# Most difficult/easiest arcade video games (80s era) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685 "2002-07-25T02:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/21 "2002-07-25T17:15:06Z")
Oh, and as far as pinball goes - **Black Knight** was pretty cool but I have to go with either **Pinbot** or **F-14 Tomcat**. Classics. Incidentally, there is an arcade at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz and they have a section called “Classic Corner” where they have a lot of these games. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/22 "2002-07-25T17:16:01Z")
Hardest— Sinistar “I hunger!” It took the GNP of China for me to kill that stupid head!!! But i loved that game (and got it on my comp!) Easiest— Dig Dug (for me, the Dig Dug master). If is start playing Dig Dug, i got a good half hour/hour before i need to put in another quarter. Dig Dug is my game, play it every chance i get. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/23 "2002-07-25T17:19:34Z")
**Anamorphic** **Sinistar** was the first game that came to mind when I saw this thread, but I couldn’t think of the name of it! Oh that evil rock head, always taunting me! Laughing at me! **Dragon’s Lair** was always a tough one for me as well. Now **Joust**? I was a master at that one. Same with Moon Patrol, Frogger, & Tempest. **Galaga** was designed for people who sucked at video games to make them think they were actually good at one. **Q-Bert** was hard as hell at first. But after a while, I became the only person I knew that could actually play it. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/24 "2002-07-25T17:22:54Z")
By the way, you can play Sinistar online (with Shockwave) [here](http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/sinistar). Oh, and another pretty easy game (until you got to the really high levels) was **Crystal Castles**. Get the gems, Bentley Bear! Ah, nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/25 "2002-07-25T17:23:15Z")
Uh, to clear it up a bit, I was saying that first sentence _to_ Anamorphic. I don’t know of any game out there called “Anamorphic Sinistar.” yay, I get to use this… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/26 "2002-07-25T17:56:14Z")
I am really amazed that no one has mentioned **Arkanoid**! That was a pain! I loved/hated the little catchy theme as your ship reappeared yet again. Den-den-den, dennennna den! (Okay, so that sucks, I am not good at writing how music sounds.) **Sinistar** scared me once, I was playing and losing (but I didn’t know it) and all of a sudden this big head just flies out of nowhere and kills me…I can still remember his voice. Ah, **Gauntlet** …I was always the wizard… ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/27 "2002-07-25T18:04:26Z")
I am really amazed that no one has mentioned **Arkanoid**! That was a pain! I loved/hated the little catchy theme as your ship reappeared yet again. Den-den-den, dennennna den! (Okay, so that sucks, I am not good at writing how music sounds.) **Sinistar** scared me once, I was playing and losing (but I didn’t know it) and all of a sudden this big head just flies out of nowhere and kills me…I can still remember his voice. Ah, **Gauntlet** …I was always the wizard… ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/28 "2002-07-25T18:10:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MachV \* > **Uh, to clear it up a bit, I was saying that first sentence _to_ Anamorphic. I don’t know of any game out there called "Anamorphic Sinistar."** I dunno, sounds like a pretty cool sequel to me. The alien spacecrafts race around, building a huge, scary, metallic space demon version of ME! Then I chase after you and eat you. “I HUNGER!” Either that, or it’s just the original redone in 2.35 ratio. ---
**Author:** ![knarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@knarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knarf)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/29 "2002-07-25T18:28:47Z")
Omega Race and the original Mario Brothers were probably my best two. I was pretty good on Defender, Missile Command and Joust too. A hard one I kept plunking quarters into was Space Duel - basically Asteroids with two ships connected together. Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace were probably the only ones I deemed “Too hard/annoying to get anymore of my quarters!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/30 "2002-07-25T19:42:29Z")
Though I have always been a fan of video games, I was never any good at arcade games, with a few exceptions (although there were many Atari 2600 games I could play until I got tired of it). The few that I was really good at have all been mentioned already, so they must have been truly easy games. Gyruss - I loved this game, and was pretty good at it. I never got to Earth, but I could play it for some time on one quarter. Star Wars - Around the 7th level or so it starts getting really hard, where the trenches are chock full of both vertical and horizontal catwalks, but until then I can play this game without getting hit. Road Blasters - I loved this game, the local arcade had a sit-down version with a big magnifying piece of plastic in front of the screen so it looked like it was about 3 feet across. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/31 "2002-07-25T19:49:10Z")
