In the video I mentioned there were some slight changes and fixes to the gameplay, so here's a link to a selection of those. It's mostly things like altered item pickups, gameplay elements being rebalanced, and other little updates to make it a better overall game. Kind of like a patch that the original never got! steamcommunity.com/app/1330890/discussions/0/4307086417516724176/ There's already been a dozen patches to this version of CCHD since that list of changes was posted though, with lots of updates contained in each one, so yeah. It's only gonna get that much better by launch, what a treat for fans like myself :)
About your point with the music - I should note that NES chiptunes are the most common type of retro music nowadays, and they needed SOME music because nowadays gamers are used to music. I know I have a hard time playing old Atari games without music, so I have to put on some chiptune soundtrack. Considering it was a budget release, it's reasonable they went with an NES style soundtrack.
I'm with you on the sound, Clint. I played the original Apogee games on a 286, with a pc speaker. That Nintendo music is out of place. Need to replace it with midi or sound blaster music.
Oh man. This video’s thumbnail just solved a personal mystery at least 25 years old. When I was a kid in the 90s, I played this game at a neighbor’s once and only remembered the basic layout of the title screen (Hero holding something + an alien sticking out of a crater), and wondered for decades what the game was. Now I finally know it’s this game, and by Apogee too. I may just pick up this remaster.
I remember playing Fantasy Zone on a Master System at someones house, only to forget everything about the game other than the level 1 music and that it was real hard. It wasn't until 2007 on GameTrailers website when I found this game mentioned in a Screwattack video and that it was a franchise on old Sega consoles, and the Master System version of the original was then made available on the Wii. I currently have the arcade version from Sega Ages on the Switch, and the arcade original is definitely better by no surprise. Though the Master System version was still a pretty good port.
@@MaartenvanHeek Even though I own the original via GOG, I still plan on getting this as the new features are simply too good to pass up! The only problem is, do I get the GOG version with no DRM, or the Steam version with Workshop support?
It's so weird discovering a whole culture of people who grew up like you did. I always felt like I was one of the very few kids in school that experienced these things so early. I remember my dad showing me how to set up menus in Dos, and sometimes I'd plug my cheat commands into the buttons I created that ran the exe.
For me, I was taught how to write bat files so I didn't need to do the whole directory tango. He didn't understand the code given to him but knew it just worked. Granted, my case was... either Xargon or Jazz Jackrabbit.
I love the laughter. It’s not “this is hilarious,” it’s “oh my god I can’t believe I’m doing this, this is so much fun and I love it.” I may have been much too late for games like Crystal Caves but just seeing the joy of you experiencing it again is a joy in itself.
I don't really understand being 'late' for something, from the very beginning I personally grew up in more of the SNES/N64 era but was OBSESSED with my family's NES for example, and I think younger people could have more fun than they realize with some good old quality games. But even if not, it's cool that you like seeing us ... slightly-less-young folk get so enthusiastic about these games :P
@@koopakape One aspect that needs to be appreciated is the context of old games. The first video games seem very different to younger audiences than they did to us who were there when video games first became a thing. When games like Space Invaders came out and even pong, it was in comparison to Chutes and Ladders, Perfection etc. These early games were unlike anything that came before them. They weren't just "better graphics and sound," they were something entirely new. They were new ways to pass the idle time of kids and the young at heart.
Crystal Caves, Commander Keen, Monster Bash, and Mystic Towers were THE games I'd play when I was a little creature. This remake looks fantastic and has me feeling all sorts of nostalgia.
@@davidmcgill1000 I just booted it up for the menu music every now and then, never made it past the first few levels of episode one. @JTMichell87 Did you play Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure? That was one of my favorites together with Commander Keen.
My grandfather was a COBOL programmer who passed when I was very young, one of my few memories with him are of us playing this game. Thanks for the video, I'll definitely be checking this out.
This was my first game on pc as well! I cant believe there is remake version with all the volumes and level editor, it was instabuy for me and the price is great, im soo thankful youtube recommended me this! Thanks soo much for sharing
Anyone who likes Crystal Caves should also check out Apogee's Secret Agent. It's basically the same engine with some tweaks to it and a slightly different style.
I’m so happy to see this. I’m the same as you: Crystal Caves was one of the first pc games I ever played and I was in love with it. It came on a disk with my family’s first computer back in the early 90s, along with Tyrian. By the way, THATS one that you should cover here - Crystal Caves was wonderful, but Tyrian absolutely blew my mind. Still holds up really really well. Anyway, the point is, this video brings back some awesome memories. Looks and sounds exactly like I remember, and that is awesome to see. Going to have to check this out. EDIT I posted this before I saw the level editor. That’s it. GOTY 2020 is Crystal Caves. What a twist; they really played the long game.
maaan, My two next door neighbors were my best mates, one had a NES, the other a Master System.... we had an IBM compatible PC, and while my mates had Mario and Alex the Kid respectively, Mylo in Crystal Caves was my gaming mascot in the early 90s.
Apogee was great. Lots of NES like games and pretty low hardware requirements. The first EGA card came out in 1984 and Apogee supported it to like 1994. A "gaming PC" of 1993 would have been a high end 486. They had a bunch of games worked fine on a 286 with an EGA card. Keen, Cosmo's, Duke Nukem, Crystal Caves, Monster Bash, Keen 4 and some others. EGA was largely skipped by the gaming industry, but Apogee had your back:)
I hear the joy in your voice over making those awesome levels. I am in currently in the same mode recalling the days when I also said "I wish I could make my own levels."
This is beyond awesome! It is so clear even from footage that the polished framerate is a MASSIVE boon to the playability of this old, but rough gem. Me and my brother are definitely going to hot-seat play this.
This video could have been written by me! Crystal Caves was my all-time favourite game. It looks amazing, and I will be buying this when it is available!
