Crystal Mines II

Crystal Mines II
Cover art
Developer(s)	Color Dreams
Publisher(s)	Atari
Designer(s)	Ken Beckett
Platform(s)	Atari Lynx
Release date(s)	1992
Genre(s)	Educational/Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player
Media/distribution	cartridge

Crystal Mines II is a puzzle video game designed by Ken Beckett (who also served as lead programmer) for Color Dreams and licensed to Atari, who published it as a cartridge for their Atari Lynx color handheld game console. The game was a sequel to Crystal Mines for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The original Lynx game features 150 levels and 31 bonus levels. The levels were designed by Scott Davis, Danny Sosebee, Lee Rider, Joel Byers, Jim Treadway, Gabriel Beckett and Ron Degen. Music was designed by Ken Calderone, and graphics were by Nina, Dan Burke and Ken Beckett.

In 2000, Songbird Productions produced a sequel, Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure on CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows. This CD-ROM required the original game and a Lynx to PC serial cable to run, allowing the editing and creation of all new levels. This was followed in 2003 by a cartridge release of Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure with the original 181 levels and 125 new levels.

In 2010, Home Entertainment Suppliers released ports of Crystal Mines II for the Nintendo DS and iPhone under the title Crystal Mines.

Gameplay

The backstory to the game has the player remotely guiding a robot down a series of mines, to collect crystals of different colors (and worth different point values). Along the way, the robot encounters wooden blocks, which can be blown up or sawed through, boulders of different types, dirt, which can be shot away with the robot's blaster, and a variety of monsters. The robot can also discover shields, radioactivity protection, deposits of copper, silver and gold, and caches of TNT. The metal deposits become bonuses to the player's score, while the other items can be used to complete various levels of the game.

References

• Atari Times review of Crystal Mines II
• AtariAge page for Crystal Mines II
• Songbird Productions page for Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure
• Interview with Ken Beckett, Crystal Mines and Crystal Mines II designer
• Crystal Mines DS info page
• Crystal Mines for iPhone info page