This game doesn’t really have much for me to say. It’s a text adventure game and it was Square’s first title for the system and it even went under the DOG label. It’s got some nice visuals done by Nippon Sunrise (an Anime studio) but there’s barely any music which is a shame because the title screen music is pretty good. Though I’d argue having no music helps because whenever the rare sound plays it makes me jump. That dragon scream is scary man. It’s also really short so I guess you can’t go wrong with it but I just don’t really feel much from it. It’s a shame it does have a lot of disk switching and loading but it’s expected for something like this. It’s really only worth trying because you’ll waste almost no time of your life and there’s some nice screens.

I guess before I go, while the other review mentions it, I should mention it anyway that the game is notable for something outside of the game itself. A magazine would post a fake screenshot of a scene of the game where you can play strip janken with the girl Cynthia. The screenshot even showed her hand edited in one to make it look like she’s doing scissors for her hand and even one where part of her clothing was removed. If you’re wondering why they would do this, it supposedly was to see if other magazines would copy the lie. This bit of history is so well known that it probably eclipses the game itself which in some ways is a little sad...

Game Review - originally written by Sardius

Oh great, it’s one of these things. You know, one of those text adventure games that nobody likes. I’m not trying to trivialize the genre or anything, but…well, the ability to really enjoy this type of game has more to do with a quality that one possesses - a virtue, if you will - that I unfortunately lack. Patience, I think it’s called.

If you, on the other hand, are a patient person who is also a fan of text adventure games…you’re probably going to still be disappointed by Crystal Dragon. If you’re wondering what it’s like, think Snatcher, only without all the good stuff. That’s pretty much it. The graphics are often laughably bad, the controls are unnecessarily obtuse (hold B and push left and right to flip through menu options? what the hell ever, man), and there’s NO MUSIC. None whatsoever! Well, except for the blippy title screen piece, but that’s it. Sound effects are pretty damned sparse, as well. In fact, the whole experience is about as basic and primitive as it can possibly be for a game of this type, which almost gives it sort of an endearing quality, but not quite.

But hey, it’s a Square game, so.