If you can't get a simple game like that perform well even when written in JavaScript on a semi-modern PC you wouldn't be able to do it in any language. It's certainly not the issue.
PC was ridiculed for its bad graphics capabilities by fans of other home computers. Only over time PC's capabilities for graphics and video games improved piece by piece until after many years PC fans had the last laugh.
they missed out, i reckon. whereas the commodore and atari users had heaps of fun and then moved over to pc anyway.. they'd have more colorful memories.