GAUNTLET LEGENDS
EXPERTS' FAQ
v.4.1 August 2, 1999 (99/08/02)
by RED PHOENIX
proof-reading (of V.4.0) by Michael Weston
Copyrighted to RED PHOENIX
This is a completely unofficial guide for seasoned Gauntlet Legend players.
I am in no way associated with Atari games or Midway. The contents of this
FAQ should not be taken as engraved in stone; rather, they are merely my
personal observations that I have made after wasting tons of cash and
countless hours on this awesome arcade game. Though I would like to take full
credit for this FAQ, I am obliged to say that it would've been impossible for
me to reach version 4.0 without the help of countless people who've e-mailed
me their tricks, tips and observations. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Feel free to distribute this to anyone you want. Please do not modify this
file and please do not sell it (not like anybody in their right mind would pay
for this FAQ...).
Table of Contents:
-0.0 Foreword
-1.0 History
-2.0 What's New
-3.0 Definitions
-4.0 Character Comparisons
+4.1 Minimize Boosting
+4.2 Multiplayer Gaming
-5.0 "Level Up"ing
+5.1 Effects of "Level-Up"ing
+5.1 Title Levels
-6.0 Item Purchasing Priorities
+6.1 Power-Up Priorities
+6.2 Item Descriptions
-7.0 Tricks
+7.1 Secret Character Codes
-8.0 Tricks Versus Bosses
+8.1 Misc. Boss Info
+8.2 Final Stages
-9.0 The Timer is Ticking
+9.1 Time Delayed Bonuses
-10.0 Runestone and Treasure Room Locations
-11.0 Bestiary
-12.0 Previous Arcade Versions Info
+12.1 Operator's Manual
-A.0 Things to Come
-B.0 Info Wanted
-C.0 Conclusion
-D.0 Credits
* 0.0 FOREWORD ***************************************************************
This FAQ is made for people who are already acquainted with Gauntlet
Legends. People who haven't played yet may not clearly understand the
contents of this FAQ, but it may still help them nonetheless. You have been
warned! (Though if you ARE a newbie at Gauntlet Legends, I would suggest you
read the "Moral of This Story" heading under "The Timer is Ticking" section
9.0 before starting to play. You won't regret it!
Some affirmations in this FAQ may not have been confirmed yet. The
symbol (?) denotes such statements. If you know more about the item in
question, feel free to E-mail me to confirm or refute (ie: unconfirm) this
assertion.
All the information in this FAQ that I have contributed was tested and
confirmed on a "Gauntlet Legends Version 1.6" arcade machine.
Note: This FAQ explores the most secret/subtle things in Gauntlet Legends and
I make no excuse for not including basic information about the game
which can be found in other FAQs. If you are interested learning how
to play this wonderful game from scratch, feel free to look at other
FAQs. One which I particularly enjoyed was the one on GameFaqs.com made
by Doug Brown (aka: Puni_sher) (see D.0 "Credits" for more info).
* 1.0 HISTORY ****************************************************************
v.4.1: (See Section 2.0 "What's New?")
----------
v.4.0: -Ryan Karch has joined the team.
-Breath weapons ARE cumulative. (thanx to John S Reese)
-"UNLIMITED Super Shot" Tricks (YES, 2 of them!). (Section 7.0)
-"Multiple Pojo" Rumor (Section 12.0)
-"9 Quick Wins Against Skorne" Trick (See section 7.0)
-Experience Values and Tables obtained!!! (Section 6.0)
-The Ticking Timer's secrets are FINALLY revealed! (Section 9.0)
-Bonus Key Award (Section 9.1)
-"Endless Shrink Enemies" Rumor (Section 7.0)
(3.0)-Revised the following definitions:
Stat Potion, Speed, Auto-Aim (now includes priorities), Melee
Attack, Missile Attack, Turbo Attack Level 1 (now differentiates
between Melee and Missile version), Charging/Push (aka: Turbo Dash),
Charging Attack (is replaced with Walking Attack and Running Attack),
Knockback, Stomping Kick
-Speed does not increase Missile Rate, but instead decreases delay in
between shots (for attacks rated "<Slow>" only). (thanx to AKim)
-Added "Potion" definition (clarification actually) at the top.
(4.0)-Confirmed that Alter-Egos DO start with the ordinary heroes' lvl 10
weapons.
-It does not seem as though Alter-Egos have any advantages over the
original heroes.
-Added Missile Range, Missile Speed, Item Affinity, Super Shot Delay
fields in the "Character Comparison" (See definitions for more
details on Item Affinity)
-Changed description of Level 2 Turbo Attack in Character Comparisons
in the glossary at the top.
-Warrior's Base Magic is x0.5, not x0.75 or x1.
-Warrior CANNOT hit multiple enemies in 1 swing.
-Valkyrie attacks in a 120-degree arc in Melee; not 180-degrees.
-Wizard's Turbo Attack Level 2's range is extreme, not long.
-Added Demon Skull trick at end of Wizard's description.
-Archer's Double Bow/BFG IS affected by Super Shot!
-Archer's Double Bow/BFG DOES have a 360-degree Damage Aura!
-Added an extra Trick (warning, actually) to Archer's BFG.
-Pojo does not have his own titles; his titles are that of his template
character. (thanx to BFord)
-ALL of Pojo's attributes and properties are those of his template
character, except for Missile Power.
-Even though Pojo can't use Potions, he can STILL shoot Potions.
-Nothing special happens when you finish the game with Pojo.
(4.1)-Corrected Warrior's "potions needed to max out Armor".
(4.2)-This section now has a complete chart of items obtained in
single/multi-player games.
-Added "Multiplayer Strategies".
(5.0)-Section 5.0 is now details on "Level-Up"ing. This layout just makes
more sense.
-Exact table of experience values!
(5.1)-Moved "Level-Up"ing information to section 5.1.
-Intrinsic properties improve with levels.
(5.2)-Moved Title Level bonuses into section 5.2; more details added here
about familiars' shots.
-Lvl 99 Legends DO get knocked down by Golems... :(
(6.0)-Section 6.0 is now details on Items. This layout just makes more
sense.
-Added Section 6.1 "Power-Up Priorities" and Section 6.2 "Item
Description".
-Rapid Fire decreases execution time of Turbo Attacks dramatically,
so do Speed Boots.
(7.0)-Reformatting was done on this section. Read the header for more
details.
-Clarification on SPEED IS THE KEY (in "Tricks" section 7.0).
-You don't lose all your Potions if you die and continue (before the
timer runs out)
-In the High Score Table, Skulls obtained by finishing the game ARE
in fact shared amongst characters.
-Trick that says to input all your credits at the beginning of a game
to maximize your cash is totally bogus. For the REAL trick, see
Maximizing Credits under the Tricks heading of this section.
(thanx to AKim)
-Golems do NOT get knocked all the way to the outer rim of your
potions' area-of-effect.
-Breath weapons ARE cumulative!
-Skulls earned for finishing the game are SHARED between characters.
See "Tricks" heading for more details.
(8.0)-Boss descriptions revised: compiled them into more tabular form to
reduce BS.
-Tons of new tricks vs every boss!
-Correction made to the Gauntlets of Skorne: characters don't gain the
power of an Amulet, they throw fireballs from their hands (thanx to
AKim).
(8.1)-Section 8.1 "Final Stages" now becomes section 8.2.
-Misc. Boss Info now put in this section.
-Added more details about "Super Easy Mode".
(8.2)-Corrections made to the "Final Stages" (section 8.1); the Desecrated
Temple specifically. Now has correct monsters and items
description.
-Desecrated Temple and Underworld have NO food items.
(10.0)-Added section 10.0: Runestone and Treasure Room Locations.
(11.0)-Added section 11.0: Bestiary.
(12.0)-Added section 12.0: Previous Arcade Versions Info.
-"Multiple Pojo" Rumor (12.0)
----------
v.3.0: -Massive rewrite of the specifics of the 4 heroes. Now includes Base
Armor and Base Magic intrinsic properties.
-More info on Alter-Egos.
-More info on the Archer (see the part on her awesome Double Bow/BFG
& power-up combo!).
-Changed character description to more meaningful/factual info: now
includes character advantages summary and beginner's approach to
playing a character (the latter for Wizard and Archer only).
-More "Special Notes"
-Corrections of Pojo's stats.
-Added much more definitions. Revised "Missile Attack" and
"Melee Attack" definition.
-Revised stat potions descriptions in "Items" section (5.0).
-Added Speed Boots to "Items" section (5.0).
-Clarified Reflect Shield description ("Items" section 5.0)
-Added more "Tricks" (7.0). They have been inserted at the bottom of
this section for your convenience.
-Added "Final Stages" section (8.1).
-Revised "The Timer is Ticking" section (9.0).
-Unconfirmed rumor of Turbo Attack Level 3s being able to kill Death
and rumor that the Archer's shots go over walls.
-Ben Ford has joined the team.
-Ben Ford has signaled me that I accidentally omitted my e-mail
address in v.2.0; this is now included in section B.0 ("Info
Wanted").
----------
v.2.0: Added "Multiplayer Gaming" Section
Added "Timer is Ticking" Section
Added "Minimize Boosting" Section
Finished "Tricks Versus Bosses" (Thanx to Dwells)
Added tons of info thanks to DWells
Added more "Tricks"
Removed ludicrous assumptions
Revised "Character Comparisons" section description of Alter-Egos
Better Formatting
Donnie Wells has joined the team.
Steve Spaniol has joined the team.
----------
v.1.1: Added "Tricks Versus Bosses" section. (03/09/99)
----------
v.1.0: First release of GAUNTLET LEGENDS EXPERT'S FAQ. (03/08/99)
----------
* 2.0 WHAT'S NEW? ************************************************************
Not that much new stuff in this update. A lot of corrections to v.4.0 and a
few new tricks. Notation: a "{!}" denotes things of interest.
ADDED:
(2.0)
-Forgot to mention in v.4.0 that Ryan Karch has joined the team. Sorry
about that Magnus!
(3.0)
-The following definitions have been revised:
-Speed (directly affects Melee Rate AND Missile Rate)
-Melee Atttacks (all characters' Melee Attacks have similiar properties
AND getting hit while hitting if you stand directly in front of a
trap).
-Turbo Attack Level 3 (Damage Aura will not stun bosses and trick to
maximize damage done by Turbo Attack Level 3s)
-Turbo Attack Level 1 (Melee Version) (will not stun bosses)
(4.0)
-Valkyrie's Multi-Arc Blade: Added Trick to kill Suicide Bombers without
getting hit.
-Wizard's straight (non-arcing) shots can cause a problem in unleved ground.
-Archer's BFG: Added Trick to hit Golems with Damage Aura AND double green
arrows.
(4.2)
-Added a few more places where to find Super Shot and Shrink Enemies.
(6.2)
-Corrected prices listed of all items sold in the end-of-level shop and
fixed their order.
-Anti-Death Power will also disappear if you "kill" Death with a Potion.
{!}-Invisibility: you are only detected when engaging monsters in Melee in
multiplayer games.
-Levitation: you can't be hit by ANY traps, floor-based OR wall-mounted.
(7.0)
{!}-Added Section 7.1 "Secret Character Codes".
-Added color of Potion obtained when bought at end-of-level shop.
-Potions seem to have a spherical area-of-effect, rather than simply acting
on a plane.
-Added "Potions' Temporary Invincibility" Rumor.
(8.0)
-Added Earthquake Stomp attack to the Dragon.
-Added Single Breath attack to the Chimera.
-Added Auto-Aim note to the Chimera under "Tactics" heading.
{!}-More Tactics and Cheap Tricks added versus
Dragon: Hiding INSIDE his pedestal!
Chimera: Hiding INSIDE the wall!
Spider Queen: Hiding on the bridge!
Skorne 1: Predicting his attacks when angry.
-Getting Knocked off the Platform While Fighting Skorne 2: Robert Iu has
confirmed that one cannot get knocked of the platform in Ver 1.4 of the
arcade.
(8.2)
{!}-Trick to extend Items of Skorne's duration: Wait until the Narrator stops
talking before grabbing the item.
{!}-Trick to defeat the Gargoyles in Melee: use Magic Shields.
(10.0)
-Tricks to get the 2nd Rune and the Treasure Room in the Forest Realm
without playing a multiplayer game. (MANY thanx to PM)
(11.0)
-Listed traps which were accidentally omitted in v.4.0: Huge Purple Tentacle,
Small Green Tentacle (both in Castle Stronghold) and Green Spike Vine
(in Forest Realm).
-Lizardmen tend to be fast of the "draw", almost always hitting you first
in Melee.
(12.0)
{!}-Added Section 12.1 "Operator's Manual".
(D.0)
-SSpaniol will henceforth be known as Blue Elf.
REMOVED:
(4.0)
-Warrior's and Valkyrie's Turbo Attack Level 3's Damage Aura IS large enough
to actually hit Golems (if you stand at point blank range). (thanx to PM)
-I've been getting lots of complaints from many people saying that not only
the Warrior and Valkyrie get hit by traps when they engage monsters in
Melee while standing directly in front of traps. The definition of "Melee
Attack" has been revised to reflect this fact.
(4.2)
-The Gold Invulnerability in the Cliffs does NOT replace the Silver
Invulnerability. It seems as though Gold Invulnerabilities do NOT replace
Silver ones in the rest of the game either. (thanx to Robert Iu)
(6.0)
-Description to Anti-Death Power fixed. The reference I made to the
Replusion Aumlet in Gauntlet I is erroneous: it's found in Gauntlet II.
(thanx to PM and Blue Elf)
(7.0)
-Magic Shields CAN (and usually always will) "kill" Death. (thanx to PM)
-Golem's double hammer fist is always done after 4 of his ordinary attacks
(not only when 4 ordinary attacks fail to knock you down). (thanx to PM)
-Unlimited Super Shots Trick (Version 1): Shots have NO Knockback ability.
-Unconfirmed by assumption under the "Extending Item Duraction" trick:
it seems as though you MUST grab another power-up while the one(s) you
have are fading to extend their duration.
(8.0)
-Corrected damage done by Skorne 2's Chest Beam: 300-500 was a little
exagerated. (thanx to Robert Iu)
(10.0)
-Temple of the Magi: There are only four sapphire panels, not six. (thanx
to PM)
-Psychadelic Stun Chamber: There is no Anti-Death Power on the permanent
bridge near the Treasure Room in single player games. (thanx to PM)
* 3.0 DEFINITIONS ************************************************************
----- TERMINOLOGY USED FOR EXPLANATIONS -----
"lvl #": (where "#" is a number) Abbreviation for "Level" or "Levels". This
ALWAYS refers to the experience level of your character or of the
monsters; NEVER stages, worlds or Turbo Attacks.
"aka": Abbreviation for "Also known as". More properly written in English
"A.k.a.".
"ie:": Abbreviation for "id est" (Latin for: "that is to say"). More properly
written in English "i.e.,".
"eg:": Abbreviation for "exempli gratia" (Latin for: "for example"). More
properly written "e.g.,".
"stage": Map or battlefield where your characters fight their way to the EXIT.
"world": Regroupment of stages (Mountain Kingdom, Castle Stronghold,
Forest Realm, Desert Lands, Desecrated Temple and Underworld).
"EXIT": Circle of stones with the signs of the 13 Runes painted on them.
Standing on one makes your character leave the stage.
NOTE: Words starting with capital letters denote terms specific to Gauntlet
Legends, while words in lowercase denote generic things. (Eg: "Treasure
Room" means any of the 4 "hidden bonus stages" where your character runs
around, trying to collect as much gold as possible in a limited amount
of time, while "treasure room" simply means a room with treasure inside.
I will most certainly avoid using terms like "treasure room" so as that
readers will not be confused, but be warned when you see an ambiguity
to use this rule for clarification.)
----- GAME TERMINOLOGY -----
Potion: Magical potions which come in 4 flavors red, blue, green and yellow.
Using them creates an Area-Of-Effect blast which has Knockback ability
centered on your character. Radius of the effect is based on your
character's Magic stat and Base Magic intrinsic property.
Stat Potion: A potion bought at the end-of-level shops which increase a
specific character attribute (Strength, Speed, Armor or Magic) by
5 points; which is the equivalent of 1 experience level gained.
NOTE: The effects of Stat potions are only clearly visible at multiples
of 100 (100, 200, etc). Though the difference between 150 vs 100
might be seen by a keen eye, it seems as though characters gain
a "larger" bonus at every hundred points. It also seems as though
999 is treated by the machine as 1100 (ie: the difference between
900->999 is twice the difference between 800->900).
Strength:
Determines the power of your attacks: both Melee and Missile. Its effects
are more noticeable on Melee attacks, while ranged attacks benefit very little
from high Strength. The effect of high Strength is not very noticeable on
normal monsters, but can be clearly seen against Golems and bosses.
Speed:
Determines the speed at which your character moves. This stat also directly
affects Melee Rate and Missile Rate (the latter's increase is very little and
difficult to notice). Also, this stat decreases recoil time (ie: recovery
time) on actions which have such a delay effect (ie: all the attacks which are
noted as "<Slow>"; eg: the Warrior's Missile attack, the Wizard's Melee attack,
Super Shot Delay, Walking/Running Attacks, delay time before a character starts
running, etc.) (thanx to Allen Kim). THE MOST important attribute!
Armor:
Determines the damage your character receives from physical attacks. Its
effects are more noticeable on attacks done from ordinary monsters, while
damage received from traps, Golems and bosses do not seem to get reduced as
much. Although note that the Base Armor intrinsic property also works in
conjunction with the Armor stat to greatly reduce all types of damage.
(see "Character Comparisons" section 4.0 for more details).
Magic:
Determines the power and area-of-effect of your Potions, your character's
resistance to magical attacks (ie: fireballs, magic bolts, etc.), the potency
of your Magic Shield (Magic+Turbo), the range of your Breath Attacks and the
duration of your power-ups (Thanx to DWells for the latter).
Auto-Aim: Aka: Auto-Targeting. This is what makes the difference between a
smart character and a dead one. All the four heroes have this
ability. It basically allows your character to aim on his/her own
on the nearest monster in his/her field of vision (thus, as the
player, you need only to guide the character in the general
direction of the monsters you want to kill). This is sometimes a
pain since your character will aim on the thing with highest
Auto-Aim priority in your field of vision, and not the thing you
want to hit necessarily.
Auto-Aim Priorities (lowest number being highest priority. Ie: Your
character will aim towards this thing first.):
1) Normal Monsters
2) Golems
3) Ground/Small Monsters
4) Enemy Generators
5) Inanimate Objects (eg: Barrels)
6) Missile Attacking Monsters
This means that your character will actually aim on lvl 1 Orcs
before they'll shoot the Orc Archer who is sniping away at you
from behind him! What a pain! (thanx to Robert Iu and DWells)
NOTE: It IS somewhat possible to override Auto-Aiming if you hold you're
joystick in the direction you want to shoot. (Eg: There's an Orc
to your upper-left and a red barrel to your upper-right. Press
up-right + Fight to shoot the barrel.) Although note that the
overriding capability of this trick is fairly limited, but still
quite useful from time to time (especially when using Turbo Attacks).
Missile Attacks: [Stand far from enemy and press Fight]
Also known as "shots". These shots are parabolic (ie: they
arc); when they hit the ground, they disappear (ie: Shots DO
NOT have unlimited range, except the Wizard's - see his
description in section 4.0).
AUTOFIRE TRICK: You can simply hold the Fight button for autofire. Note
that autofire is half as fast as tapping madly on the Fight
button.
TRUE AUTOFIRE: If you have Rapid Fire or Speed Boots, you can hold down the
TRICK Fight button and fire at your maximum rate of fire! REAL
powerful if you got Rapid Fire, Phoenix Familiar and 3-Way
Shot! (Many thanx to Allen Kim)
NOTATION: Missile attacks will also be referred to as "Shots".
Melee Attacks: [Stand near an enemy and press Fight]
Also known as "hitting" and "striking".
NOTE: ALL characters have the same:
-Melee attack range (maximum distance at which their Melee
attacks will hit) (thanx to Robert Iu)
-Melee Power (ie: Damage of their Melee attacks is the same
if their Strength stats and levels are equal.)
-Melee Rate (ie: Speed of their Melee attacks is the same
if their Speed stats are equal.)
NOTE: ALL characters can Auto-Aim in Melee as long as the enemy is
inside the character's Melee Auto-Aiming Field (ie: Warrior can
hit anything 180 degrees in front, while the Valkyrie can do so
120 degrees in front, etc.).
WARNING: Do NOT stand directly in front of a trap when engaging monsters
in Melee: your character's limbs WILL get hit by the trap.
Stand at least 2-3 feet away from traps.
BUTTONLESS : You can also engage enemies in Melee by holding the joystick
MELEE TRICK towards enemies (this way, you can STILL hit enemies even
though you may be holding items like Thunder Hammer and
Super Shot which you don't want to waste). Note that the
attack performed will actually be a Walking Attack (see below),
which is slower and more powerful than a standard Melee attack.
(Thanx to BFord and DWells)
AUTOFIGHT : Note that if you stand in Melee range of a monster, you can
TRICK simply hold the Fight button to continuous attack that enemy in
Melee. (Although note that this trick is 25% slower than
tapping madly on the Fight button) (thanx to DWells)
TRUE AUTOFIGHT: Simply get Rapid Fire or Speed Boots, then do the AutoFight
TRICK Trick and you Melee attacks will be at full (100%) speed!
NOTATION: Note that attacks denoted as "<Slow>" have recoil time after
the attack is performed (these attacks aren't slow in execution;
they just have a recovery time).
Turbo Attack Level 3: [Press Fight + Turbo; need 3 Levels of Turbo Meter]
<Slow> The most powerful form of turbo attack: always try to use this
Turbo move instead of any other as much as possible. All Turbo
Attack Level 3s have the ability to RIP through hoards of
monsters and to go through walls (use this to your advantage as
much as possible). They all have Knockback ability (see below),
which is especially useful versus Golems and bosses. This
attack's power seems to be based on your character's Magic stat
(thanx to BFord). Note that each of the Turbo Attack Level 3s
create a Damage Aura at execution time which kills (or hurts
badly) all normal monsters caught within the field. This Aura
has Knockback ability and can be used again Golems (it'll hurt
bosses, but won't stun them). (thanx to PM).
NOTE: All Turbo Attack Level 3s' Damage Auras seem to do very little
damage against bosses. (thanx to PM)
TRICK: To maximize the damage done by Turbo Attack Level 3s when
fighting Golems or bosses, stand at point blank range (ie: Melee
range) when executing this attack. It seems as though at this
range, this Turbo Attack will do x2-x4 more damage! Devastating
if used with Growth and/or Amulet. (MANY thanx to PM)
Turbo Attack Level 2: [Press Fight + Turbo; need 2 Levels of Turbo Meter]
<Slow> A semi-useful form of turbo attack. I, personally, prefer
level 3, but if you must use Turbo Attack, Level 2 will be
fine in most cases. All Turbo Attack Level 2s attack in a 360-
degree radius around you (useful if you are surrounded) and
kill everything (except Golems) inside their radius,
regardless of the character's power. They also all have
Knockback ability. Note that Turbo Attack Level 2 CANNOT
destroy monster generators (except for the Archer's). Also
note that your character will NOT use Level 2 against bosses,
but instead use Level 1; and this is a good thing since Level
2 is useless against most bosses, whom cannot be engaged in
Melee, anyway. (Thanx to DWells). Note that you can move
(very slowly though) while performing a Turbo Attack Level 2
(thanx to PM).
TRICK: Since you can move while executing this attack, you can also
engage monsters and generators in Buttonless Melee!
Turbo Attack Level 1: [Press Fight + Turbo; need 1 Level of Turbo Meter]
<Slow> This level of turbo attack has two versions: Missile and Melee.
To use the Missile version, simply stand far from enemies and
start it. To use the Melee version, stand next to enemies and
activate it.
(Missile Version): Avoid using this unless you are in a REALLY desperate
<Slow> situation. It does nothing more than fire a bigger
version of your Missile attack which is twice as strong,
50% faster and which doesn't arc (ie: unlimited range).
This attack IS, however, affected by your power-ups like
regular shots (eg: Fire Amulet, Reflective Shot, etc.)
Useful against bosses if your Turbo Attack Level 3 is too
slow (eg: Wizard and Archer). (Thanx to Dwells) Note
that they do, however, have slight recoil time after you
fire them though (thanx to Robert Iu).
(Melee Version): It's basically a "special fighting move" of your character.
<Slow> More useful than the Missile version 'cause it does more
damage. It's also as fast as the Missile version; which is
a definite advantage. This version of Turbo Attack has
Knockback ability: EXTREMELY useful versus Golems. Note that
it will NOT stun bosses (thanx to PM). It also hits 100
degrees in front of you; enough to be able to hit up to 3
monsters at once (thanx to AKim & DWells)!
Warrior: -Upward vertical Swing w/ flaming trail
-Headbutt
Valkyrie:-Somersault Kick (thanx to BFord & AKim)
-Shield bash w/ electricity field
Wizard: -Waves hands + Staff strike w/ white magic flash
-Waves hands + Double Palm strike w/ white flash
Archer: -????? (Unknown at this time)
-High kick (eye-level) w/ green magic streak
NOTE: I believe that to execute the first Turbo Attack Level 1
(Melee) listed, you must stand as far away as possible from
a monster (without being so far that you'll throw the
Missile version) when pressing Fight+Turbo. To execute the
second special move, simply stand as close as possible to
your enemy when you press Fight+Turbo. (?)
Charging/Push: [Tap or Hold Turbo and hold a direction on your joystick;
(Turbo Dash) requires some Turbo Meter]
Your character runs a little faster while Knocking down normal
monsters in their path. Use when surrounded and out of Potions
to run away where you can snipe them one by one!
This special move can also be used versus Golems, for it has
Knockback ability! Turbo Dash past Golems to grab the items
that they are guarding without having to confront them!
(thanx to my brother)
NOTE: You require some Turbo Meter to execute this move. Tapping
of Turbo and holding a direction will waste 1 level of Turbo
Meter (or whatever you have left if you have less than 1 level)
and last for a short while, while Holding down Turbo will spend
all your remaining Turbo Meter.
TRICK: You can STILL execute this move when you have less than 1 level
of Turbo Meter! In fact, you can even have just one dash of
Turbo Meter and do it! Although note that the less Turbo Meter
you have, the shorter your Turbo Dash will last.
