Gauntlet and Gauntlet II play FAQ and strategy guide 1.1 
 
(c) 2001, by Falkentyne Dragon (Antos). 
This FAQ may not be edited, changed, nerfed 
or mutiliated, without my permission.
contact info:  res06t6x@gte.net
and falkentyne@bigmailbox.net

Big thanks to Eric Crabill for his insight into how the machine works, 
and his FAQ's.
Big thanks to Neill Corlett for helping make Gauntlet emulation a 
reality

Revision history:
1.0: inital release
1.1:  Added some more strategies
        Added basic game description (forgot all the people who might be 
introduced
                      to the game via the emulators)
      Added more character information
      Added more game bugs

 
There have been some other play FAQ's on the net, but a few are either 
impossible to find now, and one of the best ones, that deal with the 
'scoring / food bug doesn't seem to be available, so I hope this FAQ 
will suffice.   I've learned much from other FAQ's, and from emails and 
beta testing, from people such as Eric Crabill, who helped make Gauntlet 
emlation a reality, with his roms and slapstic hack, as well as Neill 
Corlett.  Eric also had a nice FAQ available for the game.  So...without 
further ado.... 


* * Game Description * *

A dungeon fantasy based coin munching shooter :) 
Some people have said this was the spiritual father of the computer RPG-
action
game "Diablo".  It involves around 100 different mazes, on levels that 
continue on and
on, while you have to fight monsters, ghosts, dragons, and avoid 
hazards, while grabbing food to boost your health.  

The goal is simply to stay alive as long as possible, and get as far as 
possible.

Gauntlet was really innovative for its time; It did many things that no 
previous game had done back during its release.  Sure, nowadays other 
games have improved on its concept, but you have to remember that this 
was 1985-86, folks :) 

Gauntlet was one of the first games with full, decent quality speech.  
Other games had it, but the quality wasn't that great.  (Dragon's lair 
doesn't count..that was a laser disc game).  I remember
speech being added to some golden oldies (Sinistar, Wizard of Wor, 
Berzerk), but it wasn't much to speak of, although at the time it was 
quite new.
By 1985, many games had speech chips, but they werent as memorable as 
Gauntlet :)

It was the first game, AFAIK, that allowed up to 4 people to play 
cooperatively to clear the levels.  Coop play has long been a mainstay 
of arcade games, especially side scrollers/shooters, but 4 people had 
never been done before.

It was also one of the later games to keep the famous tradition of not 
having an ending.  There were many classic games, where people could 
play for many hours on a single credit, when they  became good 
enough....games such as Defender (and the sequel, Stargate...one of the 
hardest games known to man), Pacman series, Asteroids, Space Invaders, 
Missile Command, Centipede.....and many many others.  If you became good 
enough (and this was no tall order), you could play until your endurance 
gave out :)

And play forever many people did.  In fact, on the original (Proto, 
intermediate release 1 and 2)....if there was a gameroom that was open 
24 hours, you could literally build your health up high enough, to leave 
when most people went to sleep, leave a note on the game so hopefully no 
one would play while you were gone, then come back in the morning :) 
Heh.....

Final Revision of Gauntlet, and Gauntlet 2, fixed this, so that even the 
best players would die after awhile (usually after about an 
hour).....which affected 99% of the players.
There were a FEW....a very VERY few, who even knew a way around this, as 
Atari did something pretty stupid, using score checking (16,384 points 
per...) to keep track of how much food a player should be given....if 
the score (divided by # of coins, divided by # of players) went higher, 
less food would appear on a level.  But, we all know that computers have 
a limit to what they can keep track of......more on that later.  

It was actually possible for any skilled experienced player to find out 
the point at which the score gets so high that the game suddenly loses 
'track' and resets the food counter, but doing this with just one credit 
was almost impossible....in fact, it was completely impossible to live 
long enough to do this solo.   The way this was discovered (just a 
guess, mind you), was probably, one person played and built his health 
up as high as possible, then others joined in later.
 
If Atari had used # of levels played (divided by #of coins and divided 
by # of players) to keep track of food.....then what is mentioned later 
would never work....this will be discussed in detail later.

Gauntlet and gauntlet 2 were definitely among the best games ever made.
Gauntlet 2 was more fun than Gauntlet, as the levels werent static (they 
would invert  and change orientation, even become flipped--only 180 
degrees though), and there were more hazards, more variations on what 
the monsters could do, a few new baddies, monsters that moved 
'differently', and new items.

** Character stats **

Thor, the Warrior:  supposedly a great fighter of legend, even rumored 
to be a minor diety, who was cast down to Earth and stripped of most of 
his godlike powers to be taught humility.   He excels in hand to hand 
damage ability, and his powerful weapon.

Shot power: Excellent: (Battle Axe)
Shot speed: slow
Speed: slow
Armor: very good: toughened skin eliminates 20% of damage.
Fight power: Excellent: 2-3 times normal power; hand to hand: Battle 
Axe: can kill monster generators
Magic power : poor: can kill some monsters, and no monster generators.

Thyra: the Valkyrie:  A female warrior who supposedly followed Thor to 
either watch his 
progress, or out of rumored love.  She carries a shield, which gives her 
excellent Armor, and 
her sword can deal out some decent hand to hand damage too.

