Gauntlet II General FAQ
Version 1.1

By chessjerk (John Kearsley IV)

Created - December 29, 2005
Updated - January 12, 2006

Questions?  Comments?  Contact me: chessjerk@msn.com

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Welcome to my Gauntlet II General FAQ.  You really cannot go wrong with 4 
player games where you get to blast monsters, fight dragons, and fumble through 
mazes until everyone is dead, am I right?  Enjoy!

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Table of Contents:
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1. Characters
2. Items
3. Special Items
4. Enemies
5. Levels
6. Miscellaneous
7. Strategies
8. Credits/Disclaimer
9. Version History

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1. Characters
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Each player has a choice of 4 different characters:

1. Warrior - Slow, but powerful.  He can destroy most enemies (except dragons)
   in one shot and has very good hand to hand fighting ability.  However, his 
   speed and magic power leave something to be desired.
2. Valkyrie - A very defensive character.  She has amazing defense and hand to 
   hand combat power, but she also has mediocre magic power and her shots don't 
   do a lot of damage.  Good for beginners who may take more hits than 
   experienced players.
3. Wizard - If you're looking for powerful magic, here's your character.  When 
   he uses a potion, nearly every enemy on the screen vaporizes.  He also has 
   good shot power and is able to kill most enemies (except dragons) in two 
   shots at most.  However, he lacks any real defense and has no hand to hand 
   fighting power whatsoever.
4. Elf - A real speedster.  The elf can actually outrun the scroll of the 
   screen, he's so fast.  But, that's all he really has going for him, since 
   his magic is so-so, he doesn't have much hand to hand combat power, and he 
   needs some extra shot power to do any significant damage to stronger 
   monsters.

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2. Items
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Your character will need to pick up items to survive on this quest.  Whenever 
you pick up an item, listen to what the announcer says if you're unsure as to 
what you just picked up.  All good items' effects end when you exit the level 
(i.e. if you are still invisible when you exit, the remaining invisibility time 
will not carry over to the next level.  The good items are as follows:

1. Food - This comes in 3 varieties: a plate of food, what looks like a purse 
   of some kind, and a jug.  Each restores 100 hit points, but be careful, 
   since you can shoot the jug by accident and be mocked by the announcer.  The 
   other 2 varieties cannot be removed with regular shots.
2. Key - Use these to open doors and treasure chests.  A key disappears after 
   one use.  Each key picked up is worth 50 points.
3. Potion - These come in 2 varieties: red and blue.  Red potions cannot be 
   shot, while blue ones can.  Using a potion kills nearby enemies, those it 
   doesn't kill it stuns for a few seconds.  Some enemies (dragons, acid 
   puddles) cannot be killed with potions, so beware.  Shooting a blue potion 
   has the same effect as using a potion, so feel free to shoot them if you 
   cannot carry any more items.
4. Treasure Chest - These solid red boxes require a key to open.  Inside, you 
   could find: food, poison, Death, a ? jug, or nothing at all.
5. Treasure - Generic treasure is a red and black box with strange markings on 
   the inside.  For each treasure picked up, the player earns 50 points.
6. Super Treasure - It looks like a bag of jewels, and can only be found in the 
   remains of defeated dragons.  Counts as 3 treasure, and gives you 150 
   points.
7. Super Shots - This is an amulet with a shuriken.  The next 10 shots the 
   player shoots will plow through everything in its path, except Death and 
   acid puddles (yes, you can kill dragons with one super shot!)  Be careful 
   you don't accidentally shoot good items, as these shots go through all kinds 
   of food, potions, and treasure boxes, too.  Red potions shot in this manner 
   do not activate the way blue potions do.  Doors, keys and non-breakable 
   walls are unaffected by super shots.
8. Reflective Shots - This is an amulet with a cross on it.  Your shots reflect 
   off walls and other non-shootable items until they go off the screen or 
   bounce 8 times.  Very useful with super shots, but again, be careful not to 
   destroy good items.
9. Invisibility - This is an amulet with a yellow jewel.  Your character begins 
   flashing, and all enemies stop in their path, except acid puddles, which 
   just wander around aimlessly.  Only acid puddles can damage you, if they 
   happen to wander in your direction, all other enemies cannot inflict damage 
   on you.  In a multi-player game, enemies will ignore the invisible character 
   and go after the visible character(s).
10. Invulnerability - This is a red ring.  Your character's life begins 
    decreasing at twice the normal rate, but you cannot take damage from any
    source until it wears off.  Useful for fighting dragons in close quarters 
    and if you encounter Death without any potions.
11. Repulsiveness - This is an amulet with five fingers (almost looks like a 
    squashed spider).  All enemies run away from you and cannot damage you 
    until the effect wears off.  In a multi-player game, be sure to keep this 
    character in the front so the enemies run away, since the enemies will 
    still chase those without repulsiveness.
12. Transportability - This is an amulet on a chain with a red and yellow 
    jewel.  Your character can now move through walls and generators to reach 
    trapped items or to make a quick break for the exit.  Be aware, you 
    teleport through everything, even good items, so you cannot pick up items 
    that are by themselves; if they are next to a wall, teleport onto the item 
    from the other side of the wall to get them.  Whatever you teleport onto (a 
    wall, an enemy, a treasure chest, etc.), it will disappear, making this an 
    efficient way to get rid of annoying enemies like Death.

