Classic arcade games that were HARD...

[stargate]

There were quite a few, but what games really grinded your gears and munched your quarters? The worst, IMO, were the games that were so much fun to play that they kept you coming back only to eat your quarters and send you running back to mommy.

One such game for me was 10-Yard Fight. I loved the gameplay (still do). It has an addicting quality to it. Fairly simple controls, but difficult to master and a lot of finesse required.

BUT, the game was flippin hard. I only made it past the high school level once. Never saw anyone make it to the pros, let alone the super bowl. The defenders all run faster than you, the game ends when you run out of time (which happens quickly) EVEN if you are on the 2nd down. The game seems to get pissed at you if you do good and will send 6 defenders to jump on you. I mean, the defensive coverage in this game is ridiculous! Interceptions are rampant and send you back 20 yards which is near impossible to recover from considering the time factor. I could go on and on. Yet, I still play it on MAME hoping to get to the pros someday.

[Baloo]

TRON is a big one for me. Love the game, but I can barely get past level 3! I can't imagine people who manage to get up to 12, especially on tanks!

Defender is another one, love the game but it's just extremely difficult. Enemies are erratic as anything, tons of bullets coming at you, a limited amount of bombs, and your guys quickly getting abducted.

[Flack]

I just played 10-Yard Fight last night. I can get to the first half of college every time, but I rarely make it past the first half of that. If you don't have an amazing kick return (before the timer begins counting down), forget it.

[XYXZYZ]

I didn't really start gaming until the NES era, and to me all of the early 80s classics are pretty damn hard.

I can't play Pac-Man to save my life, I don't see how people memorize those patterns. I can rarely finish the first loop on Donkey Kong and though I'm not too bad at modern shmups from Psikyo and the like, Galaga does me in shortly after the first bonus round. Robotron 2084 is hard as hell and my game usually ends at stage 4 or 5 if I'm lucky.

They're great games, but I guess I just don't have the patience to learn them.


Oh, and another game that comes to mind is Raiden. I love that game, but goddamn it's hard.

[InsaneDavid]

Quantum. I'm sure considering its rarity that not a ton here have played it but it gets balls crazy after a few stages. Tailgunner is another one that just gets over the top and I'm pretty good at Tailgunner.

[Smashed Brother]

Renegade: A game that's moderately fun, but wtf is with the difficulty? The controls aren't that quick on the draw and the enemies have a hitbox that registers something like "if I didn't see it, then it doesn't count". Oh, and you have only 2 minutes in each stage to beat the regular enemies and the cheap-ass boss. Did I mention that you only have one life and no opportunity to continue? There are only 4 stages to this game and I've managed to make it to the 3rd one just by spamming the jumpkick over and over.

The Combatribes: This game has some of the best beat-em-up mechanics ever, but have no fear... it will relieve you of your quarters....fast! There are only 6 levels to the game, but the cheapening goes into full effect on level 3. You will take plenty of unavoidable hits and the later bosses all of a sudden gain a Renegade-like hitbox while easily pummeling you and rapidly draining your health. I've beaten this on MAME and the watered-down SNES version, but I could never beat this in the arcade; I think it would literally take $20 in quarters to see the end.

[Clownzilla]

I'm convinced that Robotron 2084 isn't made for human consumption. I think level 3 is the farthest I can get and my game is over in a little over a minute. I know that there are people who are good at the game but are they really people........or robots dressed like people?

[Collector_Gaming]

I'm convinced that Robotron 2084 isn't made for human consumption. I think level 3 is the farthest I can get and my game is over in a little over a minute. I know that there are people who are good at the game but are they really people........or robots dressed like people?

"come with me if you want to beat the game"

for me since i am not amazingly great at classic arcade titles then take you pick lol

[stargate]

I'm convinced that Robotron 2084 isn't made for human consumption. I think level 3 is the farthest I can get and my game is over in a little over a minute. I know that there are people who are good at the game but are they really people........or robots dressed like people?

