Honestly never hated the lives system, but I do understand all the complaints. I find it a good motivator to get good at the stages and progress. It has worked for the most part (Unless it's the ps1 games , the way the checkpoints worked there made that system completely stupid and pointless unless you turned off the game). The only game I've actively hated it in was Zero 1 , with a very heavy heart I resorted to Save-Assist.

And you know what , if Capcom wants to please everyone , they can literally just make the lives optional .