Gauntlet III: The Final Quest is a home computer

Home computer

Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...

 game by U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold was a British video game publisher and developer from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, producing numerous titles on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms.-History:...

 and Tengen

Tengen (company)

Tengen was a video game publisher and developer that was created by arcade game manufacturer Atari Games.-History:Atari had been split into two distinct companies. Atari Corporation was responsible for computer and console games and hardware and owned the rights to the Atari brand for these domains...

 it was released in 1991 for the following systems; Amiga

Amiga

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

, Atari ST

Atari ST

The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...

, Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

, ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

, Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...

. It was released one year after Gauntlet: The Third Encounter

Gauntlet: The Third Encounter

Gauntlet: The Third Encounter is an arcade-style action game by Atari, that was released on the short-lived Atari Lynx handheld in 1990. The game can be played by one to four players simultaneously. It introduced new character classes like “Nerd” or “Punkrocker” and was one of a few games that used...

which was for the Atari Lynx. Besides the standard four main Gauntlet characters: Thor, Thyra, Merlin, and Questor, four new playable characters were available: Petras, a rock man; Dracolis, a lizard man; Blizzard, an ice man; and Neptune a Merman

Merman

Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...

. The game is viewed from an isometric perspective and includes a two-player cooperative multiplayer mode.

Story

A land called Capra was having many wars among its kingdoms; peace would come but then another war would start. Then one day a wizard named Magnus came and brought peace, but to make sure there would never be another war he created a door to the dark dimensions from which evil things would come, if there was ever another war. "This be the Final Peace for if it is broken, all Capra will be at the mercy of the devourers." Then the Velcrons came to these kingdoms. They were servants of the things behind the door. They took over the magic kingdom and their king, Capricorn, held the wizard as his captive. Evil slowly came from this magic kingdom, bringing plagues, and even poisoning the food. The people of these lands begin to hate, and the peace was threatened. Eight champions have come to try and put an end to the darkness covering their land.

Gameplay

It is an original game with a isometric projection

Isometric projection

Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...

 type view that would later be used in Gauntlet Legends and other Gauntlet games made after Legends. Its view is much like that of Solstice

Solstice (video game)

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos is a puzzle-oriented video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System created by Software Creations and heavily influenced by Ultimate Play the Game's Knight Lore and Pentagram...

. The player walks around various areas of each kingdom, passing from one area to the next, forest areas and castle dungeons, with logs, tables and other obstacles blocking the player's path, creating a maze-like area. Each area has at least one doorway or pathway to the next. At times certain things must be done in order to advance into the next area. A combination lock key was packaged with the game and was needed to open certain doors, for which if someone made a pirated version of the game they wouldn't be able to get past that portion of the game without the Combination Key. The key was a piece of cardboard with a wheel on it; the wheel had holes and when the numbers and letters were lined up correctly another letter would appear in one of its 18 holes.

The enemies in this version, as in other Gauntlet games, come mostly from generators that keep producing the enemies until the generators are destroyed. Enemies from the arcade games are:

• Ghosts
• Sorcerers, or wizards
• Death
• Dragons

Other elements from the series also make an appearance, such as potions that make enemies disappear or weaken them, food (both good and poisonous), invincibility amulets, and treasure chests, some of which can contain traps or other items the player would need.

The back side of the box has the tagline, "The Gates of Hell are Open..." The cover illustration is by Peter Andrew Jones

Peter Andrew Jones

Peter Andrew Jones is a British artist and illustrator perhaps best known for his many fantasy and science fiction genre illustrations...

.