I remember my friend Tim getting this brand new when it very first came out, and me spending the weekend at his place, us taking turns playing it till our thumbs were sore. Back when life was simple and we had no worries.
Thank you. Crystal Castles is a solid example of a game released during the 2600's lifespan (albeit in the twilight years) which, were a skilled homebrew artist to take a stab at it today, really couldn't meaningfully be improved upon. About the only significant improvement might be to add trackball support, which would be a huge undertaking, as support for such a controller would demand more from the poor CPU and Crystal Castles is already pretty thorough by itself. This game is also a good example of a 2600 game that's legitimately fun to play for more than just a minute or two. It may sound harsh to point it out, but the limited nature of the 2600's 1976 technology more or less dictated that games would be mostly very trivial sources of entertainment, but the upside is that this highlights the titles that managed to overcome those limitations. Crystal Castles isn't too easy, isn't too hard, lasts a decent span of time before looping, does an almost *uniquely* good job of replicating arcade gameplay, took pains to have music and sound effects be a close match to the source material (barring expenses like Pitfall II's extra sound), and is an excellent showcase of 2600 programming skill. A more typical 2600 port would have cut corners, such as by excluding the ghost and skeleton enemies as redundant, using only one voice for music, and significantly limiting level variety. On a platform where games, especially ports, were almost invariably disappointing, this one bucked the trend. Footnotes: The hat can be used to kill the witch for a significant bonus. That's the main point of its limited duration. Obviously this is a potentially bigger challenge than normal without the ability to make the bear move at trackball speeds. Even though the instruction manual indicates that gem bonuses cap out at 99 points, there is no level in the 2600 port that reaches that count. The highest is 94.
but americas plants before bees where much bigger and the other polinators help more but the bees are killing them matpat explained it once on film theory
Bentley for Smash! I've always loved this game. As in, since it first debuted. Whenever I see the arcade cabinet, I just have to try to get my initials on first stage architecture.
Honestly it looks OK. When most of the atari games look very schematic, this really looks good! Sprites for all directions, a lot of enemies on screen, backgrounds that look isometric and not a bit confusing. Even icons of bear mug as lives!
I remember going to the arcade and playing this game a few times. Didn't help it was next to the quarter guzzling OutRun machine. Sadly, such a great game got neglected. Never knew there was an Atari game home version. Nice!
I still have it on Commodore. I loved it growing up. When you dye he looks at the screen and a "bye" speech bubble shows up and he flies away. And in some levels he can go through doors and behind. Great game
Played the hell out of this game back in the day. I recalled at the time (during the NES era) that this game was graphically impressive, and feature certain things like different intro level, nice title screen, levels with different layouts, multiple enemies types that all looked and moved differently. While it wasn't my favorite 2600 game, it was definitely one of the more high quality ones. Ah...the memories..
I had this game as a kid. This was probably my 2nd favorite game, after River Raid. Despite the fact I played the hell out of this game, I had no idea you could jump. Or at least I don't ever remember doing so. I just ran around trying to dodge enemies. You're 100% correct about immediately going to work as soon as you drop into the level to try to give yourself as much time and space away from the enemies before the jingle stops. The damn trees. They were relentless. Crystal Castles was a game that I picked up after I had a Nintendo. Not sure how or why, but I was somewhere and saw the Silver Crystal Castles box sitting at the local store. Picked it up and played a ton, which again was saying something to the games quality and fun factor. I do remember reading the story in the manual. Those witty writers of theirs! Anyways, thanks for profiling one of my favorite Atari 2600 games. To anyone who has an Atari 2600, this game is well worth your time and $$.
I seem to have missed this one way back when. Looks like it was well done for the time and capabilities of that machine. Would love to see a remastered version for the upcoming Atari VCS. Thanks for this , Aaron! Cheers!
I'd like to see something about the Sword Quest games on the 2600. There was supposed to be 4 parts but only 3 (2?) were released. They came with a comic book that had hidden words and clues to get through the game. There was some kind of contest connected to it.
I remember playing this game in our local grocery store in the late 80’s. My hand was too little and get it would get pinched between that stupid ball.....lol Liked the game but hated the controls.
I had the Atari 2600 trackball controller as a kid and that's what I used to play this game with and at least by my memories that's the best way to play it. I think the game was made with it in mind anyhow.
