Retro Video Games Trivia Questions and Answers

The arcade era through the sixteen-bit years and the early 3D generation — the games, the hardware and the console war that was fought largely in playgrounds. Questions cover release order, the studios that made the classics, the secrets and cheat codes that spread by word of mouth, and the handful of commercial disasters that changed the industry. This topic separates a table sharply by age, which is part of its appeal: for one half it is nostalgia and for the other it is history, and both halves discover the other knows things they do not.

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  1. 1. In the 1981 arcade version of Donkey Kong, what was Mario originally called?Hard

    • Jumpman ✓
    • Mr. Video
    • Plumber Joe
    • Marco

  2. 2. What do Pac-Man's power pellets allow him to do when eaten?Medium

    • Temporarily eat the ghosts ✓
    • Move faster only
    • Pass through walls
    • Double his score multiplier only

  3. 3. In which country was Tetris originally developed, behind the Iron Curtain?Hard

    • The Soviet Union ✓
    • East Germany
    • Poland
    • Czechoslovakia

  4. 4. Which Japanese company originally developed and released Space Invaders?Medium

    • Taito ✓
    • Namco
    • Sega
    • Konami

  5. 5. Which Nintendo boxing game, starring Little Mac, first appeared in arcades before coming to the NES?Easy

    • Punch-Out!! ✓
    • Ring King
    • Ready 2 Rumble
    • Boxing

  6. 6. Which SNES futuristic racing game featured no weapons, just pure high-speed hover-car racing?Medium

    • F-Zero ✓
    • Star Fox
    • Mario Kart
    • Pilotwings

  7. 7. Which beat-'em-up series on the Sega Genesis has players fighting street gangs in a fictional city?Easy

    • Streets of Rage ✓
    • Golden Axe
    • Final Fight
    • Double Dragon

  8. 8. Which home console, released by Atari in 1977, is widely credited with popularizing cartridge-based video games?Medium

    • The Atari 2600 ✓
    • The Atari 5200
    • The Magnavox Odyssey
    • The ColecoVision

  9. 9. Which 1979 Mattel handheld electronic football game helped pioneer portable gaming before consoles caught up?Medium

    • Mattel Football ✓
    • Game & Watch
    • Merlin
    • Simon

  10. 10. Which orange, spinning bandicoot became one of the most iconic mascots of the original PlayStation?Easy

    • Crash Bandicoot ✓
    • Spyro the Dragon
    • Jak
    • Ratchet

  11. 11. Which long-running Square RPG series is famous for numbered entries and recurring summons like Ifrit?Easy

    • Final Fantasy ✓
    • Dragon Quest
    • Phantasy Star
    • Xenogears

  12. 12. Which Enix RPG series, often called Japan's most popular RPG franchise, predates Final Fantasy?Medium

    • Dragon Quest ✓
    • Final Fantasy
    • Phantasy Star
    • Ys

  13. 13. Which classic point-and-click adventure series, created by Sierra, follows a heroic knight through fairy-tale kingdoms?Easy

    • King's Quest ✓
    • Space Quest
    • Police Quest
    • Leisure Suit Larry

  14. 14. Which classic basketball arcade game, known for its exaggerated dunks and "He's on fire!" commentary, launched in 1993?Easy

    • NBA Jam ✓
    • NBA Live
    • NBA Street
    • NBA 2K

  15. 15. Which classic composer wrote the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme music for Nintendo?Easy

    • Koji Kondo ✓
    • Nobuo Uematsu
    • Yoko Shimomura
    • Koichi Sugiyama

  16. 16. Which 1982 Namco arcade racer is credited as an early game with realistic pseudo-3D racing graphics?Easy

    • Pole Position ✓
    • Out Run
    • Hang-On
    • Rad Racer

  17. 17. Which 1978 Taito arcade game is credited as one of the earliest, most influential shoot-'em-ups?Hard

    • Space Invaders ✓
    • Galaxian
    • Asteroids
    • Defender

  18. 18. Which Sega slogan, promoting the Genesis's speed and edgier games, became iconic in the early '90s?Medium

    • "Genesis does what Nintendon't" ✓
    • "Sega, it's thunder"
    • "Nintendo, be there"
    • "Blast processing power"

  19. 19. Which side-scrolling brawler by Technos, from 1987, pioneered the beat-'em-up genre?Easy

