GTA 1 Saving and Lives

When it saves	Only when a chapter ends
Lives	5 at the start of a chapter
Extra lives	Found in crates; the extra life pickup adds one
Game over	When you run out of lives, you go to the results screen
Arrest	Costs a multiplier and your weapons, unless you hold a Get Outta Jail Free card

There is no save point and no save option in the menu. The game saves only when you finish a chapter by reaching its target score and going to the ending meeting. Everything before that point is at risk, so plan each session around finishing the chapter.

First chapter message about Crazy Jimmy's dumped car, score still zero

Saving at the end of a chapter

When the target is reached, a boss calls you to a meeting: Bubby’s office, a bar, a police station and so on, depending on the chapter. When the scene ends, your progress is saved and the next chapter unlocks. Finishing Heist Almighty unlocks San Andreas; finishing Tequila Slammer unlocks Vice City. Rasta Blasta ends the story.

Lives

You get five lives in each chapter. You lose one each time you are killed. Being killed in a single hit is common, because armor protects you only from gunfire and only for three hits. Pick up armor whenever you pass it.

Cars on the Southwest Park street beside two payphones with red arrows

Extra lives

An extra life pickup adds one life. In Liberty City they are in crates around the map. In San Andreas and Vice City they are mostly rewards for finding every Kill Frenzy in a chapter, apart from one extra life in each Vice City chapter. See power-ups.

Game over

When you lose your last life, the game ends and you go to the results screen. The chapter’s progress is lost and you start it again. A mission you failed cannot be retried in that chapter, which matters for 100%.

Arrest

If the police arrest you, you lose a score multiplier and your weapons. A Get Outta Jail Free card removes both penalties, but you can carry only one. A cop bribe clears your wanted level: see wanted level.

Vice City: do not harm Deever

In Bent Cop Blues, if you kill Samuel Deever he goes to hospital, stops giving you jobs and will not show up for the ending. You must replay the chapter from the start to continue.