Arcade games that look easier, and harder to play

[homerwannabee]

Certain arcade games for whatever reason look a lot easier to play then they actually are.  For instance when I got into this hobby it was after watching Steve Wiebe go after the record on G4.  My thought was "That really doesn't look that hard".  Come to find out after giving the game a go or two thousand it's much harder to play than it looks.   I think the same is probably true with DKJr, and DK3 as well.

On the other side of the coin though there are games that look much harder to play than they look.  Ironically I think Crazy Kong is on that list despite being a hack of Donkey Kong.  The holes in the girders, and the crazy way the elevator stage is laid out makes it look much harder than it actually is.  Moon Patrol might be another looks much harder than it is game.  This is mainly because to the exploding bombs that don't actually kill your car when they hit the ground.  Though it's still a tough game, make no mistake about it.

So how about?  What games look harder, or easier than they actually are?

[SanTe]

You ever seen the average Joe off the street play Moon Patrol?  They're abysmal at it.  Scores of 10k are common.  The ones that stick it out eventually hit the wall at 75k max.  Just like the 90% of the general population who will never get past the 3rd elevators on DK these same people will never get past the rolling boulders on the championship course.  Hell, most will never complete the beginner course.  I think it's easy for us to forget just how bad at these old arcade games most people really are.

Robotron looks harder than it is.  Yes, it takes practice.   No, it isn't that hard if you devote some time to it.  I'm talking about default settings.

Mad Planets is harder than it looks.  Sinistar is exactly as f*ck you-hard as it looks.

I think Gravitar may be an example of a game that is actually easier than it looks, based on what I've seen from other players who were able to get decent at it after some practice.   Hard for me to say since I'm terrible at it and don't like it enough to put any time into it.

I think the Pac games are generally harder than they look.

[TheSunshineFund]

I think expert players on any given title can make it look easier than it is.

[marinomitch13]

I've never played Crazy Kong, but I did killscreen Monkey Donkey on my first attempt (to spite Brian, who was bragging a ton about Killscreening it) without knowing anything too specific about the game before hand. KS'd on my 2nd man; and the only reason I lost a man was because I used it to test if something was the case on the first conveyor stage (If I recall correctly). So, knowing I had DK skills going into it, I think it's clear that certain versions of DK a lot easier to KS, but going for max points is a whole other story. CK may be easier to KS, but games can always be pushed to a level where they become hard. It's only the games where even the best strategies are just mindless repetition (or something of that nature) where I'd say they are "easy" games.

Like BurgerTime. I would say BurgerTime is a very easy game, even at top play.