Insert Coins to Continue (1979) Quiz

Answer: Flying saucers

You could rotate your triangular ship and you could fire thrusters to move in one direction (and would need to turn around and reverse thrust to stop movement). The asteroids began as large rocks and would split into smaller ones with every successful hit, until you managed to destroy them all.

But, to complicate things, every now and again a spaceship would arrive and start shooting at you, and you needed to deal with it quickly or have a very difficult time of it.

Answer: Galaxian

It's no mistake that "Galaxian" looks and feels similar to "Space Invaders". It was created with the intent of making the best 'post-Invaders' game they could, and Namco borrowed aspects that worked (the rows of descending aliens and the single shooter ship fighting them), but added some pizzazz, as it were. Some of the alien ships could swoop down, and unlike "Space Invaders", there were no shields to hide behind.

And there was a limitation that could make things interesting -- you only had one shot at a time. You could shoot again right after hitting something, but if you missed everything, you had to wait for your shot to clear the top of the screen before you could shoot again.

Answer: False

Of course, maneuvering was done by firing thrusters. It cost fuel to rotate and use the thrusters to slow your descent and manage your lateral movement.

There were only a few level spots to land, and they varied in size, with the smaller spots giving more bonus multipliers if you could land there successfully.

The game continued until you ran out of fuel, and while you gained some fuel back for successful landings, eventually you ran out, and more fuel could be had with more quarters.

Answer: Speed Freak

"Speed Freak" wasn't the very first behind-the-wheel driving game -- that distinction was 1975's "Nürburgring 1". And there were a couple others in-between from Atari and Bally-Midway, as well. But "Speed Freak" was the first to use vector graphics.

In the game, from the perspective of the driver, you had to navigate a roadway and avoid crashing into other cars, and obstacles such as hitchhikers, trees, cows and cacti. You could crash as much as you wanted, but you would lose time when you did, and the goal was to complete the course in the time allotted.

Answer: Basketball

An angled side view would be from the perspective of center court from the upper seats in the arena. It allowed for some perspective when shooting for the net.

Atari's "Basketball" was also the first basketball game to use a trackball for movement. The game was for one or two players, and it was one-on-one basketball. When you were in position to shoot, you held down your button until your player's arm was high enough to release. Skilled opponents could steal the ball while you were dribbling down the court, and could block your shots, and you could do the same, of course, to them.

Answer: Tail Gunner

Although developed by Vectorbeam, "Tail Gunner" was published by Cinematronics.

Because of the perspective of the game, the starfield moves from the edges into the center of the screen, effectively giving the feeling of you actually being at the stern of a (virtual) spaceship.

Using a joystick with the firing button on top for your thumb, you needed to aim cross hairs at the attacking ships, which came at you three at a time. The game ended once you allowed ten enemy ships to get past you.

Answer: Head On

While the game involved moving a car along the lanes, "Head On" was really considered a maze game, if a simple one. The lanes were only present in the corners, and it was possible to change to different lanes at each of the cardinal points, which allowed you to avoid the computer-controlled car coming the opposite direction, and also allowed you to collect the dots in the different lanes.

But you were stuck going in the clockwise direction, and had no control apart from the changing of lanes.

Answer: Energy

Developed by Logitec Corp and published by Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK), "Ozma Wars" used a numerical figure for the amount of energy your ship had. You expended energy as you flew, and lost a large amount each time you were hit. At the end of each stage, if you survived without expending your energy, it would get topped up by your mother ship.

Oh, and the alien ships shot at you, too. It wasn't just a moving shooting gallery.

Answer: Starhawk

Not only was there a trench on the surface of a large, round ship, there were also smaller enemy ships that would fly at you that looked an awful lot like TIE fighters. As blatant as the similarities were, when the game was released for the Vectrex home system in 1982, the manual made sure to describe the game very differently. You were charged with "protecting your comrades from alien ships trying to infiltrate your culture" and "defending the sovereignty of your planet."

Answer: Sheriff

That's right, "Donkey Kong" was *not* the first game to feature a 'damsel in distress'. But I guess it was still Nintendo that did it.

"Sheriff" had a unique set of controls. There was a joystick to move your character around, and a dial control for aiming and firing your gun. Every level had 16 bandits surrounding you on the outer edge of the screen, and while they generally circumambulated, they sometimes would move towards you as well. In addition to avoiding their bullets, you also could not let them touch you.