Graphics: 10
For it's time, this game was among the very best. Smooth, flowing screens and nice animations aer what build this game up from a graphical point of view. Each item in the game has an image, and the menu is layed out efficiently, yet elegantly. The save and load buttons are also graphical.

Sound: 10
The music is definatly revolutionary! It's catchy, and has a great beat. The outside adventure music makes you feel like your out there. The cave music is nicely paced, and the music you hear near the elders gives you that essence.

Magic spells, such as flight and paralyssis, actually sound different. Swords have a disinct swing and stab sound, and their respective special abilities have fitting sounds. EG, the braclet of wind allows little hurricanes to fly out from your sword. The hurricanes make a windy sound that is befitting of the graphic.

Gameplay: 7
Full, 8-directions of smooth graphics. Enemies that attack intelligently later on. Telepathic magic that allows talking to animals. All this can be had in Crystalis. Why then did I rate gameplay a 7?

The clues are vague! At the second area, you are told that ""you are not strong enough to climb the mountain"". This mean that you must walk back to the first area with telepathy magic and talk toa rabbit. if you use any warping magic, you will not get to progress. So you gotta get there by foot.

Intresting little point to add. In some areas, there are holes that you can fall through, but they actually make sense where they go. They don't have a generic spot you fall to; you actually seem to fall to the lower level in a sensible spot.

Also, there are guys that can turn yu to stone. If you attack with your sword, and turn to stone, the enemies will get hurt by the frozen blade.

The bosses require a minimum level be reached by the main character. You can't get to the second area unless you are at least at level 3 if I recall, simply because the vampire will not take any damage unless you have that level. This can be awkward if you haven't saved.

Overall: 10
Plots are rare, and hard to build. This game has a great one that was crafted by the one good person at SNK. In this game, they managed to work out an intresting assortment of graphics, programming, and engineering. I really don't think anybody has ever used the NES's capibility so well. One thing that intrested me, however minor, was the way lightning can cover the entire screen, flash, change all the palettes, and not cause much slow down. Nerdy, I admit, but definatly a feat in itself.

No other game by SNK reached the levels that this game did. I seriously think they hit the development jackpot when they produced this game. Many romers circulate that SNK was incapible of producing a quality game; this game is the odd one out. T0o this day, I crave a sequal, however, I fear what a sequal would do to the game. I pulled my first all-nighter on this game. Oh, and be carful when you get to Goa; that first maze was why I had that all nighter.