Unlockables

Where do you stand on unlockable content in games? Do you try to unlock everything or are they just bonus features of no interest to you?

For me, it's a love/hate thing. I like the concept, it gives you something to play for and they can serve as a good incentive to try out game modes and the like that perhaps might not check out otherwise, but poorly implemented they're incredibly frustrating. Unlockables can extend a game's longevity but ideally you should be able unlock them soon enough so you're not completely bored with the game by the time you've unlocked everything.

A good example of unlockables done poorly would be Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth on the PS2. Items are unlocked by winning matches at PPV events in the story mode which is fine, but you could only unlock one per event (selecting from a list of available items to unlock depending on the event) which meant you had to play through story mode umpteen times to unlock everything, which got repetitive and given the loading times on the PS2 meant if you actually managed to play through enough times to unlock everything, there's no way you were still fully into the game by that point. Smackdown vs RAW 2006 also had the cheek to have Jake Roberts only unlockable through owning the PSP version as well. I ended up unlocking what I hadn't already unlocked in those games with an Action Replay.

Conversely, Mortal Kombat: Armaggeddon had a pretty good system for its unlockables. You could either earn money to buy them from the Krypt or you could unlock most of the stuff that was of interest by playing through the Konquest (story) mode. That way, depending on your patience you could unlock the good stuff first and go for 100% completion in time. That's the way I think unlockables should be; not so easy that you've got them all within the first day of playing but unlocked quickly enough so you can take advantage of them while you're still into the game.

Soul Calibur (the first one) had a gallery where you bought artwork with points you made in a special "quest" mode. The quest mode often times though was like putting barbed wire in your mouth and pulling it out your butt (You cannot do damage to your opponent! Win by ring out! You can only be hit once!...all in one level). What was cool though was that the unlocked artwork wasnt necessarily obvious which ones you bought unlocked shit and which were just artwork. Once you get all the artwork (and therefore other things) you get a new title screen. A cool reward? sure: worth the time and effort? no not really. I basically go through: unlock all the characters, unlock the arenas, unlock the modes then im done and move on

Soul Calibur 3 however had a different system: instead of unlocking by "beating" special characters you had to get to in certain ways (which still would unlock them) after a certain number of battles in any mode "x" unlocked. It ranged from characters to weapons to modes once again. I kinda liked the system because it basically rewards time played and doesnt necessarily make you feel like chew toy by the end

Then theres unlockables like Marvel Vs. Capcom.
Gold War Machine (Iron Man) Finish five opponents with a hyper combo, finish two rounds with a cross-overattack, and never lose a partner.
Morrigan (Lilith) Finish two rounds with a cross-over attack, finish seven opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Onslaught After each secret character has been unlocked (saved to memory card) the "Onslaught" option will be on the game menu.
Orange Hulk Finish three rounds with a cross-over attack, never lose a partner.
Red Venom (Carnage) Get first attack every round, finish four rounds with a cross-over attack, finish two opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Roll Use all helpers every round, finish two rounds with a cross-over attack, finish three opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Shadow Lady (Evil Chun-Li) Everyround-Switch starting fighters, use all helpers, get all first attacks. Finish with one hyper combo, two team up combos, three cross-over attack.

If you've played this game: you know how fucking impossible some of those are.

I'm more of a fan of the soul calibur style...

Ah, the mystery unlockables and conditional unlockables. The latter isn't so bad if it's something worth having and you're not sick of the game by the time you've unlocked whatever it is but it's much better to pick and choose so that you can unlock the most desirable extras before anything else and go for 100% completion later if you can be bothered.

Then theres unlockables like Marvel Vs. Capcom.
Gold War Machine (Iron Man) Finish five opponents with a hyper combo, finish two rounds with a cross-overattack, and never lose a partner.
Morrigan (Lilith) Finish two rounds with a cross-over attack, finish seven opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Onslaught After each secret character has been unlocked (saved to memory card) the "Onslaught" option will be on the game menu.
Orange Hulk Finish three rounds with a cross-over attack, never lose a partner.
Red Venom (Carnage) Get first attack every round, finish four rounds with a cross-over attack, finish two opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Roll Use all helpers every round, finish two rounds with a cross-over attack, finish three opponents with a hyper combo, and never lose a partner.
Shadow Lady (Evil Chun-Li) Everyround-Switch starting fighters, use all helpers, get all first attacks. Finish with one hyper combo, two team up combos, three cross-over attack.

If you've played this game: you know how fucking impossible some of those are

Never though that MvC has unlockables like that. You need to be a master of the game to unlock those

It does seem needlessly specific and difficult.

the only two i ever got were roll and orange hulk...and im pretty sure i cheated for both of them.

That's where you need a master unlock code, when you've been playing the game for months and just want to play with some of the cool unlockable stuff before you're completely sick of the game (or in some cases, the next version comes out).

If I like the game, I will go out of my way if it's fun or somewhat related to the experience. For example, in GTA 4 I did all the stunt jumps. These had nothing to do with the story mode but they were so much I really enjoyed doing them. Compare that to finding all the collectibles in Gears of war 2. They weren't all that fun at all, but they added to the story so in that sense they were worthwhile.