Crystal Castles/Walkthrough

Strategy Elements
Through knowing how the enemies are reacting to Bentley the basic strategy that should be used becomes clear. Although not every enemy appears on every maze, the absence of any one of the enemies listed will only make the clearing of that maze easier and won't really change the basic strategy too much.

At the beginning of every stage Bentley is position at the forward edge of the maze. Within moments the other elements of the game, such as the honey pot, the hat and the enemies, will drop down from the air into their starting positions on the maze. The starting positions for any enemy on any particular maze remains constant and you should pay attention to where the enemies begin and in what order they line up. All of the enemies except the witch will begin the maze along either the forward or right edge of the maze. Usually most of the enemies will start in a line from the right side of the maze and you must be careful not to be under them when they land.

You can do something interesting when the Gem Eaters, who can't go anywhere until they eat the gems, are at the forward end of the line. Before Bentley and the enemies begin the board, position Bentley next to where the first Gem Eater will land. Move the trackball into the first Gem Eater and continue on through the line, getting rid of your main concern—the Gem Eaters—immediately. On higher levels you must move in and out quickly since you can only expect to get a few of these enemies at the start of the board. In fact, after the maze is well under way you should avoid Gem Eaters as you would other enemies.

Basic Strategy
The basic strategy for Crystal Castles is just a matter of ordering all the things that you now know. First, if possible, you should slurp up some Gem Eaters as described previously. Second, you should run and grab the honey pot to delay the appearance of the swarm. Third, you should concentrate on trapping the Nasty Tree when there is one on the screen. Next, you should clear any open areas of gems. As mentioned previously, the Gem Eaters tend to move along the edges of the maze, and so you're going to be forced to get the gems left in the open before the swarm appears and makes the gem-getting difficult. Finally, learn the hardest part of each maze and use the hat to clear it either first or last. Try to make sure that you eat the last gem before the enemies do because then you'll be awarded a bonus.

This basic strategy will work through level 8. On level 9 your first priority becomes getting the hat. If you don't get the hat immediately, it will turn into a Crystal Ball.

Levels 1 through 9 have four mazes apiece. Level 10 has only one, and if you clear it your game is over. On this level, there isn't a hat and there are so few Gem Eaters that your first priority becomes getting the honey pot. When the game is ended by completion of level 10, the player is given a bonus based on the amount of time taken to play the game from start to finish. This bonus tends to be between 100 to 20,000 point. The player will also receive a 10,000 point bonus for each remaining turn.

Stage Warps
There are three secret warps in Crystal Castles. When a secret warp is made Bentley Bear will go to the next odd-numbered level. Therefore the first secret warp take Bentley from level 1 to 3, the second takes him from level 3 to 5, and so on. For the levels you skip using the secret warp, you'll receive 70,000 points. After the first warp, your score will be 140,000 points exactly. The score that you had before warping will not be added to the points awarded for making the warp.

To make the first warp, go to the back left corner of maze 1-1 and press jump. For the second warp, go to the bottom of the hidden staircase on maze 3-1 while wearing the hat and press jump. The back right elevator should be coming down when you pick up the hat. To warp the third time, go to the back left corner of 5-3 and press jump.

After you properly execute these three warps, your score should be 420,000 points. To get the highest possible score you have to play all of level 7 and the first board of level 8. Completing the first maze of any of the first eight levels entitles you to begin your next game at that level. You are not allowed to begin your game on level 9 or 10.

Once you've gained level 8 in this way you should play several games starting at this level. Even with the secret warps it's futile to expect a very high score when beginning the game from level 1. Enter the tunnel and press the jump button. This takes you up to level 8 where you can begin playing the game. When in the tunnel, roll the trackball to the left and towards you while pressing the jump button. This will take you out of the tunnel, and you'll receive extra points for the gems along the left wall of the first maze which will be added to the 490,000 points you earn for the jump. When you start from level 8, you only have nine mazes to learn before the end of the game. It won't take you long to learn these mazes and soon you'll be engraving your initials atop the first maze.

Stage breakdown
Please note that Bee Swarms are capable of appearing on every stage, whether a honey pot is present or not. Also be aware that if the hat is not collected quickly on level 9, it will transform into one additional Crystal Ball. The number of Gems listed are the maximum number of gems that can occur on that stage. The number of actual gems may be smaller due to variances that can occur on identical stages. Even though two stages have the same name and basic layout, they may not be precisely identical. Illustrations of the different possible maze types are presented below this table.