"These dark passages are unlike any that a traveller can see; filled with reanimated monsters, wretchedly moving their bodies to my lute. Who would be foolish enough to rob me of my treasure? Who dares to try?!"
- The NecroDancer
Crypt of the NecroDancer is one of the five tables that released for the Pinball FX reboot in April 2023. The table combines the source material's roguelike / rhythm game mechanics with more traditional pinball mechanics, with both being important to master to get the highest scores.
Zones[]
In search of her father, Dorian - a famed treasure hunter - Cadence has her heart stolen & cursed by the NecroDancer and must take on several bosses, all to the beat of the background music. To defeat the NecroDancer once and for all, Cadence must defeat his minions and use the power of his Golden Lute.
There are five different zones to play through, each split into two sections: a proper zone with shots to make that only ends once the background music does or the player shoots the left VUK to exit, and a boss battle played in several phases followed by victory laps once completed (100k per shot for zones, 250k per shot for bosses). Every completed zone or boss scores 5M x the current coin multiplier, with each boss also awarding a diamond once defeated.
After completing the zone's required objectives, the player can either shoot the left VUK to immediately head to the zone's boss, or shoot the left loop (also called the "Bass lane" by the machine) to visit the shop if the player has enough diamonds. If the player opts out of heading directly to the zone boss, they won't be able to select an option at the VUK again until the next zone is started. If any objective isn't completed in time, the ball will be lost and end-of-ball bonus will be awarded.
Once per zone / boss, the first digging toy target can be repeatedly hit to reveal a sinkhole under it. Shooting the sinkhole will award 1 diamond that can be used to purchase items at the shop. The second digging toy target hides the ball lock for D.I.G. Multiball.
After each zone boss (excluding Zone 3's Death Metal fight), a bonus room will be played. Rules for the bonus room are described later in this section.
- Zone 1 (Disco Descent): Shoot the random flashing lanes. Blue slime monsters (2 health) will spawn during this zone, and skeletons will be blocking the center ramp until all have been defeated.
- Boss - Coral Riff (Deep Sea Bass): Complete five sets of two flashing lanes to remove all the background music's stems before it ends. The flashing lanes can include any orbits, ramps, or piano targets. Once the music has ended its loop, the left loop will light to finish Coral Riff off. The more stems were left undefeated during the first phase, the more shots are needed to the left loop.
- Zone 2 (Fungal Funk): Kill two light golems (4 health). Zone 2 tends to be the quickest zone to complete, giving the player more time to focus on side objectives.
- Boss - King Conga (Konga Conga Kappa): Shoot the left loop, then two random shots, then the left loop again, while defeating the two vertical lines of Conga's minions. During this boss, the coin multiplier is decreased if the player flips on the background music's long pause.
- Zone 3 (A Hot Mess): Rip the spinners! Every spin adds 2% to the percentage shown on the display, so 50 combined spins from either spinner are required to complete the zone (though the percentage decreases by 1% every second). Enemies (white skeleton knights, 2 health) are also present during this zone, and the center ramp will be blocked.
- Boss - Death Metal (Metalmancy): Unlike the other boss battles, this one is played on the mini-playfield. The flippers at the top of the mini-playfield operate automatically, in a quick alternating pattern, and the player must shoot the ball between the two flippers to deal damage to Death Metal. Death Metal is defeated after 5 hits.
- Zone 4 (Styx and Stones): The left VUK, left loop, right ramp, and right orbit are lit - shoot each to the beat. Armored enemies (2 health) spawn during this zone; damage can't be dealt to them if their shields are up.
- Boss - Deep Blues (Knight to C-Sharp): This boss is themed after a group of chess pieces. Defeat the army of chess pieces first by shooting them with the ball, then the king and queen can be defeated. If they are hit before the army hasn't been defeated, they will simply deflect the ball.
- Zone 5 (Six Feet Thunder): Dirt blocks spawn in front of the six major shots - dig the shots out by shooting them three times with the ball. Two gold electric mages are spawned during this zone.
- Boss - Fortissimole (Notorious D.I.G.): Defeat seven skeletons, either directly by shooting them or indirectly by hitting any flashing lane. Fortissimole will then spawn - time a shot while he's out of the ground to defeat him and remove the vocals from the background music.
The Shop[]
After completing the required tasks in a standard zone, shooting the left loop will allow the player to access the shop. At the shop, the player can purchase the following items with diamonds they collected either from defeating bosses, or from the hidden sinkhole under the first digging toy target:
- Sword: 7 diamonds. All enemy damage is multiplied by 2x for the rest of the game.
- Extra Heart: 15 diamonds. Adds an extra heart to Cadence's health meter. Up to two can be purchased, and are this machine's equivalent to the standard extra ball.
- Bomb: 5 diamonds. Toggle the bomb on or off by pressing the launch button. Once used, the next shot to an enemy will deal 3x damage. You start the game with one.
- Ring: 7 diamonds. Doubles the combo values with every purchase. If any of the above items are out of stock, they will be replaced with rings.