I played this on a flashback portable and I recently found the arcade at a brewpub arcade place. The ball control is preferable, but I think a good joystick would work better than the DPad.
Great video. I used to play this a lot on the C64 back in the day and really enjoyed it. I'm impressed there was a port on the 2600 (didn't even know about it, thanks again for showing me a game on the 2600 that I didn't know existed!) and it looks pretty decent! Even more impressed that it had some of the music which I instantly recognized! While the 2600 version does look fun, I'd recommend also trying different ports (maybe the C64). The movement and speed is much quicker and accurate and gives the game a more hectic and precise feel. At least that's how I remember it. Been a while since I've actually played it LOL.
I used to play this game in the arcade. It was revolutionary in my opinion. I have the Atari 2600 version as well. It would have been great if there was a track ball device for Atari to play it though.
Man, I loved this game growing up. Never owned it but always played it at a friend's house. Thanks for the amazing work put into this video Aaron! I was definitely hoping to see some "H.E.R.O." and "Food Fight", and the terrible "Journey Escape." Have a great weekend man!
Daughter loves this on the Arcade1up. Got me hooked on it too. So seeing this, I'm amazed at how well this game is done on the Atari. It's really a very good translation!
Another good job!!! Got this game few years ago thought it was different but worth playing, especially picking it up for a dollar, again always enjoy FNA never disappoint
Yep, played it as a teenager. I got quite good at it. It is one of my favorite 2600 games. You need to kill the gem eaters. You also need to get good at tree herding so they get stuck and can't bother you.
I loved this game in the arcade, even though I have always been terrible at it. However the 2600 port is barely playable for me. The controls and collision detection are just too poor for me to enjoy playing. It is really neat that they managed to cram so many features in, but it's not enough to save it for me. I wish a 5200 port would have made it to market, as the system's weird joysticks and special trackball accessory would have been perfect for this game, but oh well. At least my local bar-cade has a Crystal Castles machine.
i had this growing up. it was one the few games that got purchased with our atari 2600 (with River Raid and Ms. Pac-Man) i had a very blegh relationship with this game, it seemed when you got to a certain stage it didn't matter what you did, you just weren't going to beat that stage.
I had this piece of shit on Atari. Found it in the $2 bin along with Journey Escape at Jamesway (the equivalent of Caldor or Walmart in Philly in the 80s). This was one of those games that you played to death, not because you liked it, but because your mom wasn't gonna buy you another game until Christmas or your birthday.
The 2600 version is actually compatible with the Atari track ball controller that was primary advertised with the 400/800 computers. I don't know why the box/manual would say that you could only use the joystick, since that's not the case.
Like its actually compatible with the proper trackball mode and not the crummy joystick emulation mode? I recently acquired this game and I do have a trackball controller, so if that's true I'm definitely going to have to try that out.
I bought this new and used all of my money to get it. It was an expensive game for the time, and I used up my birthday money for it. It was the last 2600 game that I purchased before moving to the NES
Never played this on the 2600, but it was a definite favorite of mine in the arcade when i was a kid, along with Joust and Mr Do! around that time, IIRC 🤔
Atari never quite caught up with the excellent and attractive graphics Activision was able to produce for 2600, but Crystal Castles, Stargate and Solaris were some very good, late-release games they did that I remember fondly, even after the NES was starting to change everything.
The Atari generation is just too primitive for me to enjoy. I can easily still play NES and sega master system games though. The enjoyment factor between the Atari and NES generation in video games is night and day. It’s like the capabilities of the NES era of gaming cross the threashold into real gaming for me.
Same here. I grew up with a 16-bit console (SNES) but I have no problem playing NES/SMS stuff (actually I almost enjoy these systems as much as I enjoy SNES). Instead, what came before is another story. It was really a different philosophy of gaming, based on high scores and on really simple gameplay. However, there are 2600 games I really like, such as River Raid or Berzerk. I play them on an Atari Flashback Portable and they are great when I'm abroad or don't have enough time for more complex games. Crystal Castles is one of those games I might enjoy for 10-15 minutes playtime
I remember my friend Tim getting this brand new when it very first came out, and me spending the weekend at his place, us taking turns playing it till our thumbs were sore. Back when life was simple and we had no worries.
