Arcade games are, on general, just kinda' hard. Some are pretty manipulative (I think Dragon's Lair straight-up demands/has a settings for you pay more money at one point even if you didn't die) but, like, Ghosts 'N Goblins and Ghouls 'N Ghosts are pretty fair to play otherwise. People one-credit clear those all the time and it's not even remotely in the scope of what it takes to beat some MTX/PTW games. The problem with MTX/PTW games is that they're on your home computer/console and can expect you to keep playing and modern psychologically manipulative techniques are being applied. Arcades were just designed to kinda' amuse you for a maximum of like 30-60 minutes usually and rarely use any sort of psychological techniques as far as I remember.
Arcade games are, on general, just kinda' hard. Some are pretty manipulative (I think Dragon's Lair straight-up demands/has a settings for you pay more money at one point even if you didn't die) but, like, Ghosts 'N Goblins and Ghouls 'N Ghosts are pretty fair to play otherwise. People one-credit clear those all the time and it's not even remotely in the scope of what it takes to beat some MTX/PTW games. The problem with MTX/PTW games is that they're on your home computer/console and can expect you to keep playing and modern psychologically manipulative techniques are being applied. Arcades were just designed to kinda' amuse you for a maximum of like 30-60 minutes usually and rarely use any sort of psychological techniques as far as I remember.
Because your parents never really gave you that much money for it too, nowadays kids have access to credit cards like it's nothing