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[FrostuTheNinja]

Zero, with no doubt whatsoever.

 

[JayEH]

0. I hate when I you lose all your lives at 1 since it makes more sense logically at 0.

 

[Papercuts]

x0. I always looked at it as extra lives, so with x1 there's still another left.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

x1 is total bullshit, surely everyone believes that?

 

[ShirAhava]

X1....one life!

X0 should be on the game over screen

 

[Sophia]

I think your lives are reset every time you reload the game. I know I used to get game overs in SMW playing as a kid.

In the original game, they are. The GBA version keeps track of your lives and it's extremely easy to rack up a lot of them. I sometimes I have 20 or more before finishing the first world. There's also tons of infinite live exploits in the game to rack them up real fast.

I prefer it when it's handled in the "x0" method, because it seems more logical to me. It's more mathematically sound with the other method tho.

 

[Tenumi]

x0, as to me, I tend to read it as how many lives are in reserve.

 

[popyea]

x0 only makes sense if the lives refer to something that revives you. x1 is appropriate if it's referring to the actual amount of lives you have to live, as it wouldn't make sense to be alive when you don't have a life. I think x0 is more intuitive to understand however, and seems to be what most games have adopted.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

X0. It removes any doubt that you're on your last life.

 

[KillerDark]

I guess x0, haven't really ever thought about that before haha

 

[Shinjiru]

x0

 

[freshVeggie]

x0 is more defined, no suspicion possible.
but x1 makes more sense. how can you have zero lives? doesn't that mean you are already dead.

edit: oh it makes sense that you have no more left

 

[ElFly]

0 is clearer, 1 is prone to confusions.

 

[doctorblurg]

x0 forever

 

[Seik]

X0

This should be a poll thread, if possible. There's people on both sides so it could be interesting.

 

[Dr. Buni]

x0

x1 means I still have one life left.

 

[serversurfer]

x0

The "0" stands for "zero ambiguity."

 

[PhoenixDawn]

x0 because I always think of the counter as representing "extra lives" so having it read x1 would mean that I still had one extra life left (after the one I currently have).

 

[Kyne]

x0

.

 

[Troy D Chinula]

X0 for sure. If my screen says x1 then I still have another life in my mind.

 

[injurai]

It's the whole "this" tuesday issue. Is the reference always to the week, or is it always the upcoming day. Or if it tuesday do you count that as today.

It all comes down to whether you count the active life. I would have to say x0 is best.

 

[serversurfer]

Okay, I have a question for my fellow Amiga graybeards.

Did Llamatron actually say, "Last Llama" (out loud), or was it just me and my friends saying it?

Spoiler

We still say it.

 

[Josh7289]

I want a counter that goes into the negatives.

 

[Catalix]

Having 0 lives left always bugged me lol, as a kid I always said "If I have no lives, how am I alive right now?".

x1 for me.

Because the number represents "extra" lives, not all lives.

x0 is basically informing you that all your disposable safety nests are gone, and your "real" life is hanging in the balance.

At least that's how I always viewed it.

 

[Hero of Legend]

x0, telling me I have no lives in reserve.

 

[saunderez]

x0. I've got no lives left so if I die its game over. If its game over at x1 I feel like I've been robbed.

 

[Minions]

x0.... When I get to x1 I always think I'll have another life after... which sometimes leads to disappointment.

 

[PrimeSauce]

Definitely 0. It just makes more sense that way

 

[Eyeh4wk]

X1, cause 0 means game over.

 

[Opto]

0 makes it scarier

 

[RadarScope1]

x0 no ambiguity

This. The lives concept is rooted in the arcades, and in those games you'd typically see it go down to zero because your avatar represented your last life - the one you're playing at that time.

 

[Andodalf]

if i have x4 knives in my bag and take one out, I still have 4 knives, just x3 in my bag and one in my hand. If I have x1 knives in my bag I have one knife. If I take one out I now have x0 knives in my bag, but the one in my hand, and therefore a total of one. I see lives the same way. I have no lives in reserve, only the one I'm using, Lives are an item. x0 master race.

 

[marvelharvey]

x0 of course.

 

[Hyperactivity]

x1 makes more sense, and as a kid I preferred it.

But so many game having x0 makes it such that dying after x1 makes me feel cheated

x0 for sure

 

[VaultBoy101]

x0 = zero extra lives remaining, no confusion.

 

[Dereck]

x0 since Crash Bandicoot doe

 

[deriks]

x0 for sure.

If I have no life more, I have no life more, not one life.

 

[Toa TAK]

Very happy with the x0 responses.

 

[KHlover]

x0 - no continue/extra life left

 

[Magnus]

x0

 

[totowhoa]

x0

I hate when I go back to an old game and realize you game over on x1.

 

[AzaK]

x0

Those are my extra lives waiting to be used.

 

[SeriousApes]

Lives ought to be displayed using +, like +3, meaning 3 extra lives or zero extra lives. Multiplication is too tricky, yo.

 

[ChaosAngel]

I usually think in extra lives as well.

x0

 

[Zephyx]

x0.

 

[SnakeEyez]

0, I hate when games count x1 as your last life because I'm used to x0 so I would get game over while expecting one more.

 

[FTF]

Definitely x0

Don't want that false hope/disappointment

 

[Sarcasm]

X0..so shows nothing

 

[calder]

x0 of course. The counter tells you how many *extra* lives you have left beyond the one you are obviously on.

For the people who say you're on your last life so the screen should say x1... the fact you're playing tells you you're not dead, so you shouldn't need your life counter to tell you that.

 

[exfatal]

x1 for me always thought it counted your lives including the one you are currently using.

so x2 lives means i have 1 life in reserve. basically an indicator on how many times i am allowed to die. So x2 means i got 2 more deaths