I absolutely love the manuals for these old games. Something we seemed to have lost along the way.
No doubt, the creativity in the backstory and the artwork is a lost art in itself like good boxart😁
I still collect them! They're as fun to have as the game itself.
Thank you. Crystal Castles is a solid example of a game released during the 2600's lifespan (albeit in the twilight years) which, were a skilled homebrew artist to take a stab at it today, really couldn't meaningfully be improved upon. About the only significant improvement might be to add trackball support, which would be a huge undertaking, as support for such a controller would demand more from the poor CPU and Crystal Castles is already pretty thorough by itself. This game is also a good example of a 2600 game that's legitimately fun to play for more than just a minute or two. It may sound harsh to point it out, but the limited nature of the 2600's 1976 technology more or less dictated that games would be mostly very trivial sources of entertainment, but the upside is that this highlights the titles that managed to overcome those limitations. Crystal Castles isn't too easy, isn't too hard, lasts a decent span of time before looping, does an almost *uniquely* good job of replicating arcade gameplay, took pains to have music and sound effects be a close match to the source material (barring expenses like Pitfall II's extra sound), and is an excellent showcase of 2600 programming skill. A more typical 2600 port would have cut corners, such as by excluding the ghost and skeleton enemies as redundant, using only one voice for music, and significantly limiting level variety. On a platform where games, especially ports, were almost invariably disappointing, this one bucked the trend.
Footnotes:
The hat can be used to kill the witch for a significant bonus. That's the main point of its limited duration. Obviously this is a potentially bigger challenge than normal without the ability to make the bear move at trackball speeds.
Even though the instruction manual indicates that gem bonuses cap out at 99 points, there is no level in the 2600 port that reaches that count. The highest is 94.
Yes, the 2600 hardware was originally meant to run Pong games and not much more, so games like this required huge programming skills
Is there a marinade for the bear?: Don Jr.
Bees are awesome! When you start a garden of fruits/veggies/flowers, you'll love them. It's wasps and hornets that suck!
but americas plants before bees where much bigger and the other polinators help more
but the bees are killing them matpat explained it once on film theory
Bentley for Smash!
I've always loved this game. As in, since it first debuted. Whenever I see the arcade cabinet, I just have to try to get my initials on first stage architecture.
GLC !
Honestly it looks OK. When most of the atari games look very schematic, this really looks good! Sprites for all directions, a lot of enemies on screen, backgrounds that look isometric and not a bit confusing. Even icons of bear mug as lives!
I remember going to the arcade and playing this game a few times. Didn't help it was next to the quarter guzzling OutRun machine. Sadly, such a great game got neglected. Never knew there was an Atari game home version. Nice!
I still have it on Commodore. I loved it growing up. When you dye he looks at the screen and a "bye" speech bubble shows up and he flies away. And in some levels he can go through doors and behind. Great game
I loved this on Atari. I like the cabinet version too. This and Solaris were my favorite Atari games
Played the hell out of this game back in the day. I recalled at the time (during the NES era) that this game was graphically impressive, and feature certain things like different intro level, nice title screen, levels with different layouts, multiple enemies types that all looked and moved differently. While it wasn't my favorite 2600 game, it was definitely one of the more high quality ones. Ah...the memories..
I had this game as a kid. This was probably my 2nd favorite game, after River Raid. Despite the fact I played the hell out of this game, I had no idea you could jump. Or at least I don't ever remember doing so. I just ran around trying to dodge enemies. You're 100% correct about immediately going to work as soon as you drop into the level to try to give yourself as much time and space away from the enemies before the jingle stops. The damn trees. They were relentless. Crystal Castles was a game that I picked up after I had a Nintendo. Not sure how or why, but I was somewhere and saw the Silver Crystal Castles box sitting at the local store. Picked it up and played a ton, which again was saying something to the games quality and fun factor. I do remember reading the story in the manual. Those witty writers of theirs! Anyways, thanks for profiling one of my favorite Atari 2600 games. To anyone who has an Atari 2600, this game is well worth your time and $$.
I seem to have missed this one way back when. Looks like it was well done for the time and capabilities of that machine. Would love to see a remastered version for the upcoming Atari VCS. Thanks for this , Aaron! Cheers!
Played this a bunch. Like many Atari games, your imagination added more to the game. It was easy to pretend it was a D&D type adventure game.
