Fractured Arcade Games Trivia Quiz

Answer: Space Invaders

"Space Invaders" was released in June of 1978 in Japan before it made its debut in North America at the end of the year. The game was almost instantly popular, and by 1982, "Space Invaders" arcade machines had grossed $2 billion in quarters (yes, that's 8 million quarters).

In the game, you had to shoot upwards at hordes of (nicely lined up) aliens that slowly moved their way down towards the ground.

The game was developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and produced by Taito in Japan and by Midway in North America.

Answer: Lunar Lander

"Lunar Lander" was released by Atari in 1979, later coming out in a home computer version as well (1981). The game was all about precision as you had to pilot a lunar module to an appropriate (flat) landing spot on the very rocky terrain of the moon. You had to use thrust to counteract gravity and to adjust your lateral motion, all while being careful not to expend your limited fuel supply.

Answer: Berzerk

"Berzerk" came out in 1980 as a release from Stern Electronics. It was a shooting game, albeit a primitive one where your character was a stick man on a two-dimensional map. The game would get progressively more difficult with each maze level passed, and you always had to watch out for Evil Otto.

The game was designed by Alan McNeil and was one of the first games to include voice synthesis (the robot enemies could talk).

Answer: Missile Command

"Missile Command" was released by Atari in July of 1980. In the game you had to defend six cities from missile attacks by the enemy. You had to line up a cross-hair target and shoot down the incoming missiles, trying to last as long as possible. 'Bonus' cities could be earned with enough accrued points, so even if you lost one or more cities, you could get more.

The game was designed by Dave Theurer, who originally designated the cities in the game as six California cities: Eureka, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego (according to Wikipedia).

Answer: Centipede

"Centipede" was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey and released by Atari in 1981. As the title suggests, a centipede would wind its way down the screen, turning every time it came to an obstacle (a mushroom or the edge of the screen). The player would shoot up at the centipede, and every segment hit would also become a mushroom, while also splitting the centipede into separate chunks to shoot at. There were also spiders, scorpions and fleas to contend with, each with their own difficulties.

"Centipede" was followed up with "Millipede", released in 1982.

Answer: Donkey Kong

Nintendo came out with "Donkey Kong" in 1981, introducing he character of Jumpman (later to be named Mario) to the world. The game was developed by new game designer Shigeru Miyamoto alongside Nintendo chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi.

In the game, Jumpman needed to ascend a series of platforms while avoiding the barrels rolling down from above (thrown by Donkey Kong, a giant ape). The goal was to get safely to the top to rescue Lady (later named Pauline).

Answer: Frogger

"Frogger" was released by Konami in 1981, and was probably one of my favourites to play as a 7-year old when it came out. A timed game, you had to hop your frog across numerous lanes of traffic, followed by a river of logs and (disappearing) turtles to get to one of five safe spots at the top of the screen. Apart from the obvious way to die (getting run over), you also had to watch for snakes, otters and alligators in the river.

Answer: Dig Dug

"Dig Dug" came out in 1982, produced by Namco and designed by Yuriko Keino. In the game you played the character of Dig Dug, whose sole purpose in life (it seemed) was to dig around in multicoloured layers of dirt to seek out monsters and destroy them.

There were two types of monsters: Pookas and fire-breathing Frygars. Dig Dug could either dig out big rocks to fall on the monsters, or he could get close enough to pump them up with air until they exploded.

Answer: Pole Position

Designed by Tōru Iwatani, "Pole Position" was developed by Namco in 1982, and published by Atari in North America. It was one of the earliest racing games, and for its time quite realistic. The race track was actually based on a real Formula One circuit track, and the game required players to complete a qualifying lap before being able to race in the Grand Prix.

Answer: Zaxxon

"Zaxxon" came out in 1982, released by Sega. The game was a flying and shooting game, and it was three-dimensional, with the aircraft able to move up and down and left and right, casting a shadow for the player to get the third-person perspective.

The name "Zaxxon" was derived from the term for the perspective used in the game: isometric AXONometric projection. Isometric is three-dimensional representation on two dimensional surfaces, and axonometric is where the object is rotated along an axis relative to the plane of projection.