Oh hey, LGR is checking out Crystal Caves... HD??? WHAT??! The graphics are definitely a nice update without destroying the look of the original. Very nice! And have to agree about the music. To an outsider, they probably wouldn't care as it's blips and beeps with blips and beeps. As someone who spent quite the bit of time of my childhood on PC, GameBoy, NES, etc and appreciating the different sound capabilities of all of them, it's almost a cringy clash to me to hear the mixture of platforms like that. It's just... off... I completely understand the feeling. And double yes to a Secret Agent Man HD! I personally played that one more than Crystal Caves so I'd pick that up too if they made it.
I am completely with you bro. They should make the music sound like something coming from an adlib or soundblaster card not the NES !. It is like looking at vanilla ice cream and then experiencing a twizzler when you stick it in your mouth. Both are great but...wat ?.
I agree about the sound, but at least it seems that they made the NES sounds realistic. Often times it’s a mess of any retro gaming sounds, like they didn’t bother to find actual NES sounds.
Check out Louie on Steam. Island with trees. Hanging down lamps emitting 90degrees of light. Spikes from the ground. Platforms hanging in the air. Mobile robots attached to the ceiling, shooting down.
@Reunite The British Empire Oh yeah! I saw the very first movie when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and it kicked off a lifetime of enjoying the best sci-fi I can possibly get my hands on!
I was so excited to see this video. Apogee games were my first as well so they are steeped in nostalgia for me. My mom and I used to play them together. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy your channel so much.
@@Doctorgeo7 To me it was more the absurdity of creatures without bones (spiders) or vertebrates without limbs (snakes) exploding into leg bones. In the snake's case it _could_ just have prey inside it that's not done digesting yet since they swallow prey whole and the femurs, being the largest individual bones, would be the last to break down (if the bones even break down at all).
We had a disc of shareware titles. One of the Gamepak discs? It had this and Secret Agent Man, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure, Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Blake Stone... That was our introduction to this. Couldn't believe this game was released in HD. So cool. I hope they do more titles! Love your enthusiasm here, LGR
Cosmos might be my first Metroidvania. It was a little jank so it would be great to see it get a remake to iron out the wrinkles. Edit: lol I was actually thinking of a different game, Captain Comic.
Seeing you having so much fun and going on such a nostalgic trip with this title is the sort of stuff I love for on this channel. I love just seeing you talk about PC games that bring you joy like this.
It's good to see something entertaining and positive coming out of 2020, and it's clear that you're having the time of your life playing this! Loving the new age of retro remakes, especially ones with a built-in level editor. I can remember playing the first Crystal Caves game on the PCs at school... great fun! Yet I only bothered to finish off the entire trilogy a few months ago 😅
I have never been close to interested in older computers and retro stuff until I found you on youtube, you have this uncanny ability to make literally ANYTHING legit entertaining, please keep being you.
Hugo's house of horrors, the kind of game you always go back to and progress just that little bit each time. When I discovered putting on the mask, I felt like a genius. Text based is so interactive and immersive 😊
It's just absolutely awesome that old games like this are getting such lovingly crafted remakes. Your comments about the music were spot on. As soon as you turned the music off, it started to feel more like an early 90's DOS game. Those crunchy beeps are so nostalgic! :D
RE: The soundtrack. I'm a chiptune musician myself, and if I were in charge of this remake (heck, _any_ kind of remake) I'd include multiple soundtracks and let you switch them in the options menu, similar to Cave Story+. That game has the original music (running in the custom sound engine created by the game's sole programmer Daisuke Amaya), the awful WiiWare soundtrack that no one talks about, the Remastered soundtrack from the Nintendo 3DS port, and the new collection of Famitracker covers by RushJet1. So for this game, I'd have this NES-like one, an FM Synth option, Sound Canvas-style, MT-32, even SNES-style. Why not? I'm sure there are many chiptune musicians (myself included) who would jump at the chance to work on something like this.
YAY! His skin isn't gray! I also see you're actively avoiding shooting the Air boxes, like a good Crystal Caves player should. I kinda agree about the music, though. If it were using, say, a Yamaha-style sound, like the old Ad-Lib stuff, it might be a stretch, but workable. Also, does the ZEUS cheat code work here? (or is that a spoiler?)
@Lassi Kinnunen At least Adlib music would be period correct for a PC VGA retro remake. Something Apogee realistically could have added at the time (composed by Bobby Prince, no doubt, lol) if they had made an updated "beefier" VGA version. This music just sounds very different to what we used to hear in PC games at the time.
LOVED this game as a kid. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! Glad to see someone else share the love! Also as a musician, I 100% agree with your comments on the music. Really appreciate your nitpick!
0:45 "My first game I think I ever played as a very *young youngin* ". Ahh yeah, those good ol' days of being a very young youngin, who can forget those?
yeah if I remember correctly the exe for the shareware version was SAM1.EXE for Secret Agent Mission 1 - as much as I have a fondness for Crystal Caves, I'd love to see Secret Agent even more because I actually played that one before I'd even heard of Crystal Caves. My first Apogee game however was Paganitzu, and I wonder how that would look in VGA...
I wasgoing to write this reminds me a lot of SAM which i played a lot on DOS as a kid but never played this. Actually got SAM a few years ago on steam- absolute classic which i can spend hours on.
Am I the only one who loved that SAM "sequel"/remake/fangame, Special Agent I think it was called? Basically another SAM with 640x480 graphics and some nice tracker music IIRC.
Almost a million and a half subscribers?! Dang. I remember when you had like almost no one long ago and now look at you! I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy with what this channel has accomplished.
*Person:* "Hey, I'm remaking your game!" *Pretty much every other company:* "What?! We're sending you a DMCA even though you're not making any money off of this!" *Apogee and Sega:* "Cool, we'll give you some money and have you release this officially."
