CRYSTAL CASTLES

• HIDDEN MESSAGE: On level 5 (Berthilda’s Palace), grab the hat and enter the large door where Berthilda is. Run over her (for 3,000 points) and go to the corner of the room where she was and JUMP. The initials “FXL” (for Franz Lanziger) will appear in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. This also happens if you jump in the back corner on 6/4.

• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Lanziger built 2 castles using initials from friends of his. On Hidden Spiral (picture #3), “DES” stands for Desiree McCrorey, “SSM” is for Sam Mehta, and “BBM” for Brian McGhee (a former Atari game designer). On Berthilda's Palace, the initials are harder to make out, as they are cutouts in the floor. “EDG” is the initials of Eric Ginner (another former Atari game designer), while “MAR” stands for Mark Robichek. All of these people were famous video game players at the time.

• HIDDEN MESSAGE: Lanziger’s initials also appear several times on the high score table (by default), and as a result they comprise the first castle (picture #1). Another former Atari designer’s initials, “MEC” (for Mark Cerny) also appear.

• 4 versions of the game exist. A couple of the bugs are fixed in the later (conversion kit) versions (the false gem problem, and the two-player/level 10 completion problem). Also, the blocks that fill the screen at the end are trapezoids, and there is a credits screen shown at the end of some games.

• One unique feature of this game is that the initials entered after obtaining a high score are used as part of the first level in the next game played.

• When entering your initials on the scoreboard, you not only have a choice of the standard alphabet, but you can also enter these: a blank space; the extra life indicator (bear head); a slash (/); a question mark (?); a colon (:); and a right pointing arrow. A 'secret symbol' is the inverse slash (\), which appears only on the first maze on player 2's game, if the game is the first one after the machine has been turned on.

• The game was originally supposed to be a variation on the mega-hit "Asteroids" and the working title was 'Toporoids' (from TOPOgraphics and asteROIDS). It featured a one-legged robot and/or a spaceship placed in 3-D mazes lined with asteroids and the goal was (of course) to shoot them. The mazes were similar to those in Crystal Castles.

• Bentley Bear was originally named Braveheart Bear in the released prototypes, but Atari was forced to change the name when advocates for Native Americans complained.

• Hiding spot: It’s possible to keep a gaming going indefinitely by hiding from the bees inside a tunnel (be sure to first eliminate all the gemeasters and trap whatever else is left). This doesn’t work on every castle with a tunnel, but it works very well on Berthilda's Castle, and on Hidden Ramp. Each bee landing cycle takes about 5.9 seconds, and after 18 minutes, the bees' landing cycle count 'turns over' to 0, and they start landing next to their normal spot by the honey. {Mark Alpiger}

• Atari banner trick: Jump 128 times in the front (lowest) corner of any maze, and then clear the maze. The banner will appear on the next screen (picture #2). It disappears on the next maze, unless you are playing a two-player game, in which case it can appear on two screens.

• Warp Tunnel: A door appears at the start of a new game. Go through it and press JUMP- warps you to previous level in last game (1st maze of any level needs to be complete, but it won’t take you any higher than level 8).

• Secret Warp Tunnels: Level 1 to Level 3 warp - go to back left-hand corner and press JUMP. Level 3 to Level 5 - get the magic hat and JUMP in rear corner of hidden ramp. Level 5 (3rd maze “Crossroads”) to Level 7 - go to back left-hand corner of top wall and JUMP. Depending on how you play your game in the middle levels, a message telling you how to accomplish 1 of the 3 secret warps may appear at the end of your game.

• When the machine is in attract mode, wait until the first stage appears. When Bentley gets killed, hold down BOTH jump buttons and the accounting screen will appear (which shows customer play information). {Mike Quarles}

• The final level is 10-1 (The End). If you finish the level, a special screen appears that says, “I GIVE UP : YOU WIN YOU MUST BE _______________”. What goes in the blank depends on the number of lives you have left:
1 life = AMAZINGLY GOOD
2 = RIDICULOUSLY GOOD
3 = FANTASTICALLY GOOD
4 = VERY GOOD
5 = AN EXPERT
6 = A VIDEO WIZ
After entering your initials, the screen will then fill with blocks (picture #4). Later ROM versions use trapezoids instead.

• For more information, such as screenshots of all the castles and strategies, check out Mark Alpiger’s SITE.

