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Everything you need to know about American Gladiators
American Gladiators is a US television show that aired in syndication from 1989 to 1996. It pits two men and also two women against each other in various events culminating in a final obstacle course called the Eliminator. All events involved Gladiators, who are recurring athletes who have their own roles in the events to prevent contestants from scoring. The show ultimately featured many different events that came and went throughout the show, with each episode consisting of different combinations of events. Later, there was a reboot of American Gladiators that ran for two seasons, both in 2008.
American Gladiators on the NES was released in October 1991 only in the US. It was published by Gametek and developed by Incredible Technologies. This game looks like the show, but doesn't follow its format. There is a different American Gladiators game that is much more faithful to the show. That version was developed by Imagitec Design Inc and also published by Gametek on Sega Genesis, DOS and Amiga in 1992. The SNES port was released in 1993.
Al igual que en el programa de televisión, en el juego de NES tienes que competir en cinco eventos diferentes que son versiones modificadas de juegos específicos que aparecieron en el programa. Tienes que borrar los cinco eventos dentro de tantas «vidas». Los eventos son Joust, The Wall, Human Cannonball, Powerball y Assault. Una vez que superas los cinco eventos, el juego avanza al siguiente nivel, donde obtienes un conjunto más desafiante de estos mismos cinco eventos. En total, debes superar cuatro niveles de dificultad diferentes de cinco eventos cada uno antes de pasar al evento final, el Eliminator. Si puedes borrar el Eliminator, entonces ganas el juego.
American Gladiators Gameplay
There are 5 events with 4 difficulties. You start on the lowest difficulty and if you can complete all the events without losing your 5 lives, you move on to the next difficulty. The game is similar to California Games o Skate or Die, where the events are:
Joust (Joust)
A competitor and a gladiator attempt to knock each other off a raised platform with pugel sticks. In the NES version of Joust, you face four gladiators one at a time instead of just the single battle shown in the show. During a confrontation, you can move around the platform a bit by tapping Left or Right on the D-Pad. Press A to push your pugel stick at the gladiator. You can press B to push as well, but this will also take you one step towards the gladiator. Simply pressing A or B does a medium push, and you can also do a high push by holding Up or a low push by holding Down when hitting.
You can also block by holding Left and pressing A or B. You trade blows with the gladiator until you knock him off the platform. The event then briefly changes to a platformer, as you must advance by jumping from platform to platform to face the next gladiator. After winning the third fight, a super pugel stick will come into play. If you grab it, your staff will light up, then if you can land a first hit on the gladiator, you will knock him down instantly. If you get hit first, you lose the super pugel stick, so make it count! If you are knocked down or fall at any time, you lose a life.
The Wall
Two contestants run up a climbing wall. After a few seconds, the Gladiators will chase the contestants trying to knock them off the wall, preventing them from reaching the top and scoring points. In the NES event, your goal is also to climb to the top of the wall, but this time there are several gladiators that appear in various places along the wall that you must avoid. The controls for this event are complicated and unlike any other I have played. The idea is that the B button moves your left hand and the A button moves your right hand.
Combine this button press with a direction to move that hand in all eight directions. There are handholds covering most of the wall and as long as you have at least one hand on one, you will stay on the wall. The consequence of this control scheme is that you need to tap buttons quickly to move fast. For example, to move directly up, you must quickly alternate between pressing A and B while holding Up. It takes practice to master it. You can find a glove on the wall that allows you to move very quickly with just the D-Pad instead of having to tap A and B, but it only lasts a few seconds.
Each of the four levels is a completely different design on the wall, and you must master the control scheme to clear the last wall. If you lose control of both hands or come into contact with one of the gladiators, you fall and lose a life. Also, you have to start from the bottom of The Wall. It takes practice to master it. You can find a glove on the wall that allows you to move very quickly with just the D-Pad instead of having to tap A and B, but it only lasts a few seconds. Each of the four levels is a completely different layout on the wall, and you must master the control scheme to clear the last wall.
If you lose control of both hands or come into contact with one of the gladiators, you fall and lose a life. Also, you have to start from the bottom of The Wall. It takes practice to master it. You can find a glove on the wall that allows you to move very quickly with just the D-Pad instead of having to tap A and B, but it only lasts a few seconds. Each of the four levels is a completely different layout on the wall, and you must master the control scheme to clear the last wall. If you lose control of both hands or come into contact with one of the gladiators, you fall and lose a life. Also, you have to start from the bottom of The Wall.
If you lose control of both hands or come into contact with one of the gladiators, you fall and lose a life. Also, you have to start from the bottom of The Wall. If you lose control of both hands or come into contact with one of the gladiators, you fall and lose a life. Also, you have to start from the bottom of The Wall.
Human Cannonball
The Human Cannonball event begins with a gladiator standing on a small raised platform holding a foam pad for protection. Contestants swing on a rope from their own platform and try to knock down the gladiator to score points. The NES event requires you to jump from your platform, grab the swinging rope, and then release it at the right time to take down the gladiator. Like Joust, there are a series of four gladiators that you take down to finish the event.
Both the starting platform and the gladiator platform move up and down, making timing difficult. At first, you can walk a little left or right on the platform and then press A to jump to the rope. If you grab it, it automatically swings back and forth and you must press A again to let go and launch yourself. In some levels, during the third gladiator, a glove will come into play and if you grab it you can move up and down the rope. Normally, where you first grab the rope is where you stay until you jump.
