Buying the continues? A dream game

[Obiwanshinobi]

As much as I cherish coin-op games, lately I've been getting my arcade kicks out of games a bit less mean about dying. I realize that game centers being still relevant in Japan is what keeps certain genres alive at all and probably all the better for it, but where I live, playing a port is just getting a half of the real deal. Arcade tourism, shmupmeets and fighting game tournaments are, when all is said and done, just a life support treatment. Making a game for home platforms as if it was meant to be coin-op is either a thing of nostalgia, or missing the point (neither had shaped up arcade gaming as we know it; it's been always all business).

Soapbox rant out of the way, here's my idea (let me know if somebody else had it before) how to make arcade-style games less about 1cc without utterly cheapening them. The key is assets management not unlike what can be found in roguelikes. Say, a shmup with shops at certain points where you can buy weapons, skills and such, as well as continues. Needless to say, continuing (and just spending money) would be detrimental to the score. Optionally the score could be just the sum of money left when you die or complete the game. Add branching paths à la Darius to the mix, secret areas à la Mario, trap zones and reappearing "Grim Reaper" enemy (tricky enough to time out or escape from, bastard-hard to beat) à la dungeon crawlers...
Last but not least, it shouldn't be a total pushover to just credit-feed through, becuse if it's possible, Some People™ WILL, out of curiosity if nothing else, then the aftertaste will be so bad they won't touch the game again. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they know this business is about pleasing the consumers rather than patronising them with peremptory game design. I'm pretty sure not a single home port of a coin-op game when those were still platform sellers (killer apps even) was as easily credit-feedable as Ibara. Even 1vs1 fighters with infinite continues (I found SoulCalibur II surprisingly easy to complete this way as Link, but it's a last-gen game, sporting a fairly beefed up single player mode at that).

Not that nobody had tried. I appreciate what the maker of Hydorah did and the game's not too shabby, but his (?) attempt to avoid the nostalgia game design trappings pretty much boiled down to hinting it's not a pretend coin-op game. Point taken, but the difference remains cosmetic.
Infinite continues and grinding for upgrades didn't make Viewtiful Joe on Hard/Adults too easy to complete by any means, but as I work on Magnificent Five having already bought everything in store, the assets management incentive is gone and I still think the dash move should have been available from the start. This should serve as a warning - when Fun Weapons™ are only obtainable by no fun means, the game's got a problem with its design.
Grinding for upgrades in Geometry Wars: Galaxies is no fun at all. I'm like "for the sake of unlocking the game at its finest you expect me to do WHAT?" Resident Evil 4 is like that too (mediocre foreplay on Normal und so weiter, und so weiter).

I wonder why there seems to be no Super Mario Bros. of shmups. The genre's only attempts to escape from the now-decaying coin-op land known to me are: caravans and Compile shmups. Both are history. Hybrid games like The Guardian Legend and Super Star Force are at the risk of some players liking one mode better than another. Blaster Master/Metafight is the only such a two tricks pony I know to ever achieve any remarkable acclaim. If anything, Shadow of Rome is infamous for its stealth missions (no idea if rightfully so, but their reputation must have hurt the sales).

[Moniker]

I wonder why there seems to be no Super Mario Bros. of shmups.

I think this is a valid indictment of shmup developers. We've seen a little wiggling with the likes of Hydorah and Sine Mora, but I think there's a fundamental unwillingness to adapt on the part of both devs and fans. A shmup with an SMB3-type overworld would be interesting, and Hydorah does it fairly well, very low save allowance aside. I don't think being able to beat a level and then not have to replay it from the beginning each time would in any way denigrate the experience. As long as you have a more standard arcade mode, there isn't much to complain about, except out of a sense of ultraconservatism.

CAVE may yet survive carrying on as it has, but I have doubts. What most see as purism, I think may boil down to a fundamental laziness in basic design.

[Obiwanshinobi]

In Cave's defense, arrange modes take some effort to be developed for sure, but their ports are aimed at arcadegoers all the same.
I for one don't want to import consoles and games for cool points. I want to easily buy affordable games for the hardware I own but for games to be released over here, they must have something more than "1cc or GTFO" going for them. Is it really that difficult to emulate what Sega and Nintendo did with (Super) Monkey Ball and F-Zero GX/AX? Heck, didn't even PES have a coin-op iteration?

[nasty_wolverine]

i have an idea, have a coin-op accesory for modern consoles, and arcade games cannot be played without it.

you put in money to start and for continues. once you 1cc it gives your money back....

[CoolgyFurlough]

i have an idea, have a coin-op accesory for modern consoles, and arcade games cannot be played without it.

you put in money to start and for continues. once you 1cc it gives your money back....

What happens when the machine gets jammed because there are too many quarters in it?

[nasty_wolverine]

i have an idea, have a coin-op accesory for modern consoles, and arcade games cannot be played without it.

you put in money to start and for continues. once you 1cc it gives your money back....

What happens when the machine gets jammed because there are too many quarters in it?

buy the XL version of the accesory...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Deluxe edition could come bundled with a hug pillow to cheer you on. "Sugoi!"