xaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxax

Moon Crystal (Famicom)

12.7.2023

Moon Crystal is an action platformer for the Famicom (what the Nes was called in Japan). It came out in 1992 and, for an 8 bit game, the presentation is rather slick and cinematic--so much so that it almost detracts from its very cliché anime storyline: You're boy Ricky Slater from a village whose inhabitants were entirely kidnapped by a mad scientist wanting to get his hands on Ricky's dad's research about the eponymous Moon Crystal. Yeah, it sounds even dumber when I sumarise it. xD

Anyway, the story is presented in the adorable sort of way I'd probably have liked as a child. Additionally, the rather late release date makes this game a more polished experience than most 8 bit games I've tried. The controls are mostly fine, except for the somewhat janky way of grabbing ledges. After a while, you just know where to stand to grab them. Speaking of grabbing ledges, the whole thing has a slight Prince of Persia vibe in that, in a lot of cases, avoiding enemies is prefered to engaging them. Nevertheless, while attacking and jumping is still more responsive, this isn't Ninja Gaiden or Mario and you mostly notice it when you have to switch from attacking to jumping or when Ricky has to turn around.

The level presentation is amazing for the platform, with nice backgrounds and paralex scrolling. The design in said levels is however rather mediocre, although I did appreciate some of the ways I had to smartly grab different ledges in order to avoid enemies.

I still have a few levels to go I guess, but so far, I really dig the late NES graphics and the anime presentation. The level design is rather meh and so are the bosses so far. Still, I'd like to find out more about the crystal and how Ricky's dad fits into this

The game only came out in Japan, so you'd have to either hunt down a patched ROM or patch the Japanese ROM yourself. You can find the English fan translation patch on Romhacking:

>Note: Romhacking is a site that uses Google services, so use it with a blocker like uBlock Origin!

HTTPS Link to Romhacking.net: Moon Crystal English translation patch

xaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxax

[ BACK TO INDEX ]