Knockback: All Turbo Attack Levels 3/2/1 (Melee version only), Potions,
Breath Attacks, Thunder Hammers and Super Shots have Knockback
ability. This means the blast is so strong that all monsters,
including Golems, are knocked back and fall to the floor (Golems
are only pushed back). Monsters who are knocked down can still be
hit while they are on the floor. Golems and monsters can also fall
to their doom if they are in front of a chasm). Bosses are not
knocked back, instead they are temporarily stunned, giving you very
precious time to run or grab items! Note that Golems' and most of
the bosses' attacks have Knockback ability, knocking YOU to the
floor giving them free hits at you!
Walking: [Warrior, Valkyrie and Wizard only]
[Hold direction on joystick]
Moves your character in the desired direction. Nothing special.
Speed of displacement depends on how hard you press on the joystick:
press fully to walk at full speed and press lightly to pace step by
step.
TRICK: To avoid starting to run after 1 second, press and hold the joystick
in the desired direction lightly. (Ie: Push on it only halfway to
the end.) Useful for performing Walking Attacks.
Running: [Warrior, Valkyrie and Wizard only]
[Hold direction on joystick for more than 1 second*]
After walking for 1 second, character start to run. It's faster than
walking by about 50%.
*: Delay between walk and run is 1 second at 400 Speed, but can go
down to 0.25 seconds at 999 Speed.
Jogging: [Archer only]
[Hold direction on joystick]
Jogging is as fast as running for the other characters. This means
that the Archer is, in effect, running all the time and your control
over her movement is much better since you can tell her start and
stop immediately without the extra delay other characters have.
(This is analogous to Walking for the other characters because she
can perform Walking Attacks while in this state.)
TRICK: To avoid starting to jogging fast after 0.5 seconds, press and hold
the joystick in the desired direction lightly. (Ie: Push on it only
halfway to the end.) Useful for performing Walking Attacks.
Jogging Fast: [Archer only]
[Hold direction on joystick for more than 0.5 seconds*]
The Archer will move a little faster than at Jogging speed,
barely noticeable. It takes her about half a second to go from
Jogging to Jogging Fast. (This is analogous to Running for her
because it allows her to perform Running Attacks (aka: Charging
Attacks) while in this state.)
*: Delay between jog-fast jog is 0.5 seconds at 600 Speed, but
can go down to 0.1 seconds at 999 Speed.
Walking Attack: [Walk in desired direction then engage enemy in Melee]
This is a stronger version of your character's Melee attack.
It does x1.5 damage, but has more twice the recovery time. Use
with caution when performing this attack while surrounded.
Warrior: Hard Axe Swing
Valkyrie: Diagonal Head Slash
Wizard: Open Palm "Kung Fu" Strike
Archer: Lunging Left-Handed Jab
(Thanx to DWells)
Running Attack: [Run in desired direction then engage enemy in Melee]
(Charging This is the most powerful version of your character's Melee
Attack) attack. It does x2 damage, but has three times more recovery
<Slow> time. Hitting with this attack will stun enemies for about
twice as long though; enough time for you to recover and to do
it again! Be careful about using this attack when surrounded.
Warrior: Overhead Downward Swing
Valkyrie: Overhead Hard Skull Slash
Wizard: Hard Open Palm strike (Can hit many enemies close
to each other in one strike!)
Archer: High kick (Continuously tap Fight to repeat!)
(Thanx to DWells)
Turning Attack: [Turn character while pressing Fight when engaged in Melee]
<Slow> When you turn around to hit enemies behind you, your
character will execute very powerful version of his/her
Melee attack.
Warrior: Back Fist (thanx to AKim, DWells & Robert Iu)
Elbow Smash (if turn is 45 degrees)
Shoulder Ram
Hoof/Heel Back-kick (if turn is 180 degrees?)
(thanx to AKim & DWells)
Valkyrie: Turning Lunging Sword Thrust
Wizard: Staff Strike (thanx to BFord)
Archer: Roundhouse Kick (Continuously tap Fight and turn
character to repeat!)
Stomping Kick: [Press Fight when near a small/shrunk creature]
<Slow> Your character will stomp critters under their boot. Slow and
awkward. Horrendous recovery time. The Stomping Kick has twice
the power of the Low Kick. (thanx to Robert Iu)
RUNNING : If your character is running and you perform a Stomping Kick,
STOMPING he/she will actually perform a Running Stomping Kick. This
KICK attack will be twice as powerful as the Stomping Kick and will
have less of a recovery time. (thanx to DWells)
Low Kick: [Hold joystick in the direction of a small/shrunk creature]
Your character will execute a shin-level kick on small creatures
with their boot. Very fast and effective. Does half the damage of
a Stomping Kick. Does Knockback (if the creature isn't dead after
this attack), so it'll temporarily stun them. (thanx to DWells and
Robert Iu).
Item Affinity: Certain items last longer on certain characters than on others
with comparable Magic and Base Magic attributes.
Eg: Invulnerability lasts significantly longer on the Valkyrie
than on an Archer with similar stats, 3-Way Shots last
longer on the Archer, etc.
* 4.0 CHARACTER COMPARISONS **************************************************
What's really fun about this game is that YOU are have total freedom over
how the character of your choice progresses because you have access to "Stat
Potions" in the end-of-level shops.
Thus, it's true that buy a lot of Speed potions for a Warrior and watch
him run faster than the Archer, BUT no matter how many Stat Potions that you
buy, some properties of your character will NEVER change. These are as
follows, sorted by hero, in no particular order. Note that these values are
in NO way definitive. They are only approximations based upon observation
(ie: I'm guessing these numbers!). Got better approximations? E-mail them to
me.
The Alter-Egos of the characters simply have better stats than their
counterparts; THAT'S ALL. They have no special or godlike powers. (To play
an Alter-Ego, get to at least lvl 10 with one of the four original heroes, and
when you start over again, hold down the Turbo button after entering your
password and before pressing Fight to select your character.)
I have confirmed reports that Alter-Egos start with weapons which are
equivalent to those obtained by the original characters at lvl 10. Because of
this, the Alter-Egos gain no new benefits at upon reaching the 10th level, but
otherwise, they progress normally as their mundane counterparts. (Note that
at lvl 50, the Alter-Egos get the exact same weapons as the original heroes
do.)
The starting weapons of the Alter-Egos are:
Minotaur (Warrior) has a big hatchet (ie: a single headed axe).
Falconess (Valkyrie) has a big broad sword with a chiseled edge.
Jackal (Wizard) has a staff with the skull of a horse/bull on top
Tigress' (Archer) remains a short bow, but at lvl 10, it becomes a long
bow (just like the Archer)
NOTATION:
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate: Rate at which character attacks in Melee, x1 being average
(x1 Melee Rate is equivalent in speed to x1 Missile Rate).
Melee Power: Power of Melee attacks, x1 being average.
Melee Type: Description of type of attack.
Auto-Aiming Field: The field in which the character will Auto-Aim in Melee.
The value indicates an angle in front of the character;
divide by 2 to get angle on each side of the centerline.
Missile Rate: Rate at which character fires shots, x1 being average.
Missile Power: Power of character's Missile attacks, x1 being average.
Missile Speed: Rate at which the character's shot travels, x1 being average.
Missile Range: The maximum range of Missile attacks.
Notation: Short, Long, Extreme, Unlimited
(Difference between ranges is about 3 feet; except Unlimited)
Missile Type: Description of type of attack.
Movement Rate: Speed at which character moves, x1 being average.
Movement Type: Description of type of movement.
Base Armor: Determines damage received by enemies and traps.
ONLY this property determines damage received by traps, Golems
and bosses (Armor stat is next to irrelevant).
Base Magic: Determines potency of Potions and duration of Special Items.
Item Affinity: The listed items last longer on this character than on the
others.
Super Shot Delay: The amount of time the character waits between the time
you press Fight and the moment he/she fires a Super Shot.
This is also the amount of recoil after firing a shot.
Level 3 Turbo Attack
Charge Delay: Time it takes before launching this special attack.
Damage Aura: Death aura created at activation time of this special attack,
centered around the character that kills all normal monsters
caught in the aura.
Attack Advantage: Advantage this Turbo Attack Level 3 has over the Turbo
Attacks of the other characters.
Level 2 Turbo Attack
Range: Reach of this special attack.
Notation: Short, Long, Extreme, Unlimited
(Difference between ranges is about 1 foot; except for Unlimited)
Duration: How long this special attacks to execute. (ie: Its total
activation time; which includes recoil.)
Type: Description of this special attack.
***** WARRIOR ***** (ALTER EGO: Minotaur)
Advantages: Powerful in Melee combat. Widest Melee Auto-Aiming Field.
Disadvantages: Weak in Missile combat, weak Magic. Sum of all 4 stats is the
lowest of all 4 heroes.
Beginner Strategies:
-Low initial Speed means low Melee Rate: get that Speed up ASAP!
-Always engage monsters in Melee combat: you get more experience that way.
You are the master of Melee combat with your 180-degree arc of Melee
Auto-Aim.
-Avoid using Missile attacks because your shots are weak, slow and have very
little range.
-Use his Turbo Attack Level 3 as much as possible because it's fast and
powerful!
-If you can, have someone cover your back while you charge into the fray
because his armor rating is only decent.
Expert Strategies:
-Avoid getting surrounded: use Turbo Dash to escape.
-His weak Missile attacks gives him major problems against most bosses (there
are only two bosses who can be engaged in Melee) and Golems.
-Low Magic is also a big problem because Potion effects will be weak and
power-ups have very little duration.
-His powerful Melee attacks are due to his initial high Strength stat. Later
in the game, everyone will have high Strength, thus his usefulness will be
greatly reduced.
Bottom Line: A powerful character at the beginning which can easily clear out
standard stages full of monsters, but his usefulness is greatly
reduced when fighting bosses.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate/Power/Type: x3/x1 /(Axe Swing)
Auto-Aiming Field: 180 degrees (the Widest!)
Missile Rate/Power: x1/x1
Speed/Range/Type: x0.8/Short /(Thrown Axe) <Slow>
Movement Rate/Type: x1/x1.5 /(Walk or Run)
Base Armor: x1
Base Magic: x0.5
Item Affinity: Amulets (Fire, Lightning, Acid, Light)
Super Shot Delay: 0.25 seconds
Level 3 Turbo Attack [PLASMA TRAIL] (Knockback)
Charge Delay/Damage Aura: Very Short / Very Small
(approx. 1 foot radius)
Attack Advantage: Travels twice as fast
Level 2 Turbo Attack [FIRE ARC] (Knockback)
Range/Duration/Type: Short / Short / (2 Axe Swings)
SPECIAL NOTES:
-Missile attacks have recoil effect. Ie: The Warrior is temporarily paralyzed
for a fraction of a second after firing a shot; this SERIOUSLY decreases his
Missile Rate.
-He only has decent Base Armor, at best; avoid getting surrounded in Melee.
-His low Base Magic will cause a definite problem. His Potions will have poor
coverage and special items fade away REAL fast.
-The Warrior cannot move while performing his Turbo Attack Level 2 (Fire Arc).
But this will not be a problem since it executes so quickly anyways.
-Turbo Attack Level 3 (Plasma Trail) executes very quickly and travels very
fast: use it to kill monsters in crowded rooms very quickly before charging
inside.
***** VALKYRIE ***** (ALTER EGO: Falconess)
Advantages: Balanced character. Highest armor of all 4 characters. Strong
Melee attacks. Sum of all 4 stats is the highest of all 4 heroes.
Disadvantages: Slow Missile attacks.
Beginner Strategies:
-Keep her in front of the party (if you are playing a multiplayer game) in
Melee combat: she will get more experience this way and she will also be
shielding the rest of your party from damage.
-Use her Turbo Attack Level 3 as much as possible because it has a fast
recovery time and is very wide!
Expert Strategies:
-Her high Base Armor comes in very handy versus traps, Golems and bosses
(who all do TONS of damage).
-Her Turbo Attack Level 3 is VERY wide and will help clear out many hoards
of monsters.
Bottom Line: With strong armor and Melee attacks, she makes perfect leader to
any team. The most balanced character, lacking only a little in
the Missile attack department.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate/Power/Type: x3/x1 /(Sword Twist)
Auto-Aiming Field: 120 degrees (Wide)
Missile Rate/Power x1/x1
Speed/Range/Type: x1/Medium /(Thrown Sword) <Slow>
Movement Rate/Type: x1/x1.5 /(Walk or Run)
Base Armor: x2
Base Magic: x1
Item Affinity: Shields (Reflect, FireWall, Lightning)
Invulnerability (Silver, Gold)
Super Shot Delay: 0.25 seconds
Level 3 Turbo Attack [SKY LANCE] (Knockback)
Charge Delay/Damage Aura: Very Short / Very Small
(approx. 1 foot radius)
Attack Advantage: Twice as wide
Level 2 Turbo Attack [MULTI-ARC BLADE] (Knockback)
Range/Duration/Type: Long / Long / (2 Spinning Sword Swings)
SPECIAL NOTES:
-Missile attacks have recoil effect. ie: The Valkyrie is temporarily paralyzed
for a fraction of a second after firing a shot; this SERIOUSLY decreases her
Missile Rate.
-Her high Base Armor gives her awesome protection (especially if her Armor and
levels are also high); she need not fear hits from normal monsters or from
traps.
-Trick: Since everyone can move while performing their Turbo Attack Level 2,
you can actually activate her Multi-Arc Blade, move forward to hit a Suicide
Bomber, then move back to avoid getting hit by the explosion! (thanx to PM)
-Turbo Attack Level 3 (Sky Lance) executes very quickly and is very wide: use
it to clear out hoards of monsters. Can easily clear out entire rooms
because it is so wide!
***** WIZARD ***** (ALTER EGO: Jackal)
Advantages: Extremely powerful Missile attacks. High Magic.
Disadvantages: Horrifically low Armor.
Beginner Strategies:
-Avoid Melee combat at all costs.
-Concentrate of dodging instead of hitting: your shots will make short work
of all the lesser monsters you encounter, but your Armor is pathetically
weak (every hit scored against you will be devastating).
-Use Potions as much as possible to clear out rooms: until you get your lvl
25 familiar, things might be a little tough for you.
-Missile attacks don't give as much experience as Melee hits: Use Potions to
balance out your experience total with other players.
Expert Strategies:
-His fast and powerful Missile attacks have unlimited range.
-The power of his Missile attacks can only be appreciated when used against
bosses.
-Powerful Magic is also a plus: longer power-up duration and more potent
Potion effects.
Bottom Line: The most preferred character of most pros, play him and you'll
see why.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate/Power/Type: x3/x1 /(Chain Punch) <Slow>
Auto-Aiming Field: 90 degrees
Missile Rate/Power x1.5/x2
Speed/Range/Type: x1.2/Unlimited /(Magic Bolt)
Movement Rate/Type: x1/x1.5 /(Walk or Run)
Base Armor: x0.5
Base Magic: x1.5
Item Affinity: Amulets (Fire, Lightning, Acid, Light)
Super Shot Delay: 0.5 seconds
Level 3 Turbo Attack [DEMON SKULL] (Knockback) (Directable)
Charge Delay/Damage Aura: Very Long / Very Wide
(approx. 3 feet radius) [Knockback]
Attack Advantage: Damage Aura is 3 times as big
Level 2 Turbo Attack [ROCK SHOWER] (Knockback)
Range/Duration/Type: Extreme / Long / (Continuous Shower)
SPECIAL NOTES:
-Melee attacks have recoil effect. Ie: The Wizard is temporarily paralyzed for
a fraction of a second after attacking in Melee; this seriously affects
his effectiveness in Melee.
-Missile attacks' power is stronger than all the other characters. Their
power is actually the sum of both his Strength and his Magic stat!
-Missile attacks do NOT "arc" (ie: They fly straight and not in an arc.)
and have unlimited range, as magic is exempt from the laws of gravity.
(thanx to DWells) This can actually be a problem if you are fighting on
unleved ground (your shots will get blocked by the "ups" and "downs" in the
terrain). Although such terrain is fairly rare, be warned about this fault.
-Missile attacks are big and wide. This can cause problems in tight battle
areas (which are very rare) and when trying to snipe monsters around corners.
-Be careful, his low Base Armor will really piss you off if you get hit by
too many traps and/or Golems; no matter how high your Armor stat is. Avoid
getting hit altogether.
-The Wizard's magic will always be more potent than the other characters'
because of his high Base Magic. This means that his Potions will be more
potent and his special items will last a VERY long time on him!
-Be warned about grabbing a Super Shot. This guy has a HORRENDOUS delay when
using this special item.
-Turbo Attack Level 2 is very useful because it has a very long range, it
does lots of damage and because it is fairly fast to execute. You can
actually kill Suicide Bombers with it (without getting hurt) if you let them
run into it after you activate it!
-Turbo Attack Level 3 (Demon Skull) executes very slowly; be warned when using
this against Missile Attacking monsters (you'll get hit A LOT), but is very
useful against Melee Attacking monsters. Use the long execution time to
redirect the skull with joystick. Note that the Skull can hurt enemies
(and knock them back) while it is forming (it'll also stun bosses!) (thanx
to PM)! Also note that the Wizard can move (slowly though) while performing
his Demon Skull (thanx to PM).
TRICK:
Demon Skull will hit Golems twice if used at point blank range: 1 hit from
its Damage Aura and 1 hit (and sometimes 2 hits!) from the Skull itself when
it's launched! Note that if you use this trick, the Golem will only be
knocked by the Damage Aura and NOT the Skull, so be prepared to run!
Also, when activating the Demon Skull, the Wizard recovers fast enough to be
free to move between his Damage Aura and his Skull launch. This means that
while the Skull is still rising, you can either run from or hit the Golem in
front of you without any fear of retaliation!
DEMON SKULL PROTECTION AURA RUMOR
Rumor has it that the Damage Aura of the Demon Skull can protect the Wizard
from half of his enemies' Missile attacks (except arrows and bombs). It
seems as though it actually absorbs 50% of these projectiles! You should
really try to avoid getting hit at all, but if you must, this trick could
possibly save your life. (thanx to DWells)
***** ARCHER ***** (ALTER EGO: Tigress)
Advantages: Fast Melee and Missile attacks. High Missile rate. Long range
shots. Fast movement (she ALWAYS jogs!). ALL her Turbo Attacks
are affected by power-ups!!!
Disadvantages: Very low Missile Power.
Beginner Strategies:
-High initial Speed allows her to strike VERY quickly in Melee combat.
-Try to engage in Melee with her as much as possible in the beginning: you
will score more experience that way. Avoid getting surrounded: always try
to pick off enemies one by one. Remember that she has an easy time moving
forward when hitting: use this to your advantage.
-Avoid using her Missile Attacks until she gets her familiar (at lvl 25):
she simply does not have the necessary firepower to take down monsters
with her arrows alone.
Expert Strategies:
-None of her attacks are rated as "<Slow>" and her Super Shot Delay is
negligible.
-Her Melee Auto-Aiming field is very small (only 60 degrees), but this
disadvantage is overshadowed by the fact that her Turning Attack can be
repeated many times in a row.
-Her Running Attack (aka: Charging Attack) can also be repeated many times
in a row for MASSIVE damage!
-The long range of her Missile attacks is a great advantage, if used properly.
-Her high mobility can prove to be very useful when trying to dodge boss'
attacks.
Bottom Line: Her weak Missile attacks will prove to be very annoying, but
other than that, she is a fantastic character. Well suited to
fight bosses. Hard to play alone.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate/Power/Type: x3/x1 /(Punch & Bow Swing)
Auto-Aiming Field: 60 degrees
Missile Rate/Power x2.5/x0.5
Speed/Range/Type: x1.5/Extreme /(Arrows)
Movement Rate/Type: x1.5/x2 /(Jog or Jog Fast)
Base Armor: x0.5
Base Magic: x1
Item Affinity: Reflect Shot
3-Way Shot/5-Way Shot
Amulet (does not have higher duration, but increases Missile
Rate by 50%!)
Super Shot Delay: 0.1 seconds
Level 3 Turbo Attack [BFG] (Knockback) (Directable)
Charge Delay/Damage Aura: Very Long / Special
(2 directable beams & 2 foot radius) [Knockback]
Attack Advantage: Massive firepower & shots ARE affected by power-ups!!!
Level 2 Turbo Attack [DOUBLE BOW] (Knockback) (Directable)
Range/Duration/Type: Unlimited / Long / (twin 5 shot arrows)
Damage Aura: 2 feet! (360-degree circle)
SPECIAL NOTES:
-Melee attacks are as weak as the Wizard's. Use Charging Attack and Turning
Attack as much as possible because both of those moves are fast! Tap Fight
repeatedly while doing her Charging Attack to quickly kick many times in
rapid succession!
-Her small Melee Auto-Aiming Field will require you to direct your attacks
more carefully. (thanx to AKim)
-Can easily move forward while in Melee combat (very useful destroy crowded
monster generators)!!! Same goes for her Running (aka: Charging Attack)!
This is a VERY powerful advantage!
-Know that she has the highest Missile Rate, that her Missile attacks go 50%
further, move 50% faster than others' shots and they are about as weak as
Familiars' shots. You will have to quickly adapt your playing style to her
because of these facts.
-Missile attacks (arrows) are thin. This can help you snipe monsters around
corners.
-Be careful, her low Base Armor will really piss you off if you get hit by
too many traps and/or Golems; no matter how high your Armor stat is.
-Her Double Bow is the ONLY Turbo attack level 2 which can destroy enemy
generators. All the other characters' Turbo attack level 2 just go through
the generators without destroying them. (Thanx to DWells) Note that the
Double Bow DOES have a Damage Aura.
-Turbo Attack Level 3 (BFG) executes very slowly; avoid using it against
Missile Attacking monsters or else you will get hit A LOT. Use the long
execution time to redirect it with the joystick to aim the double green
arrows. At execution time, the attack creates two cohesive greenish beams
that are directed to kill enemies (though they're weak). It then shoots 10
arrows in a 180-degree arc in front of you. Use it especially when entering
a room full of Melee Attacking monsters. Note that the Archer can move
(slowly though) while performing her BFG (thanx to PM).
Trick:
To hit Golems with the Damage Aura AND the double green arrows, you MUST
hit the Golem with the Damage Aura at its maximum range (2 feet). If the
Golem is any closer, the double green arrows will go right through him (see
below). (thanx to PM)
WARNING:
Avoid using the BFG's Damage Aura against Golems at point blank range. If
you stand next to a Golem when activating BFG, the Damage Aura will hit the
Golem once and knock him back 3 feet, then the double green arrows will fly
right THROUGH him, doing NO damage! (This is because the Golem hasn't had
enough time to recover from the Damage Aura's knockback.)
NOTE: Double Bow/BFG are the ONLY Level 2/3 Turbo Attacks which ARE under
the effects of your power-ups!!! (Eg: If you REALLY want destructive
power, get 5-way shot, any Amulet and Reflect Shot! She will shoot 50
elemental shots that bounce off walls if you use Turbo Attack!!! Or
maybe Super Shot and 3-Way Shot, if that's your taste?) (Countless
thanx go to AKim & DWells!)
FAMILIAR NOTE:
The Archer's familiar (the butterfly) is the ONLY familiar whose shots
actually converge towards hers (all the others fire alongside their master).
This means that the butterfly not only doubles your rate of fire, but also
your overall firepower! Note: This DOES NOT mean that the familiar
Auto-Aims, only that it shoots the same target as the Archer.
***** POJO ***** (ALTER EGO: Pojo has no alter ego)
Advantages: (As per template character). Strong Missile attacks. Powerful
Turbo Attack Level 1.
Disadvantages: (As per template character). Cannot eat Chicken. Cannot use
Potions. Only has 1 Turbo Attack.
Beginner Strategies: (As per template character)
Expert Strategies: (As per template character)
Bottom Line: Don't play as Permanent Pojo unless you're really serious about
it or wanna have a little fun; his Disadvantages are just too
much to bare for most players.
For temporary Pojo:
For those of you who didn't know that you can play as Pojo (from Mace: The
Darkening fame), all you have to do is find a special item (which looks like
a big egg). This will change your character into Pojo the Chicken until this
power-up wears off.
For permanent Pojo:
TRICK: For those of you who don't want to go to all that trouble, simply
enter your name as EGG and your password as 911. Then choose your character;
this character will be the template for Pojo's stats. When you start playing,
you will immediately see that you are now permanently Pojo the Chicken.
WARNING: This code is irreversible. After entering this code, you will no
longer be able to play as any character other than Pojo. The only way to
change characters is to start a new game, with a different name and/or
password.
Pojo's attributes are dependant of your template character's stats AND
Intrinsic Properties. Transformation to Pojo increases Missile Power; all
other properties remain the same.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES
Melee Rate/Power/Type: x1(Base) / x1(Base) /(Pecking)
Auto-Aiming Field: x1(Base)
Missile Rate/Power: x1(Base) / x1.5(Base)
Speed/Range/Type: x1(Base) / Long /(Fireballs)
Movement Rate/Type: x1(Base) /(Walk and Run)
Base Armor: x1(Base)
Base Magic: x1(Base)
Item Affinity: (As per template character)
Super Shot Delay: (As per template character)
Level 3 Turbo Attack
Pojo has no available Level 3 Turbo Attack
Level 2 Turbo Attack
Pojo has no available Level 2 Turbo Attack
Level 1 Turbo Attack (Knockback)
Range/Duration/Type: Medium/Short/(Directable Arc)
SPECIAL NOTES:
-Pojo's Melee attacks are bizarre. Even though it seems as he pecks enemies
with his beak very slowly, he actually attacks as fast as his template
character (ie: Take the Archer and if you tap Fight rapidly, for every peck
Pojo does, you'll hear the sound of the Archer punching/swinging in the
background).
-He only has only 1 Turbo Attack (Level 1). Very fast to charge and is very
powerful. It acts like the "Fire Breath" power-up, except that it has a
wider arc and longer range. Thus, it can be directed with the joystick to
make a "Sweep Attack" and it can knocks monsters back; very effective versus
Golems.
-Can't use Potions; he can't use them, throw them or make a Magic Shield
either. (This property alone makes Pojo very difficult to play.)
(Note that you CAN shoot potions from a distance for lower effect, though.)
-Can't eat "Chicken Leg" food (it's poison to him).
-ALL of the Special Items become invisible (ie: they don't show) when acquired.
Other than that, they function normally. This means that Pojo doesn't
become silver when getting a Silver Invulnerability or translucent when
getting Limited Invulnerability, etc. (thanx to DWells) This includes the
Items of Skorne (thanx to Matthew Lees).
-When Pojo gets a Breath Attack power-up, he just does his Turbo Attack Level
1: all elements make Pojo shoot fire, he can't spew acid or lightning for
some reason. (Thanx to DWells)
NOTE: The best character template for Pojo is probably the Archer because
she shoots and moves very fast. But the Wizard is also good because of
his powerful shots.
