Summary
Title: Gauntlet Legends
Publisher: Atari/Midway, SNK, Epoch Co.
Director: Midway Games, Atari Games
Genres: Arcade, Dungeon Crawler, Hack and Slash,
Release Date: 1998 for Arcade, 1999 N64, 2000 for Playstation and Dreamcast
Story
In terms of story, there's not too much to it, but more than many video games (such as Terraria or Minecraft, which are almost entirely void of lore). I own the n64 port, and in this port there is a little cutscene when you start up the game (you can skip it). The scene says "in an ancient time, a greedy young mage summoned a great demon, Skorne. Skorne broke free of his bonds and escaped, sealing Sumner's tower behind him. Now this fiend controls the four realms, and you are the only ones who can stop him." Additionally, it is somehow explained that Skorne scattered artifacts called "Rune Stones" across the four realms, and that you must collect all the rune stones in order to defeat him. That's really all there is to the lore.
"Sumner" seems to be the good mage that helps you in your quest. It really isn't explained in the game the relation between Sumner and the greedy mage, or how the greedy mage got into Sumner's tower to summon the demon. My brother owned this game for many years before I did, and he told me that Sumner was the greedy mage's brother. Perhaps the game's manual explains all of this. I do not have the manual, it has been lost to multiple decades of entropy and neglect.
Gameplay
All of this is on the Nintendo 64 port of the game. Based on my research, this seems to be a fairly complete port, without much deviation from the original. That being said, I don't know that for a fact, because I haven't had the fortune of playing the arcade version.
This is my understanding of the gameplay through experience playing the game; some of this may be "confirmation bias" or just a fluke, but all of this seems to be true based on my personal experience.
Mechanics
In Gauntlet Legends, you can have up to four players in the game at a time, and you can choose from one of four character classes: wizard, valkyrie, archer, and warrior. The wizard and warrior classes are male, and the valkyrie and archer classes are female. The wizard and archer are ranged classes, while the valkyrie and warrior are meelee classes. Each class corresponds to a different stat attribute.
There are two forms of primary attack in this game: meelee and ranged. If you press the attack button (which is "A" on the n64 controller, unless you remap the remote), you will fire a projectile. For the Wizard, this is a fireball. For the Archer, this is an arrow. For the Warrior and Valkyrie, these are physical weapons. The warrior just has an endless number of massive battle-axes that he somehow carries and throws, apparently he just apparates them from the cosmic aether (figurative, not canon).
Once can activate an "ultimate ability" in order to perform a special attack that does more damage than your primary attack. The "ultimate" slowly takes time to charge up, and it comes in three forms. Which ultimate you ultimately use is dependent on how much charge the "bar" has accumulated. The first ultimate attack is a "turbo attack", which is just a normal ranged primary attack but it does more damage. The second is a special ability, and is variable to the class; the Wizard's second-stage ultimate is an AOE of meteors that rain down and kill all nearby enemies. The Archer's second-stage ultimate is a massive spray of arrows shot in a forward-facing cone. The third ultimate is the same for every character, though it is cosmetically different to be appropriate to the class; it is a giant "ray" that shoots outward in the direction you are facing, destroying everything in its path. For the Wizard, this looks like a giant semi-etherial skull. For the archer, this looks like a huge glowing arrow shot from a massive siege crossbow that she somehow pulls out of nowhere.
The stat attributes are strength, speed, armor, and magic. I believe the magic attribute affects the damage of the Wizard. Strength affects meelee damage across all classes, as well as the damage output of the warrior and valkyrie. Speed affects the damage of the archer, as well as the movement speed of all characters. Armor increases resistance to damage. As is the age-old tradition in role-playing video games, you gain "experience points" when you kill enemies. When you "level up", your stats will passively increase, as will your maximum health capacity. You can also increase your stats
In the various realms, you can collect loot. Most of these items are attack modifiers that are activated on a depletion timer (once the timer runs out, the item is gone). These can look like amulets that add extra damage (with a damage type), items that change your projectile (rapid-fire, three-way shot, reflective shot, etc.) and so forth. However, you can also get potions, food, keys, and gold. Potions can be activated for a powerful AOE burst of damage, they can also be thrown, or used to create a giant energy-bubble shield around the player. Potions also kill the grim reaper, who is an enemy that will drain you of a pretty sizeable chunk of health. Keys are used to open chests and gates, and gold can be used to buy items and stats in the shop. Food gives you health; fruit gives you 50 health, while meat gives you 100.
