Crystal Castles is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. The player controls Bentley Bear who has to collect gems located throughout trimetric-projected rendered castles while avoiding enemies, some of whom are after the gems as well.
The game was made by Franz Lanzinger and was the first game he ever developed. He joined Atari in 1983 and was initially tasked with making a game like Asteroids (1979). While he was developing the graphics for it involving the unique backgrounds, the game began to evolve into what became Crystal Castles. It is a maze video game with warp zones to higher levels and an ending, which were not typical in arcade games in 1983.
Following the game's release in arcades, it was released for the Atari 2600 home console and various home-computer lines. Critics often complimented the game for its unique graphics. Bentley Bear appeared in educational home computer programs from Atari as well as Atari Karts (1995) for the Jaguar. Lanzinger left Atari after developing the game and, after attempting to get the rights to the character, he developed a similarly styled game with Gubble (1997).
Gameplay
The first level of the arcade original. The initials of the Franz Xaver Lanzinger–FXL here–are built into the castle.
Crystal Castles features Bentley Bear as the playable character. In the Arcade flyer, the narrative states that Bentley Bear went to the land of Crystal Castles to gather gemstones.[4] The Atari 2600 manual alters the narrative slightly in that, after taking a nap, Bentley found himself in a huge castle where he was trapped by Berthilda the Witch. To escape, he had to collect gems while avoiding the Berthhilda's minions.[5]
In the original arcade game, the player controls Bentley with a trackball throughout a maze of 16 different playing fields. Bentley can also jump which allows him to avoid obstacles.[4] The player must collect all of the gemstones scattered throughout each maze to progress to the next level. Since some enemies eat the gems, players can earn bonus points for collecting the last gem on the board. Other items are sometimes present, such as honeypots, that award bonus points when picked up.[6] Different enemies follow unique patterns, such as trees that try to find the quickest path to Bentley and are stunned briefly if he jumps over them. The Gem Eaters can be defeated if Bentley runs into them while a gemstone is rising up through their body.[7] Each level has four waves; the fourth one features Berthilda the Witch, whom Bentley can defeat when he wears the magic hat located in the maze. The hat otherwise makes Bentley briefly invincible to enemies.[4][7] In the game's ending, the players receive a congratulatory message and ranking based on how many lives they have and a bonus score based on how quickly they played, followed by an animation that reproduces animated rectangles.[8]
Development
Franz Lanzinger was the developer of Crystal Castles. Lanzinger had been programming on his own since 1971 and dropped out of a mathematics degree at the University of California in Berkeley to pursue a career in scientific research.[9][8] Lanzinger was a fan of arcade games and when his friend Brian McGhie was hired by Atari as part of a testing group, Lanzinger was recommended to Atari by McGhie due to his proficiency in coding in assembly language and was hired in 1982.[9] It was the first game he ever developed.[8] Lanzinger later thanked McGhee, including his initials "BBM" in a level in Crystal Castles.[8]
Franz Lasinger was fan of the arcade game Centipede (pictured) and Millipede which used a trackball for controls. This led to using one for Crystal Castles.
Upon arrival at the company, Lanzinger had to choose from a book on approved projects and picked one titled Toporoids, a variation of Atari's Asteroids (1979) arcade game. He was without a development system for his first month at Atari, leading him to spend the first few months working on a Mainframe computer creating three-dimensional backgrounds as the intended topology of the game. He recalled he would make five or so variants of the backgrounds each day. As he developed them, he began experimenting with them, and created an E.T.-like character that would move along the architecture. He started to feel like he could make a very different game than Toporoids.[9]
At this time, there was no theme or enemies in the game. Lanzinger and some co-workers began thinking of ideas for the game and developed a Fairy tale theme such as moving trees and a witch from The Wizard of Oz (1939).[10] The idea of Bentley Bear came from these sessions. The bear was initially named Bear Braveheart, which was changed by Atari's marketing team feeling it would be offensive to Indigenous people. A competition was held among the engineering team to rename the character with Bentley being chosen.[11]
Lanzinger was a fan of the games Centipede (1981) and Millipede (1982) that used a trackball to control the game, which led him to using one in Crystal Castles.[12] Towards the end of development, Lanzinger said Atari management had strongly encouraged him to change to a joystick control scheme. He recalled that this motion did not go forward as the game became much worse through joystick control as it was not designed for it.[12] Lanzinger wrote all the code for the game. Two graphic artists employed by Atari contributed to the art, including Barbara Singh who created the majority of the motion objects and Susan McBride who also added a few.[11] Lanzinger described the gameplay as "really just 3D Pac-Man (1980)."[12] Atari programmer Dave Ralston helped design some additional mazes when prototypes were being placed in arcades. Originally, there were 12 mazes, with Ralston helping design some of the more complicated ones for the later portion of the game.[11]
While developing the game, he spent $2,000 as a tax write-off playing arcade games as research. He stated that it was important to be accustomed to arcade games which helped him "make good decisions about game design, it pushed me in the right direction."[13] Watching other people play games like Tempest (1981) and having to take long periods of time to get to the skill level they wanted to be at inspired Lanzinger to include warps in the game, to let advanced players get to the more difficult stages early on and to keep game time low for more income on a coin-op. The secret of the warps are shown later in the game to alert players to them.[13]