NOTE: Getting Pojo Egg while playing as permanent Pojo has no added effects.
The Narrator simply says: "Pojo is now Pojo." The Egg wears off as
normally with the normal accompanying sound effect, but with no added
effects. (thanx to DWells and Matthew Lees)
NOTE: Pojo does not have his own titles: he earns the titles of his template
character. Pojo also gains the familiar of his template character (pick
the Valkyrie and Pojo will get the Hawk/Eagle) (thanx to BFord & Glass).
Also note that there is a discrepancy in the way Pojo gains titles.
Eg: With the Blue Valkyrie template, at lvl 10, the Narrator will say:
"Pojo is now a level 10 Guardian", but a message will pop up with the
text: "Blue Valkyrie is now a level 10 Guardian." (thanx to BFord &
DWells & Glass)
NOTE: In case you were wondering, when Pojo finishes the game, NOTHING special
happens (it's just the same old ending). (MANY thanx to Matthew Lees
and Daniel Valdez)
* 4.1 MINIMIZE BOOSTING ******************************************************
Steve Spaniol says:
"If one plays for the long-haul (i.e. to get lvl 99), this translates into
having the abilities bumped up by a total of 490 points from their starting
values. If your goal is to get 999 ability scores quickly and efficiently
(without wasting any of the point gains for the levels you pick up along the
way), there is a way to do so. The following is a breakout of each character,
its starting ratings, the ratings after reaching lvl 99, and a suggested
order for buying ability scores in the shops (thanx to Josh Smith and Robert
Iu for some corrections made in the table):
START LEVEL 99 ORDER AND # OF POTIONS
NEEDED TO MAX OUT
WARRIOR
Strength 500 990 #1 -- buy 2
Speed 300 790 #2 -- buy 42
Armor 300 790 #2 -- buy 42
Magic 200 690 #3 -- buy 62
VALKYRIE
Strength 300 790 #3 -- buy 42
Speed 400 890 #2 -- buy 22
Armor 500 990 #1 -- buy 2
Magic 250 740 #4 -- buy 52
WIZARD
Strength 200 690 #2 -- buy 62
Speed 400 890 #1 -- buy 22
Armor 100 590 #3 -- buy 82
Magic 600 999 NONE --
ARCHER
Strength 200 690 #2 -- buy 62
Speed 600 999 NONE --
Armor 200 690 #2 -- buy 62
Magic 350 840 #1 -- buy 32
Buying more than these suggested numbers means that the abilities max out
sooner than lvl 99, and you get wasted point counts on levels after the one
that maxes the ability score out. So, for example, if you buy 12 Strength
potions for the warrior, he maxes strength out at lvl 89, and levels 90 - 99
will each represent 5 points extra Strength that are effectively wasted.
If you are playing the Aler-Egos of these 4 heroes, do NOT buy any Stat
potions for your character's primary stat (eg: Warrior = Strength, Valkyrie =
Armor, Wizard = Magic, Archer = Speed); your character will automatically
reach 999 before reaching lvl 99 in that stat."
----- USEFULNESS OF THIS TRICK -----
This trick is only useful for people who play one player games: gold is very
hard to amass in this type of game unless you go through at least two worlds
with each credit (rather difficult to do, believe me).
If you play 2+ player games, you probably won't need to worry about gold as
much. (Eg: In my experience, the FIRST time I played Gauntlet Legends, I
managed to get to 999 every stat when I was at lvl 82 (playing a Valkyrie)
because I ONLY bought Stat potions with my gold and nothing else.)
----- MY OPINION ON THIS -----
Very good trick if you're looking for peak efficiency, but I find that it's
better to waste all your gold and go all out buying potions for the stats you
love: you'll have a better appreciation for your character that way.
Remember that even though you will reach 999 everything upon getting to
lvl 99 using the aforementioned trick, your journey will be harsh because
none of your stats will ever be maxed out.
I prefer to get 999 Speed as soon as possible so that I can move through
stages faster and so that I can have an easier time to dodge boss' shots;
the fact that I'm wasting gold doesn't bother me one bit.
* 4.2 MULTIPLAYER GAMING *****************************************************
Playing multiplayer games has advantages and drawbacks. Note the () next
to some headings. 2P denotes the amount of this item in 2 player games
(compared to single player games), 3P for 3 player games and 4P for 4 player
games.
ADVANTAGES:
-More gold lying around in stages (2P: x2.5 more, 3P: x3-x3.5, 4P: ???).
-Coins in Treasure Rooms are worth more (up to 25 for Copper, 100 for Silver
and 500 for Gold if you play 4-players).
-Bosses give more gold when defeated (2P: x2, 3P: x3, 4P: x4). (thanx to TNT)
-More food (2P: x2.5 more, 3P: x2.75, 4P: ???).
-More experience (because there are more monsters).
-More Special Items (some items can only be found in multiplayer games; see
below).
-More Potions (2P: x2.5 more, 3P: ???, 4P: ???)!
-You gain access to two-player bridges (the kind that appear and disappear
when you step on/off a tile).
-You can get "IT" power-up!
-More fun: get to know other people and learn how to play as a team! :)
DISADVANTAGES
-Much less maneuvering space (characters will often run into each other);
especially when fighting bosses such as the Genie or Skorne 1/2.
-All players must stick together: slow characters will anchor the screen,
preventing fast players in front from seeing monsters hitting them!
-Special Items layout in stages change (items are added here and there),
disrupting players who are accustomed to only one type of gaming (single
or multiplayer).
-More traps.
-Much easier to push friends into traps.
-More monster generators; and thus, more monsters too.
-Golems have much more health (you'll have to learn how to trap Golems
behind walls and such to snipe away at them). (2P: x3, 3P: ???, 4P: ???)
-Bosses have much more health (2P: x4 more health!, 3P: ???, 4P: ???).
-Bosses are faster and stronger (eg: Dragon will automatically shoot 3
straight fireballs at the beginning in 4 player games!).
-Bosses get angry much easier.
-Less fun: there are some greedy, self-centered people out there who won't
cooperate. Be careful when playing with this type of player! >:(
MULTIPLAYER STRATEGIES
When building multiplayer groups, choosing characters should be based on
individual preference and player psychology. If everyone in your group likes
to charge ahead and finish levels in the least time possible, then by all
means, take 4 Archers. If you're like me and like mass-destruction, take
4 Wizards! :)
For beginners, you *should* play characters that complement each other like
Warrior + Wizard, Warrior + Archer, Valkyrie + Wizard, Valkyrie + Archer.
For pros, if you want fun, try to create teams consisting of all the same
characters! Four Wizards is a frightening combination (thanx to Allen Kim)!
It takes practice, but even if you take 4 times the same character it IS
possible to overcome the weaknesses of your characters if you're already well
acquainted with the game.
Always travel together as a team. Assign a leader to your group: it's very
easy to be confused and wander off in the opposite direction that the team is
going in. Avoid splitting up because you won't be able to leave the screen's
boundaries: this means that if you're on the edge of the screen and someone
is anchoring the camera, you won't be able to see what's up ahead! The leader
of the group should be the most seasoned player, most acquainted with the game.
Create a formation: have the people with the highest armor and/or best Melee
attacks stand in front of the team while people with high Missile power and/or
Missile Rate stand behind.
Always communicate aloud. People can't read your thoughts. If you want
them to do something, tell them. Remember that arcades are usually loud, so
you might have to yell.
Avoid pushing other players into traps; which can hurt A LOT; even at high
levels.
Cover each other. The advantage of the fact that monsters have low
intelligence. Most monsters tend to charge mindlessly at the nearest player
they see. They'll try to surround him/her and beat away until he/she is dead.
Let the front player charge into Melee as much as possile while his/her
teammates in the rear cover his/her flanks and back. This is a very good way
to avoid wasting Potions needlessly, all while taking the least amount of
damage possible. If everyone is surrounded, you might not necessarily want to
cover each other: if you're all playing Melee types (Warrior, Valkyrie), best
to let each fight the monsters surrounding you in Melee and if you're all
playing Wizards, best to do a crossfire (have Wizard A shoot the monsters
around Wizard B and vice versa) because Wizards have powerful Missile attacks.
Use the monsters' single-mindedness to your advantage: check out the LURING
MONSTERS trick in the "Tricks (and Cheats)" heading in section 7.0 "Tricks"
for more details.
The "IT" power-up is a FANTASTIC weapon to take advantage of your foes'
stupidity! This will allow you to use the LURING MONSTERS trick without the
hassle of having a character go to the danger of walking up to a monster to
start luring it. (Once again, see LURING MONSTERS for more details.) Of
course, in the spirit of anti-cooperation, you can always tag players who are
greedy, cowardly or just piss you off and run away, letting them fend for
themselves (thanx to Blue Elf)! Not very productive, but will help you vent
frustration.
Always share items and food: the longer the entire team can last, the longer
you'll all play. It's not a good idea to hog all the food, because if one of
your teammates dies, your playing strategies will be completely off (eg: no
one to cover your back anymore, power-ups inside stages will disappear, etc.).
Assign certain Special Items to certain characters. Certain items have
very little use to players with certain playing strategies (see sections 5.1
and 5.2 for more details). Players fall into two categories:
Melee Type Player: People who like to press on and charge in front of the
team and whack monsters to death to get out of stages as
fast as possible. They are usually aggressive and
impatient people.
Missile Type Player: People who like to stay far from enemies and snipe away
at them to avoid taking damage. They are usually
patient and careful.
The power-up distribution should be:
Melee Type Player: Give them Limited Growth, FireWall/Lightning/Reflect
(Always in Front) Shield, Breath Attacks, Speed Boots, Levitation, Limited
Invulnerability (Silver and Gold), Thunder Hammer.
Missile Type Player: 3-Way/5-Way Shot, Rapid Fire, Reflect Shot, Phoenix
(Always in Back) Familiar, Pojo Egg.
WARNING: Be careful when joining a game already in progress. The game changes
dynamically as players leave and join. The changes are INSTANTANEOUS, BUT
they happen AROUND your field of vision (the screen that you are in does
not change). I've heard a story from someone that was at the beginning of
stage 1 of the Castle Realm. They started, then some guy joined his team.
Problem was that the game added more chests, but not any more keys (which
are normally found in his field of vision). They opened all the chests
and got STUCK because they ran out of keys and couldn't open the door!
Thankfully, they were saved by the Bonus Key Award (see Section 9.0 "The
Timer is Ticking"), but it cost them a lot of health (lost by standing
there and waiting).
PROBLEMS WHEN PLAYING ALONE
Playing alone can be real tough, even for a seasoned veteran. There are
very few Potions in single player games (use them sparingly or else you'll
run out at a critical moment) and it's very easy to get surrounded by monsters.
There's no one to back you up, so your character should be a well-rounded
(ie: buy as many Stat potions to round off your character as possible).
Also, you won't be able to use disappearing/appearing two-player invisible
bridges, which require another player to stand on the switch while you cross
(although there are tricks to using these bridges in single player games -
see Tricks 7.0); this means that in the Castle Courtyard, you'll have to go
the long way, you won't be able to get the 2nd Runestone in the Forest Realm,
etc. The advantages of playing alone is that monsters, Golems and bosses are
much weaker when playing alone. Bosses are also slower and tend not to get
angry as easily.
MULTIPLAYER ITEMS
It should be noted that some special items (which cannot be bought in the
end-of-level shops) can only be found in multiplayer games. (Many thanx to
all of those who contributed: Matthew Lees, Michael Weston, etc.)
1 player : Amulets, Anti-Death Power, Breath Weapons, Invisibility,
Levitation, Pojo Egg, Silver Invulnerability, Speed Boots
2 players: Super Shot*, Thunder Hammer**, Shrink Enemies***, IT
3 players: 5-Way Shot+, TimeStop++
4 players: Golden Invulnerability+++
*: In a single player game, Super Shot can only be found in the Caverns
(last Mountain stage), in the Temple of the Magi (2nd Desert stage), in
the Tombs (last Desert stage) and in the Underworld. (thanx to PM)
**: Thunder Hammer can only be found in the Treasury (last Castle stage)
in single player games. (thanx to Michael Weston) Start the stage, go
right and open the gate, then shoot the barrel in front of you. This
item can also be bought in end-of-level-shops.
***: Shrink Enemies can only be found in 3 places in single player games.
-Tombs (last Desert stage): Near the end of the stage. On a platform
which you must access via long stairs. (thanx to Matthew Lees)
-Temple (2nd Desert stage): In the area with the dropping/rising panels.
Next to a pile of gold and a Potion. Do NOT grab the gold next to the
Shrink Enemies power-up first: uts platform will raise and you will lose
it. Grab the powerup first, then the gold and Potion. (thanx to PM)
-Swamp (1st Forest stage). It is North of a two player bridge past the
First exit. (In single-player game, step on button, let monster on
bridge then Turbo run through.) There is also a Growth there, next to
the Shrink btw! :) (thanx to PM)
+: 5-Way Shot can only be found in the Underworld in 1-2 player games. At
the circular intersection, go left to find it.
++: Time Stop can only be found in the Underworld in 1-2 player games. It's
near the end of the stage.
+++: One such occurrence is in the Cliffs (3rd stage of the Mountain) 5 feet
South of the Death-in-a-chest. (thanx to Robert Iu)
* 5.0 "LEVEL UP"ING **********************************************************
After endless hours of testing, re-testing, interpolation and extrapolation,
we have come up with a rather crude experience chart. This chart may or may
not be exact: it's the best we could do, short of decompiling the game or
breaking into Atari! ;)
This chart is also far from complete: there are still certain "Questions
That Remain Unanswered" which are difficult to solve. (Any info would be
greatly appreciated.)
MANY MANY thanks go out to Blue Elf, DWells, Robert Iu and AKim for their
help on this. (Endless thanks to Blue Elf for spending many many hours on
trying to figure the experience scheme out when we all just about gave up!)
EXPERIENCE VALUES
-----------------
NOTATION:
Normal Monsters: ALL normal monsters, excluding Golems, Gargoyles, Bosses,
Skorne 1 & 2 and Death.
(eg: All types of Orcs, Lizardmen, Demons, Living Armors, Mummies,
Living Tree Trunks, Suicide Bombers (Barrel Runners), Archers, Bomb
Tossers, Snakes, Scorpions, Spiders, Rats)
Golem: ALL types of Golems. (Golems from all 4 worlds are worth the same
experience.)
Gargoyle: The 3 sphinx-like statues in the Underworld guarding the EXIT to
Skorne 2's lair ("THE THRONE OF SKORNE").
Boss: Bosses of the 4 worlds: Dragon, Chimera, Spider Queen & Genie.
Skorne 1 & 2: The boss of the game; who must be defeated twice to finish the
game (hence, "1 & 2").
Damage in Missile: Your Missile attack connects, but it isn't lethal.
Damage in Melee: Your Melee attack connects, but it isn't lethal.
Kill in Missile: Your Missile attack connects and it kills the creature.
Kill in Melee: Your Melee attack connects and it kills the creature.
(Note: I've avoided making a 2-dimensional table: in consideration for the
people who may use viewers/word processors which aren't ASCII text friendly.)
----- EXPERIENCE DISTRIBUTION TABLE -----
Normal : Damage/Kill in Melee: 3/4
Monsters Damage/Kill in Missile: 1/2
Golem: Damage/Kill in Melee: 4/40
Damage/Kill in Missile: 2/30
Gargoyle: Damage/Kill in Melee: 4/300
Damage/Kill in Missile: 2/300
Boss: Damage/Kill in Melee: 4/500
Damage/Kill in Missile: 2/500
Skorne: Damage/Kill in Melee: X/XXX
(1 & 2) Damage/Kill in Missile: 4/500
(Note that neither Skorne 1 or 2 can be engaged in Melee, thus X values
indicate unknown values.)
----- EXPERIENCE REQUIRED (FOR LEVEL-UP TABLE) -----
(These values where given to me by Blue Elf and our individual testing has
revealed a scheme similar to this. I believe that he may have gotten these
from a gaming magazine, but I'm not sure which one; I think maybe Tips and
Tricks (Febuary 1999?). If someone knows please check if this is true and if
so, give me an e-mail address where I could contact them (IF they are indeed
the people who came up with these numbers): I would like to credit their great
effort and work!
To hit the title levels, here's the total XPs needed:
Level 10 -- 11,700
Level 25 -- 42,000
Level 50 -- 122,500
Level 75 -- 234,200
Level 99 -- 344,600
Note: We have been more or less unsuccessful in trying to figure out XP
requirements for individual levels.
----- ODDS & ENDS ----- (MANY thanx to Blue Elf)
1) Hitting IT does not generate XPs.
2) Blue Elf thinks that you get 1 XP for killing Death.
3) The XPs earned hold true regardless of the character played.
4) XPs are earned for ALL hits/kills, including those generated by 3-Way Shot,
Rapid Fire, Thunder Hammer, radius attacks, Turbo Attacks, and the like.
5) Turbo Attacks Level 1 (Melee) and Level 2 score experience as Melee attacks.
6) A hit is scored each time a monster "flashes"; experience is distributed
accordingly.
7) Gold is worth no (ZERO) XPs.
----- QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN UNANSWERED ----- (thanx to Blue Elf)
1) Does Turbo Attack Level 3 count as Melee or Missile for XP purposes?
2) Does the Turbo Attack Level 3's Damage Aura count as Melee or Missile for
XP purposes?
3) Does a Potion count as Melee or Missile for XP purposes?
4) Do generators give XP?
5) Does a breath attack count as Melee or Missile for XP purposes?
6) Does a lightning shield or firewall shield count as Melee or Missile for
XP purposes?
7) Does the familiar's hits/kills count for XPs?
8) How much XP is given when picking up Items and Runestones?
9) How much XP is gained from getting hit by a boss? (Note: Maurice Kirejczyk
claims that he once gained a level in this manner.)
----- END NOTE -----
As you can all see, Melee attacks give you significantly more experience than
Missile attacks. Thus, when possible, try to engage monsters in Melee to gain
more experience; you'll gain levels faster that way.
* 5.1 EFFECTS OF "LEVEL-UP"ING ***********************************************
The effects of gaining a new level are listed below. They are separated into
3 categories. Where applicable, your character can gain effects from all
categories he/she is eligible for. (Eg: From lvl 98 to lvl 99, your character
gains 5 points in each stat, his/her Intrinsic Properties increase by x0.25
AND x0.1! All 3 categories!!!)
EVERY TIME YOU GAIN A LEVEL:
-Your character's Stats (Strength, Speed, Armor, Magic) increase by 5 points.
EVERY TIME YOU REACH A TITLE LEVEL:
(The Title Levels are Levels 10, 25, 50, 75 and 99.)
-Your character gains a new "ability". See section 5.2 "Title Levels" for
more information on the advantages conferred at these Levels.
-Your character's Intrinsic Properties increase. This increase in the
multipliers seems to be approximately x0.25. (So a lvl 10 Warrior
would have x0.75, as opposed to a lvl 1 Warrior who only has x0.5.)
The Intrinsic Properties which increase at Title Levels are:
-Melee Power
-Decrease in delay to Melee/Missile Attacks rated as "<Slow>"
-Decrease to Super Shot Delay
-Base Armor
-Base Magic
-Movement Rate (not by much, but still noticeable)
Eg: Compare a lvl 75 Chieftain (Minotaur) and a lvl 74 Champion (Minotaur),
both with 999 Magic. A Silver Invulnerability lasts about 10 seconds
longer on the former!!!
FROM THE HERE 'TIL THE END:
(From Levels 75 to 99)
-The same Intrinsic Properties listed above get an increase. This increase
(in the property multipliers) seems to be approximately x0.1. (Ie: This
increase is significantly less than the one obtained at each Title Levels
(see above).)
(MANY thanx goes to James P Hill for this info. He is the only person who
managed to get the opportunity to compare maxed out characters (ie: 999
everything) of varying levels, such as a Warrior at lvl 99 and a Valkyrie at
lvl 23 as well as others. Thanx to my brother for confirming this stuff.)
* 5.2 TITLE LEVELS ***********************************************************
Level/Description of Ability obtained
10 Get a better version of your weapon (eg: Valkyrie gets a broad sword).
Increases the Melee Power and Missile Power intrinsic properties (by how
much, I am not 100% sure), but the increase in power is very noticeable.
Very useful since it allows characters to kill monsters in less hits, thus
saving time and health.
25 Get a familiar. When you shoot, your familiar simultaneously shoots a
magic shot along side yours. Your familiar cannot Auto-Aim (yet), so
expect it to miss quite often. Its shots aren't powerful, but still very
useful since it effectively doubles your rate of fire and will temporarily
stun monsters upon impact (just like yours), giving you enough time to
shoot again and kill them while they're still reeling in pain! This is
invaluable versus multiple Missile attackers. Also very good versus
masses of monsters rushing towards you.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF FAMILIARS
Missile Rate/Power x1(Base)/x0.5
Speed/Range/Type: x1 /Medium /(Magic Bolts)
Movement Rate/Type: x1(Base) /(Flying)
NOTES ABOUT FAMILIARS:
-Familiars fire only when your character is shooting. Your familiar will
do nothing if your character enters Melee combat.
-They fire as often as your character does and their shots are executed
simultaneously alongside your character's. (eg: Slow characters mean
slow familiars.)
-Their shots go over MOST obstacles such as low walls, bushes, etc; thus
allowing you to kill monsters behind walls!!!
-It takes 2 of their shots to destroy a barrel (normal, red or green),
2 to kill a lvl 1 Orc, 3 for a lvl 2 Orc and 4 for a lvl 3 Orc.
-Their shots stun monsters for a split second (they reel back in pain),
just like your character's shots.
-Familiars stay at your side: they move as fast as you do and they do
NOT get stuck inside obstacles.
50 Get an even better weapon than at lvl 10. EXTREMELY powerful! Damage
increase is VERY noticeable. This advantage is a great help in all combat
situations; especially against bosses.
75 Get a better familiar. Now, your familiar Auto-Aims too!!! This means
that when there are two enemies in front of you, your shots will diverge:
your familiar will shoot one and you will shoot the other. If there is
only one enemy in front of you, your shots will converge: both of you will
shoot at the same guy. Two brains are indeed better than one!
99 Your character grows by 10% (as though he/she were affected by a minor
permanent growth potion), but he/she can still be knocked down. Also,
your character's head will grow ridiculously large like in the NBA Jam
Big Heads Code. As a side-effect, you're Breath Attacks will now go twice
as far, reaching the other end of your Field of Vision! (Thanx to DWells)
This is the last level that your character will ever gain. Reaching lvl 99
("Legend" status) confers a VERY large increase in Intrinsic Properties
unlike anything you've ever seen before! (Eg: You will notice that damage
done against you is reduced drastically because of Base Armor increase.)
* 6.0 ITEMS ******************************************************************
PURCHASING PRIORITIES
Don't waste money on special items; buy Stat potions instead. They are
permanent and will greatly help you in the future. None of these potions work
miracles; they're long term investments. You'll have to buy at least 20
potions (ie: 100 stat points) before you can see a difference, but don't
worry; in a 2 player game with one credit (500 health) each, you can easily
buy 5-10 Stat potions per player when you will have memorized the stage layout
(along with all 3 Runes, gold and the "secret" Treasure Room).
1) Speed Potion
The best potion, period. It increases Movement Rate as well as decrease
recoil effects of all your attacks (which have recoil, of course). Very
useful in every situation. Essential if you want to fight bosses. Helps
you dodge enemy Missile attacks more effectively. The increased movement
decreases the amount of health lost through the Ticking Timer since you can
get to Exits much faster. Also, you bypass certain traps, monsters and
generators if you are fast enough (they'll somehow magically disappear).
Note that some special items will actually disappear if you are too slow to
get them. See "Tricks" section (7.0) for more details on this.
2) Magic Potion
A very good potion to buy if you have experience in mind. It'll increase
the potency of your Potions, thus allowing you to kill more monsters. Also,
Magic increases your character's resistance against magical attacks like
fireballs. Other advantages are longer special item duration and longer
breath attack range. (More useful in multiplayer games than in single-
player ones.)
3) Armor Potion
A good potion for people who love to charge in front of the group. More
useful in single-player games than in multiplayer ones. Only useful if you
intend on getting hit (of course), this is why most pros tend to avoid this
potion.
4) Strength Potion
This potion has mixed effects. Against normal monsters, these potions are
useless: even after going from 200 to 600 Strength with the Archer, I
STILL had to shoot three times to kill a lvl 2 Orc! Strength potions'
effects can only be seen when fighting Golems and bosses. Eg: Confronted by
a Golem at 500 Strength, I used BFG and retreated to snipe it 4-5 times to
kill it! At 700 Strength, I don't even remember what "retreating" means
anymore!
* 6.1 POWER-UP PRIORITIES ****************************************************
NOTE ABOUT POWER-UPS:
ALL Power-Ups have priority over your normal attacks. Eg: If you have a
Breath Weapon and you press Fight, you're character will not shoot a Missile
attack, but instead use up a shot from the Breath Weapon.
Also, the Items of Skorne have priority over all your power-ups (where
applicable). If you have a Thunder Hammer and a Gauntlet of Skorne, pressing
Fight will make your character throw a acid/electricity ball instead of using
up a shot from the Hammer.
Certain items do more good on certain types of players:
Melee Type Player: People who like to press on and charge in front of the
team and whack monsters to death to get out of stages as
fast as possible. They are usually aggressive and
impatient people.
Missile Type Player: People who like to stay far from enemies and snipe away
at them to avoid taking damage. They are usually
patient and careful.
Melee Type Player: Give them Limited Growth, FireWall/Lightning/Reflect
(Always in Front) Shield, Breath Attacks, Speed Boots, Levitation, Limited
Invulnerability (Silver and Gold), Thunder Hammer.
Missile Type Player: 3-Way/5-Way Shot, Rapid Fire, Reflect Shot, Phoenix
(Always in Back) Familiar, Pojo Egg.
EXPLANATIONS OF PRIORITIES:
-Limited Growth: Prevents you from being knocked down by Golems. Also boosts
your Melee Power and your Base Armor temporarily.
-FireWall/Lightning Shield: Useful for the leader. Have him/her run into
monsters with it and wipe out entire hoards in
mere seconds! Other teammates should follow
closely behind. Note: To use these items on a
Golem, you must touch him with the shield, run
back and repeat (simply trying to run him over
won't work; you'll only hit him once with the
Shield) (thanx to TSN).
-Reflect Shield: Also useful for the leader. Put other team members closely
behind him/her and monsters who can fire Missile attacks will
always aim for the leader, only to get a nasty surprise!
