Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows Q&A: Past, Present, and Future

Currently scheduled for release in December, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is Midway's latest entry into its long-running Gauntlet series of hack-and-slash action games. Like its predecessors, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows will let up to four players team up to battle against the forces of evil. Unlike its predecessors, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows will boast online play and role-playing game elements among its key features. We recently had an opportunity to interview creative director Sal Divita and executive director of external development Michael Gottlieb; we spoke to them about the past, the present, and the future of the Gauntlet franchise.

GameSpot: What do you think is the appeal of the Gauntlet franchise that has kept it popular after all these years?

Sal Divita: Gauntlet is the epitome of "pick up and play," fast-action, group fun. It has always been a game that has appealed to all age groups, because it has straightforward challenges and goals.

GS: What are the elements that make a Gauntlet game?

SD: Gauntlet is about providing the player a way to fulfill their basic human aspirations to explore, collect wealth, and persevere against insurmountable odds to become a hero! The elements of Gauntlet consist of:
1. Powerful main heroes, each with their own main skill sets.
2. Mobs of diverse enemies to challenge your progress and to hack through in many interesting ways.
3. Responsive controls and compelling combat skills to learn and unlock as you progress.
4. Winding, mazelike environments to navigate through while finding secrets and treasures.
5. Dangerous hazards to avoid and lure your enemies into.

Those are the basics, and there's more for all to enjoy.

GS: What has been the biggest challenge in updating the franchise with the latest entry in the series?

SD: Remembering to stay true to what Gauntlet really is about. We sometimes try to overcomplicate a successor to a series in an attempt to contemporize it, but in the meantime, we lose sight of what made the franchise fun and what it is all really about. Players buy Gauntlet games with an expectation of what they remember from the previous games, and it's our duty as developers to maintain that flavor for our players.

GS: Do you think we'll ever see another Gauntlet in arcades?

SD: Sure, right after Midway makes a Gauntlet Pinball 2000 game. All kidding aside, if there were a call for a Gauntlet game to reemerge in the arcade format, there's always a possibility it could happen. Never say "never," right?

GS: Could you walk us through the various entries in the series and tell us what worked well and what could've been better?

Michael Gottlieb: Sure.

Gauntlet
Revolutionary arcade game for its cooperative style of multiplayer play. Before Gauntlet, you had hardcore RPG products for the PC and quarter-eating twitch games in the arcade. Gauntet merged the two into an "RPG lite," a genre that would later spawn such games as Diablo and Lord of the Rings. Operators loved Gauntlet because it could take multiple quarters at the same time. Players loved it because they felt like they were really "leveling up" their character, something unfamiliar to the arcade player. What did it get right? It was an addictive quarter muncher, and coin-op game operators could not get enough of it!

Gauntlet 2
Every great game deserves a sequel, and Gauntlet was no exception. Gauntlet 2 was to Gauntlet was what Stargate was to Defender, it didn't mess with the formula and was a coin-op success in its own right.

Gauntlet
Fast-forward to Atari games many years later, and what's old is new again. With recent "new" coin-op titles struggling, Atari went back to the well and, using new 3DFX hardware, came back with Gauntlet in a big way. Gone was the top-down view; this was replaced with a 3D isometric-camera positioning that worked so well, it is still used in new games to this day. Coupled with a killer sound package courtesy of new sound hardware, the new Gauntlet was a cashbox king in its day.

Brought to the N64, this game was a megahit on console because it allowed players to utilize all four of the N64 controller ports at once. A lot of extra controllers were sold just to make sure that you and your friends could go four-player if you so desired.

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy
History repeats itself once more, under the strategy of "give the arcade player more of what he wants." A more meaningful update to Gauntlet, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy was again met with top-earnings reports, as players just couldn't get enough.

That game was brought to the N64 as well, but it found its huge success on the Nintendo GameCube for the same reason: Four-player play with a supersmooth frame rate. Players simply could not get enough.

GS: Thanks for your time.