10 Awesome Old-School Video Game Features We Don't See Anymore
6. Lives And Continues
Another concept potentially alien to younger gamers, the once dominant and ubiquitous concept of lives and continues is now a relic of games gone by.
Starting a game with, say, five lives and three continues, there was a tangible, definitive measure of your progress through a game, with a very real fear underpinning your session.
Lost three lives already in Green Hill Zone Act 1? There’s no way you’re completing Sonic the Hedgehog.
Approaching the final level with zero continues and only one remaining life? Man, you’re in for a hell of a time.
Today, running out of HP or failing to complete an objective in a given game simply results in the offer to respawn at your last checkpoint or save.
Okay, you may lose five minutes of progress and have to go collect that particular piece of loot again, but you’re not at any quantitative disadvantage.
We now know that, by exercising a modicum of patience, we will invariably complete whichever game we’re playing through without fear of seeing the once-dreaded “Game Over” screen.
By leaving lives and continues behind us, consequence has been removed from gaming.