-Breath Attacks: Only useful in Melee because range is so limited. Use the
Buttonless Melee Trick (see "Definitions" 3.0) to kill weak
enemies so that you can save the few shots you have on large
groups of monsters. The cool thing about Breath Attacks is
that they knock down monsters so that Missile Types can pick
them off while they're on the ground!
-Speed Boots: Boosts Missile rate a little, but it increases Melee rate
dramatically (x3-x4)! Quick movement is essential for Melee
Types so that they can reach and hit monsters before they hit
him/her.
-Levitation: Also very good for Melee Types to give them a sense of freedom.
They'll no longer have to worry about running into traps and
getting stunned while they're whacking monsters!
-Limited Invulnerability: Gives a sense of total freedom to Melee Types. No
longer have they to worry about traps, Missile
attacking monsters or Golems knocking them down.
The others should stay behind him/her and use him
as a body shield to avoid getting hit!
-Thunder Hammer: Use the Buttonless Melee Trick (see "Definitions" 3.0) to
save shots (you only have 3 per Hammer!). And since the
Hammer is area-of-effect, the closer the Melee Type is to a
hoard of monsters, the more he/she will kill.
-3-Way/5-Way Shot: Be careful when getting this if you're a Melee Type. Every
time you'll press Fight, you'll ALWAYS execute a Missile
attack (EVEN if you are in range to enter Melee). You'll
have to resort to the Buttonless Melee Trick if you want to
do Melee; that's why you'd best leave it to Missile Types.
-Rapid Fire: Boosts Missile rate to incredible levels! Hold down Fight to
fire a near-cohesive stream of shots!
-Reflect Shot: Only really useful if you intend to shoot monsters. A definite
"No-No" for Melee Types.
-Phoenix Familiar: Again, only useful in Missile combat because the Phoenix
will only fire its powerful shots in ranged combat and not
Melee.
-Pojo Egg: Pojo does not fair very well in Melee, but handles himself VERY
well in ranged combat because his shots are very powerful.
* 6.2 ITEM DESCRIPTIONS ******************************************************
NOTE ABOUT POWER-UPS: (See header of Section 6.1 "Power-Up Priorities")
[?]: This item has this property when used.
Duration: Time delimited items last for a certain amount of time before they
wear off. (Durations for this type of item range from Very Short,
Short, Medium, Long, Very Long to Extremely Long.) Shot delimited
items allow you to use the items for a certain amount of shots
before it disappears.
<Cost>: Price to buy this item in the end-of-level shop (in Gauntlet Legends
v.1.6)
---- ITEMS THAT CAN BE BOUGHT AT THE END-OF-LEVEL SHOP -----
Key: [Opens doors] (Duration: 1 use/Key) <Cost: 250>
Never buy keys: there will always be enough keys given to you in stages
to open nearly every chest that you'll encounter. It's a waste of gold.
The only place worth buying keys is in the Desecrated Temple: buy only
2, one for the Phoenix Familiar and the other for Anti-Death Power.
Reflect Shot: (Duration: Long) <Cost: 450>
Your character's Missile attacks will bounce off walls. Not really useful
alone, but can easily wreck havoc with 3-Way/5-Way Shot, Double Bow or
BFG!
Potions: [Knockback] [Area-Of-Effect] (Duration: 1 use/Potion) <Cost: 500>
[4 Types: Fire, Lightning, Acid & Light (Red, Blue, Green & Yellow)]
Creates an area-of-effect elemental blast that does massive damage to (as
well as knock back) everything around you. Range and potency of the
Potion is determined by your Magic stat and your Base Magic intrinsic
property. Using a Potion is one of the only ways to "kill" (ie: get rid
of) Death. Potions can be used, thrown or used to create a Magic Shield
around your character. (See POTIONS heading under Section 7.0 "Tricks"
for complete details on effects, moves and tricks concerning Potions.)
Limited Growth: [Prevents Knockback] (Duration: Short) <Cost: 600>
Your character grows to twice his/her size. Melee attacks are much
stronger. Base Armor is also temporarily increased. Your character can
no longer get knocked off their feet by Golems as long as they FACE the
Golem (if you're hit in the back while running away, you'll still get
knocked down!) (thanx to DWells). Apparently, Growth will also increase
your Breath Weapons' range.
Strength Potion: (Duration: Permanent!) <Cost: 800>
Increases your character's Strength by 5 points. Useless in the short
run, but invaluable for long-term games, as its effects are limited yet
permanent! Buy as many as possible to see a GREAT improvement in your
character! (This should be the #4 item that you buy.)
Speed Potion: (Duration: Permanent!) <Cost: 800>
Same as Strength Potion, except that it increases Speed instead. (This
should be the #1 item that you buy.)
Armor Potion: (Duration: Permanent!) <Cost: 800>
Same as Strength Potion, except that it increases Armor instead. (This
should be the #3 item that you buy.)
Magic Potion: (Duration: Permanent!) <Cost: 800>
Same as Strength Potion, except that it increases Magic instead. (This
should be the #2 item that you buy.)
Reflect Shield: (Duration: Medium) <Cost: 1200>
Probably one of THE most powerful item in the game. Allows you to
Reflect enemy all Missile fire that would otherwise directly hit you back
at them! This shield covers your entire front (180 degrees in front of
you). Reflected shots do MASSIVE amounts of damage to monsters AND
bosses! Note that Missile attacks that explode before hitting your
character will STILL hurt you; the Shield can only reflect shots that are
aimed AT YOU (or at someone directly behind you)!
Phoenix Familiar: (Duration: Medium) <Cost: 1300>
Calls a shimmering yellow fireball spitting phoenix to your side (which
replaces your current familiar, if you have one). Its fireballs are
HUGE and they hurt as much as a lvl 50 Wizard with a Fire Amulet
(ie: VERY powerful)! In all other respects, its acts the same as the
familiar obtained upon reaching lvl 25 (see Section 5.1 "Title Levels").
Rapid Fire: (Duration: Short) <Cost: 1400>
Increases your Melee Rate a little, but also boosts your Missile Rate to
frightening levels and allows you to use the True AutoFire Trick (see
"Missile Attacks" in Section 3.0 "Definitions")! Finally, it decreases
Turbo Attack execution time to ZERO!
3-Way Shot: (Duration: Medium) <Cost: 1500>
Whenever you press Fight, your character will now shoot 3 shots instead
of just one, effectively tripling your rate of fire! These shots are in
a "fan"/"spread" pattern (ie: there is a 30-degree angle between adjacent
shots). Very powerful when combined with other power-ups like Rapid Fire,
Reflect Shot and/or any Amulet. Note that your character will now shoot
EVERY TIME you press Fight; EVEN if you are in Melee range (this can be a
definite problem for the Melee Type players).
Thunder Hammer: [Knockback] [Area-Of-Effect] (Duration: 3 shots) <Cost: 1500>
Creates a very large area-of-effect thunder blast that does MASSIVE
damage to every monster around your character when you press Fight (note
that you will no longer be able to engage monsters in standard Melee or
Missile combat while you hold the Hammer; use the Buttonless Melee trick
instead). The size of this blast is determined by your Magic stat and
your Base Magic property. Be warned that the Thunder Hammer blast WILL
open/blow barrels as well as destroy Potions on the floor or INSIDE
barrels. It will also activate any Stasis Deaths in the vicinity.
Lightning Shield: [Knockback] (Duration: Short) <Cost: 1600>
Any monster that you touch with this shield in hand will be struck by
lightning bolts that surge from it! Unlike the FireWall Shield, it does
not do continuous damage; instead, it does single powerful jolts of
lightning. Note that this Shield will NOT destroy generators and you
must be in movement to keep this shield active. It's a great weapon to
take out hoards of monsters!
FireWall Shield: (Duration: Short) <Cost: 1800>
Creates a wall of fire that covers your entire front (180 degrees) when
you walk/jog/run/jog fast. Any monster that touches this field will
receive continuous damage until they die. The FireWall will NOT destroy
generators. You must be in movement to keep this shield active. It's a
great weapon to take out hoards of monsters!
Golden Invulnerability: [Prevents all damage] (Duration: Medium) <Cost: 2000>
Your character becomes gold. All damage done to you is reduced to -1
(ie: every time you get hit, you gain 1 health!). You can no longer be
knocked down. Your character is also no longer affected by the Ticking.
While your character is invincible, the timer/counter which regulates the
Ticking Timer States stops. (See section 9.0 "The Timer is Ticking" for
more details)
----- ITEMS THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND INSIDE STAGES -----
Amulet: [Boosts Melee & Missile Power] (Duration: Very Long)
[4 Types: Fire, Lightning, Acid & Light]
Gives your weapon more power by imbuing it with the appropriate elemental
might. Your strikes and shots will do much more damage! Very useful and
very long lasting. (Note that while you hold an amulet, your weapon will
turn into your character's weapon obtained at lvl 10; this is for
esthetical purposes only: your weapon will still do the same damage as
usual.)
Anti-Death Power: (Duration: Long)
Allows you to drain health from Death instead of the other way around!
Be aware that Death will try to run away from the character who has this
item, so chase her down! Note that this item wears off immediately after
you drain any ONE Death by 100 health (see "How to Drain Multiple Deaths"
under the Death heading in section 7.0 "Tricks" for a neat trick!), or
after the duration of this power-up has expired (whichever comes FIRST).
Note that this power-up will also disappear if you "kill" Death with a
Potion (thanx to PM)! I have noted that sometimes ordinary monsters also
run away from me when I have this power-up (perhaps reminiscent of the
Repulsion Amulet in Gauntlet II?).
Breath Attacks: [Knockback] [Directable] (Duration: 5 shots)
[3 Types: Fire, Lightning & Acid]
Your character will spit the appropriate short elemental beam out of
his/her mouth when you press Fight (note that you will no longer be able
to engage monsters in standard Melee or Missile combat while you have the
Breath Attack; use the Buttonless Melee trick instead). This beam is
directable (use joystick to make your character perform a "sweeping attack"
to hit many monsters) and will knock monsters off their feet (while
they're on the ground, you can hit them again!). Note that the range of
your Breath Attack is determined by your Magic stat and Base Magic
intrinsic property. Warning: While shooting the beam, you will be
standing still and will thus be very vulnerable to Missile attacks from
your enemies. (Note: Breath Weapons have priority over Super Shot; you
will do a Breath Attack if you press Fight when you have both.)
5-Way Shot: (Duration: Medium)
Same as 3-Way Shot, except that you're character now shoots 5 times (in
the same "fan"/"spread" pattern) whenever you press Fight. EXTREMELY
POWERFUL! Especially in combination with any other power-up.
Fruit: (Duration: Permanent)
Gives your character 50 health. They come in 3 varieties: Apple,
Banana and Pineapple. Be warned that at later Ticking Timer States, you
will receive less health when grabbing fruit (see Section 9.0 "The Timer
is Ticking").
Invisibility: (Duration: Medium)
Makes your character translucent. While invisible, monsters will TOTALLY
ignore you, either going for your friends (if you're playing multiplayer)
or wandering around aimlessly (if you're alone). They will be easy prey
for players who love to snipe! Note that in multi-player games, monsters
WILL detect you even if you are invisible when you try to engage them in
Melee. (eg: If you try to hit that Golem with your shiny axe, he WILL
feel it and realize that there's an invisible guy next to him and bash
your brains out!) (Ie: In single-player games, you can hit monsters
repeatedly without being detected (thanx to PM).)
IT: (Duration: Extremely Long)
A very useful "item" that is only obtained by getting touched by the
shimmering yellow "IT" ball at certain locations inside certain stages.
When a character is it, there is a brown scroll on their back with the
painted yellow letters "IT". (Also note that there will also be an "IT"
icon under the 100,000s digit of your gold). "IT" makes all enemies
target their attacks towards the character that is "IT". You can give
"IT" to other player by simply touching them. (For more info on how to
take advantage of "IT", see Section 4.2 "Multiplayer Gaming") Note that
IT disappears the moment you leave a stage.
Levitation: (Duration: Medium)
Gives your character a pair of wings (even for the Falconess; which will
make a total of 4 for her) and makes them float one foot above the
ground. Makes you invincible against ALL traps (thanx to PM). This will
give you something less to worry about when running around.
Meat: (Duration: Permanent)
Gives your character 100 health. Comes in 3 varieties: Ham, Chicken and
Steak. Be warned that at later Ticking Timer States, you will receive
less health when grabbing meat (see Section 9.0 "The Timer is Ticking").
Poison Food: (Duration Permanent)
Takes away 50 health from your character. Looks like a green apple with
a skull and crossbones on it.
Pojo Egg: (Duration: Long)
Temporarily transforms your character into Pojo! (See Section 4.0
"Character Comparison" for more details on how to play Pojo.)
Shrink Enemies: (Duration: Medium)
Reduces the size of your enemies by half. Your foes will do less damage
and have less health. Note that in Melee, your character will now stomp
or kick them (which is rather awkward). Golems will no longer knock you
down when hitting you. (Unsure if it works on bosses; but rumor has it
that bosses don't shrink, yet they STILL have the damage & health drain!)
Silver Invulnerability: [Prevents all damage] (Duration: Medium - about 30sec)
Your character becomes silver. All damage done to you is reduced to zero
You cannot be hit or knocked down. Your character is also no longer
affected by the Ticking Timer. While your character is invincible, the
timer/counter which regulates the Ticking Timer States stops. (see
section 9.0 "The Timer is Ticking" for more details)
Speed Boots: (Duration: Very Short - about 10-15 seconds)
Give your character 300-400 Speed (allowing you to go beyond 999!), so
your character moves faster. Increases your Melee Rate Tremendously
(approximately x3)!!! Also boosts your Missile Rate by a fair amount and
allows you to use the True AutoFire Trick (see "Missile Attacks" in
Section 3.0 "Definitions"). Finally, it also decreases Turbo Attack
execution time to ZERO! Note that even though this is a temporary boost,
this power-up will prevent you from buying Speed Potions if your current
Speed stat exceeds 999 (with the boost) (thanx to BFord); you'll have to
wait until it wears off. ARG!!!
Super Shot: [Knockback] (Duration: 5 shots)
Your character will be holding a giant wooden crossbow in his/her weapon
hand. Pressing Fight will make him/her shoot a big shiny yellow crossbow
bolt from it (note that you will no longer be able to engage monsters in
standard Melee or Missile combat while you have the Super Shot; use the
Buttonless Melee trick instead). These shots have unlimited range, move
faster than normal shots and blow THROUGH ALL monsters (instantly killing
ordinary monsters and knocking Golems/bosses back)! Very powerful! Be
warned that each character has a different Super Shot Delay (a delay
before AND after firing a Super Shot), which can prove rather annoying
when trying to dodge enemy fire.
Time Stop: (Duration: Very Short - about 10 seconds)
Stops time completely, allowing your character to run around freely
without having to worry about monsters! Allows you to get free hits on
monsters without fear of them retaliating!!!
X-Ray Glasses: (Duration: Medium)
Allows your character to see the contents of chests and barrels before
you open it. Useful for avoiding opening useless chests. But its true
power lies in giving you the ability to see the contents of random chests;
which cycle through a FIXED pattern and to open it when you see something
that you like (eg: Get Meat instead of Poison!). Note that the contents
of random chests aren't always what they appear to be (eg: In the Cliffs
of Desolation, 3rd Mountain stage, if you open the silver chest at the
beginning in 2+ player games when it looks like a FireWall Shield, you'll
get a Thunder Hammer instead!).
----- UNIQUE TREASURES (GOTTEN ONLY AFTER BEATING SKORNE 1) -----
Each of the 4 unique Items of Skorne have priority over ALL other power-ups
(ie: If you have a Mask of Skorne and a Super Shot, you will use the Mask if
you press Fight and not the Super Shot).
Mask Of Skorne: (Duration: Extremely Long)
Gives your character a time delimited Fire Breath Attack. This has the
EXACT same effect as the Fire Breath, BUT you can use it as many times
as you want until it wears out. (Very useful in clearing the Underworld;
it'll take two shots to kill lvl 3 monsters there.)
Horns Of Skorne: (Duration: Extremely Long)
Exactly the same as the Mask of Skorne, see above.
Gauntlet Of Skorne (Right): (Duration: Very Long)
Allows your character to throw powerful bolts of acid. (Each shot can
kill a lvl 3 monster in the Underworld!) These bolts are fast and have
unlimited range. This item is essential for doing the Unlimited Super
Shot (version 1); see Tricks (And Cheats) heading in "Tricks" (7.0) for
more details.
Gauntlet Of Skorne (Left): (Duration: Very Long)
Exactly the same as the Right Gauntlet of Skorne, except that your
character will throw electricity bolts instead.
* 7.0 TRICKS *****************************************************************
To make finding tricks easier, I have categorized all the tricks into
particular sections. They are listed alphabetically:
-Continuing
-Death
-Golems
-Gold, Barrels and Chests
-Miscellaneous
-Potions
-Strategies
-Traps
-Tricks (and Cheats)
Note that the new tricks found will be noted as "(NEW!)" and they will all
be inserted at the end of the category they belong to.
----- CONTINUING -----
-For lots of quick levels and gold in the least credits as possible, never
continue. Keep playing the same world over and over again. This way,
you'll memorize stage layouts and you'll easily be able to finish the
stage with more health than you came in with.
-Never die (without continuing) with Potions in your possession; it's a
real waste. If you see that you are about to die, waste all your Potions
ASAP. This way, you'll make some experience and you may help out the
other players remaining (if you're playing multiplayer).
-If you die and continue (before the timer runs out), you do NOT lose all
your potions (thanx to Allen Kim). Also, when you die, your character
drops his/her keyring on the floor. Note that when you die at a boss,
your keyring disappears (thanx to DWells)!
-See "Maximizing Credits" under the "Tricks (And Cheats)" heading to find
out how to maximize your credits (ie: get the most bang for the buck).
-Stages change dynamically as players leave or join in: food, gold, items,
monsters and generators disappear or appear appropriately. The changes
happen instantly AROUND your field of vision (the screen that you are in
doesn't change). Don't be surprised if after someone joins you, both of
you walk into the next room, only to discover that it's now guarded by
two Golems and not just one!
----- DEATH -----
-Use a Potion near an active Death to "kill" her.
-Use a Potion near Death-in-a-chest to turn her into a Fruit.
-Use a Potion near Death-in-a-barrel to break the barrel and "kill" her.
-Using a Potion near a Stasis Death will do NOTHING; you must first activate
her if you want to "kill" her.
-If Death does not get to drain 100 health from the players, she will leave
after 400 seconds of activation. (Although, I don't know who in their
right mind would wait that long!)
-KILLING DEATH
It IS possible to kill Death without using a Potion. Your familiar, Pojo
and Phoenix Familiar can do it (I don't know if the first familiar can do
it, but it works well with lvl 99 characters). What you need to do is to
first trap Death behind a wall etc, then just fire away. You'll know that
you are hitting her if the familiar's shots don't go through her. It takes
about as long as killing a Golem. Also, traps seem to harm Death too, but
you MUST get her stuck above one (ie: the trap is in front of the wall);
she seems to avoid traps while in movement. This can make "killing"
easier. You can also get rid of Death by going into any of the four
Treasure Rooms. Killing Death takes a while, so if the timer is ticking,
use a Potion instead. (thanx to TSN)
-DRAINING MULTIPLE DEATHS TRICK
Note that the Anti-Death Power wears off if you drain any Death of 100
health OR if its duration has expired (whichever comes first). You can
exploit these facts to drain many Deaths in a row with the SAME Anti-Death
Power! The trick is to drain Death of anything less than 100 and then
move on, leaving her "alive". Then run up to the next Death and repeat
until your Anti-Death Power wears off through time! This trick is
especially easy to perform in the Castle Courtyard (1st Castle stage)
because it's possible to meet up to 3 Deaths (2 Stasis Deaths and another
in a silver chest). (An easy 270+ health!) (Many thanx to BFord, AKim,
Robert Iu, Blue Elf and Cpt.Guano!)
----- GOLD, BARRELS AND CHESTS -----
[GOLD]
-The maximum gold allowed is 99,999 gold. Waste money before getting there
or else you'll lose all the excess after 99,999.
-Gold is shared between characters. If you use the same Name and Password,
whenever you restart (no matter which character you choose), you'll keep
the same gold you had the last time you played. Consider it a sort of
"gold pool". So, if you get your Valkyrie to lvl 99 with 80,000 gold
left over, use it to buy 100 Stat potions for your next character!
(thanx to Blue Elf and BFord)
-Run through the stage over and over to get Runestones. Reacquiring a
Runestone nets you an easy 500 gold (though I heard that at some arcades,
you actually get 1000).
-Though Gold is shared and you can theoretically boost up a character at
lvl 1 up to 999 everything, be warned that your Intrinsic Properties
increase as your levels go up. So a lvl 1 character with 999 everything
is much better than an ordinary lvl 1 character, but he/she STILL pales in
comparison to a lvl 99 character with max stats. (thanx to James P Hill)
[BARRELS AND CHESTS]
-Chests containing Death or Poison Food will shake and growl every 3 seconds.
(thanx to DWells & AKim)
-Note that barrels and chests that contain Poison Food ALWAYS rotate their
contents with time. So if you have X-Ray Glasses and see Poison Food,
just wait until it shifts to meat and open it!
-In case you haven't already noticed, the contents of Gold chests are fixed,
while Silver chests' contents are cyclical. By this, I mean that the
item inside the Silver chest will cycle through a predetermined list of
possibilities. They are not totally random, as some people might have you
believe. (Particularly, the Silver chest behind the Golem behind the
altar in the Castle Treasury, last Castle stage, contains only powerful
power-ups!)
-Barrels come in three types: fixed items inside, pseudo-random items inside
and random items inside. Fixed items, as its name implies, is always
fixed (eg: Death, Thunder Hammer, etc.). Pseudo-random items means that
the barrel contains a fixed type of item (eg Food or Potion), but that
the specific item inside cycles through a predetermined list (eg: Food
shifts from poison -> fruit -> fruit -> meat -> meat, repeat. Eg: Potion
shifts in color). Random items barrels also cycle through a predetermined
list and the contents are wide-ranging power-ups. (Thanx to DWells)
-Note that the contents of random chests aren't always what they appear to
be (eg: In the Cliffs of Desolation, 3rd Mountain stage, if you open the
silver chest at the beginning in 2+ player games when it looks like a
FireWall Shield, you'll get a Thunder Hammer instead!).
(NEW!)
-The cycle of pseudo-random barrels/chests containing food is always the
same: Chicken -> Ham -> Steak -> fruit -> fruit -> fruit -> poison -> ...
(Chicken and so forth). We have forgotten the specific three fruits in
this cycle: we'll come back to it later. (MANY thanx to Robert Iu)
----- GOLEMS -----
-When fighting Golems, always hit and run: they have tremendous amounts of
health (especially in multiplayer games). If you can manage to hide behind
a chasm, pillar or any obstruction, you will be able to snipe away at him
while he's stuck!
-Use power-ups, Potions or Turbo Attacks to knock Golems back to give you
more time to run back.
-You can also knock Golems off ledges to instantly kill them. Use Turbo
Attacks, Potions, Thunder Hammer or Super Shot to do so. (Thanx go to
DWell and Blue Elf.)
-If you are hiding behind a wall, you can't shoot the Golem, but he
can't hit you either. Note that your familiar can shoot over most walls
though, but since they are so weak, it might take forever to kill him.
-BUG: When you hide from a Golem behind a wall, step up towards the Golem.
If you are roughly 3 feet away from him, you will be able to engage the
Golem in Melee, but he still won't be able to hit you! It's strange to
see your sword go through a wall, but this trick is VERY effective!!! This is
a very fast way of killing Golems. Tough to do since if you walk too
close (around 1-2.5 feet) the Golem WILL be able to hit you. Also note
that some walls are too thick (more than 3 feet) for this trick to work.
-Golems can't be hurt by traps like spikes and pendulums. They can be
held back by them though. (thanx to DWells)
-Golems have two attacks; both have knockback ability. (thanx to DWells)
1) Fist swing
2) Double dropping hammer fist + Stomping kick (twice as powerful as Fist
Swing!): only done after he does 4 Fist Swings in a row.
----- MISCELLANEOUS -----
-The "Big Head" obtained at lvl 99 makes items on your character's head
(eg: Horns of Skorne, Helmet of Skorne, Anti-Death Power halo, etc) look
gigantic! It also looks pixilated too. For some reason, Breath Weapons
will go twice as far, reaching even beyond your Field of Vision! (thanx
to DWells)
-Picking up a Runestone gives Turbo Meter.
-Every second spent inside a Treasure Room gives Turbo Meter. Even after
you leave the Treasure Room, you'll STILL be gaining Turbo Meter!
-Your Turbo Meter increases automatically while Limited Invulnerability
(Silver or Gold) is in effect. (thanx to Blue Elf)
-In the High Scores, a Skull icon is obtained for each time you finish
the game. These Skulls are, in fact, shared amongst ALL your characters.
The problem is that Skulls earned by other characters are NOT displayed on
previous characters in the High Scores until you play those characters, die
and don't continue. Only then, will the correct number of wins be shown.
Remember that if the machine gets turned off, you'll have to play your
previous character(s) again to get the right information on the High
Score Table. (many thanx to John S Reese)
-The version number of your machine can be found by pressing and holding
the Turbo button when the screen is on either the credits screen or its
title screen when the words Gauntlet Legends appears. (thanx to Robert Iu)
Many things change from version to version. From ticking timer (apparently
there was a version with NO ticking timer!), gold (more gold in some
versions), etc. (See section 12.0 for more details)
-New preventive measures were implemented in Gauntlet Legends Version 1.6.
The Ticking Timer now has 3 states (see section 9.0 "The Timer is Ticking")
to prevent experts from playing the game indefinitely on the same credit
(apparently, old versions either had no Ticking Timer or a Timer set at
1 health/tick). Also, V.1.6 introduces Low Gold mode: meaning that gold is
a lot harder to come by (no longer can you walk out of a Treasure Room in a
single player game with 5,000 gold). (thanx to AKim & BFord & anonymous
arcade distributor)
-AMULET BUG
Note that when your character gets an amulet, his/her weapon transforms
into the weapon obtained at lvl 10 for the ordinary character. (Eg: If
you're the Minotaur, your weapon will transform from a hatchet into the
lvl 10 Warrior's two-headed steel axe.) The damage of your weapon remains
the same (eg if you have a lvl 50 weapon, you'll still do as much damage as
if you had a lvl 50 weapon); it's just the looks that change.
