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Gauntlet

Gauntlet - Japanese Title

Gauntlet - marquee

Manufacturer: Atari
Year: 1985
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Labyrinth/Maze
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

  • Orientation: Horizontal
  • Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
  • CRT: Color
  • 19-inch Wells-Gardner 19K4900
Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 4
Maximum number of Players: 4
Gameplay: Joint
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player
Controls:
  • Joystick: 8-way
  • Buttons: 2 [Fire|Magic]

Sound: Unamplified Stereo (requires two-channel amp)

Gauntlet


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Gauntlet Bezel Image
Gauntlet Control Panel Image
Gauntlet Instruction Card Image
Gauntlet PCB Image


Gauntlet Description

Up to four people can play at once, exploring dungeons and fighting monsters from a top-view perspective. Each player's character has different strengths and weaknesses. The players collect food, potions, and treasure in return for points, health, magic and power-ups.

Cabinet Information

The cabinet is somewhat shorter and wider than the average cabinet. The screen is not covered by a protective glass.

Cheats, Tricks and Bugs

If a player remains motionless until about 30 health units tick away, all the locked doors will automatically open. If you wait for 100 health units, all the walls on the level will turn to exits.

Conversion

Atari produced a Gauntlet II conversion kit for this game. Konami also produced conversion kits to convert this game to The Main Event and Crime Fighters. In general, Gauntlet was very popular for conversions to other four player games.

Atari also produced a two-player version of this game, which was released as a limited edition only.

Game Introduction

In this fantasy adventure maze game, there are four different player characters who each have different powers and/or weapons. The Warrior who wields a battle axe; the Elf who carries a bow and arrows; the Wizard who uses magic; and the Valkyrie who uses a sword and a shield.

The four players move through mazes searching for various items and killing monsters. The Warrior does the most damage. The Elf does the least damage but is the fastest. The Wizard can do the most damage with potions. The Valkarie is a good combination of strength and speed. Potions found wipe out varying amounts of enemies and enemy generators, depending on which player uses it. A player starts with a certain number of health points by putting quarters in the machine. These tick down with time and damage from enemies. Food replenishes them. Treasure counts for points. The game has no ultimate goal to be reached.

CAPS/VAPS Arcade Census

There are 6,862 members of the Classic Arcade Preservation Society / Video Arcade Preservation Society, 3,937 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 64,459 machines (3,753 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 136 known instances of this machine owned by Gauntlet collectors. Of these, 100 of them are original dedicated machines, 2 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 34 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

This game ranks a 71 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 35 VAPS members currently looking for Gauntlet. There is one VAPS member looking for a Gauntlet circuit board set.

This game ranks a 76 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

For Sale - There are 4 VAPS members with Gauntlet machines for sale. There is one VAPS member with an extra Gauntlet circuit board for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. [More Information]

Technical

Main CPU: 68010. Sound CPU: 6502. Speech IC: TMS-5220C

The game's architecture is similar to that of the Atari System I games (e.g. Marble Madness).

This game was also released as a two-player upright whose program code differed in only a few of the EPROMs and used a different slapstick security chip.

Trivia

The player characters in the game are also known respectively as Thor (the Warrior), Questor (the Elf), Merlin (the Wizard) and Thydra (the Valkyrie).

In June 1994, Atari applied for and was later granted a patent for a "Multi-player, mutli-character cooperative play video game with independent player entry and departure". (#USRE035314)

A poorer version of this game (Gauntlet (PlayChoice)) was also available for Nintendo's PlayChoice arcade machines.

Fixes

The game has a single PCB which is exceptionally large and therefore more susceptable to traces being broken. Handle the board with care and do not bend it.

It is very common to see heavy burn-in on the right hand side of the screen. A layer of smoked lexan over the monitor will help disguise this when the power is off.

Legacy

  1. Gauntlet
  2. Gauntlet II
  3. Gauntlet Legends
  4. Gauntlet Dark Legacy

Manuals

  1. Schematic Package Supplement to the Gauntlet Operators Manual  52 Pages, 3682 KB File.

Foto-Finder™ (books)

  1. The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 192; Color photo;
  2. Arcade Fever, Sellers (ISBN 0762409371): Page: 146; Color photo; Price guide:
  3. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 192; Color photo; Price guide:

Video Clips

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    Gauntlet - Arcade

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    eBay Listings

    Click to search eBay for Gauntlet Videogame machines and related items.

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Gauntlet - Cabinet Image


Gauntlet - Title screen image


Gauntlet - Title screen image

Gauntlet - Title screen image

Gauntlet - Title screen image


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Gauntlet - Image





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