I thought it was going to be hard to find, since this was an arcade game from my childhood… But here’s one article from Neogaf.
If you Google “Double dragon 3 arcade insert coins”, there are reddit articles, forums talking about this, and even the Wikipedia article talks about this being one of the first commercial games to have in-game micro transactions.
"The U.S. version also features item shops where players could use additional credits to purchase in-game items such as weapons, a
dditional moves and new playable characters in one of the earliest forms of microtransactions in a video game, although this system would end up being removed in the later-released Japanese version…"
Also, not defending Bethesda’s practice, but Horse armor also wasn’t their first microtransaction for oblivion…
They also had themes and stuff on the Xbox store, and literally told people that these types of things were going to be released.
To be fair - I didn’t buy oblivion, a friend of mine had it for Xbox, and I went and sailed the kazaa seas and downloaded the base game + all the DLCs without having to pay micro$oft’s ransom. Only pointing out that we knew well before horse armor that gamers will open their wallets for this.
Follow up to my last comment. That link is just user comments discussion about the arcade game, and not an actual publication article that describes the in-game store.
We have to just assume that person posting that comment is knowledgeable and factual, and not astroturfing, etc.
And that the Wikipedia article discussing it is in fact wrong as well…
Sorry, there isn’t a lot of contemporaneous discussion referencing microtransactions on an arcade game that came out in the mid-90s… Back then, we paid up and complained about it to your friends or the person who had their coin on the table.
Basically, the gist is during game play, at specific breaks, you could have the opportunity to buy things like characters, combat abilities, infinit resources, etc.
Here you can even watch someone play the game. Miracle of the internet age, you can just open up a browser, type in “double dragon 3 arcade gameplay” and watch someone play the game and live the experience of being 10 years old in the 90s vicariously through someone else.
Or you could even download the PC port, or play it in emulation on your device of choice so you can truly see if those nasty first-hand accounts are telling the truth and you don’t have to question whether those people posting were knowledgeable, astroturfing, etc.
Back then, we paid up and complained about it to your friends or the person who had their coin on the table.
So I’m ~ probably older than you, and I’ve been in arcades since they were first a thing, and remember putting the quarters on the game console to the reserve the next game very well.
That video you’re showing me is gameplay, but what I wanted to see is the specific microtransaction stuff, the purchasing stuff in the in-game arcade shop with real quarters.
That’s what I was hoping to see, because I don’t remember ever seeing any of that when I was in those arcades back then. Basically, make me a believer, because right now I’m kind of doubtful.
And I know it’s not your specific job to convince me, I’m just hoping someone could show me actual proof of the store specifically, is all. I wasn’t able to find it on my own, and I looked.
Do you have any links for that? I love to read up on it, had never heard about it before today.
I thought it was going to be hard to find, since this was an arcade game from my childhood… But here’s one article from Neogaf.
If you Google “Double dragon 3 arcade insert coins”, there are reddit articles, forums talking about this, and even the Wikipedia article talks about this being one of the first commercial games to have in-game micro transactions.
"The U.S. version also features item shops where players could use additional credits to purchase in-game items such as weapons, a
dditional moves and new playable characters in one of the earliest forms of microtransactions in a video game, although this system would end up being removed in the later-released Japanese version…"
Also, not defending Bethesda’s practice, but Horse armor also wasn’t their first microtransaction for oblivion…
They also had themes and stuff on the Xbox store, and literally told people that these types of things were going to be released.
To be fair - I didn’t buy oblivion, a friend of mine had it for Xbox, and I went and sailed the kazaa seas and downloaded the base game + all the DLCs without having to pay micro$oft’s ransom. Only pointing out that we knew well before horse armor that gamers will open their wallets for this.
Follow up to my last comment. That link is just user comments discussion about the arcade game, and not an actual publication article that describes the in-game store.
We have to just assume that person posting that comment is knowledgeable and factual, and not astroturfing, etc.
And that the Wikipedia article discussing it is in fact wrong as well…
Sorry, there isn’t a lot of contemporaneous discussion referencing microtransactions on an arcade game that came out in the mid-90s… Back then, we paid up and complained about it to your friends or the person who had their coin on the table.
Basically, the gist is during game play, at specific breaks, you could have the opportunity to buy things like characters, combat abilities, infinit resources, etc.
Here you can even watch someone play the game. Miracle of the internet age, you can just open up a browser, type in “double dragon 3 arcade gameplay” and watch someone play the game and live the experience of being 10 years old in the 90s vicariously through someone else.
Or you could even download the PC port, or play it in emulation on your device of choice so you can truly see if those nasty first-hand accounts are telling the truth and you don’t have to question whether those people posting were knowledgeable, astroturfing, etc.
So I’m ~ probably older than you, and I’ve been in arcades since they were first a thing, and remember putting the quarters on the game console to the reserve the next game very well.
That video you’re showing me is gameplay, but what I wanted to see is the specific microtransaction stuff, the purchasing stuff in the in-game arcade shop with real quarters.
That’s what I was hoping to see, because I don’t remember ever seeing any of that when I was in those arcades back then. Basically, make me a believer, because right now I’m kind of doubtful.
And I know it’s not your specific job to convince me, I’m just hoping someone could show me actual proof of the store specifically, is all. I wasn’t able to find it on my own, and I looked.
Thanks.
Honestly, I was just looking for a link so I can read up on it, not challenging you about it.
I actually tried Googling your comment sentence but it just gave me the game and nothing about this feature you were talking about.
I’m going to go take a look at that article you linked for me. Appreciate it.