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Best 2+ Player Video Games?
Twinbee asks: "I was wondering what you lot would consider the best 2+ player games of all time. Apart from games for mixed skill players, this has never been asked on Slashdot before, so it would be interesting to see. From my own experience and research, it looks as though a top 50 would include games such as Streetfighter 2, World of Warcraft, Speedball 2, Super Mario Kart, SWIV, Ikaruga, Stunt Car Racer, Super Monkey Ball, Puzzle Fighter, and Mario Party. Whether they are competitive or cooperative, Slippery slope or Perpetual comeback, 2-player or multiplayer, retro or cutting edge, I want to hear them! I would prefer MMOG games not to be included, unless there is a good deal of interaction between the people in the 'same house' (e.g. perhaps they can team up and play against the world)."
without a doubt Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube
one person playing, the other one telling him/her what to do!
Super Smash Bros.
Thousands of hours, and still fun.
(But forget the following ones; "1 Plus" is the best).
-- Rastignac was here.
No, not the crappy 3D ones where you're constantly fighting the camera.
Original old-school Gauntlet. You can get copies of it in one of the Capcom greatest hits collections for Gamecube or PS2, I believe.
I can't really think of anything else comparable.
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Bolo Tank Wars - was an awesome old school multi-player game. Much fun was had.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
monkey ball
Helps if you are drunk too
Monstar L
it's the best multiplayer notepad ever invented
Halo 1 (2 we dont enjoy as much, but each to his own) (X-box)
Super Smash Brothers (Game Cube)
Total Annihilation (Also See, Supreme Commander, which will have Co-Op) (Pc)
Monkey Ball (Game Cube, or soon to be Wii)
Eye Toy (PS2)
To be honest for multiplayer in the front room/ House, its usually easyer to go the console route, but for online, the PC is still where its At- but if you have 5 or 6 pc's networked up all the time, PC still works
TBH, its also dependent on if you want Co-Op or 1v1/+
Considering the amount of my life that I've wasted on this game, I have to say it is the best multiplayer ever!
Try DEFCON: http://www.everybody-dies.com/.
Who have forgotten this beauty?
The perfect 2-player game. Killing, upgrading of weapons and granades. What more can a man ask for?
Starcontrol
Battle for middle earth
Fight night
Rockstars Tabletennis
Command and Conquer Generals
Unreal Tournament
Call of Duty
And if you have the time...
Civilization IV
Diablo II is a great deal of fun over TCPIP with a roommate.
Mario Part is the bomb.
Punching to the stomach is more effective than unplugging the controller.
Everyone should have a favorite fighter game (DBZ: Budokai 3, for me and my friends....none of whom can even stand Dragonball).
Halo 2, why not very fun (for me) in single player, actually has a rocking multiplayer mode.
Playing against other people on the room IS better than playing online.
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Crash Team Racing, for the PSX. An excellent, excellent Mario Kart clone, and fun when you're playing against someone around your skill level.
Warlords for the Atari 2600. Seriously, it is the most fun I've ever had with a multiplayer console game.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
Singstar Buzz I'm told DDR is pretty cool too.
All good games that allow lots of swapping of players, so don't leave anyone out.
- Herzog Zwei : Genesis - Windjammers : Neo Geo - Neverwinter Nights Coop : PC - River City Ransom : NES - System Shock 2 Coop : PC - Double Dragon 2 : Arcade - Pro Evolution Soccer (any version): PS2 (my friends play this all the time) - Gauntlet 2 : Arcade / Amiga / Genesis - Spy vs. Spy : C64 - Gran Turismo (any version) : PSX / PS2 - Goal! : Amiga - King of Fighters (any version) : Neo Geo and, of course... - Bubble Bobble!
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
I remember having a blast playing Uniracers with my little brother on the SNES.
But for all out, beer fueled, geeky faux machismo, nothing promotes high fives and trash talk better than Halo 2.
MvC2, Soul cal 1&2, Mario kart, Goldeneye, bomberman, mario party, mario tennis, advance wars, final fantasy crystal chronicles, table tennis on the 360.
Everyone in the family likes this one. Anyone can come by drop in, play around, drop out. My wife likes it, my son likes it, it's clearly the best multi-player game in our collection.
I'm not sure if Doom qualifies as a derivative of Wolf3D, or if Quake qualifies as a derivative of Doom. But I'm pretty sure whatever the best multiplayer game is, it was either made by id Software, or got the concept from a game by id Software. The only other game I've had as much fun with would have to be Streetfighter 2, but that was in the list in the summary. I suppose Tetris would have to be in there somewhere; it can be entertaining with the right people in the right state of "fun". But not "hours and hours on end" type fun.
I've had little more fun than wasting my boss on the LAN at the office in Quake and/or Duke Nukem 3D (I don't think Duke3D could take its multiplayer credit without mentioning id Software). The nice thing about Duke3D was of course Build; it was a piece of cake to make a cool looking fortress that resembled your office (or whatever) to play around in.
Note: I don't play MMORPG's.
Why, Guitar Hero 2 of course. GH1 was mediocre at best as a two player game, but GH2 is sweet as a two player game thanks to both cooperative multiplayer and the new pro-face off. It's easy to learn, challenging as hell, and each player can play at their skill level so nobody feels like they're just wasting their time.
It makes a great party game.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is pretty cool on cooperative multiplayer too.
Nothing to see here
Takes a lot to beat things like:
;-)
Monopoly - very competitive....
Scrabble
Chess
Canasta
Sure, you don't need a TV/Console to play these, but pausing them is a whole lot easier, and you get to drink and play simultaneously.
Additionally, you could get your parents to play too.
gus
P.S. There was no specification to ensure they were "computer" games....
.. if only.
Super Bomber Man!!!
Secret of mana was something really special!
Way more fun playing it with a friend.
Pong.
Played for hours, usually with 4-5 people.
GETPKG - Package Management for Slackware
See Subject.
I just don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die.
Counter-Strike
also, Goldeneye on the N64,and lanning any version of Quake in the late 90's early 00's
In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
Ballblazer was my favorite. early 3d, quick games, fast paced play, and you could sneak looks at the other half of the screen to check out your opponent.
Me and an old friend had a great time with this game. It's a game that test your friendship, how mean can you be with your friend? :p
Why play a clone of MarioKart when you can play the real thing?
(Note: I suggest the DS version)
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
Worms
Worms and Worms 3D. These are all-time classics. In my opinion these will provide most fun and you can't take these games too seriously.
