Fairy Tale Spotlight: Gauntlet

The year is 1985. Arcades are all over the place. There happened to be one about a block from where I live. I went in there wondering what sort of games I would find in a small town like mine. There wasn't much to choose from, but I did notice one particularly big machine in the corner with a large sign over it that read "Gauntlet" in fancy lettering.

The reason this arcade machine was so big was because it had a place for 4 players to play at one time. That's 4 joysticks and 8 buttons on one machine. I guess I was just dazzled by how huge this thing was. And then I saw the opening screen. It depicted a male and female warrior sounded by monsters. The man was wielding a mace and the woman a sword. They were in the middle of, what appeared to be, some glorious battle, but that wasn't what got my attention. They were smiling. It was as if the thrill of battle was driving them onward to kill! At this point, the game just had to be played.

Once the machine ate my quarter, I got to pick from 4 fighters: Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the valkyrie, or Questor the elf. Each character has their own strength and weaknesses. It was a tough decision, but I ultimately went with Thor. He made me feel handsome or something. I don't know. I just wanted to be him.

The game started off by placing me in a painfully empty room. I moved around a little. Very disappointing. A few ghosts came at me and I took care of them easily. I found a key. And soon after, I found a door. Behind that door was... Well... It was what I saw in the opening titles. Behind that door were more monsters than I could imagine all piled up waiting for a chance to come and kill me.

This sight was so stunning that part of me wanted to not open the door. But then... I started to realize why those two warriors on the title screen were smiling. I concluded that there would be no spoils if I did not proceed onward. I also kind of had to because I noticed my life was ticking down on its own. Screw it! I'm going in for better or worse! I threw open the door, and here they came. I just ran in there and killed as many as I could. Pretty soon, I was overwhelmed by monsters of all kinds. Even Death himself showed up wondering why I hadn't died yet. He figured he'd have to do the job himself! Imagine that! I found out where Death lives! Apparently right here in this dungeon!

I can't remember how far I made it. I think it was level 9 or 10. Either way, I ended up falling to my wounds. But even after death, I felt like I had done something amazing. I may have been only looking at an 8-bit representation of a warrior combat game, but my imagination remembered it a little differently. Indeed, I had a fully realized 3-dimensional recall of what I had been doing. There was something magical about how this game executed it's story to the player.

I later realized that the reason I died so early was that the game was really intended to be played by 2 or more people simultaneously. Preferably 4. The game will not go easy on you if you choose to play it by yourself. Gauntlet was the embodiment of a 4-person party going into the thick of evil and slaughtering their way through thousands upon thousands of monsters for treasure and glory. When played by a full party, the thrill shoots through your veins like no other game can manage. It's all in the presentation. That opening title screen really sparks the fire. You see those two smiling worriers and you want to be them!

In 1988, a port was made for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was not as good looking at the arcade machine, but there was one addition to it that made all the difference: music. The opening title music specifically really set the tone for the franchise. Apparently the new theme was composed by a man named Hal Canon. His style was reminiscent of J.S. Bach organ music. The opening theme as well as the following level themes really had a way of pushing you forward into the dark depths of the dungeon.

This amazing theme song was strangely not used again until 2014 with Gauntlet Slayer Edition. The theme song was renewed with a full orchestra, and it was beautiful! The game was also revived in full 3D! It was a good game, but so was the original. In many ways, the original was better because the imagination got sparked so intensely that... it just felt good!

My opinion is this: Gauntlet managed to make fairy tale history in the video game realm. It made us imagine great and death defying acts with very small-time graphics. It encouraged us to see with our mind's eye what we were actually doing in the game. It made us wonder and almost feel what being a brave warrior would be like. And with others at our side, we could feel what it was like to be in a party of fairy tale counterparts.

Gauntlet is still fun to this day. It has been ported and remade for a lot of consoles, and I have played so many of them: NES, Atari Lynx, Sega Genesis, PS3, PC. There are so many ways to play it, and it is always fun! I highly encourage you to find a copy, get a few friends to come over, and go out to battle! Into the fray, and only death will be your release!

Thank you for reading my blog! If you liked it, you should leave a comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Wait... You can shoot the food?!

As an extra for my Blogger edition only, here is a link to the amazing NES theme and its Slayer Edition counterpart!

NES version: Click here!

Slayer Edition version: Click here!