Gauntlet Download (1988 Arcade action Game)

Gauntlet is an action game where players choose characters and fight their way through hordes of enemies that assault them on the way to the end of the level. One or two players must make their way through 100 levels of mayhem and magic. The game features a choice of four characters to play with, each with different weapons. Thor the Warrior has a bludgeoning battle axe, Thyra the Valkyrie has a close range sword, Questor the Elf has his long range bow, and Merlin the Wizard has magical bolts.

Ghosts, goblins and even the life-draining Death are among the enemies. Enemies stream out of generators, so destroy these before tackling the rest. Keys are needed to open the many doors within the levels, and in some situations a door will contain only bonus items, not a progressive route. Scattered magic potions act like smart bombs and clear the screen of all enemies. Beware of poison though, this reduces the character's energy level. Treasure is abundant throughout the levels and adds to the player's score.

Gauntlet was created by Atari INC. in 1988. This series has always been one of my favorite action arcade games and is in my opinion almost better than Super Mario Bros. 3.

After the title screen, you end up at the character selection screen. You have a choice between four characters you can play. You could choose Thor, with his lethal battle axe, or Thyra, the valkyrie, with her lethal magic sword. On the other hand, there is also Questor the elf, with his deadly aim, bow, and arrows, or perhaps Merlin, the wizard, with his bolts of lightning and fire will suite your taste. Each character attacks are equally powerful.

Gameplay seems simple at first, but, believe me, this game is hard. The controls consist of moving the character with the arrow keys, using enter to fire, and the spacebar to clear out enemies with magic. Enemies stream out of generators in the levels. Make sure you destroy the generators as quickly as possible, or otherwise hordes of enemies will surround you in no time and make sure your character is pushing up daisies. Enemies range from mummies to ghosts and even the Grim Reaper. Especially watch out for Grim, as he will slow you down so he can grab you. If he does grab you, he will quickly drain your health unless you destroy him. You may use magic potions to clear out all enemies on screen. Treasure is abundant on each level, so make sure you pick it up to increase your points. Eat meat to regain health, and make sure you pick up every key you see, as these can be used to open chests and doors.

As far as graphics go, they aren't the best, but they do not hinder the fun quality of the game. They can make it harder to tell what monster is which, though. The music in the game is your basic arcade music, but this adds to the good nastalgic feel of the game.

I enjoyed this game very much, and I doubt there is anyone out there who wouldn't. It's definitely a classic you shouldn't pass up on.

The first game I ever played on C64, although this is for PC. It was cool, I even still have the cassette at home that still works in my old Amstrad. Hehe, you would think I was a fanatic. I get déja vu when I play catacomb because of this game! It was an excellent foundation layer for the dungeon crawler games though.

This game has multi and single player. You pick your own character, and the others pick theirs. When you start this game you chose from the following four characters:

Thor the Warrior: He's the big man. Takes a bit to knock him out, but he doesn't have any special magic powers. He also moves a bit slow.

Merlin the Wizard: Touché! Well, you couldn't very well have a Wizard and not call him Merlin I guess! Merlin is a cool character, he has strong magic abilities, and can kick some arse. He cant really do much when he's being hit on the head, as he's a very fragile character and its better to kill everyone around you before they get too close and smack him.

Thyra the Valkyrie: This was the character that I always used. I guess that's because I am a girl =). She's tough, she's powerful, has magic. Plus she looks dang good in a skimpy costume! What more could you want? She moves relatively fast and has the best of all the characters rolled into one I think.

Questor the Elf: He can use magic, and can hit people pretty hard. But he's pretty fragile again, and his best characteristic is that he is the fastest. Which is good when you need to get away as he's got stuff-all armor. But when surrounded with nowhere to go, who you gonna call? ;)

This game is great, you go through many levels, gathering treasure and potions and killing the dungeon monsters. It's so much fun. There are many dungeons to go through, and if you've played Catacomb, then you'll pick this game up really easy, as this game inspired all like games.

I guess the one bummer is when you are playing multi player and you get caught in different screens and get stuck, as the screen just isn't wide enough for you both to go back and get together again! That used to cause a lot of resets when Sarah and I used to play it!

You MUST download this game and play it. It's excellent and totally rocks hard! I love it!

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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Gauntlet 2, Frogger, Gauntlet 2, Donkey Kong, Golden Axe, Galaxian, Age of Empires, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition