Be honest, how far did you get before running out of quarters?

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Personal_Strike_1055@reddit

Didn't matter which of the door I chose...I always died in the next room.

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StnCldStvHwkng@reddit

Four. Because I didn’t dare ask my dad for another dollar.

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When I was 12 I learned that about 25% of the machines in the Aladdin's Castle in Casper Wyoming worked on Pennies. This was one of them. I spent 3 hours and $5 and still didn't get past the 5th room.

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BitEnvironmental283@reddit

It was either the fucked up crumbling stairs with fuzzy monsters, or 100% the horse. The horse was so fast and hard to learn.

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Squidtat2@reddit

I think I rage quit before that.

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Maleficent_Copy_3076@reddit

I had trouble with Dragons Lair, but could complete Space Ace on one quarter.

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DoppledBramble3725@reddit

I seem to remember very rarely making it past the bridge

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74greyhound@reddit

Opening scene

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Vasten88@reddit

Quarter eating machine

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pegslitnin@reddit

When it came out where I lived it was a dollar. That lasted twenty seconds.

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Boring_Week_9884@reddit

Seconds but it was so awesome I tried a few times. I still don’t get how to play it

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Witchfinger84@reddit

I played one of these once, realized it was a scam if you didn't hit it frame perfect, never touched it again, then 20 years later I remember these games existed and just binge watched full playthroughs of them on youtube out of curiosity. The best one is Road Blaster/Road Avenger. It's like a shot for shot remake of Mad Max (the first one) with the exact same story. A biker gang kills your wife so you take your badass car on a vehicular manslaughter revenge spree and run them all down. Of course, its a Japanese game made in 1985, so its like watching Mad Max in retro anime style.

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Ok_Mail_1966@reddit

First time playing was likely the quickest ending game I ever had. I never played it again

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TrentWashburn@reddit

I couldn’t afford this game…or the frustration.

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QuentinEichenauer@reddit

This is that weird film that costs a quarter per scene, right?

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Environmental-Post15@reddit

I never made it past the second stage in the arcade. But FINALLY beat the game when my step brother got it on laser disc.

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Fluffy-Flamingo3983@reddit

It was like next level Oregon trail. I died almost immediately at the outset

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Ok_Mammoth5292@reddit

I had it on PC, still couldn't beat it

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Backseatwhiskey@reddit

The bridge

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TheInsaneMilkman@reddit

I would just insert quarters and walk away. Game was fucking impossible

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Plus-Marsupial-1296@reddit

After about $20 in quarters over the course of a summer I was finally able to get all the way through without losing a life. $20 and a video game magazine with all the moves laid out

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Common_Juggernaut724@reddit

Bold of you to assume I did anything but die immediately

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Vegaprime@reddit

I eventually just assumed the controls were connected to nothing and I was watching a vhs tape.

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turdferguson3891@reddit

Close. It was laser disc.

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Vegaprime@reddit

For serious?

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turdferguson3891@reddit

Yeah. It was just a laser disc with animation. Each prompt you chose what the next part of the disc to go to. Only one didn't have you die. You had to choose the right one every time. Basicall just skipping to different parts of the disc in the right order watching a laser disc cartoon. That's why the "graphics" were so good.

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Vegaprime@reddit

And I feel like it was 50cents a pop. Guessing laser disc was cheap then. I bought one right before dvd came out, recall that being a kidney.

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turdferguson3891@reddit

Yeah they were expensive. Came out shortly after Beta but before VHS. It was a niche technology that most people didn't have or know much about. But basically you were just choosing menu options. Absolutely no strategy. Just a series of scenes and only one specific combination got you to the end and the only way back then was just to keep playing and memorize the right choice after likely picking the wrong one first. You were basically just watching a cartoon.

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Common_Juggernaut724@reddit

It was a total scam in a pretty wrapper. Proven when the home version was released.