The bad items are:

1. ? jug - This is a jug with a ? on it.  It's a coin flip, it's either food or 
   poison.  Do you feel lucky?  Go ahead and take it if you're brave.
2. Poison food - This is a jug with a skull and crossbones on it.  If you 
   ignore the obvious warning and take it anyway, you lose 100 hit points.  
   Shoot it instead, and all enemies have their speed reduced for a few 
   seconds.
3. Poison potion - This is a blue potion with a skull and crossbones on it.  
   Similar to poison food, just shoot it and be done with it.

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3. Special Items
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Defeated dragons will leave behind one super treasure and one special item that 
boosts your abilities.  They can also be found in secret rooms.  Characters can 
take multiples of the same type of special item to further increase their 
abilities.  The special items are:

1. Extra armor (shield icon) - Defensive power increases
2. Extra pick up (hand icon) - Increases max keys/potions held from 6 to 128
3. Extra fight (sword icon) - Hand to hand combat power increases
4. Extra magic (potion icon) - Magic power increases
5. Extra shot power (dot icon) - Shot power increases
6. Extra speed (/ icon) - Walking speed increases, shots travel faster

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4. Enemies
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Your quest will not be as easy as just picking up items and finding exits.  
Many enemies will try to stop you.  Some enemies start in certain places in a 
dungeon, other come from generators.  The type of generator determines how many 
shots it will take to kill monsters it generates.  If the generator has a basic 
look to it (a simple brown box, one skull and crossbones, etc.) the enemies it 
generates will take fewer shots to kill.  If the generator looks more complex, 
they will take more shots to kill.  The minimum is one shot, the maximum is 
three shots.  Try to destroy generators as soon as possible to avoid being 
swarmed.  Alternatively, some enemies can be defeated using your character's 
hand to hand fighting ability.  Simply move your character into the enemies and 
hold the controller in the direction of the enemies, and they will disappear.  
Killing an enemy earns 20 points.

