This is by far, the best deep dive video for Gauntlet anything! Seriously, the level of passion about this game is on another level, and taught me more of what to look forward to when I return to Dark Legacy to beat one day (and review on the channel). Truly sublime video man!!
@@humblemudgames I played the PS2 version, and it’s crazy to me that it was the INFERIOR version to the Gamecube. I played on an emulator with a buddy on PC and we played the Gamecube version. I saw the item save/ cycle and literally lost my shit in a good way. 🤯
the midway titles from the late 90's/early 2000's had so much soul and character. Rampage world tour, gauntlet dark legacy, MK deadly alliance and deception, all just absolutely iconic
One could argue that Midway was the GREATEST mid-level developer, even with all the juggernauts of the 90s. The SOUL in these games is simply unparalleled. The two descendants of Gauntlet DL don't have a FRACTION of the timelessness.
Dude it really fascinates and moves me how so many people have such fond memories of this child hood game/ series. It was truly the precursor to modern day dungeon crawlers and I love the retro dnd vibe of all the games. As a kid the game and going to all these unique realms to fight off monsters was extraordinary and I find its why I love dungeon crawling games to this day.
I was telling a friend not too long ago, Gauntlet Dark Legacy is one of those games I feel like I never hear anyone talk about, but any time I mention it, at least ONE person lights up to say, "OMG I LOVE that game!!", haha. It's clearly a classic from that generation, it just doesn't get recognized as often as other games as being one.
@@humblemudgamesthere’d be no Diablo if there was no gauntlet in my opinion. The first time I played Diablo I was like this is like gauntlet on steroids.
@mcfarvo those were my favorites too! I saved up for MONTHS to get Dark Alliance 2! Though I have to admit, I started playing Champions of Norrath for the first time and... I think I actually like it more than DA2! 👀 it was a game built on that same Dark Alliance engine.
I received this game from my grandparents one Christmas and my sister and I were obsessed with it. I think we knew every level by heart. Would love to replay it.
My local game store had that as well. It was crazy, becuase it was one of the first cabinets where your progress was stored online and could be continued between cabinets.
When i was little my mum and sisters and me played so much gauntlet on the ps2. we played it so much and we so into it that when my mum found an arcade cabinet of it in a bar she literally drained all my sisters quarters just to play as the warrior.
there is some hope. Fans are making a fan game called 'Gauntlet: Dark Legacy - Remastered'. Hopefully it gets completed. Honestly, I wish Arrowhead Game Studios would make a new gauntlet. Helldivers 2 was a huge success.
The fan remake looks really promising! Someone in the comments here put me onto it recently. Arrowhead did a great job with 2014 Gauntlet, I just am hoping for a new one based off of the 3D Gauntlet gameplay... Legends and Dark Legacy are my favorites, 100%
My wife is obsessed with this game. When we go to the local arcade, she almost exclusively plays this game. I just ordered a 4 player arcade cabinet for the house, and she is super stoked to play the Gauntlet arcade games on it
it looks better than Dark Legacy tbh. I thought DL looked way better as a kid but now looking back, Gauntlet Legends is definitely more superior graphically. but I enjoy all the extra content found in DL.
God. My sister and i were obsessed with this game when we were younger. We had it for PS2 at our dad's house and also would play it whenever it was at an arcade we happened to be at. To this day we still throw around "WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY" as a little inside joke between us.
I have extremely vivid memories of playing gauntlet, champions of norrath and baldurs gate with my dad. Now 30 I still have a love of these types of games and lead to my love of ttrpgs. Thanks pops!
Gauntlet is such a special game, and is one of my favourite multiplayer experiences I've ever had. Always nice seeing other people singing its praises!
YES! Dark Legacy is my all time favorite game on the OG Xbox. I still have Summoner's "Congratulations" sound bit as a notification sound for my phone.
We played the CRAP out of this game back in the day! You are 100% right that there was something special about it, as well as the fact that it was a very light mix of a number of genres that was both easy to pick up and fun to play again and again. For the RPG aspects, meaningful choice in progression is one of the key pillars and adds a TON of replay value. What they could do is have an extremely minimal talent tree... basically every few levels you got to choose between two options. A choice between only two things is not overwhelming, and with enough of those choices as you level it creates a number of different feeling builds for the same class.
A straight port would make me happy. A widescreen HD remaster with online co-op would be amazing. And then everything I suggested in this video would be a fever dream, haha
Its down right criminal that dark legacy has never been re released since the 6th Generation. Seven sorrows and gaunlet 2012 or whatever year it came dont compare to dark legacy
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Capcom has been proving that re-releasing old titles with added online play gets people hyped (most notably with Marvel vs Capcom 2 and the upcoming Power Stone 1/2) so it's very easy for me to imagine a wide screen port of Dark Legacy with online co-op printing money, on the Switch especially
Too bad they couldn’t make another extension, with 4 new characters, and 4 new worlds: - Yellow Shaman from the Jungle, wielding a Rod, battling The Dangerous Basilisk (Easy) - Blue Viking from the Sea, wielding a Lance, battling the Brutal Kraken(Hard) - Red Amazon from the Islands, wielding a Spear, battling the Savage Typhon(Medium) - Green Hunter from the Wild, wielding a Rifle, battling the Ruthless Wendigo(Hard)
Sorry but all your ideas are just too similar to the already existing ones. The knight already has a Viking look for example. Gamefaqs used to have a post with people posting their character ideas complete with each move, they’re familiar. Special ability, etc. The only one I remember was a pirate with a parrot.
@@Necrowolf81 So, you decided to shit in the guys corn flakes because... you think there are too many similiarities between his ideas and ones already created? Jesus, dude.
Bro! I recently replayed this game through a few years back after enjoying it as a kid. You've nailed everything about it that made it great. Hope we get a proper release someday. Games like Gauntlet are timeless.
My partner and I are currently doing our annual playthrough of GDL. I grew up with legends and hadn’t known of dark legacy until I met him 6 years ago. It will always be one of my favorites and I’ve been following the fan remake project for a few years now. I really hope it pans out! As for a lot of my favorite old games, I can see why it’s hard from a developer standpoint because you have your core audience that is getting older, typically has a full time career, children, etc by now with little time or money for gaming, where if you were to release a game for that demographic, it might not be profitable since most modern/younger gamers want so much more out of games than most folks my age that have a harder time adapting to an insane amount of controls and options. Games today are overloaded with so much unnecessary content and features that modern audiences would probably get bored fast and even as a hardcore fan, I get it. Back when FF7 remake was in the talks, it sounded like they wanted to have a retro turn based option in addition to the new modernized battle system. Though it’s one of my least favorites in the series, I would have loved to give it a chance if they did, but they didn’t and it left myself and a lot of the core fans feeling left out of a game remake that our generation made popular. I wish there was a company dedicated to buying the rights to retro cult classics and adapting them to have a classic version and a modern version with multiple selection types. Say for instance for Gauntlet, being able to pick your monster difficulty, generator speed, item durations, trap damage etc for both versions, but maybe for the classic mode to play more like dark legacy and the modern mode to be closer to the gameplay, attacks, spell choices etc like 2014 but all with the whimsical aesthetics and settings of dark legacy because that is the whole charm of it and why it’s stood the test of time. The problem with the modern versions like 2014 is that they looks pretty much like everything else out there these days and we need that silly, whimsical charm back as badly as yellow wizard needs food!
I agree with pretty much everything you said; Dark Legacy and Legends have a certain charm and campiness (the kind of 80s b movie horror film charm I was talking about) that isn't really present in Gauntlet 2014. However, like you said, it'd be nice for a Dark Legacy successor to have some of the features of Gauntlet 2014. And I also mentioned how it would be cool to have a "Classic mode" variant as well, so it sounds like we're on the same wavelength! Yeah, unfortunately there aren't a lot of companies re-releasing older games with new features. The closest ones I can think of to what you're suggesting are THQ Nordic, who has brought pretty competent HD ports forward to modern consoles of games from the 360/PS3 era, which I really enjoy. However, they don't add much outside of big fixes. Still nice though, and it's a major effort they do to port all of these older games over. The closest thing I can think of to what you're describing is Nightdive Studios, who brings back classic FPSes like Turok with a bunch of QoL features. Or in the case of Quake I&II, free updates recently came out for both of those games that offer a SLEW of features that enhance the vanilla experience. There is a really cool Wizardry remake coming soon that I'm excited about. There are some cool things out there but yeah, nothing quite like you're describing. I'm rooting for the fan remake too, and I'm glad you all are having fun on yet another annual playthrough! Sounds like a great way to bond 😊 Thanks for sharing!