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Primary-Strawberry-5@reddit

I never did anything but die immediately and get pissed off about wasting $1

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Friend_of_a_Dream@reddit

\^\^\^This was everyone’s experience! \^\^\^

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GreenZebra23@reddit

I couldn't talk my parents into giving me money to die immediately, so I just watched the intro over and over

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Primary-Strawberry-5@reddit

I just tried it once. I only got $5 a week for allowance

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Ambitious_Jelly8783@reddit

But not pissed off enough to avoid trying again.

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larryb78@reddit

Can’t try again, my other dollar is for dying immediately on space ace

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ratpH1nk@reddit

Exactly - not. very. far.

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TheMagicalSquirrel@reddit

There with you. Honestly thought it was a scam. Would put quarters in and die within what felt like 30-60 seconds…

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MikeOak1@reddit

The money to play that game was RIDICULOUS for the time,….but we thought we could.

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Common_Juggernaut724@reddit

And I don't remember a damn bit of instruction on the cabinet about how this was to be played differently from your regular arcade game.

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Antricluc@reddit

Instructions? I thought it was just an animated comic with a bad screen. Funny how the screen was bad in the same scene at any of these stand-ups.

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TheMagicalSquirrel@reddit

Hah! Exactly. My young little eyes were just amazed by the animation so… yeah…

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clintfrisco@reddit

This

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throwaway1102293384@reddit

It was a total quarter muncher

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SlumberingSnorelax@reddit

![gif](giphy|wGquSJajeuz6D2jLwm|downsized)

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Common_Juggernaut724@reddit

It mocks me still!

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drinkslinger1974@reddit

Yeah, the first opportunity that character had to die is as far as I got.

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greaterwhiterwookiee@reddit

Right? As soon as the bridge started crumbling, 💀

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DireKnife@reddit

Yup that’s the part for me too lol.

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turdferguson3891@reddit

Problem was there was no real strategy. It was a choose your own adventure book in video game form. It was choosing amongst options on a laser disc and you could only win by memorizing the right choices by having enough quarters to keep trying or by watching others.

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Just_A_Lucky_Guy469@reddit

Every game ended with his judgemental death face https://i.redd.it/ucm4h072ftrg1.gif

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Humble_Nobody2884@reddit

5 moves in was my max. I even bought the damn walkthrough book as a kid, but never got a feel for the controller

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CokBlockinWinger@reddit

Initially, not very far. Now, one quarter to complete.

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KneelB4Z0d@reddit

but it was always $.50?

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No_Coach6700@reddit

25 cents a game in 82, Dragon's Lair.

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CokBlockinWinger@reddit

The one I’ve played on recently locally is a .25, but yeah, it was known for that mega jump in price.

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stm602@reddit (OP)

![gif](giphy|MUeQeEQaDCjE4)

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CokBlockinWinger@reddit

I even held the world record high score for Space Ace for a lit while.

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stm602@reddit (OP)

Damn, we got the last starfighter over here!

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CokBlockinWinger@reddit

Still awaiting my ride with Centauri.

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FungiStudent@reddit

It'll happen

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Thereminz@reddit

ah crapola!

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Longjumping-Air1489@reddit

There is a play-thru on YouTube. I watched it last year. It was the first time I ever saw the end of the story.

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TwixisDeLamont@reddit

I beat this game over the course of two weeks on my 386? as a kid. Once I had it down the whole game takes like 5 minutes to beat 😅

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AntonChekov1@reddit

I'd die in like the 2nd or 3rd scene

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CMarlowe@reddit

Once I got past the incredible graphics it was... just boring? So I played it a few times and that was about it

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StellarSloth@reddit

It was just one big quick time event, but you had to figure out the buttons yourself.

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TheOsirisOfThisShit_@reddit

There were multiple difficulty settings that would change how much the game prompted you.

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StellarSloth@reddit

On the arcade…? I have never seen an arcade game with changeable difficulty settings.

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TheOsirisOfThisShit_@reddit

The vast majority of arcade games have some kind of difficulty setting.

