Gauntlet Legends

Developer : Atari Games

Publisher : Nintendo

Platform : Nintendo 64

Release Year : 1999

Hackin’ and Slashin’

Since I finally got myself a unit (my Retroid Pocket 5) that can play N64 games, I was so excited to jump into a game that I had such fond memories of. I had not played Gauntlet Legends since the late ‘90s, so coming back to it almost thirty years later was like playing a brand-new game. I was more than a little excited to play this game again, after so, so many years, and I was so jazzed that I got to play it on the TV as well, because there is something wonderful about playing these old games on an HDTV and them not looking like ass. So how does Gauntlet Legends hold up, and is it as fun and awesome as I remember? Or is it a game that is best left in the past? Let’s dive in and have a look!

Gameplay

Gauntlet Legends is a hack and slash dungeon crawler where you, and up to three friends on the N64, take control of one of four characters (eight once we include the secret unlockable heroes), and fight your way through hordes of enemies across five worlds. The heroes you can pick from are the same from the classic ‘80s Gauntlet: Warrior, Wizard, Archer, and Valkyrie. Each of the heroes play slightly differently, but not nearly enough for it to really matter, so pick whichever one you like the most. My favourites are the archer and the valkyrie, and their equivalent secret characters: the archer for her high speed, and the valkyrie for her high defense. As you level up, you eventually get familiars that fight along side you as well as bigger and more badass version of your heroes’ weapons. Both the familiar and your weapon grow in size and power as you level up, which is a nice addition.

Throughout your adventure, you are searching for the thirteen runestones that are hidden across the game’s levels. Finding all the runestones opens the way to the final world, which is where the game’s villain, the demon Skorne, is waiting. There are also four special artifacts that you can find that do massive damage to the game’s bosses, with one hidden in each world. Tracking down these weapons make the boss fights so much easier, and I highly recommend searching them out. I do like how the weapon that is hidden in a world is not for that world’s boss, but instead for one of the others, which gives the game a feeling of interconnectivity. There are also secret exits in some of the levels and finding them is how you unlock the secret beast characters. These secret characters  replace the base heroes with their bestial counterparts (the tigress replaces the archer, and the falconess replaces the valkyrie, for example). I liked that there are so many things hidden throughout the game, and it made me want to go through the levels a few times in search of Gauntlet Legends’ many secrets.

As you’re hacking and slashing your way through the endless hordes of monsters, you will get a whole bunch of pick-ups ranging from the classic multi-shot, to a massive hammer that can knock out everything on screen, to familiars that shot along side you, doubling your projectiles, to magic potions that you use to ward off Death himself, and even big ol’ pieces of meat that restore your health. I would tend to hold on to most of my items and use them during the boss fights, because even after finding the artifacts, the bosses are no joke and the extra fire power the items gave me helped me pull my way to victory!

Sure, the gameplay here is simple, you’re killing the monsters and the lairs they spawn from over and over, but there is something almost meditative about the mindless hacking and slashing. Just like in Diablo or other ARPGs where killing hordes of enemies is the main mechanic, the mindlessness of Gauntlet Legends is a plus to me; it was nice to come home after a lovely day of work, turn my brain off, and just slay a whole bunch of monsters.

Presentation

Visually, Gauntlet Legends is quintessentially a game on the Nintendo 64, for better or worse. The polygons are on full display here and it is a look and style that you will either appreciate or find really, really dated. I am a big fan of the game’s style, but even though I have so much nostalgia for this title, I would never say that Gauntlet Legends is an amazing looking game. The game’s colour pallet is pretty muted, but I find it helps with the old school heroic fantasy vibe it’s going for, but it is dull to look at most of the time. To me, there is something special about the game’s look (it is very much a product of its time), but I understand that unless you were gaming during the ‘90s when the industry was going through its 3D growing pains, games like Gauntlet Legends are going to look like absolute dog shit. One thing that does stand out here when it comes to visuals, is the game’s rock-solid frame rate. No matter much chaos is on the screen, the game doesn’t stutter or slow down, which is a miracle. It kind of blows my mind how well the game runs, and from what I can remember (and from what I have read), the game runs really well on actual hardware too.

The sound design is pretty meh overall. The voices are very muffled and hard to understand most of the time, so it’s a good thing that they really don’t tell you anything important. The sound effects are very, very repetitive, especially when it comes to combat, but thankfully they’re not too bad. While the music is forgettable it is definitely not terrible, and you will not find yourself humming any of them later, if ever. All in all, Gauntlet Legends is not about to win any awards when it comes to its sound design, it does what it needs to do, but not much more than that. Maybe it sounded better in the arcade release, but here on the N64, Gauntlet Legends is nothing special.

Emulating this game does it absolutely no favours. The textures on the menus can be wonky, and at times the levels themselves don’t load enemies. From what I remember, this was not the case when playing on actual hardware, but it has been well over twenty years since then, so maybe I am wrong in my remembering. This is just one of those things you have to deal with when it comes to emulating the Nintendo 64, and I don’t think you can hold these flaws against the games you’re playing these days.

I think if I had never played Gauntlet Legends back in the day, I would find it to be an ugly game, both visually and sonically even compared to other games on the N64. I 100% understand that my history and the feeling of nostalgia I have when it comes to Gauntlet Legends probably makes me like this game more than I should. While I do think that it is a game worth trying, if only once, I won’t hold it against anyone if they pass it by.

Story

Long ago, the evil mage Garm used the runestones to summon a demon named Skorne. The demon turned on Garm, imprisoning the mage in the underworld and scattered the runestones to prevent his being sent back, and it is now up to us to find the scattered runestones, descend into the Underwold, and defeat Skorne once and for all. As we can see, the story here is definitely not the main focus of this game, not by a long shot. The barebones narrative is simple, but good enough for a hack and slash adventure game that started its life in the arcade. This is not a game people are flocking to because of its intense story; this is a game that people play because they enjoy the simple and satisfying gameplay.

Mindless, Yet Satisfying

There really isn’t much more to say about Gauntlet Legends than what I have put down here already. There was a port on the PS1 which I have read is pretty terrible, as well as a port to the Dreamcast which has a bunch of features from this game’s expansion, Gauntlet Dark Legacy. I have yet to try either of those ports, and I think I am content to stick with the N64 version, because I can’t see the formula changing up all that much, if at all, between the versions. I do wish I could have played this game in the arcade back in the day, just to see how much was changed when it came home, but aside from emulating it, I don’t think I am going to get that chance.

All in all, Gauntlet Legends is a fun but flawed game, that is very much a product of its time. The graphics are nothing to write home about, and the sound design is lacking, but for what it lacks, Gauntlet Legends more than makes up for in mindless hack and slash fun. There is something so satisfying about mowing your way through hordes of enemies, leveling up, and doing it again and again for hours at a time. If you’re looking for a narrative rich RPG with tons of systems and characters to interact with and dive into, this is not the game for you, but if you’re looking for something that is quick, simple, and classic, you could do a lot worse than Gauntlet Legends.