How can one forget golden eye for n64. It almost brings tears to my eyes.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. But on Linux you've got to try Frozen Bubble - the latest version offers multiplayer mode with up to 5 players, over the Internet or LAN.
So far, everybody's mentioned mostly hardcore gamer games. Gears of War? Please! That ain't a party game.
Samba De Amigo, now there's your prototypical "2+" player game. I realize that probably not a lot of people here have played it, but those of you who have know what I'm talkin' about. That's a party game if there ever was one.
It's better than DDR (which is another good party game) because it's not as technical, i.e. you don't need to be extremely coordinated to play it, and half the fun is just watching other people make fools of themselves. The spectators have almost as much fun as the players. It's fun enough that it appeals to hardcore gamers but it also appeals to non-gamers and even (gasp) girls. In fact, it's the only game some girls I know ever want to play, even still.
My wife loved playing LOTR:Third Age with me, but I have been unable to find a similar RPG (in the FF vein) since.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Quake 1 deathmatch... and it's never looked better.
Soul calibur 2 is amazing. You can get away with button-bashing if you're inexperienced (which it makes it fun for beginners), but once you really learn the game it's incredibly skillful.
You need good strategy and excellent reflexes to do well, and the possibility of a ring-out can have you flinging your controller at your opponent's head.
Slashdot: news for Apple. Stuff that Apple.
Starcraft should probably also be mentioned, one of the most played games ever released.
-Filik
oops, I died in Halo..time for more beer
oh look, I stuck a grenade to my teammate, and we both died...since the respawn time for suicides is extra long, I might as well finish off this beer.
------ Work is so much easier when you don't
A Gamecube game, it's more-or-less a Mario Party rip-off, but I actually prefer it to Mario Party. And not to mention the fact that I always get to play as my idol Animal :)
It's definitely fun, and it's got funny parts as well from Muppets sound bytes.
Interactive Fiction works great for a group of people to play together, as a team. You can take turns being at the keyboard, or just leave one person there, in which case it kind of works like people hanging over your shoulder helping you play solitaire, except that good IF is much more interesting than solitaire, and having additional people help is much more useful, especially for difficult works (e.g., some of the Infocom classics).
I think Curses works particularly well for several people to play together, and you can easily get a number of gaming sessions out of it, if nobody in the group has ever played it through before.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Battle Kart powaaa !!! :)
Other than that I don't think any game has kept my friends (and me) in front of a tv as much as Winning Eleven
Warlords without a doubt. With two sets of paddle controllers you have 4 player goodness. I still have my Atari 2600 and break it out every few years for some 4 player Warlords and the multiplayer "Pong" derivatives.
Warlords, WarCraft (I, II or III), StarCraft, Half-Life, Aliens vs Predator, Counter Strike... these are all classic games, which should run well on older pcs. Half-Life is a particular favourite of mine, and my gaming group. Every now and then it degenerates in to a game of whack-whack sticks (what we call the crowbars). :P
Julie Moult is an idiot.
I've never seen more intense concentration or more swearing than in a group of friends playing guitar hero (taking turns, we don't even have two controllers for it). Great fun.
Once upon a time ago, in a land far away....
:)
5 4
Conquest was a cheapie DOS based VGA game based on the boardgame Risk.
The number of Friday nights and beers lost to this game were unreal.
Up to seven of us, sharing one PC for several hour straight.
I had to replace the mouse every 2-3 months.
Very simple game. Very simple game play.
Many happy hours of shouting and cursing as someone destroyed your carefully built armies
I think all the beer helped
http://www.bluechillies.com/register.html?sid=139
http://www.windowsgames.co.uk/conquest.html
Help! help!, the termites are eating my DRAM!!!
Super Smash Brothers. Good heavens that game led to some fun times in undergrad. Aside from that I'd throw up Super Mario 3, Goldeneye, and the gamecube. yes I know the GameCube is not a "game" per say, but it beats out the other two systems of its gen becase it had the best party games and playing with 4 of your buddies in your living room beats out playing with 16 strangers over the internet ANY day of the week.
To me there's a big difference in whether its a game that you're playing with one other person or with 4+ other people. A good version of Bomberman is by far one of my top choices, although you have to go back a few game systems before you actually get a version worth playing. I think the one I played on the TurboDuo, 5 player, was my favorite. It's unfortunate that the franchise has lost the best part of what made it fun over the years and instead has turned into single player adventures with a token crappy multiplayer mode. Almost anything that can be played with 4 people at the same time has the potential for fun since you're less at the mercy of the game to provide you entertainment and instead start drawing entertaining from the other people playing the game.
...the role-playing games? Neverwinter Nights, NWN2, Diablo I and II, Dungeon Siege I and II, among various others. They make wonderful 2+ games, especially the NWN series and Diablo II.
Never underestimate the stupidity inherent in all human beings.
Gears of War - excellent 2 player co-op and 8-player deathmatch
Perfect Dark - decent co-op and deathmatch
Call of Duty 3 - some of the best multiplayer i've played on the 360 (24 players max) 4 player split screen (no co-op)
and then there's plenty of sports games and racing games (Project Gotham Racing 3 and Test Drive Unlimited are excellent)
Had a collection of co-op games for the Famicom: Jackal, Rush n' Attack, Twin Bee great fun
It's great that we can play online and all, but its not quite the same as having everyone in the same room with you and there's a lack of good co-op games that can be played in the one room on the one screen with only the one machine.
I hear that World of Warcraft has more than 2 players, and seems to be kind of popular.
I browsed the comments and didn't notice anyone mentioning:
-The X-Men arcade game
-TMNT2 for the NES
Seriously guys, if you want a fast passed puzzler, pick one of these two titles up. Added bonus, if you get Pokemon Puzzle League instead of Tetris Attack proper, all the people who aren't playing and sit back and giggle and the bad voices.
Other than that, it's all about Mario Kart, Bomberman, and Power Stone 2.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
(10?) player on the saturn. Awesome fun, oh and double dragon/golden axe/streets of rage and the like.
Serious Sam and Serious Sam 2nd Encounter on two PC's in cooperative game mode. Both great games and a lot of fun right up to (but NOT including) the end-game.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Even if you have to find a used copy of the game, Saturn console, 2 multitaps, and 10 controllers to play it in all its glory, it is far worth it. Without any sort of networking mumbo-jumbo, you can play with up to 10 players! 10 player Bomberman is great. 8 player is better with a bigger variety of levels. Anyone can pick up Bomberman in a few minutes to play it and from what I've always seen, newbies are pretty evenly matched to seasoned players because the seasoned players get cocky and make more mistakes. And instead of the usual droll of bombermen in different colors, in multiplayer you get to choose characters from previous Hudsonsoft games like Bonk or Milon or Master Hudson (from Adventure Island). It's a shame it came to the US a system with such little popularity. I pull out my Saturn far more often than any other old system I have (including Dreamcast) just so I can play the ultimate manifestation of 2D Bomberman (and Legend of Oasis but that's not a multiplayer game).