Shot power: poor: normal power (sword)
shot speed: moderate
Speed: moderate
Armor: Excellent: Shield eliminates 30% of damage
Fight power: good: hand to hand: Sword does 2 times normal damage, and 
can kill generators
Magic power: moderate: can kill most monsters, and damage some monster 
generators.


Merlin the Wizard:  A wizard apparently of no ill repute, although it is 
not known how or why he is meddling in the Gauntlet.  The affairs of 
Wizards are not meant to be known by mortal men....

Shot power: moderate.  Magic Missile: 1 to 2 times normal power
shot speed: fast (moderate in Gauntlet 2)
speed: slow
Armor: none
Fight power: very poor, bare hands: normal power; hand to hand cannot 
kill monster generators.
Magic power: excellent: can kill all monsters and all monster 
generators.


Questor the Elf:  Elves are a mythical race from a distant land.  No one 
knows where he came from or how he became trapped here.  Elves are fleet 
of foot, skilled with magic, and can shoot arrows quickly and 
accurately....

Shot power: poor:  arrows: normal power
Shot speed: fast
Speed: fast
Armor: moderate:  leather armor eliminates 10% of damage
Fight power: poor: dagger does 1 to 2 times normal damage, and can not 
kill monster
generators
Magic power: very good: can kill all monsters, and damage all monster 
generators.



Monsters:
*=Gauntlet 2

Most monsters come in 3 levels of power.  The higher level monsters do 
more damage.
Ghosts: must be shot...they will consume part of a player's life force 
upon immediate contact, making hand to hand fighting impossible.
Damage done to players: 10, 20, 30
points when shot 10 per level
using magic: 10
ghosts cannot be fought with hand to hand.

Grunts: barbarian warriors who attack with clubs.  
damage done to players: 5, 7, 10
points: 5 per level
hand to hand points: 25 per hit
using magic: 10

Sorcerers: wizards who attack with fists, powerfully augmented by magic, 
and who also blink in and out.  They can not be shot when invisible
damage: 5, 7, 10
points: 5 
hand to hand points: 25 per hit
using magic: 10

Demons: supernatural creatures that can breathe miniature fireballs at 
players.
At close range, they will attack with their gaping maws.
hand to hand: 5, 7, 10
being shot: 10
points: 5
hand to hand points: 25 per hit
using magic: 10


Death:
Only magic hurts death
death dies after taking up to 200 health.
Damage: 4 health per instant of touch.
points: 1
points from using magic: 1000-8000

* Super Sorcerers: Sorcerers who not only can turn invisible at will, 
but have teleportation magic, and can shoot magic missles at players.
being shot: 15
Valkyrie with extra armor takes less than half damage (7)
  Super sorcerers cannot be killed with hand to hand.
Magic stuns super sorcerers.  
Super sorcerers die if you use magic while they are stunned.

* Acid puddles: animated pools of acid, that athough do not have 
intelligence, inflict grevious harm on anyone unfortunate enough to come 
in contact with one.  Their attack is so powerful that they stun players 
temporarily while they inflict their damage....
Damage: 60
cannot be shot.
Magic stuns acid puddles.
Using a 2nd potion when an acid puddle is stunned, will destroy it.

* Dragon: Ancient beasts that shoot fireballs from a distance, and can 
attack with an extremely powerful breath weapon from up close that can 
incinerate even the greatest warrior in seconds.  
fireball damage: 10
flame breath damage: lots
Magic: stun only

Thief:  Denizens of the mazes, these rogues have boots of speed, 
allowing them to move even faster than Elf, and will attempt to steal 
any bonus powers the richest player has.   On Gauntlet, he takes extra 
speed, then extra armor and shot power.  In Gauntlet 2, shot power is 
his favorite, followed by extra speed.   If a player has no bonus 
powers, he will take score, keys, or even your bonus multiplier.
damage: 10
Magic does not affect Thief

* Mugger: steals food.  Can be useful for stopping Thief from appearing
damage: 10

**  Gameplay **

Gameplay revolves around trying to find the exit to the next level, 
while grabbing food and goodies, and trying to take as little damage as 
possible.
Part of the fun factor is trying to complete levels, either gaining or 
breaking even in health.  
Sure, if you just pumped quarters into the game, to play all day, it 
gets boring VERY fast, (and you get poorer for your efforts), as you are 
missing much of the challenge.

Gauntlet is easiest with one player.....as with more people, there 
usually isn't enough food to go around...even though Final Revision (and 
G2) gives extra food for 3 or 4 people.  Two people on the intermediate 
releases is possible (without dying), although it usually takes one 
person to play for awhile first, grab health and powerups, then when he 
has sufficient potions and health, have the 2nd person join.

Gauntlet 2 has some extras, such as secret walls (which yield VERY nice 
things when shot, when 3 or 4 people are present), treasure chests (the 
chances of receiving food/potions increase with more people), and other 
temporary power medallions.

The permanent powerups are:
 
Shot Power:  Increases shot power by 1 level (intermediate release 1 and 
2), or from level 1 to level 2, but if your power is already higher than 
level 1, only increases it 1/2 level--Final revision, and Gauntlet 2).

Fight power: Increases fighting ability by 1 level.

Shot speed: increase shot speed by one level. (warrior's shot speed 
becomes as fast as Valkyrie's, Valk's becomes as fast as Elf's,  Elf and 
Wizard's become very fast).  Note: Gauntlet  2 has wizard with slower 
shot speed.

