Gauntlet, the original arcade smash hit, is a fighting game where you choose a character and let rip into the hordes of enemies that assault you on you way to the end of the level. One or two players must make their way through 100 levels of mayhem and magic.

It featured a choice of four characters to play with, each with different weapons. Thor the Warrior, has a bludgeoning battle axe, Thyra the Valkyrie, has a close range sword, Questor the Elf has his long range bow, and Merlin the Wizard has magical bolts.

Keys are needed to open the many doors within the levels, and in some situations a door will contain only bonus items, not a progressive route. Scattered magic potions act like smart bombs and clear the screen of all enemies. Beware of poison though, this reduces your energy level. Treasure is abundant throughout the levels and adds to your score.

Up to four players take on the role of either Elf, Valkyrie, Wizard or Warrior in this classic Dungeons & Dragons-inspired shoot-em-up. Gauntlet's four heroes each possess different strengths and weaknesses : Elf inflicts the least damage but is the fastest and has good magical skills, Wizard is slow but inflicts the highest magical damage, Warrior is the strongest in hand-to-hand combat but has the weakest magical attributes and Valkyrie is the best all-round character, with good mixture of both magical and physical strength.

Players must battle through one hundred mazes, fighting for survival against the hundreds of creatures that populate them. Keys must be found to open the many locked doors and gates that bar the players' progress, food also needs to be sought to top-up the players' ever-diminishing energy levels. Potions can be collected and used at any time, these range from straight 'smart bombs' that clear the screen of monsters (depending on the magical abilities of the character) to increasing player attributes, such as shot power and speed.

A sequel to the legendary original, released a year later. Atari, perhaps wisely, chose not to tinker with the core game-play to any great degree, instead opting to merely 'upgrade' the already excellent multi-player action that had created such a stir during the previous year. Changes to the sequel included the ability for players to play whatever character they wanted, even if that character was already in play. The characters were now color-coded and players would find themselves taking on the role of 'Blue Elf', 'Green Wizard', etc. The in-game speech was altered from the original to allow for the new player definitions. Other changes included the ability to 'bounce' shots off walls, providing the correct item was found. New potions and monsters were also added; the most notorious being the Fire-breathing Dragon. Defeating the creature would see the players rewarded with a permanent potion and a bag of treasure. Another notable addition was the wonderful 'It' monster : any player who was tagged by the creature would suddenly find that all of that level's creatures would ONLY chase him or her, completely ignoring the presence of the other players. The only way to remove this curse was to tag another player, thus making him or her 'it'.