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NW_Forester@reddit

Yeah I think I had like $1 all time into it (2 plays) before deciding it was just not very good. It was still a game that when you got someone in the arcade doing a deep run, you still gather around even if you've seen end screen a few times.

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Bulky_Variation7064@reddit

15 seconds. Every time. Fuck this game man.

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VinylHighway@reddit

I'm originally Canadian, and my grandparents live in LA in the 80s and we visited them, and the local 7/11 which we did not have in my Canadian town had arcade games. This one blew my mind, because the graphics were like a goddamn cartoon and blew away any other video games....I wasn't even sure it *was* a video game because I was never allowed to play it, and it just ran endlessly on the demo loop which looked like a cartoon film. For years I wondered what it was, and then discovered that it was a real game, and also very difficult. I've watched some youtube videos on how to win for fun, but have NEVER played it.

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TheOsirisOfThisShit_@reddit

It's not a particularly fun game to play. The whole gimmick was the hand drawn animation on laserdisc.

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VinylHighway@reddit

“Lasers”

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TheOsirisOfThisShit_@reddit

They were infrared lasers, but still lasers. The same basic optical system was used for CDs and DVDs.

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VinylHighway@reddit

I know :)1

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Thereminz@reddit

the "graphics" aren't just like a cartoon, they are a cartoon...gameplay is basically like a choose your own adventure game but on laserdisc, ...but the option to choose what to do correctly happens in like .3 sec they just animated every option,.. that's what kinda killed it for me is that you're not really controlling the movement, just choosing which animation comes up next, most of them being the death of the character.

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Fedquip@reddit

...but at the time.... it was pretty cool

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VinylHighway@reddit

Totally agree

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Meet_the_Meat@reddit

usually two or three screens past the drawbridge

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HavanahAvocado@reddit

About halfway through the flying saddle

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onamonapizza@reddit

This game was front and center when you walked into my local arcade. Pretty sure it kept the lights on there.

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TheOsirisOfThisShit_@reddit

It was the first 50 cent game, which is $1.60 adjusted for inflation. I was a little kid and I remember a huge crowd standing around it.

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onamonapizza@reddit

50 cents for what equated to like 45 seconds of playing time was straight up larceny lol

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jikt@reddit

What happened after the bridge?

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Fris0n@reddit

I was lucky enough to have a grandfather that owner an arcade, and once he passed it became a Games People Play arcade that due to the deal with the new owners all his grandchildren got in for free for life. So none!

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SpaldingPenrodthe3rd@reddit

I saw the price and watched other people lose their money.

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RedRust@reddit

Never made it past first scene

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Cael_NaMaor@reddit

Was this guy from a cartoon, other than the game (never played)? He looks familiar, like Kay or something...

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dishwasher_mayhem@reddit

Fuck this guy and that prick Space Ace.

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bascule@reddit

Ugh, it was hella frustrating. I gave up right away. Compare to the NES game, which was also hella frustrating andI gave up right away.

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RoundTheBend6@reddit

$20 would give me 3 hours or so... so... all the damn time.

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No_Friend3170@reddit

easy to tell who the rich kid was if you saw someone playing that longer than 2 minutes.

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Geoff-Vader@reddit

I'll be over at Spy Hunter if you need me.

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rwa2@reddit

Oh geez, I made it to the boat section once and I was the most popular guy in summer camp for all of a day. Gonna go listen to some Peter Gunn now if you need me.

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aliethel@reddit

Gah! I had the same compulsion to listen to Peter Gunn as soon as I saw that comment, too.

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Wonderful-Elephant11@reddit

I bought an original copy of the Henry Mancini album with the Peter Gunn theme on it just because I used to play spy hunter on the C64 quite a bit.

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

I’ll take Off Road and play forever with one quarter *TURBO TURBO TURBO TURBO TURBO*

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EnragedAmoeba@reddit

Ah a redditor of taste...