I'd like to see something about the Sword Quest games on the 2600. There was supposed to be 4 parts but only 3 (2?) were released. They came with a comic book that had hidden words and clues to get through the game. There was some kind of contest connected to it.
I remember playing this game in our local grocery store in the late 80’s. My hand was too little and get it would get pinched between that stupid ball.....lol Liked the game but hated the controls.
this was an impressive 2600 game. The sound of the invincibility power up sounds pretty similar to the original!
There was a trackball compatible with the 2600. I used to have it for Centipede and Missile Command. Wonder how this game would play with that?
Also this game gave me nightmares as a kid. that witch and those gobbling things freak me out.
The caterpillars eating the gems reminds me vaguely of the mutants in 2300 AD in Chrono Trigger.
I had the Atari 2600 trackball controller as a kid and that's what I used to play this game with and at least by my memories that's the best way to play it. I think the game was made with it in mind anyhow.
I played this on a flashback portable and I recently found the arcade at a brewpub arcade place. The ball control is preferable, but I think a good joystick would work better than the DPad.
Debatable
The trackball arcade cabinet definitely let you zip around the board with ease.
Nicely done! I'd love to see a rundown of Jungle Hunt on the 2600. My favorite Atari 2600 game!!
There's not a lot of games that play The Nutcracker as a victory tune.
Track ball was the way to play.. was so satisfying clearing a whole lane of gems with a WOOSH on the ball!
Great review!
(Seriously, be nice to bees.)
Great video. I used to play this a lot on the C64 back in the day and really enjoyed it. I'm impressed there was a port on the 2600 (didn't even know about it, thanks again for showing me a game on the 2600 that I didn't know existed!) and it looks pretty decent! Even more impressed that it had some of the music which I instantly recognized! While the 2600 version does look fun, I'd recommend also trying different ports (maybe the C64). The movement and speed is much quicker and accurate and gives the game a more hectic and precise feel. At least that's how I remember it. Been a while since I've actually played it LOL.
it would be in my top 5 of the games I had growing up
I had this title for my Atari 2600. It was also one of the few titles I used a trackball controller for at the time. I also played the Arcade game.
I remember this classic video game. 💎 🏯 🧸 Bentley Bear did it 35 years before Thanos.
I used to play this game in the arcade. It was revolutionary in my opinion. I have the Atari 2600 version as well. It would have been great if there was a track ball device for Atari to play it though.
LOL @ Berthilda being a single color! 😂💀
Man, I loved this game growing up. Never owned it but always played it at a friend's house. Thanks for the amazing work put into this video Aaron! I was definitely hoping to see some "H.E.R.O." and "Food Fight", and the terrible "Journey Escape." Have a great weekend man!
I played the 2600 version as a kid.
Daughter loves this on the Arcade1up. Got me hooked on it too. So seeing this, I'm amazed at how well this game is done on the Atari. It's really a very good translation!
This is a great port for the 2600 imo
Atari should've used Bentley Bear as a mascot and put him in more games. He could've been the next Mario.
This was a game I really liked but I only got to play it in arcades, back in the day. Such a fun game, imo 🤘
Big Honey got you down? ^_^ Nah bees, ants, plankton, all essential. ;) Yeah I think a trackball would serve it better.
Another good job!!! Got this game few years ago thought it was different but worth playing, especially picking it up for a dollar, again always enjoy FNA never disappoint
Yep, played it as a teenager. I got quite good at it. It is one of my favorite 2600 games.
You need to kill the gem eaters. You also need to get good at tree herding so they get stuck and can't bother you.
I loved this game in the arcade, even though I have always been terrible at it. However the 2600 port is barely playable for me. The controls and collision detection are just too poor for me to enjoy playing. It is really neat that they managed to cram so many features in, but it's not enough to save it for me. I wish a 5200 port would have made it to market, as the system's weird joysticks and special trackball accessory would have been perfect for this game, but oh well. At least my local bar-cade has a Crystal Castles machine.
I did not like it on the arcade but playing in on the Atari 2600 I did enjoy playing it :-)
This was my absolute favorite 2600.game
i had this growing up. it was one the few games that got purchased with our atari 2600 (with River Raid and Ms. Pac-Man) i had a very blegh relationship with this game, it seemed when you got to a certain stage it didn't matter what you did, you just weren't going to beat that stage.
