The story of Crystalis is standard RPG fare: A post-apocalypse world has returned to a magical land where a chosen few can wield powerful spells. Unfortunately, not all who have the gift of magic are satisfied with it. One powerful mage, Dragonia, seeks out the forbidden principles of technology and combines it with his magic in an attempt to rule the world. To stop him, four mages create 4 swords from the elements--Thunder, Fire, Earth, Water--that can be combined to form the ultimate sword, Crystalis, capable of destroying Dragonia. Before they can combine the weapons, Dragonia scatters the 4 swords across the land. You are a recently awakened warrior-mage (you were sealed in a cryogenic state since before the apocalypse) whose task is to find the swords, unite them to form Crystalis, and defeat Dragonia.

The graphics in Crystalis are exactly the same as the NES original--which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on personal preference. If you grew up on the NES, you'll be accustomed to the graphics, if you're a PSX-era gamer, you may find the graphics too simple for your liking. Either way, the graphics in Crystalis are far better than most of the shlock that comes out for GBC. The introduction has been redone with colorful, high-resolution artwork, similar to the makeover that the BC series received.

Crystalis is viewed from a top-down view similar to the Zelda series. Also, like Zelda, Crystalis is an action-oriented game, which means instead of turn-based battles, you must combat enemies in real-time. However, Crystalis still retains the experience point/level progression system standard to most RPG's. The view is suitable for the action, although at times you may suffer unwanted damage from wandering too close to an enemy from which you thought you were at a safe distance. This was a problem in the original NES version, and it makes me wonder if NST forgot to make an adjustment or just left it in as an aspect of a pixel-perfect conversion. Either way, it doesn't become too much of a problem and doesn't hinder the gameplay in a major way.

The background music (to my recollection) has been changed and has a definite NST "feel" to it, as some of the BGM sounds very familiar to offerings from Bionic Commando: Elite Forces. The music isn't annoying, but it's far from memorable. The sound effects are also easily forgettable.

All in all, Crystalis is a perfect conversion of a good NES title. While not ground-breaking in its presentation, Crystalis is still a great title for GBC and far better than most of its competition. If you're a fan of Zelda and are looking for another good portable adventure to tackle, then Crystalis is well-recommended.