Gauntlet (NES)/Items

Gauntlet's concept is deceptively simple: progress through 100 floors, killing enemies and grabbing treasures as you go.

The levels contain a variety of tiles and items:

Exits
These black squares usually read "EXIT". Some also say "L##", the number indicating what level you'll skip to if you take that exit. Finding these jump exits will get you through the game faster, so using the first exit you find isn't always the best plan. Sometimes the exits are hidden or require a key to access.

Walls
Darker-colored walls can be shot and destroyed, while lighter-colored ones can't. Blast your way through the darker ones to find alternate paths.

Doors and Keys
Doors can be any shape and size, and any door tiles touching will all unlock at once with a single key. Be careful about picking up too many keys as there are only so many doors in a level, and keys share the same inventory space as potions.

Potions
Potions can be collected or shot. Shooting them is less effective as your character's skill bonus is not applied to their use. These share the same storage space as keys, so always leave a few slots free for any keys you might need.

Treasure
Treasure chests are overflowing with loot. Some chests will run away from you, while others will hurt you when you touch them, and then chase you down like Death. Because of this it's best to shoot chests before you grab them to see if they explode. Treasure increases your score by one point (eventually boosting your HP).

Bags of Jewels
These are worth three times the value of a treasure chest.

Food
Food can have various appearances, but always increases your health by 100. If you shoot it it is destroyed.

Movable Walls
These walls can be pushed in any direction, including diagonally.

Stun Tiles
These tiles blend in with the surroundings, and when stepped on paralyze you for a few seconds. Enemies instinctively know where these are and won't walk over them.

Magic Tiles
These pulse or flash, and when stepped on will open up some area of the level (often a place you can't see or haven't even reached yet). These are usually hidden under destructible blocks, so it's always good to destroy those to see if there are magic tiles underneath.

Temporary Invisibility
Enemies cannot find you. This item is represented by a white box with three lines.

Upgrade Items
Destructible wall blocks sometimes contain potions that boost your abilities. The icon on the bottle shows what it will upgrade. On some home ports these upgrades are visible on the pause screen. Unlike other powerups these are permanent.

Use-once items
Unlike the items above, these do not appear on the pause screen.

Temporary Repulsion Amulet
Enemies run away from you. It is represented by an orange box with three lines.

Temporary Reflective Shots
Your shots bounce off walls. If the shot does not hit anything it will disappear after a few bounces.

Ten Super Shots
Your shots destroy everything, including doors. It is represented by an orange box with an arrow.

Temporary invulnerability
You have perfect armor for awhile, but your hp goes down twice as fast. It is represented by a black box.