What's the point of a special move....

[Vice honcho room temperature]

... if its just going to drain my health? The video game biz has always been petty and penny pinching.

[BorneAgain]

It was designed as a risk/reward mechanic where you had to pick your spots as far as when to ideally use it (right before a health item, against a boss, etc). Of course since players typically hoarded their health as much as they could it didn't really work for most people.

I think Streets of Rage 3 actually got this right when they had the meter on the HUD which allowed you to use a special move without losing any health, if it was filled. That allowed for frequent use of the moves via precise play and timing, exactly what a balanced game aspect should be.

[A Platypus Rave]

Because it started in arcades which are created by design to eat your quarters.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I think a good system that would've worked is that you can use a special move for a a certain amount of times without losing health, but once the limit runs out, you can still use specials... though they now drain your health.

[H-Virus]

I'd say it's probably also a counter-measure to make sure players didn't just spam specials endlessly and actually had to play with some semblence of strategy.

[SmashTV]

To see if the player is happy to take a calculated risk - if I use a special move it will weaken my opponent significantly, but I'll also lose some energy. Do I play safe and stick with my standard attack, or use the special move and hope to capitalise on it?

What a quandary...