I used to love playing Air Warrior on Compuserve in the mid-90's. You could have 75 or more people dogfighting in World War II aircraft.
Self awareness - try it!
For exactly the same reason. Me, and the Ex played through it 'alternating'.
Because the games are damn fun, and my girlfriend loves them too. That helps a lot!
Guitar Hero II improves on an already great game. One of the best additions is that you cna play co-op and each player can play at a different difficulty at the same time. Which makes it evan more party friendly than the original.
Bubble Bobble!
And Contra!
One of the best multiplayer games ever was M.U.L.E., one of the many innovative games produced by the old Electronic Arts (back when they promoted programmers and game designers like rock stars).
Another good one, as many have mentioned, was the original Gauntlet. Along the same lines, the Baldur's Gate games for the PS2 were pretty good.
Starcraft.
Super Smash Brothers and its sequel are without a doubt the most fun I've ever had with my friends in front of a TV. Easy to pick up, near impossible to master and fun every second Smash Brothers kept me and my friends hooked for years and they're not even really gamers! The game has a depth to it that goes unnoticed at first but once you get good the possible tricks are endless. Lobbing a shell at your buddy after your other friend has knocked him up in the air FTW is way more fun than it really should be.
Any Mario Kart will do, but Mario Kart 64 especially. And I must say, Gears of War has a pretty kicking co-op game going for it.
"It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
That's how my husband and I play just about every video game. :) Collaborative one-player games are fun.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Counter Strike:Source has been a constant source of fun for me and my relatives, the friends system in it is nice, if I am playing after 9 pm, than I almost always have a friend in my list to team up with.
How far can you stretch the terminology of two player? cause i'd have to say that with a small group of people Burnout 3 is pretty fun due to the races being so short, no one ever gets bored.
Tiger Woods Golf is also a lot of fun with a few people.
For mixed skills, it's impossible to beat one person playing easy while the other plays hard.
It's simply the best 2 person experience I've ever had. In a game I mean.
My other picks would be Mario Kart, Soul Calibur, and Bubble Bobble (which, admittedly, I had forgotten about until someone mentioned it above).
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Probably not the best, but certainly an underrated two player co-operative game is Uo Poko. It's ideal for playing with your lover or with friends you get on really well with. Here's my review of it:
Marvel vs Capcom 2 Virtua Tennis (either the first or the sequel) Goldeneye (Can't believe I didn't see anyone mention this browsing at +3) Super Monkey Ball 1+2 Powerstone 2
1. Most Bomberman games
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Super Mario World
4. Super Mario Bros. (the SNES remake though, so it alternates between levels)
5. Co-op Duke3d (especially great when played at highest difficulty and trying to explode all enemies so they can't respawn before finishing each level)
6. Deathmatching on regular Half-Life
7. Deathmatching: Action Half-Life
8. BF1942: Desert Combat mod (Slippery Slope applies, but comebacks not uncommon)
9. Bushido Blade 2
Sex! It's the best 2 player game ever invented! :)
1-4 players. Each player takes a turn driving a car into busy traffic and causing the most damage. No multitap needed, as you just hand the controller over to the other player.
RISK
I can't get tired of playing this darn game with my friends. It is really cool =o)
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Snake Rattle and Roll anyone? This one brings back many memories. Me and my brother played this game for ever before we were able to finally beat it. Goldeneye 64. This was truly the advent of console multiplayer.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
We played a lot of Chu Chu Rocket, Ooga Booga, and Powerstone 1 and 2. I really wish Sega would release these on a newer platform if only so we don't have to keep lugging out the DC to play 'em. Especially Chu Chu Rocket, as it tended to get the 'non-gamers' in our group involved since it was simple and had great play mechanics for beginners.
Bomberman is a classic multiplayer game, and it's appeared on practically every system!
They aren't too hard, but are still challenging, and they stay interesting throughout. I wish we could find more like these, especially ToeJam & Earl.
Played all the way through Champions of Norrath on the PS2 with 4 players, pretty fun. Can get into fights about looting while others are fighting. 2 Person Baldurs Gate on the PS2 is pretty fun. Got bored with X-men Legends on the PS2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Chaos Bleeds" claims to be 1-4 players but is total crap. Diablo II on a LAN is good fun. WoW Orcs vs Humans on a LAN is a PiTA (maybe just because my roommate was so much better than I am). Current WoW with 2 accounts and 2 laptops side by side is great.
Anyone know of a tcp/ip multiplayer updated version
I think the PC Atari Emulator has the Kaillera client which allows you to play on internet any console based game (whose emulator supports it of course..).
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Some oldies but goodies:
- Systemshock (PC)
- Midtown madness 1 or 2(pc)
- Smash TV (snes or xbox live arcade)
- Powerstone (Dreamcast)
- Kung fu chaos (xbox)
Basically powerstone for the xbox but still alot of fun, specially the mini games
- Phantom dust (xbox)
A weird combo of card collect type games with awesome real time third person combat, which is the meat of the game so all you card game haters can enjoy it as well. A lot of fun if you have a couple of friends willing to put some time into creating a nice deck.
Lego Star Wars is a great co-operative play game you can play with your young kids -- especially when you whack them to pieces.
Jedi Powers is again a co-operative play game that does not let you kill your teammate.
Disclaimer -- I'm a shameless NES fanboy, as are many of my friends, but I found precious little mention of games from the pre 16-bit era in this this discussion, so here are my two picks:
RBI Baseball - The original and best. Like so many other games of its time, the controls and graphics are quite simple and straightforward, but there is an unbelievable amount of nuance to the batting, pitching, and baserunning. The CPU opponent is weak, but some of the most epic two-player games I've ever witnessed on any system were during RBI. The game has developed quite a cult following: check out this site which in addition to being laden with RBI lore and trivia is complete with its own drinking game. As an added bonus, here's game 6 of the 1986 world series reenacted in RBI baseball, complete with radio commentary. It's awesome!
