Gauntlet Legends

by Nintendo

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000K2GI
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Release Date: September 28, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,714 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

You remember Gauntlet, don't you? Between bites of pizza or slurps of soda, you played as a warrior of light slapped into an endless series of randomly generated dungeon levels, where you fought a slew of evil denizens. Not too long ago, Gauntlet suffered the fate of many classic games: It was given a major facelift and reinvented for the '90s. Unfortunately, Gauntlet Legends wasn't a particularly good arcade game, and it isn't any better on the N64.

Those of you unfamiliar with the arcade version of the remake will at least be familiar with the unchanged premise. You still act as one of four characters (warrior, valkyrie, wizard, or archer) who make a stand against a seemingly bottomless reservoir of baddies. All the while you'll collect treasure, play with magic, and dish out the hurt. However, there have been some additions to the formula: You'll now be able to buy stuff with that treasure; levels now have themes; and you'll have to go up against bosses at the end of certain stages. And now our little elven archer buddy is a she.

Gauntlet Legends takes advantage of Nintendo's RAM pak, but don't expect it to look nearly as good as most other games that do. It seems as though there was a polygon shortage around the time of this game's development, as everything has a real flat look to it. Gauntlet Legends tried to take the birds-eye-view concept of the original and transfer it into a 3D environment, but this simply doesn't work, and you end up playing essentially the same old game with prettier looking backgrounds. Even though my character was now climbing volcanic mountains, exploring temples, and trekking through the East, I still would have preferred the basic, randomly generated 2D dungeon. Maybe there was just something special about the carbon-copy levels contained in the original that made Gauntlet so enjoyable. (Or maybe it was because I was twelve. Who knows?)

The gameplay hasn't changed. You're still meandering about, opening doors, collecting treasure, and killing everything around you. And, just as in the arcade version, you don't even have to hit the attack button if you don't want to - it'll automatically strike enemies for you when you get close. This makes the game extremely one-hand friendly, and it takes the challenge of out playing. Although there's a new money system that lets you buy power-ups, I found that I was instead collecting power-ups and selling them just to buy my health back. And on the audio front, you'll be sick of the God-like voice that reads all the obvious game hints for you by the second level. In fact, there's really nothing great about the sound in the game. The music is mediocre at best, and the sound effects are repetitive.

Gauntlet Legends boils down to another top-down fantasy button masher. There's nothing innovative here, and the game is neither enthralling nor interesting. There's no real motivation to complete the game, and the reward you receive once you do makes you regret the time you had invested in the game. Unfortunately, this game is another piece of evidence that indicates that some classics should be left well enough alone. --Ben Stahl
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

This is the game Gauntlet Legends for the Nintendo 64. This is cartridge only and is used or preplayed. All of our N64 nintendo games are cleaned tested and guaranteed to work. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent game!, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Gauntlet Legends (Game Cartridge)

This game is one of the best games for n64. When i bought it i thought i was buying an RPG...but it turned out to be even better! The gameplay is fast and furious. And if killing everything in your path isn't good enough, there are also a lot of RPG elemnts in there. There are problems to solve, special items to collect, and you can buy stuff to upgrade your character. This game is a must! If you liked Zelda, but want a four player game, then look into this game...graphics arent EXCELLENT, but what graphics are? The point I'm trying to get across is, buy this game! A game for thinkers, and a game for those people that just like blowing up things...or both, you can play four player...Also, excellent replay value...after a month or so it starts to get repetitive, but i still cant pry myself away from the screen! Invite over some friends and then it becomes really fun...i dont see how it is, in anyway possible, that this game can get a bad review from Gamespot (the review up top) So stop reading and go BUY!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works best as a multi-player game., November 29, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Gauntlet Legends (Game Cartridge)

I'm not sure exactly what all the party-poopers and naysayers don't like about this game, but I think you can safely ignore them. This game is about killing monsters, LOTS of monsters. And gosh, sometimes that's just what you want to do.

The game is surprisingly rewarding as a 2-player game, and not anywhere near as much fun in single-player mode. I've tried it both ways and the difference is huge. I think this is why at least one reviewer was so negative about it.

Unfortunately, the graphics aren't as good as they are in the arcade version. However, the expansion pack (or whatever that N64 memory add-on pack is called) seemed to make a big difference in the graphics quality. It might have been my imagination, but I thought the colors were brighter and the monsters were more detailed after putting the pack in. The upside is that the game is fairly long (you'd have to spend hundreds of bucks on the arcade version to finish it), and replaying old levels never seems to get old. There are oodles of spells and magic items. The worlds are beautiful and haunting, and the music is fantastic. This game is well worth the price of admission.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent multiplayer battle game for N64, November 12, 2000

By 

Jon Konrath "Jon" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gauntlet Legends (Game Cartridge)

Gauntlet was the original "get four people and feed in a ton of quarters" video game when it came out over a decade ago, and the arcade version of Gauntlet: Legends took this a step further with more complex weapons and terrain, and characters that remind me of my old favorite, Golden Axe. So I was overjoyed when the N64 version of Legends came out, and it's just as playable as the arcade version that's captured far more than $40 of my tokens in the stand-up version. The graphics aren't perfect, but they are a good rendering of levels, and it play is quick and easy to figure out. The characters are easy to control at first, although you might find yourself with instructions in your lap for a while to figure out how to move between weapons and magic items. The real treat is when you get two or more people together to duke it out and move through levels. It's great to have a game that doesn't use split screens or some other distraction to enable friends to play together. The music and voices are cool, and there's enough gameplay to keep you busy for a while. This game doesn't try to push the envelope or take things too far, but it's a great way to get together with people and fight some monsters for a few hours, which is exactly why I like it so much.