Your absolute delight with playing this game again is exactly why I've been subscribed to you so long! This is for sure, my favorite dos game and I didn't even know this was happening and now I can't wait! And yeah, those chiptune sounds are nice, but the pc speaker has a certain mood to it and those sounds are just so appealing.
I'm amazed and blown away that this is happening! What a pleasant surprise! CC was also one of my first ever games, along with most of the old ID/Apogee DOS titles (Commander Keen 4). I was even thinking a couple of months ago what a ground-up remake of these classics like Crystal Caves would be like if done well (such as Black Mesa or Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty), but this faithful to the original remaster is the next best thing. :) But I also agree with you about the music - They missed a trick here. The Adlib/Sound Blaster soundtracks to Duke Nukem II or God of Thunder (DOS) were good for their time, (look 'em up! :D ) and I'd love to see what Ben Prunty or another good game composer could do with the old Yamaha sound tables, if somehow adapted for use with modern music software, or even remixed with more modern sound tables and effects to give a retro throwback feel (sort of like the FTL: Faster than Light soundtrack). But a guy can dream. :) Also, as to why the original Crystal Caves is larger in file size than the HD remake: The classic Apogee/3D Realms titles sold on Steam (or at least in the case of Terminal Velocity) appear to come with rock band remasters of old game tracks, available in .mp3, but also in .flac and .wav formats. They're quite beefy in file size. Find them in: Steam\steamapps\common\Alien Carnage Halloween Harry\soundtrack
Definitely getting this, and hopefully they'll give Secret Agent the same treatment. My brothers and I played the hell out of the sharewere episodes of these games, to the point where we got insanely competitive over high scores. It wasn't just beating the game, it was doing it with every level beaten with full health, and every collectible. I can't wait to do a run like that again.
Check out Louie on Steam. Island with trees. Hanging down lamps emitting 90degrees of light. Spikes from the ground. Platforms hanging in the air. Mobile robots attached to the ceiling, shooting down.
I had completely forgotten about this game until right now. Thank you so much for bringing back a piece of my childhood! The nostalgia was so heartwarming for me ❤️
I remember spending many hours playing this with my brothers and trying to complete the level without losing any health to get the 50k bonus, as well as my older brother trolling me by telling me that collecting the B-O-N-U-S power-up would take away your ammo. The game just screams out for a Dopefish easter egg though.
I totally share your joy over this! This takes me back to waking up early on weekends, maybe 5 or 6 years old, and sneaking up, turning on the computer, PRAYING no one woke up by the boot beep and then play me some muted Crystal caves. It makes me smile like an idiot thinking that some other nerd did something similar as far away as in the states! I am swedish btw :) Also please make a video on the Heroes of might and magic series(1-3, of course). Would love to hear your opinion on those!
I was just thinking about this game the other day! When I played it, I used a gravis gamepad which you could flip to left handed mode with a switch. For the parts where the game put you upside-down (or reversed the controls? I can't quite remember...) I would flip the switch on the gamepad and continue playing as normal. Fond memories of this one.
Yea - tickling the nostalgy nerve quickly turns into a rash if theres too much discrepancy in the experience. Hopefully the dev(s) have put the nes track just as a placeholder
Man I can't thank you enough! This was my first video game too! I had an old hand me down computer from my dad that took a 5 1/4 floppy disk and this game was on that computer. I remember playing this game for hours, but one day our house got broken into and my computer was stolen (this was in 1998), nobody in my family could remember the name of the game! For over 20 years I have been trying to remember the name if this game and just happen to come across this video! I can't wait to play this game again! Just watching the game play brought back so many emotions. My dad passed away in 2017 but this has definitely triggered some emotions. Thank you man!
Apogee: hey that's a nice fan tribute.... wanna like... make it an official game? Nintendo: let's wait until someone has spent hundreds upon hundreds of blood sweat and tears on absolutely beautiful fan game, and *Then* shut it down.
This was the first PC game I played when we got our first PC in 1992, a 386DX-33 with 4mb and 80mb. In 1993 we installed the Creative Multimedia Upgrade kit (2x SCSI cd rom drive + SB16 ASP with SCSI interface). For that first year, this game held such fascination for me. I used to leave the computer switched on with the monitor off, so that I could resume playing later that day. More tan a few times, my dad would simply press the reset button, when he wanted to get into Windows 3.1 (he couldn't be bothered with quitting the game.)
My family had a 486 in the early 90s, and the shareware version of this was included. Absolutely my best PC gaming memory of the era. I was a little kid, so I don't think I even beat the first episode. The look, feel and sound of this game is etched onto my brain.
While i haven't played Crystal Caves myself at the time, it does take me back to the times of Commander Keen and Duke Nukem! Nostalgia overload. Thank you for sharing this Clint! Also, at the time of viewing this the video has 69k views... nice!
Look for the fan made Hocus Pocus Doom mod, which works with zDoom - Some crazy guy converted the entire Hocus Pocus game to 3D while somehow preserving the feel of the game, and the graphics. UA-camr "Gman Lives" did a decent video which covers it.
@@DarkHoodness HocusDooom is amazing. I was really surprised how well it turned out. I never have thought it could work in 3D (though I maintain that it probably wouldn't have been any good if a development company attempted it.)
That's pretty cool. This game was kind of special to me since it was the first game I ever bought with my own money back in the day. It's still kicking around somewhere.
I can't blame them for going with the music they did, there's hundreds of people who know Famitracker that you can bring on to this but only a fraction of that who can work with SoundBlaster FM (or FM in general, additive synthesis is nasty). Hopefully they can add custom soundtrack support down the road.
