From: tsrken@voicenet.com ('tsr') Gauntlet(r) Instruction Booklet Manufactured by TENGEN --- Thank you for selecting Tengen's Gauntlet for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Object of the Game/Game Description You can play alone or team up with a friend in this medieval adventure. Choose from any of four powerful characters: The warrior, valkyrie, wizard or elf. Each character has unique strengths and weaknesses. You must find the sacred ord stolen by Morak the Evil One. Explore a multitude of mazes fighting off enemies, and searching for the exit to the next room while collecting food, treasure, and other helpful items. --- The story of the Sacred Orb The black clouds swirled over the heads of the chosen ones. Four has come this far, but only two would continue. The portal to their deadly challenge awaited. Foreboding screams rose up from the Gauntlet. Morak the Evil One cackled in glee as he watched the intrepid warriors prepare to enter his most terrible Gauntlet. He knew they would never reach their goal. The Sacred Orb would remain forever imprisoned at the lowest level of the Gauntlet. Without the Sacred Orb, Morak knew the mortals that inhabited Rendar would be helpless against his evil magic. Morak had plundered the lands and hidden his booty in the Gauntlet. He garrisoned his henchmen in the Gauntlet to guard it. There were ghosts, grunts, demons, sorcerers, and even incarnations of death itself. But could the Sacred Orb be in the Gauntlet? No mortal knew for sure. If nothing else, the warriors could retrieve the treasures of Rendar that Morak had plundered and stored in the Gauntlet. If only all four warriors could all continue, on this, the last leg of their quest. Alas, the portal only allowed passage of two mortals. The warriors need your help. Choose from among them the two that shall continue: Become Thor the warrior, Thyra the valkyrie, Merlin the wizard or Questor the elf. The fate of Rendar is in your hands. --- II. Names of controller parts and operating instructions Controller 1 - for playing alone. Controller 2 - for second player in 2 player games. Note: You can reset the game by pressing all four controller buttons at the same time (Select, Start, B and A). A Button: You shoot. B Button: You detonatae bomb Control Pad: Moves the characters Note: Control Pad also selects direction to shoot if the shoot button is being pushed (A button). Use control pad to move into enemies to automatically fight them. --- III. How to start a game Start Button Press this button during the Title screen to display the game Menu Screen. If the game is showing a gameplay demonstration, then press Start button twice. Select Button Press this button during the Menu Screen to select either 1 or 2 player game. Start Button Press this button during the Menu Screen to advance to the Player Selection Screen. Control Pad Press any of four directions on the control pad to select any of the four characters. A button Press this button to start the game AFTER selecting a character with the control pad. In a 2 player game, BOTH players must select characters and BOTH players must press the A buttons to start the game. Pause If you wish to interrupt play in the middle of a game, press the Start button. The game will stop, and the screen will change to a Pause Screen. Press the Start button again when you wish to continue playing. The screen will change back to the maze, and the game will continue where you left off. Password Entry Intermediate and advanced players may want to write down the password given to the player in the pause mode. This password may be entered at the beginning of a game to start the game after the last treasure room you successfully completed. You get the same character back with all the same treasure, maximum power, keys, bombs, and extra abilities. See the Manual section on "Power" to learn more about treasure rooms. How to enter Password: Press Start to get menu screen. Press Select to choose one or two player. Press and Hold the A Button while pressing the Start button. Use the left/right control pad to move to the cursor. Use the Up/down control pad to choose a letter. Press the A button when the password is complete. If you correctly enter the password, then the game will start where you left off. If you do not enter the password correctly, then the game goes to the Player Select Screen. The highest room number you can start with using a password is 79. --- IV. How to play Shoot the enemies to stay alive and find the exit to the next room. Play Modes One Player: Here the player can collect all the food and treasure for himself, but without the firepower of a second player, a lot of skill is needed to survive. Keep playing to develop your capabilities. Two Player: Here the players have the advantage of the extra firepower of a second player. Strategy and planning