Classic Arcade Games - In Other Words Quiz

Answer: Road Runner

'Road Runner' was released by Atari in 1985. Made familiar by the cartoon, the player controlled Road Runner who must dodge Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch him, all the while avoiding oncoming cars and negotiating various traps and pitfalls.
If Road Runner got too far away, Wile E. Coyote would catch up using rocket skates, super sneakers or other ACME gadgets. Road Runner also needed to eat - skip five birdseeds in a row and he would faint, allowing Wile E. Coyote to catch up.
This classic arcade game was made available to home users of the Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600 & ST, Commodore 64 and NES, among others.

Answer: Gauntlet

'Guantlet' released in 1985, managed to combine video game play with role-playing games which were hugely popular at the time. Designed for four players, the heroes of the game were a Warrior, a Wizard, a Valkyrie and an Elf, and each player chose one. Together, they battled Ghosts, Grunts, Demons, Lobbers, The Thief and one unique enemy - Death! 'Gauntlet' was a huge success and has numerous sequels, including 'Gauntlet Legends' in 1998 and 'Gauntlet Dark Legacy' in 2000.

The original was made available on over a dozen home consoles.

It is available for download to Xbox and 'Gauntlet II' is available to download for Playstation 3.

Answer: Paperboy

Ride a bike and deliver papers - surely that is a job! Why would anyone pay to play this game? The answer lay in both the controls and the unique method of scoring points. The controls were handlebars similar to a regular bike and you could speed up by pushing forward and brake by pulling backward.
The means of scoring points was also interesting - not only did you get points for delivering to the correct houses, but houses that didn't subscribe were targets and firing papers as missiles that broke their windows got you bonus points - as did knocking down tombstones in their front gardens!
All of this combined with other targets, a BMX dirt track for practicing and a few hazards negotiate made 'Paperboy' an arcade classic.

Answer: Steel Talons

'Steel Talons' was a helicopter flight simulator with a sit-down cabinet for up to two players. There were three missions available - a fourth 'head-to-head' option was possible when there were two players, allowing them to battle each other.
The controls involved a joystick for forward/back/left/right motion, a foot rudder which allowed for rotation while hovering and a further control (the collective) for altitude - complicated but realistic. The arcade game also featured a vibrating seat which delivered a punch when enemy fire hit the helicopter.

Answer: San Francisco Rush Extreme Racing

'San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing' was a car racing game which featured a force-feedback steering wheel and a woofer in the seat and was released in 1996. Players raced the clock on set tracks - although there were a range of shortcuts which offered quicker routes than the main track. Tracks could be taken in reverse and mirror-image for more variation and allowed for up to eight cabinets to be linked for multi-player fun.

The game offered a choice of eight cars, with differing degrees of difficulty.

Although not the most realistic in terms of simulation, 'San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing' had two sequels 'San Francisco Rush the Rock: Alcatraz Edition' in 1997 and 'San Francisco Rush 2049' in 1999.

Answer: Missile Command

'Missile Command' was released by Atari in 1980. The player commands three anti-missile batteries while a hail of missiles rain down over 6 cities, which the player must defend. It was played with a track-ball which guided a cross-hairs on screen and three buttons - one for each anti-missile battery. Weapon stores were finite and the anti-missile batteries could be destroyed, which resulted in a loss of those weapon stores for the duration of the level. There was no 'final level' in this game - it just got harder by speeding up, level by level, and a bug in the original programming meant that when a certain score was reached the game would 'restart' at the slow rate while retaining the score and any bonus cities that had been awarded.

Answer: Pac Man

A little yellow circle with a big mouth eating dots while being chased by ghosts through a maze. An unlikely sounding premise, but 'Pac-Man' launched numerous sequels, an animated TV series and a Top 10 hit in the US Billboard Hot 100 called 'Pac-Man Fever'.
When released in Japan, lines formed around machines and there was a brief shortage of 100-yen coins. Merchandise from Pac-Man included stickers, bags, duvet covers, t-shirts and even a breakfast cereal.

Answer: Street Fighter

Released in 1987, Street Fighter allowed the player to become Ryu who fought 10 other fighters from five countries around the world. There was a player 2 option - they became Ken, Ryu's rival. The controls featured a joystick and 6 buttons - 3 for punches, 3 for kicks.

There were also three special attacks which the player could do by using specific combinations of controls. The original version had pneumatic controls which measured the power with which the buttons were hit and translated them on-screen. Unfortunately these were prone to breaking and malfunction, and were phased out. Although the first Street Fighter wasn't as popular as later editions, it did spawn the series, launching a range of arcade classics.

Answer: Dig Dug

Another slightly bizarre concept - you played a little man who burrowed through the earth to eliminate enemies. Once you found your enemies (Pookas and Fygars), you pumped them up until they exploded or dropped rocks on them.
It was made available on ten different home consoles, including Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. It was also available on NES, although not in North America.

Answer: Double Dragon

In 'Double Dragon' twin brothers took to the streets to rescue Marian, who was kidnapped by a rival gang. Single players took control of one of the brothers, but in two player mode, players could cooperate to battle the gang until they completed the final boss 'Willy'. At this point, in two player mode the twins then fought over the Marian. Winner got the girl!