Conquest Of The Crystal Palace (Asmik 1990)

The citizens of the Crystal Palace were happy until their once peaceful homeland was conquered by an evil spirit and his undead minions. With their King  and Queen killed, their only hope was the young prince. Unfortunately he was only six months old at the time. Fortunately the palace guardian and keeper, Zapolis survived despite being turned into a dog. Now fifteen years later prince Farron and his trusty dog Zap must venture back to their home and defeat the warspirit once and for all.

I have to say I'm impressed with this effort from Asmik. They have taken a sound platform game and added a bit of role playing elements to shake things up. The graphics are quite good and features some nice details. Some levels such as the Gateway of Flame have nice effects like the lava. The main character has some nice animations and is also quite responsive to control. Levels also shy away from the run of the mill formulas and feature some originality for once. Besides walking about, slaying your foes and collecting the coins they leave behind, you will also come across a shop from time to time. Here you can replenish your health, buy some new weapons or even catch the wacky news. While fighting you can also call upon Zap to attack your enemies and he has his own life bar that can also be filled up again by buying some food at the shop.

The game only has five levels but they are moderately long and feature some really hectic boss battles. Some of these guys are really tough and having the right weapon for the job helps immensely. You start out with only a sword but can buy some projectile weapons along the way. These don't last long so must be used sparingly and preferably kept for the bosses.

Another highlight is the music which is surprisingly good for a NES game, especially one of this era. There are also some downsides, but luckily not much. Gameplay can be a bit frustrating at times with things hitting you all over the place, but with patience and timing you can easily complete the game. Dying is also a frustrating experience while fighting a boss as you have to travel all the way back to him to restart the fight, instead of simply starting the battle from scratch. The last level also features some particularly nasty maze like layouts that can cause much frustration. Don't let these criticisms put you off though. Conquest of the Crystal Palace is still an enjoyable game and one that stands out in the platform market due to the extra features.

[8]