Hey there, how you doing? The following is something I've wanted to put together for a while and
Hamster's inclusion of configurable continues in Alpha Mission II was the final kick in the ass I needed. I've talked with a lot of people about arcade games over the years and while many get the whole 1CC thing it is often a bridge too far. Complaints of rote memorization with no appreciable progress means tedium. If 1CC is a mountain you see unlikely you'll ever climb, consider a more structured approach.
A Par System
Playing an arcade game with infinite continues is boring. There is no challenge. No tension. Deaths are meaningless. Life is meaningless. Just unplug the cabinet and go home. The premise here is simple. A continues par is set for a game, with steps between par and 1CC which serve as goalposts. The tricky part is ideally par will challenge someone new to the game, where completing is within grasp, but still requires you to be engaged and attentive.
As of right now I am using the very scientific method of playing through the game as closely as I can to how I think someone new would to get an idea of a good count, and then chopping that in half each step. It is not perfect, but hopefully with some refinement we can find a good general curve to follow. Here are my recommendations for a couple games that will very likely need adjustment so if you give this a shot let me know if these feel way too high or low. Likewise, below are some suggestions of how to track this many continues easily whether you are using the new continue feature, or in another game like Metal Slug that does not have it.
Code:
~TIME PAR BIRDIE EAGLE ALBATROSS 1CC
Alpha Mission II 00:39 28 14 7 3 0
Metal Slug 00:26 23 11 5 2 0
- ~TIME - Approximate time (hh:mm) for a full run through of the game.
- PAR - With basic familiarity with the game/genre beating the game with this number of continues is attainable by essentially everyone. Should still offer some challenge, this is the line between infinite continues and engaged with the game.
- BIRDIE - Requires some dedication and a decent grasp on the game's mechanics, systems and levels.
- EAGLE - Solid understanding of the game end-to-end, further refinement required, but you know what is coming over the next hill.
- ALBATROSS - Essentially mastered surviving the game. You know the exact spots you need to iron out.
- 1CC - Survival Mastery.
How do?
Alpha Mission II includes continue count limits so it makes this easy to setup and enforce. In
Game Settings,
Continue will let you set the maximum number of continues. Doesn't matter if you dump 99 credits in, once you have continued this many times you will get Game Over.
Unfortunately this has not been patched into any other game yet (and likely won't since it is a built in feature), but all is not lost. You can sort of accomplish the same idea. When you start a game like Metal Slug, insert the number of credits at the start (technically +1 to all the numbers above for your starting credit), as you play continue as normal, once you hit 0 that is it. It is the honor system so it is on you not to dump an extra credit or two. Even then it is easy to accidentally tap the insert coin button. You can try remapping Add credits to just ZL to help if accidental drops is a concern.