Crystalis

Crystalis is an action role-playing game. The world is presented in a top-down perspective so the player character can be moved in eight directions using the control pad. One action button is used for attacking with a sword while the second is mapped to either an equipped magical power or an item from the player's inventory. The start and select buttons bring up the status screen and the inventory menu, respectively.

In addition, the player can equip various suits of armor and shields. Defeating monsters allows the player to gain experience points which increases his level thus boosting his health, defense, and attack strength.

Crystalis takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in 2097, one hundred years after "1997, October 1, The END DAY", when a global thermonuclear war began that reverted civilization to a primitive, medieval existence populated with fierce mutated creatures. Science and advanced technology have been abandoned, with the survivors deciding to study the ways of magic. The survivors of the destruction built a floating "Tower" to prevent any future cataclysms, as its occupants would have the power to govern the world, due to the Tower's weapons systems. A man known as Draygon, however, revived the forbidden ways of science and combined them with magic. With these skills, he controls the world's last remaining military power and seeks to conquer what is left of the planet by attempting to enter the Tower.

The protagonist awakens with no memory, but, guided by four wise sages, gradually learns that the world is sinking into turmoil, due to the Draygonia Empire's destructive influence. Entrusted with the Sword of Wind, he seeks to aid Mesia, another survivor from his time, and to combine the four elemental Swords of Wind, Fire, Water, and Thunder into the legendary sword, Crystalis. Together, they must defeat Draygon before he uses the Tower to achieve his evil ambitions.

Two of the characters from Crystalis are subtle nods to earlier SNK characters who later became part of The King of Fighters series; the latter two sages, Kensu and Asina, are based on Kensou Sie and Athena Asamiya from the Psycho Soldier arcade game. In The King of Fighters series, Kensou is well known for his obsession with Athena, a quality demonstrated even in Crystalis.

The original NES version of Crystalis was praised for its advanced graphics, high quality soundtrack, and elaborate plot. For their review of the Nintendo Switch emulated port of Crystalis in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, Switch RPG noted that "Crystalis features one of the best soundtracks from the NES era". Critics remarked that the story and art design seemed to draw heavily from the Hayao Miyazaki anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The main criticism of the game was its repetitive gameplay, as many enemies can be overcome by continuous rapid pressing of one button.

The reviewer "Pocket Squirrel" also mentioned flawed collision detection in his review for RPGFan. IGN ranked Crystalis #42 on its list of the Top 100 NES Games.