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-OccultOfPersonality@reddit

Oil slicks and smoke screens.

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calbearlupe@reddit

Followed up with a little Paperboy, Tron, and Ikari Warriors

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coffeeplzme@reddit

I find a Ms Pac-Man machine, I play the Ms Pac-Man machine.

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musicman50322@reddit

My friend's dad voiced Dirk!

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AeonFluxIncapacitaor@reddit

Just loved the interesting ways he could die within seconds of me hoping on.

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tvmediaguy@reddit

This was the first game that cost 50 cents… when everything else was 25. So it was double the price… which for an 8 yr old with little Money … you had to be careful how you spent in the arcade. So many pissed off kids… most just gathered around the machine and watched others fail at the drawbridge. lol! I can STILL hear that booming voice across the arcade …. “Dragon’s Lair”. Good times.

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Jokierre@reddit

Never started! This single arcade machine taught me the value of… value. I could get 4x the play on Gauntlet for the same money, and die equally as fast!

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memberflex@reddit

![gif](giphy|XqpnXaeZPnupy)

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ElectronicDrama2573@reddit

I never got into the castle before $2 was spent.

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Door_in_Mirror@reddit

Far enough to call that game a scam.

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WillingTax8724@reddit

Loading screen

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jackfaire@reddit

For the longest time I thought it was just a cartoon. None of the arcades I played in had this one.

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fairlyaveragetrader@reddit

This is one of the few games I have never beat. There are guides and everything out these days. It basically comes down to memorizing movements I swear whoever made this game, they basically thought, how do we get the maximum amount of coins out of somebody because that's all this game ever did back then, it drained your quarters, or nickels if you went to the nickel arcades If you ever watch a playthrough on YouTube, the difficulty is crazy and this is coming from someone that actually beat Ninja gaiden, double dragon, and a lot of the other hard NES games. Dragon's lair is nuts

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mikewilson2020@reddit

Is that the older brother from sword in the stone?

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philphotos83@reddit

We had a pay by the hour arcade where I grew up. Ten bucks for an entire day with at least a hundred different cabinets, including Dragons Lair. Even when I could play the game for free, I don't think I ever made it past the first obstacle. At least current games give you prompts for QTE, while this game just felt impossible to play.

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AzuralAttack@reddit

Lizards room.

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this_knee@reddit

Impossible to know what to do, impossible to get right, but sure looked beautiful.

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MuricanPoxyCliff@reddit

I remember in my arcade that Battle Zone was right next to this. My quarters went much farther there.

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mctavi@reddit

The original quick time events. It was brutal and too expensive to practice getting good at.

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SkyNet_Admin_1@reddit

How did you even pass the first scene?

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MurseLaw@reddit

What game?

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blues_and_ribs@reddit

Yeah, I grew up going to arcades all the time and was an avid gamer growing up (still am) and I have no idea what this game is.

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Sharpshooter188@reddit

Dragons Lair.

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MittlerPfalz@reddit

Huh. I thought this was a still from “The Sword and the Stone.”

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Sharpshooter188@reddit

I think its because it...might have been based on that? Don't quote me. Just an assumption here.

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ammodramussavannarum@reddit

Exactly! I commented a similar reference!

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No-Raisin-6469@reddit

About 3 taps of the joystick

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TeutonJon78@reddit

Can you die during the logo opening credits? Because if you could, I did. I always wanted to play this game but I knew it was a trap after the first few times. Rarely ever saw anyone actually playing and not looking wistfully at it.

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MesaGeek@reddit

[For the most uninitiated or curious.](https://youtu.be/qG-gIuIyndE?si=u4qeVo8697nqD5fJ)

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AngleFreeIT_com@reddit

So many. So. So. Many.

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sixtysecdragon@reddit

I hated this game, and Space Ace, with such a passion. You could be perfect and fail.

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Otherwise_Tooth_8695@reddit

I was dogshit at this game. I died immediately.

