30 Day Video Game Challenge Thing.

[Goafer]

Local Multiplayer

Halo. Played no end of it with Happenstance and have fond memories of buying a share size bottle of Coke and big ol' Dairy Milk each and settling in for a long session of the split screen campaign.

[bob]

Local Multiplayer

It's got to beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Goldeneye

 

 

I can remember struggling to breathe from laughing when playing 4-player slappers only, everyone on their knees, gliding around the Temple level, slapping the shit out of each other. 

 

[Dufniall]

Pfew, another hard one! So many good local multiplayers, it's too bad I don't have the chance often these days to play like this.

I have good memories of linking up by cable with Pokémon Blue/Gold/Sapphire. Playing the SNES with my brother (Mario Kart and Killer Instinct). Playing Smash Bros. Melee with a mate. Playing Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit on PC on one keyboard with 2 people. And that one time we got a full band together to play Guitar Hero: World Tour.

But I'm also picking Wii Sports! I had a Wii with this on my student dorm and everyone joined in on the fun. Boys, girls, gamers and non-gamers. Everyone could pick it up and everyone loved it.

I think this is the only time a Nintendo commercial realistically portrays the target audience for a game, namely everyone! 

 

[Ronnie]

Local Multiplayer

I haven't played much local multiplayer in a while, so for me this has to go to Super Mario Kart. I think its battle mode has never been topped by any other entry. Future games tend to make the battle courses more complex but the simpler level design, deadly fast red and green shells + the feather made this the perfect local multiplayer game to me. Great memories playing the game with my older brother as a kid. I'm also a sucker for Mode 7 visuals and the sound effects and music are top notch. 

[Will]

Local Multiplayer

Another one where I’m a little torn as to what to go for. One thing I’m certain of, however, is that this one has to be an N64 title. I went to a boarding school and a few people had the console, which meant there were enough controllers around for us to always use the console to it’s fullest and play 4-player. 4 player! It was a total revelation at the time and actually I think having four controller ports was the best thing about that machine. I have no idea how many hours I put into that console, and the vast majority of play would have been on a handful of multiplayer titles.

So which game to pick?

In the end I think I have to give it to Goldeneye. Such a fantastic FPS which we hadn’t really had on console up to that point, and the multiplayer was just sublime. We had all of the cheats unlocked and would play through pretty much every mode available. We also had a handicap system where character heights would be selected based on skill level. I was ALWAYS Jaws.

[bob]

We also had a handicap system where character heights would be selected based on skill level. I was ALWAYS Jaws.

#Humblebrag

[Will]

Just now, bob said:

 

 

#Humblebrag

 

Oh I didn’t mean to be humble about it at all, I was amazing at that game. I’m fairly sure that had e-sports been a thing back then I’d have been the world champion of Goldeneye. Of course I haven’t played in years so nobody could possibly put that to the test anymore.

[Londragon]

Day 3 - Local Multiplayer

This was a close call between 4 games, and any one of them could have taken it.

1. Goldeneye - 4-Player madness during my Uni years.
2. Street Fighter 2 - SNES fighting at its best, with my two younger brothers.
3. Super Mario Kart - once again started with my brothers, but this bled over into my Uni years, too.

But, the winner is ...  Sensible Soccer (Commodore Amiga).  This was played pretty much everyday, with a close friend of mine from back home, and sometimes during lunch break and a quick run down to my house.  So good, it made it onto a first class stamp.

[Sméagol]

Local Multiplayer

It's definitely going to be an N64 game.. But which one?

Mario kart 64

There were other candidates, Goldeneye got played a lot, ands there was of course its predecessor, the SNES Mario Kart. Perfect dark wasn't really as popular amongst my friends.. I think i was the only one who had the game. Likewise, Smash Brothers 64 never got played. So my fondest memories of couch multiplayer were of mario Kart 64. Unfortunately, those were the golden days of local multiplayer, and while I had the occasional local multiplayer parties after highschool, they were few and far between, to the point of practically non-existent.. So sadly, there's probably never going to be anything that will top 4 player Mario kart, trying to fire a lightning when someone was in the middle of a jump..

I'm also going to mention a few NES co-op games where I had fun playing with my brother, like the Rescue Rangers or MC kids, that we rented from a video store (remember those?)