-HIT DETECTION FAILURE BUG
Basically, when a monster attacks in Melee, the computer memorizes who it
targets, so after the monster's attack is complete, you STILL take damage
no matter how far away you you are! Very annoying... (thanx to DWells,
Blue Elf, AKim, Robert Iu and Cpt.Guano!)
(NEW!)
-Maximum numbers:
+Keys = 9.
+Potions = 9.
+Skulls (obtained every time you finish the game) = 9.
+gold = 99,999.
+health = 9999 (hard to reach without Free Play on). (thanx to TNT)
----- POTIONS -----
-The maximum number of Potions you can have is 9 of each.
-Potions' effect (area-of-effect and power) are determined by your
character's Base Magic stat and his/her Base Magic intrinsic property.
-THROWING POTIONS: Fight + Magic. Hold down both buttons to throw Potions
further (from 3 feet up to beyond your field of vision!). Has a lesser
effect than hitting Magic alone.
-MAGIC SHIELD: Turbo + Magic. Creates a field of magic that surrounds
your character. This field hurts monsters and stops projectiles in their
tracks (including boss' shots!) and it has Knockback ability! It doesn't
last very long, but can help quite a bit vs. bosses (thanx to DWells).
(Note: Can be used to "kill" Death. She usually dies instantly when
touching the field.) (thanx to PM)
-Memorize stage layouts. When you come back later, throw Potions where you
know there are lots of enemies (especially those who shoot at you) to
avoid losing lots of health.
-Use Potions (or special items) against Missile Attacking monsters because
Turbo Attack is simply too slow (ie: you'll get hit too much).
-Potions are one of the only ways of getting rid of Death (see DEATH above).
-Potions disappear after 50 seconds if they aren't picked up. (thanx to
Blue Elf)
-Potions lying on the ground or that are inside barrels can be shot, but
Potions inside chests cannot. (thanx to BFord)
-Potions can be shot by Missile Attacking enemies (Red Demons and Lvl 3
Desert Orcs only). Note that when this happens, the Potion does not
explode as if a player were to hit it: it simply disappears instantly.
-Potions' speed of execution and range:
Yellow Potion = Instantaneous + Longest Radius
Blue " = Really fast
Green " = Fast
Red " = Slow + Shortest Radius (about 2 feet shorter than Yellow)
(NEW!)
-The type of potion you get when you buy them depends which player color you
are using. Seems obvious, except the color scheme used is that of the old
Gauntlet (when Red Warrior was at the far left of the game cabinet), not
Gauntlet Legends (Yellow Wizard is now at the far left of the game cabinet).
Here's a small chart:
Your Color | Bought Potion Color
--------------------------------
Yellow | Red
Blue | Blue
Red | Yellow
Green | Green
(MANY thanx to PM)
(NEW!)
-Potions seem to have a spherical effect (with the character being the
center of the sphere) when used, as opposed to acting only on a plane.
This means that you can hit monsters above and under you when using a
Potion (as long as they are inside this sphere) (thanx to DWells). (thanx
to Blue Elf)
(NEW!)
-POTIONS' TEMPORARY INVINCIBILITY RUMOR
It seems as though characters are invincible for a fraction of a second
while using a Potion. This invincibility seems only to apply to traps
(ie: bosses' attacks will still hit you) though. (thanx to BFord.)
----- STRATEGIES -----
-Always save up for Turbo Attack Level 3. Its effects are FAR superior to
Turbo Attack Level 2 or 1 . All Level 3 attacks kill enemies directly
adjacent to you, as well as tear through enemies in front of you. As a
plus, they also go through walls.
-Avoid using Turbo Attack Level 3 on Missile Attacking monsters since Turbo
Attack Level 3 has a charging delay and recoil delay (an amount of time of
recovery before and after the attack is done, respectively), you'll be
open game for them. And trust me, they will snipe you mercilessly!
Either hide behind a wall before you do it, or launch it when you are out
of their shots' range (this applies to Orc Archers and Bomb Tossers only
whom all have limited range).
-Potions, Thunder Hammers, Super Shots and Turbo Attack Level 3 are the
key to killing lots of enemies, and thus, to making lots of experience
very quickly.
-When playing multiplayer games, have all except one player stand on the
EXITs as soon as possible. Those characters' health will stop decreasing
(due to the Ticking Timer) and the monsters will ignore them as though
they were invisible. (Very useful vs. Golems.)
-Use the terrain to your advantage. Any military genius would tell you that
it's better to be on higher ground. When on higher ground, you have a
much easier time to hit enemies on lower ground and they have a much
harder time hitting you. It also seems as though your character does more
damage if he/she is standing on higher ground. The reverse is also true;
so avoid fighting on lower ground.
-SPEED IS THE KEY. Some traps, monsters and generators appear after a
certain amount of time has elapsed. If you are fast enough, you'll notice
that there are less of the three in your way. Eg: In the 1st stage of the
Mountain Kingdom, there are 3 horizontal fire traps; the 2nd one may not
appear if you are too fast. Also note that some treasures disappear if
you are too slow in reaching them.
NOTE: This hidden timer resets itself every time you exit a stage. Ie:
If you spend too much time in a stage, the traps, generators and
items in the next stage will NOT be affected.
-The duration of "time delimited" special items (eg: Amulets) is determined
by your Magic stat and Base Magic intrinsic property; the more you have,
the longer they last. (Thanx to DWells)
-Special Items are cumulative. This means that you can pile up power-ups.
Eg: You can have a Thunder Hammer and an Amulet. Once you waste all the
shots of the Thunder Hammer, you'll switch back to your weapon and still
have the Amulet. You can also have the same special item many times.
Eg: If you have 2 Thunder Hammers, you'll have a total of 6 shots. If you
have 2 golden invulnerabilities, when the first one wears off, the second
one kicks in.
-Monsters can help activate two-player bridges. Simply activate the bridge,
then as soon as a monster gets on, jump on the bridge and kill it! The
bridge will now stay there until you get to the other side. (Thanx to
Blue Elf and Ted Dickinson)
-Missile Attacking monsters can hurt other monsters! If one of their
friends have the misfortune of standing between you and them, their shots
will actually injure their allies. Note that the damage isn't usually
significant enough to make a serious difference. Remember that Missile
attacks from a specific monster type will NOT affect monsters of the same
type (eg: Red Demons' fireballs will go through other Red Demons, but WILL
hurt Orcs in the way.), but monsters WILL get hurt by their own shots if
these shots are reflected via Reflect Shield! (thanx to DWells)
-After leaving a Treasure Room, all monsters in your immediate Field of
Vision will disappear. (Useful for avoiding Death or Golems) (thanx to
DWells and Cpt.Guano!)
-Avoid buying only a few power-ups against bosses because chances are that
you will anger them (because you will do a lot of damage in a very small
time frame). If you must buy power-ups, buy enough to kill the boss
outright without any chance of retaliation.
----- TRAPS -----
-Traps can also be used against enemies. They, too, get damaged (and
possibly killed) by traps. Also, when they get hurt, they're temporarily
paralyzed for a split second, giving you free chances to hit them!
Therefore, it's best to stand behind a trap and lure your enemies to you,
instead of the other way around!
BUG: It seems as though lvl 1 and lvl 2 Orcs (any color), Golems and Death
(while moving only) are unaffected by floor-based traps. (eg: a lvl
1 green Orc will walk over a floor-mounted Fire Trap unhindered.)
-It's possible to knock off normal enemies off ledges simply by hitting
them. Not really useful since it takes only a few shots to kill most
enemies most of the time anyway. (And besides, how many ledges do you
see lying conveniently next to a monster?)
----- TRICKS (AND CHEATS) -----
-TURBO ATTACK LEVEL 2 AGAINST BOSSES
When fighting a boss, you will do a Level 1 Turbo Attack if you have
two levels of energy stored when you press Turbo+Fight. Since the
radius attack wouldn't do anything, the computer just uses one level of
energy and gives you the long ranged level 1 attack. (thanx to DWells)
-DRAINING MULTIPLE DEATHS TRICK
See under the heading DEATH in this section for details.
-ENDLESS SHRINK ENEMIES RUMOR
It has been reported that if you pick up a Shrink Enemies and everyone in
the party dies (causing the scroll to appear in the middle of the screen
with the "15 seconds 'til Game Over" message), if you continue (you'll
have to re-enter your name and password), the Shrink Enemies will never
wear off! Can anyone confirm this? (MANY thanx to James P Hill) Robert
Iu claims that this trick only works on Ver 1.5 of the arcade, not Ver 1.6.
-EXTENDING ITEM DURATION TRICK
If you pick up any power-up while a power-up that you possess is fading
(ie: in the last 3 seconds of duration; eg: invulnerability causes your
character to flash as it's about to leave), the duration of the fading
power-up increases by 10-25 whole seconds! (thanx to Blue Elf) (Btw, I've
confirmed this trick myself with a Silver Invulnerability in the Temple of
the Magi.)
-UNLIMITED SUPER SHOTS TRICK! (Version 1)
If you choose either of the two Gauntlets of Skorne and get the Super Shot
in the Underworld, your acid/electricity balls will be under the effect of
Super Shot (ie: rip through everything!). This means that you'll have
UNLIMITED Super Shots until you lose your Gauntlet! Note that your
character will STILL throw acid/electricity balls; not Super Shots. This
means that your shots won't be as wide as a Super Shot would be, but the
advantage of this is that your character won't be affected by Super Shot
Delay! (Endless thanx to Robert Iu, also many thanx to Cpt.Guano!) Note
that these shots will NOT have Knockback ability and therefore will NOT
be able to stun the Gargoyles at the end of the Underworld (thanx to PM).
-UNLIMITED SUPER SHOTS TRICK! (Version 2)
Get a Super Shot. Do NOT use it by pressing Fight: instead do a Turbo
Attack Level 1 (Missile). You'll be shooting big Super Shots without
draining charges from your 5 shots (that you get upon picking up a Super
Shot! Note that you'll be forced to enter Melee constantly using the
Buttonless Melee Trick (see "Definitions" section 3.0) to charge up Turbo
Attack Level 1, but don't worry, 'cause it charges up very fast! This
trick has been confirmed on the Archer, but should work on all characters;
except Pojo, who does not have a Turbo Attack Level 1 (Missile). (MANY
thanx to TSN)
-9 QUICK WINS AGAINST SKORNE 2 TRICK
To rack up the maximum number of Skulls earned by finishing the game (9),
you need to have a "dummy" character that has all 4 boss keys and a "real"
character that has all 12 Runestones. Then, simply start the game by
entering the name and password of your "dummy" character so that the
machine will start you up in the Desecrated Temple, die and continue with
your "real" character. From then on, just finish the game as you normally
would to earn a Skull! Repeat this trick to earn additional Skulls! This
will save you lots of time and money required to get all 4 keys again for
your "real" character. Note: an easy way to give your "dummy" character
the 4 boss keys is to fight the boss normally, then right before killing
him/her, have your "dummy" character join the game. (Many thanx to Robert
Iu)
-TURBO DASHING TO SAFETY
Turbo Dash (aka: Charging/Pushing) is VERY useful in single player games.
Use it to escape situations where monsters surround you (if you don't,
you'll realize that your health goes down REAL fast). Also, you can use
Turbo Dash to avoid confronting Golems if you want the items that the
Golem is guarding, but you don't want to face him! (thanx to my brother
for this info!) Turbo Dash also has knockback ability so you can use it
to knock down monsters and hit 'em while they're down!
-BONUS KEY AWARD
If you are out of keys and are stuck, you'll have no choice but to rely on
this trick! (See The Timer is Ticking Section 9.0 for more details)
-GOING THROUGH GATES
One can actually go through gates in the Forest Realm without keys.
Because gates are poorly constructed, if you walk towards a door when you
are aligned with its hinges (ie: the side of the door), your character will
actually go THROUGH the door, with a little work! This trick only works
if you don't have a key; because if you do, your character won't try to
slip through, but instead he/she will use the key. It is also possible to
have other players push you through the side of the door in multiplayer
games if you cannot do so yourself. (thanx to TSN)
-MAXIMIZING CREDITS
To maximize your credits, insert new credits only when you are losing
either 2 health/second or 3 health/2 seconds (the former being the
optimum). This will reset the "Ticking Timer" to 1 health/second, PLUS
food items will now be worth 100% of their original value! (See "The
Timer is Ticking" section 9.0 for more details)
-RUNE FINDER GAUGE
If you kill a boss without having found all the Runestones in his world
(each world has 3 Runestones), upon returning to a stage in that world
in which none of the players have found the Runestone, you will gain
the use of a magical thermometer that will show you if you are close (HOT)
to or far away (COLD) from any Runestone which you have not yet obtained.
-LURING MONSTERS
Monsters will ALWAYS target the nearest character to them.
A fantastic trick for taking advantage of this flaw is to lure monsters.
Luring simply means to walk towards a monster until you are the closest
player. When you do this, that monster will change its target to you and
he will forget about the other players altogether! Here are 3 ways to use
fact to your advantage:
1) Give slow monsters the "run-around"!
Ever met Death when you were out of Potions or activated a Golem where
there are no hiding spots? Simply have a fast character walk up to
them, then step away. The monster(s) will turn around and start
following this player. Move at the same speed as they do so that they
won't "lose your trail". This way, they will chase you indefinitely
while your friends snipe them! (As for Death, just keep giving her the
"run-around" until you either jam her behind a wall or find a Potion.)
2) Lure Melee Attacking monsters away from weak characters!
Use the same "run-around" tactic, except make the player with the most
Health and/or Armor do the "run-around" so that weak characters can
avoid taking unnecessary hits.
3) Distract Missile Attacking monsters from your snipers!
Missile monsters are just as dim as Melee monsters. Have a fast player
walk towards them until he/she is the closest player to that monster
(no need to stand at point-blank range, just make sure that you are the
closest player to it, that's all). Now, that Missile monster will
target that player for all of its attacks. All this player has to do is
dodge all the shots while his players retaliate by letting loose their
own Missile attacks!
-LURING MONSTERS II:
The "IT" power-up is a FANTASTIC weapon to take advantage of your foes'
stupidity! This will allow you to use the LURING MONSTERS trick without
the hassle of having a character go to the danger of walking up to a
monster to start luring it. Note only can you use the 3 aforementioned
tactics, "IT" allows you to use another one:
4) Distract Melee monsters from your bashers!
Give "IT" to one of your snipers. This way, all the monsters will
try to walk towards him/her, totally ignoring the characters in your
party who are good in Melee combat. This will allow these characters
to get the first hit on the monsters. (Note that even if someone else
is "IT", if you hit a monster in Melee and it survives the first hit,
he WILL retaliate!) Also, with this trick, Melee characters will be
able to take on one monster at a time in Melee!!! (The only other way
this can only be done is with Limited Invisibility.)
-LURING MONSTERS III:
You can also use the EXIT as a luring tool (remember that players who
stand on top of the EXIT are considered invisible by monsters). All you
need to do is:
5) Using the EXIT to lure.
Simply have a player lure the monster(s) towards the EXIT, stand on
the EXIT so that the monster ignore him/her and turn their backs to
him/her to concentrate on this player's friends, step off the EXIT to
lure the monsters back to him/her, repeat! (MANY thanx to Cpt.Guano!)
* 7.1 SECRET CHARACTER CODES *************************************************
These are hidden characters which are activated when you enter a specific
Name and Password. They are ordinary savegames, so you will play them normally
as though you were playing a standard game: your gold, levels, experience and
characters are saved when you die (as in a normal game). These codes are very
hard to come by, so if you have any others, feel free to contribute!
Note that these codes work only if the machine's CODE setting is set to TRUE
(see 12.1 "Operator's Manual" for more info).
PERMANENT POJO
Name = EGG
Pasword = 911
Character: Works on any
Your character will look like a Pojo (from Mace: The Darkening), a chicken,
and will shoot fireballs. The change is only cosmetic: your character will
still move, shoot, act and react the same. Playing Pojo does have its
advantages and disadvantages however: see section 4.0 "Character
Comparisons" for more details about Permanent Pojo.
NUDE VALKYRIE
Name = NUD
Password = 069
Character: ONLY works on the Blue Valkyrie (does NOT work on any other
character!)
When you'll start playing, your character will be nude! [Roar! ;) ] No
vulgarities here though: there are black censorship boxes cover her
buttocks, genitals, bust and eyes (why?). Too bad... Funny this is that
when you die and let the intro/demo sequence start, she will STILL be nude
in the part where the blue Valkyrie runs through the Dungeon of Torment!
;) (ENDLESS thanx to Jason Brown) Also note that the Valkyrie's shield
will disappear from her animations, but her stats and attributes are still
the same though (this is a purely costmetic change).
STRONG WIZARD (Unconfirmed)
Name = LBE
Password = 222
Character: Wizard
Rumor has it that this code will give you a lvl 55 Wizard. (thanx to
Doomblade)
UNKNOWN 1 (RUMOR)
Name = ASS
Password = ???
Character: ???
Only a rumor that I've heard: effects are unknown.
UNKNOWN 2 (RUMOR)
Name = KXX
Password = ???
Character: ???
Only a rumor that I've heard: effects are unknown.
* 8.0 TRICKS VERSUS BOSSES ***************************************************
NOTATION:
Boss Mobility: Whether or not the boss moves (if so, how much/how fast). Boss Size: The relative size of the boss (bigger size means easier to hit).
Lair Size: The amount of space you will have to maneuver in the lair.
Obstructions: If there are objects/structures blocking your movement in the
lair.
Safe Spots: Places where you can stand and avoid getting hit by the full
might of the boss.
Can engage boss in Melee?: Whether or not you can get close enough to the
boss to engage him/her in Melee.
Hidden Items: Items that are hidden inside distortable objects.
Note: Special notes about the boss.
Possible Attacks: A list of ALL this boss' attacks.
[???] denotes special properties to this attack.
[Reflectable]: Can be reflected with Reflect Shield.
[Area-of-Effect]: Attack can hit multiple players.
[Sweeping Attack]: Capable of hitting multiple
targets standing side-by-side.
[Cohesive Beam]: Thin beam capable of hitting many
targets standing one behind the
other.
(???) denotes at which range(s)* at which the boss will
perform this attack. Possible ranges are,
Anywhere: Will do this attack at any range.
Extreme: The furthest you can be from the boss.
Far: Furthest third of the battle area from the
boss.
Medium: Middle third of the battle area from the
boss.
Close: Closest third of the battle area from the
boss.
Point Blank: Directly adjacent to the boss. (You
can perform Melee attacks at this range.)
{???} denotes speed of this attack.
{Slow}: easily dodged.
{Medium}: not too difficult to dodge.
{Fast}: hard to dodge.
{Very Fast}: nearly impossible to dodge!
<???> denotes the amounts of damage done by this attack.
Ranges from Low, Medium, High, Very High, Massive!,
Horrendous! to Fatal!
A trick that pretty much works versus all bosses is "Buying many Gold
Invulnerability, Rapid Fire, Phoenix Familiar and 3-Way Shot power-ups", but
who the hell has that kind of gold to waste!?! But if you're not worried
about coming out of the stage poorer then when you came in, then go right
ahead!
***** Versus The DRAGON (The Mountain Kingdom) *****
Boss Mobility: (None)
Boss Size = Huge
Lair Size: Large (Great mobility allowed)
Obstructions: 6 destroyable stone pillars (Great mobility restriction)
Safe Spots: One, see below under "Cheap Tricks".
Can Engage Boss in Melee? Yes!
Hidden Items: 3-Way Shot (hidden under pillar in forward row center column,
use Turbo Attack Level 3 or Super Shot to break)
Note: Many fire traps near the back of the lair.
NOTE: Points of Reference
Far Range: Behind furthest (from the Dragon) lava stream.
Medium: Between furthest (from him) and closest (to him) lava stream.
Close: In front of closest (to him) lava stream.
Possible Attacks: (ALL attacks have Knockdown ability)
-Straight Fireball: [Reflectable] (Far-Extreme) {Medium} <Very High>
Spits 1 to 3 searing fireballs (depending on whether or
not he is angry) from his mouth which travel(s) in a
straight line towards your character. Run back or
left/right to dodge.
-Lobbed : [Reflectable][Area-Of-Effect] (Far-Extreme) {Slow} <Massive!>
Fireball Curves up throat and raises head in the air, then spits out a
single large fireball into the sky which detonates upon impact
to create a large area-of-effect explosion that can cause
collateral damage (without knockdown). Run far to the back or
left/right to dodge.
-Fire Breath: [Sweeping Attack][Cohesive Beam] (Medium) {Slow} <Very High>
Lunges forward and stretches his throat forward, then releases
scorching flames from his mouth. CANNOT hit players in Close
or Far-Extreme range. Fairly predicable and easy to dodge
(simply run back to Far range).
-Claw Sweep: [Sweeping Attack] (Point Blank-Close) {Fast} <Massive!>
Sweeps all players standing directly in front of him with a
massive claw. Run back to Medium range to dodge.
-Wing Beat: [Area-Of-Effect] (Anywhere) {Fast} <Medium>
Leans back, opens his wings, then violently beats both of his
wings and sends a shock wave of force forwards, hitting everyone
in the screen (knocking down everyone within Close to Far range).
He usually performs this attack when players are standing too
close to him for too long. CANNOT be dodged.
-Earthquake: [Area-Of-Effect] (Anywhere) {Medium} <High>
Stomp The dragon takes his right claw then slams it on the ground.
Hits everyone in the screen (knocking down everyone standing in
Close to Far range): almost unavoidable. It can only be dodged
if the player is at the very edge of the arena (ie: maximum
distance far back from the dragon). (thanx to PM)
Tactics:
Maneuverability is VERY limited because of the 6 stone pillars; destroy
them as soon as possible. You can also let the Dragon destroy them for you
if you stand right behind them and the Dragon shoots a Straight Fireball at it;
it takes two Fireballs to destroy a pillar. These stone pillars also absorb
Missile attacks, so you must stand clear of them if you want a clear shot at
the boss. Note that the Dragon will also hit the pillars if you stand a little
bit to the left or right of these pillars: this will allow you to actually
shoot the Dragon while waiting for him to blast the pillar (thanx to BFord).
Note that it IS possible to destroy the stone pillars with normal shots,
although they seem to have tremendous amounts of health; so you might rather
using a Turbo Attack Level 3, which destroys pillars in one shot! (thanx to
BFord)
Start by standing in the back of the middle column and launch Turbo Attack
Level 3 (if you have it) to clear out the 2 center stone pillars. Collect
the 3-Way Shot.
Turbo Attack Level 3s are very useful against the Dragon because it stuns
him temporarily (for about 1-2 seconds).
Note that FireWall Shield is absolutely ineffective on the Dragon: it does
zero (0) damage! (thanx to James P Hill)
The best tactic against him is to Hit & Run. Shoot, dodge, repeat until the
Dragon dies. This is fairly easy to do against him if you stand at far or
extreme range because his Straight Fireballs and Lobbed Fireballs are fairly
slow and predicable.
If you try to attack the dragon with an attack with Knockback ability while
the Dragon is winding up for an attack, he will not get stunned, but instead
will either shoot fireball(s) backwards as if reflected or perform a Fire
Breathe/Wing Beat (This HURTS!). (thanx to PM)
Cheap Tricks:
<<< SAFE SPOT >>>
In a multiplayer game, if a player stands in the upper left corner of the
lair 1-2 feet away from the Dragon's right claw while the others are shooting
him, the Dragon will almost totally ignore the player in that corner! Although
note that from time to time, the Dragon WILL do Wing Beats that will hit
everyone in the screen for reasonable damage, so be warned. Note that from
this range, your character in the safe spot will only be able to hit the
Dragon in Missile combat.
<<< SAFE SPOT - SLIP INTO THE PEDESTAL TRICK >>>
This trick takes advantage of the "slip through the cracks" detection
failures in the game (ie: the idea is to keep pressing against an obstacle
until the game mysteriously gives away and lets you "slip" partly THROUGH it!).
This is a very difficult trick to pull off, as the game doesn't always allow
this bug to occur.
Works best with 3 players, but can work with two. Have your most powerful
Missile attacking characters begin shooting the Dragon and drawing his
attention towards them. Meanwhile, have your strongest Melee characters move
up to the right or left of the Dragon's pedestal, and move in, pressed as
close to the Dragon as possible. Keep pressing diagonally towards the
pedestal; this is where you will try to "slip" into it! If done correctly,
even if another character moves in, the character pressed against the Dragon
won't be effected by his Claw Sweeps, Wing Beats or Fire Breath! You should
be too close (ie: party IN the pedestal) for these attacks to actually hit you!
(Eg: The claw will pass through you or above your head.) You can rack up
experience like crazy if you use this trick! (ENDLESS thanx to Magnus)
<<< FORCING THE FIRE BREATH >>>
The Dragon ALWAYS performs his Fire breath attack the moment you enter
Medium range because it's his only attack at that range. The moment you step
in front of the lava stream furthest from him, he will start doing it. Just
run back to Far or Extreme range and pelt him with shots; you won't get hit!
Repeat as desired. (thanx to DWells)
Here is a trick you can use to take advantage of this bug, but it works only
with a fast character whose speed is nearly maxed out.
Force the dragon to breathe. Once he starts, run to his right claw, smack
him two or three times, and run away. If you time it right, he will do a Wing
Beat after he is done breathing, which you will easily avoid. Then shoot him
while he is recovering. Repeat. If you are too fast, he will shoot fireballs
(no biggie, just more hit-and-run). If you are too slow, he will stomp, and
you will have to try to run all the way back. The main use of this trick is
to build up Turbo Meter.
Once you have Turbo Attack Level 3, make the Dragon breathe again. Run up
to his right claw, then unload it on him while he is breathing. At this range,
this will do INSANE damage (5-10% life in single-player, up to 20-25% if you
have Growth and/or Amulet) and stun the Dragon! Run away while the he is
stunned. Wizards and Archers tend to do more damage this way than Warriors
and Valkyries. (MANY thanx for all of this to PM)
<<< SINGLE MINDED LOCK-ON >>>
The Dragon has a tendency to concentrate the majority (75-90%) of all his
attacks on the player that has caused the most damage in the least amount of
time against him (ie: using Rapid Fire with 3-Way Shot will do it!). Once he
has "locked on" to a certain player, he will almost TOTALLY ignore all the
other players present! The others will be ignored even if the go up and engage
the Dragon in Melee! This "lock on" ends when the player who has his attention
gets hit by any of his attacks or by the Fire Traps at the far end of his lair.
(MANY thanx to PM)
<<< BEST TACTIC AGAINST HIM >>>
Hit and run works best as long as you stay at Far or Extreme range. His
Straight Fireballs and Lobbed Fireballs are fairly slow and predictable. Also,
when he gets very angry, his fireballs attacks are STILL dodgeable!
