Epic Win: Gauntlet
Submitted and Written by Bryan D
“Warrior needs food… badly!”. “Your life force is running out!”. Were you a warrior? Elf? Valkyrie? Wizard? From Atari, this fantasy-themed arcade game from the 80’s almost always had every single one of it’s 4 player slots taken by kids furiously jamming more and more change in to it in order to avoid dying and losing your spot to someone else. And that narrator’s voice… some of his sayings will never leave my head! Next time it’s approaching lunch or dinner hour, say “Warrior needs food!” and you’ll more than likely get some nostalgic laughter out of several people around you.
“Red Wizard shot the potion!”
Not the whoo whoo give you some corn on thanksgiving kind. The smelly kind.
Sir can you help? I seemed to have parked my elephant here but it walked away.
I was part of a group that started a still-running convention in Baltimore, MD and our very first con motto was ‘Shots don’t hurt other players…yet!’ It was emblazoned on t-shirts surrounded by shot glasses. We moved on to Pixy Stix for the next year.
this would have to be the most epic of all epic wins IMO!!!
You dont have to shout, nobody cares about your opinion.
Don’t be a jerk.
Don’t tell the jerk to not be a jerk… You jerk.
It’s actually impossible to shout here, because this is text.
Here’s you’re elephant.
do me a favor call me jerk one more time
Woohoo! I’ve played this on every single system! My best friend and I used to yell “Gauntlet: Daaarrrrrk Legacy” at each other all the time.
I was always a wizard.
Dont wiz(ard) on the electric fence.
I never played the original, but I’ve played several sinceI play as a Valkyrie, red. Who didn’t love desperately trying to get the coveted whole turkey? And freaking out when Death appeared?
I never played with your mom originally, but I have played with her since I play as the burglar. Who does not love desperately trying to get into your moms coveted panties? And freaking out when you find a penis inside?
Don’t be disgusting.
Paying for someone’s college education while I flushed mine into the coin slot! Oh, the memories!
Oh the mamories
Oh the pretentious trolling asshat who can’t at least pretend to have a life.
I remember one guy in my dorm back in the late 80’s was so good at this he went on a multi-hour marathon during finals. People would come by to see how he was doing, then go back to studying. It was amazing to watch.
A fun game. The Dark Legacy followups, especially the PS2 one, really were great action/arcade/RPGs.
That wasn’t at UW-Madison, was it? We had a guy like that there in 87-88. He could play for hours and looked upon us lesser players with an air of smug superiority.
ALL HAIL THE VOICE!!!
If you are hearing voices in your head you should see a dr.
I had a nice time at a friend’s place a while ago. he has a ps3 and a home cinema system with a 6 channel surround system and a projector. we ended up buying gauntlet on the playstation store, and playing it on the epic sound/video system. it was the most fun time I’ve had with a game in ages.
Awesome Nerdcore song about it in link.
Yes! Gauntlet, with four controls. I thought that in itself was the coolest thing ever.
i had this game for the gamecube
one summer, every day after camp, three of my friends and me would play it for hours
and we finally beat it
Sadly, I never had the luck of finding the open spot for Gauntlet in the arcade, so I had to settle for the original NES version and the N64 version…but even those had the good lines ‘Green Archer needs food!’
One of my favorite. Don’t forget Gauntlet II. I was just playing this last weekend in MAME.
this game sucked more quarters from me than i care to remember but it was so worth it , epic arcade fun
Warrior needs Valkyrie badly!
Don’t shoot the food!!!
Still have and play Gauntlet Legends for N64. Wizard, then Warrior and Valkyrie.
I don’t know if any of you listened to them, but Five Iron Frenzy had a song called “Wizard Needs Food Badly.” It’s all about playing video games and shirking your responsibilities.
Let us not forget to show love for mc chris, who sampled music from Gauntlet II for his song, “The Tussin (Robotussin)”.
I was banned from the gauntlet machine in one arcade, becaue one quarter and I could play for several hours. The wizard ruled.
I was completely banned from another arcade. People would come watch me play, go play another machine, come back, etc. My record was something like level 80 or some ridiculous thing, on one quarter.
Not sure I’d call it a win. But the game had addiction. “The wizard… has eaten all the food lately.”
OMG! My friends and I used to spend hours on a Friday night playing this! It was also the night that the cafe where the machine was held it’s “All You Can Eat Foot Long Hot Dog” night…Bliss. $5 and you were set for the night. I was always the Elf.
My 2 best friends and I put in a dollar and played all night letting someone else rotate in on the 4th slot. We had the patterns down on the original. Did it repeat every 8 or 16 levels?
Epic Classic. Epic Win. Nothing compares to Guantlet and the days of arcades. They are long lost, and although games have become more advanced then our wildest dreams, nothing can compare to those days. Warrior needs… whenever I quote Gauntlet, there’s always someone who remembers it.
Ah!! I remember this not through the Arcade Games, but rather through the Computer Games that came from the Arcade versions. Follow the link and you’ll find a website covering the that most 80’s of all computers – The Spectrum and includes playable games (including I believe Gauntlet and many others!!)
This game kind of reminds me of the time I brutally murdered Indian’s family.
more like “Minotaur needs food”
There was a gauntlet arcade game at the arcade at my university. I power leveled a 99 minotaur and a 99 jackel (SKY FORTRESS LEVEL). Would get about 4 levels per quarter. lol
Omg, I just made a mini paper model of this game earlier today… (Actually it’s 12:50 AM, so that would technically be yesterday…)
Anyone knows if Scandals’ song “The Warrior” had something to do with this game?
There is a Gaming shop in Fort Wayne, IN that has a fully working arcade cabinet of this game.
Blue wizard… IS ABOUT TO DIE!
I loved this game. They had it at my local arcade for the longest time before they switched it out for big buck deer hunting :/