Today marks 41 years since Gauntlet hit arcades in the UK (15 October 1985).
Atari Games’ four-player dungeon crawler, designed by Ed Logg, let you pick Thor the Warrior, Thyra the Valkyrie, Merlin the Wizard or Questor the Elf and fight through endless mazes of ghosts, grunts and Death himself. Food restores health, keys open doors, potions clear the screen, and the famous voice samples “Wizard needs food badly”, “Elf shot the food”, you hear it right now can't you!
It was a huge arcade hit — dedicated four-player cabinets that filled arcades and printed money for operators. The Commodore 64 version followed in 1986 (U.S. Gold / Gremlin Graphics), bringing the co-op chaos home, Zzap!64 magazine rated it 93%
Have you still got a preferred character, or do you remember the first time you heard “Wizard is about to die”?