@@humblemudgames ooo! I didn’t know that about Quake 1 & 2! That is incredibly exciting! I will definitely have to check it out! Quake 2 is also one of my favorites, but there’s pretty much only been one active server in my area for the last 10+ years. It’s been so hard to find servers since game spy disappeared. I hope the capture the flag community comes back with the updates because it was always a blast in quake!
@@Lythanthis I'm about to change your life... They opened the servers back up for Quake I&II if I'm not mistaken! Quake II has a new waypoint feature that's really nice whenever I get lost lol. I grew up with the first one but never got to play the second til more recently.
I quote this game all the time. My friend and I loved grinding this game. "Green archer needs food badly." Nothing beats the one time I opened the death statue and it completely ignored me and killed my friend instead. Always love seeing the arcade game in arcades.
I just picked this game up in a thrift store last week and was reminded of all the quarters I dropped on Legends when I was a kid in the arcade. Just picked up a wicked oldschool tv to game on and Im ready to go on an nostalgia filled adventure! Really solid video dude, keep the quality content coming.
Nice find! Depending on the version you get, it can be kind of expensive! Thanks so much for the kind words, I hope you have a great time with it! Definitely more fun with friends but doable alone. Just a tip -- the boss in the first world is WAY too strong to take on by yourself at first, but after playing through the first four levels you should have enough gems to go to the next world -- I'd recommend going to world 2 instead and get stronger before trying to challenge the world 1 boss. I think I beat the world 1 boss when I was in world 3, lol.
@@humblemudgames good to know. I played one level last night on a wizard and had a blast. I really think the level of effort put into the announcer makes this game so much better "YOU ARE NOW ENTERING ETC" that is the coolest feeling and then seeing the new surroundings. Also I dont know if its just me but I swear legends looks better than dark legacy does. I think its the lighter colors.
I spent more hours in gauntlet 2 on the Genesis than I have in all mario games combined. Me my brothers and even my mom have many find memories of playing together. I know your talking about the sequel but thank you for bringing back this find memories
It's funny that your story with your friends playing the games reminds me of the fond memories i have with my stepdad and brother playing this game. The game is simple enough that we all enjoyed the gameplay loop and had so many countless hours trying to get all the runes to beat the end. Miss those simple times.
I absolutely loved playing this game when I was a kid. I remember one of my friends bringing it to my house one night and we played it ALL night. Really wish they would remake this game with more content
I don't get what Warner is doing. They're sitting on so many great Midway IPs and just letting them die on the vine. Aside from Mortal Kombat and a couple games like Rampage and Gauntlet in the 2010s, they're doing nothing with the properties. David Zaslov is doing everything to cut costs, including canceling TV shows and movies and then writing them off for taxes. Why not either license out or sell off IPs they've been sitting on? I'm sure plenty of devs would love to make a new Gauntlet, Rush, or Hydro Thunder. It's mindboggling.
I'm absolutely with you, and I think those 3 franchises specifically would do so well if they were brought back. over the life of my channel I've talked about all three of those in varying capacities. in fact my latest video talks about Hydro Thunder Hurricane. Midway had so many good things going but unless it's Scorpion and Sub Zero, they don't care. Thing is, they totally could leverage the MK franchise popularity to sell these other games... imagine unlocking an MK character as a playable Gauntlet fighter or something.
It's internal corporate politics. If you're the guy who sells off the rights to Robotron for ten million dollars and the company that bought it makes a hundred million, your boss is going to say you lost the company ninety million dollars it could have had. Likewise, if you push for a Robotron game yourself and it flops, you get the blame for wasting money. It's safer to just keep them all in the vault than risk your career.
Gauntlet Legends was the first time my whole family (my mother, father, sister, and myself) all had a game we could play together and actively enjoyed doing so. Kudos to Midway for being responsible for some of my major formative gaming memories with my family. Fantastic video!
In my top 30 favorite games for sure. I had it for gamecube (my favorite console). Still play it to this day and Everytime I do, I get the same feelings I did back then. Solid game
No argument there. This game was awesome. Most favorite character to play as was the Valkyrie/Falconess. And yes I'll gladly play a remake or remaster, of this masterpiece.
I enjoy the Knight a lot myself but used to be a Valkyrie a lot in the day! Legends/Dark Legacy are classics and it's a shame we don't have anything exactly like these games anymore
The character callouts are the thing I remember most. My brother and I had played to endgame as a wizard(me) and a warrior(him). Since I always stayed behind the meatshield, he was always taking just a little more damage than me, so there would be many times I'd open a chest, find food, and tell him to grab it. Suddenly my wizard shouts out "YoU are GReeDY!!1!" That had to have been 20 years ago and I still think about that line while I'm making food.
a bit of trivia: the differences between dark legacy and legends are the following: Legends had 6 worlds instead of 8 along with the 12 runestones and final boss. Legends ended at Scorn Dark Legacy added 4 more base characters which are basically gender swapped versions of the legends characters. as mentioned, the starting zone from dark legacy and the final zone of dark legacy are the two additional zones added in that version. there were two additional games released in the Gauntlet franchise after Dark Legacy. The first was an absolutely mediocre ps2 exclusive title that played more like lord of the rings or dark alliance, focusing more on melee combat. The second was a digital only release made by an indie studeo that also flopped because it played more like a generic party based dungeon crawler. Neither of the two above games captured what made Dark Legacy so great. Trivia over, now time for me to lament the fact that there is no good way to play Dark Legacy on modern platforms without emulation and trying to pick the best version to emulate lol.
I absolutely concur everything you're saying here. in my opinion, the Xbox or GameCube version of Dark Legacy is best, as they added QoL features the PS2 versions don't have. I personally played the GameCube version of the game on my softmodded Wii for the purposes of my video!
@@humblemudgames I actually didn't think about how the reboot did kinda feel like old NES/arcade 2d Gauntlet lol... got it a while back and since it didn't feel like Dark Legacy I kinda fell off lol. I did complete 7 sorrows when i rented it for a week and I'll just say I'm glad I rented it instead of buying it because there was 0 replay value.
@@GlitchedVision Seven Sorrows is just not fun from what little I played ... I actually really enjoyed Gauntlet 2014, but yeah, Dark Legacy and Legends will always have the most appeal for me
@@humblemudgames if there were a category for "games you beat but wish you never played," 7 sorrows would be at the top of my list because of just how bad it was lol
An interesting dive into this old gem. Use to kill countless hours and weeks of allowance playing this in the arcade. Like your idea about unlocking characters. Reminds me of Magic Sword. 😊 Now I want to see a version with some of the MK regulars as unlockables.
Man I wish. I don't know if he would even be interested in Gauntlet but it would be sick if he was... imagine having Scorpion, Liu Kang, Sub Zero as secret unlockable characters!
Well Ed Boon has stated before in interviews that he would love to bring back various classic Midway titles but the issue is the higher-ups at WB Games who would rather have NRS focus on the 2 cash-cow fighting franchises that NRS does which are Mortal Kombat, and Injustice, as he has on two separate occasions tried to pitch to the higher-ups at WB games two fighting game reboots those being War Gods and Primal Rage and both times the higher-ups at WB Games have told him a flat no.
@@derrickhaggard man, War Gods and Primal Rage would be killer to see again too. Nice little bit of trivia you shared there! It's exactly the kind of impression I was getting from WB, that they only care about Mortal Kombat really.
I played Dark Legacy a ton on the GC. I think a rogue-lite version would do wonders, as well as a slightly more modern direction. Imagine a Lich class that can summon skeletons to fight for you, or a thief class that can disarm traps. Making sure all the different classes start at level 1 every time you play them can mean you can switch classes at any time regardless of time investment and group player preference, while gaining some momentum throughout the gameplay. Give Hammerwatch a shot just to see an idea of this that worked well.
I am surprised there was no mention of the original 2014 release of Gauntlet separate from Slayer Edition. The latter made changes to the gameplay and progression that in my opinion changed far too much that an update to an already released game should not do. The original release felt far more similar to Dark Legacy than the Slayer Edition. It also had things I think resonate a bit with what you touch on in the video, some kind of more meaningful progression that you can work towards: the masteries made more sense and were interesting, not just "do xyz get money". Relics cost potions, too. And there was an actual hub! Slayer Edition is very fun and the endless mode is great, but it felt a step away from what made Gauntlet, well, Gauntlet.
That gane was NOTHING like Dark Legacy. I hated that game. Was so excited when it came out and then I played it for about 2 hours and never touched it again.
