When I was much younger, I played Crystal Castles over and over at my local 7-ELEVEN. It was amazing that they carried this along with Gauntlet, 1942, and Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. 1983 to 1985 had some amazing arcade games.
It really did! I didn't start even noticing arcade games until about 1987 unfortunately.... I was born in 78 so I'm not sure why I didn't see them or remember them before 87.
I believe Crystal Castles is in the top 5 most iconic 1980's arcade game cabinets. Pure classic in every way. Crystal Castles captures 1983 in a way nothing else can or does. Its an instant time warp to play today. Thanks for sharing it with us Ron.
This game has a special place in my heart since I played the C64 port a lot as a child. The local barcade sort of has it, albeit as part of an official emulated collection cabinet, so I usually play a few rounds when I am there. Along with Gaplus and Mr Do's castle which are both also available on that cabinet.
It's a really cool game, almost forgotten by this point unfortunately! I don't think they ever made a sequel or anything, even for the home systems, did they?
@@LyonsArcade I don't believe there are any sequels, at least not official. This game released during the market crash so maybe that nixed any hope of a follow up. Might also explain why the game is so unusual. Atari were likely desperate for any new ideas that would renew interest in their arcade machines.
Hi Joe, I used to play this game at the my local arcade in Chicago. It was called the Funzone and was located on Western Ave. across the street from WGN TV Station and by Lane Tech High School.... . It was one of my favorites. Only saw it at that arcade between 1984-1986.
Hi Joe. Great to see this arcade game working again. I first played this in the seaside town of Ayr on the west coast of Scotland in August 1983. My mum would book a 2 week vacation once a year and we’d travel down from our home village in central Scotland and I’d spend most of my time (and money) in the arcades. Other games I remember playing for the first time that year were Commando and Zaxxon, but Crystal Castles was my favourite. Thanks for the video.
Marcel's Olympic Bowl, Rochester NY. I was 14 when this game came out. Marcel's was the only center in Rochester (of the ~40 that existed back then) that was open in the summer and I bowled junior league there for a few summers around that time. They had a Crystal Castles machine in the area of the center where we bowled and I'd play CC right before and after league. Our team actually ended up calling itself "The Last Gems" that summer. Good times!
Wow what a story. So you're saying there were 40 bowling centers in Rochester? Or 40 Olympic Bowls? I love bowling centers too, I used to run a route with arcade games for an operator and I had 8 different bowling centers I serviced. Now that I think of it I think I had 13 at one time. 4 in Charlotte, 4 in Columbia, 1 in Lincolnton, 1 in Statesville, 1 in Salisbury, 1 in Gaffney, and 1 in Clinton. Whew!
@@LyonsArcade Back in the early 80s when I was in my early teens and an AVID bowler there were ~40 bowling centers in the Rochester area...western NY was a HUGE center for the sport back then. They made so much money during the season that they all closed for the summer, except for Olympic (which was an 80 lane center BTW). Heck, the 20 lane neighborhood center I bowled in back then had 150 kids in their junior program. Back then everybody around here bowled. Now we're down to 9 centers or so and if there are 150 junior bowlers through the entire Rochester area I'd be surprised. :(
I'm impressed when you're revamping all of these classic old-timer video arcade game machines. Since you're going to get more than what you bargained for with the new video arcade game machines. I've definitely seen what the new video arcade game machines looks like..
Came across this at a retro arcade near me called Silverball. You pay to enter the arcade and all the games are free to play. I was just curiously bumping back and forth between different games just trying them out and seeing what they were like; not spending too much time with any one of them. Then I tried this and it hooked me immediately. I never really played a game that used a track ball, except for a Simpsons bowling arcade game back when I was like 7. I couldn't believe how smooth and intuitive the movement was. There's no substitute for it. Maybe a track pad would come close, but you genuinely couldn't enjoy this game anywhere near as much without the track ball. I just thought it was so cool how a game that came out 13 years before I was born could impress me so much 40 years after it came out. As far as technology and video games have come, there's still a lot of qualities that older games have that are unique and irreplaceable.
