I did come across the competitive scene there about 2 years ago. Honestly I found it both fascinating and a bit disheartening. There was I happy with my occasional dad game where I was regularly beating the AI on one of the higher levels. Nope. Apparently still a noob after 25 years.
The speed and accuracy that they move and build at is astounding.
In this instance that’s definitely the case that it’s shitty behaviour IMO but in general I still hold dear to my view that most people are good and it’s my default position on new people I meet, with some bad vibe exceptions, until proven otherwise.
It’s like the old Mr Rogers quote about looking for the helpers. I see (and try my best to also do and am so lucky to be married to someone the same) so much good in this world.
The arcade version was brutally difficult. Brutally! They took that difficulty to some of the 8 bit ports of it (friend of mine had it on an Amstrad CPC 464) so I never really got much fun out of that game unfortunately.
Big time. They were also really well designed to allow progression if you came back and started again. They really knew how to design them to extract maximum cash.
There was a very popular game in our local arcade called “Toki”. I once made it to the last level on one credit (unfortunately didn’t complete it). The entire arcade gathered around to cheer me on.
Another time myself and a good friend finished “Time Crisis” on a single credit in two player mode on a machine that was in our college. Again, massive crowd. People really got joy from watching. It was great. :)