You Only Live Twice Quiz | Something in Common

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Pac-Man" is a simple game: its hero, a circular shape resembling a head, travels through a maze while eating the pellets laid out in his path. But this labyrinth also contains ghosts, who will kill Pac-Man if they touch him! In an original Pac-Man arcade game with the default configuration, how many points must you score to earn an extra life for Pac-Man?

Answer: Ten thousand

Pac-Man begins each game with three lives, so you can survive a limited number of encounters with the fearsome Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Still, their fatal touch can be tough to avoid, so the extra life at 10,000 points is a very good deal. It wasn't available in all arcades -- the owner could disable the award, or increase the necessary number of points, by flipping switches inside the machine.

Published in 1980 by Namco (and distributed in the US by Midway), Pac-Man is still recognized as a milestone in video-game history. Versions of the game have since been released for various consoles, personal computers, and even smartphones.

2. The original "Super Mario Bros." game was one of the first console games to let players earn extra lives. In that game, which of the following is NOT a way to get a one-up?

Answer: Scoring 1000 points while invincible

Coins and other prizes are sprinkled around the worlds that Mario roams. Coins often appear in the open, but power-ups - like the fire flower and the one-up mushroom - are always hidden in bricks that must be broken from below. The turtle-shell method is perhaps the hardest way to unlock an extra life: Mario must jump on an enemy turtle and then kick its shell into a row of eight other enemies. This gives a real sense of accomplishment in addition to the extra life!

"Super Mario Bros.", the first entry in Nintendo's flagship game series, was released for the original Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.

3. The goal of "Centipede", a classic arcade game, is to destroy centipedes, spiders, fleas, and scorpions and thus protect your mushroom garden. You accomplish this with blasts from your weapon, which is also the sacrifice if a creature touches you. What's the weapon?

Answer: Magic wand

Your character in "Centipede", released in 1981 by Atari, is either an elf or a garden gnome, depending on which version of the game you believe. Waves of pests descend from the top of the screen, usually seeking to eat or poison the precious mushrooms (though killing or damaging a creature may produce mushrooms - it's best not to think too hard about the mechanics here). You start with three magic wands that function just like extra lives: you lose a wand when one of the critters touches you, and the game ends if you run out of wands. You can even earn new wands by scoring points - the exact number of which varies from version to version. Like other classic arcade games, "Centipede" has appeared on many other platforms, from Atari's own consoles to Nintendo's Game Boy to modern smartphones.

4. Constant resurrections aren't usually compatible with narrative suspense, so some games go for the knockout instead. In Square's "Final Fantasy" series, adventurers felled in battle are said to be merely "unconscious": they only die if the entire adventuring party is reduced to that state. What magic item can revive an unconscious ally?

Answer: Phoenix Down

"Phoenix Down" - also spelled "Fenix Down" in some iterations, due to character limits - evokes the feathers of the famous mythical bird, which is born anew from the ashes of its own death. It's an essential item in a difficult fight. Once a party member is revived, he or she can regain health through magic or items, and can once more participate in the battle.

The first "Final Fantasy" game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, and was later repackaged for systems as diverse as the Sony Playstation and modern smartphones. Various sequels were first released for Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft Windows; all saw tremendous success for Square (later renamed Square Enix).

5. Sonic the Hedgehog, flagship character of the Sega Genesis, faces many perils as he runs and rolls to victory against Dr. Robotnik. Luckily, there are items to help. If he collects 100 objects, he gains an extra life - and in the meantime, they offer protection against many dangers. What are they?

Answer: Golden rings

Rings are distributed throughout Sonic's world, not only in his eponymous 1991 debut but also in its sequels. At first glance, they function much like the coins in Nintendo's "Super Mario Bros.," with which Sonic was created to compete: Sonic collects the rings to earn points and lives.

The rings have another function, however: when Sonic runs into an enemy or, say, a fire pit, the rings he's holding take the blow for him. Instead of losing a life, he loses his rings, which is a pretty good trade!