The bowling alley in Fountain Valley had this game back in '83. The colors, graphics, and gameplay blew us away. We'd go to the alley just to play this game! Another reason why I have to get a USB trackball for MAME.
Love your videos! I had a Crystal Castles a few years ago and sold it. I think it was sent overseas somewhere. Fun game and a fantastic cabinet. I read somewhere that the music was arranged by the programmer. I still have a Centipede in a cabaret cabinet and a Robotron 2084, which will probably be buried with me!
Crystal Castles was the first arcade game to feature warp zones and have a true ending. Also, Bently Bear's original name was "Braveheart Bear." It had to be changed due to outcry from several Native American groups because the name "Braveheart" was a Native American name. Therefore, Atair was forced to change the name to "Bently Bear".
'Crystal Castles' the arcade and the 2600 version can be found on the Atari Vault compilation. Didn't know about everything you described in the game, K Bramlett. I'm going to re-play this classic when I get a chance.
I like how Atari designed this game's graphics. It's looks simple, but yet it looks awesome. Wish I had a trackball mouse, so I can play this game with it at the PC.
LogiTech makes a rollerball mouse. CRT also makes a heavy duty mouse. Kensington makes the best rollerball mouse that professional sound engineers use.
@@battledwarf8872 I used "Kensington USB /PS2 White TurboBall TrackBall Mouse" before. I borrowed from my friend to test it. It was pretty good but had to give it back to him as my friend used it a lot. Now I have been planning to get second hand one so I can not only play this but enjoy playing trackball games like The Simpsons Bowling and such.
@@battledwarf8872 No worries. I can't even find that brand of trackball easily. To be honest, the trackball mouse can wait, as this COVID is still going on.
I saw this for sale on your website and was hoping there would be a video coming! Such a beautifully designed cabinet and artwork. There used to be an ice skating ring back in the day in upstate NY called Low Tor that had a snack bar room with a whole row of arcade games and this was there once. Such a classic game!
Very cool man, "Low Tor" what in the world does that mean? I used to have games in an ice skating rink and they ran really good I think they like the cold :)
And BTW Poughkeepsie is in NY...it's maybe an hour north of New York City and is home to Vassar College (where my wife went). Drove the ~300 miles from Rochester to Poughkeepsie several times in '94-'95 to visit her there :)
When I was a kid, my local roller-skate rink had both Crystal Castles and Marble Madness. I was convinced the games were related (or perhaps sequels) because they both had trackballs, and on some levels in Crystal Castle, they had marbles. :)
Best video game of all time IMO. Loved it. I think it was one of the first you could actually beat. Getting past the level 9 stages were a pain, and you couldn't warp to 9, always had to go thru 8 to get to 9. That level 9 witch phase, UGH, absolute pain. The first time made it to 10, I remember my heart pounding. First time beating was so gratifying. Thanks for the memories Ron! Highest score was about the mid 800K's. When you beat level to you get like 10K bonus per extra life you have. Looking at Twin Galaxies I could probably be in the top 10 but that was so long ago and no proof. OH well.
I was hoping you were going to talk about the High Score being part of the Crystal castles. Good looking machine. One of the first secrets I learned in arcades. When you get high enough, the game tells you to run behind the first level and jump to warp. As the gem eaters are swallowing (their necks go red as they eat), you can run into them and kill them. I had so much fun on this game.
I went to CIA in New Hyde Park NY, one town over from "PO-Town". There are 3 beautiful colleges up there and huge IBM plant. Very country like but "PO-Town" is like Detroit. You wouldn't go there at night. I played Crystal Castles at my local Jamesway (like Target) way back in 87. Fun times when your department store had arcade room when your parents could shop and you can escape for about an hour.