Out of everything I've seen about this remake today, I think its going to be the soundtrack that will leave most peoples heads scratching with consideration to its audience. This isn't a re-release of a well known console game like say MegaMan or Sonic CD. Its a re-release of a relatively obscure MS-DOS game thats really only remembered and noted by people who had an IBM Compatible PC in the early 90's, and that its this audience thats likely to be the only one that will care about it seeing a re-release.
OMG dude... That rant about the games music was literally the nerdiest thing I have ever heard lol. I didn't hear anything wrong with it and thought it was nice lol. That game looks really cool btw, I added it to my Steam wishlist, thanks for bringing it to my attention :)
Interesting, the title screen scroll-down to the "buried" credits is the same as in Rescue Rover from Softdisk Publishing (later id Software). Must have been a thing back in the day.
Saw this video pop up. Had to double check to figure out what in the world I was looking at. This is amazing. Crystal Caves was amongst my first games, too!
Really cool remake. A big nostalgia hit for me, that's for sure. It's the first game I played *to death* back in the day. The level editor is so cool, too.
Oh my God, I played the shareware version hundreds of times when I was young. So many memories of those days come drifting by, watching this video.. Thanks Clint!!!
Yeah, the music is from Ozzed who makes music that should be completely playable on the NES (he even includes the .nsf files with album downloads). I don't know if the soundtrack is original or something from his previous stuff, but I would love to hear some AdLib stuff from him. Speaking of which, some optional AdLib sound effects á la Commander Keen 4-6 would be cool.
In the video I mentioned there were some slight changes and fixes to the gameplay, so here's a link to a selection of those. It's mostly things like altered item pickups, gameplay elements being rebalanced, and other little updates to make it a better overall game. Kind of like a patch that the original never got!
steamcommunity.com/app/1330890/discussions/0/4307086417516724176/
There's already been a dozen patches to this version of CCHD since that list of changes was posted though, with lots of updates contained in each one, so yeah. It's only gonna get that much better by launch, what a treat for fans like myself :)
Crystal Caves original was a 5 mb download 😁😁
About your point with the music - I should note that NES chiptunes are the most common type of retro music nowadays, and they needed SOME music because nowadays gamers are used to music. I know I have a hard time playing old Atari games without music, so I have to put on some chiptune soundtrack. Considering it was a budget release, it's reasonable they went with an NES style soundtrack.
wishlisted on steam, looks awesome :D
I'm with you on the sound, Clint. I played the original Apogee games on a 286, with a pc speaker. That Nintendo music is out of place. Need to replace it with midi or sound blaster music.
Grupo q
Oh man. This video’s thumbnail just solved a personal mystery at least 25 years old. When I was a kid in the 90s, I played this game at a neighbor’s once and only remembered the basic layout of the title screen (Hero holding something + an alien sticking out of a crater), and wondered for decades what the game was. Now I finally know it’s this game, and by Apogee too. I may just pick up this remaster.
I remember playing Fantasy Zone on a Master System at someones house, only to forget everything about the game other than the level 1 music and that it was real hard. It wasn't until 2007 on GameTrailers website when I found this game mentioned in a Screwattack video and that it was a franchise on old Sega consoles, and the Master System version of the original was then made available on the Wii. I currently have the arcade version from Sega Ages on the Switch, and the arcade original is definitely better by no surprise. Though the Master System version was still a pretty good port.
Do it, you won't regret (at least I didn't when I found out you can still get episodes 2 and 3)
@@MaartenvanHeek Even though I own the original via GOG, I still plan on getting this as the new features are simply too good to pass up! The only problem is, do I get the GOG version with no DRM, or the Steam version with Workshop support?
this inspired me to find a game that I forgot the name of decades ago... And after hours of research I discovered the games name is Supaplex
@@Slackmana so frustrating once you're at your allowed 3 levels to skip and you run into another one you can't solve :D
Your genuine love for the game from a deep place makes this such a fun thing to watch. Even without nostalgia for the game myself, great video LGR!
Thank you!
That new Apogee intro is retro and new at the same time. I dig it.
Didnt they use the same one for the Rise of the triad 2013?
@@olegcrysis1 Rott's Apogee intro has a fitting metal riff in the middle of it.
I love the intro its nice to see that apogee is still around
Yeah I wish they would do this with more games.
The new intro is new? What a country!
First game I ever played for me too! My dad taught me to type CD CRYSTAL, hit enter and then CC1 before I learned how to read or write! :)
Same, haha. Absolutely the same.
It's so weird discovering a whole culture of people who grew up like you did. I always felt like I was one of the very few kids in school that experienced these things so early. I remember my dad showing me how to set up menus in Dos, and sometimes I'd plug my cheat commands into the buttons I created that ran the exe.
Haha this comment brings back memories.
This was me but with Doom.
For me, I was taught how to write bat files so I didn't need to do the whole directory tango. He didn't understand the code given to him but knew it just worked. Granted, my case was... either Xargon or Jazz Jackrabbit.
I love the laughter. It’s not “this is hilarious,” it’s “oh my god I can’t believe I’m doing this, this is so much fun and I love it.” I may have been much too late for games like Crystal Caves but just seeing the joy of you experiencing it again is a joy in itself.
Apogee had a string of great DOS games that worked with EGA. I played all those games on a 12mhz 286 with EGA and an 8-bit sound card.
I don't really understand being 'late' for something, from the very beginning I personally grew up in more of the SNES/N64 era but was OBSESSED with my family's NES for example, and I think younger people could have more fun than they realize with some good old quality games. But even if not, it's cool that you like seeing us ... slightly-less-young folk get so enthusiastic about these games :P
@@koopakape One aspect that needs to be appreciated is the context of old games. The first video games seem very different to younger audiences than they did to us who were there when video games first became a thing. When games like Space Invaders came out and even pong, it was in comparison to Chutes and Ladders, Perfection etc. These early games were unlike anything that came before them. They weren't just "better graphics and sound," they were something entirely new. They were new ways to pass the idle time of kids and the young at heart.
