IMO it was addictive, but only to certain personality types. Mine is definitely one of them. Others would see a difficulty spike and/or the amount of re-treading they need to do to make progress as a deterrent.
Recent games are more addictive in a way that appeals more widely.
In reality for certain personalities (myself included) that focus on mastery is actually the addictive bit, and I think its a productive addiction all things considered. Im not addicted to the mind-numbing aspect of playing, I'm addicted to the huge amount of knowledge I need to gain in order to succeed. Its the same reason I was drawn to DOTA and Magic later in life.
Of course, the incentives were also a little different. Old arcade, for example, games wanted you to drop in more quarters. So they had to find ways to make you lose. But not just lose, lose when you're just close enough to the next level.
One more level
Just after this boss
I think single player games now are just as addictive as they were then. Especially when you look at indie games (Shovel Knight, Death's Door etc).
The moment interaction with other players happens is when I feel a higher bump in addiction can happen. Loot boxes, seeing a cool skin etc.