@@Necrowolf81 I actually did the same thing back in like, 2016 but gave it another try and enjoyed it more now that I can look at it more for what it is. Might be worth revisiting now after time has passed!
Champions of Norrath was the only game to ever scratch the Dark Legacy itch for me, I would absolutely love a faithful remake of this timeless classic. But the faithful word is the hardest part to uphold. Great video!
Thanks so much! I actually played CoN for the first time about a month and a half ago, since it's one I've always been curious about but never had a PS2 growing up. It surprises me to say, but I think it's better than Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1&2! It felt a little more like Titan Quest to me, which I really enjoy.
I didn't touch on it in this video but yeah, the Lich is SUPER hard, especially if you play it solo here like I did. The good thing is that you get the gems you need to go to the next realm, so that's what I did. And the wizard tells you that you can find items later that help you defeat him. So I think they expect you to come back. But yeah, he is probably harder than pretty much all the other regular bosses. I think the Plague Fiend is probably the easiest.
*@@humblemudgames IM SO GLAD you also agree!! Thank you for the response, but to the subject Lich is definitely a first boss challenge ESPECIALLY if youre starting as a class with low def. Even swapping it around, high str, low def, low str, high def. They did this one on purpose xD Fiend and I think dragon ofc.
My local bowling alley had a Gauntlet Legends machine, and I remember playing it all the time as a kid. I miss those days. They replaced it with a Metal Slug machine 15 or 20 years ago, and I stopped going to the arcade about then. I've been messing with some of the Gauntlet games on all our little emulators lately to make up for lost time! ^_^ 💚 Fantastic video, man! I love your passion! 💚
Man, that bowling alley sounds like it was awesome back in the day. It reminds me of a skating rink in my hometown that had Primal Rage. I hope you have fun emulating Gauntlet! Thanks so much for the kind words friend!
@humblemudgames Dunno how I missed this! But yeah, it was awesome! What's funny is that our local ice-rink also had an arcade; I know it had OG Soul Edge (pre Soul Calibur). I miss arcades.. 💚
That’s a pretty messed up viewpoint 🤷♂️ there are so many talented developers out there who would do an amazing job remaking this. Just because you don’t like the direction of some modern games or whatever, it’s no reason to put down an entire industry worth of artistry.
Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy were my entry to the series. I had a demo of Legends for my Dreamcast, and Dark Legacy for my Gamecube. I really like the colorfulness of the game, and the variety in wold themes. It has a nice charm to it thanks to the variety in levels and enemies. You had the swampy jungles with reptilian warriors, the treetop villages with the tree people, the valley with green goblins, the Egyptian world with tons of Egyptian themed enemies, and so on. When these games were new you'd see at least one of the two in an arcade. I saw Legends a couple times at different places and Dark Legacy on a cruise ship in the early 2000s. These games are fun solo, but truly shine when played with others. A remake would be interesting, but I'd be pleased even with just a remaster with online play added to it. The Gauntlet games released before and after the Legends / Legacy era never really appealed to me for some reason, so I never bothered with them. Something about that late 90s-early 2000s era of Gauntlet was something else.
I remember being gifted this game by a friend in elementary school, a couple months before i had to move out of town, alongside Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and Tony Hawk's Underground Wasteland, all three for the gamecube. I didnt have a gamecube at the time, but when the Wii came out and had backwards compatibility with the gamecube, i had begged my dad to get me one. Once we could afford one i remember playing Gauntlet Dark Legacy for hours on end after every day at school in the 4th and 5th grade, and still look back on those years i spent exploring it in and out fondly. All this to say, thank you for covering this game.
I played this game a bunch as a kid, I remember there was a cool egyptian looking character, maybe like a cat or anubis guy? That one was my favorite. I rarely see anybody talk about this game, I remember how cool I thought it was and loved having to find/look up where to find the weapons like the ice axe on dial-up. Really aging myself in this comment hahahaha. Excellent video, your birthday party story was genuinely touching, reminded me of some fond gaming memories as a kid. Thanks for this!
Played this a few years ago and had a blast. Was looking for a retrospective for it and your video was the only one I listened to all the way. Great video, ty!
I absolutely love your passion for this. I have similar stories to it too. I really like your ideas too, it's always nice to reminisce and think on improvement that could come on old fun media.... I still daydream about phantom dust sometimes too. 😅
This game brings back deep childhood memories I forgot about. I was first introduced to this franchise during a prior version in a random arcade. Me and my brother made a super deep run on it and it was intense. Then as kids, we never saw the game again other than that one random arcade. I'm happy it still has a following that appreciate it.
Me and my buddy, Max, used to play this for hours every weekend during and after high school. We'd just order some pizza and make an entire weekend of it. Such a great game. Wish I didn't live 12+ hrs away or else we'd still be playing this
Thanks for doing a video on this game. I had this game as a kid and it was my introduction to the gauntlet world. I loved playing the jester class. This game definitely deserves another shot in the spotlight. Hope we get something in the future.
I love gauntlet so when this video showed up I was super excited I loved learning the history and hearing your commentary one thing I think I'd change is 21:08 the music over shadows your voice and it feels confusing since the noise pollution of the song over shadows your voice I want to hear you and the stuff you have to say
Thank you so much! I appreciate the constructive criticism too! the music from Quake is meant to be loud and abrasive, I probably should have picked one of the more ambient tracks from that game. thanks so much for bearing with me though!
I grew up with Gauntlet Dark Legacy, and I agree with theses statments. Long story short, I grew up with the game, sad when I realized it had been sold at some point, rekindled my love of the game after my partner got me a PS2 emulator and Gauntlet was the first game I had downloaded. Ngl, cried tears of pure joy after the intro was done playing. 😭😊
I've been hearing Legend of Dragoon music in more and more video essays recently... And that's a good thing. Also, great video, this game was also super nostalgic for me, despite having only gotten to play it at a friend's place a few times as a kid.
That's good! In my case in particular, LoD was very influential on me. I'll be talking about that game a little more specifically in the video coming this Thursday. I read a review from 2000 criticizing the music and I just can't believe it. I think so many of its songs are immediately recognizable and memorable
@@Theoszombie I will use it music from it and talk about it any time I can because I'm right there with you. In fact, tomorrow's video talks about LoD.
Have great memories playing the old arcade Gauntlets and one of the ones on PS2 with my dad. Nothing really scratches that same multi-player vibe that Gauntlet provides lol
I really like this series and I played it a lot when I was a kid back in the 80s and would always pick the elf cause you would move so fast. I really want a remaster and hopfully you would keep the cheat codes as well it’s intresting to fight as a quarterback with knight moves. The ideas on the extra characters are good and maybe once you beat the game with a character you could unlock a creation mode and try to make your own fighter but you wouldn’t be able to get some of the level buffs as the normal ones.
As a kid, I remember watching my cousin play this game. I had thought about it for years but I could never remember what was called. I remembered a circus level and some disembodied hands. I could never seem to figure out what the game was. Then I was watching a review for this game a few years back. Something about the game felt familiar, and I started to wonder if this was the game. I put on a long play and sure enough, the Circus and the disembodied hands were there. I'm so glad I found this game again.
Thanks for the video. Got the game recently for my OG Xbox, because I thought the cover looked cool and I heard it was an arcade game. Your passion for the game hyped me up quite a bit. Now I need to play it asap😂
Fantastic video! Dark Legacy holds a special place in my nostalgic heart. I love a lot of your proposed ways to modernize a remake or new entry, or simply ways to expand on the established formula. Subscribed! ❤️
To this day, the phrase "Red Warrior needs food!" lives rent free in my head. One of my most cherished gaming memories is with this game. On a family vacation to Disney World, I think I was around 10 years old, my mom and I beat Gauntlet Dark Legacy in the arcade that was in our hotel. It was great. I was the Red Warrior, and from what I remember, my mom played the Green Archer. If we got a remake, I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.
I've never seen a video from you before, but I've never clicked on a video I wanted to support faster. I think Dark Legacy is the best the series had to offer, and is a cherished classic of mine. I would love the opportunity to hop on a discord call and revisit it with friends. "BATTERRRR UP!"
