# 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:** 2
**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, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/21 "2005-06-04T21:29:06Z")
[QUOTE=Tentacle Monster} 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.[/QUOTE] Heh. Those weird Japanese games. 🙂 I hate Ghosts and Goblins. Just hate that game. **Karate Champ** was a huge quarter eater, until you got the joysick movements down. Then it wasn’t as bad. Until the computer decided no matter what, your game is over. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/22 "2005-06-05T01:09:43Z")
This long, and no one’s mentioned DDR? Bah! Especially when it can cost a dollar or more to play! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/23 "2005-06-05T02:22:52Z")
Defender. Easily. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/24 "2005-06-05T02:52:03Z")
**Space Harrier** and **Renegade** were two awesome games that took quiet a few quarters to get to the end. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/25 "2005-06-05T02:58:36Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Robotron 2084. > Gauntlet > Rampage. > Smash TV. > > Mmm. Good days. All of these, and Nearly all the rest (Sinistar and others; Mortal Kombat, Marble Madness, Paperboy, Klax, Total Carnage etc) are on "Midway Arcade Treasures Volume 1 // 2 I think they are for all 3 Current Gen systems (Gcube,Xbox,PS2) I have one volume on the Cube, the other on the box. You can’t beat having access to 44 games for 40 dollars, and just a remote control button press away. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/26 "2005-06-05T03:00:01Z")
Defender and Gauntlet are also in the collection. ---
**Author:** ![marymargaret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@marymargaret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marymargaret)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/27 "2005-06-05T04:22:35Z")
I thought Tron was hard. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/28 "2005-06-05T04:38:34Z")
My old faves: **Sinistar** - I’ve posted this before, but…the first time I tried playing this game, it was because it was the new console in the arcade. I knew nothing about it. A few minutes in, I hear that “I LIVE!!” and that goddamn skull rocketed out of nowhere and killed me and it startled me so bad I nearly crapped my pants. I have that game ported to the GBA now, and that voice _still_ scares the hell out of me. **StarCastle** - Concentric shields on a central cannon; you had to blast through all layers and pop the cannon to blow up the ‘star’. Cool vector graphics - once I got the hang of it, I could play forever on a quarter. **Tron** - Damn tanks would take me out every time. **Disks of Tron** - Loved that game. **Berzerk** - Another one I could play forever. I loved the voices: _Chicken! Fight like a robot! - Stop the humanoid; STOP THE INTRUDER_. I liked it especially when you’d be looking at the teaser screens and the machine would suddenly say, _Coins detected in pocket._ ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/29 "2005-06-05T05:26:21Z")
So many replies and nobody has mentioned either **Pong** or **Pacman**? Bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/30 "2005-06-05T06:36:51Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Gauntlet. _“Warrior needs food…badly!”_ Change that to “Valkyrie needs food badly!” and that’s what my first thought for this thread was. Thanks the gods for emulators that allow me to play these games and feel that I recoup some of the money I dumped into those machines. ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/31 "2005-06-05T17:44:57Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > **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. I’m afraid I can’t remember which of the above the BFG attack was in - but Gauntlet: Legends holds a special place in my quarter-eater history. When you have collected all of the runes and defeated the evil demon lord, the game actually _tells_ you how many credits you used to do so. These don’t convert directly to money, because of the discounts for buying more at a time, but still - a buddy and I beat it one summer, and were then heartily embarassed to learn of the amount of money we’d poured into this box. ---
**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 5, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/32 "2005-06-05T18:49:46Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > All of these, and Nearly all the rest (Sinistar and others; Mortal Kombat, Marble Madness, Paperboy, Klax, Total Carnage etc) are on "Midway Arcade Treasures Volume 1 // 2 Yeah, but Roadblasters control sucks. I also love Namco Museum for my GBA, and Atari Classics. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/33 "2005-06-06T03:43:25Z")
What was the animated one? You know, the one where you had to watch the scene, then click the button or hit the joystick in the proper direction when the red light flashed? Remember how there were really tolerant machines that’d let you tap the button within, say, half a second or so? Well, that wasn’t the kind my arcade had. It seemed that if you didn’t tap it within 0.000001 seconds of the flash, you died. Goddamn game. _Dragon’s Lair_. That’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/34 "2005-06-06T04:12:50Z")