Super Dodge Ball - Though not nearly as well known as it should be, this game has TONS of replay value and is great for tourney-style round robins. Additionally, it's good for players with unequal amounts of experience and skill, as some teams (i.e. Russia) have tons of life and others (i.e. USA All-Stars) have very little, so you can handicap. There's nothing that tops slamming your opponent so hard with a super throw that he scrolls around the to other side of the screen. Check it out if you haven't already--it's a gem--I've been playing it for fifteen years and I still love it. Also, it bears mention that the SNES version isn't nearly as good as the NES version. I heard there was a GBA remake, but I haven't played it so I can't vouch for its worth.
I left my wallet in El Sigundo!
Lemmings (original or Lemmings 2) had simply FANTASTIC multiplayer on an Amiga with two mice. The fun of digging a hole that starts draining all your opponent's lemmings into a pit while they're busy elsewhere was amazing. It was so good, at an Amiga DevCon a bunch of Commodore employees and a few developers all dressed up as Lemmings as a surprise to the attendees and "acted out" a Lemmings skit.
MULE was groundbreaking on the C64. Simple as sin on the surface, but plain fun for 4.
Gauntlet - fast and fun on the Amiga for two or 4.
One last one that launched a genre of god-games, and was a ancestor of games like Black and White - Populous. In some ways similar to a much fancier, 3-d Lemmings.
Like someone else said, it all depends on what you like and what you have available (as a platform). I'm only including games that I've played and liked. Each section is roughly ordered from best to worst game.
If you like brawling action:
Ratchet: Deadlocked (PS2)
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (GC, PS2, Xbox)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (GC, PS2, Xbox)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (GC, PS2, Xbox)
Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu (GC, PC, PS2, Xbox)
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (PC, PS2, Xbox)
If you like quasi-rpg brawlers:
X-Men Legends (PS2, Xbox, GC)
X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (GC, PS2, Xbox)
Champions of Norrath (PS2)
Champions of Norrath 2: Return to Arms (PS2)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (GC, PS2, Xbox)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (PS2, Xbox)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC)
Hunter the Reckoning (GC, Xbox)
Hunter the Reckoning: Wayward (PS2)
Hunter the Reckoning: Redeemer (Xbox)
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel (PS2, Xbox)
If you like racing games:
Super Monkey Ball (GC)
Gran Tourismo 3 & 4 (PS2)
Jak X Combat Racing (PS2)
If you like first person shooters:
Halo (PC, Xbox)
Halo 2 (PC, Xbox)
Half-Life (PS2)
If you like Roleplaying Games:
World of Warcraft (PC x2)
Valkerie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2)
If you like RTS games:
Starcraft (PC x2)
Warcraft III (PC x2)
Total Annihilation (PC x2)
Warcraft II (PC x2)
Warcraft I (PC x2)
If you like strategy games:
Civilization III & IV (PC)
Alpha Centauri (+ Alien Crossfire Expansion) (PC)
Master of Orion II (PC)
Master of Magic (PC)
I know I'm missing quite a few games from that list, but those are the ones I've played and enjoyed playing.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
Smash Bros Melee: Gamecube
This is my all-time favorite couch game. The pace is fast and the game has depth beyond any other fighter. I HATE button combos and I love Smash's lack of them. Anyone can pick up a controller and learn to play, but really mastering the game takes far more dedication that most would assume. One of my favorite things about this game is how good people think they are at it. For those that have it and never really saw it's glory you just weren't playing it right. I played this game for a very long time before I finally understood it's potential. What made that happen? I started to play against a group of other guys and we would always all roll the random square on a random map with only one or two lives. The games go by fast so even when you get a character you hate it's over with quickly. We also play without items and turn off certain levels. By now I know (and enjoy) every single character and every single match-up, but it is STILL very exciting to play, even after literally thousands of matches and dozens of opponents. My favorite fighter of all time.
Virtua Tennis: Dreamcast
Virtua Tennis (one) on the Dreamcast is another favorite. Whether you're playing 1v1 or 2v2 the game is always very entertaining. Just the right number of shot types and the right degree of control and speed make this game a balanced tennis game. While I enjoy Nintendo's multiplayer games for most genres, I still think Virtua Tennis is more fun than any Mario Tennis game.
Burnout 3: XBox
My favorite in high-speed racing. It lends itself better for getting opponents than does my other favorite high-speed racer, F-Zero GX. The crashes make things beyond hilarious, especially when you manage to rub out a friend right into a huge concrete column. Amazing control style, cool cars, perfectly made maps; this game really goes above and beyond in terms of racing. Sadly, Burnout 4 didn't live up. Need For Speed: Underground is good for this genre too, but Burnout outshines it imho.
Okay, so it's not simultaneous mulitplayer, but there ought to be more shouts out for pinball on Slashdot anyway. I used to play Bally's Cyclone a lot.
I'm just sayin'.
I like to blow stuff up and you can probably tell by my list. Halo 1 and Halo 2 are really really fun to play 2 players. The co-op for both is great, plus there is the fun of the multiplayer (2-4 players). Gears of War is rising up my all time favorite games list too. Online and offline co-op as well as a incredibly fun multiplayer makes this a must have. Burnout 2, Burnout 3, Burnout Revenge: Any of these is great great great fun for couch multiplayer. Fun arcade style racing, crashing minigames. This is a great game to play when people come over.
Gauntlet 2 was way better... could be any character and any color from any joystick...
Also improved graphics, monsters, traps, everything.
Actually the one called Gauntlet...Legends? for the Sega Genesis was the best "old" Gauntlet game.
It had a 4-tier "Tower" that you had to clear, and some innovations like "wind tiles" that would blow you off the tile if you tried to stand on it.
Mix Wind Tiles with some other trap items, and, ehhehehehehe....
Some of my best college memories are playing 4 player Gauntlet2 at The Electric Wizard (an arcade that served beer!!) at The University of Tennessee.
The original half life set the absolute gold standard for multiplayer games. So many mods for half-life were really great, and I'm surprised that more people haven't mentioned them.
The list of great HL1 mods includes Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat (cool before WWII shooters were cool), and the unbeatable Team Fortress Classic ... not to mention good old Death Match play. The combination of these games totally consumed me during college (as well as pretty much every other college guy I knew).
I have played a lot of Diablo II, a lot of WoW (and City of Heroes/Villains) and a good bit of Halo ... none of it really compares with the experience of HL mods at the time. And lets not forget that Half-Life 1 mods were free when they first came out. If you bought the original game, you could download and play all the mods for free. Since a lot of people pirated HL1 in the first place, this meant hundreds of hours of playtime for basically nothing.
