The promise and pitfalls of using savestates

[Shinigami]

Ninja Gaiden stage 6-2, argh! I seriously believe this stage alone inspired someone to create statesaves.

[michiyoyoshiku]

Thanks to save states I memorized Sonic 2

[kal]

As long as they aren't abused they're great, also good for people who want to go through a game but don't have the time to reset every 10 seconds because something new and random happens.

[megatronbison]

I needed to use it for the original Ninja Gaiden, all so I could finish my copy of 'Shadow Warriors' on the actual NES. You see, this all came down to me playing it one day and getting to the final boss, getting killed by his second form and being sent back to 6-1.
I would not like to repeat some of the words I uttered at that moment...or after the second effort... or after the third when I realised there was a THIRD boss
So basically I trained on those bosses with save states- loading it up from the start of each boss until I was able to beat them in one smooth run. In that instance, man I really appreciated save states.

I also appreciated them when playing Whirlo/Xandras Big Adventure- solely to see the multiple false endings you get for choosing the wrong answer to a question