anywhere from 3 to 6 depending on the type of game... RPGs usually get 6 with "save slot 1" reserved for the save at the beginning of each new chapter then i begin to overwrite 2 through 6 as i reach new save points... with this system i don't have to backtrack too far if i miss something early in the chapter or if a file gets corrupted i have plenty of backups that aren't too far from each other...