# Obscure arcade game: Gladiator **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807 "2002-12-01T19:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/1 "2002-12-01T19:48:30Z")
Does anybody remember this old arcade game? You were a gladiator that moved your sword and shield and tried to get past various armored opponents. It was a really old side-scroller game, but the fighters were larger than most of the games of that era. I especially enjoyed the fact that pieces of armor would fly off with each successful hit. What happened at the end of this game? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/2 "2002-12-01T20:02:23Z")
YEAH!! I loved that game, way back when! I don’t know what happened at the end of the game, but I do know that you made it into a castle and had to fight a woman or two. To my adolescent mind, seeing the woman in a bikini was as close to porn as a 11 year old could get. _gulp_ I’d play that game for hours… ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/3 "2002-12-01T21:02:35Z")
I loved that game as well. It’s supported in MAME, by the way. Can’t quite remember what happens at the end, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/4 "2002-12-02T05:31:28Z")
Hehe, found some more info about that game, thanks to our friend, Google: [http://www.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/data/4147.html](http://www.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/data/4147.html) Ahh… brings back memories. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/5 "2002-12-03T06:11:36Z")
Way back when I was working at Le Fun (the arcade that’s been on Guadalupe here in Austin, for decades)… I came into work at 3pm one day… when I got there, I saw that there was this guy playing Gladiator- I noticed, 'cause he had quite a crowd around him. I asked my boss what the big deal was, and it turned out the guy had been playing since we opened that morning, at 9 or so. The funny thing was, he wasn’t a regular- none of the employees could remember ever seeing him before. He’d been playing on one quarter. At that point he’d racked up so many extra lives that, when he needed to go to the bathroom, he just went- sure, he’d lose maybe twenty lives, but it didn’t matter. He stayed there all through my shift. We ended up staying open all night for him. The next morning, though… he suddenly looked at his watch, said, “I’ve got a test in ten minutes!”, and bolted out the door. We never saw him again. Weird. But damn that boy could play Gladiator. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/6 "2002-12-03T06:13:29Z")
Um… he went DOWN THE HALL to the bathroom. He didn’t just, you know, go, where he was. _smacks forehead_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/7 "2002-12-03T19:00:01Z")
Hey, I remember going to Le Fun, but it was the one in North Austin… haven’t been there in so long that I wonder if it’s still open. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/8 "2002-12-03T20:18:33Z")
**Lightnin’** , that was probably Michael Dell and that test he never studied for caused him to drop out. You know the rest. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/9 "2002-12-04T22:00:01Z")
I remember that game… i recall at one point you entered a castle and spears and crap shot out at you… never made it to the end. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/10 "2002-12-04T23:45:47Z")
So he was there for nearly 24 hours straight, and still didn’t finish it? Methinks that there is no ending to it, then… ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/11 "2002-12-05T03:19:37Z")
That gamefaqs page links to the [entry](http://www.klov.com/G/Gladiator.html) from the Killer List of Videogames. > [@](#): > > The object of the game is to find the treasure. Before you can get to the treasure, you have to destroy Gauis. After you kill him the first time, he will become a skeleton and you will have to fight him again. To kill him again you will have to strike him in the skull. After you have defeated Gauis the second time, you will find the treasure and then the game will begin again. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/12 "2002-12-05T03:36:44Z")
[http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/games/gladiatr.shtml](http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/games/gladiatr.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/13 "2002-12-06T05:47:04Z")
I just drove past the north Le Fun, so, yeah, it’s still there. The central one’s still there as well… but the one on Burnet’s gone for years, now. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-arcade-game-gladiator/139807/14 "2002-12-06T06:02:27Z")
One thing I’ve always wondered about that game: is it common for the name “Irene” to be pronounced with a long E, like “Eee-rehn,” or was that just a pseudo-ancient-times conceit on the part of the announcer? And notice that of the three fighters previewed in the game’s idle mode, she was the only one the text didn’t insult? 🙂