Moon Crystal

Nintendo exclusive

Moon Crystal is a platform action game where you control Ricky Slater on his mission to free his kidnapped father from the evil Count Crimson. The Count is forcing his father, a great scientist, to use the power of the moon crystal to turn the dead into living and rule the world.

Released: 28 August 1992
Platforms: NES
Genres: Adventure Platformer
Developers: Hect
Publishers: Hect
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: Japan
Languages: Japanese
Composers: Tsukasa Tawada

About

Moon Crystal is a 1992 video game for the Family Computer. It is a side scrolling action game, published and developed by Hect. It was well received by critics, who praised the smooth animations and graphics, however it sold poorly. It has never been released outside of Japan.

›Story

As Ricky Slater, the player must rescue Ricky's family and confront the evil forces of Count Crimson, who wields the powerful Moon Crystal! Owing much inspiration to Prince of Persia, this game boasts colorful graphics and vivid animations coupled with non-linear exploration and gameplay.

Keywords

anime
fan translation - english

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Moon Crystal is a side scrolling 2D action game. Players take the role as Ricky, a green haired boy who is controlled during action sequences. A second character, a blonde girl Rosina, appears in the game's story cut-scenes but does not appear during gameplay.

The gameplay plays some similarities to Zelda II, while it shares some mechanics from Prince of Persia. It includes the ability to grab onto ledges, which is a rare features for Famicom games.

Story

Players must guide Ricky on a quest to rescue his father from the evil necromancer Count Crimson. The rest of Ricky's family has also been kidnapped; prompting him to fight even harder against Crimson's forces.

Development

The game uses Kanji in dialogue, which is rare for games of that era, which typically use katakana.

Reception

Upon release, Japanese gaming publication Weekly Famitsu gave it a score of 24 out of 40, while praising the smoothness of the character animations. com called it one of many Zelda II clones on the system, but stated the graphics and animation were higher quality than the others which allowed it to stand out. Retro Gamer magazine praised the graphics and animations, saying they were high quality for an 8-bit game, and called it a potential best seller had it been released, while recommending it as a game to import from Japan. Hardcore Gaming 101 called the game "quite great, but not outstanding".

Strana Igr praised the graphics, sound, and the game's storyline. The level design was described as varied and the difficulty level was noted as high.