Gauntlet - Medieval Maze Mayhem on Sega Master System
1I hope you are all happy, safe & healthy whatever challenges you are facing right now.
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
00:12 Game Title & Intro Demo
00:48 Level 1
01:38 Level 4
04:32 Level 8
From an excellent port of a Megadrive game to a port of an Arcade classic!
This is Gauntlet on Sega Master System. The original Gauntlet was a smash hit arcade release for Atari in 1985. Notable for it's simultaneous 4 player gameplay with 4 different playable characters, the Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf & Wizard, each with different attributes, its huge number of enemy sprites spawned from the generators until you dispose of those, its many levels & it's "pay to play" approach where your health constantly counts down (think of it like a timer) and inserting coins refills it although in fairness you can also pick up health power ups. It also featured lots of speech which made it stand out in 1985.
The Master System got a port in 1990 developed by Tengen & published by US Gold & its a truly excellent effort. it retains the four playable characters but cuts it down to two players simultaneously which is fair enough. Clever programming, I believe using the background tiles for the enemy sprites, means movement can feel a little jittery but it allows tons of sprites with no flicker. This can be seen on the opening level! Smooth gameplay with little to no slowdown - its an impressive game.
Tight responsive controls, tons of levels, faithful graphics & even a few sound samples this is an excellent port of the arcade hit. One of the best ports out there at the time in fairness & well worth a play - especially with a friend alongside you.
This is my original PAL copy from back in the day played through a Powerbase convertor on my CDX/MultiMega through a Retrotink 5X for ease of capture.
Expect videos of more Master System arcade ports in the coming weeks as there are lots of excellent titles.
As always if you enjoy this video let me know or add a comment - I'll always try to reply. As always this is running on original hardware. Also let me know if there are particular games or systems you'd like to see.
As always this is uploaded under the Fair Use Policy - no money is being made from this video.
Stay strong, stay safe and stay healthy - Grey Fox