Gauntlet (game)

Gauntlet is an arcade game by Atari Games. The original Gauntlet, released in 1985 during an economic recession in the USA, quickly became popular and (for the game owners) gained a reputation for strong earnings. Gauntlet is played by 1-4 players who control the muscular Warrior, adept Wizard, strong Valkyrie, and the Elf archer as they traverse a dungeon attacking persistent monsters and collecting gold. The players must cooperate by sharing food and luring monsters into places where they can be engaged and slaughtered more conveniently. Although no credit is given in the game's design, its setting and design was strongly influenced by the original Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, successfully adapted to an arcade game setting.

Gauntlet II was released in 1986. It had entirely different dungeons, large Dragons appearing in certain levels, selectable characters (allowing multiple Wizards or other characters) and many other new features.

Atari Games revisited the theme in 1998, producing Gauntlet Legends, a 3-D version of the game. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy followed in 2000 and introduced new characters: the Knight, the Sorceress, the Dwarf and the bomb throwing Jester.

Home versions of Gauntlet have been released for the Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Gamecube, Playstation 2, and other systems.