Having to pummel the fire button to play a game is a nasty hangover from the arcades, like limited lives and credits.
Notice when Irem re-released R-Type on the Playstation rapid fire was right there on the controller, not an option. So was level select.
Even recent shooters in the arcade feature rapid fire by default.
Video games are a test of skill and reflexes, not basic finger endurance. Retrospectively fixing broken games by using rapid fire is not cheating.
Neither is using savestates to overcome sections of bad design I'd argue.
