Probably more a question for older gamers who started playing on arcade machines. But were you a continue person, or a play the game on 1 credit, if you die you start again person ?

Me, I was a start again person. I'm a bloody minded bastard (I guess that's pretty apparent from my posts), far as I was concerned using more than one credit was cheating (except for Gauntlet - that was impossible to finish on 1 credit cos it was on a timer, that's dirty pool having your health run down on a timer).

But when you actually completed a game on 1 credit it was a real achievement. Not like games today, they're just too easy. (jeez, you know you're getting older when you're saying 'not like today' who'd ever have thought you could say that about video games )

But come on, old school video gamers, you know what I mean. Not first generation video games, not like space invaders or centipede, galaxian or pac man - there was no completing them (your head blew up first ). But the golden age of video games. I remember my first time completing shinobi, robocop, ghosts n goblins, wonder boy, wardner, soldier of light, golden axe, double dragon and others that I'm too drunk to remember now, all on 1 credit, many of them with a crowd of folks round me in the arcade cheering me on cos nobody had completed them in the local arcade before.

There was a lot more satisfaction back then, knowing that if you died you'd have to put another 10p in (10p a go - you remember 10p a go ) and start again, so not getting killed actually meant something (unless you were a continue player, and we didn't like them - continue players were always the rich kids who came down the arcade with five pound notes to change into 10p's when we just had a pocket full of shrapnel). You got that adrenaline rush that you just don't get with consoles and continue from where you died games.

The games look like playing real life now, but back in the day they were just somehow more exciting, you got a proper buzz from getting further than you did last time on your 10p. And completing a game.... man, before I ever took any stimulant drugs, completing some games gave me a rush that was up there with mdma & coke. Honestly. Well, at least in my memory from being a kid anyway.

Good times. We've gained in having the games in your living room instead of having to go and find them in moody arcades. We've gained in the great graphics and sound, the cinematic experience. But I think maybe we've lost something in the sheer excitement.

Dunno, I had a pretty shit childhood and a worse early teen years so maybe I'm just fixating on the best things of my life during that period. But when I was in an arcade, in front of that machine, on my 10p, getting to the end of the game, folks gathering cos I was about to beat the game and nobody else ever had, the adrenaline coursing through my body because I WAS NEARLY THERE, JUST ONE MORE JUMP, JUST A FEW MORE SHOTS BEFORE THE BIG BOSS DIES. You just don't get that any more.

I think that's quite sad, we've lost something

E2A yet again I start a topic about something then just ramble on about utter arse until I've forgotten what the topic was about

HaHa

10p credits now that takes me back!

I must admit i always had a pocket full of change for when the going got tough. Golden axe was the only game i didnt keep having to pump coins into to stay alive, mostly because i played it all the time.

Volc

Had a walk around the arcade a few weeks ago just for the nostalgia, absolutely nothing in there anymore of any interest couldn't even find an old Street Fighter II machine . I think there was a Ridge Racer 1 machine and Time Splitters or something both for a quid a pop (pfft yeah right), the rest of the machines were one arm bandits and gamblers.
I have completed most of those games you are on about but not on a single credit and I would not start again from the beginning if I died I would continue from the level I got to. IIRC I would limit myself to 50p or something and if I couldn't clock the game with 50p then I would give up.
IMHO arcades should feature the best games that ever come out and classics from that era, best of the 70's, 80's, 90's etc.
I would have to agree that something seems to have gone missing with consoles and pc's becoming more capable of gaming it seems that the game designers would rather focus on this market rather than the video game and arcade market.

One credit def.

Only ever managed to complete Shinobi, and very nearly the one with the 70s flares and guys in KKK type hoods. Anyone remember what that was called?

I don't think i ever completed anything on one credit ...fair play booj, you got more patience than me

Rolling Thunder.

NARC was alright too.

once i started on the spinnin reels i rarely looked at games machines at the arcade.

ef

i used to tape the end credits at home, after completeing games. little things please little minds i spose

thanks, been bugging me for ages that.

Ahh.. That was the Golden Age booj.. Ghosts and goblins, Golden Axe..

What about Operation Wolf? That was an arcade machine.

I was a continue person. No willpower, see.

Dragons Lair on one credit

always had a huge queue of moaners behind us, it was new in our town and the arcade had two machines, me on one and my mate on the other

use to hang around after we had completed it too to get the newbs through the hard bits in return for chip money or a bit of smoke

ooo 10p credit on gauntlet for 800hp was on for hours after level 100 the screen was no longer fixed ie the players where always in centre of screen I was always Wizard (wizard has eaten all the food lately)

My game of choice was this..
Never completed a game on one credit

I loved Dragon's Lair, never did beat it but I did see it completed once. Only game I remember clocking was Gyrax (I think that was it), had to go round the outside of the screen shooting all the enemy coming from the different planets in our solar system, held the high score in millions for a while, so it must have been easy. Had to abandon my best game ever of Disks of Tron because I was absolutely bursting for a pee.

edited to add: once I lost the first "man" that was usually me beat.

I always wanted an Operation wolf machine with mounted SMG and GL launcher don't think i ever completed an arcade game, could not afford many gos as im sure they were 20p a pop in my local chippy did love caining the old classics on the c64 HAPPYDAYS

I'd still be broke if they hadn't put a computer version out

I very seldom found a game I had enough skill at to finish on one credit... short of Karate Champ (had 2 joysticks) and another one called Yar Kung Fu (think that was the name... you fought a bunch of different martial arts fighters, and I always felt this was the first game to incorperate multiple joystick moves to create different actions (aside from the basic fighting game controls)