1. Ghost - Generated from piles of bones, cannot be defeated by hand to hand 
   combat, hits you once and disappears
2. Grunt - Generated from brown boxes, can smash you until killed
3. Demon - Generated from brown boxes, can bite you until killed, can also 
   shoot fireballs at you from a distance
4. Sorcerer - Generated from brown boxes, can smack you until killed, they 
   flash on and off the screen (they cannot be killed when not on screen)
5. Lobbers - Generated from brown boxes, run away from you and lob rocks at you
6. Super Sorcerer - Not generated, they are a different color from normal 
   Sorcerers, they tend to be more powerful than regular Sorcerers
7. Death - Not generated, these powerful guys can only be killed with potions, 
   their touch sucks hit points out of you quickly, when they take around 200 
   or so, they disappear
8. Acid Puddles - Not generated, these blobs cannot be killed by any means, 
   they can touch you once, sucking life out of you, and then disappear
9. It - Not generated, these sun-like creatures don't cause any damage to 
   whomever it hits, but that character becomes IT.  That is, all enemies, no 
   matter where they are on the level, will go after whomever is IT, ignoring 
   all other characters.  Some levels have more than one It, if a second It 
   hits the same character, the IT status is removed.  If it hits a different 
   character, the new character is now IT.  In a one-player game, it doesn't 
   really matter, since, in effect, you are always IT.  It's cannot be killed 
   by any means.
10. Dragon - Not generated, the toughest creature of all to face, but leaves 
    great items when destroyed.  His fireballs hit you for about 50 damage 
    apiece, but there's a trick to killing him without taking damage.  Move 
    slowly towards him until you can barely see his head, and start shooting 
    him.  If you do this right, he will never shoot fireballs at you and you 
    can kill him unscathed.  Characters with attack power of one (elves and 
    valkyries) must shoot him 100 times in the head to kill him.  Characters 
    with attack power of two (wizards, elves/valkyries with one extra shot 
    power) need 50 shots.  Characters with attack power of three (warriors, 
    wizards with one extra shot power, elves/valkyries with two extra shot 
    powers) need 34 shots.  Alternatively, if you have Super Shots, one shot is 
    all you need!  A word of warning: when the dragon is defeated, he leaves a 
    super treasure and a random special item.  If the dragon is vertical on the 
    screen, the treasure will be on the left side of the screen; if the dragon 
    is horizontal, the treasure will be on the upper side of the screen.  
    Therefore, always shoot the right side of the head if he's vertical and the 
    lower side if he's horizontal, to avoid shooting the treasure after he 
    dies.

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5. Levels
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There are approximately 100 or so different levels in the game.  Only the first 
five are always the same; beginning with level six, the next level could be 
anything.  Level 1 has an exit to level 5, in case you want to skip ahead.  
There do seem to be patterns, so if you have played the game a few times, and 
see the same level six more than once, most likely level 7 and beyond will be 
the same also.  Once you get around level 100 or so, the levels start to repeat 
themselves, indicating that the game does indeed go on forever.

The object of every level is to find the exit.  Simple, right?  In some levels, 
the exit moves around, sometimes there are fake exits everywhere, just to 
confuse you, and sometimes you start with the exit in plain sight, but you have 
to circle all the way around the dungeon to get to it.  Some levels even have 
multiple real exits, in these levels, it doesn't matter which exit you take, 
since they all lead to the next level.

Every so often, you will encounter a treasure room.  These rooms have no 
enemies (besides the occasional Death hidden in a treasure chest).  You have 30 
seconds to collect as much treasure as possible and find the exit.  If you find 
the exit, you receive bonus points equal to 50 x the number of treasures you 
picked up.  Other than boosting your score, the treasure rooms serve only as a 
breather from the action.

At the beginning of a level, you may see certain messages indicating special 
rules for that level only.  These include:

1. Player shots hurt others - Players can shoot other players (or themselves 
   with reflective shots) and will suffer damage
2. Player shots stun others - Players can shoot other players (or themselves 
   with reflective shots) and will stun them for a few seconds (similar to a 
   stun tile)
3. Dummy exits - There is more than one exit shown, but only one of them is 
   real.  One of the more evil levels has about 200 exits and only 1 is real.  
   If you're unlucky, you could spend a lot of time there just testing the 
   exits.
4. All walls are invisible - Walls are not shown on the screen.  You'll have to 
   feel your way around the maze blind.
5. The exit will move - There are multiple locations for the exit to show up 
   (illustrated by a black border on the ground) and the exit will move from 
   place to place.

In addition, you may receive a clue to enter a secret room.  These include:

1. Don't get hit
2. Don't be fooled (dummy exits only) 
3. Don't be greedy
4. Stay invulnerable
5. Watch what you shoot
6. Don't hurt friends
7. Be pushy
8. Go on a diet
9. Try transportability
10. Save super shots

In a one player game, only 1 and 2 seem to work with any regularity, the others 
work more in a multi-player game.  However, the more vague clues (mostly 3, 5 
and 7) don't seem to work even if you think you did what it said.  If you are 
successful, one player will be transported to the secret room, where they will 
have 99 seconds to loot and plunder before they are transported out.  Every 
secret room has one special item, so be sure to grab it.