***** Versus The CHIMERA (The Castle Stronghold) *****
Boss Mobility: (None)
Boss Size = Big
Lair Size: Humongous (Maximum mobility allowed)
Obstructions: 3 destroyable stone blocks (Fair mobility restriction)
Safe Spots: Two, see below under "Cheap Tricks".
Can Engage Boss in Melee? No.
Hidden Items: 3-Way Shot (hidden under center stone, hit/shoot a few times to
break)
Note:-Once you active the Chimera, you can no longer run down the stairs where
you started in the stage.
-You cannot enter Point Blank range; it is obstructed.
Possible Attacks: (ALL attacks have Knockdown ability)
1-Straight Fireball: [Reflectable] (Far-Extreme) {Medium} <Very High>
Spits 1 to 3 fireballs (depending on whether or not he
is angry) from one to all three heads which travel(s) in
a straight line towards your character. Run back or
left/right to dodge.
2-Lobbed Fireball: [Reflectable][Area-Of-Effect] (Extreme) {Slow} <Massive!>
Spits out a single large fireball into the air which
detonates upon impact to create a large area-of-effect
explosion that can cause collateral damage (without
knockdown). Run far to the back or left/right to dodge.
3-Triple Breath: (Close-Far) {Very Fast} <Massive!>
Lunges his entire body and each head forward and releases
a deadly breath attack from each head, covering 120 degrees
in front of him. Run to Extreme range to dodge.
3-Single Breath: (Point Blank) {Very Fast} <Massive!>
If you are very close, a single head can breathe on you very
quickly while the other heads can attack other players
normally. This attack recovers rather quickly (unlike Triple
Breath). (thanx to PM)
1: Snake head shoots acid, Eagle shoots lightning and Lion shoots fire.
2: Always done by Lion head (ball made of fire).
3: Snake head shoots acid, Eagle shoots lightning and Lion shoots fire.
Tactics:
If you are playing a multiplayer game, have one character stand still while
the others climb the stairs and collect the power-ups. The boss will not
activate unless ALL characters climb the stairs.
The 3 big stones can also be destroyed with ordinary Melee or Missile
attacks as though they were secret walls. (Thanx to Blue Elf) Destroy the
middle one and collect the 3-Way Shot.
Be warned about standing at Far range (as you would against the Dragon):
this guy can actually hit you with his Triple Breath attack from there! If
you want to avoid the Triple Breath altogether, stand at Extreme range.
BUG: Even if you destroy one or two heads, when the Chimera does the Triple
Breath attack, all the heads will magically reappear, each head will
shoot its breath attack and then the appropriate heads will once again
disappear! (thanx to DWells)
Be warned about the Chimera when he is about to die (ie: he has less than
5% health remaining): he will become EXTREMELY fast when shooting his Straight
Fireballs and will thus be VERY difficult to dodge.
An Auto-Aim Observation: It seems that the Snake head has LESS priority
than the Lion or Eagle head. Lion and Eagle seem to have equal priority.
This means if you want to do the "make your own safe spot trick" (see below),
go for the Eagle head. If you try to attack the Snake head, you will usually
attack the Lion or Eagle head instead because of auto-aim. (MANY thanx to PM)
Cheap Tricks:
<<< SAFE SPOTS >>>
There is a semi safe-spot in the extreme lower-left and lower-right corner.
The Straight Fireballs will detonate prematurely in front of you (most of the
time): you will STILL get hurt (but not as much as taking a direct hit) and
you won't get knocked off your feet. Same goes for Lobbed Fireballs. (thanx
to DWells and Magnus)
<<< SAFE SPOTS - SLIP INTO THE WALL TRICK >>>
This trick takes advantage of the "slip through the cracks" detection
failures in the game (ie: the idea is to keep pressing against an obstacle
until the game mysteriously gives away and lets you "slip" partly THROUGH it!).
This is a very difficult trick to pull off, as the game doesn't always allow
this bug to occur. Have a friend push you from behind: it sometimes helps.
Simply stand in either of the safe spots mentioned above and keep pushing
the joystick towards the corner, rolling the joystick 45 degrees to the left
and right (ie: if you are going into the lower-left corner, push the joystick
down-left, left, down-left, down, repeat). If done right, you should "slip"
partly into the wall (note that it's VERY difficult to notice this bug). From
here, NONE of the Chimera's attacks can hit you! (ENDLESS thanx to Magnus)
<<< EFFORTLESS DEFEAT TRICK >>>
His Reflected Straight Fireballs do INSANE amounts of damage on him!!! Just
buy Reflect Shield(s) and stand at Extreme range (so that he won't perform
his Triple Breath attack), then watch him destroy himself! Just remember to
position yourself so that all three of the reflected Straight Fireballs hit
the Chimera (and don't just go over its heads). In a single player game,
three Reflect Shields would be optimal for a starting Warrior and only one
Shield is required for a high leveled Wizard.
This trick is much easier to do if you are alone (since all its heads will
automatically aim for you), but it is also good if there are only 2 players.
Simply make the unprotected character stand directly behind the character with
the Shield. Let the front player be a human shield to protect you both!
<<< MAKE YOUR OWN SAFE SPOT TRICK >>>
You can create a safe spot (which is 100% safe) by concentrating all your
shots on one of the two "outer" heads (the left or right head; ie: snake or
eagle head). After either of the two heads dies, simply run into the
corresponding upper-most corner near the Chimera. Now, there won't be
anything left shooting at you: just stand there and snipe away! (MANY thanx
to AKim, Robert Iu & Zultan) Note that this trick works better in single
player games because in multiplayer games, after killing the first head and
hiding, the Chimera will sometimes get angry and jump into the air, turning
his entire body to the side, so that he can now hit you. Simply run to the
other side that he cannot shoot at to avoid him, but if you do so, he might
pivot to the other side also, and you will be forced to repeat. (MANY thanx
to Zultan and Robert Iu)
NOTE: You can combine both tricks to save on Reflect Shields. Buy one, kill
either of the two heads on the left or right, then hide in that corner
and snipe away!
<<< DOUBLE DAMAGE! >>>
Aim all your attacks at first for the Lion Head. Once it's gone, the other
two will take almost double the damage! Beware, though, killing the lion
angers the other heads. (Many thanx to Magnus)
<<< FORCING THE TRIPLE BREATH >>>
Use the "purple line thing" as a point of reference. Simply run past this
line to force the Chimera to perform his Triple Breath attack (it's the only
one that he can do at that range), run back to dodge it and snipe away! Repeat
as desired! (MANY thanx to Cpt.Guano!)
***** Versus The SPIDER QUEEN (The Forest Realm) *****
Boss Mobility: Very Fast!
Boss Size = Fairly Big
Lair Size: Huge (Greater mobility allowed)
Obstructions: (None)
Safe Spots: One, see below under "Cheap Tricks"
Can Engage Boss in Melee? Yes!
Hidden Items: (None)
Note:-Once you take a step onto the Queen's web, you can no longer run back
on top of the bridge where you came from.
Possible Attacks: (Only Rear Leg Kick & Charging Rush knock players down)
-Acid Spit: [Reflectable] (Far-Extreme) {Very Fast} <Massive!>
Shoots acid from her mouth. Travels lightning fast; nearly
impossible to dodge.
-Web Balls: (Far-Extreme) {Slow} <None>
Spits out web balls on the floor under your character; players
inside of web puddle will shoot slower and move slower (as well
as squirm for your amusement!). Walk out of web to escape its
ill effects.
-Green Whip: (Medium) {Very Fast} <High>
Swings a green energy whip at her target. Nearly impossible to
dodge; stay away from medium range to avoid.
-Charging Rush: [Cohesive Beam] (Close-Medium) {Fast} <Horrendous!>
She tramples over all characters who are standing in a
straight line. Devastating. Run left or right of her path
to dodge: she can only veer up to 90 degrees in either
direction while charging.
-Sickle-Arm Swing: (Point Blank-Close) {Fast} <Very High>
Strikes players standing in front of her with her sickle
arm. She usually chains this attack with Green Whip for
deadly results. Difficult to dodge; stay far to avoid.
-Rear Leg Kick: (Point Blank-Close) {Fast} <Very High>
Hind leg strike done on players standing behind her.
Powerful and fast. Stay far from her to avoid.
Tactics:
The Spider Queen always falls from the sky (after you walk onto of the web)
onto the same spot: she appears in the corner of the web directly opposite to
the bridge. Note that even before she falls, you can STILL hit and shoot her
even though she isn't even there yet!
Turbo Attack Level 3s do not stun her as much as the other bosses; be careful
when using it at Point Blank range.
Warning: She is very fast and her speed increases drastically the more
players that are currently fighting her.
Stay as far away from her as possible: all her attacks at Point Blank, Close
and Medium range are deadly!!!
Her Acid Spit does decent damage when reflected back at her with Reflect
Shields.
Her Web Balls don't hurt, but they can seriously slow your character down:
movement-wise AND rate-of-fire-wise!
Her Charging Rush does enormous amounts of damage because she tramples all
over you, hitting you many times. She can also veer up to 90 degrees left or
right while moving, so it's very difficult to dodge.
Note that if you stay at the very edge of the web, the Spider Queen will
never try to charge at you (ie: perform a Charging Rush), no matter how close
you are to her. (She'll still whip you if she does get too close though.)
So simply run along the edge of her web and snipe her to avoid the Charging
Rush altogether. Note that running from her in such a fashion, do NOT take
shortcuts from one edge to another to gain distance if she is fairly close;
otherwise she may try to stomp you. (MANY thanx to PM)
If you move too close to the center of the web, Spider Queen will likely
Charge regardless of distance; even more than half the web away! (thanx to PM)
Bottom line: The closer you are to the middle of the web, the more likely
she will charge. (MANY thanx to PM)
Potions are more useful here than at other bosses. If you see Spider Queen
charging at you or a buddy, hit the Magic button immediately. Its Knockback
will disrupt her Charging Rush attack. (thanx to PM)
Cheap Tricks:
<<< SAFE SPOT >>>
There is a safe spot in the dark corner (shaded part) of her web right
between the path that leads to her in the beginning and the tree trunk (ie: a
corner of her lair between the bridge and a tree). If you stand there, for
some reason, she will NEVER try to approach you to strike you with her
terrible Melee attacks: she will stand still, far away from you, and try to
snipe you with her Acid Spit and Web Balls. All you have to do is either take
the hits like a man (and hope that she dies first), or buy some Reflect Shields
to kick her ass with her own Acid (while dodging her Web Balls). (MANY thanx
to DWells, Robert Iu, Chad McMinn and PM)
<<< SAFE SPOT - HIDING ON THE BRIDGE! >>>
This is another one of those "slip through the cracks" detection failure.
Just like the 2nd trick to find the safe spot against the Dragon & the Chimera,
or slipping through doors in the Forest Realm, you are going to try to "slip"
past the invisible barrier that prevents you from going back onto the bridge.
You can also have a friend push you from behind: it helps. Again, note that
this trick is very difficult to pull off because the game trys to make it hard
for you to "slip" through obstacles.
Here's a trick to defeat the Spider Queen without getting hurt. After she
comes down, go left to the bridge where you came from. Walk onto the top of
the edge of the bridge. Keep on pushing left on the bridge and down. If you
get it right, you can actually go back onto the bridge and snipe the boss!
Don't spend too much time trying to get back on the bridge: it doesn't always
work. (ENDLESS thanx to Chan Ng)
<<< PREVENTING MELEE ATTACKS >>>
To prevent the Spider Queen from trying to engage you in Melee, charge up
your Turbo Meter to Level 3 and DO NOT USE IT: she will not try to get close
to you while you have it charged. From there, just stand perfectly still and
shoot her. Move slightly from time to time to dodge her Web Balls. (ENDLESS
thanx to Mike Hall and TNT)
<<< MISSED MISSILE ATTACKS >>>
This can only be done in single player games. There's a semi-protective
spot on her web where all her Missile attacks always will miss you. Move to
the right side of the web and stand about 2-2.5 inches away from her, directly
facing her. However, note that her whip can still hit you. (thanx to The
Beholder)
<<< BEST WAY TO KILL HER >>>
Start, lure her to the edge of the web, then start running along the edge
(clockwise or counter-clockwise, it doesn't matter). From time to time, turn
around and snipe her a few times. Just remember to stay at Far range from her
when doing this trick, or else she will try to trample you with her Charging
Rush or strike you with her whip. At this range, she will only try to spit at
you (which still hurts quite a bit, mind you, but not nearly as much as her
Melee attacks!). This trick is best performed when playing single player
games. (MANY thanx to DWells, Robert Iu and my brother)
Another variation to this trick is to lure her to the center of the web
while you run circles around her, occasionally stopping to snipe her with a
few shots before continuing. Just remember to stay far enough to avoid her
powerful Melee attacks. Unlike the previous version, this trick can easily
be performed with many players (as long as you take care of not running into
each other)! (MANY thanx to AKim)
<<< TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A.I. FLAWS >>>
Like all the other monsters, she targets the player who is nearest to her.
If you see that she's going to corner your buddy, just run up to her as close
as you can (as long as she can't hit you), she will turn around and target you,
COMPLETELY forgetting your buddy! (See "LURING MONSTERS" under "Tricks (and
Cheats)" in section 7.0 "Tricks" for more info concerning the art of luring.)
<<< EFFORTLESS DEFEAT TRICK >>>
Before you leave Branches (stage before Spider Queen), make sure your Turbo
Meter is full. While in the shop, buy one Growth and two Gold Invulnerability.
Run to the Speed Boots, then to Spider Queen. Unload your Turbo 3 at Point
Blank range (Melee range) and watch her health goes down about 20-25%! Spider
Queen will do a Charging Rush past you. Follow her and Melee her. With the
Boots, you will attack blindingly fast, and your Turbo Meter will build quickly.
Use Turbo Attack Level 3 when charged up and repeat. If she is not dead, keep
attacking until your powerups wear off. Works very well in single-player games.
In a 2-player game, you can remove up to about 60% of Spider Queen's health.
Don't bother with this tactic in 3-4 player games -- you won't do enough
damage. (ENDLESS thanx to PM)
<<< UNCONFIRMED BUG >>>
"Shields Vs Spider Queen - a friend of mine tried using gold invul. + fire
or electric etc shield combinations against her, and, according to him, got
very strange results: she lost her health at an outstanding rate, down to
half a lifebar, then suddenly died (!) and all the money dropped through
the hole that she makes when she dies... very strange IMO, but I have no
reason to think that he's lying. Maybe another glitch." (from TSN)
***** Versus THE GENIE (The Desert Lands) *****
Boss Mobility: (None)
Boss Size = Large
Lair Size: Wide circular path (Fair mobility allowed; VERY little room in
multiplayer though)
Obstructions: Platforms alternating between stair cases (Reduces total freedom
allowed)
Safe Spots: (None)
Can Engage Boss in Melee? No. (thanx to Blue Elf)
Hidden Items: (None)
Note:-You cannot enter Point Blank range; it is obstructed.
Possible Attacks: (Whirlwind can knock players off their feet!
All other attacks knock players down)
-Whirlwind: (Far-Extreme) {Slow} <High>
Clashes his swords together and releases one or two tornadoes;
depending on if angered or not. Getting hit will hurl players
in the air! Run left or right to dodge.
-Optic Blast: [Reflectable] (Far-Extreme) {Medium} <Medium>
He will lean forward and attempt to track his target with his
eye, then fires a single thin short ruby red shot from his eye.
Not very damaging and fairly easy to dodge.
-Optic : [Sweeping Attack][Cohesive Beam] (Far-Extreme) {Fast} <Horrendous!>
Sweep Charges up his eye and leans towards the left edge of the screen,
then sweeps with a large ruby red beam that hits EVERYTHING above
the halfway mark up the stairs! Run down the stairs to dodge.
(Can also run towards it to avoid. IF you are fast enough, you'll
go under the beam!)
-Double Scimitar Swing: (Close-Medium) {Medium} <Massive!>
Lunges forward and swings both of his swords to
cover a half-circle (180 degrees) in front of him.
Done bellow the halfway mark of the stairs. Run
higher to dodge. This attack has a heavy recovery
time.
Tactics:
Be warned that there is very little room to maneuver here, especially in
multiplayer games.
Be ready to use the stairs to avoid his Optic Sweep. Just remember that you
will have to go down AT LEAST half of the flight of stairs to avoid it and
that, once down there, he will try to sweep you with his Double Scimitar
Swing.
Turbo Attack Level 3s do not seem to stun him for very long.
His Optic Blast isn't worth reflecting with Reflect Shields.
Note the short delay that it takes him to charge up his Optic Sweep; memorize
it and be prepared to run down the stairs the moment you see it because you
will have very little time to do so!
Cheap Tricks:
<<< MAKING THE GENIE DIZZY >>>
Simply run around the upper circular path. The Genie should be turning to
follow you while trying to shoot at you. Don't worry, you're totally safe.
Keep running around until the Genie stops turning to meet you (when he stops
tracking you, he'll be "dizzy" [spinning around in circles] for a few seconds).
Now, snipe away at his back! Apparently, hitting him in the back does more
damage than usual. The moment he regains his senses, start moving again and
repeat! (MANY thanx to Jerry Hong)
<<< BEST WAY TO KILL HIM >>>
Stand on top the stairs and shoot. If he uses his Optic Sweep, go down the
stairs to avoid it then back up not to get hit by the scimitars. If he uses
his Optic Blast or his Whirlwind attack go clockwise around the circular path.
Keep moving until he either stops or does his Optic Sweep. If he does his
Optic Sweep, run (or Turbo Dash) to the nearest stairs and go down to avoid it.
Either way, attack him while he's not attacking you. Keep doing this and
eventually all this spinning around him will make him "dizzy" and he will
temporarily turn in circles even though you are just standing there and kicking
his ass with sniper fire! (MANY thanx to my brother)
<<< SINGLE MINDED LOCK-ON >>>
Apparently, there IS a way for a single player in a team to REALLY anger the
Genie so that he concentrates ALL his attacks and efforts on that player until
he hits that player (at this point, he returns to his normal behavior). When
angered in such a way, the Genie will COMPLETELY ignore ALL the other players,
giving them free shots! How to enrage the Genie in such a manner is still
being researched as you read this. (MANY thanx to Magnus)
<<< FORCING THE DOUBLE SCIMITAR SWING >>>
Note that the moment that you are past halfway down the stairs, the Genie
will ALWAYS use his Double Scimitar Swing attack. You can take advantage of
this flaw by simply running down the stairs to force this attack, immediately
run back up and then snipe him a few times before he recovers! Repeat as
desired. (Note that sometimes, he will ignore your descent and perform either
his Whirlwind or his Opti Blast attack; so do not start sniping until you see
him lunging forward to do his scimitar swing.)
***** Versus SKORNE 1 (The Desecrated Temple, aka: Cathedral) *****
Boss Mobility: (None)
Boss Size = Huge
Lair Size: Small (Limited mobility allowed; fairly cramped in multiplayer)
Obstructions: (None)
Safe Spots: Two, see below under "Cheap Tricks".
Can Engage Boss in Melee? No. (thanx to Blue Elf)
Hidden Items: (None)
Note:-You cannot enter Point Blank range; it is obstructed.
NOTE: Points of Reference (thanx to DWells)
Far Range: Behind red carpet in the middle of the room.
Medium: Between pit and carpet.
Close: At edge of Skorne's pit.
Possible Attacks: (Grab & Hurl projects players very far away!
All other attacks have Knockdown ability)
1-Fireball : [Reflectable] [Area-Of-Effect] (Far-Extreme) {Slow} <Very High>
Toss Hurls 2 to 7 fireballs (depending on whether he is angry or
not) from his left and right gauntlets, in sequence. Big
explosion upon impact, causing collateral area-of-effect
damage (which doesn't knock down). Run back, left or right
to dodge. Difficult to reflect because he doesn't aim directly
at you.
-Fist Slam: [Lock On Target] (Far-Extreme) {Very Fast} <Medium>
Raises his fist in the air, summons a circle of force below it,
then violently drops it to the group, creating other circles to
appear under your characters (one per player), hitting all of
them. This attack hits players no matter where they are
standing and it targets the character's current position; it can
be dodged if you are in motion, but very hard to evade if you
are standing still. Run straight in any direction (do NOT turn
while moving) to dodge.
-Visor Blast: [Cohesive Beam] (Medium-Far) {Fast} <Horrendous!>
He lunges forward and fires a heat beam similar to Fire Breath
from his visor. This beam reaches the other end of the screen
and hits anything in between. Run left or right to avoid.
(Stay at Extreme range to avoid it altogether.)
-Wing Beat: [Area-Of-Effect] (Medium) {Very Fast} <Medium>
Leans back, opens his wings, then violently beats both of his
wings and sends a shockwave of force forwards, hitting EVERYONE
in the screen. He usually performs this attack when players are
standing too close to him for too long. CANNOT be dodged.
-Grab & Hurl: [Hurls characters away] (Close) {Fast} <None?>
Done on players standing too close to him (within 10 feet from
his pit). He grabs you, raises you in the share, shakes you
senseless and hurls you away. Unsure if it does any damage.
-Slash: [Sweeping Attack] (Close) {Very Fast} <Very High>
He slashes at players standing within 5 feet of his pit with his
claws, leaving a light trail. Hits up to 3 times. Very fast; run
back to dodge.
-Flip Off: (Far-Extreme) {Slow} <None>
Flips you "the bird" (middle finger). Usually done after Fireball
Toss. Does no damage whatsoever. Simply used for distraction
purposes and to insult players. Gives you precious seconds to
run around or shoot him!
1: Balls made of Acid or Lightning (right and left gauntlets, respectively).
These attacks are VERY difficult to reflect because Skorne tends to shoot
them in front or to the left or right of your character.
Tactics:
Skorne 1 likes to play cheap and tries to shoot his fireballs beside you or
in front of you so that they detonate very near you, exploding and knocking
you to the ground. This makes them very difficult to reflect with Reflect
Shields, but if you DO manage to reflect some, you'll notice that they do LOTS
of damage against him!
Skorne 1 has a multitude of attacks, all done at different ranges, all of
which are powerful, so there is no optimal range to stay in. Stand where you
are most comfortable and be brave!
Use Turbo Attack Level 3 if you've got it charged. He'll flinch after a big
hit then start up again, giving you precious time to act.
When Skorne 1 does his Fireball toss from his right hand, dodge right and
same goes for the left hand. It makes it a little easier to dodge. (MANY
thanx to James P Hill) His right fireball (Acid) is always aimed ahead of you
or to your left: you barely need to move at all to dodge it. (This is best
time to shoot if your player is a slow shooter.) His left fireball (Lightning
is always aimed right in front of you. If you don't move, it will blow up in
your face and knock you down, so dodging is necessary. (Not a good time to
snipe for slow Missile shooters.) Bottom line: Skorne has bad aim with his
right hand, but aims very well with his left. (MANY thanx to PM)
Watch out for Fist Slams: they track running characters VERY well. They
appear under all characters fighting him so everyone is in jeopardy when he
slams his fists down (thanx to DWells).
Attacking Skorne during Fist Slam with a level 3 turbo or Potion will cause
him to rear back and his attack will be nullified. (thanx to DWells)
When he does his Flip Off, nail him! He's wasting his time and giving you
free hits: take advantage of it!
James P Hill says that in Gauntlet Legends Ver 1.3, when Skorne 1 does a
Flip Off, about half of the time he will do a Fist Slam shortly after.
When Skorne is very angry, he will always use his "super" move (Fist Slam
[Skorne 1] or Chest Beam [Skorne 2]) after the tenth fireball (assuming you
don't advance and trigger his other nigh unavoidable attacks or disrupt him
with Turbo Attack Level 3 or a Potion), and will never taunt. Skorne is
is better off angry, because you know exactly what he will do. (ENDLESS
thanx to PM)
<DWell's Strategies>
Skorne 1 will start slow with a few Fireball Tosses and an occasional Fist
Slam. Angering him will speed him up and projectiles will come in volleys of
5, then a Flip-off, then three more projectiles, then a Fist Slam), repeat.
After doing 50% damage he speeds up again and will throw up to 12 projectiles
in a volley, Fist Slam, repeat. Sometimes a Flip-off.
Skorne 1 will immediately use Visor Blast if you advance on him during a
projectile volley. He'll use Wing Beat when you stay too close for too long
and will use Visor Blast again after two Wing Beats (Visor Blast on closest
foe in a multiplayer game).
Cheap Tricks:
<<< SAFE SPOTS >>>
In the absolute lower left or lower right corner of screen. From this range,
Skorne will only do Fireball Tosses and Fist Slams. Fireball Tosses won't
have enough range to actually directly hit you: they will detonate far enough
from you do only do area-of-effect damage is very little) and their explosions
will NOT knock you down. Also note that fireballs thrown to the side on which
you're standing will go sailing off into the void, not even detonating to hurt
you at all! (MANY MANY thanx to DWells, BFord, Michael Weston, Ted Dickinson
and Magnus!)
***** Versus SKORNE 2 (The Underworld) *****
Boss Mobility: (None)
Boss Size = Huge
Lair Size: Very Small (Extremely limited mobility allowed; VERY limited room
in multiplayer)
Obstructions: (None)
Safe Spots: Two, same as Skorne 1 (see above under "Cheap Tricks"), except
that he does Chest Beam instead of Fist Slam.
Can Engage Boss in Melee? No. (thanx to Blue Elf)
Hidden Items: (None)
Note:-You cannot enter Point Blank range; it is obstructed.
Possible Attacks: (All attacks knock players down)
(Same attacks as Skorne 1, except that he rarely does his Visor Beam
Note that Skorne 2 does NOT do Fist Slam, his Wing Beat looks different and
the fireballs that he shoots are made of Fire; not Acid/Electricity.)
-Chest Beam: [Cohesive Beam] (Far-Extreme) {Very Fast} <Fatal!>
Same as Visor Blast, except that it's even MORE powerful! Up
3 hits for a total of 200-250 damage to a lvl 99 Valkyrie! Has
better tracking ability than Visor Beam. Run left or right to
dodge.
Tactics:
Exact same tactics as versus Skorne 1 (see above); rather quite anticlimactic.
His Chest Beam has a 0.5 second charging delay before he performs it, note
it, memorize it and grind your reflexes to make you dodge left or right
whenever you see it coming! Or else, be prepared to insert more credits!
His Chest Ray is fairly predictable. If you stay in Extreme range, Skorne 2
should be relentlessly showering you with fireballs. If he stops doing so for
half a second, you instantly know that he's either gonna do a Flip Off or do
his Chest Beam. Best thing to do is to dodge; just in case.
