Crystal Caliburn
Crystal Caliburn is a video pinball game by Japanese studio LittleWing (ja) and published by StarPlay for Macintosh in 1993 and for Windows in 1994; updated versions were released for Windows Mobile, and then iOS in 2012. The game partly takes its name from an alternative name for Excalibur.
Crystal Caliburn
- Date
- 1994
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Crystal Caliburn is a video pinball game by Japanese studio LittleWing (ja) and published by StarPlay for Macintosh in 1993 and for Windows in 1994; updated versions were released for Windows Mobile, and then iOS in 2012. The game partly takes its name from an alternative name for Excalibur.
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wikidata · Q60792369 · wikipedia · Crystal Caliburn
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Crystal Caliburn • Developer — LittleWing • Publisher — StarPlay • Genre — Pinball • Platforms — iOS, Macintosh, Windows, Windows 3.x, Windows Mobile • Programmer — Yoshikatsu Fujita • Designer — Yoshikatsu Fujita
Gameplay
Gameplay
The developers published an extensive manual, including general pinball playing techniques. The game consists of a single pinball table, and has a knightly theme, featuring characters such as Merlin and King Arthur. The goal is to summon knights who can restore the Holy Grail to Camelot. The game includes a ramp on either side of the table. There are four banks of targets. The upper bank is used to light ball locks, the central bank, called "Glass Island" (referring to Avalon) lights targets for a limited time, and the two banks on either side are used to light random awards. The main multiball, called multi-battle, is started after the player locks three balls and has the objective of scoring jackpots. A circle of twelve lights is shown on the lower part of the playfield which are lit by accolading knights by shooting various targets. After collecting twelve knights to complete the round table the player can shoot the left ramp to collect the Holy Grail, and by shooting the right ramp within five seconds can return it to Camelot to start the wizard mode, Last Battle multi-ball. High scores could be submitted to the publisher, and the top 3 players each month won a Crystal Caliburn T-shirt, along with anyone who could score over 100M points.
Development
Development
Crystal Caliburn is designed to be like a 1980s pinball machine, and is the first game by LittleWing to feature ramps. It is the third pinball simulation developed by LittleWing, after Tristan and Eight Ball Deluxe. It is the second table to feature King Arthur, following Tristan. The playfield is shown on the left part of the screen, with scoring and a stained glass window display on the right.
Sequel
Sequel
The sixth pinball game by LittleWing, called Golden Logres, continued the story based on Arthurian legend.
Reception
In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Crystal Caliburn the 140th-best computer game ever released. AllGame was "pleasantly surprised" finding it to have deceptively simple play. A reviewer for Mac Game Gate found it to be the best pinball game they had played, though were a little irritated by the screen scrolling if set to 640x480 resolution. Christopher Breen found the ball to move slower than on Eight Ball Deluxe, but still felt it moved realistically. The sounds and visuals were declared as good, and the game enjoyable. Laurie Yates for Electronic Games found the game "simply magnificent", going beyond its superficial beauty. PC Gamer found it to have realistic graphics and no screen scrolling, demonstrating what was possible without using CD-ROM. Aktueller Software Markt enjoyed the simple top-down view and found the sound effects to be quite good. A reviewer for The Flipside found it to be an excellent game with a variety of strategies available for players, and almost perfect apart from quirks with inconsistency from the flippers. Three reviewers for Computer Game Review viewed the game positively, with one saying it set a new standard for pinball on a computer.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lewis, Peter H. PERSONAL COMPUTERS; Give the Latest Fantasy In an Electronic Form. The New York Times. C6. 1993-12-07.
- 2.Patterson, Blake. ‘Crystal Caliburn’ and ‘Loony Labyrinth’ Pinball Games Coming to iPhone. TouchArcade. May 26, 2009.
- 3.Pinball Crystal Caliburn II. TouchArcade. July 19, 2012.
- 4.Beishline, Ben. Playing the field - Crystal Caliburn. The Flipside. 4. 3. 19-22. 1995.
- 5.LittleWing. Crystal Caliburn Player's Guide. 2003.
- 6.Crystal Caliburn. Level. 3. 29. April 20, 1995.
- 7.Breen, Christopher. Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus. discmaster.textfiles.com.
- 8.Crystal Caliburn - LittleWing PINBALL. www.littlewingpinball.com.
- 9.Lombardi, Chris. Bumper crop. Computer Gaming World. 113. 110,112. December 1993.
- 10.Yates, Laurie. Crystal Caliburn - having a ball in Camelot was never like this. Electronic Games. 3. 2. 138. November 1994.
- 11.Coleman, Terry Lee. Knights of the Pinball Table. Computer Gaming World. 125. 256, 258. December 1994.
- 12.Staff. 150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time. Computer Gaming World. 148. 63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98. November 1996.
- 13.Savignano, Lisa Karen. Crystal Caliburn - Review. www.allgame.com.
- 14.Ragnemalm, Ingemar. MGG - Pinball Review. Mac Game Gate. 1997-11-02.
- 15.Crystal Caliburn review. PC Gamer. 7. December 1994.
- 16.Flipper im Fenster. Aktueller Software Markt. 24. February 1995.
- 17.CGR Reviews. Computer Game Review. 3. 6. 24. January 1994.
- 18.Golden Logres. Kotaku. 2025-04-15.
References
Citations
References
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