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6. Miscellaneous
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If you don't move for approximately 135 seconds, all of the walls will turn 
into exits.  Very handy if you're lost or stuck.

Doors - These are the thin blue separators between rooms and require a key to 
open.  Be careful not to unexpectedly open a door and unleash a horde of 
enemies upon yourself.  After approximately 120 seconds, all doors will 
automatically open, which is useful if you have a lot of hit points and need to 
stock up keys, or if you've run out of keys and are stuck.

Stun tiles - These tiles glow red and, if stepped on, take 25 hit points and 
freeze you for a few seconds, giving you enemies a free shot at you.

Trap tiles - These tiles glow blue and, if stepped on, remove walls or other 
obstructions.  Some are required to exit, others may only release a horde of 
enemies upon you.  If you see a lot of Death trapped behind a wall with a blue 
tile nearby, use caution when stepping on it.

Damage floors - These tiles alternate between light and dark and, if stepped on 
while light, will cause damage to your character.  Try to cross them when they 
are dark to avoid damage.

Breakable walls - Some walls are differently colored than the rest, they can be 
destroyed with three shots.

Secret walls - Some walls, while seeming to be normal, can be shot, revealing 
hidden passageways.  Try this on level 5, there are a few sections of the wall 
near when you start that can be shot, generally revealing food.  Look for other 
areas in other dungeons that seem inaccessible; if no blue tiles are around, 
try shooting the walls.  You may get an unexpected surprise.

Transporters - These tiles glow blue and white, and can transport you to other 
transporters that are on the screen.  If there are no others on the screen, you 
will simply transport to a different side of the transporter you entered.  
Press on the controller which direction you would like to go, and you may end 
up there.  You don't always, which is annoying, but you get used to it.

Also, you cannot encounter a dragon until after you reach the first treasure 
room, which is between level 10 and 11.  In playing the game over and over, 
sometimes you will get to level 6 and fight through a dungeon that, in a 
previous playthrough, had a dragon in it.  This is normal, I guess the 
programmers didn't want you getting special items too early in the game.

Finally, if a character dies in a multi-player game, make sure another 
character picks up the items left behind, or, if the dead player continues, 
that they pick up what they dropped to resume the game.

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7. Strategies
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In general, the strategy is to shoot the enemies before they can damage you, 
and the best way to do that is between the corners of walls.  You can fire 
shots in between the walls at enemies in another section of the maze without 
them hurting you (except for demons, whose fireballs also can go in between the 
walls).

Single-player mode - The game is very easy for a lone character, since there is 
more than enough food lying around to keep you healthy.  Plus, you get to hog 
all the special items and treasure for yourself.  The only problem you may 
encounter is getting swarmed, but if you play smart and keep some potions 
handy, this problem should not exist.  Also, secret rooms are harder to enter.

Multi-player mode - The game gets more difficult in some respects when more 
characters join the action, but an experienced team will still have no problem. 
The extra firepower virtually guarantees you will never be swarmed, but the 
problem may lie in not enough items to go around.  Make sure the fighters pick 
up keys and wizards pick up potions, and try to distribute the special items to 
those who need the stats (i.e. extra speed for warriors, extra shot power for 
elves and valkyries, etc.).

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8. Credits and Disclaimer
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This FAQ is copyright 2006 by John Kearsley IV.  This FAQ may be distributed 
freely as long as it is not altered and I am credited for its existence.

Thanks go to everyone else involved with the NES FAQ Completion Project, of 
which I am proud to be a part.  Also, thanks go to GameFAQs.com and CJayC for 
hosting a great site.  Keep up the good work!

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9. Version History
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Version 1.0 (December 29, 2005) - Original FAQ submitted.

Version 1.1 (January 5, 2006) - Minor changes made, added strategies section