In the world of retro arcade gaming, circa anywhere in or before the 80's, no gamer worth his or her salt would fail to mention Gauntlet once the conversation turned to multiplayer. See, there weren't all that many 4-Player games in the arcade that I can remember, although the day of fighting-game madness was quickly approaching. We had 2-Player aplenty, but nothing quite like this frenzy of action. Arcade versions of Gauntlet have kept up with the times, moving from a slightly more detailed version of the first in Gauntlet II through Gauntlet Legends to our current incarnation, Gauntlet Dark Legacy. From the time of 'Legends,' Gauntlet has been a more graphically intense game than we could have imagined in our wildest dreams back in '85. It moved to 3DFX and never looked back. Which is why the appearance of Dark Legacy on Gamecube is so exciting. The reception 'Legends' received on consoles was mixed. Dreamcast reviews were solid, but PlayStation owners didn't get it, maybe because the power under the PSone hood wasn't up to the task of the arcade port. And, I dare say that Gamecube owners should have a similar leg up on their PS2 counterparts when playing Dark Legacy. Load times are minimal, and the quality of the game graphics is excellent. The music really seems in need of improvement, but with all the sound effects, long a staple of the series, you probably won't be worrying too much about the soundtrack. Still, there's room to say that Gauntlet composers should follow their graphics-programming counterparts into the 21st Century and go for some themes that don't sound like they just came off a Moog.

Some truly excellent spots in the game come from not only the seamless 4-Player action, but also the quality of magic effects. Some of the bigger magic spells just leap off the screen, as do the bosses. And, lest I forget to mention the biggest difference between Dark Legacy and its predecessor, we now have 8 characters to choose from. The Sorceress is a particularly curvaceous model, likely to be a favorite choice, but durable Dwarf and speedy Jester are no less likely to please. Midway wisely chose not to grossly modify but instead augment a successful model.

If you've never played Gauntlet before, why haven't you played Gauntlet before? But really, this is a classic! The early versions were mostly hack-n-slash. You chose a character, gathered as many fellow gamers as you could find and went to it. The simplicity of the game was also what made it so addictive. It really didn't amount to much for a single player, but for fostering multiplayer cooperation and being a great amount of fun for four people, there wasn't much else in the arcade to turn to. So, with the first major upgrade, 'Legends,' we found the main changes to the much loved Gauntlet formula were just additional depth. Instead of levels that looked like variations on a theme, we had large levels with individual character. Same went for enemies. The idea of an enemy in Gauntlet isn't just a random encounter with a bad guy. You meet a host of enemies, an army of ghosts, goblins, ghouls, whatever. Bad guys issue forth from a central production point, known simply enough as an 'Enemy Generator.' By destroying these generators, you stanch the flow of enemies and make life simpler. One interesting point on the new, improved versions of Gauntlet is that where the original had a simple structure of walled dungeons, not unlike the very first D&D videogame efforts, the walls were always a way to keep huge amounts of enemies at bay until you could prepare for them. Sure, they were probably part of limitation in technology affecting design, but with more polygon-pushing power came the opportunity to create a whole new style of gameplay for Gauntlet. Luckily, Midway worked to give dungeons more depth without sacrificing the structure and style of the original game. You'll notice that even where no 'maze' structures exist, obstacles and paths are quite clear. So, you'll still have armies of enemies advancing on you, just not quite as predictably as before.

Enemies are much smarter, so you have to be also. You come prepared, with not only the special attack of each individual character type but a long list of magic attacks and even earned abilities that can be found, purchased or gained with time. There are so many things to do during battle that it can be confusing for the novice player, but once mastered the battles become more interesting and the odds of you surviving against the toughest enemies are increased. Boss battles are at the end of a stage, and special enemies or the elusive Death character make for the equivalent of a mini-boss in certain places. But, from the main bosses, you'll be able to collect 8 pieces of a stained-glass window to finally gain access to game-boss Skorne and defeat him. Some of the special items you'll have at your disposal during the quest are Legend Items, available for one-time use only. Incredibly powerful, need I say? ;) You can find and also purchase keys, power-ups and attributes, all handy in a level to save time and lower difficulty. The power-ups to weapons will offer special offensive attacks, but more numerous are the defensive power-ups that can offer protection against certain elements. Along with these power-ups are the environmental objects you can use to gain access to secret areas or just move through a level, and some that serve only in combat. Exploding barrels are a nice thing for thinning out a huge group of monsters, but you always have to worry about damaging power-ups or food. And, it goes without saying, but this is all just gravy compared to the effect of mixing these things into a 4-way rumpus. Gamecube, much like Dreamcast, serves to facilitate the perfect 'port experience of Gauntlet, considering there's nothing more complicated needed to kick off a 4-Player match than a copy of Dark Legacy, a Gamecube and four controllers. Oh, I guess you DO need 8 blocks free on your memory card if you wanna save.