I remember when the department stores had a FEW games but by the time I came around most of them had thinned out. The first games I ever remember playing were in the atrium of a Hills Department Store....
Darn it.... the name of the game rang a bell.... and once i saw it.... YES!! i have played this game alot.... never seen it on an arcade game... Probably on the Commodore 64 (years and years ago!) i even remembered the first few levels :D this is a lovely game! :D Nice repair!
Wow - as early as '83? I thought this was a later game and I associate it with the general decline of arcades and it being one of latter great games of the classic era. I suppose arcades had started to slide a bit around then though.......What a gorgeous game. Loving the madness - best not to try and think too hard about it!!! :) Nice mixing up the t-molding - I have Discs of Tron blue on my Asteroids Deluxe and it goes really well with the side art. This game emulates pretty well in MAME using the mouse control.....but nothing like playing on the real thing of course.
I think by 83 the decline had already started for sure... I know it was full fledged by 85, when the Nintendo Vs. system came out, because it was designed and marketed as a solution. Also Space Shuttle (the pinball) that came out in late 84 was credited with "saving Pinball" because the pinball market was already destroyed....
Maybe the only place I ever saw and played Crystal Castles was at my local arcade, Hucky Finn's at what was then called Pennyrile Mall in Hopkinsville KY.
90% of video playing the game haha ...awesome :) I just managed to fit my first custom crt tv onto my cabinet I made from scratch that's gonna be a Galaga style build. What a pain in the backside!!!! Lol 21" CRT are heavy man when you are lifting it in an out to get it's position right omg. But we'll worth the effort :D
You can attack those worm-like enemies when they're picking up a gem. Just run into them when they're picking one up and you'll take 'em out and score extra points.
I just got this arcade game. Not much damage, has the black trim. The lights in the top don’t work- cool to know they are there. I need to get new track ball parts, it is t rolling well (but it is the original red lighted one). What do you use to clean the console area around the track ball and buttons- that cleans but isn’t damaging? Thanks!!
It seems like this one didn't get a lot of traction but I remember playing at the main arcade in town. I remember the game being difficult and it took a few quarters to get anywhere. I don't think I have seen one since 1984 or so.
got a question for ya....someone has for sale 1950s Wurlitzer juke box, 1963 Slugger baseball pinball and 1957 Flagship with wood rail and legs.all three $2,500 they all look in good shape its close to me just wondering if that price seemed good
This guy was definitely 'expanding his mind' lol It's amazing that they had the guts to actually make it and distribute it! I believe it came out for some of the home systems but maybe it's more rare than I realized if it didn't make it over to Australia. The trackball really helps it, makes it pretty unique to play.... thanks for watching Brendan!
Hey Ron! I have a question I hope you don’t mind answering. Is the Sharp shooter pinball worth $375? So far I know everything lights up. A friend is selling it for his mother in-law, said his wife plugged it in and it came on just didn’t try to play it. Thanks!!
You basically want to see if the backglass looks pretty good, and if there's more wear on the playfield than you can live with. Sharpshooter was made by a strange company that only made a few games, and the gameboard is very unique, the issue is they mounted a battery right in the middle of the board. If that battery has started leaking alkaline the board is likely destroyed and it's very expensive to get another one. If I saw one for that price and it looked good I'd buy it though and try to fix the board.
We didn't film fixing it since the cabinet was kind of rough, people wouldn't be able to handle the truth :) One of our viewers in Australia has said he didn't see it over there either, maybe it was a limited release and didn't make it internationally.
Atari were the kings of originality back in the mid eighties. Crystal castles, marble madness, paperboy, Indiana jones, APB, 720 and toobin were all such great games. Sadly they are everything that modern games aren't.
@@LyonsArcade I know i’am getting old (51) but if I’d ever seen it I would not forget haha.... don’t think this one ever made it to the Emerald Isle?? Unless someone knows better!!?? Still gonna watch you fix it as usual though Joe 👍👍🖖🖖🖖🖖