One final comment on the longevity of those games. People are still playing them. The HL1 mods had such longevity that by the time people were switching games, the HL1 engine had become an antique. The only game with greater longevity then the HL mods is Diablo II, which is STILL on store shelves, nearly 7 years after it's release.
Anyway, I'm not sure that the HL1 mods are worth checking out TODAY, and the HL2 mods don't quite have the same magic, however, I am still really excited for the new version of Team Fortress that's going to be released in 2007.
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
sensible soccer! - you can even buy a standalone version these days. Get a pile of mates and beer and setup a league. awesome multiplayer game.
There is also worms or scorched earth as other people have mentioned.
Total Annihilation was always a favourite in our house, although you need multiple PC's for that one.
If you trust your mates not to peek then there is the classic Laser Squad and variants.
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
to a simple stone.
The entire Myst series. Especially Uru. (Uru Live is a bonus.)
"That's not multiplayer."
True, they weren't truly multiplayer, but they were the most fun when trying to solve the REALLY hard puzzles with a friend or group of friends. In Kadish (Uru), there is a puzzle towards the end. There ended up being about 5 of us in the TeamSpeak chat. 2 from the US, 1 from UK, 1 from Norway and 1 unspecified. We spent a few hours figuring it out, and had a total blast. The 2 of us from the US and the guy from Norway still stay in touch actively. In the Path of the Shell expansion, the Norwegian and I (and the other US guy later) spent many hours on the 'cooking' puzzle. Another total blast. Myst 4 and 5 were the same way.
Uru Live was also fun, but as there were no added puzzles while it was in beta the first time, and I haven't made the new beta run, I have only the expectations of fun for it. It's the only 'true multiplayer' Myst game, but the others were most enjoyable in a group.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Gears of War... the co-op mode on that game is great and it forces you to watch each other's back. Besides, it helps if you get stuck playing the single player campaign when, after an intense battle and before you reach the next checkpoint, your computer controlled teammate invariably wanders into the darkness to get eaten by little black flying things... forcing you to start all over.
One of the most fun 2-3 player RPG game (1 player till 30 minutes into the game, then its 2-3 player from there) i have ever played. Real time fighting, leveling up weapons, its a game where im dissapointed Squaresoft/Square Enix doesnt make sequel games with the same gameplay. Its a game i would snatch up instantly if it just had new weapons/storyline/bosses and just had the same gameplay.
Return Fire: 3do/psx Power Stone (1&2): Dreamcast
Mario Kart 64!!!! Sorry SNES fans, but Mario Kart 64 has better multiplayer in my opinion. :) The racing itself is better in the SNES version, but the FOUR player battle mode in MK 64 was amazing and four player racing was pretty good too. My two roommates and I put in countless hours of battle mode. The battle mode in Double Dash for the Cube had terrible maps. I hope they put more effort into the Wii versions battle mode (more, better designed maps and online please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
Genny Gauntlet was Gauntlet "4"
Truth told, all of my favorite video games have been "in the room" multiplayer forms.
As a kid, Contra and Super-Contra -- there's nothing like having played a game for so many hours together that you and your partner know which weapons each prefers, you both know exactly which part of the screen the other will cover while on the jumping levels, and who is the best at fighting each particular boss. You reach a Zen-like period of silence and mayhem, both acting as one.
My freshman year in college yielded two more excellent multiplayer games. The first was Nibbles -- yes, the BASIC program that shipped with DOS at that time. We got tired of it asking "Do you want to play again?", and simply changed the message to "Of course you want to play again!", a small delay, and a restart of the game. We even had Nibbles tournaments in the dorm. The second such game was of course Star Control's melee battle. The intricacies of piloting the individual ships, and taking advantage of the other ship's weaknesses and
the other player's weaknesses were fantastic and rich.
Wait, there was a third that year -- Scorched Earth (which doesn't appear to have been mentioned yet). Yes, a 10 player game. The carnage and mayhem made us giddy, and we didn't even mind when we figured out how to cheat the game or came up with frightfully destructive tactics (my favorite: Horizontal Guidance and the Leapfrog bomb).
Doom came and went, as did a few others over the next few years. Then my friends introduced me to the modernized 3D BattleZone played over a network in their office. Wow! Again, this game caused each of us to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the other's tanks, and the strengths and weaknesses of the players themselves. Pure magic.
Finally there was the Soul Calibur series. I agree with the prior post -- newbie button-mashers (which is mostly the category I fall into) can have a tremendous amount of fun, and skilled combo-masters can be fearsome. Couple that with all the methods of handicapping to even out the skill differences between players, and it's more fun than most people should be allowed.
Cyrano de Maniac
The original (I think) driving/shooting game for the Playstation called Twisted Metal. Jumping gaps between buildings only to have your opponent's missile hit you in mid-air, sending you plummeting into the streets below. It was an open-map (no track) driving game where different cars had different weapons, most pretty fun to use. Just crazy good fun, laughing with my brother.
Driver (thinking of car games), though mostly single-player, my Dad and I would swap on missions, then watch the "movie-style" playbacks of our chases. Coolness.
Why, Bomberman, of course.
I'll leave it to you guys to argue over which particular release in the Bomberman franchise is the best of them.
Didn't see it listed. Apologies if I missed it. But it's the best/easiest 2P game I've ever played. It's supposed to be available on the Wii's Virtual Console.
4-player simultaneous gaming in what, 1980?
It used 4 paddles, and each player had their own corner to defend, a la Breakout/Arkonoid.
It brought about some of the best inter-player fights, arguments and alliances I've ever seen, on par with Rampart (AWESOME multiplayer game, someone needs to make a new internet-capable version) and Bomberman.
The only problem is you need 4 paddles hooked up, and systems + paddles are getting hard to come by.
The nice thing about this is the top skill player can help keep the lesser skilled players alive with advice and tactics, while the lot of them join an even more skilled players mission and play in a larger group.
"Even for Slashdot, that was a very obscure reference!" - Anonymous Coward
Bubble bobble is a bit dated now, but still fun and engaging. If you can somehow find it, bubble-bobble two is also multiplayer (I think up to 4), has some more up-to-date graphics+sound, and is as equally addicting as the original.
..by Psygnosis on the Amiga. Absolutely bloody hilarious. Four players in a Dungeon Master/Eye of the Beholder style environment. Most maps were supposed to be cooperative, but it all went to hell when the first 'accidental' friendly fire occurred.