6. In "Donkey Kong Country," you can earn an extra life by collecting all four of a set of items on any given level. What should you be looking for?

Answer: The letters K-O-N-G

In each level of this 1994 game for the Super Nintendo, the letters K, O, N, and G are hidden - in that order. If you can guide your character to locate and obtain all four, you'll be awarded an extra life, which is likely to be very useful later on. In 1995's "Donkey Kong Land" (for Game Boy), the letters returned, but with a very different use: collecting all four letters on a level is the only way to save your progress.

7. In "Banjo-Kazooie," our hero is actually two characters: a bear (Banjo) and the bird (Kazooie) who lives in his backpack. Conveniently, though, the two of them share an extra-life system. Which of the following items awards an extra life in the original 1998 game?

Answer: A golden statue of Banjo, flexing his muscles

Originally released for the Nintendo 64 (and later re-released for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade), "Banjo-Kazooie" asks players to infiltrate a witch's lair to rescue Banjo's sister, Tooty. The game is superficially similar to the "Super Mario" games, but adds plenty of new elements: huge, detailed, non-linear worlds to explore; puzzles to solve; characters to interact with; and challenges that call on both Banjo's and Kazooie's talents.

The collectible extra-life tokens, which depict Banjo with rather more muscles than he displays in gameplay, fit in well with the game's fun and humorous mood.

8. If your group dies in this game from Square, you can start again from your last save. At one point in the game, though, your main character dies - and that's something completely different. The rest of your group must search time and space for a way to undo this death without causing a paradox; finally, they return to the game's beginning, the Millennial Fair, to find the perfect replacement. What game is this?

Answer: Chrono Trigger

"Chrono Trigger," released for the Super Nintendo in 1995, starts with a redheaded boy - Crono - who just wants to visit the fair. By game's end, he's traveled the world and time, assembling a team from the present, past and future to prevent the destruction of the world. Along the way, he sacrifices his life for his friends, who refuse to accept his loss.

Instead, they obtain a "Chrono Trigger" to return them to that fateful fight, and then obtain a mechanical Crono doll to substitute for their leader.

This resurrection is hard work!

9. Some games avoid the need for extra lives by never letting you die at all. In the various versions of "Mario Kart," a racing game, driving off the track isn't fatal. What aerial race official fishes you out and returns you to the road?

Answer: Lakitu

Lakitu, who wears stylish aviator goggles as he rides a smiling cloud through the sky, can be awfully slow with his fishing rod: a fall off the track can easily take you from first to last place. Lakitu's skills, however, are phenomenal. He can rescue you not only from water, but also from hot lava and the endless void of outer space; he does both in the first game of the series, 1992's "Super Mario Kart" for the Super Nintendo.

He wasn't always so friendly, though: in the original "Super Mario Bros." game, he spent his time trying to drop spiked enemies on Mario's head. Ouch!

10. Tragically, premature death is commonplace in the "World of Warcraft." When your character dies, you release his or her spirit and then appear as a ghost in a nearby graveyard. Which of the following is NOT a way in which you can then return to life?

Answer: As a spirit, complete a quest to win a favor from the gods

In this multiplayer online computer game, first launched in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment, death damages your equipped armor and weapons, necessitating an expensive repair. Graveyard resurrection typically imposes still more damage, as well as a temporary "resurrection sickness" handicap, but may be worth it for speed and convenience. In player-versus-player battlegrounds, there is no penalty for graveyard resurrection.

If you've been battling through the world as one of a team, and a spellcaster is left alive, she or he may be kind enough to resurrect you without making you run from the graveyard to your body. Even so, these ghostly marathons add up to some serious exercise time for just about every player above a few levels.

Source: Author CellarDoor

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

You Only Live Twice Trivia Quiz

Most people (James Bond excepted) live only once -- but video-game characters get a lot more chances than the rest of us. Follow me on a tour of resurrections over a quarter century of gaming.

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