd arrangement!
There are 17 possible maze color schemes, and four
different color possibilities on every board: gem, floor, front
wall, and side wall colors. But, each one is not randomly picked
and mixed with the other; they are pre-determined as a group, and
then the whole group is chosen randomly. The possible gem colors
are red, blue, white, and yellow. The floor can be white, black,
or pea-green (FXL's description - yecch). And, there are 12
possibilities for wall colors, including pink, maroon, and peach!
5. The hat appears on most boards in the game, and gives
Bentley 4.5 - 5 seconds of invincibility. It is also the only way
he can eliminate Berthilda. The hat is required for the 2nd
'secret warp' in the game to work, and therefore does
double duty on 3/1.
In levels below 4, it stays in place. But on 4 and up, it
bounces randomly about the maze, which can be very frustrating at
times. However, it sometimes helps you by trapping the enemies on
a screen, saving you points.
On level 9, the hat lands on the maze, and on the 6th
bounce, turns into a ball. Of course, the solution is to get it
before then.
6. Speaking of the balls, the official name FXL, the game
designer, has given them is 'crystal balls'. Somewhat
logical, since they pick up any crystals that they touch.
7. Normally, you can 'stun' both trees and
gemeaters by jumping Bentley over them. But, this isn't true when
you're wearing the hat. Note that while wearing it, if you jump
over Berthilda, you'll still eliminate her. Also, you can capture
the honey (whether or not you're wearing the hat) if you jump
over it.
8. Originally, FXL designed the game so that Bentley could
jump while in a tunnel. But, he decided to take that ability away
when he saw Bentley's head popping through the roof!
9. As shown in my board information pages, certain boards
can vary with respect to layout, tower heights, etc... While this
makes the game less dull, it is really problematic sometimes.
Examples: 9/3 is much faster, and worth more points, when you get
the E at top instead of the S at the side. And 9/4 is the best
example; with four different tower heights, it is more difficult
to eliminate the witch on the taller heights than on the shorter
ones. This difference can certainly make or break a game!
10. On two of the mazes in the game, FXL has built into
the structure initials of friends of his. On Hidden Spiral, the
DES stands for Desiree McCrorey, who holds a contest record on Mr.
Do!. SSM is Sam Mehta, who came in 2nd in a Centipede
contest held by Atari. And BBM stands for Brian McGhee, a former
Atari game designer.
On Berthilda's Palace, the initials are harder to make
out, as they are cutouts in the floor. EDG is the initials of
Eric Ginner, while MAR stands for Mark Robichek. Both of these
were famous video game players at the time Crystal was made, and
are still known by many.
Of course, 1/1 has the initials of whatever person has the
high score on the game as part of the castle structure, a nice
touch. On a two player game, the second person will see the last
player's initials that were entered on the high scores table (the "Hall of
Fame") as part of the castle.
11. Other initials appear in the game, on the above-mentioned scoreboard. While many are made up, some stand for
real people. FXL appears in the top 3 spots on a new, or newly
reset, game scoreboard, and he also appears at other places in
the top 250 initials. MEC appears more than once also. This
stands for Mark Cerny, a fellow designer at Atari. He is
responsible for Major Havoc, and Marble Madness.
12. The only screen in the game without either a hat, or a
honey pot, is the first.
13. When you complete level 10, a special screen appears
that says, "I GIVE UP : YOU WIN YOU MUST BE ".
What goes in the blank depends on the number of lives you have
left. For 1 life, fill in AMAZINGLY GOOD. For 2, RIDICULOUSLY
GOOD; 3, FANTASTICALLY GOOD; 4, VERY GOOD; 5, AN EXPERT; and 6, A
VIDEO WIZ. Actually, I think these messages are out of order. The
first three messages seem like higher praise than the fourth!
14. FXL has told me how the time bonus in the game is
figured. For every four seconds of game play, you lose 1000
points. The amount of time bonus starts at 200,000, so you can
figure that a 5 minute game will have a time bonus of 125,000.
Also, for every life you lose, you lose at least 1000 time bonus
points, so even though you can make up for your life as far as
the life bonus, you still lose in time bonus.
15. If you make a score that is exactly the same as one
already on the scoreboard, the new score goes under the old,
which, of course, is fair.
16. When entering your initials on the scoreboard, you not
only have a choice of the standard alphabet, but you can also
enter these: a blank space; the extra life indicator (bear head);
a slash (/); a question mark (?); a colon (:); and a right
pointing arrow. A 'secret symbol' is the inverse slash
(\), which appears only on the first maze on player two's game,
IF the game is the first one after the machine has been turned on
for the day.
One problem with entering initials is that you can't go
back and fix mistaken entries. This overlooked feature can be a
pain, especially if you are entering a super score, and mess up.
17. Whenever you eliminate the witch or a gemeater, or get
the hat or honey on a maze, a red point amount indicator appears
for a few seconds in place of the eliminated object. This
indicator can be very useful, as it blocks anything that tries to
move through it. This factor is helpful on a number of screens,
and even critical on a few. Example: my 8/4 pattern, where the
500's from the gemeaters block the balls and the tree from flying
out onto the main part of the maze.