Nice vid bro. Keep it up.
I had this piece of shit on Atari. Found it in the $2 bin along with Journey Escape at Jamesway (the equivalent of Caldor or Walmart in Philly in the 80s). This was one of those games that you played to death, not because you liked it, but because your mom wasn't gonna buy you another game until Christmas or your birthday.
The 2600 version is actually compatible with the Atari track ball controller that was primary advertised with the 400/800 computers. I don't know why the box/manual would say that you could only use the joystick, since that's not the case.
Like its actually compatible with the proper trackball mode and not the crummy joystick emulation mode? I recently acquired this game and I do have a trackball controller, so if that's true I'm definitely going to have to try that out.
I bought this new and used all of my money to get it. It was an expensive game for the time, and I used up my birthday money for it. It was the last 2600 game that I purchased before moving to the NES
CC pissed me off to no end in the arcade.
GEM NOT JIM
Never played this on the 2600, but it was a definite favorite of mine in the arcade when i was a kid, along with Joust and Mr Do! around that time, IIRC 🤔
Atari never quite caught up with the excellent and attractive graphics Activision was able to produce for 2600, but Crystal Castles, Stargate and Solaris were some very good, late-release games they did that I remember fondly, even after the NES was starting to change everything.
I loved this have as a kid. It was way ahead of my other games
I remember the arcade cabinet. Was excited when came the artai.
Must be FRIDAAAAYYY!!
this one had excellent sound effects, just as you noted. Great review
My first experience of this game. Looking at it now it seems to play much smoother than the U.S. Gold C64 version. Better graphics isn't everything.
The arcade version of this game is very...strange.
Krull is a great game for the 2600. it features multiple screens, and an actual ending....sort of! I'd like to see your take on it.
I used to love this game when I was a kid .. 80s kids rule..
Great job. You make me feel like a no talent hack :) I love you videos their short yet get all the info in. Just keep them coming.
IRL bees are fine. It’s wasps that are the utter bastards.
I flipped the score in asteroids once
Was that song in the beginning from bubble bobble?
It is indeed.
banjo from banjoo-kazooie is the son of this bear and gruntilda is the daughter of berthilda
This is awesome gameplay! Stream on Peeks 🏧
Seems like it holds up pretty well
Seen it , never played it. As always great video.
I really love the 2600 version
You just got a new subscriber!
Never heard of this one
Actually that’s the bubble bobble theme. Don’t be fooled.
Background sound choices:
A) Bubble Bobble theme
B) Atari 2600 game squeaks and squeals
C) Nothing
Friday Night Arcade YEAH! LOVE THOSE THEMES BABY! WHOOOOOOO!!!!!
I want to know what you really think about bees...
Great video 👍
Love that game
Seems like it was on colecovision too?
Is this the same guy that does Cinema sins?? Sounds just like him
Nope.
a bear vs a witch? was banjo and kazooie a plagiarism of this game?
Watching this after a few 🍺🍺 and some dominoes and other fried food .😎
Great game.
VCS Version is Much,Much Better than the Original,its a proof that sometimes less is more.
Never cared for this game myself but definitely not the worst one
Crystal Castles or CC for short, aka Сою́з Сове́тских (Soviet Union). The bear player. The Tchaikovsky music. This game is covert Soviet propaganda!
The green millipede creatures represent capitalism and are only vulnerable when consuming.
Crystal quest
Bearnaise sauce... gross...
The Atari generation is just too primitive for me to enjoy. I can easily still play NES and sega master system games though. The enjoyment factor between the Atari and NES generation in video games is night and day. It’s like the capabilities of the NES era of gaming cross the threashold into real gaming for me.
Same here. I grew up with a 16-bit console (SNES) but I have no problem playing NES/SMS stuff (actually I almost enjoy these systems as much as I enjoy SNES). Instead, what came before is another story. It was really a different philosophy of gaming, based on high scores and on really simple gameplay. However, there are 2600 games I really like, such as River Raid or Berzerk. I play them on an Atari Flashback Portable and they are great when I'm abroad or don't have enough time for more complex games. Crystal Castles is one of those games I might enjoy for 10-15 minutes playtime
You def need to play the arcade! The Atari version is total crap. Plus the cabinet is very cool.