---

This review has been copied and updated from its original 2022 form.

Crystal Quest was one of the first big Mac games (and the first color one). You pilot a small disc-shaped ship that responds to the direction and velocity of the mouse, trying to collect gems, avoid enemies, and get out of the level without killing yourself in the process. It's a fond memory to me but it's highly dated (and doesn't work properly in some of the later emulators due to the way mouse emulation handles). It was ported to other systems later on, the first of which being the original Game Boy.

Data East ported the game with new title music (the box from the Game Boy version is what provides the game's thumbnail), but the only sound effect that was kept was the one where you pass through the end of level gate, though sampled at a much lower sampling rate (not the original one was great quality). There were ports made for iOS (now unavailable) and Xbox 360 (requires a slightly hacky workaround now). Neither of these were mouse-controlled like the original (since they had no mice), nor really had a lot of staying power. Back in 2016 the original Crystal Quest was ported to Steam under "Crystal Quest Classic", maintaining much of the same graphics but it's also written in Unity and probably doesn't control the same way. (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy infamously botched the original's hitboxes).

My original post shilled resource_dasm as with it I was able to extract the sounds from the game, but I'd like to play Crystal Quest as I remember it, full color with good mouse control. (The sounds can be found here).

FINAL RATING:   

Back...