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[Remembrance]

I'm mostly wondering: What kinds of limitations do you impose on the credits for yourself?

On the first run, stop using credits at level 2.
On subsequent runs, stop using credits after I get past the furthest place I reached last time.

I've just started trying this system this year, but it feels about right.

 

[Daouzin]

Didn't the Metal Slug Anthology have some art or music you could only unlock if you beat the games within a certain number of continues?

I hope not, cause if it did I somehow didn't realize it. I only had like 3 sessions with it. The unlimited continues really ruined it for me.

 

[Ban Puncher]

1CC

 

[Remembrance]

Didn't the Metal Slug Anthology have some art or music you could only unlock if you beat the games within a certain number of continues?

Each difficulty has a limited number of continues by default (30, 20, or 10). If you beat each game with limited continues on then you get tokens that you use to unlock art galleries and music.

You could also turn on unlimited continues, but then you don't get anything.

 

[Plaguefox]

.

 

[Haunted]

You have infinite credits, but every time you lose a life, the game sends an electric shock through the controller.

 

[danmaku]

Try credit feeding: after the first stage in most arcade games this means dying, continuing, playing for a few seconds then dying again and so on. Over and over and over. You call this "playing"? You're just watching the game, if you keep pumping credits into the cabinet you're obviously not good enough to play it. That's fine, some people just want to see the game and don't care for mechanics but if you do, it's pretty obvious that you shouldn't credit feed.

 

[stan423321]

I thought this thread will be about Ubisoft games

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Give each credit to a monkey and have it start typing.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

When you boot the game, get given the following options.

1. Normal mode = infinite credits
2. Hard mode = 3 credits
3. Hard mode+ = 3 credits, no save states
4. Really hard mode = 1 credit, no save states

Whilst they pick their mode, tell the players "playing this game for the first time? Use Normal Mode to find out what you're in for - then challenge yourself with limited credits!"

 

[Atomski]

Easy.. Everytime you use a credit the game automatically takes 25 cents from your bank account.

Walla the home arcade is born.

 

[gambaman]

I had that problem when I designed an arcade cabinet for my kids. Although I employed genuine arcade joysticks and a vintage CRT display you didn't get the same feeling that playing the original arcades. When playing the original, death was dramatic: if you "died" in the game and you wanted to continue playing you had to spend a valuable coin. In my cabinet you was able to get a credit just by pressing a button so in practical terms you had unlimited lives and the feeling was lost. To solve this I devised a joystick system with an integrated credit counter. The system disables the insert coin buttons unless credits are available and includes a little challenge that must be won in order to obtain them. The challenge is the Simon electronic game created by Ralph Baer and Howard J. Morrison in 1978. As in the original Simon game there are several skill levels. The number of credits obtained when the game is won will depend on the selected skill level. You can see the project at https://www.hackster.io/user3853574654/arcade-joystick-x4-plus-simon-game-384309 and https://github.com/gambaman/ArcadeJoystickX4PlusSimonGame. You can also see a video demo at https://youtu.be/ENW7n0ni5kg.

 

[zenspider]

Discipline baby!

Seriously the only method I've seen that worked was I believe R-Type Final (and others) where you unlock credits as you Game Over.

It doesn't make a ton of sense design-wise, but it should get you in the habit of losing well.

I think Hard Corps Uprising had something similar - maybe you bought credits along side upgrades? - and an arcade mode with now upgrades as well.

I'm a high score whore so credits do nothing for me. I might be the only person who has never beaten half of my shmups/arcade/score attack titles.

 

[kingbean]

I count how many credits I use and try to get that down as much as possible.

Working on Mutation Nation right now. Boy that's a toughy.

I finally was able to beat Gradius 3 without continuing last year and I have a picture of it with my high score on some micro sd card in my desk drawer.

 

[nush]

I try to use self control and credit feed just for practice.

 

[wondermega]

It sucks. It's truly a part of the design of those old games, and can't simply be replicated appropriately.

To this day when I go to an arcade, it's not really enjoyable for me unless the games have quarter slots. If the games rely on a "pay for time, play as much as you like" system then it becomes a value-lacking drag for me.

 

[Paracelsus]

Games were designed to nickle and dime people, the premium wasn't just to play the piss-poor port at home, it was to avoid quarter feeding.

At the arcade, it wasn't about how many continues you had, but how much money you had.

If anything, they're way more balanced than the original console games, designed to be 45 mins long but few lives, few extra lives and then it's game over. You were indeed supposed to ace those things.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World, now imagine having continues in a game like that, it would be over in 20 minutes.

 

[Rellik]

Games were designed to nickle and dime people,

We really have come full circle.

 

[Paracelsus]

We really have come full circle.

In the arcade, they were. Time available, rounds, everything was tailored to scam people.

Look at Virtua Striker: 1:30m of gameplay, some machines had only 3 penalties, if it ended on a 3-3 there was no sudden death, just CONTINUE.

 

[Ubername]

It sucks. It's truly a part of the design of those old games, and can't simply be replicated appropriately.

To this day when I go to an arcade, it's not really enjoyable for me unless the games have quarter slots. If the games rely on a "pay for time, play as much as you like" system then it becomes a value-lacking drag for me.

Yeah this is a really funny phenomenon especially for someone who grew up wasting their money in cabinets. Even classics like mario bros are eh if you don't have any "skin" in the game. Betting on games used to be fun too.

 

[Gandara]

I recall some games that it didn't matter how many credits you had, if you couldn't beat the last level on one credit, you couldn't beat the game. Rastan and Narc come to mind. Those games would force you to the beginning if you couldn't beat them.