Lost In Translation/Gauntlet II

About The Game
Gauntlet II is an arcade video game.

A sequel to the legendary original, released a year later. Atari, perhaps wisely, chose not to tinker with the core game-play to any great degree, instead opting to merely 'upgrade' the already excellent multi-player action that had created such a stir during the previous year.

Changes to the sequel included the ability for players to play whatever character they wanted, even if that character was already in play. The characters were now color-coded and players would find themselves taking on the role of 'Blue Elf', 'Green Wizard', etc. The in-game speech was altered from the original to allow for the new player definitions. Other changes included the ability to 'bounce' shots off walls, providing the correct item was found.

New potions and monsters were also added; the most notorious being the Fire-breathing Dragon. Defeating the creature would see the players rewarded with a permanent potion and a bag of treasure. Another notable addition was the wonderful 'It' monster : any player who was tagged by the creature would suddenly find that all of that level's creatures would ONLY chase him or her, completely ignoring the presence of the other players. The only way to remove this curse was to tag another player, thus making him or her 'it'.

Trivia
The original "Gauntlet" was released in 1985, with the Gauntlet II conversion kits coming out a year later, in August 1986. A lot of the original "Gauntlet" machines of the time were switched over to Gauntlet II cabinets. They tended to stay as Gauntlet II for some time, due to the relative scarcity of kits that would convert a "Gauntlet" cabinet to that of its sequel. The proper kits were uncommon until the late eighties, by which time four-player games were taking off in a big way.

Competition
Atari held a promotional competition to coincide with Gauntlet II's initial launch. If players followed the instructions the game gives before entering a secret room (the machine provides clues on how to enter the secret rooms whenever a hidden wall is shot away on any level), the player is greeted with a screen explaining that they had been awarded extra points and inviting the player to enter his or her name.

A six-digit code would then be given which the player could put onto a competition entry form. The first 500 entries drawn won Gauntlet II T-shirts, plus a chance of winning a $5000 savings bond. Machines can also be set (via dip switches) to suppress this screen, in which case players would get a screen saying '5000 points x coins = xxx' after doing the secret room. The contest ended in 1986.

Approximately 3,000 kits were produced.

Note : the game contains exactly 205 sounds! (including digitized voices, effects and musics), less than the first Gauntlet.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (That's Atari Music Vol.II : G.S.M. Atari Games 2 - PCCB-00070) on 21/09/1991.

Scoring

 * Key : 100 points.
 * Treasure : 100 - 500 points.
 * Each type of monster has a set score value.
 * Each generator is worth twice as many points as its associated monster.
 * Death : up to 6,000 points.

Secret Rooms
To get to a secret room, perform a secret trick on a level. Some of the secret tricks are :
 * 1) Teleporting into the exit.
 * 2) Pushing a movable wall into the exit
 * 3) Keeping all the super shots
 * 4) Not using invulnerability (this is almost always a good idea anyway)
 * 5) Not touching a fake exit
 * 6) Teleporting on top of Death and/or acid blobs
 * 7) Not taking ANYTHING (the tick trick comes in handy here)


 * The hints it gives to the secret room don't necessarily apply to your current level, just as on "Gauntlet". The secret trick usually doesn't work, but it is always same for any given board. You're allowed one secret trick for every 15 levels or so.


 * You can kill the acid blobs! Just drop 2 potions in quick succession. This works regardless of your magic ability. It also puts the dragon back to sleep momentarily (You can also kill them with a teleporter. If there's a teleporter handy, that is).


 * The '?' foods are NOT random. Grab a '?' food on health mod 20 = 7 (i.e. 27, 47, 67, etc). You'll get 200 health.


 * Couple of strategy notes :
 * 1) Reflective shots make the dragon easier
 * 2) Invulnerability makes him very easy
 * 3) Remember that when generators aren't on the screen, they don't generate monsters.
 * 4) If you are playing two+ player you can kill almost all dragons with one player diverting his attention, or using an indirect attack. For example : you can find shootable walls or just stand in the right spot askew from the dragon. He will try to flame instead of fire-ball. If done correctly, you will be standing a wall away from him. Then your partner can go around and shoot flame head while the dragon is flaming away.

Series

 * 1) Gauntlet (1985)
 * 2) Gauntlet [PlayChoice-10] (1985)
 * 3) Gauntlet II (1986)
 * 4) Gauntlet - The Third Encounter (1990, Atari Lynx)
 * 5) Gauntlet III - The Final Quest (1991)
 * 6) Gauntlet 4 (1993, Sega Mega Drive)
 * 7) Gauntlet Legends (1998)
 * 8) Gauntlet Dark Legacy (1999)
 * 9) Gauntlet Seven Sorrows (2006, Sony PlayStation 2 & Microsoft XBOX)

Staff

 * Designer / Programmer:
 * Ed Logg


 * Game Programmer:
 * Bob Flanagan


 * Video Graphics:
 * Sam Comstock
 * Susan G. McBride
 * Alan Murphy
 * Will Noble


 * Engineer:
 * Pat McCarthy


 * Technician:
 * Cris Drobny


 * Sound Designers:
 * Hal Canon
 * Brad Fuller
 * Earl Vickers


 * Cabinet Designer:
 * Ken Hata

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Nintendo Famicom (1990)
 * Nintendo Game Boy (1990)
 * Microsoft XBOX (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")
 * Nintendo GameCube (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")


 * Computers :
 * Tandy Color Computer (1986, "Gantelet II")
 * Amstrad CPC (1986)
 * Atari ST (1986)
 * Commodore C64 (1987)
 * PC [MS-DOS, 5.25"] (1987)
 * Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1988)
 * Commodore Amiga ("Gauntlet II", 1989, U.S. Gold)
 * PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2006, "Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition")

