Floating Runner

Floating Runner: Quest for the 7 Crystals is 3D platform game. The game allows players to control one of two characters:Lay, the male of the pair, or the blonde-haired Cress. The player can control the characters by having them jump and control the direction they move on screen. Lay and Cress can also perform a somersault from side to side. They are also equipped with spheres which Lay and Cress can use to throw at enemies or use to open chests around the environment.

Lay and Cress can defeat enemies by shooting or stomping on them. When enemies are defeated, they can release some gems which can be collected. These are used to power their special item weapons. Power-ups range from having the player's spheres home-in on enemies to turning the projectiles into boomerangs.

Floating Runner: Quest for the 7 Crystals takes place in Crystal Land, a kingdom with six different worlds that is maintained and protected by the mystical powers of six crystals. A force from a neighboring kingdom known as Zaurer invades with an army of Dark Guards. The leads to the creation of a seventh crystal and the six crystals becoming tainted with evil. As these worlds nearly lay in ruin, an old priest came forward and requested the citizens to gather the crystals and purify them in the Fountain of Light to save Crystal Land. This leads to the priest's young apprentice Cress and a young bounty hunter named Lay volunteering to save the land.

The game begins in a level called Crystal Park. Following this world, they are sent to various themed worlds ("Fire World", "Forest World", "Sky World", etc.). After six crystals are collected, they are sent to Zaurer's lair in the Dark World to obtain the Crystal of Darkness.

Gaming publications have given various sources who developed Floating Runner, such as Xing Entertainment or Kokopeli Digital Studios. In an interview with Tokihiro Naito who worked for T&E Soft, he said that Floating Runner may have been developed by the Osaka-based development team of the company. Xing Entertainment published Floating Runner in Japan. Xing Entertainment was established in March 1995 to develop, sell, and publish game software for the PlayStation in Japan, United States and PAL territories.

D4 Enterprise purchased the rights to titles from T&E Soft in 2019, which included the rights to Floating Runner. The game was released in Japan for the PlayStation on January 19, 1996. At the time of release, platforming games on the PlayStation were rare. The game was among the three 3D platformer games to be released for the console in 1996, along with Crash Bandicoot and Bubsy 3D.

On its release, English-language reviews ranged from Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) calling it a worthy addition to the PlayStation library and Playstation Plus saying it was a promising platform game "destined for unwarranted obscurity." to a PSX-Pro reviewer describing it as "the worst PSX game I've played to date" While initially giving it very high scores when reviewing it a Japanese import title, the game received lower scores in GameFan months later as they felt the game was lacking compared to other platform games and PlayStation titles.

Reviewers Playstation Plus and GameFan complimented the gameplay, with the former magazine's reviewers calling it a totally unique experience. A review in Mega Fun  found the 3D movement initially impressive, while "monotony gradually creeps in due to a lack of variety, there are no surprises, no funny ideas or other features that contribute to a long-term commitment to the game. One reviewer in Dengeki PlayStation and two from Famitsu found it too easy to get lost in the 3D environment, while Next Generation said that "the world is far less open to exploration than it should be". EGM complimented the large-scaled levels, which Next Generation echoed saying the "level layouts are actually well thought-out" and "could be entertaining if the camera view didn't constantly make traversing them a chore." A number of reviews critiqued the narrow field of view and the lack of variety between the two camera options.