become important as the players attack each room. Team Play: Here you cooperate with each other. Tactics become important since enemies are attracted to the closest player. One player can stand safely on one side of a wall from the enemy and attract them while the other player goes around and shoots them from a distance without attracting them. Players also share food and treasure to stay healthy. Competition: Here it is every man for himself. Use your unique abilities to collect all the food and treasure for yourself. Block passageways with your body and force the other player to fight through the enemy. In some rooms your shots can stun or hurt each other. You can make up games like competing to get the most treasure in the first 19 rooms. --- V. The characters You have a choice of four different characters. Each has different strengths and weaknesses. A beginner will have the most fun with the warrior or the valkyrie since they have more power, strong firepower and very strong armor. The more experienced player will enjoy the elf and the wizard because of their special abilities. The experienced player will be able to adjust his playing tactics to make up for the weak armor and fighting ability of the elf and wizard in exchange for the faster speed and better magic ability of these characters. Table of abilities for the four characters (5 is the hightest rating) Ability Warrior Elf Wizard Valkyrie Armor 4 2 1 5 Fight/Shot Power 5 3 3 3 Magic 1 3 5 2 Player Speed 2 5 3 3 --- Thor, the Warrior: Thor is big and powerful. He moves slowly, and his big battle axe flies slowly. The axe does a lot of damage to the enemy. He has pretty good armor and excellent hand-to-hand fighting power. He has very little magic ability. His big axe will not shoot through the narrow sections of diagonal walls like the other characters. Starting power : 980 Armor strength : 4 Shot strength : 5 Magic strength : 1 Fighting ability: 5 Player speed : 1 Thyra, the Valkyeir: Thyra is a well-balanced character with good abilies in all the areas. She has the strongest armor and takes the least damage from attacking enemies. Starting power : 900 Armor strength : 5 Shot strength : 2 Magic strength : 2 Fighting ability: 3 Player speed : 3 Merlin, the Wizard: Merlin has the best magic ability, but no armor, and poor hand-to-hand fighting ability. He has powerful shots. Starting power : 800 Armor strength : 1 Shot strength : 4 Magic strength : 5 Fighting ability: 1 Player speed : 3 Questor, the Elf: Questor has great speed, but weak shots and armor. He has moderate magic ability. In a two-player competitive game his speed is a strong asset. He can outrun most enemies. Starting power : 820 Armor strength : 2 Shot strength : 2 Magic strength : 3 Fighting ability: 1 Player speed : 5 --- VI. Extra abilities Magic potions are hidden in the rooms. If you collect these potions, you can increase your abilities. Each time you collect an extra ability, it is shown in the Pause Screen with your statistics. You have it for the rest of the game. Extra abilities only work once for each player. Extra armor potion: Increases your armor against attack. [shield] Extra magic potion: Increases damage a bomb can do. [little bottle] Extra shot power potion: Increases the damage your shots can do. [black spot] Extra speed potion: Increases your speed of movement. [arrow] Extra fight power potion: Increases your hand-to-hand fight power. [knife] In addition to the extra ability potions, you can also collect temporary abilities. These last only a little while and are not shown in the Pause Screen. Temporary Invisibility: Enemies cannot find you for a short time. [white box with three lines] Temporary Repulsion Amulet: Enemies run away from you for a short time. [orange box with three lines] Temporary Reflective Shots: Your shots bounce for a short time. [white box with arrow] Ten Super Shots: Your shots destroy everything, including doors. [orange box with arrow] Temporary invulnerability: You have perfect armor for awhile, but your power goes down twice as fast. [black box] --- VII. Power You start with a certain amount of power. When your power is gone, the game is over. Enemies drain power from you when they touch you or shoot you. Food, which can be found in the rooms, increases your power. Periodically, you will enter a treasure room. There are no enemies. You must find the exit before the timer runs out. If you do, then your power is replenished to the maximum power level. If you do not find the exit before the timer runs out, you must continue to the next level with whatever power you have left. Your power level is displayed in the upper left and right corners of the screen for player 1 and player 2 respectively. If is shown with the "heart" icon followed by a number indicating how much power is left. In the Pause Screen, you can see how