The ability to select one of three difficulty levels barely scratches the surface of what makes Gauntlet challenging. As a single player, you'll definitely find that this option, along with the option to enable Auto Aim and Auto Combat (you start slugging automatically when you make contact with an enemy) helps make the experience manageable or more challenging, depending on what you're looking for. When 2, 3 or 4 people start playing, options like turning off the default behavior of your shots doing no damage to other players makes things really interesting. Just having the choice of more players means that there are 4 additional ways to play that will likely suit you. The Sorceress makes a pretty pair with the Wizard, and the Knight works along the same lines as the Valkyrie, but Jester and Dwarf are unique. Jester is the ultimate in speed, more so than even the Archer. Dwarf is just tough as all, so you Warrior people will like having someone else to try, and the idea behind new variety is that each character has an advantage against one type of enemy, one boss to be exact. And, the advantages of a mixed party become clear when you see the abilities certain characters gain over time. There's so much more depth to the gameplay with even 2 or 3 players that the issue of difficulty becomes negligible. How good is your team?

One (to me) interesting aspect of the 1-Player Gauntlet for this release - and yes, I know that isn't really the target market here - is how progressive experience with each character is saved. So, although you can't level up the Warrior and beat 2 or 3 levels and then switch to the Archer for Level 5, when you switch characters your progress isn't lost. This way, a player at home can practice on each or all of the 8 characters and gain skills to use in a multiplayer game. Only by developing a character beyond the first 24 levels can you really start to see their full potential. Special abilities, familiars, and Legend status await those who stay in for the long haul and build a character to his or her limit. Some characters can only be earned by exploring secret dungeons and gathering coins to purchase the new character. Nine secret levels exist. Other secrets include ultimate weapons used to defeat the boss of each world, the Legend items mentioned before. Gauntlet is structured so that one character is uniquely equipped to handle a particular boss, and can wield a Legend weapon to maximum advantage. But, even without Legend items, characters have some great tricks up their sleeves.

The Gamecube controller is set up to comfortably support the rather complicated control scheme in Gauntlet. In fact, there are multiple control schemes, presets really. You can choose one of three, from Default to Arcade to Robotron. If you ever played the classic Robotron 2084, you can guess that the C Stick is adapted in this control scheme for firing. But, for the other control presets, you'll find that movement is mapped to the analog stick and firing - well, firing is another matter. There is no simple 'fire' in Gauntlet. You can attack quickly with less force, slowly with more 'oomph.' You can use magic. You can also create a Magic Shield that does more damage. You can use a character's Combo attack. You can use a Turbo Attack. You can charge. You can strafe. If that weren't enough, you can join with another character for a 2-Player combo! If that sounds like an insane amount of choices to make during battle, you are correct. I found that my learning curve with the game was derived not at all from any awkwardness on the controller's part (in fact the GC controller is used well in each of the 3 config presets), but more from the sheer amount of possible offensive and defensive maneuvers in battle. Did I mention you could block? So, as with any deep game, you'll pick some favorites at first and expand on them as you play. The point is that there really are a lot of things to explore, both external to your character as in real estate and internal through special moves, magic and abilities.

To say Gauntlet is addictive and an ultimate party game is like saying Bill Gates has a lot of money. Maybe there is a more addictive experience on the planet than 4 ardent gamers plugged into a Gamecube with a copy of Gauntlet Dark Legacy, but if there is I never want to come near it. Some might argue that games like this are in danger of expiring as MMP transitions for franchises like Final Fantasy come available on the home console. But, I don't think the warmth of experience that comes from sharing a game like this with 3 other people is likely to be emulated anytime soon over Broadband. Midway got it right in 1985 and they never looked back.