Magic Power: Increases magic power by one level.  Gives Warrior abiltiy 
to damage all generators and kill all monsters.  Gives Valkyrie the 
power to kill all ghosts, and damage monster generators by 2 levels, and 
ghost generators by one level, Elf can kill everything, and Wizard can 
shoot potions and kill everything (?).

Note:  on Intermediate Release 1, Wizard getting extra magic power gives 
him an extra bonus potion.

Armor: increases damage reduction by 10%, based on sustaining 10 points 
of damage unarmored.  So Wizard will gain 10% armor, Elf 20%, Warrior 
30%, and Valkyrie 40%.
but Armor doesn't always work in this manner....as some damage isn't 
based on '10'.  Extra armor will ALWAYS reduce damage points by at LEAST 
1, regardless of how much damage the monster does.....for example, 
Lobbers will only do 2 damage, even to Wizard with extra armor.

An exception to this is Valkyrie fighting 'level 2' monsters...she loses 
5 health, even with extra armor (warrior and elf both lose 6 health, and 
wizard loses 7).  This seems to be a bug in the game, as level 2 
monsters are supposed to do *8* damage, not 7.

Speed: Increases all character movement to that of Elf.  If Elf gets 
this potion, he moves so fast that the game scrolling can't even keep 
track of him.  Thief still moves faster than him, though.

Other notes: 
Thief's speed has been increased in Gauntlet 2, he can come out an 
unlimited amount of times on each level, unless you block the starting 
square with his treasure bag or another item (or get him stuck), and he 
can also dodge your shots (by moving along the same path that you 
traveled on, so he won't "sidestep" unless you've done a lot of 
zigzagging yourself.  Ouch.

To make thief easier to handle, if you hear him come out, move in a 
straight line so its easier to pick him off--remember, Thief follows 
your exact path.   

Gauntlet final revision, and Gauntlet 2, have different ways of 
allocating food.  Final Revision is so difficult, its literally 
pointless to play.  Unless the game difficulty is at 0 or 1, you will 
find that starting out, without dying, is next to impossible.  This is 
because, if you are going solo, 1-2 food  is taken out on the first 7 
levels.  Thereafter, level 8 has AT LEAST one food taken out.  This is 
dependent on the game difficulty.  And of course, as your score 
increases in 16,384 point chunks....... 

More food is given when more people are playing, and the "score check" 
is divided by # of people and # of coins (I believe the player's scores 
are averaged, then divided by # of coins inserted).  4 players playing 
on easy difficulty will give bonus food.

At game difficulty 4, AT LEAST TWO Food are taken out on level 8+, and 
from two to *THREE* are taken out on the first 7 levels (this depends on 
the level).  This leaves level 2 and 3 completely empty of food, and 1 
food on level 4.  Levels 5, 6 and 7 usually don't remove as much.

On difficulty 7, three foods are taken out on the first 7 levels.

As you can see, this makes playing Final revision virtually pointless, 
unless the difficulty is set very low..  And, if a 2nd player joins, 
only 1 bonus food is given which doesn't exactly help ;(  

So unless you're playing on difficulty 0 (the game DOES get MUCH harder, 
regardless of the difficulty setting in the dips), don't even bother.  
It is a good game on difficulty 0, though.

There *IS* a way to make the first 7 levels MUCH easier.   By using the 
intermediate release roms "10a" and "10b", and renaming them to match 
the corresponding final release roms (assuming you are using an emulator 
of course), you will be given an extra food on each of the first 7 
levels (assuming difficulty is at easiest).  I have not seen any ill 
effects of doing this on levels 8+, but even on difficulty 0, at least 
one food is always removed.
I would assume you could also burn the eeproms this way using an arcade 
machine too :)

It isn' the first 7 levels that are much of a concern anyway (as you can 
always simply go from 1 to 8, or even 1 to 4, to 8, if the difficulty 
level is set low), but the problem is, on the start of the non-fixed 
levels (8+) Gauntlet doesn't exactly have balanced level layouts.  Many 
levels in Gauntlet are just chock full of level 3 ghosts and monsters, 
which makes things very hard if you don't have potions (or a character 
with good magic power).  Some levels may have only 1 or 2 food on them 
also.  On Intermediate Release (1 and 2), many of these levels were 
marginal...meaning you could break even if you had the right bonus 
potions, or magic, but final revision always removes AT LEAST one food, 
and that can make the difference between gaining health (or breaking 
even), or losing 100 health.  It matters, except when the food that is 
removed is in an inaccessible place, or one where it would cost you too 
much life to get it.
Put it this way: Playing Intermediate Release 2 on difficulty 7, is 
often easier than playing final release on "0", considering that all the 
food is always given on every level.

As to playing intermediate release 2, the problem is, even though its 
fun, its just too easy.  Even at difficulty 7, its still not as fun as 
final release is, once you've done the starvation workaround.

If it had kept the increasing difficulty (faster monster generation) 
from Final revision, without removing food on the early levels, it would 
be MUCH better.  The wizards at Atari saw this, and changed things 
around a bit for Gauntlet 2.


Gauntlet 2 is not only MUCH easier going on the first few levels (no 
food is removed early on unless the difficulty is set to "5" or higher, 
or you're the wizard--and Valkyrie gets ALL the food, until her score 
increases), its also more fun to play :)   A word about how the food 
tables were changed here.

