Crystalis
SNK (1990)
The final years of a console's lifespan often produce some of its most interesting games, and Nintendo's 8-bit era is no exception. Crystalis is an action RPG that was released for the Famicom in Japan 25 years ago today, with a release in North America on the NES just a few months later.
In this game, you play as a man who has just woken up from cryogenic sleep in a cave just outside of the village of Leaf in the year 2097 - a hundred years after a savage war destroyed civilization. The descendants of the humans who survived the war live in a medieval world in which science and technology has been banned, with the exception of a giant floating tower. Your character soon learns that he must unite the four elemental swords to defeat the mutants and the evil Draygonia Empire, who have brought back the forbidden sciences and threaten to take over the world.
Although it doesn't get the same level of attention from the retro community as its contemporaries, such as The Legend Of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and the Dragon Warrior series, Crystalis had a good amount of support behind it in its time. This game tips card was printed on the inside of a Jell-o Pudding Pops as a part of their promotion of the 1990 Nintendo World Championships.
This Sunday newspaper circular was shared by Jason Liebig on Flickr which shows some of the other games that were used for the Power Playing Tips cards that were printed on the inside of Jell-o frozen desert boxes, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Tetris, Code Name: Viper and Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
This ad from The Pittsburgh Press on March 18th, 1990 shows that in addition to getting a couple of Nintendo tips, buying a box of Jello-Pudding Pops back would also get you a free ticket to the Nintendo World Championships.