Crystal Caves, Commander Keen, Monster Bash, and Mystic Towers were THE games I'd play when I was a little creature. This remake looks fantastic and has me feeling all sorts of nostalgia.
Is Mystic Towers worth playing nowadays? Played it as a kid but never revisited it.
Man, I´ve spent SO MUCH hours on Monster Bash! Amazig game!
@@goatbone Still hard as balls.
@@davidmcgill1000 I just booted it up for the menu music every now and then, never made it past the first few levels of episode one.
@JTMichell87 Did you play Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure? That was one of my favorites together with Commander Keen.
Monster Bash was my fave. There was also Bio Menace, Alien Carnage, Duke Nukem, Hocus Pocus and Jazz Jackrabbit.
My grandfather was a COBOL programmer who passed when I was very young, one of my few memories with him are of us playing this game. Thanks for the video, I'll definitely be checking this out.
LGR being excited about a very LGR thing is my favourite kind of youtube... thing
This was my first game on pc as well! I cant believe there is remake version with all the volumes and level editor, it was instabuy for me and the price is great, im soo thankful youtube recommended me this! Thanks soo much for sharing
I love everything about this, from how it came to be to the fact that they've included a level editor!
Anyone who likes Crystal Caves should also check out Apogee's Secret Agent. It's basically the same engine with some tweaks to it and a slightly different style.
I’m so happy to see this. I’m the same as you: Crystal Caves was one of the first pc games I ever played and I was in love with it. It came on a disk with my family’s first computer back in the early 90s, along with Tyrian. By the way, THATS one that you should cover here - Crystal Caves was wonderful, but Tyrian absolutely blew my mind. Still holds up really really well. Anyway, the point is, this video brings back some awesome memories. Looks and sounds exactly like I remember, and that is awesome to see. Going to have to check this out.
EDIT I posted this before I saw the level editor. That’s it. GOTY 2020 is Crystal Caves. What a twist; they really played the long game.
maaan, My two next door neighbors were my best mates, one had a NES, the other a Master System.... we had an IBM compatible PC, and while my mates had Mario and Alex the Kid respectively, Mylo in Crystal Caves was my gaming mascot in the early 90s.
You and me both! I even painted my own life-sized cardboard cutout of Mylo as a school art project, haha.
@@LGR haha xD nerd level is over 9000!!! love you LGR
What about Commander Keen?
No-one here with a Skunny tattoo right? ;)
@@Michael-im5mq I played Crystal Caves before I played Commander Keen, but I think Commander Keen had better games and was overall a better mascot.
Oh God, I remember when Apogee was the absolute pinnacle of gaming. So, appropriate name.
Nah, that was Capstone 😄
Their slogan was literally "The height of gaming excitement".
Apogee was great. Lots of NES like games and pretty low hardware requirements. The first EGA card came out in 1984 and Apogee supported it to like 1994. A "gaming PC" of 1993 would have been a high end 486. They had a bunch of games worked fine on a 286 with an EGA card. Keen, Cosmo's, Duke Nukem, Crystal Caves, Monster Bash, Keen 4 and some others. EGA was largely skipped by the gaming industry, but Apogee had your back:)
This is possibly my earliest gaming memory. I felt it in my soul when you jumped into that first laser! Might have to check this out.
I hear the joy in your voice over making those awesome levels. I am in currently in the same mode recalling the days when I also said "I wish I could make my own levels."
This is beyond awesome! It is so clear even from footage that the polished framerate is a MASSIVE boon to the playability of this old, but rough gem. Me and my brother are definitely going to hot-seat play this.
This video could have been written by me! Crystal Caves was my all-time favourite game. It looks amazing, and I will be buying this when it is available!
Oh hey, LGR is checking out Crystal Caves... HD??? WHAT??!
The graphics are definitely a nice update without destroying the look of the original. Very nice! And have to agree about the music. To an outsider, they probably wouldn't care as it's blips and beeps with blips and beeps. As someone who spent quite the bit of time of my childhood on PC, GameBoy, NES, etc and appreciating the different sound capabilities of all of them, it's almost a cringy clash to me to hear the mixture of platforms like that. It's just... off... I completely understand the feeling.
And double yes to a Secret Agent Man HD! I personally played that one more than Crystal Caves so I'd pick that up too if they made it.
I am completely with you bro. They should make the music sound like something coming from an adlib or soundblaster card not the NES !. It is like looking at vanilla ice cream and then experiencing a twizzler when you stick it in your mouth. Both are great but...wat ?.
I agree about the sound, but at least it seems that they made the NES sounds realistic. Often times it’s a mess of any retro gaming sounds, like they didn’t bother to find actual NES sounds.
Check out Louie on Steam. Island with trees. Hanging down lamps emitting 90degrees of light. Spikes from the ground. Platforms hanging in the air. Mobile robots attached to the ceiling, shooting down.
Isn't "VeeGer" what they were calling the Voyager satellite in the first Star Trek movie?
Yup
Yep, V'ger to be exact because somewhere along it's path Voyager got the "oya" part of name scuffed off.
@Reunite The British Empire Oh yeah! I saw the very first movie when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and it kicked off a lifetime of enjoying the best sci-fi I can possibly get my hands on!
I was so excited to see this video. Apogee games were my first as well so they are steeped in nostalgia for me. My mom and I used to play them together. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy your channel so much.
I'm still amused that shooting a spider causes it to explode into femurs.
It'd be even better if it exploded into eight femurs.
Gotta keep it child friendly. Blood is very much a no no, but bones are a-okay!