Attacking Skorne during a Chest Beam with a level 3 turbo or Potion will
cause him to rear back and his attack will be nullified. (thanx to DWells)
<DWells' Strategies>
Skorne 2 starts slow with Fireballs then a taunt. After being angered, he
will throw 5 fireballs, Flip-off, three Fireballs, Chest Beam, repeat. After
50% health loss he speeds up with up to 9 Fireballs, Flip-off, two Fireballs,
Chest Beam, repeat. Hardly used Chest Beam when advancing on him.
Cheap Tricks:
Exact same Cheap Tricks as versus Skorne 1 (see above).
<<< DODGING THE CHEST BEAM IN MULTIPLAYER GAMES >>>
Before doing his Chest Beam, Skorne 2 will ALWAYS point at the player he is
about to do it at. You have to look carefully, as it's a little difficult to
see at first, but mastering this trick means that you will never be hit by it
ever again! (MANY thanx to Specialis)
<<< GETTING KNOCKED OFF >>>
In Gauntlet Legends machines whose version is inferior to Ver 1.6, it is
possible to get knocked off the platform while fighting Skorne 2 if you get
hit by his Chest Beam while standing on the edge of the platform. Depending
on the version of your machine, you could either die instantly or get massive
damage (500+) and climb back on the platform to continue fighting him. (MANY
thanx to Trailsong.) Thankfully, the "instant death" has been removed in the
most current versions of Gauntlet Legends; but it does make for a much less
climactic final battle... Note that Robert Iu has confirmed that one cannot
get knocked of the platform in Ver 1.4 either.
NOTE: Avoid dying and continuing against Skorne 2 because he plays cheap
sometimes. He can anticipate the moment where you appear and shoot a Chest
Beam at you, which you will NOT be able to dodge! Ouch! The best way to avoid
this situation is to continue right when Skorne flips you off or when he is
"recharging" his fireballs: this will give you enough time to run to avoid the
beam! (thanx to Robert Iu)
* 8.1 MISC BOSS INFO *********************************************************
Here's some miscellaneous information concerning bosses.
<<< ANGERING BOSSES >>>
Avoid angering bosses at all costs. Angering bosses can be done either of
two ways:
1) Doing massive damage in a very small time frame. (Eg: 3-Way Shot, Rapid
Fire and Phoenix Familiar.)
2) When the boss' health bar is depleted to 75%, 50%, 25%, 10% or 5%.
When angry, he/she/it will get angry and will start moving and shooting real
fast. Also, some bosses shoot more when angry (the Dragon and Chimera will
shoot 3 fireballs every time it shoots!).
The only way to calm a boss from the angry state is to get hit: sometimes
only once, sometimes many times. Dying is also a fail-safe way of calming
down a boss. Needless to say, neither way is pleasant!
Angry states are cumulative. Eg: If you fight a boss and reduce his/her
health to 50% and don't calm the boss down (ie: don't get hit), when you
reduce the boss to 25% the boss will be twice as angry!
<<< HARD MODE >>>
After killing ANY boss, the arcade immediately shifts to "Hard Mode". You
will notice this change the moment you enter the following stage. There will
be MANY more enemy generators (as many monster generators as if you were
playing a 4 player game, no matter how many players are currently playing).
It is also possible to note other changes such as the fact that Orc Archers
shoot twice as far (!). In "Hard Mode", monsters still have the same health,
but they do more damage and Golems take more hits to kill (Thanx to Dwells).
To get out of Hard Mode, simply let someone in your team die. Also, sometimes
finishing a stage resets Hard Mode.
<<< SUPER EASY MODE >>>
After beating Skorne 2 (ie: finishing the game), the game goes into "Super
Easy Mode" instead of "Hard Mode" (thanx to DWells). Either 1 of 2 things
can happen (it's decided randomly) (thanx to Robert Iu):
1) -There are half as many generators.
-Monsters have ridiculously low health. (In a single player game, with a
lvl 99 character, a single Turbo Attack Level 3 can kill a Golem!)
-Monster do very little damage.
-Small creatures and Lvl 1 Orcs have a 75% chance of missing your
character altogether (ie: no damage)!
-Power-Ups last x2 to x3 as long!
-Archer and Bomb Tossers shoot as far as in Hard Mode (ie: twice as far).
(thanx to my brother for this info)
Note that after killing another boss, all these effects are cancelled,
EXCEPT for power-ups lasting x2-x3 as long, and the game goes into "Hard Mode".
(thanx to Dwells)
2) There are as many generators as in "Hard Mode", except that monsters do
normal damage and the Ticking Timer is always at 1 health per second (and 100%
food value). These effects wear off only after you die and do not continue.
In this mode, you can, in fact, play forever if you are good enough. John S
Reese claims that he kept running through the Castle Stage over and over,
gaining a little more health every time he played until he got bored and
killed himself. I, myself, managed to kill 3 bosses right after finishing the
game without adding any credits (with only the 1500 health I had remaining
after finishing the game). (many thanx to John S Reese)
If you wish to finish the game as many times as possible while using as few
credits as possible, you should consider finishing the game once normally,
then keep pumping in credits to take advantage of this never ending 1 health
per second drain.
* 8.2 FINAL STAGES ***********************************************************
This section is to help guide newbies past the final stages of the game.
DESECRATED TEMPLE:
This stage is shaped like a Cathedral (it looks like a cross), where you
start at the top of the cross. There is an overwhelming number of enemies in
this stage if you just got the 4th key (there are a lot fewer enemies if you
die and restart here). This stage has many chests, yet no keys (you'll have
to buy them at the end-of-level shop). There are no doors; there are no
Potions or food items here either. Don't bother with the chests, they're all
gold, with the exception of the chests near both of the stasis Deaths.
All monsters are lvl 2 monsters from each of the 4 stages (Mountain Orcs,
Castle Orcs, Forest Lizardmen and Desert Orcs); they come out of purple
teleporters (these are their "dens", you can't use them to teleport anywhere).
What's fun is that none of these monsters can shoot; use this fact to your
advantage.
Proceed with caution, destroying all enemy generators in sight. Fight
monsters in Melee to charge up Turbo Attack Level 3 as fast as possible. Use
Turbo Attack Level 3 a lot to clear out up to 10 enemy generators in a line!
The passages are winding, so you don't have to worry about being surrounded;
for now.
Walk up to the intersection. To the left is a stasis Death with 3 secret
walls around her. Fire Amulet, 3-Way Shot and Anti-Death Power (in a chest)
are there.
Go back to the intersection. To the right of the beginning is another
stasis Death with a Reflective Shot, Speed Boots and a Phoenix Familiar (in a
chest).
Back to the intersection. Go forward to the bottom of the cross. You'll
exit the winding passages into a OPEN ROOM. Run around and destroy ALL
monster generators before proceeding on or else they'll overwhelm you. Avoid
getting surrounded; they'll beat the crap out of you! If you can't destroy
all the generators, run into one of the corners of the room to hide (so that
you take on one or two enemies at a time) and charge up your Turbo Attack
meter. There is treasure on the floor (in a single player game: 5 piles [1
pile, 2 pots and 2 barrels of gold] worth 1,250 gold total). At the bottom of
the cross, you must hit the switch in front of the altar to reveal the EXIT to
Skorne 1.
NOTE: Dying here will mean that when you restart, you'll appear here again.
After killing Skorne 1, you'll have to choose between 1 of his 4 armor pieces
(1 item per player only). They are: (from left-most to right-most)
Left Gauntlet: ability to throw Lightning Balls*. (thanx to Allen Kim)
Mask: ability to do Fire Breath*
Horns: ability to do Fire Breath*
Right Gauntlet: ability to throw Acid Balls*. (thanx to Allen Kim)
Note that all these items are time delimited and have a very long duration.
*: These items have priority over all other attacks. (Eg: If you buy a
Thunder Hammer after getting an Item of Skorne, you will NOT be able to
use it until the Item of Skorne runs out in duration!)
Choosing either of the two gauntlets will allow you to do the Unlimited
Super Shot Trick 1 (see Tricks 7.0 for more details.)
TRICK TO EXTEND THEIR DURATION:
Wait until the Narrator stops speaking before picking up an Item of Skorne
(if you do not have all 12 Runestones), otherwise wait until a column of
light from the portal starts to rise. If you use this trick, you should
easily be able to carry the item until the end of the Underworld before it
disappears. (ENDLESS thanx to PM)
WARNING: To move on to the Underworld, you MUST have all 12 Runestones before
killing Skorne 1, or else you will be sent back to the 4 worlds to
find them.
UNDERWORLD:
This stage should be a cakewalk. All the monsters here are lvl 3 monsters
from each of the 4 stages (Red Demon, Black Living Armor, Living Tree Trunks
and Mummies). The only monster that can shoot is the Red Demon; be warned.
There are no chests or doors here, so don't buy any keys. No Potions or food
items either, so buy lots of Potions. There are quite a few power-ups lying
on the floor; including a Time Stop and a 5-Way Shot (items obtainable only in
3-4 player games).
There are no walls here or winding passages. You're completely out in the
open; hence you're open game for any monster! Don't get surrounded! Most
important of all, don't get sniped by Red Demons (they hurt a lot!).
Do not worry about getting lost: there is only ONE way through this stage.
(Although note that there IS one (exactly 1) intersection in this stage which
branches in 2 directions, but eventually meet each other.) Tip: When you
start, move North onto the open platform, move West then North. To the East
is a dead-end: you'll waste valuable seconds off your Item of Skorne if you
go this way (thanx to PM).
If you have the Mask or Horns of Skorne, clearing the screen should be easy.
You'll have to get as close to the monsters as possible before executing the
breath attack because it only has a medium range. It'll take 2 breath attacks
to kill any of the monsters there; but don't worry because breath attacks have
Knockdown ability (so you can hit monsters while they're down!). It's best to
have 2 players, one with the Mask and one with the Horns, so that you'll clear
out monsters very fast. Red Demons pose a definite threat because they'll
snipe you and you won't be able to return fire! Bring lots of potions to
clear them out.
With either of the two Gauntlets, you'll be able to kill any monster in
one hit. The best tactic is to snipe monsters from far away as possible. Be
careful, though, because Red Demons can easily snipe you too!
Either way, the items of Skorne should last until you get through half of
the stage.
The power-ups you encounter in order are: Limited Growth, Fire Amulet,
Super Shot, Time Stop, (5-Way Shot/Lightning Breath), Fire Breath; irrelevant
to how many players are present. (thanx to DWells) Note the parentheses: at
a certain point in the stage, you'll reach a point where you'll be standing in
front of a circular path branching left and right. Choosing left leads to a
5-Way Shot (after a long path) and choosing right leads to a Lightning Breath.
Both branches eventually meet each other.
Walk along the edges of the rock platforms to activate other platforms for
you to walk on. The hard part about this stage is that you have no idea where
you're going because the platforms don't rise until you walk near them. This
is why I can't paint an accurate map for you; you're on your own. Note that
this is a relatively short stage.
You'll know you reached the end when you approach a very BIG misty platform
with 3 "Gargoyle" statues* (3 sphinx' with heads of a lizard, eagle and lion,
respectively). Be smart, activate and kill them one by one. They aren't
that tough. Use Turbo Attack to knock them off the platform if you really
want to play cheap. After they're all dead, the EXIT to Skorne opens up.
Good luck!
*: If you are playing a single-player game and you are fast enough, you will
only encounter 1 "Gargoyle" statue.
Trick: Each of the 3 statues has a hard time turning around, so if you're
2 players, each of you should stand on each side of the beast. Start
by hitting it in the back in Melee to make it turn around. While
it's doing so, run away out of its range. Now, make the other player
attack it in Melee from behind. Run away. Repeat over and over
again! (thanx to Robert Iu)
Trick: If your character is fast, you can always try to activate all 3
statues at once. Make sure to have all 3 of them trailing behind
you as you run around them (the last thing you want to do is get
surrounded); this way, when you use a Turbo Attack Level 3, you'll
nail all 3 of them! With a high level character, you can easily
kill all 3 in 60 seconds flat. (thanx to DWells)
Trick: If you have leftover magic when you reach the Gargoyles, use Magic
Shields. The Shields will Knockback a Gargoyle continuously until it
wears off! Useful for Melee Types. (MANY thanx PM)
WARNING: Dying here will mean that when you restart, you'll have to get
4 Realm Keys again (ie: You'll have to kill all 4 bosses again.);
so DON'T die here! (Continues are always possible, though.)
* 9.0 THE TIMER IS TICKING ***************************************************
(MANY MANY thanx to all who contributed to help FINALLY reveal the great
mystery of the Ticking Timer in Gauntlet Legends!!! They are: AKim, Joshua
Harring, Robert Iu, DWells, Blue Elf, BFord and Magnus.)
One of the most annoying thing with the original Gauntlet is that your
character lost health gradually through time, no matter what he/she did. This
rule has been transferred to Gauntlet Legends and expanded.
----- HOW IT WORKS -----
Basically, The Ticking Timer is an anxiety/stress builder. It drains all
players of a little Health at fixed time intervals, no matter what is going on
in the game. What this means is that every time the internal clock of the
machine "ticks" (usually every second), your character "bleeds" a predetermined
amount of Health points (see the heading States of Ticking Timer below for more
details).
*: Ticking timer is a variable setting on the arcade. The owner of the
Gauntlet Legends arcade can choose to set it off (!) or choose one of the
different "Ticks per Second" settings (see below).
----- STATES OF TICKING TIMER -----
In Gauntlet Legends, there are 3 states of "Ticking Timer" syndrome.
State 1): -Your character loses 1 health every tick of the Ticking Timer.
-Food items are worth 100% on pick-up.
State 2): -Your character loses 1.5 health every tick of the Ticking Timer.
(Ie: 3 every 2 seconds; You lose 1 then 2, and so forth.)
-Food items are worth 80-100% on pick-up.
-Damage received by your character is doubled.
State 3): -Your character loses 2 health every tick of the Ticking Timer.
-Food items are worth 50% on pick-up.
-Damage received by your character is tripled or quadrupled.*
*: In my experience, Red Demons (Mountain Stage) and Orc Archers will do
over 70 damage per hit, which is ludicrous since my Valkyrie is lvl
92 with 999 armor (they normally do 10-20).
Note: Different characters can be in different states of the Ticking Timer,
depending on how long it has been since they have inserted their last
credit. (Eg: You can have a pro stuck at 2 health/tick because it's
been well over 20 minutes that he hasn't inserted another credit,
while the beginner next to him is only losing 1 health/tick because
he inserts coins every 10 seconds!)
NOTE: The Ticks per Second IS a variable setting on the machine. Be warned
about playing on a machine with a high setting because you'll notice
that you end up dying VERY fast. I, myself, have only played on two
machines with different settings: "1 tick/second" and "4 ticks/second".
Needless to say, on the second machine, in the time it took me to take
out another credit from my pocket, insert it and press Start, I
already lost over 20 health!
NOTE: The message "[color][character] needs food badly" and "[color]
[character] is about to die" have NOTHING to do with the Ticking Timer
State that your character is in.
----- HOW DOES THE GAME SHIFT BETWEEN STATES -----
The arcade starts (or restarts) an internal counter the moment you insert a
credit and hit the Start button. This timer is paused in between stages (eg:
whether or not you take 1 second to write your name or 1 minute won't affect
the timer).
The timer is incremented after every tick (while you are in a stage; not
while you are in the shop, map or entering your name/password). After the
counter is at certain fixed value, the game will shift your Ticking Timer
state up one notch; up to, and including, 2 health/tick.
Here are APPROXIMATE values that I've found while playing on my machine.
State 1: At start.
State 2: After approx. 300 ticks (around 5 minutes @ 1 tick/second)
State 3: After approx. 540 ticks (around 9 minutes @ 1 tick/second)
I am currently unsure if the time it takes for the Ticking Timer States to
shifts is a variable setting on the Arcade. I believe that these values are
constant on every machine, but I may be wrong.
Note: It was once believed that there were multiple factors that influence
the Ticking Timer, such as how many monsters you kill, how many levels
your character has, how many stages have you completed, etc. This
assumption is absolutely ERRONEOUS. There is only ONE factor that
influences the timer: it's the number of ticks since you last inserted
a credit.
NOTE: I have heard from an arcade distributor that, in version 1.6 of
Gauntlet Legends, State 2 kicks in after exactly 5 minutes of game
time (since you last inserted a credit) and that State 3 kicks in after
exactly 9 minutes, irrespective of the Ticks since you last inserted a
credit and the Ticks per Second setting on the machine. This remains
to be proven...
NOTE: It was once believed that the Ticking Timer State was incremented when
the Narrator said "{Color} {Character} needs food badly" (ie: when the
character's health hits exactily 200) and "{Color} {Character} is about
to die" (ie: when the character's health hits exactily 50). This
assumption was proven to be completely false. (thanx to TreguardD)
----- HOW TO RESET THE TICKING TIMER -----
There is only ONE way to reset the internal counter in the machine that
determines your character's current state of the Ticking Timer: insert another
credit and press Start. (This is why most Gauntlet Legend pros complain that
the Ticking Timer is a low-blow on them by Atari because even the best of
players fall prey to the merciless Ticking Timer! If you manage to find a
Gauntlet Legends machine with the Ticking Timer disabled, play it as much as
you can 'cause they're VERY rare!)
Note: In case you haven't noticed, the Ticking Timer is something that Atari
introduced after version 1.0 of Gauntlet Legends to protect arcade
owners from pros, who have been known to be able to play indefinitely
on machines which had no Ticking Timer.
----- MORAL OF THIS STORY -----
The lesson to be learned here is that before you even consider to start
playing on ANY Gauntlet Legends machine, you should consider 3 crucial factors
that will GREATLY increase your survivability, and thus enjoyment of this
great game. (See 12.1 "Operator's Manual" for more info.)
1) Cost per credit
+0.50$ is reasonable price.
+Anything lower is a gift from God (usually 0.25$, but I've heard stories
of 0.15$ per credit)!
+Anything above that is a rip-off (usually 1$ or more).
2) Health given per credit
+500 is average.
+700 is fantastic!
+300 is a suitable of being labeled a criminal offense!
3) Ticks/Second setting
+1 tick/second is acceptable.
+1 tick/2 seconds is great. No Ticking Timer altogether is a divine
blessing!
+Anything above 1 tick/second is a waste of cash.
* 9.1 TIME DELAYED BONUSES ***************************************************
Certain bonuses appear only after a certain amount of time that you've been
in the current stage.
<<< FREE DIRECTIONS >>>
If you stand still for a few seconds, the Narrator will give you directions
to the nearest EXIT. These will be indicated by red translucent arrows on the
floor. Not all that useful, if you ask me, since most stages have detours
which lead you to lots of gold, food and/or power-ups; but still nice to know.
<<< BONUS KEY AWARD >>> (MANY MANY thanx to BFord, DWells, Robert Iu and
Some-_-One)
It has been observed by many players that the Narrator can award players
with a Bonus Key. This key (it's an ordinary key used to open doors and
chests) appears near a random player, waiting to be picked up.
Not particularly useful in ordinary situations, but it can save the lives
of players who've run out of keys and are stuck behind a door which they can't
bypass.
Currently, we are not 100% sure how this award works, but we believe that
if your team stays within the same stage for a long time (256 seconds or more
would be a rough estimate), you will get this bonus key. What you do inside
this stage does not seem to affect this award; you can be running around,
shooting, fighting or standing still. The number of keys your team has and
whether your team is truly stuck behind a door they can't open also does not
seem to affect this award either (there have been many players who've simply
had a bonus key given to them while they were searching for Runestones). As
long as you do not leave the stage before the required time elapses, you will
be awarded with this bonus key.
Note: This is analogous to Gauntlet I and Gauntlet II where, if you stood
perfectly still for 100 and 256 seconds, all doors in the current
floor would open up and all walls would turn into EXITs, respectively.
* 10.0 RUNESTONE AND TREASURE ROOM LOACTIONS *********************************
Here are the Runestone locations as given to me by Matthew Lees. (MANY thanx
Matt for typing all this stuff up for me!). He has put a similar post on the
GameSages site (found at
http://sages.ign.com under the Arcade section); but
be warned, the following text is NOT the same posting as in GameSages. If you
want to cross-reference Runestone and Treasure Room locations with another
FAQ, please feel free to check out Doug Brown's (aka: Puni_sher) FAQ, which
can also be found on GameFaqs.com (it's got a VERY detaileddescriptions of
all the Runestone/Treasure Room locations; check it out!).
I'd also like to thank Matthew Lees for confirming for me the full stage
names as given by the Narrator!
NOTATION:
Players: You, the guy/gal that is slamming on buttons and using the joystick!
Characters: The hero/heroine that the player controls.
North, East, South, West:
Directions relative to the CURRENT angle of the camera. (eg: If you are
walking North and the camera shifts 90 degrees to the right, you are now
walking West even though your character hasn't changed direction.)
-North is away from you (the players).
-South is towards you (the players).
-West is towards the left side of the screen.
-East is towards the right side of the screen.
In front, behind, to the Left, to the Right:
Directions relative to the character. (eg: If the character faces West
then his/her right is actually North.)
Switch: A small one square foot gray tile that activates something in the
current stage when you step on it. (No need to stand on it, just
stepping on it will do fine.)
RUNE STONE LOCATIONS
Each world has 3 Runestones and 1 Treasure Room which are to be found. (You
need all 12 Runestones to finish the game.) This means that EACH stage in
EACH of the worlds has either a Runestone or a Treasure Room to be found,
except for the first Mountain stage, each of the bosses' stage, the Desecrated
Temple and the Underworld.
<<< MOUNTAIN KINGDOM >>>
1st Rune: PEAK ["DAGGER PEAK"] -> (2nd stage)
After climbing a few hills. You will come to a part where there is a
Death-in-a-barrel (the only one in this stage), next to it (in the corner)
is a gray statue: destroy it to uncover the Runestone.
2nd Rune: CLIFFS ["THE CLIFFS OF DESOLATION"] -> (3rd stage)
Ignore the first EXIT that you come across. Instead continue along the path
above the EXIT, breaking the wall, fighting the Golem, continuing a long way
along the path until you reach an open elevated platform with lots of
generators and a Fire Amulet. A little further is a Suicide Bomber. To the
East is a bridge and to the West should be a path that leads to a 2nd bridge.
Go East (take the top bridge). Once across, hit the Northern wall at the
end of the bridge to uncover the Runestone.
3rd Rune: CAVERNS ["THE VOLCANIC CAVERNS"] -> (5th & Last stage)
Ignore the first EXIT once again. Follow the path after the EXIT which
leads to an open platform with an intersection going East and West. Go
West. Follow the path. Later, you'll reach another intersection. Turn
West again (East leads to the 2nd exit, guarded by 1-2 Golems). Hit the
wall at the end of this platform to uncover the Runestone.
<<< CASTLE STRONGHOLD >>>
1st Rune: DUNGEONS ["THE DUNGEONS OF TORMENT"] -> (2nd stage)
You should notice the Runestone as soon as you start the level in a cage
elevated high above the floor. Down the spiraling stairs until you reach a
small platform (you should encounter exactly 1 spike trap on the way down).
Here, you can choose to take two stairs going down (again): South-West
(which has another spike trap in front of it) or East. Go South-West, which
will lead you to the platform directly under the suspended cage. Cross the
log bridge, and onto another platform and fight the Golem. On this platform
is a switch. Step on it and the cage will slowly come down. Go back to the
previous platform and grab it once it's at floor level.
2nd Rune: ARMORY ["THE TOWER ARMORY"] -> (3rd stage)
From the start, go East (through the wooden gate door), walk South down the
stairs. (Camera will rotate 90 degrees to the right.) 10 feet in that
direction should be a Bissau trap with a red barrel and a rat mound behind
it. Cross it. At around 10 feet East should be a switch. Hit it; this
should drop the wall to the East. Defeat the Golem behind the wall. Keep
going East where the Golem came from and hit the brick wall under the stairs
to reveal the Runestone.
3rd Rune: TREASURY ["THE CASTLE TREASURY"] -> (4th & Last stage)
Start. Go East, use the Teleporter to the North. Follow the path until the
last Teleporter (which will lead you to a room with a throne in it). Go
down the stairs to the West and turn right (towards the North), in the
center of this large room is an elevated platform (which you can reach the
top via steps). There will be a stasis Death at the top; behind her is a
stone box-like object: destroy it to uncover the Runestone.
<<< FOREST REALM >>>
1st Rune: ROOTS ["THE TWISTED ROOTS OF EVIL"] -> (2nd stage)
After using the small wooden elevator (about 10 feet after a stasis Death)
which elevates you 5 feet to another small platform to the North, you can
choose to open the gate to the East or go West. Proceed West. Defeat the
Golem (who is standing in the middle of a U-shaped curve in the path).
Follow the U-turn in the path, which should lead you to a wall after about
20-30 feet. Turn East, take 5 paces and hit the big tree stump to the
South; this will reveal the Runestone.
2nd Rune: TREE ["THE ANCIENT TREE"] -> (3rd stage)
(2 PLAYERS NEEDED!) After coming across Death in-a-barrel, proceed East and
follow the long serpentine path, you will come across a switch that reveals
an two-player bridge. The moment you leave the switch, it disappears; that
is why 2 players are needed. Based on the fact you had 2 players, run to
the end of that invisible bridge that seems to lead nowhere. Wait for a
while for the HUGE tree to rise from the bellow (this takes quite a while:
approx. 10-20 seconds). After the tree stops rising, you'll notice that it
has a cut in it, this is a platform on which you must walk on. There should
be a Super Shot here (in a 2+ player game, at least) and a switch. Activate
it, then walk to the East, across the BIG green leaf, across the path. You
will notice a branch that rises to the East. Run across this thin branch
and it should lead you to a big wooden cage (which starts to rise after
hitting the 2nd switch, so be patient) that has the Runestone on it.
TRICK TO GET THE RUNE IN A SINGLE PLAYER GAME (unconfirmed)
This is what PM says:
You do NOT need two players to get the rune. In fact, the multiplayer
bridge/area has nothing to do with finding the rune. Just walk on the
"BIG green leaf" that is right before the next open room (with the
Suicide Bomber and a bunch of Living Tree Trunks) and more or less
colinear to the branch that leads east to the Rune: this should raise
the elevator with the Runestone on it.
3rd Rune: BRANCHES ["THE GNARLED BRANCHES"] -> (4th & Last stage)
After getting to the stump path (The path made of cut trees), you will
continue onwards, until you come across a stump by itself, continue up to
the right until you encounter a slope going upwards to the East. On top of
it, you'll meet two archers (5 feet apart from each other), destroy them,
then destroy the wall to the North behind them to uncover the Runestone.