Valkyie, who starts off (magic wise and shot power wise) weaker than the 
other characters, is ALWAYS given all the food early on, even on 
difficulty level 7.  Overall, she gets more food than the other 
characters.

Elf gets a lot of food also, unless the difficulty is set to 5 or 
higher, in which he is usually penalized 1 food/level.  Warrior is 
penalized more, and Wizard is heavily punished....there is 1 food 
gone/level even on difficulty 0, just like final revision of Gauntlet.

Warrior gets less food than the other players, but more than wizard.  He 
still gets all the food on difficulty 0.

Wizard is nerfed.  Enough said.


** FAQ:

Q: How do I avoid taking so much damage and getting surrounded? 
 
A: Try to not rush through levels. You will need to learn the fine 
points of the levels you are playing, and learn how to pick off monster 
generators one by one. Also, be careful which door you open. Technique 
is a VERY big part of mastery. If you want to judge your level of 
technique, try playing Gauntlet revisions 1 and 2 (NOT final revision, 
or Gauntlet II), to see if you can play continuously without dying or 
inserting more credits. It will take a lot of time, but the rewards will 
be worth it. 

If you want to try to pick off pesky generators, move until the 
generator is off screen, so you can kill any monsters that are around.  
Doing this, then quickly attacking the generator will minimize the # of 
monsters that are on the screen.  Although, on some levels, you just 
have to sit there and shoot (or use magic).
 
Q: Is there an easy way to pick off monster generators besides just 
sitting there shooting forever? (and probably getting hit?) 
 
A: Yes, but the way seems counter-intuitive. A VERY important way of 
killing monster generators (particularly when they generate FAST), is to 
chase your shot 'off' screen, so it hits the monster generator right 
when it appears. This is easily done by moving so you are lined up with 
the generator, but having it off screen, then shooting. Before your shot 
disappears (when the shot leaves the screen, its gone), chase your shot. 
If you time this correctly, the monster generator will get hit RIGHT 
when it appears on screen again. This is a VERY important advanced 
technique, that can make a huge difference in being able to gain health 
on levels, or losing health. With practice, you will see just how 
necessary doing this will be. This is a lifesaver if you do not have 
"Extra shot power" and are fighting level 3 ghosts.
Its important to NOT keep the generator on the screen for any more than 
a split second, 
especially as the game gets more difficult, as monsters will pour out 
and your shot will hit them, instead of your target: the generator. 

Try this with diagonal shots.  You might find that even when the 
monsters are generating non stop, you will have gaps to get the 
generators if you shoot it diagonally, as opposed to a primary 
direction.
 
Q: I've done everything you say, and I haven't even gotten HIT in 
Gauntlet final revision, but I'm still almost dead by level 5 ! There's 
no food at all, why ?  Losing 1 health each second doesn't help.... 
 
A: This was a huge design blunder by Atari. You see, there were three 
releases of Gauntlet before the 'final' revision. They were the 
"Prototype release", which I actally saw when I was a kid.....boy did 
that one have a LOT of food ! :) And there were Intermediate releases 1 
and 2. Those 3 versions had ALL the 'set' food in a level, on all 
levels, regardless of score or difficulty. So, once you became good 
enough (and if you had a good series of levels starting with level "8"), 
you simply would not die. And playing solo forever did not help the game 
make money. So Atari changed the code for the food and monster 
generation for the Final release. However, they overdid it, BADLY. 
First, in order to be able to get any significant food on the first 7 
levels in Final Release, the difficulty must be set on an easy level. 
Even on difficulty #0, there is always **ONE** food removed from every 
level from level 8+ when going solo, and more food removed from levels 
1-7. This gets worse with scores increasing by 16,384 point blocks (see 
below), as more food is removed as the game gets more difficult. If the 
game was played on default (level 4) difficulty, there would simply NOT 
be enough food to survive, even on level 8+. And Gauntlet had some monty 
haul gain health levels, as well as some levels where you could lose 500 
health if you didn't have potions or extra powers, BEFORE final 
revision.....
None of this would be much of a problem if you didn't lose 1 health each 
second...but since you do.....
 
Also, extra shot power levels were reduced 1/2 level increase for 
warrior and wizard, but the game always removed a set amount of food, 
regardless of who you were playing. Playing with 2 people gave most of 
the food back, and 3 or 4 people gave a lot more *bonus* food. It IS 
possible to play without extra credits, or dying on final release, but 
only on a low difficulty and if "level 8" has a good level sequence. 
 
The game still had the starvation routines that were in Gauntlet II: see 
below. 
 
Atari saw this mistake, and realized they made Gauntlet TOO hard (as a 
veteran player could die by level 6), so they changed a few things for 
Gauntlet II. 
First, the amount of food that was given in Gauntlet II, and whether you 
will get all the 'set' food in a level, depends on the character you are 
playing. Valkyrie was given the most food (most chances of all set food 
appearing, as well as more "random" food on levels 6+), Elf was in 2nd 
place. Warrior received less food, and the game discriminated very 
heavily against Wizard. In fact, Valkyrie was the only character who 
would usually get all set food, even on difficulty 7. but the food you 
receive is based on your score, in 16,384 increments (see below). 
However, doing some math, in binary, bit "7" is a value of "128" (the 
places for bits are 0-7), and 16,384x128=2.1 million. Something VERY 
interesting happens at 2.1 million (see below). 
 
