Editing Rapid Fire King:Volume1 Chapter 4 (section)

===Shoot ‘Em Up and Arcade Terminology===

1up: An item or score level that gives you an extra life.

A Real Man Only Needs One Credit: A sign of love.

Activate Your Kinetic Vision: Fighting spirit is crucial.

Adlibbing: Simply reacting instead of following a plan. Happens a lot at higher stages.

Arcade: A dark, cramped, uncomfortable space that has since become a target of nostalgia.

Arcade Game: Any game made for use in an arcade.

Auto Difficulty Setting: A system for the game to automatically adjust its difficulty based on your number of power ups, rapid-fire speed, and remaining lives. When a game is in a cabinet with a rapid-fire device installed, this can be fairly deadly.

Board: The game’s rom board inside the cabinet. Swap it out and – tah dah – the cabinet runs a different game.

Cabinet: The box the game is inside. Includes the monitor and control panel. Used to be shaped like tables, but they are now upright models with a diagonally positioned monitor.

Credit: What you purchase when inserting a coin. Most games display on the side of the screen how many credits have been purchased.

Eaten: What you call a coin when the game does not give you a credit. Also called a coin jam. Creates tension with the arcade workers.

Fighting Spirit: Necessary for high-level adlibbing when you don’t have a plan or can’t keep up with the plan.

Gamer: Someone who loves games. Or only loves games? No, that’s going too far.

Get Good: Sometimes, this is the only way to beat something.

Hyah!: Shouting this while rapid firing increases your fighting spirit by 20%.

High Scorer: Someone who plays to get the best score. Or someone with the best score.

Insane Mode: When the enemy attacks most fiercely. If it takes long enough to defeat a boss, the boss tends to enter this mode. Also called the insane pattern.

Item: Anything in a game that provides some kind of effect when acquired by touching it with your ship. Common examples include power ups, speed ups, bombs, and bonuses.

Learn By Dying: Necessary words for anyone wanting to beat a shoot ‘em up game.

Pattern: A set series of steps to get through a game (i.e. a winning pattern). Or a series of steps the game uses (i.e. the enemy attack pattern).

Perfect Dodging: Dodging bullets such that they seem to graze your ship. Also called enlightenment, perfect reflexes, or seeing the paths.

Rapid Fire: Rapidly tapping the button with your finger. There are different methods, such as making your finger vibrate, alternating between your index and middle finger, or rubbing your fingers side to side.

Safe Zone: An area where no enemy attacks can reach you.

Shooter: A gamer who primarily plays shoot ‘em up games. But the people who openly use the term tend to dodge more than they shoot.

Single Credit Win: Completing a game with a single credit and without continuing. The eternal goal of arcade regulars.

Test Switch: A switch used to change the board’s settings. Arcade workers can even increase the bass from a game they like.