Crystal Castles: Does it end?

[davidbrit2]

I know the arcade version has a definite end to it, around level 10 somewhere (not that any mere human being could possibly get that far).

 

What about the 2600 version? You can select up to level 8, but it keeps going after that. Is there an eventual ending, does the game start looping some subset of past stages, or does it start reading past the intended level table and generating junk stages? I'm not good enough at the game to have hit a point where I've seen any of those happen.

[Tempest]

I want to say it loops after level 14 or so, but that might be my bad memory. I know I got up to around level 11 or 12 once.

[IHATETHEBEARS]

I haven't spent any quality time with the game in years. But back in the 80's I completed 20 levels (80 boards). Starting with level 21 it started over - level 21 was like level 1. But it was faster.

[Tempest]

Wow, 80 unique boards. Someone needs to do a long play on YouTube. Better yet, someone needs to make a infinite lives hack so I can play them myself.

[davidbrit2]

Wow, 80 unique boards. Someone needs to do a long play on YouTube. Better yet, someone needs to make a infinite lives hack so I can play them myself.

Or a hack that allows selecting starting levels past 8 (which would probably require modifying the title screen kernel to display a two-digit number).

[kennybrooks]

Wow, 80 unique boards. Someone needs to do a long play on YouTube. Better yet, someone needs to make a infinite lives hack so I can play them myself.

Mostly the same boards with different sets of creatures if my memory is correct. I was quite good at this back in the 80s, it does loop again but the level one repeat is very difficult and then those after are even harder.

[RJ]

It loops, & I recall the last screen before it loops, has the 4 castle towers & all the creatures are ghosts & skeletons, maybe 7-8 of them.

[+Cafeman]

Coincidentally, I found a copy of CC 2600 yesterday and bought it, played it for the first time yesterday! I was surprised at how faithful a translation it was despite the slight adjustment of perspective. Those wafers (ahem, "Gems") are more difficult to pick up, though!