Wow, a freaking good video on Dark Legacy, I played so many hours ! And while I watch your video, I just heard the background music of ( another of my top game in my life) Kingdom of Amalur ! damn ! :D But yeah I really hope that someone do that remake without going overboard ! :D
Thank you so much!! Though it didn't release for a long time, it was one of the first videos I started working on. I was having so many technical issues and so this long video felt EXTRA long. I started running out of ideas for which songs to use where, as I was only pulling from Gauntlet & other games I specifically mentioned in the script. So I eventually stopped overthinking it and just started pulling songs from my favorite games, even if they weren't discussed. I guess it worked out, because I get comments all the time about how people subscribed just because of The Legend of Dragoon, PSO, or Amalur songs! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Dude same exact story, 9th grade me and 3 friends were getting tired of playing smash bros melee and SSX Tricky in like 2004. We popped in Gauntlet and holy shit, never have I had so much fun playing a home-multiplayer game before or after. It was all we did the next few weekends in a row. I recently talked to one of the friends from back then and gauntlet was part of that conversation. Love that game
One of my friends from that party back in the day reached out to me because he immediately was hit with nostalgia during that part of the video 💜 Gauntlet is a REALLY nice co-op experience
I remember losing many a quarter to that game back then. How me and my family would spend weekends at the bowling alley trying to get as far as we could. And when the game came out the console it was a blessing. Glad this game still lives on in people's memories and people also want it to come back
I used to get my mom to drop me off after school at the local cici’s pizza because they were the only place in town that had this arcade machine. I instantly fell in love with it the first time I played it. I plan on buying an arcade cabinet of the game one day.
yeah i actually ordered a mega expensive copy of gauntlet dark legacy a few months ago for my wii. finally got to try all the cheat code characters. and damn yeah just finally started getting serious about Doom1 the last few weeks too love its current state of menu mods and satisfied enough with the megawads in the menu your featured timing of the Smash Brawl theme alongside your narration and gameplay was masterful in feel the hype. cant wait for the Dark Legacy battle pass! gantlet btw 🌚 seems like you’d get that reference
Well said, I’ve had so much fun playing this with friends! If it were to be remastered or even just brought to the playstation/ xbox marketplace I would be absolutely elated
Love this game so much! 💜 First played it with my dad as a kid, and then completed it for the first time throughout sixth and seventh grade. My most recent playthrough was as an adult back in 2020-21. It was a massive part of my inspiration to try D&D, so I'll always be thankful. 😍
I would say one thing that Gauntlet has that a lot of modern games lack are a variety of worlds/realms. Like, most games would take the Forbidden plains and make every world feel like a zombie infested hell world, but with Dark Legacy, there's actually a variety of settings and thematic elements for enemies. Plains = Zombies and undead. Mountains are Orcs. Desert was mummies and Egyptian themed enemies. Forrest had Lizardmen. That variety alone made it feel like you went on a big adventure instead of just fighting Zombies all the way through.
In case you couldn't tell by my username and PFP, I absolutely adore Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Many a summer vacations when I was off school were spent playing this game late into the night with friends. One of the best multiplayer experiences and I think just hit that sweet spot of casual gameplay with enough depth to keep anyone, regardless of gaming experience, hooked. I would love to be able to play this game again with just updated visuals.
I played so much Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy as a kid holy hot damn it is some of the purest nostalgia I have Some of the stock sound effects in those games still trigger me when they are used in modern games/movies/tv 😂
Awesome video. Loved how you brought up that Dark Legacy is sort of a "Halloween adjacent" game with it's style. I never thought of it that way but you're totally right. Can't wait to play the community-remaster! 😁
this video is awesome, you said everything ive been thinking forever!! i play through dark legacy once a year (green wiz or archer) and everytime i experience this whole video. I feel like i could talk for days with you about games and mechanics. Ive never met anyone irl who knows gauntlet or smash tv. there is so much i want to say about many points and references in this vid, but i could go on forever. youre a true gamer grill and i appreciate you and this vid, thank you!
I really am a true gamer girl lol, stay with me! I've got lots to say and there are a ton of videos already on this channel 🤙 There are so many games like this one that I wish would make a comeback.
My favourite out of the gauntlet series, I still play dark legacy to this day , and even tho I know the levels of by heart it never gets boring, just a nice relaxing fun game to plough through ,
It really is a fun game. I love grinding against the plague fiend to get my stats all the way up, haha. the vibe of the realm is still probably my favorite
I literally bought this game on gamecube like a few days ago, im so excited to pop it in my gamecube to play it again. I love Gauntlet so much, i wish they were still actively around. ;w ;
It's a game that really holds up, especially with friends! I hope you found it for a decent deal -- I remember when this game sold used for like $13...
thank you for watching, hope you choose to stick around! honestly some of the comments people have left here have taught me things that I never even knew about the game as well!
Not even seen the video yet (immediately got an ad) and let me answer for you as to why Gauntlet should have a remake. So my dad can be absolutely giddy and play his game again. (Fun fact he was able to play it earlier this year through an arcade game. Boy did it feel like a blast from the past watching him play it.)
I hope he gets it one day! How did the arcade cabinet run by the way? I played the one that I had a picture of in this video and it was kind of laggy compared to the console versions
@@humblemudgames it’s been absolute years since I saw my dad play Gauntlet for the PS2. I never played it back then because I was like idk 6 and wasn’t all that interested in the game. But I did actually play the same arcade game my dad had used with two of my friends. I’d say it was pretty good, not laggy. Only thing is that it felt kinda hard to walk a bit due to the layout of the map and stuff. (My friends and I went through the easiest level. I died before we got to the boss and they died while fighting the boss.)
Me and my brother sunk so much time and quarters into the gauntlet legends arcade machine. It blew our minds when it came to n64. Been a fan of the series ever since. Would love to be able to play a new entry
This is by far, the best deep dive video for Gauntlet anything! Seriously, the level of passion about this game is on another level, and taught me more of what to look forward to when I return to Dark Legacy to beat one day (and review on the channel). Truly sublime video man!!
Coming from you, the best GameCube channel on the net, this means everything man! Thank you so much 🙏
I haven’t checked in a while how close is it
I feel like the perfect option is just an hd version on PSN.
@@garrettsmith4034 not the PS2 version you can’t turn off/on your items in that one. Your forced to used them when get them.
@@humblemudgames I played the PS2 version, and it’s crazy to me that it was the INFERIOR version to the Gamecube. I played on an emulator with a buddy on PC and we played the Gamecube version. I saw the item save/ cycle and literally lost my shit in a good way. 🤯
My dad bought this game for ps2 and we ran the game as yellow warrior and blue wizard. I'll always cherish those nights with him
I'm in a discord for gauntlet remake and the progress is insane I cannot wait until the game is fully finished 😊
Oh really? I'd love to see that!
Check it out man id love a video about it from you. discord.gg/zPKGYFuRFB
Like please check out this project
@@xodiousfaith1858 Where do I need to go?
I had posted the link for the discord invite. Give me a second please I'll DM you
the midway titles from the late 90's/early 2000's had so much soul and character. Rampage world tour, gauntlet dark legacy, MK deadly alliance and deception, all just absolutely iconic
One could argue that Midway was the GREATEST mid-level developer, even with all the juggernauts of the 90s.
The SOUL in these games is simply unparalleled.
The two descendants of Gauntlet DL don't have a FRACTION of the timelessness.
Check out Bally midway pinball from the 90s as well lots of the same folks involved and also great
@@vicetube I honestly agree, as a big Rush and Hydro Thunder fan too
- NFL Blitz
- NHL Hitz
Hi friend
Dude it really fascinates and moves me how so many people have such fond memories of this child hood game/ series. It was truly the precursor to modern day dungeon crawlers and I love the retro dnd vibe of all the games. As a kid the game and going to all these unique realms to fight off monsters was extraordinary and I find its why I love dungeon crawling games to this day.
I was telling a friend not too long ago, Gauntlet Dark Legacy is one of those games I feel like I never hear anyone talk about, but any time I mention it, at least ONE person lights up to say, "OMG I LOVE that game!!", haha. It's clearly a classic from that generation, it just doesn't get recognized as often as other games as being one.
@@humblemudgamesthere’d be no Diablo if there was no gauntlet in my opinion. The first time I played Diablo I was like this is like gauntlet on steroids.
As kids we loved Gauntlet:DL and Baldur's Gate 2:DA as hack-n-slash multi-player adventure games
@mcfarvo those were my favorites too! I saved up for MONTHS to get Dark Alliance 2! Though I have to admit, I started playing Champions of Norrath for the first time and... I think I actually like it more than DA2! 👀 it was a game built on that same Dark Alliance engine.
@humblemudgames CoN:Realms of EQ would've easily been another game we played non-stop for 8hrs as kids if we ever had that game haha
I received this game from my grandparents one Christmas and my sister and I were obsessed with it. I think we knew every level by heart. Would love to replay it.
Sounds like you've had a lot of great memories with that game -- that's awesome! I hope you're able to get another playthrough in one day!