The gauntlet is useful in the gladiator room because there may be a trophy at the top of the rope that gives you an extra life. In this event, it is very easy to lose lives. You can fall off the platform, miss the jump rope, miss the gladiator in the throw, or hit the gladiator when he is blocking.
powerball
In Powerball, there are containers filled with balls at both ends of the playing field and there are five empty pods guarded by three gladiators. Both contestants play simultaneously by taking a ball and putting it into the pods, if they can get past the gladiators to do so. Players must cross to the opposite end before grabbing a new ball, and the goal is to score as many points as possible within a time limit. The NES version of Powerball is mostly faithful to the original event.
You grab a ball at either end of the playing field with A or B. You then have to run around the gladiators and place the ball in the capsule by standing next to it and pressing the button. Just like in the show, you must cross to the opposite side to grab a new ball. The difference in the NES game is that you can only put one ball in each capsule. If you score on all five pods, you are given an extra life and also free up all the pods so you can continue scoring again. If you get a gladiator, he always knocks the ball out of your hand and you have to go find a new one. This is the only event where you do not lose a life. Simply score as much as you can before time runs out!
Assault
The Assault features a gladiator wielding a tennis ball cannon, and there's a target on the wall behind him. Contestants run around the playing field dodging the flying tennis balls and reaching safe spots. Every safe location has a weapon that is used to hit the target. The contestant wins if he hits the target or reaches the end of the course before time runs out, and loses if the gladiator hits him with a tennis ball. The NES version of the game plays a little differently.
The gladiator moves back and forth at the top of the screen with the cannon no matter where you are on the course. You move up the playing field and look for weapons near a safe place. Neither you nor the gladiator can shoot through the field barriers. Grab a weapon by standing on the weapon icon and pressing B, then press A to launch an upward shot. Each icon gives you three shots. The gladiator will fall if you shoot him enough times, and you will lose a life if he hits you three times. Alternatively, clear the event if you reach the top of the course before time runs out. This is the only event you can miss if the timer expires.
Eliminator
Once you clear all 20 events, you start the Eliminator. This is essentially a long, slow-moving platforming level. You start by jumping between balance beams with the A button and moving to the right. During the event, medicine balls will randomly pop out from the bottom of the screen. If you get hit, you fall, but you can save yourself by pressing Down to duck in time to protect yourself from the hit. Be careful when jumping as you cannot block the hits. Eventually you get to the handcycle. Press Left or Right to move along the rail and avoid the balls. Past the handcycle are conveyor belts, and then there is another section of handcycles. Finally, the balls go away and you take a series of zip lines to the end of the course. You must time your jump from each zip line to take the next one.
Finally, here's a miscellany on American Gladiators. In all events, there is a scoring system. You usually earn points by besting a gladiator or redeeming every second remaining on the timer at the end of the event. Once you beat a level of five events, you get 100 points and an extra life for the next level. You can also continue by completing Level 1 or 2. When you lose all your lives, you get a password, as long as you have already passed Level 1. The password is eight characters long and the only characters are A and B. You enter the password by pressing the corresponding button, which is very convenient. There are only three passwords, one for each level two through four. Lastly, the game features a two-player mode, but it alternates play, so it's not as useful.
Graphics
The visuals here really aren't that bad, although the character details don't seem to match the stage designs. While there's not much here to grab your attention in the first place, the Gladiator portraits at the beginning of each event actually match the actual Gladiators from the TV shows. The events and set designs are faithful to the television show, but appear extremely large and overwhelming when compared to reality. The views in some of the events can be a little distracting and you may find that collision detection is slightly disabled when you try to hit your opponent. Although this is not bad, it is not the best I have ever seen, leaving it in the average zone.
Music and Sound
I know it's unusual to start a review by analyzing the sound, but let me tell you: it's fantastic. In fact, it's some of the best music I've heard on the NES. When I first bought this game, the sound made me want to keep playing. Pressing 'Start' on the first screen will give you a rocking guitar riff, which makes me smile every time. I'm not sure if the game's music was based on the show, but it doesn't matter; It sounds exactly as it should: like a gladiator tournament. GameTek (clever name… no!) used every sound effect at their disposal to create a phenomenal soundtrack.
Drums, guitars and bass instead of bleeps, bloops and zaps. Different tracks are also created for each event, so there is virtually no monotony. My absolute favorite is the final event. I would play it on my iTunes any day of the week. What's truly unique about music is that it changes as you go! For example, in the Wall event, as it progresses towards the end, the music becomes more suspenseful and faster. I don't think I've ever seen another game do this; not even modern games.
I really can't say enough about the music, but the sound effects are good too. The gladiators' grunts and moans are captured well and sound as they should. My favorite sound effect is in the Joust event when you defeat your opponent. They teeter over the edge, then give a bloodcurdling scream as they fall 50 feet downward. It's quite satisfying and fun.
Final reflection
American Gladiators is a very basic and average game that tries to capture all the glory and excitement of the old TV show. While the game is a bit more interesting than the show itself, there isn't enough depth here and no real goal other than to get as many points as possible. Once you've figured out the formula for all the stages, you should be able to breeze through with as many points as possible, which is the point of the game I guess.
When it comes to direct competitive games, this one is perfect since the point is simply to get as many points as possible before your friends. However, there's not much more here if you're a solo player than playing a game and trying to be better than the superhuman Gladiators some people wish they were.
Game technical sheet
Genders)
Sports
game modes
2 Players
Cooperative
Nope
Format(s)
Cartridge
