Gauntlet or Gauntlet 2 for the NES?

[Aswald]

Which do you think was the better NES game: Gauntlet or Gauntlet 2?

[Arcade Antics]

Gauntlet 2 by far. Closer to the arcade game.

[Aswald]

I would choose Gauntlet. It had more actual action, and the ability to gain Hit Points, and the added quest to find the final room with the three-headed guardian dragon gave it a depth that even the arcade original didn't have. It was just the more satisfying of the two. It also had that really good soundtrack!

Gauntlet 2 was an example of sacrificing gameplay for cosmetics. The graphics were magnificent, especially the playfields, and the voice synthesis was good- but so much power was taken up for these things, that the action suffered. Unlike Gauntlet, you just never found yourself up against the massive hordes of monsters Gauntlet pitted you against, the Spawners were slow, and often the monsters would back away, due to some quirk of the NES. Collision detection is often questionable. Worse yet, there were some places where a lone player could not proceed, since a needed teleportation pad was just "not quite in sight." Even so, with little experience, I was able to get far, before quitting- from boredom. Even the Dragon is easy to defeat.

Were 4 people able to play Gauntlet 2 at once, with special controllers maybe? The bottom bar implied that it could be done.

[Arcade Antics]

I would choose Gauntlet. It had... the ability to gain Hit Points...

Definitely one of the things I didn't like. :)


Worse yet, there were some places where a lone player could not proceed, since a needed teleportation pad was just "not quite in sight."

Just like the arcade game. :) Compared to the Tengen Gauntlet, 2 on the NES looks more like the arcade game, plays more like the arcade game, sounds more like the arcade game, so I'm stickin' with it.


Were 4 people able to play Gauntlet 2 at once, with special controllers maybe? The bottom bar implied that it could be done.

NES Satellite.

[Aswald]

My reply was not a reply to you, but to my own post...you just sort of beat me to it...

You know, Tengen Gauntlet always struck me as the sort of version one might have expected on a ColecoVision. Think of the enemy motion, and then of the movement of objects in "Boulder Dash."

[Arcade Antics]

My reply was not a reply to you, but to my own post...you just sort of beat me to it...

You know, Tengen Gauntlet always struck me as the sort of version one might have expected on a ColecoVision. Think of the enemy motion, and then of the movement of objects in "Boulder Dash."

I agree. :)

Although, you can bet if OpCode ever put his mind to the task, we'd have a full-fledged arcade port of Gauntlet on the CV. He can do anything.

[udisi]

Yea Guantlet 2 allowed 4 players, which is why I liked it more.

[Aswald]

Oddly enough, it wouldn't be too hard to produce a 4-player version of Gauntlet for the ColecoVision, at least as far as hardware goes.

Remember those Y-adapters that let you plug two controllers into one controller port?

In Gauntlet, you essentially have 6 inputs: Up, Down, Left, Right, Fire(1), and Fire(2). Think of the NES Gauntlets.

Of course, the ColecoVision controllers also have those 6 basic inputs.

But they also have 12 keypad buttons.

So Player 1 would use the Joystick and 2 Firing Buttons. Player 2, whose special controller would be the other one plugged into that port via the Y-adapter, would have a controller that looks like a simple Joystick/2-button controller, but in reality is a modified keypad that is worked like a joystick/button controller.

So Player 1 would input signals from the joystick and buttons, while Player 2's character would actually be controlled by keypad commands; e.g. Button 8="Down," this is "pressed" by pulling down on his special controller. The same thing would be done for Players 3 and 4.

I built something like this. It looked like something out of "The Red Green Show" (minus any duct tape), but it did work, crude as it was.

[Starcade]

Man, personally my fav was Gauntlet 2, me and my buddies played that game for 4 hours straight!!! It is definately one of y picks for one of the greatest NES games of all time!!

[Aswald]

Gauntlet 2 isn't bad- and with 4 people it's probably better (such games usually are)- it's just the extra dimension and unpredictability of Gauntlet that makes it more appealing to me. If anyone ever did a CV version, I'd hope it would keep you guessing.

[o2william]

I've always really liked the NES version of Gauntlet. Swarms of enemies, hidden stuff everywhere, the ability to increase your character stats, and it had an ultimate goal. Gauntlet II just wasn't quite as fun for me (although the voice synthesis was impressive).

[threeoclockhigh]

Only my opinion but I thought the first one was not only better but significantly better.

[wberdan]

i played gauntlet 2 the other week and i pulled it out in like 2 seconds...too painful.
. i like the original far better, but i admit i never really gave #2 a fair chance.

willie

[boatofcar]

Gauntlet 2 isn't bad- and with 4 people it's probably better (such games usually are)- it's just the extra dimension and unpredictability of Gauntlet that makes it more appealing to me. If anyone ever did a CV version, I'd hope it would keep you guessing.

Hey Aswald, could you maybe choose a little darker color for your posts? The orange is really hard to read on the woodgrain board setting. :D

[Bratwurst]

Colored text sucks.

The original Gauntlet is prefered by the Meat Hive Mind Collective, for black cartridges among a sea of greys are sexy.

[Aswald]

Gauntlet 2 isn't bad- and with 4 people it's probably better (such games usually are)- it's just the extra dimension and unpredictability of Gauntlet that makes it more appealing to me. If anyone ever did a CV version, I'd hope it would keep you guessing.

Hey Aswald, could you maybe choose a little darker color for your posts? The orange is really hard to read on the woodgrain board setting. :D

Woodgrain? Isn't it black, like here?



Question: Does Gauntlet 2 have an ending? Last night I played past 4:30 A.M., reaching Level 107. When I finally quit I had 5500 Hit Points(!), all of the power ups, and was in no danger of losing at that point- the enemies are just too sluggish (still, it is hilarious to hear the Elf holler "Yow!").

Last night confirmed it. I like Gauntlet much better: it's difficult, and has more dimension. If anybody ever programmed Gauntlet for the ColecoVision, I'd hope that it would be modeled on Tengen Gauntlet, maybe with some more random placement of key objects (exits, monster spawners, etc.). Even if the movement was the same (space by space).

[jaybird]

I was thinking the same thing with the orange font.

Some of us use the "old" Retrogaming Roundtable V2.0 background, which is woodgrain. The black background with white type was killer on our eyes - but after trying to read your posts on the woodgrain made me realize what really was an eye killer. :o