{"id":1879,"date":"2024-12-03T20:55:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T11:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/?p=1879"},"modified":"2024-12-24T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T02:27:18","slug":"crystal-breaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2024\/12\/03\/crystal-breaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal Breaker: a new PC-Engine-style shmup on Steam!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tonight I bought a new shmup called Crystal Breaker. It really hearkens back to the TG-16\/PC-Engine days! You take no damage from collisions and it rewards you for getting up close to enemies by releasing gems when you destroy enemies at close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choose between two characters: Layla with short, auburn hair who has a standard shot, and Jenny with long, dark hair who has a shorter attack reach, but has stronger firepower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your powerups max out at the 3rd level, in which you shoot five ways. There are no bombs, but only a dash that can allow you to dodge bullets (however it’s not as easy as you’d think).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crystal Breaker is made by Terarin Games, who also released the Gunhead\/Blazing Lasers-inspired Raging Blasters and Layer Section\/Rayforce-inspired Moon Dancer. Terarin’s definite Compile and Hudson influences are seen here, following their retro shmup style. They do well at capturing that ’90s shmup aesthetic. As with prior games, Crystal Breaker also has a selectable chiptune music option. This game is hard, and I still haven’t cleared the second boss yet. Nice neo-retro style game!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tonight I bought a new shmup called Crystal Breaker. It really hearkens back to the TG-16\/PC-Engine days! You take no damage from collisions and it rewards you for getting up close to enemies by releasing gems when you destroy enemies at close range. Choose between two characters: Layla with short, auburn hair who has a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Crystal Breaker: a new PC-Engine-style shmup on Steam!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,10,12,9],"class_list":["post-1879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-games","tag-crystal-breaker","tag-gaming","tag-retrogaming","tag-steam"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":461,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2022\/09\/26\/andro-dunos-ii-another-fantastic-retro-style-shmup-on-steam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":0},"title":"Andro Dunos II, another fantastic retro-style shmup on Steam!","date":"2022-09-26","format":false,"excerpt":"I've probably spent too much money on Steam games this past two years or more. I never liked the idea of buying games I did not have physical copies for, and I haven't cared about gaming on the PC since the '90s. But Steam offers a way to enjoy the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "video games"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220914073342_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":311,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2022\/07\/07\/infinos-gaiden-a-fantastic-shmup-that-would-be-at-home-on-the-sega-saturn\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":1},"title":"Infinos Gaiden: a fantastic shmup that would be at home on the Sega Saturn","date":"2022-07-07","format":false,"excerpt":"I picked up Infinos Gaiden via Steam's summer sale. This is a fantastic game, reminiscent of Thunder Force and other 16-32 bit shmups. Via the Proton utility, this works perfectly on my Linux desktop. Not only does fullscreen mode work fine, but this game supports a 4:3 aspect ratio, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "video games"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220707182555_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":210,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2022\/06\/15\/super-hydorah-a-fun-konami-style-shmup-on-steam\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":2},"title":"Super Hydorah: a fun Konami-style shmup on Steam","date":"2022-06-15","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had this game on my Steam wishlist for a while, and as soon as it went on sale this month, I bought it. It has a \"silver\" rating on the Proton Database, but after installing it, I had no problems running the game at all on my Linux desktop,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "video games"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Hydorah01.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2933,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2026\/03\/07\/i-installed-bazzite-linux-on-a-dell-optiplex-3000-and-made-it-a-steam-machine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":3},"title":"I installed Bazzite Linux on a Dell Optiplex 3000 and made it a Steam machine","date":"2026-03-07","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what my new Bazzite desktop looks like, with the girls from Bubblegum Crisis. My friend Lou is visiting Japan and gave me a Dell Optiplex mini computer (Intel Core i5) he rescued from the trash at his work after his company was bought out by a smaller competitor of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "tech"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/new-Bazzite-desktop-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2385,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/earthion-intro-sequence-animated-gif-gallery\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":4},"title":"Earthion intro sequence animated GIF gallery","date":"2025-08-01","format":false,"excerpt":"Earthion was released late last night. It's a new shmup for the Megadrive, available for download on Steam. I stayed up and played it a bit. I'll do a write-up after I get more used to the gameplay.","rel":"","context":"In "video games"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Earthion-clip1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":527,"url":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/2022\/10\/02\/another-cute-shmup-ship-lineup-pic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1879,"position":5},"title":"Another cute shmup ship lineup pic","date":"2022-10-02","format":false,"excerpt":"Yoinked from Pinterest. How many can you recognize?","rel":"","context":"In "video games"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/shmup-ships2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1933,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions\/1933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevethefish.net\/stuff\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}