Resol,
@Resol@lemmy.world avatar

It’s simple: they didn’t.

mctoasterson,

Billy Mitchell or Todd Rodgers might claim to.

PersnickityPenguin,

I remember watching a guy play an arcade game back in about 1990, I think it was spy hunter or something but the car could do a jump and side scrolled to the right. Not sure. Anyways, over the course of about 4 hours this guy plunked about $100 worth of quarters into the machine until he beat it.

10-year-old me was, uh, impressed to say the least. I tried playing it but I only had two quarters and lasted less than 3 minutes.

turbodrooler,

Those were the days

UKFilmNerd,
@UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk avatar

Definitely not Spy Hunter as that game loops and has no ending.

I remember using a cheat on the home computer version for my ZX Spectrum for infinite lives. I got bored after a while because of the fact it never got anywhere, just scenery changes every so often.

Sleestak_Chaka,

I (my mom) spent so much money on this game. It was in the laundromat near our home. My little brother and I would die so early on. Back then it took some time to figure what was going on with this game and what to do. We were so young so that’s all I recall.

Pasta4u,

I did it with a pen and paper over several months

starman2112,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

Games like are why I’m not super upset about modern monetization practices. Extracting large amounts of money from children is nothing new

Duamerthrax,

It was wrong then and it’s wrong now.

SinningStromgald,

The only arcade that had that game charge $2 or something like that for each credit. I tried it once and then never again.

Krudler,

It was 50 cents per play at launch.

evanuggetpi,

By perfecting it on the Amiga first

Kabutor,

you try to not play any arcade if you haven’t seen anyone else play first, that cost you money :) My experience with Dragons Lair is that it was a nice game to watch, and a bad game to play, it was expensive and as someone else said in the thread it requires you to memorize the movements, it was never random

cantstopthesignal,

Quick time events are such a garbage game design concept

WaxedWookie,

As an interactive method of storytelling, I think they’re fine (but not my thing). I think the problems really emerge when you try to combine them with the revenue-driving elements of an arcade machine - the challenges need to be designed to kill you so you’ll keep paying rather than giving you choice or staking you in to the story further.

cupcakezealot,
@cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

lots of pizza and tokens plus summer vacation

iMastari,

I was in an arcade all day for multiple days watching others play. After four days of this I played and after two attempts I was able to finish it.

obrenden,

My older brother’s friend worked at an arcade. He opened up the panel and loaded this game up with credits for me. I still never got close to beating it

thisbenzingring,

I watched someone beat it… but no I was never able to do it

Conyak,

Lots of quarters. Arcade games were not designed to be beatable with one quarter. They wouldn’t make money if they did.

Got_Bent,

The mechanics of that game were more like a very fast choose your own adventure than the traditional move joystick left, spaceship go left mechanics.

Because the graphics were coming off a laser disk, they didn’t generate on the spot. There were predetermined outcomes to every move.

When people figured this out, information started to collect in the magazines, and the game became beatable.

guyrocket, (edited )
@guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

This is correct. I remember getting patterns from a magazine.

Also, there are flashes on-screen that could guide you if you are quick enough.

ETA: Just watched a walkthrough of this game. I've never seen the ending before today! I'm certain horny teenager me would have just loved to see the princess's huge nipples.

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