The Crystal Maze Video Game | Game Review

[@officialbackintheday]

Really fun taking a look back at the Crystal Maze Video Game. Even though it's not the greatest game ever, it's still Crystal Maze and I love it! Let me know what you think, give the game a go, and let us know how well you do! Thanks for the support everyone :)

[@richardcoleman1616]

You are looking at this game with the eyes of today's games and technology. I remember having this game on my first ever pc. The HDD was 300mb big at the end of the 90's and needed to store windows as well as all the other programs. Memory was extremely limited (the whole CM game is 2MB big - in comparison an MP3 song is about 4-5mb today) so to save on space and allow more games you will probably find the mystery and physical ones are all coded the same with different skins. Remember most things were either 1.4mb floppy disks or if you were lucky to have a CD rom drive it was 700mb limit. Most games today can push 30gb to 100gb easily. If I remember rightly there are different difficulty settings and depending on the number of players you have in the dome it will time the tokens you collect by that number. I could complete most things on easy but it was near on impossible on hard. I'd love to see a new game. How great would it be to have it in VR? You could actually stand in the dome grabbing tokens and even multiplayer is possible now. They could code it so you could have the original industrial zone, the ocean world or even the new eastern zone. Games would be immense in VR.

[@officialbackintheday]

Great points here. Absolutely, computers in the 90s were extremely limited and don't get me wrong, this game is great for the time but you're right, looking at it through today's eyes makes it feel very limited. A new Crystal Maze game, particularly in VR, would be exceptional. Who knows, maybe it will happen in the future!!

[@NickWestgate]

​@@officialbackintheday Indeed, some perspective is needed. This was written over 30 years ago when not all users had hard drives. It shipped late in 1993 for the Acorn Archimedes on 3 x 800k disks. Target computers would've had ARM2 CPUs running at 8 MHz, with 2 MB of RAM, and no GPU, so no help for 3D graphics. Guess how many 3D engines were available as open source, or in a book to copy from. Zero. You had to write your own from scratch, in assembly language. We worked most of the year getting the framework, UI, 3D engine, platform engine, and artwork done. Then Sherston and/or Channel 4 decided to move the release date forward to meet some damn trade show. We had to code day and night for a month cranking out the last of the mini-games, which is why some of them are quite simple and lacking in design. The game was envisaged as an "edutainment" title. Sherston were well known in the education space and on the Acorn platforms at the time, so schools and kids were the target market, as well as fans of the TV show. Some design effort went into making the game suitable for a team of kids to play, hence the characters (and portraits). As others have pointed out in the comments (and if you RTFM!) different characters will make certain games easier or harder, and your character can escape from the puzzle room with Ctrl-Esc. Also, there's a global difficulty setting in the UI which you don't show in the video. The game is intended to be hard though, like the real thing! All in all, The Crystal Maze game show was quite a challenge to pack into 3 x 800k disks! It's nice to hear that some people enjoyed the result.

[@SonicBoom123-x6q]

This Gladiators and Knightmare were my favorite shows of the 90s and I love the Crystal Maze video game.

[@UKProgRock]

Pretty sure that a new version of this could work well as a multiplayer party game nowadays, or even as an online multiplayer type deal. Imagine taking on the Crystal Maze with a group of friends and a few beers.

[@Zomerset]

Wow! Never knew this existed. I would have been buzzing about this game as a kid. Old games are really difficult. I got Nintendo Switch online recently and don’t get very far in the old NES games.

[@daveash9572]

I remember a pub which used to have a crystal maze coin op machine. I dont know if it was broken or what, but i could routinely win on it, so much so that i could go to the pub with just one pound in my pocket, and i could guarantee winning enough money to pay for my drinks for the night. It had a trackball interface and many of the graphics look similar to this game. Very occasionally, it would give you an unwinnable game, which is why i needed to be able to have two credits, in order to be sure of winning. Think the payout was between 1 and 5 quid. The pub in quesion was on Box hill near dorking, think its now a restaurant.

[@officialbackintheday]

I think that pub quiz machine was slightly different from this game, but I could be wrong on that! Have a feeling I've seen it before somewhere though!

