Gauntlet Legends

Gauntlet Legends is an arcade game released in 1998 by Atari Games. It is a fantasy themed hack and slash styled dungeon crawl game, a sequel to 1985's popular Gauntlet and 1986's Gauntlet II and marks the final game in the series to be produced by Atari Games. Its unusual features for an arcade game included passwords and characters that could be saved, enabling players to play over the course of a long period.

Gauntlet Legends
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Atari Games
Publisher(s)Atari Games
SNK (Japanese version)
Midway Games (home versions)
Epoch Co., Ltd. (Japanese N64 version)
Composer(s)Barry Leitch 
SeriesGauntlet
Platform(s)Arcade, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast
Release
Genre(s)Hack and slash, dungeon crawl
Mode(s)Up to 4 players simultaneously
CabinetStandard
Arcade systemMidway Vegas
DisplayRaster, standard resolution (Used: 336 × 240)

The game was given a sequel called Gauntlet Dark Legacy, which featured new characters to play and new levels.

Gameplay

In ages past, a corrupt mage named Garm used a set of Runestones to summon a demon named Skorne. However, Skorne crushed Garm and imprisoned his soul in the Underworld. Skorne, fearing the power of the Runestones, scattered them throughout the four realms, so that they could never be used against him. The player(s) must defeat the end bosses of each of the four kingdoms to obtain the four keys which allow access to the desecrated temple and be able to banish Skorne to the Underworld. While traveling through each realm, they must also collect the Thirteen Runestones from where they have been scattered. The complete set of Runestones allows him/her/them to pursue Skorne to the Underworld in order to finally destroy him. The players must find three rune stones on each kingdom in order to defeat Skorne in the Underworld (in the arcades only), and of course one from the battle grounds (home versions only). The initial arcade version had a contest by which the first 500 players to complete the game and send in the supplied validation code would win a free Gauntlet Legends shirt. This game will not end unless the player runs out of health.

A new aspect of the Gauntlet series is established in Legends: the ability to level up the player's character(s) as the game is played, increasing their abilities through experience earned by slaying enemies and acquiring treasure, similar to the character progression methods in many role-playing video games. The four primary attributes are:

  • Strength - Determines damage dealt by physical attacks.
  • Speed - Determines character movement and attack rates.
  • Armor - Determines amount of damage character takes from enemy attacks.
  • Magic - Determines the range and effectiveness of magic potion attacks

Attributes increase with each level attained; increases can also be purchased from the Items menu with gold acquired in gameplay.

The stock fantasy characters from the original Gauntlet return for Legends; as before, each has greater starting ability in a single attribute than their fellows.

  • Warrior/Minotaur - Strength
  • Wizard/Jackal/Sumner - Magic
  • Archer/Tigress - Speed
  • Valkyrie/Falconess - Armor

Character progression is saved through a password system; a player can progress all four characters to a maximum level of 99, and each of their attributes to a maximum of 999.

Ports

The first home console port of Gauntlet Legends was released for the Nintendo 64 on August 31, 1999 in North America. This port saw a European release by the end of the year, and it was the exclusive platform for the Japanese release in the following year. It can support up to four players by using the Expansion Pak, or up to three when using the standard Jumper Pak. It requires a Controller Pak to save game progress, and it is compatible with the Rumble Pak.

The PlayStation port was released in 2000 for North America and Europe. Unlike the other versions, this release only supports one or two players, as it omitted multitap support.

The Dreamcast port was also released in 2000 for North America and Europe. It incorporated much of the features from Gauntlet Dark Legacy.[1]

Critical response
Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(DC) 73.55%[2]
(N64) 71.13%[3]
(PS) 60.44%[4]
Metacritic(PS) 59/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[6][7]
(DC) [8]
EGM(DC) 6.83/10[9]
(N64) 6/10[10]
Game Informer(N64) 7/10[11]
GamePro(N64) [12]
(DC) [13]
GameSpot(N64) 4.3/10[14]
(DC) 4.2/10[15]
(PS) 3.9/10[16]
GameSpy8/10[17]
IGN(DC) 8.4/10[18]
(N64) 7.7/10[19]
(PS) 7.2/10[20]
Next Generation[21]
Nintendo Power7.8/10[22]
OPM (US)[23]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Gauntlet Legends on their March 1, 1999 issue as being the sixth most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year.[24]

Greg Orlando reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Four controllers and one Legends make for party-game excitement of the highest order."[21]

Gauntlet Legends has received average reviews on all ports and releases. According to GameRankings, Gauntlet Legends received a 73.55%[2] for the Dreamcast version, a 71.13% for the N64 version,[3] and a 60.44% for the PlayStation version;[4] for the same version, Metacritic only gave it a score of 59 out of 100.[5]

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References
  1. "Arcade Perfection Comes Home With Midway's ``Gauntlet Legends for Sega Dreamcast". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. June 6, 2000. Archived from the original on September 25, 2000. Retrieved July 4, 2019 – via Yahoo.com.
  2. "Gauntlet Legends for Dreamcast". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  3. "Gauntlet Legends for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  4. "Gauntlet Legends for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  5. "Gauntlet Legends Critic Reviews for PlayStation (mislabeled as "Dreamcast")". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  6. Hurth, Scott. "Gauntlet Legends (N64) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  7. Woods, Nick. "Gauntlet Legends (PS) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  8. Thompson, Jon. "Gauntlet Legends (DC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  9. "Gauntlet Legends (DC)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 2000.
  10. "Gauntlet Legends (N64)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
  11. "Gauntlet Legends (N64)". Game Informer. 2000-01-03. Archived from the original on 2000-05-22. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  12. Ash (1999). "Gauntley Legends Review for N64 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-16. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  13. The D-Pad Destroyer (2000-06-08). "Gauntlet Legends Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-03-13. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  14. Stahl, Ben (1999-09-15). "Gauntlet Legends Review (N64)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  15. Stahl, Ben (2000-06-06). "Gauntlet Legends DC Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  16. Stahl, Ben (2000-03-16). "Gauntlet Legends Review (PS)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  17. Sunskin (2000-06-21). "Gauntlet Legends". PlanetDreamcast. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  18. Dunham, Jeremy (2000-06-06). "Gauntlet Legends Review (DC)". IGN. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  19. Boulding, Aaron (1999-09-30). "Gauntlet Legends (N64)". IGN. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  20. Perry, Doug (2000-04-07). "Gauntlet Legends (PS)". IGN. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  21. Orlando, Greg (August 2000). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 3 no. 8. Imagine Media. p. 88.
  22. "Gauntlet Legends". Nintendo Power. 124. September 1999.
  23. "Gauntlet Legends". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 2000.
  24. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - 完成品夕イプのTVゲーム機 (Dedicated Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 582. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 March 1999. p. 25.
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