Interesting how these arcade games do or don't promote choice. These games are designed to cause a lot of damage and use up your credits. They throw in some randomized "choose door 1 or 2 to get health or hurt" kinds of ideas, they let you mix and match levels at your preferred order, little mechanical things like that. With cheap damage tricks bringing players down, the limit is up to the players' own finances. So how do you drag more money out of someone who's at the ending? Well, how about some good and bad endings. A single sequence in the final level determines your ending. Kill all the tiny, difficult to shoot creatures, and you get your good ending. Miss a single one? Bad ending. The final level is only unlocked by clearing all other levels, so you better be willing to put in the time and the cash to chase that sense of accomplishment. Weird feeling on that.

But really, the ideal format is to have a large group of friends rotating around the player seats to keep going as long as possible. Throw in some drinking, and not many people are gonna complain. Its just interesting to pick apart the tricks once you're familiar with them. Gacha games and arcades know the score and they're gonna keep driving forward on 'em.