18. Like any other
game, there are a number of possible settings on Crystal. The
game difficulty can be set to easy, medium, hard, or very hard.
The differences between these settings are mainly ones of speed
of the enemies. Note, however, that there is NO difference in
game play on levels 7 and above, no matter what setting is used. 1000 + ((((level x 4) -
1) - (4 - board)) x 100) 25. The boards in the game which occur least are 'Ball Wave'
(screen 1/1), "Doomsdome", "Impossible Staircase", and
"The End", each of
which appear only once. The "Hidden Ramp" and "Staircase"
(screens 2/2, 5/1, 7/1, and 8/1) boards
appear the most, at four times each.
Starting lives can be set to 3, 4, or 5. There is also an
option as to whether or not to give bonus lives every 70,000
points. The factory setting of the game gives the bonus lives,
starts the game with 3 lives, and uses medium difficulty.
19. The only color of the rainbow that is not used in the
game is orange. Try to find examples of the others yourself.
20. The warp screens in the game are, of course, 1/1 (back
corner), 3/1 (bottom of hidden ramp, with hat), and 5/3 (back
corner). FXL assures me no more exist, and I believe him. I tried
jumping with and without the hat on several spots on every screen
of the game, with no success.
1/1 can also contain the tunnel warp, where you jump in a
tunnel that appears on games where the player before has
completed at least 2/1. To warp to a level, 2 through 8, complete
at least the first screen of the level, and you can warp there on
your next game.
21. The lighted trak-ball controller on the game is a
feature no other game that I know of has. About the only other
game whose main control is lit is Major Havoc, which uses a
trak-cylinder (what else do you call a cylinder in a track?). On
Crystal, the light flashes on and off at certain points in the
game, so it can be interesting to watch in a dark room.
22. You can play on one coin forever! How? Just hide from
the bees. Normally, after a certain amount of time, the bees will
start landing on top of Bentley (or, whatever his position was
when they started their descent). But, if Bentley is in a tunnel,
the bees land on the front corner of the maze, and then seek out
Bentley. So, if you can eliminate all of the gemeaters onscreen,
and trap whatever else is left, it's possible to never get
killed! FXL said that it looked odd if the bees descended through
the roof, so he set up the front corner deal.
Naturally, you can't hide from the bees on every maze with
a tunnel, but it works very well on Berthilda's Castle, and on
Hidden Ramp.
If you let the bees continue to come down, they really
start to descend fast, and move quickly once on the maze. The
pitch of their sound becomes higher and higher, and eventually
will disappear. Then, it will start up again, from a very low
frequency. This is because the pitch number in the program 'turns
over' to 0, and starts back up again.
Each bee landing cycle takes about 5.9 seconds, and after
18 minutes, the bees' landing cycle count 'turns over' to 0, and they start
landing next to their normal spot by the honey. So, the whole
situation starts over again.
23. Whenever Bentley is killed, he shrinks, and says
something in a cartoon-type balloon above his head. The four
possible sayings are: "OUCH"; "OH NO";
"BYE"; and "#?!".
24. The formula for calculating the points given for the
last gem bonus on a particular level and board number is:
26. Besides playing a regular game, I have tried some
other things, such as trying to miss all hats or honey pots in a
game, or trying for a high time bonus. Two of the most unique
ways to play are the two that follow.
One, try to play all
37 screens without dying once. It is quite possible, as I've done
it. But, it's not easy!
Two, try to play, starting at level 8, without using the
jump button. Sound impossible? It's not, as I've seen it done by
my friend FGS. He even ended the game with a 40,000 life bonus!
The screens that are most difficult are 9/3, and 10/1, both
because of the cauldron. On 9/3, simply remember to use the hat
to clear the honey area first. Now, 10/1 is much harder, because
of the centrally placed cauldron. Believe it or not, it IS
possible to get by the cauldron from the front by cutting a hard
right turn at the corner. I've done it, but it's tough. So, in
theory, it is possible to complete your game without even dying.
But, that would be about as difficult as getting over 900,000!!
27. The most gemeaters that you can eliminate in a row is
probably 4. This is accomplished most 'easily' on 8/3
and 9/2. I've tried for five, but never succeeded. It takes a
gemeater about 1/5 of a second to eat a gem on the high levels,
which means you have a total of that amount of time to start into
the first gemeater, and be done with the last. Also, you can't
start too early, or too late, or you'll get killed. Needless to
say, the timing is tough. That's one reason why I go for four
only on 8/3; I just can't seem to reliably get four in a
row.
28. Your reward for completing level 10 is not only the
bonuses given, but a 'block painting' that appears
after you enter your initials. Colored 3-D blocks appear on top
of the scoreboard, and continue for a few seconds.
29. Conversion kit games of Crystal are a little different
than dedicated models. A couple of the bugs are fixed (the false
gem problem, and the two-player/level 10 completion problem), the
block painting mentioned above is different (it shows trapezoids
rather than blocks), and there is a credits screen shown at the
end of some game plays. It shows the persons who designed the
game (though FXL was almost totally responsible).
30. If you want to 'dance' with one of the
enemies, simply get one (the best is the tree) to pursue you, and
then just circle it. On level 9, I was able to dance around the
bees for almost two minutes before I was killed.