much power you have left. It also shows your maximum power level. This is the amount of power you get after success- fully exiting a treasure room. Here is an important secret: After you have collected 50 treasures, you maximum power increases 80-120 points. The maximum power increases again at 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 treasures. Then the next time you exit a treasure room, you get your power restored to the new maximum amount! --- VIII. The collected wisdom: Maps of the Worlds As you play the game, a map of each world is shown between rooms. You can chart your progress and see which rooms are conected together. Some rooms have more than one exit so you may want to record which exits lead to which rooms. The treasure rooms are shown with a $ in the map. Clue rooms which contain a clue to the final combination are shown with ?. The final conbin- ation is explain in the Collected Wisdom of World Five. These maps are considered accurate. Merlin's apprentice acquired them from Vellum the Map- maker - the very same mapmaker Morak used to chart his Gauntlet. Map of World One: The Castle Your journey begins in the Castle World. Since it exists on the edge of the Veil, other mortals have ventured into the Castle. Many explorers have risked life and limb to bring back what little we know about the Castle. $19 - l18 - l17 | | | Hint: In room 16, try shooring solid ?16 - l15 - l14 walls - one might disappear | when shot. $08 - l09 - l10 l12 - $13 / \ / l07 - l06 - l05 - $$$ l11 | \ l01 - l02 - l03 Map of World Two: The Dark Forest The dark reaches of this Forest world are unknown to mortals.. Rumors and fables abound. Most of what is known comes from the tales told of the ancient time when chaos rules. l20 l37 - l38 - l39 Hint: The clue is in a | | \ | treasure chest. l21 $36 l40 - $41 | \ | l23 l22 l33 - l34 - l35 | / | | | $24 ?20 l32 - l30 - l31 | / | l25 - l27 - l28 - $29 Map of World Three: The Lost Caverns The cave-like rooms of the caverns are haunted by many of the horrendous fiends from the Unseen. l56 - $55 - ?54 - l53 | \ | Hint: You may find a room l59 - l60 - l57 l52 - l51 in world three with \ | | treasure and bombs $62 - l58 l50 - $49 - l48 that you cannot get. \ | | | l61 l45 - l44 l47 | | | l42 - l43 - l46 Map of World Four: The Unseen The world of the Unseen holds a formidable challenge. Could you possibly be blind? The walls are not there yet they are in this watery world. l63 - l64 | l65 Hint: Invisible walls may be / | destructible walls as well. $78 - l77 ?66 - $67 | | \ | l74 - l75 - l76 l68 | | | l73 - l72 - l71 - ?70 - l69 Map of World Five: Volcana, Lair of the Guardian Lava flows on all sides. You know this is the last leg of the journey, but the Guardian awaits. ?90 - l91 - $92 - l93 | / | Hint: You have to find l88 - l89 l95 - l94 - l97 your way to room 94 | | | | which leads to the l85 l86 - l87 l96 l99 l98 Guardian. | / | l84 l82 - ?81 l100 | | | l83 - l79 - l80 --- The final combination Entry into the last rooms of Volcana is blocked. You must enter an eight letter or digit combination to gain access to these last rooms. Parts of the combination are given to you in the 8 clue rooms. Each of the eight letters or numbers is given to you each tome you find one in a clue room. Clue rooms are shown on the world maps with a ?. You must find the clue in the maze and exit the maze to have the actualy letter or number revealed to you. Write it down along with its position, and save it. Here is what you must to to get a clue: - enter a clue room (marked by a ? in the map). - find and touch the ? in the room. - exit the room before the timer (top center of screen) is 0. - AFTER you exit, Morak will appear and give you a clue. The combination is unique for each player. You cannot exchange clues with other people. You must collect all the clues using the same character and the same series of passwords. There is a secret code transferred from password to password. --- IX: The collected wisdom: Form and Structure Beyond the Veil Exits: You must find the exit in each room. The exit is the only way out. Touch it and you are whisked through the portal to the next room. In a two player game, both characters must exit before the new room appears. At the higher levels of the game, explorers report that there are fake exits - it looks like an exit but doesn't work! Apparently, there is a real exit somewhere though. Watch out for a nasty exit in Room 80 - it kills you instantly. Walls: The brick walls of the Castle World create many rooms and corridors within it. Most walls are indestructible. However, some may be destroyed by your shots. Some survivors say you can see a slight difference between real walls and destructible walls. There are also secret walls that look solid, but they disappear when shot. Survivors say they have found good things behind secret walls. Doors