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cmotdibblersdelights@reddit

I have an arcade setup controller attached to a switch, so ive beaten it several times. Irs always hard!

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JohnBrine@reddit

My family was in the arcade business. Free Play

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CliftonHangerBombs@reddit

Omg me too. My basement was the BEST. Tall standing arcade games like pac-man, galaxian and space invaders. Pinball machines. Juke boxes. We even had a pool table for a while. But no one used it.

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Norse_By_North_West@reddit

To be honest, I couldn't afford this game. I played through it with a friend and finally finished it on Sega cd around 2000.

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Fire_Mission@reddit

Not far at all.

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dr0ne6@reddit

Semi relevant [funhaus video about space ace](https://youtu.be/j71luPot81c?si=Lgqb3OGJkznbU9GK), another semi-relevant one [about don bluth](https://youtu.be/_DOJepzWkuw?si=YcBVDz7FbE4DntrD)

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RESISTANT2CODE@reddit

It is embarrassingly simple to play with only two hard screens. Simply because, even if you time it right the game will kill dirk.

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crackedtooth163@reddit

Quarters? What? The machine took dollars.

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RaygunMarksman@reddit

I remember the first time I saw that game in the arcade, being kind of terrified. Especially when Dirk dies. Then a couple years later, I started trying it out and would manage to get through 5 or so scenes at my best. Then later on I've played it on different platforms from Sega Genesis to just a few months ago on my laptop. It's not fantastic as a *game* but it was still one-of-a-kind and kind of magical as a cultural experience of the time.

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ScreenTricky4257@reddit

Not far, but the princess made me feel funny in a certain place.

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Cuerpo1312@reddit

Immediate death always. So frustrating

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Imd1rtybutn0twr0ng@reddit

EFF THIS GAME! BE GONE!

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Sharpshooter188@reddit

Like...the entrance od the castle. Then I kept dying. Once the tentacle strangle death got me I said screw this.

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Aggressive-Law5274@reddit

Same, I don't remember ever making it past the drawbridge.

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CosmicTurtle504@reddit

Man, that eyeball tentacle monster can get FUCKED.

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hobbes_shot_second@reddit

In the arcade? Instadeath. Didn't beat it until Sega CD.

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TheyCallMeSuperChunk@reddit

I had that on my PC, no quarters needed, and I still don't think I ever got past the 3rd screen

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Puzzleheaded_Race_90@reddit

I had the weirdest experience once... I'm not good at this game. My buddy had a copy on... was it sega cd? Either way... one day we popped it in, and i don't know if I just found the right rhythm or what, but I simply dog walked the game. Perfect run. Set the controller down, and I've never touched the game since. I'm sure it was a fluke of some sort. I have no idea

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onlyforobservation@reddit

The first, last, and only game where quick time events were acceptable.

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ammodramussavannarum@reddit

My first thought upon seeing this is him yelling “WART!” **grumble grumble** “Where is that boy?”

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FungiStudent@reddit

Me too!

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Harkonnen_Dog@reddit

Not very far at all.

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foozebox@reddit

6-8 seconds

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AnotherCannon@reddit

I played it for free on an Amiga 2000, and learned the true meaning of anxiety at age 8

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eastbayted@reddit

I gave up after a couple tries. I found the controls baffling and infuriating.

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lorem_opossum@reddit

I had this game at home on my computer. I couldn’t even get far with unlimited lives

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WasteOfBerries@reddit

Mom wouldn't gimme quarters so I'd just watch other people try. Thank you for your sacrifice.

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BigFatHonu@reddit

The sounds of this game are maybe the most recognizable and nostalgic of my younger years and the arcade. That being said, it was impossible to play. Bought it on Steam a few years back for a few bucks. Beat it and never played it again. Very cathartic.

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Beetso@reddit

Just far enough to curse Don Bluth, and never quite far enough to praise him!

