Crystal Castles - Arcade
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Crystal Castles is a merry chase into a mythical land of incredible creatures that thrill at every turn of game play. Its hero, Bentley Bear, collects gemstones as he moves around 16 different playfields, including a castle, fortress, palace, and even a dungeon. Scary creatures, such as nasty trees, gem eaters, a swarm of bees, and Berthilda the witch, chase Bentley Bear as he explores tunnels, elevators that take him from one plateau to another, and sometimes a secret ramp.
Crystal Castles has 3 new features. Even if you are familiar with Atari games, you should note these important differences :
Lighted Midi Trak-Ball. The Midi Trak-Ball on the control panel of this game is translucent. A small lamp controlled by the game PCB shines through the ball. The result is a glowing Trak-Ball. During game play, the lamp flashes on and off creating a spectacular effect.
Crystal Castles is a fast-action, 1- or 2-player, third-person adventure game. By using the Lighted Midi Trak-Ball, the player moves Bentley Bear about the castle walkways and walls to collect gems. To avoid being overpowered by gem eaters, nasty trees, or bee swarms, use the left- or right-hand jump buttons.
The player's objective is to collect all the gems from the castle walkways and walls by moving Bentley Bear about the castle with the Trak-Ball controller. Bentley Bear must collect all the gems without being killed by any of the 8 possible computer-controlled opponents-crystal balls, trees, a swarm of bees, gem eaters, Berthilda the witch, a ghost, a skeleton, or a dust devil. In the lower levels of game play, this feat is easily learned by new players. In higher levels, experience, skill, and luck help the player to accomplish the objective.
When game play begins, Bentley Bear is at the lower right corner of the castle walkway. Immediately after the player's control is enabled for moving Bentley Bear, the opponents are displayed about the castle walkways and walls. The player may move Bentley Bear either up or down the stairs or the elevators to get the gems. When Bentley Bear passes over a gem, the gem disappears. Points are scored for each gem collected by Bentley Bear and shown in the score display area. If Bentley collects all the gems from the castle, the player receives bonus points. The initial bonus is 1,000 points for the first castle of the first level. The bonus is increased by 100 points for each subsequent castle (i.e., the bonus for castle 2 of level l is 1,200 points; castle 1 of level 2 is 1,400 points; etc.).
When a start button is pressed, the gems and Bentley Bear appear on the castle walkway and the game tune begins. Soon afterward, three crystal balls (the only opponents of this wave) drop from above and land at the far right corner of the castle walkway. These three balls begin a slow pursuit of Bentley Bear. As the Trak-Ball is rotated, Bentley Bear moves about the walkway. As he passes over a gem, the gem disappears and a score value is added to the score in the window at the top left of the display. If Bentley Bear gets all the gems, the three balls rise out of sight above the castle. Then Bentley Bear also disappears. If Bentley Bear gets the last gem, the message YOU GOT THE LAST GEM. BONUS 1000 appears across the castle. If the opponents get the last gem, the message THEY GOT THE LAST GEM. NO BONUS appears across the castle.
Crystal Castles consists of 37 castle mazes that are laid out with a walkway between each castle. The castles are arranged in ten levels with four castles on each level, except for level 10, which has only one castle. As Bentley Bear advances to the next castle on each level, the difficulty in collecting all the gems increases. Each level also increases in complexity. The result is a nice variety of mazes, from the easy first castle of level l to the extremely difficult castles in the higher levels. At the beginning of play at each castle, a message appears in the window at the top right of the display. This message identifies the level being played. Other messages, such as next bonus point level, also appear in this window.
Bentley Bear has 8 opponents : crystal balls, trees, a swarm of bees, gem eaters, Berthilda the witch, a ghost, a skeleton, and a caldron. If Bentley Bear touches a gem eater while it is in the process of eating a gem, the gem eater dies and 500 points are awarded the player. However, if the gem eater is not eating a gem when Bentley Bear touches it, Bentley Bear dies. When Bentley Bear is wearing his magic red hat, he is invincible. When he is wearing the hat he has the power to kill Berthilda the witch when he touches her. However, the magic of the hat only lasts about 5 seconds.
Each of the opponents has its own characteristic. The swarm of bees appears near the honey approximately every five seconds. However if Bentley Bear takes the honey, he collects 1,000 points for the honey, and the bees will appear less frequently. The gem eaters are relatively stupid creatures. The only thing they are interested in is eating gems. However, if gems are not in their area, the gem eaters will rush around randomly looking for gems. The crystal balls and trees act much the same. They will go directly for Bentley Bear. However, if Bentley keeps obstacles between him and either of these opponents, he is relatively safe from attack. The skeleton and the ghost usually stay within their immediate areas, move about randomly, but not very fast. They guard their area well. Berthilda the witch flies around on her broom in one small area in the lower levels of game play. However, in the higher levels she boldly flies about the castles.
Game description from www.arcade-history.com
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