Continue? #5 - Final Fight

Here's Guy from Final Fight looking understandably displeased:



By inserting more money, you make a knife fall from the ceiling. Although it doesn't appear to sever the fuse or your bonds, Guy appears nonetheless delighted:

Continue? #4 - The Punisher

I have nothing to add to this, except: 'Nooooooooooooooo!'

Continue? #3 - Toki

Since I may be without internet access for a few days, I thought I'd go ahead and post another continue screen. This is one of my my favourites, winning the coveted 'Most Shamelessly Manipulative Arcade Game' award. What makes it worse is that Toki is one of the hardest platformers ever created. You've got a huge, cumbersome, one-hit-kill sprite surrounded by scores of fast-moving, projectile-launching enemies and lots of super-cheap traps that will nail the unwary. Actually, they'll nail the wary too - this is a game where memory and repetition outweigh skill and reflexes. You pretty much need to learn exact patterns then execute them perfectly to get through. Bleugh.

Also, to add insult to injury, if you do pump sufficient credits into it to reach the final stage, you suddenly find yourself limited to five more continues before it restarts from Stage 1. Apparently your money's not good enough anymore!

Continue? #2 - Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Continue? #1 - Blue's Journey

Lest we forget, video games are commercial enterprises designed to cajole/extort as much revenue from punters as possible. With the decline of the arcade, comes the death of the 'Continue?' screen. Coin-ops used a variety of strategies to try to convince players to reinvest - over the next few weeks, I'll post up some of my favourites.