• BUG: If you reach the last gem at the same time as another enemy, and one of you picks it up at the same time that you collide, Bentley will start to die, but then come back to life, and the game will progress normally. You won't even lose an extra life. The best way to do this is to set up the last gem in a corner, and wait for the bees to land on the maze. When they close in on Bentley, jump for the gem. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: While in the warp tunnel on 1/1, let a ball kill Bentley, and then press jump once. When the screen starts over, don't move. Simply press jump to accomplish the warp. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: Play a 2-player game where a warp tunnel appears on 1/1. Have both players kill off their lives on this screen. When player 1's game is over, player 2 will have 1/1 complete with the warp tunnel, but pressing jump inside won't warp you. Remember, to determine where you will warp, the program looks at the highest level completed in the last game played. Since player 1 didn't get off 1/1, this is the highest level completed. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: This warp tunnel glitch is similar to the above, but the game must be set to give 4 or 5 lives at the start, and the warp tunnel must NOT appear on 1/1. Have player 1 complete at least 2/1 or higher, and then kill off their game. Have player 2 also kill off their game, on 1/1. Now, when player 1's game ends, player 2's 1/1 screen will say to enter the tunnel and press jump to warp to level . But, there is no warp tunnel, because the maze was originally constructed without one! So, of course, player 2 cannot use the tunnel warp, in spite of what the game says!

• BUG: Using the hiding trick eventually causes the pitch of the bees’ sound to become higher and higher, until it stops playing. It will then start playing again, from a very low frequency. This is because the pitch number in the program rolls over to 0. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: On the hidden ramp screen, it is possible to generate a 'false gem', false meaning that the gem is not really there. It is easy to see this, as part of the gem is cut off. The only maze I've seen this bug on is "Hidden Ramp". To generate it, go to the top section of this maze, to the part that's closest to the elevator nearest the honey. On the left stairway leading to the platform with the elevator, go up towards the top, and then cut a hard right in such a way that you miss the gem on the platform in front of the top step of the stairway. Any gems you touch immediately thereafter, that lay above the tunnel, will become false gems. The most I've ever generated on one platform is 5. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: Start by playing a 2-player game. Have one player (either one) complete level 10 AFTER the other player has had at least one turn (i.e., both games must be in progress). After the first player has finished level 10, and entered their initials on the "Hall of Fame" scoreboard, the normal block painting display will NOT appear (this, I think, is the key that causes the bug). Instead, the "GET READY PLAYER” screen will appear, and the other player's game will appear to resume as normal. However, you’ll notice that the bees don't land. They never will land on that maze, even if there's a honey pot, or if you're killed and the maze play resets. Next, you'll notice that getting the last gem will not cause you to advance to the next maze as normal, in most cases. Simply put, you'll never advance unless ALL maze objects (i.e., enemies, honey pot, hat, gems) are gone. If any enemies remain that can't be eliminated, you'll never advance beyond the screen, and the game will be ended only by losing all of your lives. If only the hat and/or honey pot remain, you can collect them in the usual manner (after the last gem), and when the point number disappears, you will advance to the next maze, just as if you had collected the last gem. Still, whether or not you get the last gem is accurately kept track of. Normally, you'll always get the last gem in this situation. But, if you eliminate the last gemeater as it gets the last gem, and advance, the game shows that "THEY GOT THE LAST GEM". Boards that you can get off of include "Staircase", "Berthilda's Castle", and the 3/4 "Berthilda's Dungeon". After you advance, by the way, the game goes on completely normally. When you come back on a 'warp board', the warps will not work. This includes the tunnel (if there is one) on 1/1. Also, the Easter egg on 6/4 doesn't work. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: Sometimes when you try to warp in the tunnel on 1/1, and then come out to pick up a few gems, you'll find you didn't warp, even though jump was pressed in the tunnel. This is because the 'proper' warp spot is in the 'back' of the tunnel. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: An unusual but annoying occurrence is when a Gemeater doesn't eat his gem when landing on the maze. Many times I've gone to eat a line of Gemeaters, only to get killed on the first one, which has the gem it landed on still under it. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: Something somewhat related to the above is when I go to eliminate a Gemeater, but get killed on it, yet I see the gem going up its gullet as Bentley is dying! This is a problem with the order of the lines in the program. The line that asks if Bentley hit a Gemeater comes before the line that says the Gemeater is eating a gem. The lines simply need to be reversed. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: If you eliminate an enemy or object from the screen, then the spot where the object originally landed on the screen causes collision detector problems at that spot. If one enemy is on the 'eliminated' spot (say, the tree), then other enemies (such as Gemeaters) will pass right through, as if nothing were there! The best screen to do this is on Cross Maze. Eliminate one or two gemeaters from the board, and then move Bentley such that the tree will be on top of the eliminated gemeater's spot. Now, when another enemy or object (like the hat) approaches, it will freely move through the tree. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: If you turn a corner at the same time an enemy is at the corner, you can sometimes miss being hit. This is simply a problem with the collision detector and/or position indicator. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: Unbelievably enough, there is a way that your score can go DOWN in the game! All you have to do is point-press starting at level 2, and play to the 5/3 warp. Now, make sure your score is over 420,000 when you warp. Whatever your score is, it will always be put down to the 420,000 points awarded for warping. {Mark Alpiger}

• BUG: The name for castle 8/1 normally doesn’t appear b/c most machines are set to give a bonus life every 70,000 points, and the message window on this board indicates the bonus life setting instead of the name. But, when the bonus option is turned off, the name of the board appears in the window instead, which is Staircase. {Mark Alpiger}