Topic: Infinite Continues in Arcade Ports: Good or Bad

[Slayer]

Personally, I hate when a game enforces infinite continues on the player, as it sucks the challenge dry of an Arcade game when you know no matter how bad you play, YOU WIN!!  When you played a game in an arcade, you didn't have a twenty pound bag of quarters on your belt to ensure beating a game; no, what you needed was pure skill, and when you did beat Metal Slug 2 on limited quarters, you felt greatly accomplished.
Yet even professionals don't seem to share this opinion.  For instance, 1up just gave the House of the Dead collection for the Wii a C+ on the grounds that there were NO infinite continues.
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3167003
From my experience, whenever I play an arcade collection with infinite continues, I don't play it for too long; no challenge, no fun.  I mean, for a fighting game, this is totally different; no amount of continues is going to ensure victory if you keep losing to Vega.  When it's an arcade game that lets you continue from right where you died, though, then things get boring with infinite continues.  For one, I'm personally glad that Sega didn't put infinite continues in the game; this will, you know, make players feel accomplished.

[Xain]

I don't mind infinite continues as long as i earned them. i which this was the case with the metal slug ports. however when me an my bro went though MS4 i imposed a limited continue rule...it went from 5 to 9 continues (i think by 9 continues we beat the game)

[Cypress]

Depends on the game. Some arcade games are made to just take your money so it is extremely difficult.

Try beating a port of Zombie Revenge on Dreamcast (not so hard with one player if you practice but 2 players....well you'll be begging for a continue. 1/2 damage for the loss. And one player-no weapons is impossible because some of the bosses aren't on the ground.)

[Mr Sven]

Totally agree.

back in the days of old when skill was a nessescity you knew you were hard as nails when you could one life a game because of hours and hours of trial and error.

Thats why I appreciate games like Gradius nowadays where one step wrong and you were clubbed to within an inch of your life and sent back to the very start of the level to remind you to try harder.

also... MAME... excellent... but you can't help giving yourself as many coins as you want and it does you no good in the skills department in the long run. shame really cause when you can actually master a 30 second bullet curtain in Giga wing or ikaruga you know you've an achievement there. it just saps the fulfillment you get from it.

unfortunately a lot of us no longer have the time to practice ghouls and ghosts so we can get to the end on one continue ( no way are you gonna one life it! ) so they stick in infinites... personally i would prefer a system where if you beat the game your given a bonus like that... after you have proved your worth so after the hard work you can piss about and explore the levels at your leisure... admittedly the enjoyment in some games is looking at the beutiful art as well as the gameplay.

[Munchy]

If you don't want to use 'em, count down from five or something.

Simple as that.

[Bloodreign]

As some have said in this thread, self control on the credits, back in the day when a game got a home port, they'd put a continue limit forcing you to get better at the game. Sure a game can have infinite continues, but it's up to you as the gamer to decide if you want to take advantage of them or not.

[The Last Belmont]

Infinite Continues = Good. It allows the player to focus on the level that is giving them trouble as opposed to being forced to play levels that they've already mastered. That's what I hate about Bayou Billy and the reason I've never beat it on the Nes, you only get 4 continues and the 2 driving levles (the ones I always die on) are all luck cuz sometimes no matter what you do there's no way to avoid running into an enemy.

[Wonko]

Self control feels like a "cheat" to me or something. That doesn't mean I don't have self control. I limit myself to 5 continues in Strider 2 for example, (And I have yet to finish the game with that self-imposed limit.) but it just doesn't feel right.

That's why I love continue systems for games like Ikaruga or Gradius V, and more recently, Omega Five (Shouldn't it be called Omega Four? It doesn't have 5 characters). For every hour of playtime you get one more credit, and after many hours you finally get Free Play, but you got good at the game by then.

[shelverton.]

In Reply To #8

Strider 2 is an excellent example why infinite continues suck. The game is actually very challenging, but with the unlimited continues you beat it on your first try. Unless you set up some rules of your own. But like you said, it doesn't feel right at all.

[PFG9000]

I wonder if an arcade port could incorporate some sort of "Challenge Mode" like Contra 4 or Nanostray 2 (like anybody's actually played Nanostray ).

[Munchy]

In Reply To #10

Don't quote me on this, but I think the Combat School mode in the various Metal Slug home ports is kind of like the Challenge mode in Contra 4.

[Profbeanburrito]

Its good to have the option. Don't use them if you don't want.  Hell, I wish Gradius games would have infinite continues

[The Last Belmont]

In Reply To #8

Strider 2 is an excellent example why infinite continues suck. The game is actually very challenging, but with the unlimited continues you beat it on your first try. Unless you set up some rules of your own. But like you said, it doesn't feel right at all.

I haven't played that one but how does the continue system work? Do you start exactly where you died with full health? cuz that's gay, if you gameover you should have to do the whole level over again. It's part of the challenge and what makes games fun, starting you exactly where you died with full health or continueing the game where you left off with full health sucks. Castlevania for nes and mario 3 for nes really got it right, you can play for ever but unless you get better at the game you'll never get anywhere. Those are the kind of infinite continue systems I like, it keeps you into the game and the challenge is still there.

[shelverton.]

In Reply To #13

Yeah, that's exactly how Strider 2 works. You're resurrected in the exact same spot you died. Enemies and bosses don't even regain their health, so it's impossible to lose.

It's such a shame cause Strider 2 is frankly one of the greatest sidescrolling action games I've ever played. So the good news is I can play the game over and over and never getting tired of it. But still, it kills some of the fun.