Video Game / Crystal Breaker

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Get ready to satiate on the word "bonus".

Crystal Breaker is a Vertical Scrolling Shooter developed by Terarin for Windows PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch. A free two-stage demo was released on Steam on August 14, 2024, while the full game was released globally for both platforms on November 28, 2024^note The game's Steam release was on midnight Japan time, meaning that time zones to the west of Japan got to play it on November 27. However, the Switch version was staggered in different regions to ensure it was released on November 28 in each release region..

Set in year 248 of the Space Era, the protagonists Layla and Jenny emerge out of nowhere in their fighter jet to stop a rogue space defense automated system.

Unlike Terarin's past shmups, which feature a multi-stage campaign mode and a 2- or 3-minute Caravan mode, in this game every stage is effectively a Caravan mode. The player chooses one stage at a time and attempts to make the best score possible, by racking up hit chains, destroying bonus targets, and so forth. Destroying an enemy at close range releases crystals; every 100 crystals collected awards a substantial point bonus. The player can choose between one of two different characters: Layla, who has longer range, and Jenny, who has shorter range but more powerful shots.

Crystal Breaker demonstrates examples of the following:

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Similar to many past Terarin shmups, the (bare-bones) plot involves stopping a rogue automated system that's disrupting human civilization.
• All the Worlds Are a Stage: Stage 8 is a mishmash of the first seven stages, followed by its own environment, plus one final area with the Final Boss.
• Balance Buff: In the demo edition of the game, both characters would release one crystal per shot that's landed on a sufficiently-close enemy. This was a problem for Jenny, because her higher damage-per-shot meant she got fewer crystals than Layla, meaning she would score lower despite destroying enemies faster. Jenny would then get a buff that gets her two crystals per shot instead; this buff was carried over into the full game.
• Close-Range Combatant: Jenny has more powerful shots, but they have a shorter range, requiring her to get up-close and personal to enemies.
• Collision Damage: Averted; moving your ship over enemies (even aerial ones) will not incur any damage. This is a deliberate design decision (and which is even pointed out on its Steam Store description) to encourage players to point-blank enemies and get crystals from them. The only things that can harm your ship are intentional enemy attacks (bullets, missiles, lasers).
• Creator Cameo: Damaging certain seemingly-nondescript tiles (differentiated by a slightly more purple-ish hue compared to normal destructible tiles) will reveal Terarin's personal icon or a that of a gray cat he owns. Destroying this tile awards a Secret Bonus.
• Destructible Projectiles: Green-colored bullets and missiles can be neutralized by the player's shots.
• Dynamic Difficulty: The game has five levels of Rank, with higher levels corresponding to higher difficulty. Destroying enemies raises the gauge; when the gauge is full, Rank increases by one level. Taking damage will reduce Rank by one level instead. Averted on Expert difficulty, where Rank is locked to level 5 at all times.
• Flawless Victory: Completing a stage with no damage taken will display a "NO DAMAGE CLEAR!" message on the results screen. The Steam version additionally awards the appropriate achievement for the stage it was performed on, if it was your first time doing so. A no-damage clear doesn't award anything functional by itself, but note that you do lose 10,000 points each time you take damage, and getting killed invalidates your score for the run, so it pays to not get hit.
• Genre Throwback: Like Terarin's past shmups, this game follows the design principles of a shmup from the late 80s or early 90s (mainly the likes of Star Soldier) rather than more modern Bullet Hell shooters, with a 16-bit look and soundtrack to match.
• Every 10,000 Points: You gain an extra point of HP at difficulty-defined thresholds: every 2 million points on Normal, every 3 million on Hard, and every 4 million on Expert.
• Marathon Level: The 8th and final stage has a game-estimated time of 10 minutes, nearly double that of the previous stage which is 5 1/2 minutes. This is in part because said final stage is a medley of the first 7 stages, with all of their bosses as well, plus one more area housing the Final Boss.
• Post-Final Boss: After defeating the boss that Stage 8 is named after, Black Thunder, Red Scorpion appears. However, it's simply a red version of the regular mech enemy and its only attack is firing missiles downward, so compared to Black Thunder's bullet patterns, Red Scorpion goes down almost as quickly as it spawns.
• Segmented Serpent: One of the minibosses is the Crazy Snake, a serpantine mech whose segments can be individually destroyed, ideally at close range and from back-to-front to draw crystals out of it.
• Theme Music Power-Up: A faster and more heroic theme plays when the player's fighter reaches maximum shot power. If the player's ship is damaged (but has not run out of HP yet) and consequentially drops out of max power, the music will revert back to the stage's less-hectic "default" theme.
• Time-Limit Boss: Each boss is on a 30-second timer. If the boss is defeated before time runs out, the player will be awarded 10,000 points for every second remaining.