The bowling alley here used to have a four player Dark Legacy arcade cabinet. That shit was cool, but brutal.
Man, that sounds awesome! I never found an arcade cabinet myself until much much later. my preferred version is probably the GameCube to be honest.
My local game store had that as well. It was crazy, becuase it was one of the first cabinets where your progress was stored online and could be continued between cabinets.
@@Renkinjutsushi That's pretty cool. I never knew that. If only I had $10,000 to get one
Same here! I remember blowing loads of quarters on that and CarnEvil after our games on the lanes (I was on a league at the time.)
Best I got was Legends lol. They could be coin eaters what with your health always draining.
I'm a Dark Legacy cultist, I love it so much. I'm surprised it's not even at least one of the backwards compatible games on Xbox.
Gauntlet was one of the first games my whole family played even my mom and dad ran through that game with all of us kids!
I spent no less than an hour of my young life trying to figure out how to free whoever was trapped in the coffins in the mausoleum.
When i was little my mum and sisters and me played so much gauntlet on the ps2. we played it so much and we so into it that when my mum found an arcade cabinet of it in a bar she literally drained all my sisters quarters just to play as the warrior.
This kept me company while I did a handheld repair. I've never played this but I kinda need to now. Thanks for the amazing vid!
It's a good one for sure! I can't imagine how fun it would be on a handheld via Dolphin 😭
there is some hope. Fans are making a fan game called 'Gauntlet: Dark Legacy - Remastered'. Hopefully it gets completed. Honestly, I wish Arrowhead Game Studios would make a new gauntlet. Helldivers 2 was a huge success.
The fan remake looks really promising! Someone in the comments here put me onto it recently.
Arrowhead did a great job with 2014 Gauntlet, I just am hoping for a new one based off of the 3D Gauntlet gameplay... Legends and Dark Legacy are my favorites, 100%
My wife is obsessed with this game. When we go to the local arcade, she almost exclusively plays this game. I just ordered a 4 player arcade cabinet for the house, and she is super stoked to play the Gauntlet arcade games on it
I'm still in awe how amazing the N64 version of Gauntlet was.
it looks better than Dark Legacy tbh. I thought DL looked way better as a kid but now looking back, Gauntlet Legends is definitely more superior graphically. but I enjoy all the extra content found in DL.
Plus there's the unmatched joy you get from getting all that content and action RPG fun factor out of a mere 64MB cartridge
God. My sister and i were obsessed with this game when we were younger. We had it for PS2 at our dad's house and also would play it whenever it was at an arcade we happened to be at. To this day we still throw around "WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY" as a little inside joke between us.
The greatest lesson Dark Legacy taught me as a kid……
Food is good.
I have extremely vivid memories of playing gauntlet, champions of norrath and baldurs gate with my dad. Now 30 I still have a love of these types of games and lead to my love of ttrpgs. Thanks pops!
Gauntlet is such a special game, and is one of my favourite multiplayer experiences I've ever had.
Always nice seeing other people singing its praises!
YES! Dark Legacy is my all time favorite game on the OG Xbox. I still have Summoner's "Congratulations" sound bit as a notification sound for my phone.
We played the CRAP out of this game back in the day! You are 100% right that there was something special about it, as well as the fact that it was a very light mix of a number of genres that was both easy to pick up and fun to play again and again. For the RPG aspects, meaningful choice in progression is one of the key pillars and adds a TON of replay value. What they could do is have an extremely minimal talent tree... basically every few levels you got to choose between two options. A choice between only two things is not overwhelming, and with enough of those choices as you level it creates a number of different feeling builds for the same class.
Simple skill trees would work super well in this game, agreed!
Even just having a port will make me really happy
A straight port would make me happy. A widescreen HD remaster with online co-op would be amazing. And then everything I suggested in this video would be a fever dream, haha
Golden Axe and Knights of the round are literally just beat-em-ups but the sprites have weapons.
Yeah, lol I always found that funny. I think in the video I compared them to Final Fight because that's really what they are haha
Its down right criminal that dark legacy has never been re released since the 6th Generation. Seven sorrows and gaunlet 2012 or whatever year it came dont compare to dark legacy
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Capcom has been proving that re-releasing old titles with added online play gets people hyped (most notably with Marvel vs Capcom 2 and the upcoming Power Stone 1/2) so it's very easy for me to imagine a wide screen port of Dark Legacy with online co-op printing money, on the Switch especially
Too bad they couldn’t make another extension, with 4 new characters, and 4 new worlds:
- Yellow Shaman from the Jungle, wielding a Rod, battling The Dangerous Basilisk (Easy)
- Blue Viking from the Sea, wielding a Lance, battling the Brutal Kraken(Hard)
- Red Amazon from the Islands, wielding a Spear, battling the Savage Typhon(Medium)
- Green Hunter from the Wild, wielding a Rifle, battling the Ruthless Wendigo(Hard)
This would be pretty cool! I'd love to fight a Wendigo
Sorry but all your ideas are just too similar to the already existing ones. The knight already has a Viking look for example. Gamefaqs used to have a post with people posting their character ideas complete with each move, they’re familiar. Special ability, etc. The only one I remember was a pirate with a parrot.
@@Necrowolf81 So, you decided to shit in the guys corn flakes because... you think there are too many similiarities between his ideas and ones already created? Jesus, dude.
Bro! I recently replayed this game through a few years back after enjoying it as a kid. You've nailed everything about it that made it great. Hope we get a proper release someday. Games like Gauntlet are timeless.
My partner and I are currently doing our annual playthrough of GDL. I grew up with legends and hadn’t known of dark legacy until I met him 6 years ago. It will always be one of my favorites and I’ve been following the fan remake project for a few years now. I really hope it pans out!
As for a lot of my favorite old games, I can see why it’s hard from a developer standpoint because you have your core audience that is getting older, typically has a full time career, children, etc by now with little time or money for gaming, where if you were to release a game for that demographic, it might not be profitable since most modern/younger gamers want so much more out of games than most folks my age that have a harder time adapting to an insane amount of controls and options.
Games today are overloaded with so much unnecessary content and features that modern audiences would probably get bored fast and even as a hardcore fan, I get it.
Back when FF7 remake was in the talks, it sounded like they wanted to have a retro turn based option in addition to the new modernized battle system. Though it’s one of my least favorites in the series, I would have loved to give it a chance if they did, but they didn’t and it left myself and a lot of the core fans feeling left out of a game remake that our generation made popular.
I wish there was a company dedicated to buying the rights to retro cult classics and adapting them to have a classic version and a modern version with multiple selection types. Say for instance for Gauntlet, being able to pick your monster difficulty, generator speed, item durations, trap damage etc for both versions, but maybe for the classic mode to play more like dark legacy and the modern mode to be closer to the gameplay, attacks, spell choices etc like 2014 but all with the whimsical aesthetics and settings of dark legacy because that is the whole charm of it and why it’s stood the test of time.
The problem with the modern versions like 2014 is that they looks pretty much like everything else out there these days and we need that silly, whimsical charm back as badly as yellow wizard needs food!
I agree with pretty much everything you said; Dark Legacy and Legends have a certain charm and campiness (the kind of 80s b movie horror film charm I was talking about) that isn't really present in Gauntlet 2014. However, like you said, it'd be nice for a Dark Legacy successor to have some of the features of Gauntlet 2014. And I also mentioned how it would be cool to have a "Classic mode" variant as well, so it sounds like we're on the same wavelength!
Yeah, unfortunately there aren't a lot of companies re-releasing older games with new features. The closest ones I can think of to what you're suggesting are THQ Nordic, who has brought pretty competent HD ports forward to modern consoles of games from the 360/PS3 era, which I really enjoy. However, they don't add much outside of big fixes. Still nice though, and it's a major effort they do to port all of these older games over.
The closest thing I can think of to what you're describing is Nightdive Studios, who brings back classic FPSes like Turok with a bunch of QoL features.
Or in the case of Quake I&II, free updates recently came out for both of those games that offer a SLEW of features that enhance the vanilla experience.
There is a really cool Wizardry remake coming soon that I'm excited about. There are some cool things out there but yeah, nothing quite like you're describing.
I'm rooting for the fan remake too, and I'm glad you all are having fun on yet another annual playthrough! Sounds like a great way to bond 😊 Thanks for sharing!
@@humblemudgames ooo! I didn’t know that about Quake 1 & 2! That is incredibly exciting! I will definitely have to check it out!
Quake 2 is also one of my favorites, but there’s pretty much only been one active server in my area for the last 10+ years. It’s been so hard to find servers since game spy disappeared.