[@charlottecarter4113]

Best show ever. I did a "crystal challenge" evening at our church two years running and designed and built all the games

[@bellers01]

Another great vid mate. Appreciate the hard work P.s that website you linked with the old games is amazing

[@officialbackintheday]

Thanks so much! Yea that website is awesome, I'll definitely be covering some other games from that site in the future.

[@FreyFox87]

I had this game! This game was so nuts with how tough those games were, I think the only physical game I won was the Aztec one - I definitely agree three strikes and you're out would have been better. And sometimes it wasn't entirely clear how much time you had left, and sometimes it varied. You could also call your player back before time ran out but i forgot what button/s you pressed for that to happen. You could buy them out any time except once at the Crystal Dome I think.

[@apex2000]

Anyone else remember the Arcade Machine of The Crystal Maze (when show originally aired)

[@seany84uk]

Yep!!!

[@tomc3425]

Was it any different to the video game you can play at home?

[@seany84uk]

@@tomc3425 it was very similar except the crystal maze you just moved in a 2d environment to collect the tokens. I think there might be some videos of it on youtube

[@mrfreeze2446]

Wasn't it £2 a pop? Stupidly rock hard, looked amazing though lol

[@tomc3425]

@mrfreeze2446 that rings a bell 🔔 I remember playing it on the PC for sure. The only arcade games I really miss and remember was the Simpsons and teenage mutant ninja turtles 🐢 both up 2 4 players at 1 time. I then had a copy of the Simpsons on my Sega master system thinking it was the same as the arcade version only to find out sadly not. Although wasn't tmnt on the Nintendo the same as the arcade version??

[@ZeroNiteLite]

Really enjoyed thos video... Subbed... Can't wait to see more...

[@officialbackintheday]

Thanks for the sub!

[@philnewton-england7795]

To escape a cell in time you had to press CTRL-ESC. To buy back the 'locked-in' players, you just click on their corresponding padlock (You must buy them out BEFORE you play the last/12th game however).

[@officialbackintheday]

Ah got it! That will definitely be useful, thanks for letting me know!

[@flamehairedkev]

I'm sure my cousin had this game on PC, I definitely remember the Aztec skill games like Gag The Gods. We definitely had the first board game, I swear my mum got it for Christmas or something, in fact we probably still have it. I'll have to check next time I can, see what sort of state it's in. Great video as always

[@timbecks81]

I had that aswell, don't know where it is now lol

[@LeeONardo]

The board game with the awesome medieval tower attack with a catapult? The game that never worked was the crane game it's impossible to actually pick up the rods since it doesn't actually grab you kinda have to slide the rods into the gap of the crane head, but it never worked!

[@KyleRDent]

Me and a mate of mine hosted a Crystal Maze 'LARP' for a couple of birthday parties. I was Mumsey!

[@seany84uk]

I used to play this at my local pub in an arcade machine form

[@darren_anscombe]

Oh yeah, well remembered. The one with the rollerball mouse thingy. The games were fiendishly difficult and I was lucky to get 15 or 20 seconds in the dome.

[@purpleaki06]

@@darren_anscombewow that brought back a memory. Totally forgot about that. You’re right, rollerball game. Pretty much impossible

[@ianmurphy9955]

Those player character look like Spitting Image puppets 😂😂

[@officialbackintheday]

🤣

[@NickWestgate]

​@@officialbackintheday You mentioned that you liked them. KZbin won't let me post a link, but if you search for Ant Sang NZ you'll find more artwork by the artist who drew them.

[@OvercookedOctopusFeet]

Those game character avatars look more normal than some of the real life contestants i watched.

[@officialbackintheday]

😂

[@timbecks81]

Brilliant, loved Crystal maze, sometimes watch the rest runs lol, good job, better luck next time lol ❤❤

[@ACatCalledSnow]

This was great to watch, thank you! See how you get on with the Knightmare game next. I remember it on the Amiga.

[@officialbackintheday]

Ah that would be a great game to cover!

[@philnewton-england7795]

I have my own little booklet which I wrote most of the answers in - It helped me get over 100 gold tokens (only a few times), & a little graphic of a spinning crystal pops up saying 'I cracked the crystal maze'. I'm really surprised no company ever did a (better) updated version - would have been awesome on PS5/Xbox

[@officialbackintheday]

I'm definitely going to be trying to beat this game!