@@Doctorgeo7 To me it was more the absurdity of creatures without bones (spiders) or vertebrates without limbs (snakes) exploding into leg bones. In the snake's case it _could_ just have prey inside it that's not done digesting yet since they swallow prey whole and the femurs, being the largest individual bones, would be the last to break down (if the bones even break down at all).
I think Decap Attack (Sega Genesis) did that, awesome platformer by the way
It's a space spider
We had a disc of shareware titles. One of the Gamepak discs? It had this and Secret Agent Man, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure, Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Blake Stone... That was our introduction to this. Couldn't believe this game was released in HD. So cool. I hope they do more titles!
Love your enthusiasm here, LGR
Good god I hope they do other remakes like this! Monster Bash and Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure come to mind
Cosmos might be my first Metroidvania. It was a little jank so it would be great to see it get a remake to iron out the wrinkles. Edit: lol I was actually thinking of a different game, Captain Comic.
Can we also get major Stryker and secret agent as well added to that list
In Rad Rodgers Cosmo is one of the playable characters, among Duke Nukem and Lo Wang.
@@thegamingnator Louie looks quite similar to Secret Agent, while being a completely new puzzling game.
Seeing you having so much fun and going on such a nostalgic trip with this title is the sort of stuff I love for on this channel. I love just seeing you talk about PC games that bring you joy like this.
It's good to see something entertaining and positive coming out of 2020, and it's clear that you're having the time of your life playing this!
Loving the new age of retro remakes, especially ones with a built-in level editor. I can remember playing the first Crystal Caves game on the PCs at school... great fun! Yet I only bothered to finish off the entire trilogy a few months ago 😅
I have never been close to interested in older computers and retro stuff until I found you on youtube, you have this uncanny ability to make literally ANYTHING legit entertaining, please keep being you.
One of the first games I ever played, next to Hugo's House of Horrors.
Hugo's House of Horrors was one of my first games, too
Hugo's house of horrors, the kind of game you always go back to and progress just that little bit each time. When I discovered putting on the mask, I felt like a genius. Text based is so interactive and immersive 😊
@@Imkiritai It really made you feel like nothing was too ridiculous to try. It's such a fantastic game.
Oh, man. Hugo's House of Horrors. So many memories.
This, word rescue and Jones for me
It's just absolutely awesome that old games like this are getting such lovingly crafted remakes. Your comments about the music were spot on. As soon as you turned the music off, it started to feel more like an early 90's DOS game. Those crunchy beeps are so nostalgic! :D
RE: The soundtrack. I'm a chiptune musician myself, and if I were in charge of this remake (heck, _any_ kind of remake) I'd include multiple soundtracks and let you switch them in the options menu, similar to Cave Story+. That game has the original music (running in the custom sound engine created by the game's sole programmer Daisuke Amaya), the awful WiiWare soundtrack that no one talks about, the Remastered soundtrack from the Nintendo 3DS port, and the new collection of Famitracker covers by RushJet1. So for this game, I'd have this NES-like one, an FM Synth option, Sound Canvas-style, MT-32, even SNES-style. Why not? I'm sure there are many chiptune musicians (myself included) who would jump at the chance to work on something like this.
But actually caring about things and "giving two fucks" would... uhm... cost money... you know
Finally lgr does a game again, I used to binge watch lgr retro Game reviews only now seeing this realisation that I haven't for ages. Good to see
YAY! His skin isn't gray! I also see you're actively avoiding shooting the Air boxes, like a good Crystal Caves player should.
I kinda agree about the music, though. If it were using, say, a Yamaha-style sound, like the old Ad-Lib stuff, it might be a stretch, but workable.
Also, does the ZEUS cheat code work here? (or is that a spoiler?)
To my knowledge, cheat codes are not yet implemented. I've seen it mentioned as a suggestion being considered though!
@Lassi Kinnunen At least Adlib music would be period correct for a PC VGA retro remake. Something Apogee realistically could have added at the time (composed by Bobby Prince, no doubt, lol) if they had made an updated "beefier" VGA version. This music just sounds very different to what we used to hear in PC games at the time.
LOVED this game as a kid. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! Glad to see someone else share the love!
Also as a musician, I 100% agree with your comments on the music. Really appreciate your nitpick!
0:45 "My first game I think I ever played as a very *young youngin* ".
Ahh yeah, those good ol' days of being a very young youngin,
who can forget those?
Your enthusiasm was the most genuine and sincere thing I witnessed this week. A game I never heard off meant a lot to me just 5 minutes in.
I played this and "secret agent man" a lot as a child.
YES! I would switch between this game and SAM all the time. SAM to me was more refined, but both are so good.
yeah if I remember correctly the exe for the shareware version was SAM1.EXE for Secret Agent Mission 1 - as much as I have a fondness for Crystal Caves, I'd love to see Secret Agent even more because I actually played that one before I'd even heard of Crystal Caves. My first Apogee game however was Paganitzu, and I wonder how that would look in VGA...
I wasgoing to write this reminds me a lot of SAM which i played a lot on DOS as a kid but never played this. Actually got SAM a few years ago on steam- absolute classic which i can spend hours on.
Am I the only one who loved that SAM "sequel"/remake/fangame, Special Agent I think it was called? Basically another SAM with 640x480 graphics and some nice tracker music IIRC.
@@Redhotsmasher do you know where this game can be found? cant seem to find it anywhere.
One of my first games! It deserves all the love! Thx for this video!
He's like a kid in an HD candy store.
Oh man, I really wished you have named this video LGR Plays, it would bring so many memories!
something about the clack of the keyboard in the background of your commentary is just so nostalgic to me.
Almost a million and a half subscribers?! Dang. I remember when you had like almost no one long ago and now look at you! I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy with what this channel has accomplished.
I played many hours of this in my younger days! I feel your nostalgia, especially for the PC speaker sounds.
