News on the Xbox 360 front blew my mind this weekend. Microsoft quietly released Crystal Quest for Xbox Live Arcade!

Now, I’m sure it’s no stretch to believe that a full 0% of you have ever heard of this 1987 classic. As it happens, Crystal Quest occupies a special place in my heart, as I came across this little pile of code back before the dawn of broadband and the Internet. Indeed, it with a Mac LC and a 1300 baud modem that I pulled down a copy of the original black and white version of Crystal Quest from a local BBS, the stone age equivalent of the internet.

So it was with shocked disbelief that I downloaded the trial version of Crystal Quest for my Xbox, the 360’s triple core cpu chuckling like an older brother watching a sibling struggle to walk. Upon firing up ‘Quest, I can see it’s all still there. Crystals, of course, are in ample supply. Then there are the little things that float around and make noise. And of course there’s the little thing that I fly around, and make noise in, as I collect said delicious crystals. Yup, that’s the Crystal Quest I know and love! As if releasing an updated version of this gem (pun so very much intended) wasn’t cool enough, the fellows that created this port of ‘Quest did easily the coolest thing possible:

They included the original version in its ridiculously archaic state.

Yes. And with that I sit back and bask in the glow of 4 colors, confident in the fact that just like the old days, I’m going to play their game as a trial version. After all, I haven’t paid for it for all these years: why would I start now?