[@upkaarbharadia]

Another banger, thank you 👏🏽🔮

[@That_Ifrit_Guy]

Man, Thanks for making this~ I recall playing the game (Still got the disk on my shelf lol) And not doing well at all, good to know it wasn't just me

[@officialbackintheday]

Glad you enjoyed! Defintely not the easiest of games but anything Crystal Maze I'm going to love. :)

[@shawbag11]

I love the crystal maze soo much. I have some many good memory’s of watching it with my gran and getting annoyed at the idiots who went on the show fail to solve the easiest of puzzles XD I liked that it got brought back but honestly the show was never the same when o Brian left he was by far the best maze master.

[@adiedobson]

I still have this on my computer today using DosBox, originally played when I was in yr 6 at school on the arcimedes if we had finished our work. Still good little bit of fun BUT the final dome game was so bloody annoying

[@NickWestgate]

You were the target market. The show's Crystal Dome experience was tricky to replicate in game format. How would you have changed it?

[@cycklist]

I also was infatuated with the Crystal Maze. There's something about it that captivated those of us of a certain age.

[@DJRickDawson]

I have the apple app version of this on my no longer used iPad2 got an iPad mini 6 now.

[@Flon22]

Oh shit, totally forgot about this game. Massive nostalgia. It was bloody impossible. Edit: Having watched the video, I realised I dont have the same memory of the final gold and silver token game. I think most of the time i either didnt get a single crystal, or my whole team got locked in.

[@nickcopland5186]

It would be good if they did a game for the nintendo switch, I recently downloaded Bullseye on mine

[@officialbackintheday]

Oh nice, I didn't realise there was a Bullseye game for the switch!

[@nickcopland5186]

@@officialbackintheday It does a good job of looking like the Bullseye studio, no official music, no Jim Bowen or Tony Green voice clips, but it's a good try.

[@LadySophieofHougunManor7325]

It was a staple of tv growing up alongside gladiators one of my all time favourites was in later series what I called burglar alarm game where players had to cut correct wires to avoid burglar alarm tripping think it was automatic lock in with 3 attempts in either medieval or futuristic zones another classic was knightmare on itv

[@philnewton-england7795]

Hi. Yes that game was in the Industrial Zone : Series 3. (I always wondered why there was a living room in the middle of an industrial 'factory').

[@LadySophieofHougunManor7325]

Absolutely was awesome

[@MrCalldean]

Industrial was the best zone. Fight me.

[@medichampion328]

Do you remember a paintball game show on Channel 4 called Xfire (pronounced Crossfire)?

[@officialbackintheday]

Yes, I remember that show. Definitely will be making an appearance on this channel in the future!

[@mrwilliamwinter]

I wonder if it secretly matters which players play which games? That girl is good at lights out and that guy was a good aim with crossbow? So right players with right games, lots of crystals, no lock ins...? Sounds exhausting though 😂 Great video tho!

[@officialbackintheday]

Potentially yea, hadn't thought of that! Definitely going to be returning to this in the future and attempt to beat the game.

[@liampope1]

According to the manual, yes it does matter! Each person has strengths and weaknesses.

[@officialbackintheday]

Ah good to know thanks!

[@NickWestgate]

​@@liampope1Good to know some people RTFM! 😂

[@RandomIndyWrestling]

Is there no way to leave rather than just getting locked in?

[@officialbackintheday]

I couldn't figure that out haha. Surely there must be a way though.

[@FreyFox87]

There is. I forgot what you pressed to get out of the room, maybe it was Escape or another button!

[@liampope1]

@@officialbackintheday According to the manual - CTRL-Esc

[@NickWestgate]

​​@@liampope1Yes, there had to be a way out, but not trivially easy. Contestants did get trapped.

[@leothompson2777]

On the actual show, nobody ever won the extinguish all the lights game. And you did it in one.....

[@officialbackintheday]

Complete fluke I promise!

[@pearljam619]

What platform was this on I’m guessing Amiga.

[@NickWestgate]

Acorn Archimedes in 1993, then ported to x86 in 1994. It used the (popular at the time) 320 X 240 mode, but with an 8 bit palette chosen by the Acorn hardware.

[@ManicRay]

Well they got one thing right, it's as difficult as the show lol.

[@NickWestgate]

Too right! Contestants failed the challenges and some got locked in. The game had to replicate that experience, even at the risk of being called "too hard".