Q: I used to be good at Gauntlet (older releases), but final release 
seems to starve me after awhile. Same goes for Gauntlet II: Why ? 
 
A: This was Atari's "answer" to solo players going at it forever.   In 
Gauntlet Intermediate Release 1 and 2 (and the proto release), all the 
food was ALWAYS on every level.  So iif you got a good run of levels 
starting with level 8, and the important power potions quickly, you were 
set for the rest of the game.  Gauntlet Final Revision, and Gauntlet II 
changed this drastically.  Basically, as your score increased, the food 
decreased. Gauntlet final revision and Gauntlet II had the same formula 
for this, with the exception that Gauntlet I 
ALWAYS removed at least ONE food on EVERY level, at difficulty 0, and 
even more on higher difficulties, whereas Gauntlet II removed 'extra' 
food, depending on which player you are playing---Valkyrie got the most 
food by far, followed by Elf. 
Anyway, it was determined by a few people, like Todd (he ran a Gauntlet 
hack page), and a few other expert players (i learned this (the sudden 
giving of all food at "about" 2 million points) from an older FAQ, but 
the 16,384 point ramp, from Todd), that the game difficulty increaese a 
'notch', at every 16384 point increase. This usually means, Thief has a 
higher chance of appearing, monsters generate faster, and the biggie--
food is removed. Its a somewhat 'random' variance in how much food is 
removed (doesn't vary that much though), but lets say, at higher than 
32768 points, you might have one food removed per level (so levels that 
have one food, will suddenly have none), and levels that have tons of 
food will have one food less (still tons). And at higher than 65536, 
maybe another food is removed. This keeps going, until where enough food 
is removed, that you can't gain health anymore. Keep in mind that the 
SCORE the game uses, is the averaged SCORE OF THE ALL of the players, 
DIVIDED by the # of coins. So if you had 200,000 points (not a lot of 
food on a level if this is your effective score), and used 2 coins, your 
effective score is 100,000. 
 
Ok, so scoring health is bad, so that means that death will come, 
always, since you can't stop your score from increasing, right? 
 
Well, most people thought so, however there were some players who, 
apparently when they were very bored, wanted to find out what would 
happen if your score became VERY VERY high. They might have actually had 
other players join in, just to see if the game would always have no 
food. Whoever did this, is a genius. Anyway, at 16,384 * 128 (love that 
binary !), which is 2.1 million, apparently something really strange 
happens. It seems as if a comparison "overflows"...whatever is 
calculating how much food is removed, probably overflows at bit 7 *128* 
times your score, and resets here (Atari never figured someone would get 
this far on 1 credit !), and suddenly the games will give you the 
**MAXIMUM** possible food per level. The monsters STILL generate very 
very fast, though. And at 16,384 * 256 (4.2 million), as we all know, 
255 is the highest value that can be expressed in 8 bits, so at 256, 
apparently the memory location resets to 0. What this means is, the 
ENTIRE GAME Difficulty just totally resets here....its as if you had 
just started over (meaning, monsters suddenly generate VERY VERY slowly, 
although thief still appears every level). But this means that you will 
be hit by starvation again as your score continues to increase, just 
like before. :) So once again, food is taken out heavily, by about 4.4 
million points. Now, doing some simple logic tells you that you will 
ONCE AGAIN start receiving all the food at 4.2 million + 2.1 million, = 
6.3 million. A cycle, right? 
 
Q: But how do I take advantage of this? 
A: Following is the big secret to playing forever in Gauntlet 1 and 2, 
and VERY FEW people know this.  
This is what you need to do: 

 
First, you need to be good enough, to build up your health as high as 
possible, with one credit. If this is Gauntlet, any character will do, 
as none are discriminated against. If this is Gauntlet II, use Valkyrie 
or Elf, depending on your style of play. If you can't seem to get a lot 
of health, even when your score is low, you need to improve your 
technique on the levels. 
 
The best way to maximize your health on the two games, is to do the 
following: 
1) Keep the "Use magic on death" score at 1000. The value for Death 
changes each time you shoot it. I believe (i could be wrong) the cycle 
is  1000, 2000,1000, 4000, 2000, 6000, 2000, 8000, and then back to the 
beginning. This is the same for both Gauntlet games. Having death set to 
8000 and using magic on them is the fastest way of being starved that I 
know :/ (you can literally be starved by level *10* if you have two 
levels with a lot of "Deaths" running around). 
 
2) Only potion Death if its necessary. Sometimes its worth it to lose 
200 health, instead of jacking up the score by 1000 or more by using a 
potion. 
 
3) Avoid grabbing unnecessary treasure or keys, and if you open chests, 
don't grab treasure bags.  If thief is coming out, try to get him with 
the trick mentioned below, so his treasure bag blocks the entrace.  You 
get 500 points JUST for shooting thief. 
 
4) If possible, shoot monsters instead of fighting them. 
 
In order to do the following trick, you really should have at least 6000 
health, and a LOT Of time to spare (disabling speed throttling on 
emulators, if your CPU is fast, can decrease the time required by over 
400%). 
 