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JonasSharra@reddit

Played it on my Commodore 64 - unlimited quarters

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WasteOfBerries@reddit

Mom wouldn't gimme quarters so I'd just watch you try

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NerdTrek42@reddit

I had the Commodore 64 version. Still didn’t get very far. Several years ago I visited a computer museum and they had an original arcade and I played that. Still didn’t get very far.

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

Short was expensive and terrible. Unusually lasted about 12 seconds

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MartinMerten@reddit

I was super good at this game. I used to ride my bike through a golf course to play at an amusement park. The dude who worked there used to watch me play. Later…Him and I beat Gauntlet together.

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curseyouZelda@reddit

A friend of mine had this on amega I couldn’t make it past the drawbridge

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The_C0u5@reddit

I played it a few years ago at a Cidarcade in texas that was flat rate all free play and I didn't even get very far with it being free and drunk

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corbett252627@reddit

that goofy ass Jim Carrey knight look a like got so much of my paper route money!

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-zAhn@reddit

GenX here…worst arcade “game” of all time, IMO. Especially since it was 50 cents a play.

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CptChaos8@reddit

This game was dumb. There were NO instructions on how to “play” it, you try to move the controller and the next thing that pops up was nothing that you had intended… I wasted $3 and never played it again.

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Drum_Eatenton@reddit

Double Dragon was my quarter eater when I was little

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Skyne@reddit

I watched a guy spend 20 dollars in quarters to beat it. In the 80's... \~$60 adjusted for inflation. I thought that was nuts.

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killit@reddit

In seconds?

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Donniejuanny@reddit

The best graphics for the era but a Terrible money grubbing game

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TollyVonTheDruth@reddit

$5 worth — because that's all I had. I remember dying at the same place every damn time. I think I remember some hag, old man, or a witch saying "Ahhh, Merlin" — or something to that effect — then me failing to swing across a bridge or something and dying. Now that it's on Steam, I can try as many times as I want without going teenager broke.

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johnonymous1973@reddit

Two, maybe three screens tops.

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Negative_Solution680@reddit

Never played it after watching everyone else lose their money. I did watch the cartoon on Saturday mornings.

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blue-marmot@reddit

Cobra Command for me!

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rookhelm@reddit

Bout 5 seconds

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pyrowipe@reddit

It was always different... I died a lot to balls and elevators and the river seemed pretty far for me.

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Ezekeal@reddit

Played for free, ran out of patience’s

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RedSix2447@reddit

Second room at best lol, I was not able to beat this game until many years later when I had it on my computer and could try over and over and over lol

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aytchdave@reddit

I had Space Ace on Sega CD. It was punishing.

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DickWhittingtonsCat@reddit

I was already out of quarters. In fact, I never got any quarters.

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skarbux@reddit

I could get pretty far in the first one. I don't remember if Time Warp was the second but I only lasted second in that one. Never saw a warp

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CptNemo55@reddit

Not very far, it didn't seem like a real video game

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IchibanChef@reddit

It cost more money to start the game than I wanted to spend.

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veritable-truth@reddit

I don't know but I never made it to the dragon's lair. I did beat the Lizard King and this was me beating the game. I never made it to the mudmen level either, so I was never really that close. Favorites were Lizard King and the armory. Collapsing room was great too but I don't think I ever made it out of that one alive.

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Gremlin1001001@reddit

Man, I thought that game was aggravating. 😀😜

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aero25@reddit

Ok, but where can I play this in 2026?

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mac117@reddit

I tried as a kid. I tried as an adult. I still can’t even get to the front door

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6stringstrumdinger@reddit

Fuck this game

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red286@reddit

I spent a grand total of $0 on this game. I was the kind of kid who would watch someone else play a game first before trying it myself. So I'd watch someone else play Dragon's Lair first, and every time, they died within like 5 minutes. So, the game didn't look very interesting gameplay-wise (it was 100% quicktime events), and $0.50 got you 5 mins of play. As a kid with zero income beyond my $10/wk allowance, there was no way in hell I was going to waste my money on it.

