Gauntlet
ใฌใณใใฌใใ
- Year
- 1985
- Developer
- Atari Games
- Publisher
- Atari Games
- Platform
- Arcade
- Hardware
- Atari arcade hardware
- Genre
- Dungeon Crawl / Action
- Players
- 1-4 players (simultaneous co-op)
- Controls
- 8-way joystick + 1 button (attack)
- Series
- Gauntlet series
Gameplay Screenshots
About This Game
Gauntlet is the four-player dungeon crawler that coined the phrase 'Wizard needs food, badly'. Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard and Elf each take a corner of a sprawling maze, blasting generically evil monsters that spawn endlessly from generators, collecting keys, treasure, food and the potions that wipe the screen.
The design is beautifully cruel: your health is the timer, ticking down constantly and drained faster by friendly fire, so the game monetises your survival. But it is also endlessly generous with secrets โ hidden passages behind walls, treasure rooms, exit shortcuts and level warps reward players who experiment rather than just shoot.
- Four-player simultaneous dungeon crawling as Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard or Elf
- Health-as-timer design with constant attrition
- Monster generators that must be destroyed to clear spawns
- Hidden walls, treasure rooms and secret exits in every maze
Version History
- Gauntlet (arcade)1985
Atari's original four-player coin-op; this page's screenshots come from it.
- Gauntlet II1986
The sequel, adding roles reversal and new mazes.
Cheats & Secrets
Service menu (F2 in MAME)Free Play, difficulty, lives per credit and other cabinet settingsArcade boards carry operator DIP switches โ set Free Play on your own cabinet or emulator.
Tips & Strategy
Kill the generators first
Every spawner pumps out monsters until destroyed. Beelining to the generator in each chamber is worth more than any amount of fighting the spawns it produces.
Shoot walls that look ordinary
Exit shortcuts hide behind plain-looking wall tiles. Firing at suspicious walls costs nothing โ the time saved by a secret shortcut far outweighs a few wasted shots.
Stop shooting your teammates
Friendly fire drains real health, and the Wizard's magic shots pass through everything. In four-player games, agree on lanes and hold fire when a teammate crosses your line โ the attrition will kill you before the monsters do.
Food is the win condition
Treasure scores points, but only food keeps you alive. When the party is low, favour rooms with visible food over treasure rooms โ and let the player with the least health take the plate.
Download Resources
Resource packs for this game are provided through the button below.
โฌ Coming soon