Top 3 Most Difficult Classic Arcade Games of All-Time

[TheSunshineFund]

1. Red Alert
2. Moon Shuttle
3. Cosmic Avenger

[lakeman421]

I've never played Red Alert, but I have played the other two.  I played more Avenger than the other ones which is a very difficult game.  Even though you can make the ship go faster, the UFOs keep up with you scrolling the screen which makes it extremely difficult to avoid.  I think my best is 38k on MAME.

[marinomitch13]

Steve, how high do you think Joust 2 would rank on your list? Is it even close to top 3 for you? I'm sure that I haven't played as many CAG games as you, so I'm guessing you'd have a better idea of what is hard relative to other games, but Joust 2 seems to be super hard for me!

[TheSunshineFund]

Steve, how high do you think Joust 2 would rank on your list? Is it even close to top 3 for you? I'm sure that I haven't played as many CAG games as you, so I'm guessing you'd have a better idea of what is hard relative to other games, but Joust 2 seems to be super hard for me!

I have never really played it before.  It was in the FS tourney for a few hours this year before being pulled though so I would have had a better answer had it stayed I suppose.

[marinomitch13]

Let's put it this way:

I'm good enough at normal Joust that I can get through the 10 different waves with maybe an average of about 5 deaths. Remember, I'm basically at the point that I could roll Joust any day now, once I find the time to do so.

I don't remember exactly, but Joust 2 has something like 25 or 30 different waves (in terms of types of enemies and platform setup -though I think there are technically 100 distinct waves due to different backgrounds), and it took me an average of like 15 lives per wave (I used continues), the first time I attempted the game (and this was after already acquiring my skills at normal Joust).

[giv]

I played Super Zaxxon for a couple hours straight at Richie's one time, and could not manage to put a game together that lasted more than 2 or 3 minutes. When I asked Don, the only advice he could give me was "try to stay to the left."

[giv]

Star Castle hard chip starts out pretty difficult and quickly becomes impossibly difficult.

[TheSunshineFund]

Those are good examples George.  Star Castle at least gives you some playtime before it goes bs crazy.  Super Zaxxon development meetings must have been great.

"Let's turn the robot into a dragon and make the screen go really fast.....done and done....let's get some fro yo!"

[gstrain]

Those are good examples George.  Star Castle at least gives you some playtime before it goes bs crazy.  Super Zaxxon development meetings must have been great.

"Let's turn the robot into a dragon and make the screen go really fast.....done and done....let's get some fro yo!"

LOL.  Although you forgot the "lets change the bullsh*t but interesting space stage into an even more bullsh*t but less interesting tunnel stage"

I really don't understand how Super Zaxxon could have made any money in the arcade.  I was fairly good at Zaxxon in the arcade and actually got decent at Super Zaxxon in MAME, but when I first tried Super Zaxxon in MAME probably the first 20 games I didn't last longer than 60 seconds.  If I'd been playing this in the arcade I would have just said "f*ck this bullsh*t" and walked away after I spent two bucks on it and didn't last more than 45 seconds.  I mean seriously, did they even playtest it?

[TheSunshineFund]

I mean seriously, did they even playtest it?

Probably at Funspot while Donald was there....


Wait I found the internal memo at Sega.....

Title:  Super Zaxxon
Test Location: Laconia, NH
Avg. Player Game Time:  10 seconds
Donald Hayes Game Time:  3 hours
Notes:  We're done here.  Let's get fro yo.