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darthsploder77@reddit

Hated that game! Never lasted more than a minute.

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Nightstands@reddit

I got the app that lets you watch a complete run thru of the game. There’s no way anyone got to the underwhelming end.

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YousAPenguinLookinMF@reddit

Spent a lot of tokens, but after that saved Princess Daphane every time. Fav scene was jumping around checkered floor to avoid black knight charges.

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Trixie1143@reddit

My parents owned the arcade, so I could die all day.

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Fedquip@reddit

This is one of those games, that you see for the first time and realize anything is possible

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Thunder_Grundle0@reddit

I wanted to play games, not watch a cartoon at the arcade. Pumped quarters into the Simpsons game like everyone else of course

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qualityskootchtime@reddit

Not very far

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TheMatt561@reddit

The drawbridge

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Notredamus1@reddit

My local Pizza Hut had one but all my quarters went to Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat. I didn't really ever see anyone play that game.

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baharabaraz@reddit

I witnessed someone who beat it at Aladdin’s Castle, our local arcade. There was a crowd of amazed onlookers

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CaseyAnthonysMouth@reddit

lol I ended up buying this on steam just so I could see it through. This game is FAR longer than I ever saw anyone get in the arcade. 😂

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bosscockuk@reddit

I spent loads before I realised I was playing and not just watching a video…

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PriceNo3859@reddit

I sucked at this game

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GenJohnnyRico@reddit

Can someone explain what it was you were supposed to?

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Funandgeeky@reddit

Never got to play as a kid. It was an expensive game and so I just liked to watch other people play it.

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peloquindmidian@reddit

This was my YouTube: watching other people play video games Before it was cool. In fact, it was the opposite of cool. The cool kids had the quarters

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MetricJester@reddit

Beat the game, no quarters necessary. I played it on the Amiga 2000

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pumpupthepump@reddit

I could make it all the way through on one quarter. The trick, in my case, was to spend a lot of time watching people who could play it through and memorize the trigger points. I really liked the story.

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hargle_bargle@reddit

I played it on a Coleco ADAM when I was a kid. I couldn’t figure it out in spite of trying many times. Eventually went back to Buck Rogers.

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lovinglife-hotwife@reddit

it was in my local arcade for a couple weeks a few months back and on a dollar i got no where

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winetotears@reddit

Pure death.

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Thereminz@reddit

growing up i am not sure i saw one irl, i went to an arcade expo that had one but there was a line to play it... pretty clear you wouldn't get far if you didn't have it memorized. i wish they would do something like that today but more playable, i guess cuphead is the closest thing btw you can play laserdisc games on the daphne emulator. [TimeGal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XineYzeIDGI) is my fav laserdisc game.

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bargman@reddit

I assumed this was some sort of money laundering device because nothing happened when I hit that button.

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AndrewInMN@reddit

Once I was able to play it on PC I could make it a ways but I never beat it.

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ICPGr8Milenko@reddit

About as fast as I did in Time Traveler. Interestingly enough, designed by the same dude (Rick Dyer). https://preview.redd.it/h5wapmz6ogrg1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5453c7531a1071e845168609761e0b9f88958904

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MrThouu@reddit

I feel like if I ever did run into this, I may have gauged the difficulty and decided the coin/playtime ratio wasn't worth it.

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Doomscrolleuse@reddit

Shoutout to Wifi Wars, where I played this collectively with half a roomful of people! And yes, even as a (big) team no-one got very far. [https://wifiwars.co.uk/](https://wifiwars.co.uk/)

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit

I played this game exactly 1 time and said never again. I’m 46 now and have kept my word.

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akerasi@reddit

You'll find me on Joust, Robotron 2084, Battlezone, or the Star Wars vector cab.

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myfrigginagates@reddit

Played once. Only got far enough to avoid that game like it was an STD afterwards.

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ApatheistHeretic@reddit

I just watched it for Daphne.