Very cool. Crystal Caves was one of my first video game experiences of all time as well. Glad to see it getting some love in 2020!
*Person:* "Hey, I'm remaking your game!"
*Pretty much every other company:* "What?! We're sending you a DMCA even though you're not making any money off of this!"
*Apogee and Sega:* "Cool, we'll give you some money and have you release this officially."
Your absolute delight with playing this game again is exactly why I've been subscribed to you so long! This is for sure, my favorite dos game and I didn't even know this was happening and now I can't wait! And yeah, those chiptune sounds are nice, but the pc speaker has a certain mood to it and those sounds are just so appealing.
I loved this game as a kid. The little death wiggle animation always made me giggle
I'm amazed and blown away that this is happening! What a pleasant surprise! CC was also one of my first ever games, along with most of the old ID/Apogee DOS titles (Commander Keen 4). I was even thinking a couple of months ago what a ground-up remake of these classics like Crystal Caves would be like if done well (such as Black Mesa or Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty), but this faithful to the original remaster is the next best thing. :)
But I also agree with you about the music - They missed a trick here. The Adlib/Sound Blaster soundtracks to Duke Nukem II or God of Thunder (DOS) were good for their time, (look 'em up! :D ) and I'd love to see what Ben Prunty or another good game composer could do with the old Yamaha sound tables, if somehow adapted for use with modern music software, or even remixed with more modern sound tables and effects to give a retro throwback feel (sort of like the FTL: Faster than Light soundtrack).
But a guy can dream. :)
Also, as to why the original Crystal Caves is larger in file size than the HD remake: The classic Apogee/3D Realms titles sold on Steam (or at least in the case of Terminal Velocity) appear to come with rock band remasters of old game tracks, available in .mp3, but also in .flac and .wav formats. They're quite beefy in file size.
Find them in: Steam\steamapps\common\Alien Carnage Halloween Harry\soundtrack
Does this mean Secret Agent and Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures, too!?
One can only hope
Dev comment on steam community hub said "Let's just be happy with what we got for now"
i bet they're just testing the waters trying to get on the nintendo switch train, then decide from there ;)
I don't rememeber how many hours I spent with Secret Agent! Oh, good memories!
Oh yeah Secret Agent was so much fun!
Great Scott! So many memories from my childhood with this game. Thanks for the wall through memory lane.
Definitely getting this, and hopefully they'll give Secret Agent the same treatment. My brothers and I played the hell out of the sharewere episodes of these games, to the point where we got insanely competitive over high scores. It wasn't just beating the game, it was doing it with every level beaten with full health, and every collectible. I can't wait to do a run like that again.
Check out Louie on Steam. Island with trees. Hanging down lamps emitting 90degrees of light. Spikes from the ground. Platforms hanging in the air. Mobile robots attached to the ceiling, shooting down.
I had completely forgotten about this game until right now. Thank you so much for bringing back a piece of my childhood! The nostalgia was so heartwarming for me ❤️
It pretty much sounds like Dangerous Dave, even the crystals look similar.
Awesome. I grew up on this too. It was looking for reviews on these old games so many years ago that caused me to find and subscribe to this channel.
I remember spending many hours playing this with my brothers and trying to complete the level without losing any health to get the 50k bonus, as well as my older brother trolling me by telling me that collecting the B-O-N-U-S power-up would take away your ammo.
The game just screams out for a Dopefish easter egg though.
I totally share your joy over this! This takes me back to waking up early on weekends, maybe 5 or 6 years old, and sneaking up, turning on the computer, PRAYING no one woke up by the boot beep and then play me some muted Crystal caves. It makes me smile like an idiot thinking that some other nerd did something similar as far away as in the states! I am swedish btw :)
Also please make a video on the Heroes of might and magic series(1-3, of course). Would love to hear your opinion on those!
Agree with you on the music. I was wondering why it sounded like an NES.
This game is my jam, I couldn't be more excited. Thanks for covering it Clint.
I was just thinking about this game the other day! When I played it, I used a gravis gamepad which you could flip to left handed mode with a switch. For the parts where the game put you upside-down (or reversed the controls? I can't quite remember...) I would flip the switch on the gamepad and continue playing as normal. Fond memories of this one.
I'm as excited as you are. I was tearing up when I saw this was a real thing.
Big grin for a guy without oxygen tanks in the middle of space
Notice the "air" units along walls? 😁
great game and great video! this was one of the first games I beat and I can't wait to get this remake. thanks for posting this!
I'd buy every game I ever owned again if they also had an HD remake. TAKE MY MONEY
I don't think I would suffer through the final stage of Dark Ages ever again even if they paid me $100. Lol
@@Mac_Omegaly Yeah fair enough. XD
Especially if they all included a level editor!
Such purity in apogee games. They were my first games I ever played. Very cool.
Much love Clint.
Chiptune is way out of place. I'm with you, Clint it SHOULD be Adlib. Maybe an add-on for the future?
Yea - tickling the nostalgy nerve quickly turns into a rash if theres too much discrepancy in the experience. Hopefully the dev(s) have put the nes track just as a placeholder
Man I can't thank you enough! This was my first video game too! I had an old hand me down computer from my dad that took a 5 1/4 floppy disk and this game was on that computer. I remember playing this game for hours, but one day our house got broken into and my computer was stolen (this was in 1998), nobody in my family could remember the name of the game! For over 20 years I have been trying to remember the name if this game and just happen to come across this video! I can't wait to play this game again! Just watching the game play brought back so many emotions. My dad passed away in 2017 but this has definitely triggered some emotions. Thank you man!
The SFX package is clearly enhanced by the use of a loud keyboard.
Ohmigosh! Crystal Caves was absolutly my favorite of the Apogee games back in the day. I can't believe they're still supporting it.
I remember this game, just didn’t know the name glad to see it have a HD version.