A few years back I started playing this on MAME every night with a dual analog joystick (similar to the real arcade controls). After hours of gaming every night, I think I made it to level 7. It was basically a frantic blur. You start with like 100 enemies on the screen and literally cannot move a millimeter without being hit by something. I have no idea how many levels the game has, but it is sheer insanity.

[Edmond Dantes]

"Classic arcade games that were HARD"

You mean all of them?

Right now, I can't get past the first level of Legend of Hero Tonma. I'm going to be heartbroken if it turns out that's a legendarily easy game and I just suck that badly.

[InsaneDavid]

Jack the Giantkiller is also damn hard, even once you get the hang of the different stages.

[Compute]

I struggle with most games. Pac Man always kicks my ass. If I didn't own P-47 Phantom Fighter I would probably not pay money to play it. It's a decent shmup, but it's tough. The first time I saw Strikers 1945 on location I must have dropped about $20 trying to be halfway good at it.

[cyberfluxor]

Tough classic arcade? Tempest. It's fun until you die over and over.

A few years back I started playing this on MAME every night with a dual analog joystick (similar to the real arcade controls). After hours of gaming every night, I think I made it to level 7. It was basically a frantic blur. You start with like 100 enemies on the screen and literally cannot move a millimeter without being hit by something. I have no idea how many levels the game has, but it is sheer insanity.

Robotron: 2084 is my favorite arcade game and I was dedicated to finding it as my first machine. There's not much to the game other than running around trying to dodge and land hits on the enemies. There are plenty of strategies from staying tight in the middle to wandering around the edges or weaving throughout the screen. I would suggest reading the Wikipedia article on the game and over on Strategy Wiki look over the wave information. The patterns of the robots are not that random so you can plan your rescuing of the family upon entering a wave as it offers you a second before the robots appear. If you want to find out more about the creator, Eugene Jarvis, he's a real interesting programmer that I believe has had an epic career as he worked on Defender + Stargate and the Cruis'n series as well. Also check out Smash TV as that was what he wanted to aim for with Robotron: 2084 but technology limitations cut it back.

Eurogamer

[JGD CHAOS]

SVC Chaos. I beat it with one quarter.

[Tempest]

TRON is a big one for me. Love the game, but I can barely get past level 3! I can't imagine people who manage to get up to 12, especially on tanks!.

The secret to the tank levels is to hide inside the center teleporter. If you go 'almost' inside but not all the way the tanks won't shoot at you (they'll still ram you though). They can only shoot at you if your tank is touching the white line that goes down the center of each row, so you can hide in crossing rows, but without the emergency teleport it's a bit harder to run if something goes wrong.

Bagman is insanely hard to me. That and Cliffhanger.

Tempest

[Collector_Gaming]

the one thing i can think about when i re-read this thread is this

those damn game developers sure were smart making a game addicting but making up spend more and more and more and more money. Therefore making arcade owners able to pay for its electric/maintenance bill x10!

[Rendclaw]

The problem is that there are not nearly as many arcades as there use to be, and not many who frequent those that do exist.

I admit I was one of those kids who used to hang out at every arcade I could get to, and used to watch people who were good at the games I was interested in and get tips from them. I played against them constantly, because that's the only way to get better is to play someone who is better than you. I bought books that gave strategies on those games. Its different nowadays, radically so.

Playing Mame is one of the only ways you can get better at an arcade game these days without spending a lot of money, and there are tips on those games if your Google-fu is decent. If you want to get better at an arcade game, it does require a bit of dedication.

[Sunnyvale]

Street Fighter II. Before the internet, we had to just spend money learning specials. Used to hit the arcade before school... till others started doing the same. Damn, that game... I coulda afforded Harvard

[WoodyXP]

Haunted Castle was hard as hell.

[slapdash]

I'll second Defender (don't forget the fact that one of the controls is a lever, not a joystick, which requires a "Reverse" button to change directions) and add Stargate, its sequel, which added yet ANOTHER button to the mix. Oy vey.