Crystalis (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of SNK's 1990 action-adventure game for the NES, Crystalis.
1997, October 1,
The END DAY
I can distinctly remember the first time I played Crystalis because of this line. I don't recall any other game, or at least not one in 1990, beginning with a predicted date for the apocalypse, only to then immediately follow it up with a vivid depiction of how it would happen. It wasn't the result of war, pollution, or rampant consumerism: the END DAY was an all-out nuclear holocaust.
In a fun coincidence, Terminator 2: Judgment Day scheduled a similarly fiery end to humanity around the same time, with Skynet pulling the trigger on August 29, 1997.
Somewhat less coincidentally, like countless other fantasy games from the NES era, Crystalis's story was clearly inspired by two classic Studio Ghibli films, 1984's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and 1986's Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
Crystalis was SNK's second in-house game developed specifically for a console, and though it wasn't a massive best-seller, it reviewed well and went on to become a cult classic that is still fondly remembered by NES fans all these years later.
It's an action-RPG that takes the basic structure of The Legend of Zelda and fleshes it out with a proper narrative, experience-based growth system, and a wide range of equipment and upgradable weapons, and it does it arguably better than any other NES game of its type.
There were so many things that made Crystalis memorable. The soundtrack, the vibrant graphics, the flashy cutscenes, and the story events are all standouts - who could forget changing genders to meet with the leader of a female-only town, riding on the back of a dolphin and taking to the open seas, or the death of Deo's best friend? (Not to mention how the Famicom version was named "God Slayer." That's quite a heavy title for an 8-bit ARPG, don't you think?)
Long time SNK fans will also recognize a few familiar faces here. Psycho Soldier's Athena and Kensuo are cast as "wisemen," and Ikari Warriors' Ralf and Clark both appear as NPCs.
Crystalis was, in my opinion, a seminal NES work that still deserves to be played today. Just do yourself a favor and stick with the original version. Nintendo's compromised Game Boy Color remake ( • Crystalis (Game Boy Co... ) doesn't do the game justice.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes that SNK had followed through with their plans for a sequel on the Neo Geo.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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