Throughout the realms, you will encounter obelisks -- tall stone pillars. You much find and touch all of the obelisks in a realm to open passage to the next one.
There are fake walls all over the place; shooting and destroying fake walls to find switches and items is a necessary part to progressing in this game. It's a lot of fun to backtrack and hunt for fake walls when we get stuck.
What the game is like
When you load the game, you will load into a "hub" of sorts; you spawn in a giant circular room within Sumner's tower, and there are large "gates" on the circular wall which each individually lead to a room of portals. Each individual room is devoted to the four "realms", and if I recall correctly there is a fifth one dedicated to Skorne's lair. When you begin the game, you only have one realm unlocked, and within that realm you only have one portal unlocked. You must complete that portal to get to the second one, and the second to get to the third, and so forth. Within various regions of each realm, you will need to activate the Obelisks and go complete puzzles to find the hidden Rune Stones. They are not in every region, though; you have to be vigilant in checking every nook and cranny.
When entering a region, you will spawn into "map". In order to progress, you will need to navigate winding and looping paths, open gates (some require you to hunt down a switch and flip it, and some are key-unlockable), and kill enemies.
Hordes of enemies will spawn from "generators", which are little monuments throughout the map that you must break and destroy, otherwise they will perpetually spawn enemies. In the first realm, they look like little doors in the walls. In the second, they look like statues. There are many types, but it will be obvious that they are a generator because enemies will spawn from them very frequently. Generators are easy to track down because when an enemy spawns from a generator it will beeline straight to the player's location. If you stand still, you will be able to simply shoot in the direction that enemies appear on your screen in order to kill them.
Aside from getting Rune Stones and Obelisks, the objective of each level is to reach the "end"; eventually, you will find a portal that is much identical to the one you encounter at the beginning of the game. Going through it puts you back in the realm hub, and you will be able to progress to the next level/region of the realm.
The very last region of each realm is a "boss", a giant fiend that is "in kahoots" with Skorne and guarding a shard of a giant mirror, which conveniently happens to be located in Sumner's tower. You must defeat all of the bosses to complete the mirror, which ultimately becomes a realm gate that leads to Skorne's lair. Eventually, you fight Skorne, and banish him to the underworld. After that, you must go to the underworld and fight him again in order to ultimately kill him. If you are having difficulty with a boss, you will find tucked away in the game (usually in the following realm) a "legendary weapon" that will help you with a given boss. In the Castle realm's Treasury level, you will find Untara's Ice Axe, which can be used on the dragon in the Mountain/Valcano realm in order to freeze him for a short while at the beginning of the fight and give you time to "pump him with lead".
When I was a kid, I managed to defeat Skorne the first time, but I never beat the very last level. I remember playing it for hours upon hours, but that level is... it's massive. There are so many puzzles, fake walls, winding pathways. I remember spending hours on it multiple times before ultimately giving up. That character is now lost, so I will never be able to go back and finish what I started.
Class prestige and special characters
Each class has different "prestige" titles upon hitting certain levels. These titles will grant the character special perks and attributes. Upon certain presige levels, you unlock "familiars", which are small creatures that fly above your shoulder and shoot an extra attack when you use your primary as a projectile. The creature is different for each class, but the technical effect remains the same. At max level, the character will gain a "halo" above their head1, which will protect them from the Reaper (or Death); instead of pursuing you, he will flee. If you pursue him, you can slurp up health from him.
Additionally, each class has a "secret" cosmetic character. Throughout the realms, you can find little hidden doors that replace the portals. If you go through the door, it puts your characters in a map with a bunch of coins. If you traverse the maze and collect 50 coins, you will unlock a "secret" character. You must collect the right type of coins for your character (there are four of these secret areas in the game, one for each class.) Once all the coins are gained, you can opt to turn your character into a cosmetic anthropomorphic animal. Everything is the same, you just look different.
The Wizard
Prestige
At level 10, he becomes a Mage, and gains a better staff.
At level 25, he becomes a Summoner, and gains a dragon familiar.
At level 50, he becomes a Conjurer, and gains a better staff.
At level 75, he becomes a Sorcerer, and gains a better familiar.
