Gauntlet Legends

The game was later ported to the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Dreamcast. In 2000, it was followed by Gauntlet Dark Legacy, which featured new characters and levels.

• Title — Gauntlet Legends • Developer — Atari Games • Publisher — ArcadeAtari Games Nintendo 64 PlayStation, Dreamcast Midway • Composer — John Paul Barry Leitch • Producer — Mike Hally • Artist — Steve Caterson • Series — Gauntlet • Platforms — Arcade, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast • Released — Arcade Nintendo 64 PlayStation Dreamcast • Genre — Hack and slash, dungeon crawl • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Midway Vegas

In ages past, a corrupt mage named Garm used a set of Runestones to summon a demon named Skorne. However, Skorne crushed Garm and imprisoned his soul in the Underworld. Skorne, fearing the power of the Runestones, scattered them throughout the four realms, so that they could never be used against him. The player(s) must defeat the end bosses of each of the four kingdoms to obtain the four keys which allow access to the desecrated temple and be able to banish Skorne to the Underworld. While traveling through each realm, they must also collect the Thirteen Runestones from where they have been scattered. The complete set of Runestones allows them to pursue Skorne to the Underworld in order to finally destroy him. The players must find three rune stones on each kingdom in order to defeat Skorne in the Underworld (in the arcades only), and one from the battle grounds (home versions only). The initial arcade version had a contest by which the first 500 players to complete the game and send in the supplied validation code would win a free Gauntlet Legends shirt. This game will not end unless the player runs out of health. A new aspect of the Gauntlet series is established in Legends: the ability to level up the player's character(s) as the game is played, increasing their abilities through experience earned by slaying enemies and acquiring treasure, similar to the character progression methods in many role-playing video games. The four primary attributes are: • Strength - Determines damage dealt by physical attacks. • Speed - Determines character movement and attack rates. • Armor - Determines amount of damage character takes from enemy attacks. • Magic - Determines the range and effectiveness of magic potion attacks Attributes increase with each level attained; increases can also be purchased from the Items menu with gold acquired in gameplay. The stock fantasy characters from the original Gauntlet return for Legends; as before, each has greater starting ability in a single attribute than their fellows. • Warrior/Minotaur - Strength • Wizard/Jackal/Sumner - Magic • Archer/Tigress - Speed • Valkyrie/Falconess - Armor Character progression is saved through a password system; a player can progress all four characters to a maximum level of 99, and each of their attributes to a maximum of 999.

The first home console port of Gauntlet Legends was released for the Nintendo 64 in September 1999 in North America. This port saw a European release by the end of the year, and it was the exclusive platform for the Japanese release in the following year, on April 7, 2000. It can support up to four players by using the Expansion Pak, or up to three when using the standard Jumper Pak. It requires a Controller Pak to save game progress, and it is compatible with the Rumble Pak. Though it was originally planned to be released in 1999 alongside the Nintendo 64 version, the PlayStation port was released in 2000 for North America and Europe. Unlike the other versions, this release only supports one or two players, as it omitted multitap support. The Dreamcast port was also released in 2000 for North America and Europe. It incorporated much of the features from Gauntlet Dark Legacy.