Crystal Castles (video game)

Atari released this isometric video game in 1983. The player uses a trackball and a jump button to control Bentley Bear as he collects gems along the paths of the castles. Wearing the magic hat allows Bentley to kill the Wicked Witch, Berthilda. Her gem eaters are vulnerable only while they are eating. Bentley can jump over the trees to stun them for a short time. Other enemies cannot be killed, so Bentley must avoid them. Secret warps take Bentley to higher levels.

A level ends when all the gems are collected. If Bentley gets the last gem, the player gets bonus points. Unlike most video games of the time, Crystal Castles actually has an ending. You can play the game online.

Tropes used in Crystal Castles (video game) include:

• Endless Game: Averted. In the early 1980s, when most games just went on until the difficulty outdid the player or the game went awry, its inclusion of a proper ending was quite unusual.
• Everything's Worse with Bears: Inverted, as Bentley Bear is the hero of the game.
• Everything's Worse with Bees: If Bentley stands still too long, a swarm of bees will appear.
• Invincibility Power-Up: The hat makes Bentley invulnerable for a few seconds.
• Isometric Projection: Specifically, this game uses trimetric projection.
• Species Surname
• Trope Maker: This was the first game to have something that would later be called a Warp Zone. Developers put it in for two reasons, so pros could skip the easy levels and get to the challenging ones, and to lessen playing time - to make more money, of course.
  • This game was also the first to be marketed with a conversion pack; you could use this to convert an existing arcade game into Crystal Castles, which was cheaper than buying the entire cabinet with the game.
• When Trees Attack
• A Winner Is You