Crystal Monsters is played in a third-person view overhead perspective[4] and takes place in a fictional world called Earth[5] in which the player navigates the main character.

Just like in most role-playing video games, monsters are able to gain experience points and level up after battles, making them stronger.

The player controls the protagonist from an overhead perspective[4] and navigates him around a fictional world called Earth [5] with the goal of becoming the greatest trainer.

He has a dream of being given a choice of one of 3 different starter monsters by his friend Bishop: A Fire-type (Kiticon), Water-type (Tadpolaris) or Plant-type (Flowerpower).

After waking up in school and realising it was all a dream, he goes outside and sees a bully named Rudiger steal Bishop's Essence Core.

He confronts Rudiger at the Ruins and gets Bishop's EC back, receiving the same starter monster that he chose in the dream.

"[3] Marcel van Duyn of Nintendo Life said "Although it might be almost sickening to Pokémon fans to see how similar this is to their beloved franchise, we can't really be too critical of it.