Truly, I was the bomb diggity in Asteroids and Joust on Atari 2600. I never died, ever. Brother and sister would make me set a time limit for myself so they could get a turn in. Flying rocks and spacecraft? Whatever. Pterydoctyls? FUCK THEM they ate my spear regularly. Flew into them at full running ostrich speed, belly bouncing off the platforms and right into their sweet spot; it never ended for me.
Then there's Galaxian for Atari 2600, once you get past a certain stage, something will *click* and you will never, EVER lose no matter what (so long as you make the effort to dodge and what not). Anyone can do this, even my parents.
The catch to all this? You have to break in the Atari joystick...