# Most notorious quarter-eating arcade game **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839 "2005-06-04T04:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/1 "2005-06-04T04:36:14Z")
What is the _hardest_ arcade game you’ve played? Neo Geo was kind of notorious for making quater eating games; I remember the game Crossed Swords. This was a pretty fun game, but I never knew how many levels the game actually had until I played it on an emulator and saw the whole thing. Holy crap was that a ton of levels! The game took me _two hours_ to beat, and I have no idea how much it would have cost if I was playing it on a coin-op machine! Any other games that are either impossibly hard, or rediciously long for an arcade game? ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/2 "2005-06-04T04:44:34Z")
I’m blanking on the name right now, but maybe some Doper can chime in. It was a D&D-type FRPG with four different characters: a knight, a ninja, a trident-wielding guy (bard?), and a female sorceress. As you battled monsters, a magic bar slowly charged up. When it maxed out, you could hit the Spell button and cast whatever spell (out of about 10) that was highlighted. Your character would call out some word of power (for the knight: “Excalibur!”) before turning into a tornado, or a giant rolling ball, or summoning lighting, depending on the spell. Was it “Gate of Doom”? If not, something similiar. In any case, my wife and were definitely hooked, but it was always a tough game for us (especially the bosses, which often moved very rapidly and had multiple simultaneous attacks). A quarter never lasted long for us on this one. One day, we decided to buy our through to the end. We got 5 in quarters and hunkered down. With continues, we were able to make it to the final boss (Gorgion?) and defeat it. We had .25 left when we were done. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/3 "2005-06-04T05:53:51Z")
> [@Manatee](#): > > It was a D&D-type FRPG with four different characters: a knight, a ninja, a trident-wielding guy (bard?), and a female sorceress. As you battled monsters, a magic bar slowly charged up. When it maxed out, you could hit the Spell button and cast whatever spell (out of about 10) that was highlighted. Your character would call out some word of power (for the knight: “Excalibur!”) before turning into a tornado, or a giant rolling ball, or summoning lighting, depending on the spell. > > One day, we decided to buy our through to the end. We got 5 in quarters and hunkered down. With continues, we were able to make it to the final boss (Gorgion?) and defeat it. We had .25 left when we were done. Gauntlet. _“Warrior needs food…badly!”_ Sinistar was my own personal quarter-eater. Insanely hard, scary as fuck, addictive as hell. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/4 "2005-06-04T05:56:25Z")
I’m not sure that was Guantlet. That’s not how the magic worked. Sinistar, definitely. One the video with the Williams Arcade games for PS1, the designer stated that the original version wasn’t as hard, but Williams made them pump it up to get more quarters. Nasty nasty game. I’ll through Defender and Stargate in. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/5 "2005-06-04T05:58:50Z")
Gah. _Throw._ Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/6 "2005-06-04T06:00:14Z")
I’m definitely not describing Gauntlet in my above post. These characters (and the monsters) were much larger, and the view was from the side, slightly up, as opposed to Gauntlet’s top-down perspective. And besides, in Gauntlet could you turn into a giant ball and roll over your foes? BTW, I’d agree with Defender as well, as I found the learning curve to be quite steep. By an uncoordinated geek, that game had just a few too many buttons for me. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/7 "2005-06-04T06:07:57Z")
It was Golden Axe. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/8 "2005-06-04T06:20:02Z")
I don’t think it was Golden Axe. I’m pretty sure Golden Axe had only one magic per character, only had three characters, and the last boss was Death-Adder. Now, _Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom_ had four characters. But the last boss was Deimos. That’s my best educated guess. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/9 "2005-06-04T06:25:51Z")
Oh, for reference, here’s [KLOV’s listing on Tower of Doom.](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=D&game_id=7668) As for my personal quarter-eater? I don’t think I really have one. I never really went into an arcade with more than a dollar or so in quarters. And these days, it’s rare that I’ll sink more than a couple of credits’ worth into a machine. However, I have beaten all of the following on one credit: _Capcom vs. SNK_ (twice) _Darkstalkers 3 Soul Calibur II_ ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/10 "2005-06-04T07:51:19Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > I don’t think it was Golden Axe. I’m pretty sure Golden Axe had only one magic per character, only had three characters, and the last boss was Death-Adder. > > Now, _Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom_ had four characters. But the last boss was Deimos. That’s my best educated guess. The game I’m thinking of, IIRC, came out before Tower of Doom. It wasn’t a licensed D&D product, but it copied much of the style. Other details to jar Dopers’ memories: the spells cycled through icons of about 10 different types; when you hit the Magic button, the currently featured spell was activated. One of the spells was a dud: it turned you into a pig–so if you weren’t paying attention when you hit the button, you could inadvertently turn yourself into a pig (forcing you to run around and avoid enemies for the duration of the spell). One of the bosses was a two-headed dog (on a Hell-like level). All four of the characters’ weapons were slightly ranged. The knight swung a flail, the head of which would swing out a ways and then retract; one guy had a trident that he would swing rather than poke with; the sorceress had a staff; I don’t remember the ninja’s clearly–shuriken? Any way, this was a quarter-eater for us because most levels hit you with a number of enemies, usually coming from multiple directions. You’d find yourself surrounded in pretty short order. Also, the enemies had access to magic and ranged attacks as well. The bosses in particular were tough because they only had limited vulnerability and moved so fast that they were hard to hit in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/11 "2005-06-04T07:56:29Z")
**Tentacle** : thanks for the link above! What a great source of info (and memories). I just confirmed that the game I’m thinking of is in fact “Gate of Doom,” which came out in '90. (Yay, my memory’s not as rusty as I’d thought…). So there you have it: “Gate of Doom” is my most notorious quarter-eater. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/12 "2005-06-04T08:34:57Z")
[Rampage](http://www.shockwave.com/bin/content/shockwave.jsp?id=rampage). During a period in the eighties, I personally kept Midway in business. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/13 "2005-06-04T09:31:23Z")
Waterworld. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/14 "2005-06-04T09:34:50Z")
If you took a person of reasonable dexterity but no prior knowledge of fighting games, and locked them in a room with a **Super Street Fighter II Turbo** cabinet, and said "we’re not letting you out until you have figured out how to consistently beat this machine on one quarter, I think it would take years. But it IS possible. (The thing is, they made the single player game hard enough to challenge people who learned how to play by playing against other humans, knew all the special moves, etc. So by any reasonable standard, it’s NUTS how hard it is.) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/15 "2005-06-04T12:34:13Z")
Robotron 2084. Gauntlet Rampage. Smash TV. Mmm. Good days. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/16 "2005-06-04T15:01:13Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Waterworld. 😉 Especially since by that point, Donkey Kong was no longer a draw. Though he’s still got it. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/17 "2005-06-04T16:46:06Z")
I’ve never had to actually spend money on it, but by any reasonable standard, Venture is the hardest game of all time. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/18 "2005-06-04T19:33:52Z")
Augh, Gauntlet. There was a “modernized” version of that game that ate at least $20 worth of quarters. (But it was sort of amusing. One of the special powers was called “BFG”.) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/19 "2005-06-04T19:58:59Z")
I never got past the 3rd or 4th level in **Ghosts & Goblins**. Great theme music. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/20 "2005-06-04T21:02:36Z")
**dotchan** : That was either _Gauntlet Legends_ or _Gauntlet: Dark Legacy_. And the Archer had the BFG attack. And if arcade games that I never physically dropped a coin into count… well, I don’t even want to think about how many virtual coins I’ve dropped into the _Gals Panic_ series. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839.md?page=2)