Capcom Arcade for iPhone goes freemium -- with a twist

Yesterday, Capcom released a new Arcade app for the iPhone featuring ports of it's classic arcade games Street Fighter II, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, 1942, and Commando. For each game you can play in either classic, no holds barred-mode, or a special iPhone tuned mode, which takes into account the difficulty one experiences when using touchscreen only controls.

It's all fairly normal, but the kicker here is that just like a real video game arcade from the 90s, each game is represented by an old school arcade cabinet -- and you use virtual credits to play each game. Each day you get three free credits, meaning if you just want to play three times a day, you don't have to pay anything. However if three times a day isn't enough for you, Capcom's got a load of in-app purchases to boost your game play -- $3 for unlimited game play or 10 tokens for $0.99. There are also 'special DLC cheats' available for purchase that unlock upgrades or special abilities, plus Capcom states that new games will be added to the Arcade every month.

While Ngmoco and others have pioneered the freemium model on the App Store, this purchasable token-type model brings with it a bit of nostalgia and is certainly unique. The beauty is that if you won't want to pay, but still want to play, three games a day is probably all you'll need.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: Capcom, freemium, iOS, iPhone