I seem to remember this side-scrolling RPG (XP and everything) from the mid-90’s that may or may not have been Neo-Geo… But what I remember was that it involved some pretty complex looking dungeons (which had tunnels and such that went both vertical and horizontal), and it had a TIME LIMIT of some kind (either directly, or a drain of HP… I think it was the former). Anyone have any idea what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/35 "2005-06-06T04:31:03Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > What was the animated one? You know, the one where you had to watch the scene, then click the button or hit the joystick in the proper direction when the red light flashed? > > Remember how there were really tolerant machines that’d let you tap the button within, say, half a second or so? > > Well, that wasn’t the kind my arcade had. It seemed that if you didn’t tap it within 0.000001 seconds of the flash, you died. > > Goddamn game. > > _Dragon’s Lair_. That’s right. Man that game was a bummer. An innovate, beautiful-looking bummer. But you had to play the game for about 45 seconds before you die, memorize the directions you went in that were the successful ones, and then go back and play. Using what you memorized, you could try to get 45 more seconds of game play before you die again. And so on. And it was a .50 cent game too wasn’t it? Which made it even more of a quarter-eater. You’d be in the arcade, and after about three tries with _Dragon’s Lair_, you’d have to make a serious decision about where you were going to spend the rest of your money. Good thing it came out for home play, to anyone who ever wanted to try and get to the end. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/36 "2005-06-06T04:46:38Z")
And followed by the insanely hard **Space Ace** , which took this approach to another level. Ah, the laser disc games…so freaking weird. There was a **Cliffhanger** machine next to my Karate Champ machine. I would hear that attract mode all day! Anyway, it’s an Anime named The Castle of Cagliostro chopped up into a laser disc game. Just odd. [Here it is.](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=7352) ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/37 "2005-06-06T07:31:53Z")
When I was a kid my dad used to take me to Reno or Vegas, give me as many quarters as I could stuff in my pockets (about $40), and leave me in the arcade room while he played craps. Gauntlet was definitely the number one quarter eater for a while; I usually played the Wizard, because fireballs are the best. Other contenders were the various Star Wars games, Smash TV, the Tron games, Defender, Q-Bert, Sinistar (loved that evil “BEWARE! I LIVE!”), and a weird game called [I, Robot](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=I&game_id=8172). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/38 "2005-06-06T14:27:12Z")
I worked in an arcade in the late 80’s. I had keys to the machines (Yea.) There were counters on the machines so I couldn’t give free game away willy nilly to all my friends (Boo.) Anyways, before I quit I had three friends over and we tried to crack Gauntlet. I left both coin doors open and you would reach down and trip the wire with your finger ten or twenty times every few minutes. We played straight on for about two hours. Remember the little black cloaked Death that would show up once in a while. We eventually came to a level that was nothing but those little Death dudes. Holy shit was that bad. Money out of my own pocket to play the most was (insert name here?) with the marble you had to roll around in and on all sorts of mazes. It had a roller ball for a control, man you hand would HURT after a couple of games of that. Don’t even get me started on my love of pinball. ---
**Author:** ![NoPretentiousCodename](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@NoPretentiousCodename](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoPretentiousCodename)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/39 "2005-06-06T14:34:51Z")
> [@Mr. Goob](#): > > Money out of my own pocket to play the most was (insert name here?) with the marble you had to roll around in and on all sorts of mazes. It had a roller ball for a control, man you hand would HURT after a couple of games of that. Marble Madness? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839/40 "2005-06-06T14:59:31Z")
I second **Smash TV**. You’d get so close to finishing a level that you just had to try it again and again. One day two of my friends in college decided to go finish it in tandem. They spent $27 to finish it that day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-notorious-quarter-eating-arcade-game/306839.md?page=3)