I hope the capture the flag community comes back with the updates because it was always a blast in quake!
@@Lythanthis I'm about to change your life... They opened the servers back up for Quake I&II if I'm not mistaken!
Quake II has a new waypoint feature that's really nice whenever I get lost lol. I grew up with the first one but never got to play the second til more recently.
I quote this game all the time. My friend and I loved grinding this game. "Green archer needs food badly." Nothing beats the one time I opened the death statue and it completely ignored me and killed my friend instead. Always love seeing the arcade game in arcades.
I just picked this game up in a thrift store last week and was reminded of all the quarters I dropped on Legends when I was a kid in the arcade. Just picked up a wicked oldschool tv to game on and Im ready to go on an nostalgia filled adventure!
Really solid video dude, keep the quality content coming.
Nice find! Depending on the version you get, it can be kind of expensive! Thanks so much for the kind words, I hope you have a great time with it! Definitely more fun with friends but doable alone. Just a tip -- the boss in the first world is WAY too strong to take on by yourself at first, but after playing through the first four levels you should have enough gems to go to the next world -- I'd recommend going to world 2 instead and get stronger before trying to challenge the world 1 boss. I think I beat the world 1 boss when I was in world 3, lol.
@@humblemudgames good to know. I played one level last night on a wizard and had a blast. I really think the level of effort put into the announcer makes this game so much better "YOU ARE NOW ENTERING ETC" that is the coolest feeling and then seeing the new surroundings. Also I dont know if its just me but I swear legends looks better than dark legacy does. I think its the lighter colors.
@@isthisrealife4928 yeah overall I think legends is a brighter and nicer looking game oddly enough
I spent more hours in gauntlet 2 on the Genesis than I have in all mario games combined. Me my brothers and even my mom have many find memories of playing together. I know your talking about the sequel but thank you for bringing back this find memories
Legands and Dark Legacy in one remaster package would be amazing
It's funny that your story with your friends playing the games reminds me of the fond memories i have with my stepdad and brother playing this game. The game is simple enough that we all enjoyed the gameplay loop and had so many countless hours trying to get all the runes to beat the end. Miss those simple times.
My brother and I would play the crap out of this game too. It's such a blast. Thanks for watching!
its the first game i ever made a 100% completion ever, it was sooo good
I absolutely loved playing this game when I was a kid. I remember one of my friends bringing it to my house one night and we played it ALL night. Really wish they would remake this game with more content
I don't get what Warner is doing. They're sitting on so many great Midway IPs and just letting them die on the vine. Aside from Mortal Kombat and a couple games like Rampage and Gauntlet in the 2010s, they're doing nothing with the properties. David Zaslov is doing everything to cut costs, including canceling TV shows and movies and then writing them off for taxes. Why not either license out or sell off IPs they've been sitting on? I'm sure plenty of devs would love to make a new Gauntlet, Rush, or Hydro Thunder. It's mindboggling.
I'm absolutely with you, and I think those 3 franchises specifically would do so well if they were brought back. over the life of my channel I've talked about all three of those in varying capacities. in fact my latest video talks about Hydro Thunder Hurricane. Midway had so many good things going but unless it's Scorpion and Sub Zero, they don't care.
Thing is, they totally could leverage the MK franchise popularity to sell these other games... imagine unlocking an MK character as a playable Gauntlet fighter or something.
*Cough cough* primal rage
It's internal corporate politics. If you're the guy who sells off the rights to Robotron for ten million dollars and the company that bought it makes a hundred million, your boss is going to say you lost the company ninety million dollars it could have had. Likewise, if you push for a Robotron game yourself and it flops, you get the blame for wasting money. It's safer to just keep them all in the vault than risk your career.
Gauntlet Legends was the first time my whole family (my mother, father, sister, and myself) all had a game we could play together and actively enjoyed doing so. Kudos to Midway for being responsible for some of my major formative gaming memories with my family. Fantastic video!
I always forget that gauntlet exists lol, always such a good time
the BEST time, criminally underrated 🙌
In my top 30 favorite games for sure. I had it for gamecube (my favorite console). Still play it to this day and Everytime I do, I get the same feelings I did back then. Solid game
No argument there. This game was awesome. Most favorite character to play as was the Valkyrie/Falconess. And yes I'll gladly play a remake or remaster, of this masterpiece.
I enjoy the Knight a lot myself but used to be a Valkyrie a lot in the day! Legends/Dark Legacy are classics and it's a shame we don't have anything exactly like these games anymore
Ya know, I remember seeing an ad for the game in an old gaming magazine & I still remember the tagline: “Friends who slay together, stay together!”
Gauntlet really needs to come to the Xbox Store.
that would be an insta buy for sure
The character callouts are the thing I remember most. My brother and I had played to endgame as a wizard(me) and a warrior(him). Since I always stayed behind the meatshield, he was always taking just a little more damage than me, so there would be many times I'd open a chest, find food, and tell him to grab it. Suddenly my wizard shouts out "YoU are GReeDY!!1!" That had to have been 20 years ago and I still think about that line while I'm making food.
I got that a lot too 🤣
a bit of trivia:
the differences between dark legacy and legends are the following:
Legends had 6 worlds instead of 8 along with the 12 runestones and final boss. Legends ended at Scorn
Dark Legacy added 4 more base characters which are basically gender swapped versions of the legends characters.
as mentioned, the starting zone from dark legacy and the final zone of dark legacy are the two additional zones added in that version.
there were two additional games released in the Gauntlet franchise after Dark Legacy.
The first was an absolutely mediocre ps2 exclusive title that played more like lord of the rings or dark alliance, focusing more on melee combat.
The second was a digital only release made by an indie studeo that also flopped because it played more like a generic party based dungeon crawler.
Neither of the two above games captured what made Dark Legacy so great.
Trivia over, now time for me to lament the fact that there is no good way to play Dark Legacy on modern platforms without emulation and trying to pick the best version to emulate lol.
I absolutely concur everything you're saying here. in my opinion, the Xbox or GameCube version of Dark Legacy is best, as they added QoL features the PS2 versions don't have. I personally played the GameCube version of the game on my softmodded Wii for the purposes of my video!
@@humblemudgames I actually didn't think about how the reboot did kinda feel like old NES/arcade 2d Gauntlet lol... got it a while back and since it didn't feel like Dark Legacy I kinda fell off lol. I did complete 7 sorrows when i rented it for a week and I'll just say I'm glad I rented it instead of buying it because there was 0 replay value.
@@GlitchedVision Seven Sorrows is just not fun from what little I played ... I actually really enjoyed Gauntlet 2014, but yeah, Dark Legacy and Legends will always have the most appeal for me
@@humblemudgames if there were a category for "games you beat but wish you never played," 7 sorrows would be at the top of my list because of just how bad it was lol
An interesting dive into this old gem. Use to kill countless hours and weeks of allowance playing this in the arcade.
Like your idea about unlocking characters. Reminds me of Magic Sword. 😊
Now I want to see a version with some of the MK regulars as unlockables.
Can we petition and send it to Ed boon? Maybe he can pass it on to the big wigs... give us what we want and need.
Man I wish. I don't know if he would even be interested in Gauntlet but it would be sick if he was... imagine having Scorpion, Liu Kang, Sub Zero as secret unlockable characters!
Well Ed Boon has stated before in interviews that he would love to bring back various classic Midway titles but the issue is the higher-ups at WB Games who would rather have NRS focus on the 2 cash-cow fighting franchises that NRS does which are Mortal Kombat, and Injustice, as he has on two separate occasions tried to pitch to the higher-ups at WB games two fighting game reboots those being War Gods and Primal Rage and both times the higher-ups at WB Games have told him a flat no.
@@derrickhaggard man, War Gods and Primal Rage would be killer to see again too. Nice little bit of trivia you shared there! It's exactly the kind of impression I was getting from WB, that they only care about Mortal Kombat really.
I played Dark Legacy a ton on the GC. I think a rogue-lite version would do wonders, as well as a slightly more modern direction. Imagine a Lich class that can summon skeletons to fight for you, or a thief class that can disarm traps. Making sure all the different classes start at level 1 every time you play them can mean you can switch classes at any time regardless of time investment and group player preference, while gaining some momentum throughout the gameplay. Give Hammerwatch a shot just to see an idea of this that worked well.
Bonus points if you can name all 8 classes and 8 secret classs
warrior, sorceress, jester, dwarf, Valkyrie, wizard, archer, knight.
