How many lives?

[Fuzzy]

As a kid I only ever really remember the arcade ops setting the number of starting lives to 3.

Nowadays, we're lucky enough to have our own cabs and boards and can tweak the dip switches to our exact liking - but I can't help but think starting with anything more than 3 lives is 'cheating'.

Even if it's something I'm insanely crap at (which is pretty much everything), it's always 3 lives and default bonus and difficulty settings.

Anyone else the same?

 

[silverfox0786]

your right but I think you should start higher and easier and then increase difficulty as you get better

now adays games come with practice mode

so think of it as practice mode settings

plus most arcades don't give real endings unless your set to default so you need to use default to appreciate it fully

 

[minwah]

I nearly always use the default lives, but sometimes lower the difficulty, on games I am really bad at (most of the golden era games tbh).

The games I would say it makes sense to up the lives on are the real coin munchers, where it's nigh on impossible to get anywhere without continuing.

 

[pulstar]

I always set to default (lives, difficulty and extends). I only ever move the difficulty up if I find the game too easy (not often to be honest

).

 

[phillv85]

Strangely with console games I have no issue with setting the difficulty to something other than default, but when it comes to arcade games I usually play default settings with a single credit... except on Shao-Lin's Road because last time I did default settings I turned it off after 3 hours with shoulder pain

 

[rcantor77]

As everyone else has said... default dips for me when I first start to play a game, and eitehr 1 or 3 credits depending on how crap I am.

 

[ben76]

Default setting then use the old pricing and pocket money amount from bitd... so game dependant 10p a go or 20p - 1 go 50p -3 goes or 7 goes for a quid

- Ben

 

[Hurray Banana]

Always start with default. only game I've got that's changed is powerdrift which I play on hardest settings

 

[Pacman83]

The 'default' settings were a good benchmark for the operators. They became synonymous with our gameplay and strategy BITD. First life was your war cry, second life was your heels digging in and your third life was the finger nails hanging on.
The bonus life(s) were your targets to achieve as your skillset improved. These were the actual intentions of the programmers. The game had to have some form of longevity to hold an interest and this is the format that was used, sometimes subconsciously.

One game that sticks out for me would be the 5 life start in Pac Man.

This was only done so when you reached the splitscreen perfect, with the 6 lives counting for 540 points (9 hidden 10 points x 6) there was no way a score of 3,333,360 could be bettered, making a 'perfect' game. I agree with this format, but only for something as rare as perfect Pac Man.

 

[Nintendo Arcade]

I think robotron is the only game I've messed around with the amount of lives to start with, and that's only to gain experience quick and to try and learn the game fast .
Once you've got a hang of it and go back to original settings it's surprisingly easy to play at the harder settings

 

[JohnBud]

it depends on the game for me. if i'm chasing scores i usualy coin it through a few times to see what's ahead. after that i would generally switch to TG settings and settle down for scoring. but if it's something like bubble bobble then i just credit the game and settle down for a wee blast

it was the same for smashtv i just loaded it up with credits and blasted away until the game was completed.

 

[shaunholley]

First life was your war cry, second life was your heels digging in and your third life was the finger nails hanging on.

That is brilliant Jon!