Crystals of Zong

Crystals of Zong

Game No.	473
Voting	6.86 points, 7 votes
Developer	Sean McKinnon
Company	Cymbal Software
Publisher	Cymbal Software (North America), Personal Software Services (PSS) (Europe), Soft & Easy
Musician	Sean McKinnon
HVSC-File	GAMES\G-L\Krystals_of_Zong.sid
Release	1983
Platform	C64
Genre	Arcade, Labyrinth
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	The Mummy's Tomb (US) Krystals of Zong Cristals of Zong De Schatkamers van Zong

Description[edit | edit source]

Crystals of Zong is a Canadian game published in 1983. It's a simple maze game where the player has to reach the end of the level while surviving various monsters.

Every level consists of 9 labyrinth-like rooms arranged in a 3x3 grid. The player starts in the middle of the central room, and each one is connected to the adjacent ones. In every room there are four monsters, a key, a sword, a central vault with a treasure, and in every level there is one torch that can respawn in a different room 2 or 3 times per level, bringing the total available to 3 or 4. There are 4 levels: in the first one the monsters are snakes, in the second bats, in the third spiders and in the fourth mummies who shot fire when facing the player. Each monster is faster than the previous. They move randomly along the maze, and touching one of them or their projectiles will kill the player, who will then lose one of his 5 lives. Monsters can change direction on a corner or a crossroad, but will never stop and very rarely make a u-turn. Also, in the rooms there are no death ends. The player can reverse direction but can stop only if he hits a wall that prevents him to continue forward. Every level has a time limit of 3:30 minutes, shown on the bar on the bottom right of the screen. When it's over, the monsters will become dark and difficult to see. Taking the torch will reset the time and the monsters will become bright again. Taking a sword will allow the player to kill the monsters of this room for the next 6 seconds, except on the fourth level where there are no swords. Every key allows to open one of the 9 vaults, where the player can take the treasure. Treasures give points, but some have other effects too. Taking the boots allows the player to move faster until the end of the level; taking the special sword allows to kill the monsters of this room for 21 seconds; taking the ladder will end the level and lead to the next one. If a player takes a sword or a special sword and leaves the level, their effects expire immediately. Monsters become red when the player can kill them and dark red during the last second it's possible to kill them. Monsters and mummies' shots can't reach the player when he is inside the treasure vaults. Monsters, keys and screen borders come in different colours, but they don't have any particular meaning.

There are no difficulty levels. The first three levels are quite easy, the fourth it's more tricky.

Crystals of Zong doesn't have a musical score, but has cute sound effects: taking a torch will play "Light my Fire" by The Doors, taking a treasure will play "If I Were a Rich Man" by Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock, ending a level will play "Baby Elephant Walk" by Henry Mancini and dying will play the folk melody "New Britain".

Two bugs are fairly common:

The time bar will often times freeze, giving the player unlimited time of light.
The game crashes from time to time at the beginning of a level.

Points[edit | edit source]

Characters:

Name	Points when killed	Number available to kill	Notes
Player	-	5	-
Angel	-	-	Brings dead players to heaven
Snake	200	40	-
Bat	200	40	-
Spider	200	40	-
Mummy	200	4	Shoots fire
Fire	-	-	Is shot by the mummy

Objects to use:

Name	Points	Quantity	Use	Notes
Key	100	9	Allows to open the central vaults	-
Sword	100	9	Allows to kill the monsters	Lasts 6 seconds
Torch	50	3 - 4	Lightens the dark monsters	Resets the timer

Treasures to collect:

Name	Points	Use	Notes
Boots	500	Allows the player to run faster	-
Chest	1500	-	-
Crown	1500	-	-
Crystal of Zong	1500	-	-
Green potion	500	-	-
Ladder	2000	Ends the level	-
Lamp	500	-	-
Orange potion	500	Teleport potion (single use)	F1 to teleport; F7 to unpause after teleport
Special sword	500	Allows the player to kill the monsters	Lasts 21 seconds

Points available:

Level	Objects	Treasures	Monsters	Total
First	1950 - 2000	9000	8000	18.950 - 19.000
Second	1950 - 2000	9000	8000	18.950 - 19.000
Third	1950 - 2000	9000	8000	18.950 - 19.000
Fourth	1050 - 1100	9000	800	10.850 - 10.900
Total	6900 - 7100	36.000	24.800	67.700 - 67.900

Design[edit | edit source]

Simple and playable game.
The action is very fluid.
Bright colours.
Catchy melodies.

Level 1.

End of level 1.

Level 2.

End of level 2.

Level 3.

End of level 3.

Level 4.

End of level 4.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Boots - Taking the boots helps a lot, so it's a good idea to grab them as soon as possible. If the player discovers in which room they are but can't get them right away, it's better to take note of the room and come back as soon as he gets the right key.

Points - In order to score more points, it's useful not to kill any enemy or grab any sword until the player gets the boots. With them it's easier to kill every enemy in a room before the sword's effect expires. It's a good idea to go near a sword and to wait still until every monster gets close to the player, in order to catch them all in the few seconds that the sword's effect lasts. In the room with the special sword it's possible to kill all the monsters with one of the swords, exit the room, come back, and then kill again the respawn monsters with the other one.

Order - The player always starts in the central room, where one key is available. After taking this first key, a vault in one of the near rooms or in one of the corner rooms will be open. The player can then go straight to this room, so as to save time, eventually taking yet another key if the goal was on a corner and he had to transit along one of the edge rooms. At this point another key will be available, and the player can cover the rest of the level by circling around the central room clockwise or anticlockwise, choosing the direction that will lead him to the available vaults first.

Surviving - The easiest way to die is to get trapped by two or more monsters in a corner or corridor, so it's better to avoid closed spaces when the enemies are near. In the fourth level, only the special sword allows to kill the monsters. However, it doesn't protect the player from their projectiles. Mummies will shot at the player only when they face him, so it's possible to catch them by approaching them from behind. It's quite difficult, though.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Like many games, once the last level is completed, the player jumps back to the first level. However, lives and score are remembered and enemies become faster.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Several crack versions are available on [1].

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki-User (10=the best vote):
6.86 points at 7 votes (rank 487). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	6	8th September 2019 - "good" - 19278 downs
Lemon64	7.3	20th May 2018 - 23 votes
Ready64	7	20th May 2018 - 2 votes
TheLegacy	Good	20th May 2018 - 1 vote