# Best classic video game?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [April 22, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366 "2011-04-22T15:53:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/1 "2011-04-22T15:53:19Z")
I’m talking old school here – late 70s-mid 80s arcade game. What was your favorite?
For me it has to be Lunar Lander. Galaga comes in a close 2nd.
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### Author:  [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/2 "2011-04-22T16:37:02Z")
I was always partial to Gyruss, but I think that was because of the Bach. 1942 was a close 2nd.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/3 "2011-04-22T16:47:32Z")
I probably got the most fun out of Gauntlet.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/4 "2011-04-22T16:49:26Z")
My brother and I adored Gauntlet, but we also liked [**Rolling Thunder**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v559cYVKp34).
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/5 "2011-04-22T16:54:29Z")
I’m gonna have to go with Defender/Stargate and Missile Command.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/6 "2011-04-22T17:23:45Z")
Yeah, Defender and Missile Command were two of my favorites. Asteroids was also great.
ETA: I was pretty good at Missile Command, but i was always quite useless at Defender, even though i loved playing it.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/7 "2011-04-22T17:27:08Z")
I could never really play Missile Command, as I sucked at it.
I never got the appeal of Pac Man.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/8 "2011-04-22T17:28:40Z")
Ms. Pac Man. I still find that one of the visually most beautiful games.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/9 "2011-04-22T17:31:09Z")
Oh, just remembered another one. Joust. Another beautiful and simple game.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/10 "2011-04-22T17:44:28Z")
Moon Patrol was always a favorite, but my quarters would always go into Donkey Kong, Jr. if it was available.
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### Author:  [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/11 "2011-04-22T17:44:35Z")
[Zaxxon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaxxon) was a favorite of mine. It was one of the first games to simulate a 3-dimensional space.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/12 "2011-04-22T17:54:07Z")
I didn’t really play the arcade games as a kid; never had much change to spare. But one day my friend and I walked into an arcade and found that someone had left 90+ credits on the Elevator Action game, so that, by default, is my favorite. (Plus, shooting out a light and dropping it on an agent’s head is too awesome.)
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/13 "2011-04-22T17:55:58Z")
Tetris
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/14 "2011-04-22T17:58:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Ms. Pac Man. I still find that one of the visually most beautiful games.
What was the difference between Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man? To me they looked like pretty much the same game.
Many years ago I was in a bar that had two Pac Man games. On was being used, so I started playing the other. It turns out that I was playing Ms., and a woman was absolutely livid over it! How dare I play “their” game?
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/15 "2011-04-22T18:00:36Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Many years ago I was in a bar that had two Pac Man games. On was being used, so I started playing the other. It turns out that I was playing Ms., and a woman was absolutely livid over it! How dare I play “their” game?
That’s back when it took dimes.
Gauntlet was my quarter suck. I loved watching others playing Dragon’s Lair, I just hated the twitch response that I lacked.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/16 "2011-04-22T18:07:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What was the difference between Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man? To me they looked like pretty much the same game.
The pink bow.
I think Ms. Pac Man also added a little more variety with the fruit bonus, or something trivial like that, but nothing major.
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### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/17 "2011-04-22T18:13:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The pink bow.
That’s it? Get right out of town!
Of all classic video games, the one I’ve spent far and away the most time playing on emulators in the past 10 years is **Elevator Action**.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/18 "2011-04-22T18:23:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The pink bow.
>
> I think Ms. Pac Man also added a little more variety with the fruit bonus, or something trivial like that, but nothing major.
Ms. Pac Man had more than one maze!
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### Author:  [@Lubricious\_Integument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lubricious_Integument)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/19 "2011-04-22T18:25:21Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> What was the difference between Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man? To me they looked like pretty much the same game.
The difference was in the behavior of the ghosts. In Pac Man you can follow patterns to get through the levels. My friends and I found some patterns in a magazine in the early 80s and went through way too many quarters trying to master them. Even so, I never could get to the key levels.
On the other hand I think the ghosts have pseudo-random behavior in Ms Pac Man so you have to rely on strategy instead of memorization.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-classic-video-game/579366/20 "2011-04-22T18:25:31Z")
I liked [Tempest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_%28arcade_game%29) a lot. The wheel had a nice heft to it, and would continue to spin for a bit if you spun it and let go. It was also the part that would get glitchy, though. I’ve tried Tempest ports, but without the wheel, it’s not the same.
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