You always sat on the character selection screen hoping like hell that you were the first person to select the combat droid with the chain gun...
Apart from that, Skidmarks was great, Stunt Car Racer was good and I had a soft spot for Spy Vs Spy. When I got my PC, Duke Nukem 3D was a laugh if you went to the trouble of hauling your Pentium 75s round to a mates for a game (after spending an afternoon making network cables). More recently, I'd say the Half Life Team Fortress mod, and I sort of liked Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.
At the moment, I'm engrossed in Company of Heroes, which can be an absolute sod to play against other humans, but totally rocks in both multi- and simgle-player modes.
Gears of War (360): Play with a local friend online 8 players. This game just rocks. Beats the socks off Halo 2 in my opinion. Local 2 player split screen coop really works due to HDTV resolutions, hoorah.
Bomberman 5 (SNES): The best bomberman game ever released. This is a japanese only cart, but converters are on the cheap. Or just take a rotary tool to your SNES to get the job done. 5 player carnage.. Try the "power level"
Poy Poy (PSX): For bomberman like fun without the grid levels and bombs check out Poy Poy. This game is HIGHLY underrated as a party game. VERY cool stuff.
Amplitude (PS2): Play up to 4 players on the same console of this great rhythm game, or go online and get your ass beat. Techno kind of sucks though. Which brings me to...
Guitar Hero (PS2): 2 players, 2 guitars... seriously this rocks
Karaoke Revolution (PS2): A true party game. Have friends over, drink, sing, laugh at each other. Good times... Support for duets makes the game all the more fun.
Cookies and Cream (PS2): 2 player cooperative platforming. It's actually pretty fun, solve puzzles to allow your ally to pass obstacles and vice versa.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade): 4 player mayhem at its best. Who doesn't remember playing this game in your local skate rink?
Gunbound (PC): A really great 3d Korean style online game. Think worms but with vehicles. Each vehicle has different weapons and weaknesses. Tons of maps available and customizable avatars. I can't tell you how much time my roommates and i wasted playing this on our laptops in the living room.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Arcade, 360): One of the best local fighting games in existance just got great online multiplayer support. Tons of characters and very solid flow.
About any 3d Sonic game (Everything): So these games (Sonic Adventure 2, etc) have kinda sucked... Yea... I hear you grumbling. But play time attack with your friends, trading off the controller for an insane amount of fun. Complete to get the fastest time, collaborate on shortcuts. Seriously, this is the reason Sonic exists..
well i can not overstate how many hours my brother and i played
LEGEND OF THE MYSTICAL NINJA on snes, as kids [ganbare goemon in jap, theres like 30 of them i forget which one]
basically an isometric adventure game, absolutely great in two players!
contra force was another one, great, hard to find, not as great as mystical ninja [we spent hundreds rentin those two]
later years it was
golden eye, ikaruga, nwn coop
Phantasy Star Online [offline mode lol, on dc/later on xbox]
coop fps and rpg are great too, and there are FAR TOO FEW of them!
My sister and I used to waste hours playing Bubble Bobble on the original NES. Snake, Rattle, and Roll was another good one.
Although this must have been said and my computer and/or slashdot is just glitching out, Goldeneye. If it's non-networked, Goldeneye has got to be the game I've spent by far the most time playing with friends/siblings.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
Off the top of my head, the 2600 had Air-Sea Combat, Combat!, Warlords, Outlaw, Ice Hockey, Pele's Soccer, and Baseball.
Oh, and Joust! Nothing better than jumping on your friend's head, and having him scream, "Hey, now Joust a minute!"
All hail the power of the multi-tap! Play as the Boy, Girl, and the Sprite, or...
Face each other in the four-for-all (with CPU as fill-in) in Bomberman or Smash Brothers
Nothing beats a music game for multiplayer fun if you have two insert controller type here: DDR, Singstar, Donkey Konga, Guitar Hero, Drum Mania etc.
For more traditional gameplay I'm not sure if there are any recent non-racing/fighting/sport games that are good for casual multiplayer fun.. For retro games there are tons of them though. Bubble Bobble, Gauntlet, Worms, etc.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
4 player insanity
We Love Katamari is amazing fun with two players, if a little shallow. (Darn ♥ ; didn't work)
Change your name to Homer Junior! Your friends can call you Hoju
Best 2+ Person Game?
;)
sex.
Don't tell me that ain't a proper video game, cause there are plenty of things you can plug in, and plenty of video to watch.
---- Anyone can act smart, but it takes a smart person to act stupid. ----
Tribes (now free for the PC/Windows, I think it runs in Wine ok - amazing lan party game)
:D)
and older-school requiring either an SNES or an as-of-yet-unreleased Wii Virtual Console:
Super Bomberman 2 (with the multitap to support 4 players
Tetris Attack (completely addictive and only tangentally related to tetris)
to a lesser degree, Bust-A-Move (fun, can be a little frustrating to begin with)
I recognize people by their sigs. Is that a bad thing?
Super Smash Brothers Melee!
:)
<chant>GAAANNONDORRRRF, GAAANNONDORRRRRF, GAAANNONDORRRRF</chant>
I've personally never had so much fun with video games outside of this game. I used to play it every day at lunch with my programmer friends at my old employer. 1-2 hours every day. Even the boss played. Talk about fun.
It's a lot more fun, admittedly, when you have opponents that can actually play though. I tried to repeat the enjoyment with random people after I got a better job and it just wasn't the same because they stood literally zero chance against me... too much practice I guess
It's still the most fun in a video game I've ever had.
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
Archon on the C64. 2 Wico red ball joysticks. Strategy and action in a perfect blend.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
...is, of course, Ripoff. It's an old vector-drawn arcade game. You can find it freely available for download from a ROM site and run it under MAME.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
And you can actually play split-screen on one PC, though this usually means some players will be usings joypads or something.
For team versus - UT2004 onslaught or assault. Great for co-op against bots or full team-vs-team if you have a lot of friends.
For 1 on 1 - Tekken.
Free-for-all - Total Annihilation.
I quit!