Anyway, this is what you need to do: (applies for both Gauntlet final, 
and Gauntlet II). 
1) Build up your health as high as possible. the more the better.  
2) keep playing until you can no longer gain health on levels, when a 
lot of starvation hits. This is usually around 200,000 points. Actually 
its 250,000 but you need a cushion for below..... 
 
3) keep playing until you come to a level with a lot of WHITE (level 3) 
ghosts, and sufficient treasures. Then, have the other 3 players join in 
(yes, that's right). If you're using an emulator, you will need to 
define the keys for the other players). Then, have your character pick 
up 4 treasures so your bonus is 8x score (the bonus does NOT affect 
magic on death). Then find a safe place where you can shoot tons of 30 
point ghosts safely behind walls (NOT doors !) and just sit there and 
shoot. (another advantage of emulators, you can disable the speed 
throttling to REALLY speed things up now). The walls will change to 
exits soon. When the other players are about to die down to about 50 
health or so), have them all exit, but you remain on. Now, do whatever 
you need to be able to keep shooting, with your 8x bonus multiplier, 
until your score is 2.1 million. Place a weight on your joystick button, 
or a pin lead between the 'shoot' key on your keyboard, or whatever. If 
you have done this right, you should have 2.1 million, but it will cost 
you between 3000-5000 health. MAK SURE you have Extra Shot Power, as 
your score for shooting is DOUBLED..makes a BIG BIG difference. 

Finding a suitable level is MUCH easier on Gauntlet 1....as G1 has tons 
of levels full of level 3 ghosts :)
 
Once you've done this, exit the level and kill off the others. There 
will not be any food on the new level, since there were 4 people 
playing, but pass the new level, and you should get max food on the 
following levels (max food - 1, on Gauntlet final rev ). 
 
But you're not out of the woods yet. You STILL need to build up your 
health more, and you will see that the monsters generate VERY VERY Fast. 
Keep minimizing your score increase even now....and try to build up your 
health to at LEAST 35,000 by the time you reach 4.1 million (when the 
game difficulty totally resets). Again, the more health you have, the 
better. 40,000 is a good target, but if you only have 35,000, you may or 
may not survive the next starvation phase without using the "4 player 
trick" again. Your goal is to be able to survive by yourself. 
 
Once you are getting starved a 2nd time, at about 4.3-4.4 million, NOW 
its time to have fun. Set the Death (magic) value to 8,000 points, and 
grab as MANY treasures as you can. And potion death whereever possible. 
There wont be any food, so your ONLY GOAL now is to find the exit 
quickly, and potion Deaths (try to get several on one screen to conserve 
potions). You might not think that you can increase your score by 
ANOTHER 2.1 million (your goal is 4.2 million + 2.1 more = 6.3 million 
for the next all food period), but you will be surprised how fast your 
score increases now. Try to avoid taking too much damage, and be 
careful. You should be able to attain 6.3 million and still have 10,000-
15,000 health. If you were really good before, you might even have 
20,000. Once you reach this point, set the deaths BACK to 1,000, dont 
grab treasures, and repeat the cycle. You should be able to gain health 
out of each starvation/food phase, and come out on top if you play the 
cards right. Oh, and don't let Thief steal your potions, or it will be 
VERY hard to gain health when the game gets this difficult. 
 
Q: Is this the big play forever secret, then? 
A: Yep...just exploiting the "2.1 million point" bug (you are given all 
food again at 2.1 million, up to the difficulty reset at 4.2 mil), and 
remembering that the game difficulty resets totally every 16,384 * 256 
points (4.2 million), and the cycle begins anew. (slow starvation, up to 
6.3 million, where you get all the food again :) 

Q:  Why does Gauntlet II seem easier for characters without the power 
potions, than Gauntlet 1 final revision?

A:  Gauntlet 1 had some VERY difficult and unbalanced levels past level 
8....if you didn't have the right combination of special powers, and if 
you didn't have any potions (or a character with good magic power), you 
could lose massive health on some of the levels.
Other levels were smorgeboard levels, where you could gain almost 1000 
health.  Unlike Gauntlet II, which was more balanced, the trick to doing 
well on Gauntlet (if you were not Elf or Wizard), is having a good 
sequence of levels starting with level 8.  The "Default" level 8 (when 
the Eeprom is cleared (brand new), and the sequel levels are moderate, 
but not the easiest levels in the world, so usually its best to carry a 
player a few levels past, then die on purpose on a 'decent' level.  
Then, that level will become the new level "8".  

If you wait a few minutes after dying, and then power off the machine, 
you will also get a "hidden" potion on level 8, and the new level (the 
level you died on) will still be saved as the new level 8, (but if you 
power off too quickly after dying, the "old" level will still be in 
effect, so be careful).  Same applies for "Level 6" on Gauntlet II.

In intermediate releases of Gauntlet 1, once you got the right potions 
and powers, many of the levels became rediculously easy, as long as you 
kept enough potions stored.

Q:  How do I control which transporter I land at, when several are 
equidistant from each other 
A:  This depends on if the transporter is "glowing bright" or returning 
to a "dim" state.  Its really hard to explain, but glowing bright will 
bring you to the transporter either to the RIGHT of you, or below you, 
and glowing dim will bring you to the above, or left transporter.   I 
think it also mattered which rom revision was in place.  Regardless, you 
are ALWAYS moved to the closest transporter otherwise.  You can control 
which side you will land on, by the joystick.
 
