"Red Wizard shot the potion!"

Hahahaha. My old memories are coming back to me here.Gauntlet II: A legendary game ported from the Arcade original, this is one furious game that all NES owners should have had in their collection at some point. Gauntlet was a big franchise back in the day; all the kids huddled around the arcade machine to watch another brave contender and co to battle it out to reach the final level. Did they? Did they 'eck. Gauntlet II is a hard and unforgiving mistress of a game, but they couldn't help but come back for more whipping. How many quarters clinked in the coin box? How many failures walked away from the cabinet a broken man? 'Just like that song..."Blowin' in the Wind"...

Gauntlet II was one of the first games to support a 4-Way Co-op mode, long before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, or The Simpsons. Just having this feature caused gamers to flock to their local game stores to buy it up, along with a few spare controllers. The game wasn't multiplayer only, as anybody could go it alone and fight their way through dungeon after dungeon of brilliant gameplay.

A total of 4 unique characters were available to play as, each being a different class: the Warrior (the battler), the Wizard (the magic dude), the Elf (the archer) and the Valkyrie (the female warrior). Now using these characters, gamers must delve deep into mazes and labyrinths to find hordes of treasure, gold and all sorts of booty. Sadly, there is no real story behind it, but it doesn't matter at all, since this is all about finger-aching, sweaty-hand and wide-eyed gaming. It's a fun-filled ride of determination and grit; if you die, then you're not man enough to handle it.

Like I've said, it's all about fighting. You must navigate your way around large mazes, swarming with enemies, traps, keys, doors, food, treasure and exits. You can stand and fight, but you'll soon be circled and trapped fighting an unstoppable force. Make a break for the exit to save yourself, but this means leaving the treasure undiscovered. It's all about determination and what you are capable of. Many people might say how the game is endless, with no way to complete the never-ending dungeons and mazes. That's a lie. It is endless, but thanks to the random-level generator, every game is fresh due to the different sequences of levels, keeping players on their toes. Monsters are varied and have their own attacks; slime bubbles will slurp towards you and leech into your skin, ghouls will swarm around and grope at you (in a menacing way, of course), with gremlins, elves, orcs and any other mythical creature making their appearance. Big, badass dragons also turn up as a sort of "mini-boss", guarding either a massive bonus of treasure (usually 5x the total amount found on any typical level) or the exit. Fight, or run like a coward. And believe me, these dragons are some tough son's-a-*****es who don't roll over for anybody. They spit fire at long range and if you get too close, they'll gobble you up whole, and they sure do have A LOT of health, so once again, it's about your own metal and what you're capable of.

How is this all presented graphically? Pretty poor, looking back. Because there's going to be tonnes of enemies on screen at once, you can't have it all super-detailed and in 3D, so to compromise, it's a top-down view, 2D style. It works well for Gauntlet, but not for any other type of game out there, so you can only give credit to the developers, not take it away for lowering the detail factor, since they made up for that with the scale of monsters. The ever-so crucial balance-of-scale; graphics vs. gameplay. It's obvious which side was favoured, and if only they took that approach with the Current-Gen Gauntlet titles.

Now, since it's a game from the NES era, we're not exactly pushing epic soundtracks and orchestral scores here, so there's no eerie tracks to match the looming, dark dungeons which is a really big gyp, but thanks to the voice effects, us nerds are free to giggle as we hear the "Voice-Over Man", booming out his cult-classic catchphrases:

"Green Valkyrie your time is running out!"
"I've not seen such bravery!"
"Three! Two! One! ....just kidding!"
"Red Wizard needs food badly!"

Most are obvious to work out when they're said, and without these one-liners, where would you be 15 years on without the "C-c-c-c-c-combo Breakers!" or Halo's "KILLING SPREE!". As if slaughtering horde upon horde of dumb little elfs and mighty dragons with a beefy weapon wasn't enough, you've got some guy praising you as you do! Excellent! The other sound effects aren't as great as the Voice-Over Man, as only a few selection of sounds are used, like a "CLANK!" as you unlock a door, and sometimes these might begin to grate, like this really tedious bubbly sound when the slime monster enters you (it's twice as annoying, since when these monsters attack you, you stop moving for a second. Sound + Immobility = Stress), but other than that, it's acceptable.

On the whole, it's one superb game which will even outlast Current-Gen games. It's a hack-and-slash title with bite, and it still has the challenge appeal to beat it. If you are interested in this game, you can find it pretty cheap in lots of game stores, as well as eBay, but for a much better alternative, buy Midway Arcade Treasure 2 for GCN, PS2 or XBox for 20+ retro titles, including this gem. Rock on, rock off. Your choice.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/05, Updated 06/20/06