Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Gauntlet / Rampart compilation on the Game Boy Advance brings two distinct arcade legends together, each with its own brand of addictive gameplay. In Gauntlet, you take control of one of four archetypal heroes—Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, or Elf—and hack your way through labyrinthine dungeons filled with hordes of monsters, traps, and hidden secrets. The pacing is fast, the hordes are relentless, and every corridor hides a potential ambush. Health drains continuously over time, forcing you to keep moving and scavenging for food and keys to progress through the levels.

(HEY YOU!! We hope you enjoy! We try not to run ads. So basically, this is a very expensive hobby running this site. Please consider joining us for updates, forums, and more. Network w/ us to make some cash or friends while retro gaming, and you can win some free retro games for posting. Okay, carry on 👍)

Rampart, by contrast, adopts a turn-based tower‐defense strategy model that couldn’t be more different. You start by placing walls to define the perimeter for your castles, then allocate cannon emplacements, and finally repel waves of enemy cannonballs. After each round, you repair and expand your fortifications using the conquered territory as raw material. The blend of planning and action stages gives Rampart a cerebral edge while keeping the arcade intensity intact.

Both games support multiplayer via the GBA Link Cable, though the experience varies. Gauntlet’s four-player mayhem translates nicely if you can gather friends and cables, offering simultaneous dungeon‐crawling chaos and resource competition. Rampart’s head‐to‐head matches test your strategic mettle as you race to outbuild and outwit your opponent. Single‐player modes are robust, too, with high‐score leaderboards and progressively tougher AI challenges that extend the replay value well beyond the nostalgia factor.

Graphics

The Game Boy Advance hardware does a respectable job of adapting these arcade classics to a handheld form factor. In Gauntlet, the sprites are slightly reduced in size but retain their defining features—monster designs, hero animations, and dungeon textures remain crisp and colorful. The GBA’s backlit screen highlights the flickering torches, flashing potions, and shimmering exit signs, creating an authentic arcade atmosphere in the palm of your hand.

On the Rampart side, the art style leans heavily into bright, bold colors that contrast nicely against the GBA’s 240×160 resolution. Castle walls, cannon graphics, and terrain tiles are rendered with enough clarity to make strategic planning intuitive. The zoomed-out view gives you a full battlefield perspective, and animations—such as exploding cannons and crumbling fortifications—are smooth and impactful, even if slightly pared down from the original arcade hardware.

Both games feature minimal slowdown under normal play conditions, though extremely crowded screens in Gauntlet can occasionally trigger brief flicker. The user interface remains clear, with on‐screen indicators for keys, health, and scores positioned along the top or bottom edges without obscuring critical gameplay. Overall, the visuals strike an impressive balance between faithfulness to the arcade originals and optimization for the Game Boy Advance screen.

Story

True to their arcade roots, neither Gauntlet nor Rampart hinges on an elaborate narrative. Gauntlet’s premise is simple: choose your hero, delve into ever‐deeper levels of a monster‐infested dungeon, and survive long enough to claim the treasures within. The game’s charm lies in its immediacy—there’s no time wasted on cutscenes or exposition. Your story unfolds through the chaos of combat and the thrill of discovery.

Rampart similarly dispenses with a detailed plot, presenting instead the universal motif of castle defense and siege warfare. Each round sets the stage for you to rebuild and defend your stronghold against increasingly potent cannon barrages. The implicit narrative of “last fortress standing” drives each match, turning simple strategic decisions into a grand struggle for territorial dominance.

For many players, the absence of a deep storyline is a feature rather than a flaw. These titles capture the essence of 1980s and ’90s arcade gaming, where immediacy and repeatable fun were paramount. The sense of progression comes not from cutscenes, but from mastering the mechanics, beating your friends’ high scores, and conquering ever‐tougher challenges. In that respect, the story is written by you, one thrilling session at a time.

Overall Experience

As a compilation on the Game Boy Advance, Gauntlet / Rampart offers excellent bang for your buck. You’re essentially getting two timeless arcade experiences in one portable package. Whether you’re revisiting these titles for nostalgic purposes or discovering them for the first time, the sheer variety—hack-and-slash dungeon crawling versus castle-building strategy—means you’re unlikely to tire of its offerings any time soon.

The controls adapt well to the GBA’s button layout. Gauntlet’s character movement and spellcasting are intuitive once you memorize the button mappings, and Rampart’s cursor‐driven wall placement feels surprisingly precise on a handheld directional pad. The music and sound effects have been faithfully reproduced, heightening the tension during monster swarms or heavy cannon fire and reinforcing the arcade spirit.

Multiplayer functionality elevates the experience if you can assemble a group of friends and a couple of Link Cables. Gauntlet becomes an unpredictable free-for-all, while Rampart challenges players’ wits in head-to-head fortress warfare. Even in solo mode, however, both games offer extensive replayability through leaderboards, increasingly difficult levels, and unlockable content in certain releases. For fans of classic arcade gaming and newcomers alike, this compilation is a compelling handheld package that stands the test of time.

Retro Replay Score

null/10