Dragon Crystal

n/a

Master System US/EU JP
Dragon Crystal
System(s): Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Pocket PC, Virtual Console
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega R&D 2 Sanritsu M2
Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT), Tec Toy (BR)
Genre: RPG, Action, Adventure Role-Playing
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English English 日本語
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-12-22 ¥3,5003,500 G-3206 US 1991-04 2305 EU 1991-06-29 2305 UK 1991-06-29 £24.9924.99 2305 EU 1991 5123 PT 199x UK 1991-11-21 £29.9929.99 5123 AU 199x MX 199x BR 199x 023440 JP 2002 ¥500 ? JP ▼ 2012-03-14 ¥286 (300)286 (300) US ▼ 2012-03-15 $2.992.99 EU ▼ 2012-03-29 €3.003.00 DE ▼ 2012-03-29 €3.003.00 UK ▼ 2012-03-29 £2.702.70 AU ▼ 2012

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Dragon Crystal, known as Dragon Crystal: Tsurani no Meikyu (ドラゴンクリスタル ―ツラニの迷宮―) in Japan is a Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear roguelike. The gameplay and much of the graphics are shared with Fatal Labyrinth.

Story

As you ride a bicycle one late afternoon, you turn down an alley that you never before noticed and enter an antique shop. There, a mysterious glowing crystal is sitting on a shelf. Upon approaching the crystal and gazing into it, a powerful force pulls you in, causing a blackout.

You awaken in a forest with a large egg following behind. This forest is a huge maze, crawling with dangerous creatures. You find weapons and other items scattered around with which to fight the monsters. The only way out is to continue onward, defeating monsters and growing in power along the way.

Gameplay

The game is a roguelike, which is a subgenre of role-playing games characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels. The hero awakens in the middle of a maze and must battle monsters through 30 randomly generated levels of increasing difficulty. At the end of each level but the last is an exit that leads to the next floor. The last level ends with the hero obtaining a holy goblet that frees him from the crystal.

The hero moves in any direction using the D-Pad; an egg follows him everywhere. The environment is obscured by a fog until the hero moves into it. In the Game Gear version, holding  START  increases the hero's movement speed; in the Master System version, pressing  PAUSE  switches between slow and fast movement. Though the hero can move freely, the game is essentially turn-based, with each movement or action equivalent to one turn. Monsters appear randomly and take turns with the hero exchanging attacks. This means that getting surrounded can be particularly dangerous as every enemy gets one attack for every one attack that the player gets. It also means that the player can pause a battle simply by waiting to make a move. Killing monsters increases the hero's experience. The hero gains a new level when he acquires enough experience, which increases his hit points. Hit points are traded in battle with the enemy but are recovered by moving around. The egg accompanying the hero hatches into a dragon that grows with him as he gains levels. Gold is used to revive from death, with the cost increasing with the number and severity of previous deaths.

Weapons, armor, potions, rings, food, and gold are randomly placed throughout the levels and can be picked up by pressing when standing over them. The hero must regularly pick up food to avoid starving. Each food point allows the character to move six spaces on the screen. Bread gives 10 to 30 food points and meat gives 31 to 50 food points; the maximum number of food points is 99.

The hero increases his attack power by acquiring better weapons and his defense by acquiring better armor. Other items picked up in the game are color-coded, with colors representing an effect that cannot be discovered until the player uses an item of that color or throws it at an enemy. Pots are potions that can heal or poison the player, Books provide either maps or spells that may strengthen the player in some way or negate a harmful effect (such as removing cursed items), Rods cast spells that affect enemies, and Rings provide bonuses to stats (or sometimes are cursed, such as the Hunger Ring, which makes the player consume food much more quickly and requires a Bless Book to remove). The hero has a limited inventory. Unwanted items, such as armor or weapons weaker than the ones already worn by the player or cursed or poisonous items, can either be dropped or thrown at enemies for minor damage. The player can bring up a status screen for viewing and managing items by pressing .

History

Legacy

The Game Gear version of the game was released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2012.

A Dragon Crystal II was released for mobile phones in Japan in 2003.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Dragon Crystal	Dragon Crystal
English (US)	Dragon Crystal	Dragon Crystal
Japanese	ドラゴンクリスタル ―ツラニの迷宮―	Dragon Crystal: Tsurani no Meikyu

Production credits

Game Gear version

• Graphic: Tamun, Manabu, Fudo
• Program: Totoyo, Kim.P
• Sound: E.Fugu
• Coordinate: Pata, Totoyo
• Special Thanks: Asohy, Tomozou, The Hase, LLG

Source:

In-game credits

Master System version

• Graphic: Gaga
• Program: XYZ
• Sound: E.Fugu
• Coordinate: Gaga
• Special Thanks: Waka

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Dragon Crystal/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

MX advert (1992)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-01: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)
also published in:

• Mega Drive Fan (JP) #12: "January 1991" (1990-12-08)

Artwork

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Physical scans

Master System version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 67 Consoles + (FR) PAL 88 Console XS (UK) PAL 82 Gamers (DE) PAL 53 Joypad (FR) 68 Joystick (FR) PAL 73 Mega Force (FR) PAL 65 Mega Force (FR) PAL 55 Player One (FR) PAL 25 Play Time (DE) PAL 74 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 82 Video Games (DE) 65

	66
Based on 12 reviews

Dragon Crystal

Master System, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, FR (Blister pack)
Cover

Master System, PT
Cover

Master System, AU (Hotline sticker)
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU (NIAL sticker)
Cover
Cart

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System, MX
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score ACE (UK) 75 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 70 Console XS (UK) PAL 86 Dragon (US) 100 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 Games-X (UK) 74 Génération 4 (FR) 73 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Hobby Consolas (ES) 78 Joystick (FR) 65 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 70 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 70 Raze (UK) NTSC 84 Sega Power (UK) PAL 25 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 80 Sega Pro (UK) 82 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 42 Video Games (DE) 53

	70
Based on 18 reviews

Dragon Crystal

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 9549fce4 MD5 e05484f93011055c5b76ffabfea84367 SHA-1 021c6983fdab4b0215ca324734deef0d32c29562	128kB		Cartridge (EU)
?	CRC32 0ef2ed93 MD5 8431baccd169025f79c9cbc44e31622d SHA-1 6d53f32001d419a5b5e9c16cb62e07e548d2f44a	128kB		Cartridge (US/EU)
?	CRC32 89f12e1e MD5 da0b9e94ffb9c3930501c7a7a90fbf18 SHA-1 ea323c4ac28d7762277039450c341d0f025093d8	128kB		Cartridge (JP)
✔	CRC32 baf4369d MD5 19bb76e91f6bdb94a9332135698227c2 SHA-1 c7d1551b7bbc01f35fa849e5b05073012f76c3a8	128kB		3DS Virtual Console (US/EU)
✔	CRC32 9c8534ec MD5 e6d6fdb864d7878b7b444c7200b84b7c SHA-1 df135dd54638e2ce1f18d670c98b0313484d70bc	128kB		3DS Virtual Console (JP)

External links

• Sega of Japan 3DS VC catalogue pages: Game Gear
• Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US, UK, AU

References

Dragon Crystal series of games
	Dragon Crystal (1990)
	Dragon Crystal (1991)
	Dragon Crystal (2002)
	Dragon Crystal (2003) | Dragon Crystal II (2003)
	Dragon Crystal (2004) | Dragon Crystal II (2005)
	Dragon Crystal (2012)