Problems Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tail Whip

Well, so much for that. Pikachu, primarily, is an electric-type Pokemon and most players (especially those with "Pokemon Yellow") know that Pikachu's electric attacks won't affect a ground-type Pokemon. Onix is the ground/rock-type Pokemon-- electric attacks will not work. Thus, the only move to make a difference is Tail Whip-- it lowers the opposing enemy's defense stat in battle, making your hits do more damage.

Unfortunately, it won't take long before this Pikachu takes a rock attack and I need to bring out another Pokemon. Water and grass types are super effective against rock Pokemon.

Answer: Vespene gas

Typically rarer than the usual minerals you mine to create buildings and units, Vespene Gas must be refined from a building situated atop an existing geyser. Once it's refined, your typical worker unit (SCV, Drone, or Probe depending) will carry it back to the main hub for your race and repeat as necessary, just as they would with mined minerals. Vespene gas is especially important at later points in the game, especially for more powerful vehicles and upgrades to existing structures. Without it, it's impossible to overtake your enemies with stronger research and firepower.

Many players will likely never forget the warning "You require moar vespene gas!" I never will.

Answer: Survival knife

Part of the point of the early "Resident Evil" games (and what purists would call the 'survival horror' part of the series) was to run. And run you would do when you ran out of the limited bullets you found in the Spenser Mansion, the main setting of the first in the series. To ramp up the horror, bullets would need to be used sparingly; many proponents of the game would actually encourage players to simply evade zombies and undead creatures by fleeing past them and avoiding capture, that way you could save your weapons for larger, more dangerous monsters.

It didn't help that they game had a tricky third-person combat system with confusing angles. Then again, I always thought that it added to the uncontrollable terror. For those with a severe lack of bullets, you had a hunting knife. Sure, you could get a lighter too, but that was more effective at preventing downed zombies from coming back as Crimson Heads. And those were a much bigger problem.

Answer: Bullet Bill

Appearing in many of the later games in the "Mario Kart" series (including "Mario Kart Wii"), the Bullet Bill item was one of many dynamic additions which would allow your character to get back in the game, in this case by transforming you into a Bullet Bill for a short time and jetting along the track to catch up/surpass other racers.

Another item with a similar effect is the Infinite Mushroom, which you can continuously hit to receive boosts to your speed (though it could cause a bit of an issue for handling). Both of these you're more likely to get at the back of the pack; if you're up front, the game does not see the need to give them to you-- the Bullet Bill would be especially unfair while other items, like the Blue Shell, would be ineffective.

Answer: Hitting one peg, and then landing in the catcher

Okay-- if both pegs are at the top of the board, both at opposite sides, things are going to be tough, regardless of the options. In some cases, if the orange pegs are in the top corners you're going to need to use other blue pegs to hit them anyways, and if you have none you're as good as toast.

The only way to win this one is by hitting one of the pegs in one turn, landing the ball into the catcher to win a free ball, then hitting the second to end the stage. If you miss both, hit nothing, and gain no points you DO get the possibility of receiving an additional free ball, but it would only replace the one you lost, making it a non-viable option.

Answer: A journal

Although the "Uncharted" series is action-packed, highly cinematic, and full of little puzzles throughout, it seems as though a wall may have been hit when designing some of the game's major problem-solving moments. As a modern-day Indiana Jones (think the modern, male Lara Croft), Nathan Drake spends most of his time breaking into tombs and ruins for amazing treasures and mysteries.

Some of these require statues to be moved or switches to be pressed or otherwise, and if you can't solve them, surprise surprise, the answers are almost spelled out for you in Drake's Journal. Easy peasy.

Answer: Donkey Kong

"Donkey Kong 64" (N64) was a stellar game when it was released, and almost seemed never-ending with the amazing platforming adventure it contained (brought to us by Rare after two bouts with "Banjo-Kazooie"). It ended up winning Nintendo Game of the Year from "Nintendo Power".

The point of the game was to defeat King K. Rool and collect 201 bananas to replenish DK's pile, stolen from his home. At two points in the game, however, you needed to revisit classic arcade games, completing modified versions to collect coins, one with a Rare logo and one with a Nintendo logo. One involved reaching a certain amount of points in "Jetpac".

The other involved playing through the four levels of the "Donkey Kong" arcade game not once, but TWICE to get the coin. You die, you start over. Brutal.

The coins were, of course, necessary to complete the last stages of the game.

Answer: With four-letter passwords

"Chip's Challenge", released on early home consoles in 1989 and later appearing on MS-DOS, was a fun puzzle game with scores of stages increasing in difficulty as you went along. As you progressed you'd need to locate keys and items to help you navigate through ominously similar facilities until you reached the exit. Because the game contained so many levels, a first-timer likely would not have been able to finish it in one sitting.

The designers thought of that. Completing a level would give a unique four-letter password which, when input before you resumed the game, would simply bring you back to where you were. You just had to remember where you wrote the darn things.

Answer: No

Although the later games in the series added more to the Master Chief's arsenal, it's all irrelevant. Even if you happen to be out of ammo and out of grenades, you'll never drop your weapon unless you swap it out for something new. As such you will always be able to hit your enemy, performing a pistol whip or equivalent strike on a foe.

In some cases it may do more damage than a bullet. Although performing this maneuver on a Hunter would be a bit trickier, enough hits to the Covenant juggernaut's weak spots would bring it down eventually (and bloodily).

The Flood, however, would be a different story. They tend to take hits like a sack of raw meat (the bigger ones, at least) and they hit back. Still a problem.

Answer: Blowing on the cartridge

One of the great things about older Nintendo consoles (and earlier brands) was the cartridge system. Up until the Nintendo 64, cartridges were the main item used to contain games (this was before discs, of course) and when they didn't work for whatever reason, it was standard practice to blow on the underside of the object, right in where it connected to the console, to eliminate any dust. Surprisingly, it worked more often than naught. Because of the pins used in the cartridge, they wore out with repeated use and made them more prone to particles getting caught inside between plays; blowing on them freed them up and made the cartridges readable.

This technique, obviously, is now obsolete.