Q: How do I stop getting owned by the Thief ? I lose my extra shot 
power/speed, or whatever and then I start losing tons of health on the 
difficult levels 
 
A: The Gauntlet II Thief is much smarter than he was in part 1. I part 
1, he only comes out once a level, and he never tries to avoid your 
shots. Thief always follows the richest player's exact path. 
In Gauntlet II, when you shoot the Thief, he tries to retreat (along 
your path). Then he comes after you again :) 
 
The best way to deal with him, in a tight spot, is to find a "T" or "L" 
intersection, stay close, and just shoot so he runs into your shot.  
 
If he is appearing every level, there is a trick you can do: 
The thief never appears if something is "blocking" your starting square. 
And when the thief appears (in Gauntlet II only), he hesitates a moment 
before chasing you. So what you can do is, wait by the start, and when 
the thief appears, quickly shoot him BUT DON'T get the treasure he 
leaves. That will block thief from reappearing :)  

You can also push a moveable block onto the thief starting square, or 
push a block so it is 'covering' the path the thief will follow to you.

Do NOT try waiting for the thief to appear, right next to the starting 
location in Gauntlet 1....the thief does not "wait" before chasing you 
here.  Just turn around in your passage and shoot, since he does not 
dodge you.
 
There is another bug you can do in Gauntlet II,  involving causing 
"Mugger" to get stuck (losing his linked list ?), since only one 
mugger/thief can be on a level at one time. I'll get to that later. 
 
Q: Can I kill acid puddles? 
A: Yes. It takes 2 potions quickly. The first stuns them, the 2nd kills 
them. The same trick works on Super Sorcerers (IF they have already 
materialized) 
 
Q: Why were Warrior and Wizard nerfed so bad (extra shot power only 
increases 1/2 level) in Final Revision, whereas, in intermediate release 
1/2/Proto release, it increases the shot power one full level, and 
penalized even more in Gauntlet II (food removal, stun tiles, 
repulsiveness time). 
 
A: I don't know: ask Atari. A bad decision....sort of like blizzard 
nerfing some spells in Diablo II, and OVERDOING it. But I have a ROM 
Editor, and was able to give Warrior and Wizard back most of their old 
abilities for Extra Shot Power :) Courtesy of the great Eric Crabill. 

Actually, the power change, as I said, was done for Gauntlet final 
revision, however with Gauntlet II's further nerfing (weakening) of 
warrior (he can't shoot through cracks, and the game is slightly more 
difficult), and wizard (game is a LOT more difficult, a LOT  less food), 
its virtually pointless to play them, although Warrior has a better 
chance on the easier difficulty settings.
 
Q: Are there any other bugs? 
A: In Gauntlet 1, in intermediate release 1, there were several 
transporter related bugs, mainly involving DYING right when hitting a 
transporter (with another player playing with you), or transporting on 
top of Thief. Doing one of these could cause unpredictable things to 
happen, even a game reset, loss of scrolling, or the "dead" player dying 
again when pushed. 
 
It was also possible to get stuck forever when multiple players were 
playing, in Intermediate release 1.  This was fixed in IR2, where 
stalling for 400 health ticks causes all walls to change to exits.
 
These transporter bugs were fixed in Intermediate release 2, however, 
with the thief and mugger "pausing" on entering a level on Gauntlet 2, 
they seem to reappear again. Here is what happens. 
 
If a mugger or thief appears, (Gauntlet II only) and you run up to him 
QUICKLY so you are touching him, and stand RIGHT NEXT to him right when 
he pops up (in the direction that you started moving when you joined 
that level), he will attack you, however, since there was NO path to 
follow to chase you (you were right next to him), his linked list seems 
to get lost, and after you avoid his attack, he will just walk right up 
to a wall and sit there (usually). If you go to the other side of the 
wall and shoot, something strange might happen: 
1) maybe nothing. 
2) mugger might teleport on top of you. 
3) Thief might try to "dodge" the shot, then suddenly teleport on top of 
you. 
 
If they DO teleport on top of you, the game code was NOT created to 
handle such an occurance--it was only built to hande you telefragging 
them.  Now the fun begins... 
 
1) The game might make REALLY garbled sounds, and then freeze and reset, 
as the 68010 cpu crashes. 
2) You will change color, and the monsters will still chase you, but 
will not "attack" you (you can still get damaged by ghosts by running 
into them, but they will stop at an "invisible" barrier right at your 
sprite on their own)  
3) You might disappear :( 
4) Even stranger things might happen. 

Being able to select your character, regardless of joystick, in Gauntlet 
2, is a bit bugged.  Only the GREEN player is given the extra 'half' 
bonus for fighting ability.  in other words, playing Red, Blue, or 
Yellow warrior only gives you 2x normal fight power, the same as 
Valkyrie.  Green warrior has the proper fight power.  The same goes for 
Elf: Red, blue or green gives elf the same fight power as wizard.  

Likewise, playing both Valkyrie and Wizard on the green player gives 
them an extra half level, so Valkyrie's fight power becomes equal to 
Warrior, and Wizard's become equal to Elf's. 
If only that applied to shot power... :)

 
Q: How do I kill the dragon? 
A: don't just stay there and shoot....you'll take a lot of damage, and 
dont stay too close unless you want massive flame damage :) When you 
fight the dragon, notice his head movements. Its a distinct pattern, 
right? And its periodic. There are FIVE (or 6) differnt patterns for his 
head movement, however they ALL repeat (meaning the dragon's head 
position starts over) at the SAME intervals.
 
