Video & Sega Games Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ghosts 'n' Goblins

You, as the player are the great knight Sir Arthur, off to rescue the Princess who has been kidnapped by the King of the Demon World. This antagonist is known by various names, the main one being Astaroth, but has also been know as the Devil or Great Satan. Arthur starts his quest by entering a cemetery and is forced to fight his way through a series of zombies and ogres, as well as a dragon and a cyclops and other assorted monsters. Along the way he has the opportunity to collect additional weapons and armour.

Released by Capcom for arcades in 1985, the game was declared one of the hardest games to conquer. This was, in part, that you (Sir Arthur) only needed to be struck on two occasions to lose a life. Losing a life meant that you re-started the level you were on unless you'd reached the halfway mark. Then you'd only got relegated back to the mid-point. And, if you think that's tough, there's a time limit to finishing the level and if you fail... back to the start of the level. Finally, you knock off the final boss and you scream "Yes! I made it"... only to find that you haven't. Here, the game takes you back to the start and you must replay it but, this time, with a higher degree of difficulty.

Time has been kind to "Ghosts 'n' Goblins" as many critics now rate it one of the best video games of all time.

Answer: Alex Kidd in Miracle World

Launched in 1986, this is a platform game for the Master System. Praised on release, Alex Kidd was meant to be Sega's answer to Nintendo's chief protagonist, "Mario".

Radaxian's King Thunder has been defeated by Janken the Great and, in the process, has seen his son, Prince Egle, and his fiancée, Princess Lora kidnapped (pun is not intended). Alex discovers that King Thunder is his long lost father and sets out in pursuit of Janken, to rescue his brother and save the kingdom.

Alex needs to work his way through seventeen stages, defeating monsters and three henchmen along the way. Whilst he can dispense with monsters by punching them, he must defeat the henchmen in games of "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Along the way he needs to punch out rocks to find new paths and collect cash to buy items at stores which appear at the start of each stage. Unfortunately, Alex gets only one life.

A remake of the game, developed by Merge Games and Jankenteam for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC, was released in 2021.

Answer: Rush'n Attack

This is a run-and-gun style arcade game released by Konami in 1985. It was later redeveloped for the Nintendo Entertainment System and MS-DOS PCs. The name is a play on the words "Russian attack", however, whilst the Cold War was still a sensitive issue at the time, in some countries the game was released under the name "Green Beret".

The aim of the game is to infiltrate a prison camp and free four prisoners of war. To get to them you are required to make your way through four staging areas, each of them ending with different forms of attack. These are, first up, the marshalling area where the final assault is conducted by a convoy of kick jumping soldiers. In the next, the harbour, it is dogs that attack you at the end, mean German shepherds at that. Succeed here and you move to the air base where the autogyros are waiting for you and, finally, you make it to the Siberian prison camp where you must confront a flamethrowing operator.

By taking out certain members of the Russian military you are rewarded with either flamethrowers, RPGs or hand grenades. Extra lives are available at certain point levels. Once you get to prisoners though, you have to do it all again but with a higher difficulty rating and, this time, there is a time limit that any failure to meet will result in a loss of life.

Answer: Sega Ninja

You are placed in the province of Ohkami around about 1630. Your mission is to simply defeat the evil Gyokuro... that's it, no stash of treasure, no princess to rescue... simply beat the evil dude. (Note: in revised editions, this would change - see below). Of course, along the way, there are a multitude of enemies to defeat. These include the bosses, other ninja, samurai and some nasty dogs. At your disposal are an unlimited supply of shuriken (throwing stars and knives) and the power to turn invisible for brief periods of time.

Originally called "Ninja Princess", this is a type of run-and-gun style arcade game that Sega released in 1985. For a change, the protagonist was a female, the Princess Kurumi, though, in a revised version that came out the following year, the Princess is replaced with a male protagonist and, this time, the Princess needs rescuing.

Answer: Alien Sector

This Namco arcade game was released by Namco as a run-and-gun shooter in 1985. It also goes by the name of Baraduke.

The two protagonists, adopted by Players one and two, are females in bio-hazard suits named Kissy (Player one) and Takky (Player two). Armed with wave guns, they must make their way through eight worlds. Each world has five levels that get progressively harder and then a boss level that they must get through to open up a portal into the next realm. The bosses are the Blue Worm, which appears in the odd numbered worlds and the Turning Eye, who appears in the even numbered lands. That is, all except the final stage, where you are confronted by the Octy King himself.