Crystal Castles for the Atari ST was programmed by Andromeda Software, a company based on in Hungary.[14]
Release
Crystal Castles was released in arcades on July 8, 1983.[15] In Japan, Game Machine listed the arcade game on their December 15, 1983 issue as being the fifth most-successful upright arcade unit of the month.[16]
Reviewing the original arcade release, Bill Kunkel of Electronic Games described the sound and graphics as "top notch", but made Crystal Castles a solid game was its play value.[26] Michael Blanchet of Electronic Fun with Computers & Games said that while "unimaginative maze games abound", Crystal Castles benefitted from a "fresh and novel approach"[27] Roger C. Sharpe writing in Play Meter found the games graphics and cabinet to have "stunning" artwork, and highlighted the games personality, writing that "what's nice about the game is that players have a storyline. You do get a sense of movement as you finish a screen and then watch Bentley move to another as it quickly takes shape on screen."[28] In Electronic Games 1985 Arkie Awards, Crystal Castles received a Certificate of Merit in the Coin-op Division. The award was to which was to salute "the upper crust of gameware" which did not win any major award.[29]
The Atari 2600 port of Crystal Castles was released in March 1984.[30] In 1984, several ports for Crystal Castles were announced, including the Commodore 64, Apple IIe, IBM Personal Computer, and VIC-20.[31] In 1984, Andy Harris wrote in TV Gamer that none of the home versions of the game had the superb graphic quality of the arcade game, which was constantly entertaining with several surprises.[32][33] Reviewing versions for the BBC Micro and Commodore 64 (C64), "Nicky" of Computer and Video Games stated they "haven't played such a satisfying game of grab-the-loot-and-run for a long time" noting both versions ran quickly and were faithful copies of the arcade games.[34] Reviewing the C64 release, the reviewers in Zzap! disagreed on the overall quality. One reviewer fond of the arcade game recommended it to fellow fans. Another felt it did not live up to the arcade game while another felt the game was "little more than glorified Pac-Man".[24]
In retrospective reviews, Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame gave the arcade game a four and a half star rating out of five, noting the game had memorable characters, catchy music, addicting gameplay and was a "beautiful game."[21] In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 95th on their "Top 100 Video Games."[35] In his book The Video Games Guide, Matt Fox gave the arcade game a two out of five star rating, finding the building-block like graphics unappealing and that the all the gems, enemies and Bentley appeared small which made the game "worlds away" from the immediacy of Pac-Man.[25] Reviewing the game in 1989, ACE commented that the arcade release was "one of the most addictive cabinets ever", and that the budget release from home computers by Kixx was "ultimately pointless, yet totally unputdownable arcade entertainment."[1]Zzap! re-reviewed the budget re-release; while finding it repetitive and difficult to control, ultimately they wrote that "the Pac-man concept still has a lot of strength (look at Pac-Mania on the Amiga) and this is one of the best versions around."[36]
Legacy
Following Crystal Castles, Lanzinger began development on an arcade machine based on the film Gremlins (1984). He visited the set, but left Atari after a dispute with them over residuals paid to coin-op developers for sales of home conversions.[8] In an interview published in 2022, Lanzinger commented that "I was young and naïve and felt that I owned Crystal Castles."[37] He initially left the video game industry before working for Tengen on their ports of games like Toobin' and Ms. Pac-Man.[8]
Crystal Castles did not receive a sequel.[8] Lanzinger initially worked on one making a follow-up with new levels and giving Bentley Bear the ability to jump twice as high. Development on the sequel was never completed.[38] In the mid-1990s, Lanzinger formed Actual Entertainment to create a sequel to Crystal Castles. The group could not get the rights, but they developed a similarly themed game titled Gubble (1997).[8] Bentley Bear reappeared in educational programs such as Bentley Bear's Magical Math for the Atari ST and as a playable character in Atari Karts (1995) for the Atari Jaguar.[39][40] In 2024, Atari announced the release of an updated version of their Atari 7800 console with the 7800+. The release would include a sequel to Crystal Castles titled Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest. The game is a platformer that was initially programmed as a homebrew title.[41][42]
Lanzinger stated that Crystal Castles remained his favorite game which he had worked on, but later said that he did not think of the implications of using a trackball for the game, saying "In retrospect, having a trackball is a hindrance as it's hard to get the feel right with a different controller."[8][11]
Crystal Castles includes warps, pre-dating their popular use in Super Mario Bros. (1985).[13] It is also among the earliest arcade games to have a distinct ending.[13] Lanzinger wrote a two-page memo to his bosses stating that if video games are aspiring to tell stories, they should have satisfying conclusions.[11]
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982, alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different joystick than the 2600-standard CX40 and included Pole Position II as the pack-in game. The European model has a gamepad instead of a joystick. Most of the early releases for the system are ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games. The final wave of 7800 cartridges are closer in style to what was available on other late 1980s consoles, such as Scrapyard Dog and Midnight Mutants.
