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Occasionally, games require a short lesson in arcade history, none more so than Gauntlet. It arrived, courtesy of Atari's System II, back in 1986. The coin-op was one of the (few) high-points in the troubled history of the company. Not since Pole Position in 1982 had they made such a runaway success. The reason was simple: Gauntlet allowed four people to engage in a wonderful fantasy maze adventure - facing more enemies per square foot than had ever been seen before. And there was also no such thing as 'Game Over'. As long as you were prepared to shove money into the machine, you were in the game. Everybody wanted one. But...

They were very big machines. Some mags gave them away a competition prizes. The winners had to have sheds built in order to accommodate them. Since then the game has been converted to umpteen machines and has had a charmed life in all its incarnations. But none has ever replicated that old Gauntlet spirit before. None has had that eerie voice echoing: "Valkryie, your life force is running out... Elf is about to die". Until now...

A perfect replica of the Atari coin-op of 1986.

Guide your player from maze start to exit. Shoot creatures, find food and follow instructions!

Gauntlet uers the new ega Tap to allow four players simultaneous action. "Players can join in anytime," as the man says, but they all must stay on the same screen.

Arcade Gauntlet takes place in a 100 level dungeon. Each level covers many screens, linked by eight-way scrolling, which follows the players. The first eight dungeons are standard, but after that they are selected randomly. The dungeons consist of walls, treasure, food, potions, keys, doors, trap, a single exit (your aim) and lots of nasties. These elements have a fundamental bearing on the game, so let's look at each:

1. Just Another Brick Walls are impassable. They limit your progress, but keep you safe from most dangers (not lobbers). Some walls break when shot, look out for suspicious areas. You can shoot through gaps of walls laid diagonally.

2. Potions Everyone can carry potions. But their effectiveness when used depends on the magic strength of the characters. When shot, potions act, but less effectively. There are also potions that improve speed, power, etc.

3. Food Your health bar counts down constantly. Enemies also take their toll. Food restores 100 or 200 health points, but some of it is destroyed by your shot. Be careful!

4. Lock And Key Each key unlocks one door. But there are more doors than keys, so don't waste them. All doors will eventually disappear if you wait, but that may unleash more than you bargained for...

5. Traps Traps are glowing areas, that remove sections of wall when touched. Sometimes this is necessary and beneficial, but mostly it means "Oh, sh..".

6. Exit The exit is your aim. Most take you to the next level, but some are warps to much further areas.

The baddies in Gauntlet all come from generators. Ghosts emerge from bones, grunts, demons and lobbers come out huts. Shooting the generators is the only way to clear a level. Note the size and appearance of the generator. The bigger the generator, the more hits are needed to destroy its progeny. And talking of progency - have a look at these:

1. Grunts They carry clubs

2. Lobber They throw over walls

3. Death Drains your life-force

4. Demons They breathe fire

Gauntlet was renowned for its atmospheric speech and sound effects. Every single one is on this cart. There are 130 sampled effects - from guzzling to slurping, to the eerie voice who warns you of impending death: "Elf needs food badly", taunts you: "Now get out of this level", or even praises: "Never have I seen such bravery!" The only changes to sound are some new soundtracks you can opt to play to.

If you play in record mode, you can save a character for later play. The level he has reached, his points, gold and potions are all contained in a password. This turns Gauntlet into a full-blown RPG.

In addition to Arcade Gauntlet, Tengen have added an entire new game! Quest Mode centres around the mystery of four towers, which hold the key to entering a magical castle. That's another 50 levels of adventuring. The game plays much the same as Gauntlet, but there are loads of new features - shops where you can spend gold, characters to meet, experience points and puzzles to solve.

Incredibly, Tengen saw fit to add *another* game - battle mode. Here the four characters fight it out in a head-to-head, over eight special levels. The winner is the one to stay alive - but beware, for if you hit any of the exits you've lost!

Seriously, I'm stunned. I'd been anticipating Gauntlet, as an avid fan, but I didn't realise how good it wa going to be. This *is* the coin-op in your front room.

Every feature of the original is there, including the atmosphere and amazing playability. To my delight, I've noticed someone gave the character their personalities back. The Megadrive is the first machine to capture Gauntlet, and how!

The graphics are perfect. They may look a little ordinary, but even now, seeing all those things move on screen at once is humbling. The extra Quest and Battle games are not just gimmicks - they are excellent games in their own right. The range of options is so utterly vast that this must be the best presented game on the system. You can change everything from health points per credit, to the name of your character, and there are eight skill levels! And a separate mania mode!

To those who have never seen the original, it's the greatest communal game of all time. Of coursse, you have to buy a foor-tap to do this game justice, and tht means extra joypad. Just see it as an investment in one of the greatest games of all time. This is Tengen's greatest hour.

The guy from Tengen demonstrated Gauntlet in the Mean Machine offices and I arrived (late as usual) in the middle of a game. What stunned me was that, in four-player mode, each team member was coming up with loads of tactics and battle plans - it is an excellent team game.

As an arcade conversion, it's awesome - everything (and I mean *everything*) from the coin-op is in there - right down to every piece of speech *and* there's two more games packed in.

The battle mode is utterly superb - the level with the sliding floor is great! And in the RPG quest mode and password screens and you have an even more lastable title. Oh, and the music is just out of this world. The best possible conversion we could have hoped for.

Presentation 97%
P. Absolutely flawless. There are three full-price games, masses of options covering all aspects of the game, and a password system that lets you retain characters.

Graphics 93%
P. Brilliantly executed. Every dungeon is packed full of objects, hundreds of moving sprites on screen. The items are small but contain the all wonderful detail of the arcade.

Sound 95%
P. The speech and sound effects are unbelievably atmospheric. All of them are lifted exactly from the arcade. The music is some of the best on the Megadrive.
N. The speech is sometimes muffled.

Playability 92%
P. Console Gauntlet has always been incredibly playable. With four players, it's not phenomenal. The other games are great too.
N. Some weirdoes just don't take to this sort of pressure!

Lastability 95%
P. The battle mode is classic, and there are 150 other levels to get stuck into! The eight skill levels range from walkover to kamikaze. This is a cart for life.

Overall 94%
Tengen have taken a classic game, and make a classic cart. This game is so deep you're gonna need diving gear. Buy, buy, you fools!