Scoring got new life with online rankings.
As Grey Alien pointed out, after the late eighties games were more geared toward level progress, and it particularly affected shoot'em ups since we passed from arena style ones to top down/side scrolling ones (where the common denominator was to try completing the game with as few coins as possible).
Now though we are refining all the original mechanics, adding internet functionalities and labelling these games as 'retro' (Geometry Wars was a good example, and Pac Man Championship Edition is another one, but there are plenty of good ones).
As Grey Alien pointed out, after the late eighties games were more geared toward level progress, and it particularly affected shoot'em ups since we passed from arena style ones to top down/side scrolling ones (where the common denominator was to try completing the game with as few coins as possible).
Now though we are refining all the original mechanics, adding internet functionalities and labelling these games as 'retro' (Geometry Wars was a good example, and Pac Man Championship Edition is another one, but there are plenty of good ones).