With Super Mario 3D World, Nintendo acknowledged that overarching score is largely pointless, a number that just keeps ticking upward unless you do indeed hit Game Over territory, so they focused on score within the level instead. Lives should be similar: you have so many chances to get this level right, or you have to start from the beginning, which is worse for long levels with one or more checkpoints. You could be given a set amount that varies per level, with chances to earn extra lives within the level.
This could also do away with the need to have high difficulty stages be one-shot wonders: the tension is built in, so even stages like 3D World's Champion's Road could afford to have checkpoints, because if you screw up enough on that damned section with the dash panels and lasers, you still have to go back to square one, just not right away, because it's guaranteed that you're only starting with 5 lives, instead of the hundred-twenty-some i had when i got there.
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