What this means is this: 
You can time your shots periodcally (you will need to get a feel for how 
often to shoot, and then quickly dodge behind a corner...you will learn 
this on your own, but its ABOUT every 2 seconds),so you can hide behind 
a wall, then quickly aim a shot at the dragon, then run back again. If 
you do this properly, you should be able to kill **ALL** dragons, except 
one, without getting hit once, by just timing your shots. There is one 
dragon on a "spiral door" level, that you must stand up to and fight, as 
its in a very long passageway. Once you learn this, you can consider 
yourself a master.  
 
Q: I've entered a secret room, but after I left, I was full of 
keys.....TONS Of keys....maybe over 50 and I can't pick up treasures ! 
What do I do ? 
 
A: This is one of the most annoying bugs in the game. 
When the game difficulty is low (you have a low score), entering a 
secret room will usually overburden your inventory with potions. This is 
a good thing.  
 
But, when the game difficulty is high (a very high score), usually you 
are filled with keys. The game might give you anywhere between 40 to 100 
keys, or even MORE. This hurts, because you can't pick up potions (but 
if you walk over new keys, they simply vanish, as otherwise you would be 
stuck). The only way to avoid this is to NOT do the secret trick to 
reach the secret room. Which trick? Well, each level has its own trick. 
Some levels require you to transport on top of acid puddles, some 
require you to go on a diet, or to shoot 2 foods or secret walls, etc. 
You will get a secret 'hint', if you shoot a secret wall or kill the 
Dragon. You can only know what 'trick' applies to each level, by 
experience. But, if you know a certain trick applies for a level, dont 
do it. If a level trick is to teleport on an acid puddle, kill the 
puddles with 2 potions instead. Occasionally its IMPOSSIBLE to avoid 
entering the secret room (example: DONT BE FOOLED and you find the 
"real" exit), or "GO ON A DIET", when you are in food starvation 
phase......but you can cut down on the occurances significatntly :) 
Not all levels have a secret trick tied to them, though.  In fact, many 
do not.

 
Here are some more hints to help you along: 
 
Lobbers will shoot you in the direction you are moving, so their balls 
"hit" you at the destination. Be careful, as you don't want them 
shooting your foods or potions. 
 
In Gauntlet II, you take less damage from demons when shot, rather than 
hit, especially as valkyrie. Try to not let demons shoot your food. 
 
Use transporters to teleport on Death, when you don't want to potion 
him.  
 
Don't use transportability unless you need it. 
If you are using it, remember that if you are next to the edge of the 
level, and there is a food or potion there, you can STILL pick it up by 
moving DIAGONALLY into it. 
 
Use super shots carefully. I don't know if super shots affect death 
point values though, but death dies to 9 super shots. 
 
Learn where to use potions, to maximize your health gain (or minimize 
your health loss). Try to get as many ghosts/generators as possible.  
 
Sometimes it pays to simply go rambo-style through a level, particularly 
one with a lot of food and potions.  

Super Sorcerers are annoying, and inflict a lot of damage....they 
usually will appear behind you, and they will ALWAYS appear immediately 
after you walk into a tile where they just disappeared.  Good dodging 
and shooting techniques are necessary to kill them without getting hit. 
 
In Gauntlet 1, it doesn't matter who you play: They are all great. And 
Warrior's shots will hit something on the other side of a crack, but 
won't fit completely through 
 
In Gauntlet II, the best characters are Elf and Valkyrie. Warrior cannot 
shoot ANYTHING on the other side of a crack now, as well as his extra 
shot power only being 2-3x normal (this makes it really unpredictable 
since you can't really "charge" shoot level 3 monsters anymore, and he 
has LARGE tile stun-times. As well as shorter repulsiveness times, to 
boot :( . Wizard gets even less food than Warrior does, and also have 
short repulsiveness and large stun times. And the monsters generate much 
faster when warrior and wizard are playing :( (Gauntlet II only). 
 
Elf, with all the special powers, is every bit as powerful magic wise, 
as the wizard with all the powers, but fights better, has better armor, 
and speed, so wizard is completely useless now :( If he still kept his 
2-3x extra shot power, from Intermediate Releases 1 and 2, there might 
be SOME point to playing him, but without my hacked ROMS, its useless. 
 
Play Gauntlet Final Revision, only on difficulty 0, if you want to be 
able to survive to get enough health for the "food starvation bypass 
trick".  But remember, unlike Gauntlet II, success in Gauntlet 1 relies 
HEAVILY on a good, easy sequence of levels starting with level 8, so you 
can get enough special power potions quickly.  If you have a bad run of 
levels (levels with low food, or high damage) starting on level 8, 
forget trying to survive very long....you should find a 'good' level and 
die there, to make that the new level "8" :). 

If you're using an emulator, it may be necessary to wait 3 or 4 minutes 
before exiting the emu, to make sure the NVRAM for the new level 8 is 
written properly.    It may also involve starting a few new suicide 
games, so you can run directly to 8, then die again, to make sure the 
change sticks.
 
Enjoy.  


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