Nintendo Entertanment System (NES): Gauntlet

Year: 1985
Genre: Hack ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Gauntlet on the Nintendo NES is one of the more basic versions of the game due to the 8-Bit limitations of processing and the limited digitised speech capabilities. However, it really is still such a classic retro game. Gauntlet had releases on many consoles and arcade and was popular in both. Inspired by the dungeons and dragons role playing era you will be given the option of four heroes:

Thor the Warrior
Merlin the Wizard
Thyra the Valkyrie
Questor the Elf

With each there’s a pay off between strength, armour and damage.

I personally favour either the wizard for power or the elf for his running away abilities. The NES version of the game is surprisingly playable; the elf character even seems faster than in other versions of the game. The basic aim is to hack and slash your way through numerous dungeons of hordes of ghosts, demons and other fantasy villains. I can highly recommend this retro classic. Gauntlet remains an influential stepping stone in the dungeon exploration game era.

Related Game: Gauntlet 4 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.