Myth 2! Great story, interesting fantasy setting, and great multiplayer real-time strategy (minus the unit building that I find boring in other RTS games). It's almost 10 years old, but I still play it online with friends about once or twice a month. It helps that there's still a good community around it, making new content and updating the game engine.
hackshop.com - My tech hobby project hub
This is a really interesting topic. I'm going to have to go with the original, stand up arcade Gauntlet. When I got my first 'real' (ie a decent paycheck) job, one of the first things I did was fulfill my childhood fantasy of owning a Gauntlet arcade game. I think it's difficult to beat. It lets you and four buddies get down, more or less infinietly. Even though I had teh game in my living room for three years, and didn't have to pump quarters into it, I was still never able to finish the game. Sadly, I once blocked out a weekend, invited my brother and two other friends over with the express intention of beating Gauntlet. By late Saturday morning we were working in shifts so that we could take turns sleeping, but still keep the game going. The levels get somewhat repetitive eventually, but never wholly so. There is still quite a bit of difficulty to be overcome, and there's a lot of strategy involved in how to use the different characters and work as a group. For a pretty early video game, the graphics, ,and the speed at which the sprites travel is fantastic.
I have to give runner up to Street Fighter Two in the Arcade, Contra for the NES, Double Dragon in the arcade and Sonic the Hedgehog, in split screen mode for Genesis.
The most underrated multi player game has to be Dungeon Explorer for Turbo GrafX 16. Granted, it is a Gauntlet clone in some ways, but it added quite a few questing and roleplaying elements to the hack and slash of Gauntlet. There was also a lot more flexibility in character creation, and at the time, The five player Turbo Tap was mind blowing.
Et In Arcadia Ego
I agree, Super smash bros is one of the most fun games you can play with other people.
:> and the rest with very high health. I would indeed get my butt kicked by all of them.
:)
:)
If you have two, three or four people, you can still have a great time. (I'm referring to the original as I've yet to pick up the gamecube version cause I don't have a gamecube, but I intend to soon as I get a wii.. and the wii version soon as it comes out)
I would play often with my nephew and nieces. Two player teams.. I'd of course be handicapped with extremely low low health
Still, it's fantastic fun and a fantastic game. Lots of options so you can turn on or off the item drops in case there's a certain item you feel is too powerful. Personally I loved the pokeballs
My favorite character to play was Link. I personally felt he was the best character. His jump plus downward thrust of the sword was nasty... he had easy smashes and he did a chun-li kinda thing with his sword as well. Boomerang... bomb... too many great things. He just felt right
If you liked the original Scorched Earth, then Scorched 3D takes the original and sticks it into the modern era. Best of all, it's free, runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, etc., has hot-seat multiplayer and networked multiplayer and looks gorgeous. Oh - and there are modifications, so if you feel the need for planet-cracking weaponary, you can try the Apocalypse mod.
Scorched 3D
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
If you're willing to invest in two guitar controllers and the game, Guitar Hero II's cooperative mode is an awesome multiplayer experience. You share a communal "rock meter" and "star power", so you have to work together to keep the song afloat. One player plays lead and the other plays either rhythm or bass.
For the SNES w/multitap or on the XBox with XBMC and an emulator.
Question everything
The original Total Annihilation is still one of my favorite multiplayers of all time. Maybe it's just the people I've played with, but it never once degenerated into the over-in-ten-minutes spaz-fest that online Age of Empires became whenever a new cheat/strategy/exploit surfaced. There's nothing better than fighting a moderate to slow-paced, epic battle with a few of your friends. The (over) abundance of units allowed each player to come up with their own style with no fear of being rushed to death by the build-order de jour. For example, I always found it satisfying (and wasteful, I know) to create a squad of Berthas and blind-firing into a known-populated area....
I am surprised I didn't see any Snowblind engine games above....
Here are some of my favorites (not in any order), many of which are based on the Snowblind engine.
* Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance I and II
* Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
* Champions of Norrath: Call to Arms
* Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms
* Fallout
* Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes
* Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers
* Justice League: Heroes.
* Marvel Super Heroes Ultimate Alliance
* Xmen Legends I & II
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
That game was one of the best especially since im not too great at fighting games, making smash bros less attractive to me.
In terms of the most hours put in, it's a toss up between Halo 1(16 player games over the network), and Tetris Attack for the SNES. Nothing beats happy drug-induced characters contrasting w/ swearing and rage associated w/ sending your opponent a huge combo.
Other huge titles were Bond on 64, Kart 64, kart on the SNES.
I never really played Pokemon on the gameboy, but I feel that many people spent far too much of their lives in it.
I remember back in the AOL is the only internet days playing a free MMO called Gemstone 3 for days and days.
Tekken Tag on PS2
That's all I can remember for now, but I know there have to be more...
Co-op in the halo series can't be topped...
By no means authoritive, but my favorites:
,IIRC. :( :P
- Original TANKS! for DOS and many of the rip offs
- Comet Blasters!, a cheap COMETS 2-player co-op/competitive (mixed role, not different types of play) ripoff, with configurable ship energy (speed, bullet speed/distance, shield). Got this off AOL Shareware back in the day
- Tank Wars - I think that's what it was called. Another AOL Shareware. You'd compete against each others tanks on a trid and have to take out enemy tanks, soldiers, and helos at the same time, iirc.
- Worms! who can forget this one. Basically TANKS! with humor
- Rock'n'Roll Racing for the SNES and Genesis - fun as a single player game, but you could play for days on end multi trying to take each other out. Classic rock MIDI, cars with rockets, lasers, mines, oil slicks
- Road Rash series (not too memorable but still fun)
- Mechwarror II (and expansions), Mech 3 and 4 (to a substantially lesser degree) multiplayer - most fun, IMO, in an equally matched heads-on. Probably my favorite game of all time. I would LOVE if MS were to re-release Mechwarrior II (provided they have rights to it) with the same game mechanics, updated functional networking and good (at least better) graphics. Even without graphics, really - just so I can still play it.
- Starcraft, Warcraft II, and Warcraft, good up to probably 4 people at a time. Lots of fun over dialup vs. 1 person w/ someone 'coaching' you
- Jackal - 2 player co-op NES arcade style jeep game.
- Rampage - 'co-op' quickly turns into 'vs' and lasts for hours
- Captain America and the Avengers - one of my favorite co-op 'arcade' style games (originally for arcade but I played it mainly on Genesis)
- Descent, Descent II (didn't care for D3, too complex for multi vs.) - Oh, how many hours did I spend playing this with my brother and friends over a dialup link or over the network. Favorite level was for Descent, "Jolly Green Giant" IIRC. Basically a large cheerio shape with criss-cross pathways across the center O
- Duke Nuke'm 3D - just loved multi deathmatch for this game due to the many creative ways of splattering your opponents - it wasn't so much about 'shoot 'em up' as it was about subterfuge
That's all I can think of for now.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Gradius V in my opinion has to be one of the BEST designed 2 player games for skilled gamers who dig the "old school" shoot-em-up genre before that term was pirated by generations unaquainted with them for first person shooters.