Medusa, Minotaur, Falconess, ogre, Hyena, jackal, tigress, unicorn. I think that's all of em 🤙
Weren’t there 9 secret classes? If I’m not mistaken Sumner is unlockable
There's also a cheat code that let's you play as a ninja
I think Sumnr was a 9th class you can unlock in the final zone too
Played this for the first time with my gf a year or two ago as part of an introduction to gaming and we still talk about it fondly. What a fun one
I am surprised there was no mention of the original 2014 release of Gauntlet separate from Slayer Edition. The latter made changes to the gameplay and progression that in my opinion changed far too much that an update to an already released game should not do. The original release felt far more similar to Dark Legacy than the Slayer Edition. It also had things I think resonate a bit with what you touch on in the video, some kind of more meaningful progression that you can work towards: the masteries made more sense and were interesting, not just "do xyz get money". Relics cost potions, too. And there was an actual hub! Slayer Edition is very fun and the endless mode is great, but it felt a step away from what made Gauntlet, well, Gauntlet.
I'll have to dive into that more! I honestly only had Slayer Edition, so I don't know the differences between Gauntlet 2014 and Slayer Edition, tbh.
That gane was NOTHING like Dark Legacy. I hated that game. Was so excited when it came out and then I played it for about 2 hours and never touched it again.
@@Necrowolf81 I actually did the same thing back in like, 2016 but gave it another try and enjoyed it more now that I can look at it more for what it is. Might be worth revisiting now after time has passed!
Champions of Norrath was the only game to ever scratch the Dark Legacy itch for me, I would absolutely love a faithful remake of this timeless classic. But the faithful word is the hardest part to uphold. Great video!
Thanks so much! I actually played CoN for the first time about a month and a half ago, since it's one I've always been curious about but never had a PS2 growing up. It surprises me to say, but I think it's better than Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1&2! It felt a little more like Titan Quest to me, which I really enjoy.
Also why is Litch so hard as a first boss xD
I didn't touch on it in this video but yeah, the Lich is SUPER hard, especially if you play it solo here like I did. The good thing is that you get the gems you need to go to the next realm, so that's what I did. And the wizard tells you that you can find items later that help you defeat him. So I think they expect you to come back. But yeah, he is probably harder than pretty much all the other regular bosses. I think the Plague Fiend is probably the easiest.
*@@humblemudgames IM SO GLAD you also agree!! Thank you for the response, but to the subject Lich is definitely a first boss challenge ESPECIALLY if youre starting as a class with low def. Even swapping it around, high str, low def, low str, high def. They did this one on purpose xD Fiend and I think dragon ofc.
My local bowling alley had a Gauntlet Legends machine, and I remember playing it all the time as a kid. I miss those days. They replaced it with a Metal Slug machine 15 or 20 years ago, and I stopped going to the arcade about then. I've been messing with some of the Gauntlet games on all our little emulators lately to make up for lost time! ^_^ 💚
Fantastic video, man! I love your passion! 💚
Man, that bowling alley sounds like it was awesome back in the day. It reminds me of a skating rink in my hometown that had Primal Rage. I hope you have fun emulating Gauntlet! Thanks so much for the kind words friend!
@humblemudgames Dunno how I missed this! But yeah, it was awesome! What's funny is that our local ice-rink also had an arcade; I know it had OG Soul Edge (pre Soul Calibur). I miss arcades.. 💚
I don't want to see Gauntlet DL remade, because I don't want to see it bastardized by modern devs. Let it rest in peace.
There are plenty of modern examples where that hasn't happend though.
That’s a pretty messed up viewpoint 🤷♂️ there are so many talented developers out there who would do an amazing job remaking this. Just because you don’t like the direction of some modern games or whatever, it’s no reason to put down an entire industry worth of artistry.
@@dagripper77and many examples of franchises getting ruined as well, with the modern audience treatment..
@@ACameronUK cope and seeth, it's all trash, it's not like it would be a small independent Dev team given this project
Would you be happy with a port 🤔 to a modern console?
Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy were my entry to the series. I had a demo of Legends for my Dreamcast, and Dark Legacy for my Gamecube. I really like the colorfulness of the game, and the variety in wold themes. It has a nice charm to it thanks to the variety in levels and enemies. You had the swampy jungles with reptilian warriors, the treetop villages with the tree people, the valley with green goblins, the Egyptian world with tons of Egyptian themed enemies, and so on.
When these games were new you'd see at least one of the two in an arcade. I saw Legends a couple times at different places and Dark Legacy on a cruise ship in the early 2000s. These games are fun solo, but truly shine when played with others. A remake would be interesting, but I'd be pleased even with just a remaster with online play added to it.
The Gauntlet games released before and after the Legends / Legacy era never really appealed to me for some reason, so I never bothered with them. Something about that late 90s-early 2000s era of Gauntlet was something else.
This game on the PS2 was a huge part of my childhood. So much of it still sticks with me
I remember being gifted this game by a friend in elementary school, a couple months before i had to move out of town, alongside Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and Tony Hawk's Underground Wasteland, all three for the gamecube. I didnt have a gamecube at the time, but when the Wii came out and had backwards compatibility with the gamecube, i had begged my dad to get me one. Once we could afford one i remember playing Gauntlet Dark Legacy for hours on end after every day at school in the 4th and 5th grade, and still look back on those years i spent exploring it in and out fondly.
All this to say, thank you for covering this game.
I cant believe i only just found this channel. We are on the same wave length for games and taste. So excited to watch the back catalogue.
I played this game a bunch as a kid, I remember there was a cool egyptian looking character, maybe like a cat or anubis guy? That one was my favorite. I rarely see anybody talk about this game, I remember how cool I thought it was and loved having to find/look up where to find the weapons like the ice axe on dial-up. Really aging myself in this comment hahahaha.
Excellent video, your birthday party story was genuinely touching, reminded me of some fond gaming memories as a kid. Thanks for this!
Played this a few years ago and had a blast. Was looking for a retrospective for it and your video was the only one I listened to all the way. Great video, ty!
Hey, thank you. That means an awful lot. I hope you choose to stick around 🙏
Honestly,I'm on board for your version of gauntlet. I hope the series does come back.
I absolutely love your passion for this. I have similar stories to it too.
I really like your ideas too, it's always nice to reminisce and think on improvement that could come on old fun media.... I still daydream about phantom dust sometimes too. 😅
This game brings back deep childhood memories I forgot about. I was first introduced to this franchise during a prior version in a random arcade. Me and my brother made a super deep run on it and it was intense. Then as kids, we never saw the game again other than that one random arcade. I'm happy it still has a following that appreciate it.
Me and my buddy, Max, used to play this for hours every weekend during and after high school. We'd just order some pizza and make an entire weekend of it. Such a great game. Wish I didn't live 12+ hrs away or else we'd still be playing this
this video made me very happy. i played so much gauntlet as a kid. in the arcade with my dad and later on the ps2 with friends
Thanks for doing a video on this game. I had this game as a kid and it was my introduction to the gauntlet world. I loved playing the jester class. This game definitely deserves another shot in the spotlight. Hope we get something in the future.
I love gauntlet so when this video showed up I was super excited I loved learning the history and hearing your commentary one thing I think I'd change is 21:08 the music over shadows your voice and it feels confusing since the noise pollution of the song over shadows your voice I want to hear you and the stuff you have to say
Thank you so much! I appreciate the constructive criticism too! the music from Quake is meant to be loud and abrasive, I probably should have picked one of the more ambient tracks from that game. thanks so much for bearing with me though!
I grew up with Gauntlet Dark Legacy, and I agree with theses statments. Long story short, I grew up with the game, sad when I realized it had been sold at some point, rekindled my love of the game after my partner got me a PS2 emulator and Gauntlet was the first game I had downloaded. Ngl, cried tears of pure joy after the intro was done playing. 😭😊
I've been hearing Legend of Dragoon music in more and more video essays recently... And that's a good thing.
Also, great video, this game was also super nostalgic for me, despite having only gotten to play it at a friend's place a few times as a kid.
That's good! In my case in particular, LoD was very influential on me. I'll be talking about that game a little more specifically in the video coming this Thursday.
I read a review from 2000 criticizing the music and I just can't believe it. I think so many of its songs are immediately recognizable and memorable
I was looking to see if anyone else noticed. LoD is an underappreciated gem and my absolute all time favorite jrpg.
@@Theoszombie I will use it music from it and talk about it any time I can because I'm right there with you. In fact, tomorrow's video talks about LoD.
Gauntlet was one of the first Arcade games I ever experienced.
Man this was nostalgia incarnate for me.
