when did "lives" stop being important in video games?

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and was this the moment when video games were finally divorced from the primacy of the arcade?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:26 (twenty years ago)

Zelda games, Super Mario World important steps in that direction.

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:54 (twenty years ago)

When games got so big and huge that the prospect of starting over right from the beginning would reduce grown men to tears? What was the first (arcade style not rpg) game to use save points?

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Does that include passwords (Bubble Bobble), or does it have to be a battery on the cart?

― melton mowbray's APOCALYPTO! (adr), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:08 (twenty years ago)

I was thinking of proper state saves, but yeah passwords must be pretty old - kinda of a halfway house I guess, in that you have lives, but don't have to start right from the beginning when you lose them all.

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:13 (twenty years ago)

I am reminded of the Killing Game Show, where after you died you could watch a replay of your game, fast-forward it, and then take over at any point.

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:15 (twenty years ago)

1943 had passwords, thank god.

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:17 (twenty years ago)

Did Ninja Gaiden have infinite continues??

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:21 (twenty years ago)

(real answer = the Konami code!)

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:22 (twenty years ago)

yeah antexit & i agreed that the billions of lives you could get in super mario world kinda rendered the finite nature of "tries" a little moot.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:26 (twenty years ago)

I am reminded of the Killing Game Show, where after you died you could watch a replay of your game, fast-forward it, and then take over at any point.

I forgot about that! That was an awesome feature.

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:28 (twenty years ago)

A lot of the earlier arcade games in my MAME collection don't even have continues. I wonder which was the first game to impliment them? Lives still mattered at that point in terms of how many quarters you had to spend beating the game (or if you were going for a high score), but at that point you could complete game even if you were bad at it.

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:46 (twenty years ago)

I'd never considered that before...could you really buy your way into the high scores, just by pumping more 10p pieces in? Was the high score page actually just a local equivalent of the times rich list?

― JimD (JimD), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:57 (twenty years ago)

I got the high score on outrun at the arcade when I was like 8. so rad

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:57 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I meant that lives were still important if you were going for a high score, because in most games your score would reset when you continued. IIRC.

xpost sick

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:31 (twenty years ago)

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