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Unruly_Evil@reddit

Never understood how to play this game until a couple of years ago using the ROM in MAME.

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EveningRequirement27@reddit

Couldn’t afford it. No way I was spending 4 quarters

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Top-Sleep-4669@reddit

I’ll be honest. I hated this “game.” It’s not even remotely fun. I’d rather play packman or Galaga or any number of arcade games, or pinball, or skeeball etc.

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stm602@reddit (OP)

Yeah, it was some gimmicky bullshit. They knew what they were doing by sucking us in with the Don Bluth animation. But I've never had a desire to play it since

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Moxie_Stardust@reddit

Not far at all in the arcade. I finished the surprisingly decent MS-DOS port though, and Space Ace too.

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cnhn@reddit

about 30 screens.

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obeekaybee7@reddit

The chess room always got me, if I ever got to the lizard king to kill him I was so damn excited I forgot to keep playing lol

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the716to714@reddit

Not very as well. Revolutionary game so I still kept trying.

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SometimesILieToo@reddit

This game was more fun to watch other people waste quarters instead of me.

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DifficultMinute@reddit

I made it one or two screens in. Maybe the prison doors? Something like that. I played it on an emulator a long time ago and still couldn’t beat it. Basically every single move required to win is trial and error until you find the one that works, and then it’s a rhythm game to link them all together.

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One-Author2996@reddit

And what happened over time, the laserdisc in the arcade machine began to skip. My older brother had that problem a lot. He do the right move at the right time but the disc would skip and he die anyway.

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Yuck_Few@reddit

I don't think I ever actually played it. I think I just remember watching other people play it at show biz pizza before it was Chuck e cheese

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psionfyre@reddit

You know, I never did play this game, I sort of learned NOT to, by watching the frustration of the other players. I was more of a Golden Axe or TMNT kinda kid

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FoppyRETURNS@reddit

Never played!

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One-Author2996@reddit

In the arcade not very far as I was little (only 5 in 1983) but on Sega CD I could get it through the whole game without dying once.

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NoLimitHonky@reddit

Watch the YT playthrough videos of this, the sequel and the Space Ace one, great stuff!

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jericho74@reddit

This was my proudest moment. Princess Daphne was looking at me like the total smokeshow she was in that medieval thong after I collapsed the roof on that dragons bead and and everyone was gathered around chanting my name— …I think i was strangled by vines and had one more dollar to spend and then died playing hopscotch on some tiles and then I played Time Pilot

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StillhasaWiiU@reddit

I only played it once. I did not enjoy it very much at the time.

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hombre_bu@reddit

I would die almost instantly…had to watch a YouTube video to see it though decades later

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Crans10@reddit

I played on free play. lol

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defective_toaster@reddit

I immediately zoned out because cartoon means zone out.

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Safe-Mortgage6919@reddit

I just watched because my parents wouldn’t let me waste money on arcade games 😡

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fatbuddha66@reddit

My cousins had this game on PC and I fucking loathed it. It took them probably a hundred tries to do the part where he’s in the minecart or whatever it was. I can’t imagine pumping quarters into it.

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SteveEcks@reddit

I once thought you could fold up a dollar bill and put it in the coin slot. The owner of the Skatin' Station was not very happy with me that day.

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DryWriter3169@reddit

Man fuck dragons lair , cool concept but shitty hard ass game

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jessek@reddit

Played it once and felt ripped off. I did watch other people play it a lot.

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OriginalVayl@reddit

drawbridge lol

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Procrasturbating@reddit

About tree-fiddy and I said fuck this game and never played again.

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JaxxisR@reddit

Joke's on you, I only played the SNES version!

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Ben-solo-11@reddit

Not very far. I didn’t have very many quarters.

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DarthKingBatman@reddit

Too poor to play, but I sure did love to watch!

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full_of_ghosts@reddit

Only ever spent one quarter on it. Quickly realized I had no idea how to play it, didn't have the patience to try to figure it out, and moved on to something else.

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