10 Arcade Games Designed To Make You Quit (And Still Took Every Quarter You Had)

These games didn't just beat you. They studied you. The golden age of arcades was built on cabinets engineered to take your quarters, give you just enough hope to keep feeding them, and send you home broke with nothing but the urge to come back. From the game that made you pay double just to die beautifully, to the one so complex that Williams had to reduce the difficulty before it even shipped — we're ranking the 10 arcade games designed to make you quit. And they still got every quarter you had. Drop your number one in the comments. We want the debate. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:44 Gauntlet (Atari Games, 1985) 04:15 Ghosts 'n Goblins (Capcom, 1985) 06:22 Gradius (Konami, 1985) 08:38 Dragon's Lair (Cinematronics, 1983) 11:18 Final Fight (Capcom, 1989) 13:34 X-Men (Konami, 1992) 15:49 Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo, 1988) 17:56 Raiden (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1990) 20:22 Battletoads (Rare/Mindscape, 1994) 23:12 Defender (Williams Electronics, 1981) Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. All video clips, images, and music used in this video belong to their respective owners.