Have great memories playing the old arcade Gauntlets and one of the ones on PS2 with my dad. Nothing really scratches that same multi-player vibe that Gauntlet provides lol
I really like this series and I played it a lot when I was a kid back in the 80s and would always pick the elf cause you would move so fast. I really want a remaster and hopfully you would keep the cheat codes as well it’s intresting to fight as a quarterback with knight moves. The ideas on the extra characters are good and maybe once you beat the game with a character you could unlock a creation mode and try to make your own fighter but you wouldn’t be able to get some of the level buffs as the normal ones.
As a kid, I remember watching my cousin play this game. I had thought about it for years but I could never remember what was called. I remembered a circus level and some disembodied hands. I could never seem to figure out what the game was. Then I was watching a review for this game a few years back. Something about the game felt familiar, and I started to wonder if this was the game. I put on a long play and sure enough, the Circus and the disembodied hands were there. I'm so glad I found this game again.
Like to see the N64 Legends get a remastered version
I am here from the discord. Glad to see you made it, and i love your ideas and hope some get implemented
Thanks for the video. Got the game recently for my OG Xbox, because I thought the cover looked cool and I heard it was an arcade game.
Your passion for the game hyped me up quite a bit. Now I need to play it asap😂
Ah! The Xbox version is arguably the best version! Cheers!
I love that before the video even started, I heard a PSO reference in the intro. Instant sub
Fantastic video! Dark Legacy holds a special place in my nostalgic heart. I love a lot of your proposed ways to modernize a remake or new entry, or simply ways to expand on the established formula. Subscribed! ❤️
To this day, the phrase "Red Warrior needs food!" lives rent free in my head. One of my most cherished gaming memories is with this game. On a family vacation to Disney World, I think I was around 10 years old, my mom and I beat Gauntlet Dark Legacy in the arcade that was in our hotel. It was great. I was the Red Warrior, and from what I remember, my mom played the Green Archer. If we got a remake, I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.
I've never seen a video from you before, but I've never clicked on a video I wanted to support faster. I think Dark Legacy is the best the series had to offer, and is a cherished classic of mine. I would love the opportunity to hop on a discord call and revisit it with friends. "BATTERRRR UP!"
Wow, a freaking good video on Dark Legacy, I played so many hours !
And while I watch your video, I just heard the background music of ( another of my top game in my life) Kingdom of Amalur ! damn ! :D
But yeah I really hope that someone do that remake without going overboard ! :D
Thank you so much!! Though it didn't release for a long time, it was one of the first videos I started working on. I was having so many technical issues and so this long video felt EXTRA long. I started running out of ideas for which songs to use where, as I was only pulling from Gauntlet & other games I specifically mentioned in the script. So I eventually stopped overthinking it and just started pulling songs from my favorite games, even if they weren't discussed. I guess it worked out, because I get comments all the time about how people subscribed just because of The Legend of Dragoon, PSO, or Amalur songs! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Dude same exact story, 9th grade me and 3 friends were getting tired of playing smash bros melee and SSX Tricky in like 2004. We popped in Gauntlet and holy shit, never have I had so much fun playing a home-multiplayer game before or after. It was all we did the next few weekends in a row. I recently talked to one of the friends from back then and gauntlet was part of that conversation. Love that game
One of my friends from that party back in the day reached out to me because he immediately was hit with nostalgia during that part of the video 💜 Gauntlet is a REALLY nice co-op experience
I remember losing many a quarter to that game back then. How me and my family would spend weekends at the bowling alley trying to get as far as we could. And when the game came out the console it was a blessing. Glad this game still lives on in people's memories and people also want it to come back
I loved this game as a kid. 10/10
I wish it was on PC. I'd buy it for sure. Even if it wasn't remastered. I just want to play it again.
I used to get my mom to drop me off after school at the local cici’s pizza because they were the only place in town that had this arcade machine. I instantly fell in love with it the first time I played it. I plan on buying an arcade cabinet of the game one day.
Really well made video for only 3k subs. Good job man.
Thanks! when I first put this video out I only had like 350
yeah i actually ordered a mega expensive copy of gauntlet dark legacy a few months ago for my wii. finally got to try all the cheat code characters. and damn yeah just finally started getting serious about Doom1 the last few weeks too love its current state of menu mods and satisfied enough with the megawads in the menu
your featured timing of the Smash Brawl theme alongside your narration and gameplay was masterful in feel the hype.
cant wait for the Dark Legacy battle pass!
gantlet btw 🌚 seems like you’d get that reference
Well said, I’ve had so much fun playing this with friends! If it were to be remastered or even just brought to the playstation/ xbox marketplace I would be absolutely elated
Love this game so much! 💜 First played it with my dad as a kid, and then completed it for the first time throughout sixth and seventh grade. My most recent playthrough was as an adult back in 2020-21. It was a massive part of my inspiration to try D&D, so I'll always be thankful. 😍
I would say one thing that Gauntlet has that a lot of modern games lack are a variety of worlds/realms. Like, most games would take the Forbidden plains and make every world feel like a zombie infested hell world, but with Dark Legacy, there's actually a variety of settings and thematic elements for enemies. Plains = Zombies and undead. Mountains are Orcs. Desert was mummies and Egyptian themed enemies. Forrest had Lizardmen. That variety alone made it feel like you went on a big adventure instead of just fighting Zombies all the way through.
Yeah, the only other ARPG with that sort of variety that I've played is Titan Quest
In case you couldn't tell by my username and PFP, I absolutely adore Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Many a summer vacations when I was off school were spent playing this game late into the night with friends. One of the best multiplayer experiences and I think just hit that sweet spot of casual gameplay with enough depth to keep anyone, regardless of gaming experience, hooked. I would love to be able to play this game again with just updated visuals.
I played so much Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy as a kid holy hot damn it is some of the purest nostalgia I have
Some of the stock sound effects in those games still trigger me when they are used in modern games/movies/tv 😂
Awesome video. Loved how you brought up that Dark Legacy is sort of a "Halloween adjacent" game with it's style. I never thought of it that way but you're totally right. Can't wait to play the community-remaster! 😁
this video is awesome, you said everything ive been thinking forever!! i play through dark legacy once a year (green wiz or archer) and everytime i experience this whole video. I feel like i could talk for days with you about games and mechanics. Ive never met anyone irl who knows gauntlet or smash tv. there is so much i want to say about many points and references in this vid, but i could go on forever. youre a true gamer grill and i appreciate you and this vid, thank you!
I really am a true gamer girl lol, stay with me! I've got lots to say and there are a ton of videos already on this channel 🤙 There are so many games like this one that I wish would make a comeback.
My favourite out of the gauntlet series, I still play dark legacy to this day , and even tho I know the levels of by heart it never gets boring, just a nice relaxing fun game to plough through ,
It really is a fun game. I love grinding against the plague fiend to get my stats all the way up, haha. the vibe of the realm is still probably my favorite
I literally bought this game on gamecube like a few days ago, im so excited to pop it in my gamecube to play it again. I love Gauntlet so much, i wish they were still actively around. ;w ;
It's a game that really holds up, especially with friends! I hope you found it for a decent deal -- I remember when this game sold used for like $13...
@humblemudgames I got it for like $55 which isn't so bad. Considering there are copies out there at like 80+ heck some are even at 100+ outrageous
This was a very great video to watch. I love gauntlet dark legacies. I never realised it had combo’s tho. Holy crap.
thank you for watching, hope you choose to stick around! honestly some of the comments people have left here have taught me things that I never even knew about the game as well!
I 100% agree with this and will also add..that final boss theme! 😎🔥
Loved this entry into the Gauntlet series.
I love this game and really relate to your 19th birthday story. Thanks for the video!
Not even seen the video yet (immediately got an ad) and let me answer for you as to why Gauntlet should have a remake. So my dad can be absolutely giddy and play his game again. (Fun fact he was able to play it earlier this year through an arcade game. Boy did it feel like a blast from the past watching him play it.)
I hope he gets it one day! How did the arcade cabinet run by the way? I played the one that I had a picture of in this video and it was kind of laggy compared to the console versions
@@humblemudgames it’s been absolute years since I saw my dad play Gauntlet for the PS2. I never played it back then because I was like idk 6 and wasn’t all that interested in the game. But I did actually play the same arcade game my dad had used with two of my friends. I’d say it was pretty good, not laggy. Only thing is that it felt kinda hard to walk a bit due to the layout of the map and stuff. (My friends and I went through the easiest level. I died before we got to the boss and they died while fighting the boss.)
Me and my brother sunk so much time and quarters into the gauntlet legends arcade machine. It blew our minds when it came to n64. Been a fan of the series ever since. Would love to be able to play a new entry