Bonus Rooms[]
After completing the boss battles of all zones except for zone 3, play will transition to a mini-playfield below the main playfield. Defeat the skeletons and send the ball past the quickly moving upper flippers to score scytheseeing combos.
Once the ball drains from a bonus room three times, or the 60-second timer expires, the bonus room ends and the player can select the next zone they want to complete.
Zone ? (Wizard Mode)[]
After playing all 5 zones, the player will be given a bit of a breather before the final NecroDancer boss fight. In the Zone ? waiting room, they can buy any items from the shop if needed, and shoot the left VUK whenever they're ready to start the final battle. The battle will also start automatically if the music (Rhythmortis, the same theme used for bonus rooms) loops twice.
The final battle against the NecroDancer is split into two phases:
- Phase 1 (Momentum Mori): Complete shots to all six lanes to the beat as the NecroDancer reanimates enemies from each zone you completed! To spawn the Golden Lute, all five reanimated enemies must be defeated as well. The Lute can then be collected for 10M at either bank of piano targets.
- Phase 2 (Last Dance): With the power of the Lute in Cadence's hands, the NecroDancer can finally be defeated by making shots to all the flashing lanes to the beat. As a last-ditch effort, the NecroDancer will freeze the ball every 30 seconds, in which case the player must flip on beat a few times to return to normal play. Defeating the NecroDancer scores 20M, as Cadence debates her next steps upon finding the Lute.
Zone progress then resets, but all scoring is given a permanent +1x multiplier for the rest of the game once the wizard mode is completed, and certain bosses with health bars (ie. Coral Riff, Death Metal) will have them increased for subsequent zone cycles.
Multiball Modes[]
The following two multiball modes can be started at any time during a zone and will remain active until the player exits the multiball with a coin multiplier below 1.0.
- Crypt Multiball: Spell CRYPT at the return lanes, which cycle with the flippers, to start this quick 2-ball "utility" multiball. As long as Crypt Multiball is running, all coin multiplier advances will increase by +.2x instead of the normal .1x.
- D.I.G. Multiball: Starts once three balls have been locked at the sinkhole beneath the second digging toy target. All shots are lit for 250k jackpots for as long as the multiball lasts.
Coin Multiplier ("C")[]
The coin multiplier acts as a playfield score multiplier and ball saver, and is thus an important part of scoring big on Crypt of the NecroDancer. Shooting the lit "C" shots to the beat of the background music increases the coin multiplier by +.1x, to a maximum of 2.5x scoring. If Crypt Multiball is running, all "C" advances will be doubled and increase by +.2x instead.
Maintaining a high coin multiplier also allows the kickbacks to remain used (they remain lit above 1.0), and the ball to keep going. If the player drains while their "C" is below 0.5, the ball will instantly end and end-of-ball bonus will be rewarded. The coin multiplier decreases by -.5x every time a kickback is used or the ball drains, including during a multiball.
Combos[]
There are six different unique combos on the machine, all of which correlate to a certain boss battle and score different amounts of points once collected that increase every time they are scored. If the appropriate combo is scored during its boss battle, the bonus points will be doubled. Collecting rings from the shop also applies a 2x multiplier to all subsequent combos, and multiple combos can be collected at once.
The six combos, and their respective bosses, are:
- High C (Coral Riff): Left VUK - right loop - left loop
- Number Ape (King Conga): Left loop - right ramp - left orbit
- Scytheseeing (Death Metal): Shoot between the top flippers on the mini-playfield
- Sicilian Offense (Deep Blues): Defeat three ememies in a row
- Above Ground (Fortissimole): Center ramp - left VUK - right ramp
- Danse Macabre (NecroDancer): Shoot three lanes to the beat in a row
End-of-Ball Bonus[]
Bonus is awarded at the end of each ball unless the Death Metal fight is running, in which case the ball will drain with no bonus awarded, or the player tilts. Bonus is comprised of the following:
- Drum & Base Bonus: Standard base bonus increased over the course of the ball.
- ComBonus: Increases as combos are made.
- Beatdown Bonus: Every enemy defeated in a zone increases this bonus.
- Shovel Done Bonus: Increases with shots to the digging toy.
- Chore-us Bonus: Increases with every zone and boss fight completed.
- On-Key Bonus: Increases as shots are made to the beat.
Tips[]
- While not a high-scoring table in the early game, scores on Crypt of the NecroDancer can drastically increase if the player keeps purchasing rings from the shop and going for combos. As the ring multiplier is exponential, players can score combos of up to 1 billion points after collecting enough rings, more than anything else in the game! However, to afford that many rings, you're going to have to play the rest of the game out...
- Collecting diamonds, as a result, should be a top priority. You should average 3 diamonds per zone: two from the first digging toy target both during the zone and its boss, and another for defeating the boss. This will guarantee that by zone 3, you can purchase your first item and allow rings to enter stock as early as possible.
- Keep Crypt Multiball running for as long as you can. There are some modes that don't mesh well with this multiball, particularly ones that require you to shoot the shots to the beat, but it's very easy to start and can help a ton in getting your coin multiplier to 2.5x early.