I bought a copy of Gauntlet II for Game Boy this week, having never played it originally. The first thing I noticed was the hilariously poor quality of the digitized voice, which always makes me jump and then lol at the horrible grinding sound coming out of my Game Boy.

Anyway, I have a few questions for the Gauntlet-savvy.

1. The Game Boy version seems very similar to the NES version. Are there any differences other than the obvious graphics and sound?

2. Do all the early Gauntlet releases have frame-rate issues? Mine just tanks when a bunch of sprites are on-screen. It's manageable but definitely distracting.

3. How does melee work exactly? Do I really just charge into enemies? Should I be mashing on the attack key at the same time?

4. It seems some enemies can't be engaged in melee but just get absorbed by your character. Does this apply only to ghosts and Death or are there others as well?

5. When the game mentions "magic" is it only referring to potions?

6. How do armor/weapon upgrades work? Do they stack? Also, do upgrades carry over to subsequent levels? Does anything carry over?

7. The manual (which is worthless) says in bold: "WARNING: Do not pick up too many keys!" Yet evidently this wasn't important enough to explain. GameFaqs is also curiously silent on the topic. What does this refer to?

8. Are the maps random, given in random order or something else entirely?

9. What is the conventional wisdom concerning character choice? i.e. Elf is the suck, Warrior is overpowered, etc.



10. Does anyone else think Merlin looks a lot like the Dude from The Big Lebowski? Just me, probably.

Any and all other tips, tricks, abuse and nostalgia appreciated.