Answer: Monaco GP

One of the most popular arcade games when it was released, first in Japan in 1979 and then internationally in 1980, this was one the last Sega games to use TTL chips instead of a microprocessor CPU. In the United States in 1981, this was the top grossing driving game for the year. There was an updated version released in 1980 called "Pro Monaco GP" and sequels would be created in 1989, "Super Monaco GP" and 1992, "Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II".

The aim is basic... finish the course in an allotted time. The execution, however, not so. Your opponents, whom you have to overtake to score points along the way, get faster, the road narrows and the surface of the roads will change. There are five sections to negotiate, and there will be some hazards such as puddles and tunnels thrown in just to make the journey more interesting.

Answer: Moon Patrol

Welcome to Sector 9 which, as stated above, has the "toughest thugs in the galaxy". You are armed with a moon buggy and a shooter as you pursue them. Along the way you will be confronted by mines and craters along the ground and UFOs in the air. These you will need to either shoot down or jump over. There are two courses set up, a Beginner's and a Champion's course. There are twenty-six checkpoints on each that are labelled using the letters of the alphabet. Of these, E, J, O, T and Z, are crucial sectors. Get through these and you progress to a new level, with new scenery and obstacles to contend with.

This is an arcade video game that was released in 1982 by Irem and released in North America by Williams, where it became one of the top five grossing games of 1983. The following year it would receive a Certificate of Merit for "Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Video Game" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. The game is often credited with introducing full parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games.

Answer: Secret Command

Originally released in 1986 in Japan under the name of "Ashura", it would be released in Europe as "Secret Command". However, in the United States where Sega was getting a belting from Nintendo NES, Sega used their attachment to the "Rambo" franchise to market the game as "Rambo: First Blood II". In 2008 it would be re-released as "Secret Command" for the Wii Virtual Console.

Game play is pretty straight-forward. You charge through a variety of landscapes that include forests and swamps and you're confronted by a barrage of enemy attacks. You have two weapons, an assault rifle that comes complete with unlimited ammunition and the trusty bow with explosive tipped arrows. The latter is a wonderful addition to your arsenal, but it comes with limited supply, and you will need to replenish your stocks. These you can gain from the POWs that you free along the way. It is important that you do so because, as you progress through the stages, the enemy attacks will become more frequent and hectic.

(Footnote) This game should not be confused with various other games that bore the "Rambo" name. Amstrad released "Rambo" (stylized as "Rambo: First Blood Part II) in 1985 and Nintendo released "Rambo", which was based on the 1985 film "Rambo: First Blood Part II" in 1987. Confusing, you bet it is.

Answer: Space Invaders

If there exists a Video Game Hall of Fame, there is little doubt that "Space Invaders" will command a place in it. Released in 1979 this classic creation has proven to be one of the most influential arcade shoot-'em-ups ever released.

Yes, the game play is simple - waves of aliens march slowly down the screen dropping bombs on the planet. Your task is to take them out before they touch the Earth. If you do, you win the round and you progress to the next one to do the same thing again, only, this time, that slow march downward by the aliens has sped up a fraction. Despite the simplicity of the game its appeal has managed to endure over the decades.

A two player "versus" mode was released on SNES in 1997 with your aim being to clear the screen of aliens faster than your opponent.

Answer: Ghostbusters

Developed hurriedly to take advantage of the popularity of the 1984 film of the same name, this was released by Activision that same year for the home computer platform, with its key target being the Commodore 64.

As a player you're provided with a supply of cash to buy a vehicle and ghost hunting equipment. With that in hand you patrol the city streets seeking points of psychokinetic (PK) activity. Provided you have the equipment, your mission is to vacuum various stray ghosts and manoeuvre Slimer ghosts into a position where they can be trapped. If you are successful, you get money. If you fail... well, the ghosts will increase their PK levels and it will make your task a little harder. Just to make things even tougher, every now and then a couple of ghosts are likely to merge and form the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. While all this is keeping you busy, the stray ghosts are working their way toward the Temple of Zuul and, should they get there, they too will also increase the PK level.

Ultimately you are looking to destroy the Temple but, should the PK level get to 9999 and you have not earned enough money to cover what you have spent... game over.