<<< DESERT LANDS >>>
1st Rune: RUINS ["CITY RUINS"] -> (1st stage)
Proceed down the stairs from the first EXIT into the shallow water. Walk
along the Western path (which will lead you South). There should be an
area full of generators (orcs and snakes). To the East should be a door.
Open it. (Be careful of the Suicide Bomber who is waiting for you on the
other side). Walk along the jutted edge (that would be the inner [ie: your
character's left side] side of the spiraling stairs) of the walkway: there's
an invisible floor switch there, in the lower half of the stairs. The
Runestone will come up on a tiny platform in the center of the circular path.
2nd Rune: TEMPLE ["THE TEMPLE OF THE MAGI"] -> (2nd stage)
Proceed to the screen that has a altar with a gray boulder in the middle of
a very large open area. There is a stasis Death in front of it. This
boulder is being lit by light beams from six directions. The light comes
from four large square sapphire panels on the floor scattered symmetrically
around the corners of this room. Stop the lights by simply walking over
each of the panels. When you will have done so, the boulder in the center
of the room will vanish, leaving behind the Runestone.
3rd Rune: PYRAMIDS ["THE MYSTIC PYRAMIDS"] -> (3rd stage)
(The trickiest Rune to find!) Start. Follow the path until you reach the
4 Red Barrels. Keep going straight (don't turn Left and go over the wooden
bridge). After reaching the end of the path, climb up the slope. There
should be a Red Barrel in front of you. Turn Right and go down this slope.
Fight your way to your character's Upper Left. (There should be lots of orc
generators here.) There is a slanted slope with sand on the bottom of it,
climb it and step on the switch to lower the wall In Front of you. Walk
Forward again to step on the next switch, which will lower a second wall.
Then you will see a switch and a yellow potion on a brick. Hit the switch
and the potion will move up. Now come down, hugging the wall to your
character's Left; this should lead you to a wooden slope connected with an
elevated catwalk. WALK ALL THE WAY AROUND the catwalk until you set foot on
a tiny elevated platform where the floor is made out of stone. Walk down
the slope before you, turn 150 degrees to the Left, and then down the slope
after that. You should now see a fence with a treasure chest, an Archer and
a switch behind it. Walk down towards the South (bottom of the screen), you
will see a switch and enemy generators. Hit the switch and go back to where
you saw the fence, it should have dropped. Go hit the switch. Walk down
the left side, you should walk through a gate under a passageway. Continue
down the left side. Kill enemies, but careful Death is in the middle of the
room. When you reach the bottom left of the screen, there should be spikes
from the ground, then a key, a slope, a yellow potion, a slope and then a
platform with enemies to fight. The Runestone will be located behind a wall
near spikes on the far left of this platform.
TREASURE ROOM LOCATIONS
Each of the 4 main realms has a Treasure Room, which are located in different
stages.
Note: Inside Treasure Rooms, your character is unaffected by the Ticking Timer
and he/she has a limited amount of time to collect as much gold as
possible. There are also some power-ups inside.
Note: Upon leaving Treasure Rooms, you will notice that any active Deaths and
Golems will disappear. Phew!
<<< MOUNTAIN KINGDOM >>>
*****THE GAUNTLET TREASURE ROOM*****
Location: CAVES ["THE LOST CAVES"] -> (3rd stage)
At the beginning of the level, go East. (Camera turns 90 degrees right)
Keep fighting your way North and West. There should be a Suicide Bomber and
a lvl 3 Red Demon generator. Go East. Destroy the hidden wall. Look for
the treasure chest that has Limited Invisibility in it. Get it and run East
and then North. The path should lead West. Don't go there. To your
North-West should be a hidden wall. Break it, go inside. (The chest near
the opening is a Death-in-a-Chest). You should see a Golem and two barrels
beside him (one containing meat and the other containing a Potion [in 2+
player games]). The trap door to the Treasure Room is in the North-West
corner of this room and it has a letter "G" on it.
<<< CASTLE STRONGHOLD >>>
*****SPACE STATION NUMBER 5*****
Location: COURTYARD ["THE CASTLE COURTYARD"] -> (1st stage)
This has to be one of the easier Treasure Rooms to find. Ignore the first
EXIT. Climb up the stone stairs and follow the path. Go across the
invisible 2-player bridge (or go the long way around if you're alone [don't
worry, going down leads you back up on the other side, eventually]).
Go to the fourth iron door/gate (it should be right after the only log
bridge with a Suicide Bomber on top in the stage). Defeat the Golem inside,
There will be a trap door on the ground with a star shape, walk onto it to
access the Treasure Room.
<<< FOREST REALM >>>
*****THE PSYCHADELIC STUN CHAMBER ("Shots now stun other players!")*****
Location: SWAMP ["THE ACID SWAMPS"] -> (1st stage)
Ignore the first EXIT, keep going until you reach a gate (it's at a 4-way
intersection: back West, back South, North or East, through the gate). Open
it and start walking South along the path until you reach an intersection
which forks South-East and West. Go to the West through the gate. You will
come up on a ridge area that has a Golem and a multiplayer disappearing
bridge. Destroy the Golem, and then stand on the switch to activate the
bridge and lure a Lizardman (Spiders seem unable to see the bridge) on the
bridge to keep it active so that you can cross it. The trap door to the
Treasure Room has a mushroom shape on it.
WARNING: DO NOT enter this stage if flashing multi-colored lights make you
dizzy, sick or if you suffer from epilepsy. The reason for this is
because this stage has many bright flashing lights that change colors.
<<< DESERT LANDS >>>
*****THE GAUNTLET LABS*****
Location: TOMBS ["THE TOMBS OF THE UNDEAD"] -> (4th & Last stage)
At the start of the level, go up the stairs to the North. Keep going
forward (North), past the first intersection. At the second intersection,
turn East and take 2 small steps. Now look South: there should be a spike
trap in front of a slope leading to higher ground. Climb the slope and
follow the path; hit the switch at the end and go all the way back to the
first intersection. Go East. Hug the Left wall as you walk. About 15
paces from here will be the opening you just created by hitting the switch.
In this small room are Mummy generators and the Treasure Room: simply step
on the trap door with Atari symbol on it.
* 11.0 BEASTIARY *************************************************************
Here's a list of all the monsters in the game, sorted by world, and their
stats.
Notation:
Type: Melee Attacking: This monster's attacks are Melee based.
Missile Attacking: This monster's attacks are Missile based.
Range: Ranges from Medium, Long to Unlimited
Size: Bulk of the monster.
Ranges from Thin, Medium, Large to Huge.
Height: Height of the monster.
Ranges from Small, Medium, Tall to Very Tall.
Note that attacking Small creatures in Melee causes your character
to either perform a Stomping Kick or a Low Kick (normal Melee
attacks do not apply against them).
Health: Overall toughness of the monster.
Ranges from Little, Average, Lots, Tons! to Too Much!
(): indicates the APPROXIMATE number of shots required to kill it by
a lvl 1 Archer / a lvl 99 Wizard.
Damage: Damage done by this monsters' attacks.
Ranges from Pathetic, Low, Medium, High, Massive! to Horrendous!
[]: indicates any special properties this attack may have.
[Knockback]): This attack knocks your character down.
[Low Parabolic]: This Missile attack flies in an low arc, but
cannot be dodged by running under it.
[High Parabolic]: This Missile attack flies in a high arc and
can be dodged by running under it.
[Straight]: This Missile attack does not arc.
[Suicide]: This attack kills the monster when performed.
(): indicates the APPROXIMATE amount of damage which is done on a
lvl 1 Wizard with 100 Armor / a lvl 99 Valkyrie with 999 Armor
and 999 Magic.
<<< MOUNTAIN KINGDOM >>>
Lvl 1 Orc (Green): Carries a spear.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (40/4)
Lvl 2 Orc (Green): Carries two scimitars.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 3 Orc (Green): Carries a battle axe. Wears armor.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Tall
Health: Lots (4/2) Damage: High (?/?)
Orc Archer (Green): Green Orc with a light crossbow in his hands.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Long
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: Medium [Low parabolic arrows] (50/10)
Bomb Tosser Orc (Green): Green Orc with a big brown bag in front of him.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Medium
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: High [High parabolic bombs] (60/15-20)
Suicide Bomber Orc (Green): Green Orc with a keg of dynamite strapped on back!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Horrendous! [Knockback][Suicide] (100/50?)
Note: The keg of dynamite on his back is set on a short fuse. Either shoot
him to detonate it, or simply stand and wait for 5-10 seconds and it
will automatically go off!
Lvl 1 Demon (Gray): Has big jaw; no hands.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Low (?/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 2 Demon (Blue w/ Lava Streaks): Has big jaw; no hands.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (?/?) Damage: High (?/?)
Lvl 3 Demon (Red): Has big jaw; no hands.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Unlimited
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Lots (?/2) Damage: Massive! [Straight Fireballs] (75/40)
Lvl 1 Scorpion (Purple):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Small
Health: Little (1/1) Damage: Pathetic (20/3)
Lvl 2 Scorpion (Red):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Small
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (30/5)
Golem (Rock/Brown): Huge monster with oversized arms that look like hammers!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Huge Height: Very Tall
Health: Too Much! (?/?) Damage: Massive! (75/10-20)
Note: Health varies with the number of people currently playing.
+Wall-Mounted Fire Trap:
Periodically spits out fire damaging anyone standing next to the trap.
Easy to avoid if your character has high Speed. Try to stand behind it if
you must engage monsters in Melee.
+Floor Fire Trap:
Periodically spits out fire damaging anyone standing on top of the red trap.
Easy to avoid if your character has high Speed. Try to stand behind it if
you must engage monsters in Melee.
<<< CASTLE STRONGHOLD >>>
Lvl 1 Orc (Cyan): Carries a spear.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (?/?)
Lvl 2 Orc (Cyan): Carries two butcher cleavers.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 3 Orc (Cyan): Carrier a battle axe. Wears armor.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Tall
Health: Lots (4/2) Damage: High (?/?)
Orc Archer (Cyan): Cyan Orc with a light crossbow in his hands.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Long
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: Medium [Low parabolic arrows] (50/10)
Bomb Tosser Orc: Cyan Orc with a big brown bag in front of him.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Medium
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: High [High parabolic bombs] (60/15-20)
Suicide Bomber Orc (Cyan): Cyan Orc with a keg of dynamite strapped on back!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Horrendous! [Knockback][Suicide] (50-100)
Note: The keg of dynamite on his back is set on a short fuse. Either shoot
him to detonate it, or simply stand and wait for 5-10 seconds and it
will automatically go off!
Lvl 1 Living Armor (Silver): Carries a long sword.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Tall
Health: Little (3/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 2 Living Armor (Gray): Carries a halberd.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Tall
Health: Little (?/?) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 3 Living Armor (Black): Carries a two-handed sword
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Tall
Health: Average (?/1) Damage: Lots (?/?)
Lvl 1 Rat (Gray):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Small
Health: Little (1/1) Damage: Pathetic (?/1)
Lvl 2 Rat (Brown):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Small
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Pathetic (?/2)
Golem (Ivory/White): Huge monster with oversized arms that look like hammers!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Huge Height: Very Tall
Health: Too Much! (?/?) Damage: Massive! (75/10-20)
Note: Health varies with the number of people currently playing.
+Huge Purple Tentacle:
Only found in the first stage near the pool of water near the 2-player
invisible bridge. Comes out of the water looking for prey. Stay far to
avoid. (thanx to PM) Will knock players down.
+Small Green Tentacle:
Coming out of jail windows in the Dungeon (of Torment). These tentacles
can be shot to force them to retreat. (thanx to PM) Will knock players
down.
+Spike Trap:
Similar to Floor Fire Traps. Periodically throws up spikes, hurting
anything standing above the yellow trap. Easy to avoid if your character
has high Speed. Try to stand behind it if you must engage monsters in
Melee.
+Saw-Blade Trap:
Looks like a thin plate of metal on the floor with a thin straight hole in
the middle. Two saw-blades rise from the extremities of the plate and
travel horizontally to the other end, trying to slice the player when
he/she steps near it. Wait until these blades successfully cross to the
other end before proceeding onward.
+Wall-Mounted Energy Beams Trap:
A large beige plate mounts each of the two opposing walls where this trap
is found. This trap periodically charges up and releases a powerful energy
blast which hurts a player caught in the middle of the trap a lot.
<<< FOREST REALM >>>
Lvl 1 LizardMan: Carries a spear.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (?/?)
Note: Quick reactions: almost always scores the first hit (thanx to PM).
Lvl 2 LizardMan: Carries two spiked clubs.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Note: Quick reactions: almost always scores the first hit (thanx to PM).
Lvl 3 LizardMan: Carries a battle axe.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Tall
Health: Lots (4/2) Damage: High (?/?)
Note: Quick reactions: almost always scores the first hit (thanx to PM).
LizardMan Archer: LizardMan with a light crossbow in his hands.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Long
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: Medium [Low parabolic arrows] (50/10)
Bomb Tosser (LizardMan): LizardMan with a big brown bag in front of him.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Medium
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: High [High parabolic bombs] (60/15-20)
Suicide Bomber LizardMan: LizardMan with a keg of dynamite strapped on back!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Horrendous! [Knockback][Suicide] (50-100)
Note: The keg of dynamite on his back is set on a short fuse. Either shoot
him to detonate it, or simply stand and wait for 5-10 seconds and it
will automatically go off!
Lvl 1 Living Tree Trunks:
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (?/?) Damage: Low (?/?)
Lvl 2 Living Tree Trunks:
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (?/?) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 3 Living Tree Trunks:
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Lots (?/?) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 1 Spider (Green):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Small
Health: Little (1/1) Damage: Pathetic (?/?)
Lvl 2 Spider (Orange):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Small
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (?/?)
Golem (Moss/Green): Huge monster with oversized arms that look like hammers!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Huge Height: Very Tall
Health: Too Much! (?/?) Damage: Massive! (75/10-20)
Note: Health varies with the number of people currently playing.
+Green Spiked Vine:
A short (3-4 foot) vine that grows out from the ground. Found in all Forest
stages (except Spider Queen's). They lash out when you approach from
certain directions. Shoot to stop them from lashing out. (thanx to PM)
Will knock players down.
+Green Gas Geyser Trap:
Similar to Floor Fire Traps. Periodically ejects acid gas, hurting anything
standing above the green trap. Easy to avoid if your character has high
Speed. Try to stand behind it if you must engage monsters in Melee.
+Swinging Pendulum Trap:
A pendulum that swings back and forth very quickly. This trap hits only if
your character is standing on top of the brown marker on the floor. You
will not get hit if you stand beside this marker. Be warned that this trap
is so fast that you can easily get hit 2 or 3 times before escaping it.
+Double Battering Ram Trap:
Looks like two large wooden battering rams opposing each other, suspended
in the air by vines. This trap hits along a horizontal line. It is a very
slow trap and fairly easy to dodge.
<<< DESERT LANDS >>>
Lvl 1 Orc (Gray): Carriers a spear. Wears a small head-dress.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Low (?/?)
Lvl 2 Orc (Gray): Carries two scimitars. Wears a head-dress.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/1) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 3 Orc Sorcerer (Gray): Wears a large head-dress.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Unlimited
Size: Large Height: Tall
Health: Lots (5/2) Damage: Massive! [Straight Magic Bolts] (?/50)
Orc Archer (Gray): Gray Orc with a light crossbow in his hands.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Long
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: Medium [Low parabolic arrows] (50/10)
Bomb Tosser Orc (Gray): Gray Orc with a big brown bag in front of him.
Type: Missile Attacking Range: Medium
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Average (3/2) Damage: High [High parabolic bombs] (60/15-20)
Suicide Bomber Orc (Gray): Gray Orc with a keg of dynamite strapped on back!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Medium
Health: Little (2/1) Damage: Horrendous! [Knockback][Suicide] (50-100)
Note: The keg of dynamite on his back is set on a short fuse. Either shoot
him to detonate it, or simply stand and wait for 5-10 seconds and it
will automatically go off!
Lvl 1 Mummy (White wrappings):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Average (?/?) Damage: Medium (?/?)
Lvl 2 Mummy (Dark Gray wrappings):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Medium Height: Tall
Health: Lots (?/?) Damage: High (?/?)
Lvl 3 Mummy (White & Blue wrappings with head-dress):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Large Height: Tall
Health: Tons! (7/4) Damage: Massive! (?/?)
Lvl 1 Snake:
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Small
Health: Low (1/1) Damage: Pathetic (?/?)
Lvl 2 Snake (Dark Blue):
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Small
Health: Low (?/1) Damage: Low (?/?)
Golem (Sand/Yellow): Huge monster with oversized arms that look like hammers!
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Huge Height: Very Tall
Health: Too Much! (?/?) Damage: Massive! (75/10-20)
Note: Health varies with the number of people currently playing.
+Steam Geyser Trap:
Similar to Floor Fire Traps. Periodically eject scalding steam, hurting
anything standing above the blue trap. Easy to avoid if your character
has high Speed. Try to stand behind it if you must engage monsters in
Melee.
+Spike Trap:
Similar to Floor Fire Traps. Periodically throws up spikes, hurting
anything standing above the yellow trap. Easy to avoid if your character
has high Speed. Try to stand behind it if you must engage monsters in
Melee.
+Wall-Mounted Energy Beams Trap:
A large beige plate mounts each of the two opposing walls where this trap
is found. This trap periodically charges up and releases a powerful energy
blast which hurts a player caught in the middle of the trap a lot.
+Swinging Spike Doors Trap:
Two doors, side by side, with spikes on them that alternately swing open
and close. Simply time your movements to this cycle to avoid getting hit.
<<< MISC >>>
Death: Deathly figure wearing a black robe and with an outstretched left arm.
Type: Melee Attacking
Size: Thin Height: Medium
Health: Too Much! Damage: up to 100 [Drain @ 20/second] [Suicide]
Note: Armor provides no protection against her attacks.
* 12.0 PREVIOUS ARCADE VERSIONS INFO *****************************************
As I stated at the beginning of this FAQ, the majority of the information
stated in this FAQ refers to the Gauntlet Legends arcade version 1.6, but for
those of you who are curious to know what they can expect out of older versions
of this game, here is an incomplete list (feel free to contribute if you know
more):
-High Gold mode (as opposed to Low Gold mode in V.1.6)
Apparently gold was much more abundant in previous versions of Gauntlet
Legends. The number I hear going around is "twice as much gold than in the
current version of GL". (thanx to AKim)
-Lower Prices in the End-Of-Level Shop
Certain items are sold at lower prices in the shop, such as Potions, which
are sold for only 350 gold and Reflect Shields are sold for only 1000 gold.
For more information about these low prices in previous versions, please
consult Doug Brown's (aka: Puni_sher's) FAQ.
-No Ticking Timer
Rumor has it that the oldest versions of GL had NO Ticking Timer whatsoever!
But, to be true to the original Gauntlet, the guys at Atari decided to bring
back the 1 health/tick (and food is worth 100%) Ticking Timer status, which
was permanent (see following paragraph).
-Fixed Ticking Timer
I heard from an arcade distributor that the variable Ticking Timer States is
apparently a feature which was introduced in V.1.6 of Gauntlet Legends to
prevent excessive game time from pros who could easily play the game
indefinitely on the same credit. The Fixed Ticking Timer in older versions
of the arcade was set at 1 health/tick (permanently), but seeing as how even
this failed to deter experts, Atari decided to bring in the three Ticking
Timer States that we now know so well... And the rest is history.
-Multiple Players using the same Name and Password
Apparently, the earliest versions of GL did not check for duplicate players
(ie: two or more people using the same Name and Password), so you could
basically have 4 times the SAME player! Of course, "sharing violations"
would occur when the people would die (eg: If one guy bought 10 Strength
Potions and another bought 5 Speed Potions, which player would the machine
save?). The results of such violations would prove erratic and often unfair.
Of course, it's because of this bug that programmers at Atari decided to
remove this feature. BUT, it does lead me to talk about the following rumor
which was found on a newsgroup (thanx to Robert Iu).
-MULTIPLE POJO TRICK: (Thanx to
[email protected])
On these earliest versions, multiple players could enter EGG 911 to play
many Pojos simultaneously. This means that you can have as many Pojos as
you want at the same time. Of course, the same "sharing violation" errors
would occur.
NOTE: This trick has been proven to be unavailable in the more recent
versions of Gauntlet Legends by DWells. If you try to enter EGG 911
(or any other Name and Password combination for that matter) more
than once, the first person will get Pojo (or the appropriate
registered player) and the other(s) will get a generic unsaveable
lvl 1 character. (thanx to Dwells)
-INSTANT DEATH VS SKORNE 2:
It used to be possible to get knocked off the platform when fighting Skorne
2 if you got hit by his Chest Beam while you were standing on the edge of
the platform. Depending on the version of the machine, this could either
cause instant death (you lose all your health and die) or massive damage
(500+ health). (MANY thanx to Trailsong) Note that Robert Iu has confirmed
that one cannot get knocked of the platform in Ver 1.4.
* 12.1 OPERATOR'S MANUAL *****************************************************
Here are all the operator settings for the Gauntlet Legends arcade machine.
This info comes straight from the Please quote Atari Gauntlet Legends Dedicated
Video Game Operation Manual (10/98 edition). They were handed to me by
Blue Elf. (ENDLESS thanx to Atari and Blue Elf!)
Notation: Items in [brackets] indicate factory default settings.
A) DIFFICULTY
Range: From Easiest to Hardest, in several steps. [MEDIUM]
Description: Adjusts the difficulty of the game.
B) HEALTH PER CREDIT
Range: From 300 to 1000. [500]
Description: 'nuff said.
C) HEALTH DECREASE TIMER (aka the Ticking Timer)
Range: From OFF to FAST in several steps. [NORMAL]
Description: Sets the frequency of the Ticking Timer.
D) CONTEST ENABLED
Range: ON/OFF
Description: Contest Enabled turns on/off the T-shirt promotion.
[YES -- SHOW CONTEST]
E) ALLOW PASSWORD
Range: YES/NO
Description: Determines if game will allow the password save to build up
characters. [YES]
F) CODES ENABLED
Range: YES/NO
Description: Allows use of secret codes (such as Permanent Pojo). [YES]
G) PRICING OPTIONS
Range: From FREE PLAY to ???
Description: Cost to start and to continue. [2 coins to start and 2
coins to continue]
H) AUTO CLEAR HIGHSCORES
Range: YES/NO
Description: Clears High Score table. [YES]
I) CLEAR PASSWORD FILES
Range: YES/NO
Description: Erases players who haven't played in a long time. [YES]
* A.0 THINGS TO COME *********************************************************
It's curtains for me, boys and girls! Version 4.0 will probably be the very
LAST major update to this FAQ. These past few months have been very fulfilling
for me as a Gauntlet Legends player. I consider myself lucky to have been
able to share all of the more "esoteric" tricks and info to this game with any
other Gauntlet Player who would listen.
I also thank all the people who shared their info with me and I hope that
they will continue to do so, so that I may do minor updates and corrections
to this FAQ. Thanks to all the help I've gotten, we managed to solve lingering
mysteries such as Intrinsic Properties and the Ticking Timer. So, from now
on, there's very little left to be said.
* B.0 INFO WANTED ************************************************************
If you have any tricks, tips or any other info that you think is pertinent,
please, don't hesitate to e-mail me. This leads me to say:
SUGGESTIONS? TIPS? E-mail me at
[email protected]
COMPLAINTS? Get a life! I think you can find better things to do than put
other peoples' work down!
Also, when contributing please give me a name/nickname/alias which I will
use when crediting you in this FAQ!
Note: Apparently, I forgot to include this info in v.2.0 of this FAQ. I would
like thank BFord for informing me of this. Man, I still can't believe
that you went to all the trouble of finding v.1.0 of this FAQ to get my
e-mail address so that you could tell me this!
* C.0 CONCLUSION *************************************************************
I haven't much to say, other thank this game really rocks! I'd love to own
it, but I can't spare the couple of thousands of dollars needed to buy it. No,
I really don't think that the N64 and Playstation versions will even compare
to the sheer magnificence of this game, so carefully crafted in every aspect.
* D.0 CREDITS ****************************************************************
People to thank:
-My Brother: who introduced this game to me. At first, I was skeptical as to
whether this game was any good (or just some cheesy remake of
the original Gauntlet which I liked so much). After a few games,
I realized that this game was really kick-ass!
-Atari Games: For making this incredible) game! I pray that someday, they
will faithfully port it over to the PC.
-Puni_sher (aka: Broug, aka: DOUG BROWN): for the awesome Gauntlet Legends FAQ
(version 2, 1/7/99), without which, I would never have been
inspired to write this FAQ. These two FAQs are meant to complement
each other and I am in no way trying to compete to see whom has the
better FAQ. I thank him for giving me the permission to tell
people who are reading his FAQ to check his out for other
descriptions Runestone/Treasure Room locations.
*-Donnie Wells (aka: DWells): the second person to be on this team, for
constantly giving me TONS of new info. I could never have done
it without you, man!
*-Steve Spaniol (aka: Blue Elf): who also provided me with lots of invaluable
info like the entire section of "Minimize Boosting" and the
complete experience chart, many other parts as well.
*-Ben Ford (aka: BFord): Among other things, he informed me that I, for some
stupid reason or another, omitted my e-mail address in v.2.0. I
really appreciate the fact that he went to all the trouble to
somehow find my e-mail address on the 'net to tell me that! WOW!
*-Matthew Lees: for taking the time to write down all the Runestone and
Treasure Room locations; God knows that I'm too lazy to do so.
Special congratulations go to Matthew for being the first person
to have finished the game with his lvl 47 Pojo (Valkyrie template)!!!
*-Michael Weston: for having the guts to tell me that I don't know how to
spell in English (of course not, after 12 years of schooling in
French ;) )! He even offered to spell check this entire FAQ
for me! (Endless thanks to you for putting in the effort where I
am too lazy to do so!!!) Also many thanks for his VERY quick
response time: it took him less than 5 work days to go through the
entire FAQ and send it back to me!
*-Allen Kim (aka: AKim): He's been a great well of knowledge for us. After
going through the entire V.3.0, he helped correct MANY of the
mistakes that we did as well as adding some new stuff that we
didn't yet know!
*-Robert Iu: Like Allen, he also went through the entire FAQ and notified me
of the mistakes that we made. He's always been there giving me
more tips and tricks. An endless pit I tell you! ;) Thanks,
*-Ryan Karch (aka: Magnus): The last guy to join the team. He's provided us
with invaluable tricks versus bosses that have elluded even the
best of players! Call him the "Boss Man"!!!
