Developer(s) Chris Terran Publisher Micro Power | Initial release date 1984 Mode Single-player video game | |
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Release date(s) 1984 (BBC/Electron)
1985 (Amstrad CPC) Genre(s) Defender (video game) clone Platforms Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro Similar Micro Power games, Other games | ||
Gauntlet is an 8-bit computer game written by Chris Terran and published in the UK by Micro Power. It was released on the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro in 1984 and on the Amstrad CPC in 1985.
The game is a clone of Defender. The player controls an X15 spacecraft, protecting canisters from the hostile Reeg forces. In the game, Reeg landers search the landscape for canisters. If a lander grabs a canister and makes it to the top of the screen, it turns into a mutant. The player must shoot the enemy ship to release a grabbed canister, but if it falls too far, then it's destroyed on impact. There are also other ships such as cruisers, which when hit, unleash buzzer ships.
The player has smart bombs available which destroy all on-screen enemies. On the higher levels there are additional enemy ships such as mine layers which are capable of launching killer ships, unless the player can destroy them quickly. If the player allows destruction of all canisters, then a hoard of mutants attack and the landscape completely disappears.