Insert Coins to Continue (1981) Quiz

Answer: Scramble

While a few side-scrolling games did exist, this one was unique in that the player was forced to continue moving. You could fly left or right, but the screen kept on scrolling, whatever you did. This made it especially challenging when in a part of the game where you had to traverse tunnels.

"Scramble" had six different 'sections' to the game, with changes in terrain that you just come upon and continue scrolling through. At the end of the final section, you need to destroy an enemy base. After you have successfully done that, you cycle through the sections again, at a slightly higher difficulty.

Answer: Astronauts on the surface

"Defender" was a side-scrolling game that allowed you to move left or right and the screen would move with you in either direction. A number of astronauts can be seen running on the unnamed planet's surface, and you need to keep them from being abducted by the alien enemy. Any astronauts that are captured will be 'turned' and come back as mutants to attack you.

Answer: Donkey Kong

Not only was "Donkey Kong" an early example of a platform game where you had to pass a level to move on to the next one, but it also introduced 'Jumpman' to the world. Who is Jumpman, you ask? None other than the first iteration of Mario of "Super Mario" fame.

In "Donkey Kong", you had four different levels to get through to rescue Pauline (the damsel) from the giant ape holding her. On the first level, Donkey Kong would throw oil drums that would roll down the slanted girders and you had to either jump over them, or knock them out with a hammer (a bonus item that appeared periodically). The second level involved conveyor belts and cement pans, the third level had elevators and bouncing springs, and the final level involved removing rivets from the structure to finally bring Donkey Kong down.

And, of course, once you completed the last stage, it would start all over again at a higher level of difficulty.

Answer: Galaga

As mentioned in the question, "Galaga" was basically the same game. Rows of alien bugs descended towards your fixed shooter ship at the bottom of the screen, and you had to eliminate them all from the screen before the next wave would come. A difference with "Galaga" was four large aliens (Boss Galagas) at the top of the screen that took two hits to kill, and would also periodically fly down and try to capture your ship with a tractor beam. If it managed to do that, your ship could then be used to shoot at your replacement ship, as well. BUT, if you managed to kill the Boss Galaga holding your ship, you got your ship back, and now you had two ships shooting at the same time (they joined together).

Answer: Becoming roadkill

The first obstacle faced in "Frogger" is a multilane highway with vehicles of different sizes and speeds moving in different directions. If you can guide your frog across the highway without becoming roadkill, then the rest of the dangers present themselves.

On the median between the road and the river, a snake periodically shows up, so the strip of grass is a brief respite. Next, you must cross the river by hopping onto logs that are floating down the river (again, in 'lanes' in different directions). But there are also alligators, turtles and otters in the water. The turtles are safe to hop onto, but they will submerge periodically, and if they do, then you are also done for. Oh, and the snakes will also appear on the logs on the river. Lastly, alligators will also present themselves in your 'homes' at the top of the screen from time to time, and you have to wait until they leave to be able to safely arrive.

Answer: Tempest

"Tempest" was one of the first to use coloured vector graphics, providing something more visually appealing than a monochrome. Another feature of the game was progressive levelling. Essentially that meant that every level got increasingly more difficult, and did not only become more difficult after a 'set' of screens.

"Tempest" used 16 different screens, and when they repeated, a different colour scheme was used, including a set where the lines were all black, and you couldn't actually see the 'field' other than the enemy coming at you.

Answer: Robot

In "Gorf", you took control of a starship from the 'Interstellar Space Force' and it was your job to prevent the invasion of earth from the Gorfian Empire.

The five levels were called missions, and they proceeded like this:

1. Astro Battles - the "Space Invaders" clone level
2. Laser Attack - you fight two groups of five aliens in space
3. Galaxians - the "Galaxians" clone level
4. Space Warp - while travelling through a wormhole, enemies come at you from the center and try to shoot you or collide with you
5. Flag Ship - A shielded mother ship is shooting at you and you must break through the shield and destroy it

Answer: Qix

"Qix" was designed by Randy and Sandy Pfeiffer as a puzzle game that was published through Taito and became one of the most popular arcade games of 1981.

The stick-like entity was called Qix (hence the name of the game), and when you moved away from the edge of the screen you were creating 'Stix' to close off sections of the field. The pre-set percentage was 65% of the field needing to be closed off, but that was adjustable to between 50 and 90%.

Additional difficulty was added by 'Sparx' moving around the edge of the field (which would kill you if you touched them), by adding a second Qix to the screen, and by increasing the speed.

Answer: Vanguard

The story behind "Vanguard" is that 'The Gond' has been terrorizing colonies in space, and you have to seek him out in his home base, hidden within an asteroid. The scrolling screens are your route into the asteroid as you fly through various 'zones' - the Mountain Zone, Rainbow Zone, Styx Zone, Stripe Zone, Bleak Zone, and the City of Mystery - shooting down or avoiding various enemy vessels - to reach and destroy 'The Gond' (guarded by two moving shields with holes in them).

Answer: False

"Ms. Pac-Man" was actually developed (without permission) as a modification kit for the original "Pac-Man", but faced legal action and had to present the project to Midway, who purchased it.

While the game is mostly similar to the original in game concept, there were a few 'improvements' made to change the game. Two of the ghosts have randomized movement, thus a pattern cannot be learned to defeat the game. There are four different screen layouts (as opposed to just one in the original), and three of the four mazes have two sets of warp tunnels.

There are a few more minor changes (bonus fruit appears in random places and moves around the maze / the ghost 'Clyde' is now 'Sue' / the walls are a solid colour, making it easier to see the paths), but the general goal is identical - clear the screen of pellets without being killed by a ghost.