Gauntlet - NES

ESRB Rating:
Release Date: 7-1-1988
Moby Score (1-10): 6.9
Genre(s): Action, Arcade, Top-down, Fantasy, 2D scrolling
Media Type(s): Physical

EXPERIENCE THE ULTIMATE FANTASY THAT IS GAUNTLET.

GAUNTLET, the arcade phenomenon, is finally available as a Nintendo Game Pak! Choose one of four legendary characters as your hero: Thor, the Warrior; Thyra, the Valkyrie; Merlin, the Wizard; or Questor, the Elf. The unique two-player option lets you compete against a friend; or join forces to defeat hordes of swarming monsters and to collect food, treasure and magic potions.

Then, prepare yourself for heart-pounding excitement the likes of which you’ve never experienced before.

This Gauntlet sends you on a noble quest: The recovery of a long-lost Sacred Orb. Search the Five Worlds for magic codes that will unlock the Final Room where the Orb resides. Each World comes with new bewildering mazes and untold dangers to test the mettle of even the most skillful adventurer. As you progress through each maze, the level of difficulty rises.

Take heart, we’ve added special hidden powers and abilities for each character. For increased playability and convenience, a special password feature allows you to restart a game at an advanced level.

We’ve thrown down the gauntlet. Do you have what it takes to rise to the challenge?

Screenshot 1 text Just one of over 90 intricate mazes in the all-new Five Worlds. Here, Thyra searches for treasure and food while battling for her very survival against deadly monsters created by enemy generators.

Screenshot 2 text The two-player interactive option lets you compete against a friend or to join forces to locate the Sacred Orb. Here, Thyra and Merlin face the challenge together.

It's time again for the four warriors to gear up and head out on a new quest. Their mission this time is to retrieve the Sacred Orb of Rendar that was stolen by the nefarious Morak. He has hidden the Orb along with many other treasures in his Five Worlds maze. He of course has his many minions guarding his ill gotten riches.

One or two players get to play as either the warrior Thor, the valkyrie Thyra, the wizard Merlin, or as the elf Questor. Each character has their own unique weapon and abilities. They can also use a limited amount of screen clearing bombs that can be collected in the maze. Also collectible in the maze are food items which restore some of their depleted health and treasure chests, wherein collecting enough treasure chests will give the player a permanent boost to their total amount of hit points.

Gameplay involves exploring 100 different floors looking for each floor's exit. Finding the exit is made difficult because of the various monsters continually spawning from the enemy generators, that only can be stopped by being destroyed. Other obstacles include locked doors which can only be opened with keys, paralyzing traps that grind movement to a halt, and teleporters that can warp the player from one side of the room to the other.

After every couple of floors, the player will be treated to a limited time in a treasure room. The player has to collect as much treasure as they can before time runs out. If they make it to the exit of the treasure room before time runs out, they will get an extra bonus of all their hit points getting refilled to the maximum.

Also of note, the player has to be on the lookout for secret exits on some of the floors. These will take the player to one of the eight clue rooms. Once inside this room, the player must find a question mark tile and exit before time runs out. This will result in the player getting a part of a vault combination. Getting all parts of this combination is necessary as it will have to be entered in order to gain admittance to the 100th floor.

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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