    • Double Dragon ✓
    • Renegade
    • Final Fight
    • Streets of Rage

  20. 20. Which Namco 3D fighting game series, starting in 1994, features a cast including Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima?Easy

    • Tekken ✓
    • Virtua Fighter
    • Soulcalibur
    • Dead or Alive

  21. 21. Which classic vehicular combat arcade game, from Atari, has players driving tanks through a maze shooting each other?Easy

    • Combat (or Tank, its arcade predecessor) ✓
    • Battlezone
    • Missile Command
    • Asteroids

  22. 22. Which handheld console, released by Atari in 1989, was the first handheld with a full-color LCD screen?Medium

    • The Atari Lynx ✓
    • The Game Gear
    • The Game Boy
    • The Neo Geo Pocket Color

  23. 23. Which UK-based studio, known for Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007, was acquired by Microsoft in 2002?Hard

    • Rare ✓
    • Naughty Dog
    • Bullfrog Productions
    • Free Radical Design

  24. 24. In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, what item does Link use to rewind time back three days?Medium

    • The Ocarina of Time ✓
    • The Master Sword
    • The Song of Storms alone
    • The Lens of Truth

  25. 25. Which strange NES robot peripheral, bundled with early bundles, interacted with a few special games?Hard

    • R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) ✓
    • The NES Zapper
    • The Power Glove
    • The Advantage

  26. 26. Which company's 16-bit console, the TurboGrafx-16, launched in Japan first as the PC Engine in 1987?Medium

    • NEC ✓
    • Hudson Soft alone
    • Sega
    • SNK

  27. 27. Which company, founded in Japan in 1955, made playing cards before pivoting to video games and Mario?Hard

    • Nintendo ✓
    • Sega
    • Namco
    • Taito

  28. 28. Which company, once a jukebox and slot machine maker, became a video game giant with games like Sonic?Hard

    • Sega ✓
    • Nintendo
    • Namco
    • Konami

  29. 29. What is the name of the item that grows Mario to a larger size when collected?Easy

    • The Super Mushroom ✓
    • The Fire Flower
    • The Super Star
    • The Super Leaf

  30. 30. Which 1983 arcade game had Mario and Luigi fighting sewer enemies, introducing Luigi as playable?Medium

    • Mario Bros. ✓
    • Donkey Kong Jr.
    • Wrecking Crew
    • Donkey Kong 3

  31. 31. Which zone is the first level of the original 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog, famous for its lush, checkered-hill scenery?Medium

    • Green Hill Zone ✓
    • Marble Zone
    • Star Light Zone
    • Spring Yard Zone

  32. 32. In the original Pac-Man, how many points is the first ghost eaten after a power pellet worth?Hard

    • 200 points ✓
    • 100 points
    • 500 points
    • 50 points

  33. 33. Which company, after a legal dispute, secured the rights to distribute Tetris on the Game Boy in 1989?Hard

    • Nintendo ✓
    • Sega
    • Atari Games
    • Mirrorsoft

  34. 34. Which arcade platformer, a spin-off of Bubble Bobble, has players painting a rainbow trail to defeat enemies?Hard

    • Rainbow Islands ✓
    • Snow Bros.
    • Bubble Bobble
    • Parasol Stars

  35. 35. Which 1986 platformer, riding a skateboard-like hoverboard, is set on an island full of fruit and dinosaurs?Easy

    • Adventure Island ✓
    • Bonk's Adventure
    • Snow Bros.
    • Wonder Boy

  36. 36. Which handheld puzzle game pits red and blue viruses against falling colored capsules, created by Nintendo?Medium

    • Dr. Mario ✓
    • Tetris
    • Yoshi's Cookie
    • Puyo Puyo

  37. 37. Which company originally developed the 1982 arcade game Kangaroo, later published in the US by Atari?Hard

    • Sun Electronics ✓
    • Atari
    • Nintendo
    • Sega

  38. 38. Which arcade game features a bouncing smiley-faced robot, Evil Otto, that chases lingering players?Hard

    • Berzerk ✓
    • Robotron: 2084
    • Smash TV
    • Sinistar

  39. 39. Which designer, responsible for Pitfall! and Activision's early success, later co-founded the studio Activision itself?Hard

    • David Crane ✓
    • Nolan Bushnell
    • Al Alcorn
    • Shigeru Miyamoto

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