This game is awesome. Better than Zelda IMO. Much more technologically advanced - if you compare the graphics it looks like the two games were produced on different systems.

One of my favorite NES games. Another often overlooked classic action RPG: Scheherazade. Lots of innovations and a nice meld of genres in that game.

Yep, as other have said, this is easily one of the best games on the NES, regardless of genre.

Also, I agree that it feels more advanced than Zelda, but hey they did come out 4 years apart.

I think I need this game. What is the going rate for a CIB one? Is there a map or something included?

No, there was no map or extras. It just has an oversized (SNES-style) manual.

I really liked it, but for some reason the save system took me some time to get used to. Great game though, good graphics for the NES, slightly more linear than Zelda.

Curious what you found weird about it as you just like hit start or select(forget which) and just press the button as it saves anywhere if I remember right.

It was definitely an unusual save mechanism for the time.

Why because you could save anywhere at any time? I played it back in the early 16bit era the first time and even by then that kind of save wasn't common.

I can't think of any other NES games that have a similar save feature.

I can't really either, but few games really did save anyway either and I only have some of them.

Many years ago I reverse engineered how the game stores its maps.  I wanted to write a map/game editor for it, but I never completed the project.  I have some tools (builds on Linux) that will dump every area as a PNG or GIF.  The problem with writing a full blown game editor is that all of the event triggers are scattered all over and hard-coded to area and screen numbers.  Its not all in one nice, convenient table.


http://www.ecoligames.com/...~djenkins/Games/CrystalisRomTools.tar.gz

One strange thing about the save system is that you can only load your game while playing. You have to "continue" your game first, then load. "Continue" usually allows you to pick up in the last section you were on before you died. When you first power up the system, it just takes you to the point after you exit the pod at the start of the game. Then you go into the menu and load your game.

You should let snesmaster know.  He has a bunch of maps he's assembled by hand, but hasn't finished this game yet, that I know of.  I'm sure your tool would be a great resource for him to finish documenting the game.

Also, I started replaying this game last night. A couple hours last night, and a couple hours this morning has me to the Evil Island at around level 11.

I managed to go without armor or a shield until I reached the general on Mt Sabre. I'm trying to upgrade only when absolutely necessary (i.e. I'll reach a boss where it's almost impossible to avoid damage, and then discover that they wipe the floor with me due to my low defense level)

Playing this way (i.e. not spending money on every upgrade, or buying items) makes the game surprisingly non-grindy. It flows really, really well.

I think the only place I had to take any time to level up was right before Mt Sabre. I needed to gain a couple of levels to even be able to damage the monsters on Mt Sabre. Otherwise it's been pretty wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.

I did absolutely zero grinding in my play-through. I did, however, kill pretty much everything in my path. With liberal use of the charged up shots, you can kill almost everything without a scratch.

I grinded a bit in the caves with those big Medusa monsters,easiest way to rank up in the middle of the game, just keep running round in the cave killing them. That's about it though.

I clearly remember grinding back in the day. I had a NES Max and ran around holding down the turbo button.

I remember grinding too because going straight into it you had to be really really careful not to take a hit.