Crystalis (2000). Play online

Summary

I love digging into the Game Boy Color version of Crystalis, a polished sequel to the NES classic. It keeps the top‑down view with eight‑direction movement and swaps the original chip‑tunes for an almost completely new soundtrack, even adding a digitised voice that announces each elemental sword when you find it. The dual‑action buttons feel tight: one swings your sword while the other lets you fire an equipped magical spell or use an item, and Start/Select bring up status and inventory where you can mix armor sets and shields.

Gameplay pivots on the four elemental swords—wind, fire, water and thunder—plus the ultimate Crystalis blade you snag in the final dungeon; each can launch projectile attacks and exploit enemy weaknesses, a change that means some foes are no longer immune to certain elements. The GBC’s smaller screen crops the view, so enemies can surprise you from off‑screen, making navigation more tense. It also reshuffles the story bits: the opening sequence, the tower’s purpose and the final showdown are reordered—DYNA appears before the two‑form dragon, and the dramatic Azteca death cut is gone.

Storyline

Crystalis is set in 2097, a hundred years after “1997, October 1, The END DAY”, when a global thermonuclear war turned civilization into a medieval world of mutated creatures. Science has been abandoned, survivors practice magic and built a floating Tower to guard against future cataclysms. Draygon, a rogue scientist‑magician, revived forbidden tech, seized the last military power and aims to control the Tower’s weapons.

An amnesiac male awakens from cryogenic sleep, guided by four sages—Zebu, Tornel, Asina, Kensu—who teach spells. With the Sword of Wind and ally Mesia, he must collect the four elemental swords (Wind, Fire, Water, Thunder) to forge Crystalis, defeat Dragonia’s Finest Four, and finally confront Emperor Draygon, who reveals a dragon‑like form.

In the Game Boy Color edition the hero is named Simea, a prophesied savior. The Tower is depicted as Draygon’s weapon, the narrative order changes, and after beating Draygon’s two forms the player proceeds directly to the flying Tower to fight the machine DYNA, omitting Azteca’s death and featuring rewritten dialogue.