At level 99, he becomes a Legend, and gains a permanent halo.
Ultimate abilities and cosmetic
His second ult is an AOE "rock shower". His third ult is a "demon skull".
His cosmetic character is the Jackal.
The Warrior
Prestige
At level 10, he becomes a Hero, and gains a better weapon.
At level 25, he becomes a Veteran, and gains a dragonfly familiar.
At level 50, he becomes a Champion, and gains a better weapon
At level 75, he becomes a Master, and gains a better familiar.
At level 100, he becomes a Legend, and gains a permanent halo.
Ultimate abilities and cosmetics
His second ult is a "fire arc". His third ult is a "plasma trail".
His cosmetic character is the Minotaur.
The Valkyrie
Prestige
At level 10, she becomes a Guardian, and gains a better weapon.
At level 25, she becomes a Defender, and gains a falcon familiar.
At level 50, she becomes a Champion, and gains a better weapon
At level 75, she becomes a Captain, and gains a better familiar.
At level 100, she becomes a Legend, and gains a permanent halo.
Ultimate abilities and cosmetics
Her first ult is a "multi-blade attack". Her second ult is a "sky lance".
Her cosmetic character is the Falconess.
The Archer
Prestige
At level 10, she becomes a Scout, and gains a better weapon.
At level 25, she becomes a Veteran, and gains a butterfly familiar.
At level 50, she becomes a Ranger, and gains a better weapon
At level 75, she becomes a Elder, and gains a better familiar.
At level 100, she becomes a Legend, and gains a permanent halo.
Ultimate abilities and cosmetics
Her first ult is a "double bow". Her second ult is the "BFG". I always chuckle when I hear this -- partly because I know that it stands for "big fucking gun", and partly because that in the televised version of the DOOM movie they censor it to "big fat gun". Or so I'm told.2
Her cosmetic character is the Falconess.
Subjective thoughts and experiences
I found a video that is a longplay of the n64 version. You might see this and think, "this game looks a bit dated." Perhaps it is, it depends on your personal standards, but let me tell you -- this game is still a masterpiece. I play it to this day. I would consider it to be one of the best games of all time. It would probably make my personal top ten, if not top five. It has IMMENSE replayability. It is extremely fun as a social activity and I find it fun to play with others. My sister is 17 at the moment, and she and I find it fun to play this weekly. She is a lot younger than me and I do not have anything in common with her, so it is one of the few things we can do together that is a form of positive social interaction.
That being said, your friends must also find it interesting in order for it to be enjoyable as a social activity. I showed it to a friend once and he said it "wasn't fun", and another friend said he'd "rather be studying". My brother and my sister seem to love the game though. It's just a matter of personal preference. In my perfect universe, I would like to make friends that enjoy this game as much as I do, and have "game nights" with them in which we could play this game every so often for a few hours. It will likely never happen because I do not make friends easily and not many people are interested in gaming, much less this genre, but maybe someday... just maybe.
I remember sitting for entire days and playing this game in my parents basement when I was maybe 12. My brother would have been around my age, honestly. He got me into it; I never played it until he drove down from Wisconsin and hunkered at our small suburban Iowan home -- this might have been with his girlfriend at the time, I do not recall. Anyway, he started playing this game on my Nintendo 64 (formerly his), which was connected to a massive CRT television down in the basement. We played that pretty heavily together, and got through most of the game. He got burned out of it before the end of his stay, but I never did; I think I reached the final stage shortly thereafter. I never beat it, and then eventually that little save slot on the Nintendo 64 memory card got overwritten by some dumbass (me).
I can't say I play this consistently, though; I have gone years without playing it, multiple times. I have always loved it, I have never burned out on it, and I have always come back to it. I will probably continue to play this on and off until my Nintendo 64 goes bunk, assuming I don't get desperate for money or lose the cartridge, both of which are very possible.
1. Upon doing research, in the original arcade version of the game your character simply becomes really big upon becoming a level 99 "Legend". This can be seen in this Youtube video.
2. It is my understanding that in the original DOOM movie, he says "big fucking gun", but in the censored version for cable TV he says "big fat gun". I would not know because I have seen neither; however, a couple of my friends have reminisced countless times to me and around me about the time they were watching it on cable television and Dwayne Johnson said "big fat gun". They seem to have found it very amusing.