and keys: Many paths are blocked by doors. Previous explorers have discovered that there are keys to these doors scattered throughout the rooms. If you have a key and touch the door, then the door opens, but alas, so does the key. If you see a key in a room, simply touch it and you will have possession of it. The number of keys you have is shown at the top of each screen. Treasure chests: Fantastic amounts of treasure are to be found everywhere. Some chests are open and you can easily collect the treasure by simply touching it. Other chests are closed. Those keys that open doors might also work on treasure chests. Here is an important secret: If you can collect 50 or 100 treasure chests, your maximum power level is increased. Then, the next time you successfully exit a treasure room, your power is restored to the new maximum amount! Beware of being too greedy. If you collect more than 2000 treasure, your pass- word will stop working. Bags of jewels: These are very hard to find but they do exist. They are worth three treasure chests. Food: Food stashes can be found here and there in the rooms. Food increases your power. Some food can be destroyed by your shots or enemy shots so be careful. Food appears as a jug marked XXX or a bowl of gruel. Just touch the food to eat it and increase your power. Stun floors: There are also reports of electrified floor tiles. If you happen to touch one of these floor tiles, you are paralyzed for a few seconds and you are unable to move or shoot. If the enemy is closing in, you can be in big trouble. Trap floors and trap walls: In the tenth room, explorers report that the exit cannot be reached since it is surrounded by walls. Others report that mysterious flashing floor tiles make certain walls disappear when the floor tile is touched. Transporters: These floor tiles magically transport you from place to place in the room. There are conflicting reports that you can control where you come out with the control pad. Movable walls: These different looking wall sections move when pressed upon. Bomb potion: If you touch this potion, it becomes part of your arsenal and is held for later use. You can activate a bomb poion with the B button. It will destroy enemies visible on the screen. The amount of destruction is determined by your magic ability. For instance, the wizard has the most magic ability, and does the most damage with a bomb potion. There are two types of bomb potions: Destructible and indestructible. Destructible bomb will activate when shot and indestructible bombs will not. Note: Be careful, some potions look like bombs but they are really poison. Poison takes away 100 power units. The Sacred Orb: This is the object you desire. Find it to defeat Morak and restore harmony to the mortal world. --- X. The collected wisdom: Enemies and enemy generators Survivors report a variety of gruesome enemies. They also report that there seem to be three levels of each enemy: They take 1, 2 or 3 shots to be des- troyed. Of course, the warrior and the wizard have stronger shots, and they may need to shoot fewer times. Ghosts: They attack once, and vanish taking some of your power as they go. Grunts: They continuously pound on you with their clubs. Demons: They shoot as you approach, and then chew on you until they are shot. Death: This evil black creature will chase you and drain a LOT of power before vanishing. Your shots have no effect on Death. Acid puddles: They wander randomly. Not too much is known about acid puddles. Maybe nobody has ever lived to tell about them. Sorcerers: They have the power of invisibility. They blink onto the screen and then blink off. They are tough to destroy since they cannot be shot when they are invisible. Super sorcerers: They vanish, appear behind you and shoot you. Then they vanish again. Lobbers: They run away from you, but then they turn around and throw rocks at you - even over walls. Level 1 enemy generator: This nasty contraption constantly spews out enemies. You can destroy it by shooting it or touching it. Level 1 generators make enemies that need to be shot one time to be destroyed. Level 2 enemy generator: This nasty contraption constantly spews out enemies. You can destroy it by shooting it or touching it. Level 2 generators make enemies that need to be shot two times to be destroyed. Level 3 enemy generator: This nasty contraption constantly spews out enemies. You can destroy it by shooting it or touching it. Level 3 generators make enemies that need to be shot three times to be destroyed. --- XI. Troubleshooting 1. If the game-pak does not work the first time you try it, re-insert the cartridge 5-10 times to wear in the contacts on the PC board. Also try pushing the reset button. 2. If your password doesn't work, make sure you copied it down correctly. Double-check the "H" versus the "K" and the "S" versus the "5".