Ah, the days when games were designed to pump as many quarters out of you as possible. The OG micro transactions.
Also you couldn't let your game be beaten in a single weekend rental, that drives sales down too.
Also make puzzles so cryptic a strategy guide is needed.
Big time. They were also really well designed to allow progression if you came back and started again. They really knew how to design them to extract maximum cash.
There was a very popular game in our local arcade called "Toki". I once made it to the last level on one credit (unfortunately didn't complete it). The entire arcade gathered around to cheer me on.
Another time myself and a good friend finished "Time Crisis" on a single credit in two player mode on a machine that was in our college. Again, massive crowd. People really got joy from watching. It was great. :)
This was a nes game. There were no quarters.
Let’s not forget the whole “oh you beat it once, but what about twice to get the actual ending?”
You've had ONE playthrough, yes. What about second playthrough?
The original NES version?
I'm pretty sure the original was the arcade version...which meant that every restart cost you money!
I think you're right. I've played the arcade version too, and it's truly brutal, but most of my attempts have been on my NES. I don't know how similar the port is.
I've heard the NES version is pretty faithful in gameplay, mostly just a graphical downgrade. I'm no expert, though!
The arcade version was brutally difficult. Brutally! They took that difficulty to some of the 8 bit ports of it (friend of mine had it on an Amstrad CPC 464) so I never really got much fun out of that game unfortunately.
It's funny, I generally hate hard games, but I'm very fond of Ghosts 'n Goblins (both the arcade and NES versions) and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts due to playing them so much in my childhood.
These games are so damn hard.
I played Super Ghouls n Ghosts a ton as a child but never got past the second level
