Difference between revisions of "Gauntlet (NES)"

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* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet_(NES) vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet_(NES)] - Music
 
* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet_(NES) vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet_(NES)] - Music
 
* [http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet] - NES Hacker Wiki.
 
* [http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php?title=Gauntlet] - NES Hacker Wiki.
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* [https://tcrf.net/Gauntlet_(NES) tcrf.net/Gauntlet_(NES)] - The Cutting Room Floor.
  
  

Revision as of 09:26, 3 October 2018

North American licensed box art.

Gauntlet is a fantasy dungeon crawler and shooter developed by Atari and published by Tengen for the NES in 1987 with a PlayChoice-10 version released in 1988. Unlike the original arcade game which plays forever, the NES port has a rudimentary story and ending.

My brother and I got this game used and played it through nearly to the end, however, we missed several of the secret rooms, so we could never get into the final stage. I thought it was pretty cool when I was younger, but I see a huge amount of flaws in it now.

I found a useful bug in this game. If you get stunned, the countdown continues to count even if you press select to see your stats, and by the time you get back to the game, the countdown is over, but the enemies didn't get a chance to hurt you.

Status

I own this game, but I have not beaten it. I've played nearly every level in the game, but I've never uncovered all the secret codes.

Review

  • Overall: 4/10
  • Best Version: NES

Good

  • The game competently takes everything that was good with the arcade version and brings it over to the NES, but creates an actual victory condition.
  • The game has fantastic music.
  • Being able to choose a character from a group of different choices is always nice in any game.
  • The various permanent power up potions are a great idea.
  • Giving each world its own look and feel was a nice design choice.
  • Basing a player's level on the amount of treasure they've collected is an interesting touch that actually makes it worthwhile to grab, unlike many games where score is unimportant.
  • Having health restoration being based on a successful exit of the treasure room is a good idea as well. Players need to balance their greed with their desire to survive.
  • The game has wonderful cover art.

Bad

  • The game is much longer than it needs to be, and you'll be pretty bored of it by the end. Many of the levels feel the same, in fact, many of them are the same, just with a different tileset.
  • Death is an obnoxious enemy. While he is sometimes cleverly kept at bay by walls and doors that you must avoid opening, there are many instances where he's entirely unavoidable and exists simply to drain you r life.
  • The invisible walls in world 4 are over done.
  • The later treasure rooms are so difficult, you're lucky to even find the exit, let alone collect treasure.
  • Reflective shot is a burden to get when you're only allowed one shot out at a time.
  • The locked chests are a good idea, but putting bad items in them like poison and death is a kick in the teeth.
  • The item alcove with no entrance in room 56 is pretty mean.
  • Other than treasure rooms and secret rooms, the game randomly assigns the music. The designers missed the opportunity to add more atmosphere to specific levels because of this.

Ugly

  • Finding the entrance to each of the secret rooms and finding the secret exit in time is very difficult. To beat the game without cheating or hints, you're essentially forced to shoot every single wall from every map adjacent to a question mark map until you find the entrance. Then, once inside, you must find the hidden secret block and the exit within the time allotment to get the code. If you fail on any of these three things you lose any chance of finishing the game, and might as well restart. This is terrible design, and the game never should have shipped like this.
  • The teleporters rarely send you where you want to go, so you end up wasting a lot of your life on them, which is extremely frustrating.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Maps

Gallery

Links