Very cool! Crystal Caves was also my first game, which I played incessantly on the family's Vendex HeadStart 386 as a kid. Thanks for sharing!
Apogee: hey that's a nice fan tribute.... wanna like... make it an official game?
Nintendo: let's wait until someone has spent hundreds upon hundreds of blood sweat and tears on absolutely beautiful fan game, and *Then* shut it down.
This was the first PC game I played when we got our first PC in 1992, a 386DX-33 with 4mb and 80mb. In 1993 we installed the Creative Multimedia Upgrade kit (2x SCSI cd rom drive + SB16 ASP with SCSI interface). For that first year, this game held such fascination for me. I used to leave the computer switched on with the monitor off, so that I could resume playing later that day. More tan a few times, my dad would simply press the reset button, when he wanted to get into Windows 3.1 (he couldn't be bothered with quitting the game.)
The height of gaming excitement
The Pinnacle of Entertainment Software
My family had a 486 in the early 90s, and the shareware version of this was included. Absolutely my best PC gaming memory of the era. I was a little kid, so I don't think I even beat the first episode. The look, feel and sound of this game is etched onto my brain.
Well, actually I like MicroFX games for being possible to beat up. Because another game on childhood PC was Prehistorik 2. Here go the real problems!
"I didn't screw up at all!"
_Proceeds to immediately screw up._
While i haven't played Crystal Caves myself at the time, it does take me back to the times of Commander Keen and Duke Nukem! Nostalgia overload. Thank you for sharing this Clint! Also, at the time of viewing this the video has 69k views... nice!
first game I ever played was DOOM when I was 6 lol! I did play this around the same time!
Same
My first was Wolfenstein 3D (on Mac) that I played with my dad - he played the arrow keys and I shot and opened doors.
@@gabrielledebourg2487 I like this! sounds like a good memory 🙂
I love the nostalgic feeling this channel gives me. The sound, animations, level layouts all buried deep inside a part of my brain just lying dormant.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
I love how Clint is excited about this. Watching you play this remaster is a joy on it's own.
Ooooh Apogee re-releases. Here's hoping a Hocus Pocus HD is next!
I could never play Hocus Pocus because the music was "too scary"! So instead I played Bio Menace... go figure.
@@baltasarjimenez2091 I played Prince of Persia. God the first time being chopped in half really shocked me :S
Look for the fan made Hocus Pocus Doom mod, which works with zDoom - Some crazy guy converted the entire Hocus Pocus game to 3D while somehow preserving the feel of the game, and the graphics. UA-camr "Gman Lives" did a decent video which covers it.
@@DarkHoodness HocusDooom is amazing. I was really surprised how well it turned out. I never have thought it could work in 3D (though I maintain that it probably wouldn't have been any good if a development company attempted it.)
There's a hocus pocus doom mod?
Might have to go hunt that out
That's pretty cool. This game was kind of special to me since it was the first game I ever bought with my own money back in the day. It's still kicking around somewhere.
I can't blame them for going with the music they did, there's hundreds of people who know Famitracker that you can bring on to this but only a fraction of that who can work with SoundBlaster FM (or FM in general, additive synthesis is nasty). Hopefully they can add custom soundtrack support down the road.
Out of everything I've seen about this remake today, I think its going to be the soundtrack that will leave most peoples heads scratching with consideration to its audience. This isn't a re-release of a well known console game like say MegaMan or Sonic CD. Its a re-release of a relatively obscure MS-DOS game thats really only remembered and noted by people who had an IBM Compatible PC in the early 90's, and that its this audience thats likely to be the only one that will care about it seeing a re-release.
OMG dude... That rant about the games music was literally the nerdiest thing I have ever heard lol. I didn't hear anything wrong with it and thought it was nice lol. That game looks really cool btw, I added it to my Steam wishlist, thanks for bringing it to my attention :)
Steam Page updated....Release date announced!
Yay!
OMG this looks awesome! I can't wait to play the new levels, I have such great memories of this game.
Interesting, the title screen scroll-down to the "buried" credits is the same as in Rescue Rover from Softdisk Publishing (later id Software). Must have been a thing back in the day.
Saw this video pop up. Had to double check to figure out what in the world I was looking at.
This is amazing. Crystal Caves was amongst my first games, too!
"I'm gonna turn off the music now" ... wait, there was music?
It was pretty quiet relative to his voice, yeah.
I love how thrilled you sound to play this
10 min in: I'm not going to do a full review or anything
*20 mins left in the video*
This game was on the first PC we bought used. It later unfortunatly got lost. Seeing this brings me back to this times.
Hey Clint, the footage has very inconsistent frame pacing. Does the remake run at 70hz like the original by any chance?
Apogee still exists!? Amazing. This was one of my first games ever. I feel like everyone else was on consoles but I was mostly a PC kid.
Only the name for branding purposes. In the legal documents there known as 3drealms.
It's hurting my brain seeing enhanced DOS graphics with NES music.
Really cool remake. A big nostalgia hit for me, that's for sure. It's the first game I played *to death* back in the day. The level editor is so cool, too.
The UA-camr "SrSr Wilson" once said in a Duke "Nukum" gameplay:Aaah Apogee,this logo is so nostalgic for me,even though I've never seen It before
Oh my God, I played the shareware version hundreds of times when I was young. So many memories of those days come drifting by, watching this video.. Thanks Clint!!!
Yeah, the music is from Ozzed who makes music that should be completely playable on the NES (he even includes the .nsf files with album downloads). I don't know if the soundtrack is original or something from his previous stuff, but I would love to hear some AdLib stuff from him. Speaking of which, some optional AdLib sound effects á la Commander Keen 4-6 would be cool.
man, I remember playing this all the time on my first computer. I never did remember its name though! Thanks for showing me this!