After winning the game, the player is given the option to start the game again in "Hard Mode"

This little pixellated black screen you see here once generated a significant amount of pondering for my brother and I. Circa, oh, I would say 1988.

We jumped, pushed and pulled. Kicked, punched and shouted. But nothing happened. We did it again and again and again. We were stuck and couldn't for the life of us get any further, we couldn't even get back out of the room.

It drove us mad.
It was hopeless.

You have to remember this was pre-internet days. No cheats.
No 'how-to' hints. Just our 10 and 11 year old brains respectively.

It had taken a long time to reach this point, and so this in itself was an accomplishment. I remember looking forward to getting into this room. But once we were there, well of course we wanted to go further, beyond this (now cursed) screen.

Of course we did eventually figure it out, and of course another, more difficult, obstacle appeared soon afterwards. (I remember fire, spikes and difficult jumps).

And at some point, we just stopped playing it altogether.

Anyway, a Crystal Castles song reminded me of being in this room, this place without exit or escape, the repetitive bleeping, the frustration...

Crystal Castles – Alice Practice

+ some others:

Weezer - Heart Songs
No Age – Teen Creeps
Rappers Delight Club – When we were Kids
Flight of the Conchords - Inner City Pressure