Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (ARC)
Nothing motivates a player to drop more quarters in the arcade machine then presenting them the very imminent death of their character. Capcom lived and breathed off of it with the games in the '90s as you'll see with the next game on this list. If you don't cough up some dough before the countdown reaches zero, you get a POV of the protagonists getting straight up murdered in cold blood, complete with blood splattered across the screen. Dang!
The Punisher (ARC)
Another Capcom beat 'em up from the 1990s, which means another traumatizing game over screen! When the Punisher goes down, Microchip gives him CPR, desperately trying to get his partner back in action. OK, so it isn't the proper way to do CPR, but regardless, the scene is still pretty tense. When the countdown reaches zero, you get to see and hear Frank's heart flat line. Microchip failed him! No wait, you did because you couldn't cough up more quarters, you cheap git.
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie' s Double Trouble (SNES)
Being tossed in a crib seems like more of an annoyance to Dixie Kong than anything else, at least that's what her facial express tells us. Kiddy Kong, on the other hand has a look that sells despair. The fact that the two kongs are in a crib might not seem bad, but then you hear a door slam and the screen goes black, which suggest that the Kremlings put the heroes in a much bigger prison that cannot easily be crawled out of.
Daytona USA (ARC)
Alright, we've had enough gloom for this feature. Time to end on a high note. The developers were not only so jazzed about your failure that the sing about it, they do you the curtousey of spelling the words out for you, you know, just in case you forgot how to spell "Game over."