I’d say the toughest game was _Robotron: 2084_. Very few people could make it past the 10th stage and the few that could were sweaty, quivering messes. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/32 "2002-07-25T20:29:17Z")
Y’all remember **Bezerk** with the Evil Otto bouncing head? I crushed it on the 2600, but not so in the arcarde. Same with **Missile Command**. I was pretty good at **Galaxian** and then **Galaga**. Good at **Centipede** and **Millipede**. Pretty good at **Star Wars** ans **Arkanoid**. I rocked at **Turbo** , **Frogger** , but my best game was probably either **Gyruss** (got well past Earth) or **Ms. Pac Man** (I never really got into the original **Pac Man**. I was pretty good at a game called **Xevious** , but never could figure oyt **Tempest** or **Defender**. **GORF**! Yes, this was one silly game that I got pretty good at. I also played **Astro Blaster** a lot, but it sucked that if you crashed while docking you lost _all_ your ships and the game was over. Does anyone remember a game called **Space Zap**? You are defending a centrally located base while asteroids and spaceships hurl at you from all 4 directions. You have one turret you must move from N-S-E-W and fire as fast as you can. My younger sister and I would team up for this one. One of us would just firefirefirefire! as fast as possible, leaving the other to do the aiming. I also loved a game called **Mousetrap** but never got really good at it. Couldn’t open the maze doors fast enough. I was the pinball master, though. Even before the fully electronic and digital ones came out. I really liked **Black Knight** , **Pinbot** , and **High Speed**? (“All right Buddy, PULL OVER”). Remember getting trapped in the basement of **Haunted House**? BTW, great thread! I’m seeing games I never would have remembered! (“Tutankham.” Yikes!). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/33 "2002-07-25T21:09:22Z")
A lot of folks are saying they were good at Centipede, but did anyone else ever get to the non-existant Level 13? At that point, the game tried to divide a 12-segment centipede into 13 heads, and crashed. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/34 "2002-07-25T22:07:24Z")
Was that like the Pac-Man level 256/0 bug, where when you beat level 255, the next level was half maze, half screen garbage? It was supposed to be level zero or 256 (can’t remember) but the memory conked. The levels then started over at 1. Was due to memory problems of older comps and factors of 2 and there not being a zero. (2^8 = 256) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/35 "2002-07-25T22:35:29Z")
What? No mention of **Dig Dug**? Me, I was pretty good at: Dig Dug Q\*Bert Frogger Missile Command Centipede Galaga (of course) Joust And I was pathetic at: Asteroids (couldn’t handle the zero G, man) Pac Man (I had some kind of mental block with this one.) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/36 "2002-07-25T23:38:08Z")
I was good at **Punch-Out!** and **Super Punch-Out!**. One quarter would last me a good long while on those games. I was never very good at the various incarnations of **Pac-Man**. Thankfully, as I was getting out of the habit of going to the arcade, the real “quarter-eaters” showed up, the ones that were simultaneous-play and that anyone could beat if they pumped enough coinage in. I think it started with **Double Dragon** , but then grew to things like **Altered Beast** , **Golden Axe** , and othersuch. “Meh” on those games. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/37 "2002-07-26T00:01:42Z")
For me, easy one’s included **Ms. Pac Man, Battlezone, Galaga, Centipede, Joust, Tempest, Tetris, and Robotron**. A lesser-known favorite of mine was **Qix** which was like a lethal version of an Etcha-Sketch board. As for the hard ones, I was pathetic at **Asteroids** and **Defendder**. The controlling buttons were too many and too far apart for my unagile fingers. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/38 "2002-07-26T00:02:18Z")
For me, easy one’s included **Ms. Pac Man, Battlezone, Galaga, Centipede, Joust, Tempest, Tetris, and Robotron**. A lesser-known favorite of mine was **Qix** which was like a lethal version of an Etcha-Sketch board. As for the hard ones, I was pathetic at **Asteroids** and **Defender**. The controlling buttons were too many and too far apart for my unagile fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/39 "2002-07-26T00:07:45Z")
All it took for me to beat **Street Fighter** was a $10 roll of quarters. Although that was rare since I typically didn’t have money to play video games but I was pretty good at **Heavy Barrel**. I absolutely loved it when you got all the pieces and it announced you had ‘heavy barrel’ and you could now safely blow everything on the screen to kingdom come. On all other fighting games I sucked. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685/40 "2002-07-26T00:08:25Z")
I’m also not so great at avoiding double-posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-difficult-easiest-arcade-video-games-80s-era/120685.md?page=3)