Millipede is a fixed shooter video game released in arcades by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The sequel to 1981's Centipede, it has more gameplay variety and a wider array of insects than the original. The objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying all segments of the millipede as it moves toward the bottom of the screen, as well as eliminating or avoiding other enemies. The game is played with a trackball and a single fire button which can be held down for rapid-fire.
Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The game involves a Mad Bomber dropping bombs at increasing speeds as the player controls a set of water buckets to catch them. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978). Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after it was released. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.
Centipede is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.
Berzerk is a video game designed by Alan McNeil and released for arcades in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. The game involves a Humanoid Intruder who has to escape maze-like rooms that are littered with robots that slowly move towards and shoot at the Humanoid. The player can shoot at the robots to try and escape the room. Along with the robots, a smiley face known as Evil Otto appears to hunt down the player within each room.
Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is a spin-off sequel to Pac-Man (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wife, the player is tasked with eating all of the pellets in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating the larger "power pellets" lets the player eat the ghosts, which turn blue and flee.
Miner 2049er is a 1982 platformer game developed and published by Big Five Software in December 1982. It is set in a mine, where the player controls the Mountie Bounty Bob. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, with the goal of traversing all of the platforms in each level all while avoiding enemies and within a set amount of time.
Phoenix is a fixed shooter video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The player controls a space ship shooting at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the player's ship. There are five stages which repeat endlessly. The fifth is a fight against a large enemy spaceship, making Phoenix one of the first shooters with a boss battle, an element that would become common for the genre.
Demon Attack is a fixed shooter video game created by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. The game involves the player controlling a laser cannon from the surface of a planet, shooting winged demons that fly down and attack the player in different sets of patterns.
Starmaster is a video game written for the Atari 2600 by Alan Miller and published in June 1982 by Activision. The game involves the player travelling through space attacking enemy starfighters who are invading starbases. The player traverses through a map called the galactic chart to destroy all the enemies and survive against oncoming enemy attacks and crashing with meteors.
Robot Tank is a first-person shoot 'em up written by Alan Miller for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It is similar in design to Atari, Inc.'s Battlezone tank combat arcade video game and more so to its 2600 port. Robot Tank adds different systems which can individually be damaged—instead of the vehicle always exploding upon being shot—and weather effects.
Keystone Kapers is a platform game developed by Garry Kitchen for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. The game involves a Keystone Cops theme, with the player controlling police officer Kelly, who traverses the many levels of a department store, dodging objects to catch the escaped thief Harry Hooligan.
Atlantis is a fixed shooter video game released by Imagic in August 1982 for the Atari 2600. The game is set in the fabled city of Atlantis where the cities are under attack by invading Gorgon vessels who plan to destroy the city. The player controls sentries to fire a counter attack.
Megamania is a fixed shooter video game developed by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600. It was published by Activision in 1982. In the game, a pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser has a nightmare where his ship is being attacked by food and household objects. Using the missile launcher from their space cruiser, the pilot fends off the attackers. The game was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.
Jawbreaker is a Pac-Man clone programmed by John Harris for Atari 8-bit computers and published by On-Line Systems. Released in 1981 before an official version of Pac-Man was available, it was widely lauded by reviewers and became a major seller. The story of its creation and Harris's Atari 8-bit implementation of Frogger form a portion of Steven Levy's 1984 book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.
Surround is a video game programmed by Alan Miller and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. In the game, players navigate a continuously moving block around an enclosed space as a wall trails behind it. Every time the opposite player hits a wall with their block, the other player earns a single point. The first player to reach ten points is the winner.
Lady Bug is a maze chase video game produced by Universal and released for arcades in 1981. Its gameplay is similar to Pac-Man, with the primary addition of gates that change the layout of the maze, adding an element of strategy to the genre. The arcade original was relatively obscure, but the game had wider recognition and success as a launch game for the ColecoVision console.
RealSports Baseball is a 1982 sports video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. originally for the Atari 2600. It was also launched on the Atari 5200 and 7800 machines. A version for the Atari 8-bit computers was in development, but cancelled.
Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari. Atari Karts: Every game console in the 1990s needed a mascot go-kart racer, and Jaguar got its with Atari Karts, which starred none other than Bentley Bear, the protagonist of the arcade game Crystal Castles.
"Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No.226. Amusement Press, Inc. December 15, 1983. p.33.
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