Try playing 2 player gradius in the green slime level, or asteroid belt level and the thing is just one of the most INTENSE gaming experiences you'll ever have.
Soul Calibur 2 is also an excellent 2 player game.
I was introduced to that game early this year, and have been playing it frequently with friends/relatives ever since. One of the things that is so great about it is the flexibility of the number of players. It is still really fun with 2, 3, or 4 people. With some expansion sets, you can get up to 5 or 6, but I haven't played with that many yet.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
Scorched 3d is fun for 2+ players. How can you go wrong with something based off of "The Mother Of All Games"?
NT
Tribes 2, Tribes 2, and Tribes 2. It's the 2++++++++ player game and completely awesome. (As I have mentioned before, and before :). )
I also like great games that I can play with my kids and still have a lot of fun. Worms Armageddon is the best (and still available). You can even handicap it (because there is a lot of strategy once you learn it). And, the old "Crash Team Racing" for the old PlayStation. It has a battle mode for up to four people (with mutli-tap) that is a blast. Hot damn, I think I'm going to play it tonight.
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - the whole reason I bought a PS1
Amplitude
Culdcept (the only Monopoly/M:tG hybrid I know of)
Occasionally, after lots of drinking, Hot Shots Golf has been known to make an appearance.
But honestly, lately we've been subjecting our friends to Caylus--but that's a board game, not a video game.
Super Bomberman. Mentioned by many others. It's the only one I played regularly. My friend with the SNES got Super Bomberman II way back when, but the 'additions' didn't make it any more fun.
Atari 2600 Baseball. I *think* the Mattel one. I don't care how crude the graphics are, it's fun.
Snow Bros arcade game.
I can't find info about this game online in a quick search, but a multiplayer online game called Conquest. I see lots of other games called variants of Conquest, but the one I played was originally on some pay mainframe system.. I think they had a free period at first, which is when I had gotten to play the game. Someone made a UNIX version of it in the 1990s sometime, but I can't find my email about it. Anyway, it is/was a multiplayer space game, with ASCII graphics. You'd beam people to planets to try to take over the existing population (you just have to beam more of your people than are already there). You can have live space fights with other players, but it's just you shooting * characters at each other. Your goal is to conquer the universe.
You can't mention those games without mentioning the most addicting, deep and rewarding board game, also the most ancient still played today.
:P
Suggestion: Weiqui is to chess as Lisp is to Java
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
Sex.
In any incarnation the trash-talking to other players in this game is priceless. You can lose and still feel good as hell. Plus, its easy enough for your stoner buddies to pick up and play right away.
http://www.segment.org/~8up
Cookies and Cream - co-op game where you and a friend have to solve little action puzzles together. It will really test your relationship. : )
If you havnt heard of Mashed, just think Micro Machines...THE best 4 player splitscreen experience ever for me.
(1) Zombies Ate My Neighbors for super nintendo (2) Contra for nes (3) Super Smash Brothers Melee for Game Cube (4) Mariokart Double Dash for Game Cube
All the "you dont know jack" games, and the 2d worms games were absolutely perfect to even get absolute non-gamers playing.
Sadly, the 3D Worms sucks... (the concept is just completely incompatible with a 3d playfield. I just wish the designers would get that idea, too, and make a sequel one can actually enjoy)
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Star Control 2 in Super Melee mode. It's basically a 1-on-1 space combat arcade game, but it has a lot of depth. There are 25 very different and unique ships to choose between and they all have advantages and disadvantages; some are slow, others are fast. Some rely on raw firepower while others rely on strange innovative devices like tractor beams. Before the game starts each player chooses ships for his fleet and that makes it suitable for tournament play among friends.
You can get the GPL port here (GPL). Oh, and when you're tired of blasting your friends out of the sky, the single player game itself is probably one of the best ever made.
Insane 1-4 player for the Gamecube, if you're up for a couple hours of drug-induced fun, yay.
"There is no Honor, without Pie."
-Weeble
Just because you can, does not mean you should.
carmageddon 2, if you can get it working nicely, it's ipx stuff seems to work on win9x only (can't tell about wine);
total annihilation, pretty nice one rts.
Rich
Two come to mind as bringing many hours of enjoyment to me and my wife:
Baulder's Gate for the PS2 (though also available for the cube and XBox).
Phantasy Star Online for the Gamecube via the splitscreen (though it would have been cool to play it with a couple of networked gamecubes and separate screens without having to hook them up online (and paying the whatever/mo fee).
Another one that was excellent for multiplayer and even supported up to 4 players was Armada (Dreamcast). Sadly the sequel for that gamed was abandoned and the Metro3d's (the co behind the game) website is no longer there.
Any of these should be cheap to pick up and worth playing.
Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
this is a site for nerds and others who are possesive of esoteric knowlege! yet no one has put forward the 7 player, Saturn only (perhaps thats why,) easter egg game - Death Tanx (or even Death Tanx Zwei)
The game is quite simply a 7 on 7 real time worms. Thats right, 7 player worms with no waiting for a turn. There are a gang of 9 of us locally and most of us have a Sega Saturn, a mutli tap and about 10 pads (they aint getting any younger and they are a btich to come across these days so spares are a must).
We noticed that locally we had driven up the pices of Saturn pads by about 400%. At our local gamesytation store the pads were going from £8 - £12. A 50 mile trip and the pads were going for about £3
To play the game you do need a save game of quake and duke nukem. But as far as party games go this is by far and away the best there is.
Gain Ground (3 player max) Gauntlet Gauntlet II Fourtet (Can't find any info about it online.) Rampage (3 player max) Rampart
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
FFS. Seriously, 2 player coop in Contra was one of my favorite gaming experiences evar :)
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
Like worms, but real time. When playing with 3 or more people in the same room or house, the screaming will wake the dead. Much worse if some alcohol is involved.
http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/
go back to the oldies for "best two person game": PONG. As a 10 year old, it was difficult enough to master against the machine, but against my brother....
I absolutely agree. I saw this topic and the games I immediately thought of were Tron and Bolo, both of which are available for (at least) Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. You can't go wrong with high-speed, first-person Tron.
..Micro Machines !
It's on various platforms (I've seen most, from a modded C64 with 4 joystick ports, to the playstion version).
It's the ultimate fast-paced, no-gaming-experience-needed, punch-your-neighbor-in-the-ribs-to-win game. And it doesn't get any less hilarious because people have been drinking (on the contrary, actually!)