Gauntlet
Gauntlet1985
The players, up to four at once in the arcade version, select among four playable fantasy-based characters; Thor the Warrior, Merlin the Wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie, or Questor the Elf. Each character has his or her own unique strength and weaknesses. For example, the Warrior is strongest in hand-to-hand combat, the Wizard has the most powerful magic, the Valkyrie has the best armour and the Elf is the fastest in movement.
Upon selecting a playable character, the gameplay is set within a series of top-down, third-person perspective mazes where the object is to find and touch the designated exit in every level. An assortment of special items can be located in each level that increase player’s character’s health, unlock doors, gain more points and magical potions that can destroy all of the enemies on screen.
The enemies are an assortment of fantasy-based monsters, including ghosts, grunts, demons, lobbers, sorcerers and thieves. Each enters the level through specific generators, which can be destroyed. While there are no bosses in the game, the most dangerous enemy is “Death”, who can not only drain a character’s health, but is difficult to destroy.
As the game progresses, higher levels of skill are needed to reach the exit, with success often depending on the willingness of the players to cooperate by sharing food and luring monsters into places where they can be engaged and slaughtered more conveniently. While contact with enemies reduces the player’s health, it also slowly drains on its own, thus creating a time limit. When a character’s health reaches zero, that character dies. The character can be revived in place with full health by spending a game credit (i.e. inserting a coin) within a certain short time window after it died. This allows even the least proficient players to keep playing indefinitely, if they are willing to keep inserting coins.
Gallery
Gallery
-
Genres
Arcade
Hack and slash/Beat 'em up -
Themes
Action
Fantasy
Historical -
Game modes
Multiplayer
Single player -
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
-
Platforms
Amstrad CPC
Apple II
Apple IIGS
Arcade
Atari 8-bit
Atari ST/STE
Commodore C64/128/MAX
DOS
Mac
MSX
Sega Master System/Mark III
Xbox 360
ZX Spectrum - Links
-
Releases
DOS: 1988 NA
Apple IIGS: 1988 NA
Mac: 1989 NA
Xbox 360: Nov 22, 2005 NA
Atari ST/STE: 1987 NA
Arcade: Nov 1985 NA
Apple II: 1988 NA -
Developers
Atari Games
-
Publishers
Mindscape
Inc.
U.S. Gold
Midway Games
Atari Games
Namco
Similar games
No reviews here yet 🙁️
Be the first to leave a review!
Leave a review
No reviews here yet 🙁️
Be the first to leave a review!