As far as retro RPG’s are concerned in relation to the Nintendo Entertainment System there have been several memorable titles from the 80’s and early 90’s. We got to see 8 bit RPG games such as Dragon Quest I-IV and Final Fantasy I-III between the ’86-’90 which were arguably more popular in Japan opposed to America. However, a game like Crystalis is never really mentioned in the same light as that if the Final Fantasy series despite the fact that its considered to be a cult classic by various gamers. In fact Crystalis is one of the most recognizable RPG titles that SNK has ever made and was released for the NES the same year the Neo Geo AES came out in Japan. Crystalis was considered to be a action-adventure/action role-playing game with a basic plot yet interesting involving an unnamed protagonist. The main character who awakes from a deep sleep makes some startling discoveries such as his presence being the key from saving humanity from destruction despite not remembering anything including his own identity. As far as the setting and the background for the game is concerned the idea of a fictional nuclear occurring in 1997 was one that was intriguing especially considering the fact that the game itself was released in 1990.
While the storyline, soundtrack and visuals for Crystalis were considered to be strong positives there are some people who would probably argue that the game could have been a masterpiece if it had better graphics. If Crystalis were released for the 16-bit Super Nintendo console which also came out in 1990 the game could have ended up becoming more popular than it was especially considering the fact that the NES was starting to get old during the early 90’s. Also, SNK is well known for their fighting games from the early 90’s such as Art Of Fighting, Fatal Fury and the King Of Fighters series. Crystalis was definitely a solid RPG title for its time and eventually ended up appearing on console such as Game Boy Color in ’00 and even the Nintendo Switch this past year in 2018 with different developers and publishers being involved in each respective port. While Nintendo Software Technology developed the Game Boy Color version Digital Eclipse worked on the Switch version with NIS America being the publisher. Seeing how popular if a RPG Crystalis was and still is today its surprising that the game never received a direct sequel on over 28 yearS since its release.
Gaming Hearts Collection 