Edited July 3, 2020 by Sméagol

[Will]

2 minutes ago, Sméagol said:

So sadly, there's probably never going to be anything that will top 4 player Mario kart, trying to fire a lightning when someone was in the middle of a jump..

Yeah I think this was the last Mario Kart where you could really screw someone over. Hitting that lightening just as someone got to the jump in Wario Stadium was a thing of beauty. We’d often end up having a mini battle mode at the bottom of the ramp or watching a leader cower in fear as they try to outsmart the lightning holder. 

This was very almost my choice too.

[S.C.G]

Day 3 - Local Multiplayer

Goldene... *taken*

Perfect Dar... *taken*

...

TimeSplitters 2

It has to be TimeSplitters 2 because nothing else comes close to taking the immense amount of enjoyment obtained from both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Indeed, the team at Free Radical took some of the best elements from those games, but then improved things significantly by offering such a unique and varied character roster, as because the main game is centered around time travel, this opens up a myriad of selectable characters ranging from a Spy, Gingerbread Man, Robot, Monkey... Robot Monkey and many more possibilities.

Not only that, the selection of modes on offer was nothing short of impressive, going far beyond the standard Deathmatch options, adding in plenty of new twists on old favourites, entirely new modes and fully customisable rule sets in addition to a plethora of different weapons which were fun to use. Loads of different arenas to choose from and if you didn't like them that much, or preferred the maps of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark, you could attempt to recreate them with the map editor, which worked well, so long as you play-tested it a lot and were prepared for a few crashes.

I know the PS2 version has online, and the Xbox version is probably technically superior but it was the GameCube version which my brothers and I played for many hours in local multiplayer. There really hasn't been another FPS which has topped it since either, at least not in the same way as recreating that classic feeling which is present in all of the main FPS' titles which were made by mostly the same team or variations of over the years.

Let's hope that reboot/remake/new game from THQ Nordic comes to fruition, as TimeSplitters definitely deserves to come back, at least one last time.

[BowserBasher]

Between Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64. mK takes it as I just loved it more. 

[Julius]

So many great mentions already, and so many games I would love to bring up here.

There are the tens - if not hundreds - of hours I put into Star Wars: Battlefront II's local co-op alone on PS2 during primary school sleepovers, and generally just whenever friends were around. There were some great nights of Mario Kart DS with friends when I returned to the UK from Australia, being able to play that with friends without owning the cartridge myself was great. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, as I'm sure I've mentioned plenty of times before, on the school playground, at sleepovers, pretty much wherever - other than Pokémon Go, probably the peak of  Pokémon popularity that myself and my generation have been been exposed to. There's New Super Mario Bros.' mini games which caused a whole lot of chaos. Super Smash Bros. Brawl which I've sunk hundreds of hours into with my younger brother over the years. And of course the already mentioned Wii Sports and (c'mon guys!) Wii Sports Resort. 

Day 3: Local Multiplayer

And then there's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

We didn't have Mario Kart Wii - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch is the first Mario Kart I've owned, even if it's maybe the fourth one I've played? - but I remember my little brother (we're probably talking three or four years old) being fully pumped for this game, the ads running on TV and also probably in large because when he got a DS Lite at the age of just two or three (he had extremely bad eczema back then, so it seemed like a good idea for a distraction) his first game was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, so he had some level of attachment to some of those Sonic characters. 

I remember I came home from school one day and he was giddy with excitement, turned out he and my dad had picked up a copy with the branded wheel which came with the game, and a couple of Wii steering wheels for me and my younger sister to use. We played for hours. All told, I think I can safely say that this is the game my sister (not the most game-oriented person in the world) has put the most time into, and up until a few summers ago (probably 2017?) this was something we would break out on almost daily basis during the summer holiday, breaking out the fans to save being roasted in our conservatory.

Racing tournaments where we awarded ourselves points on an Excel spreadsheet, battle rounds, great track diversity (the Jet Set Radio tracks, Shibuya Downtown in particular, were amongst our favourites, and I think they're genuinely well designed tracks), cool assortment of racers (some really whacky ones too, notably my first introduction to so many of Sega's cast), and just a whole lot of fun. While I love the time I've spent with Mario Kart over the years, the utter chaos which sometimes erupts definitely means it's a coin toss between skill and luck being the reason for winning, but Sega All-Stars I feel did a great job of putting the emphasis the player's skills.

Competing and just having an absolute blast with my siblings in this game will always be a great set of memories for me to look back on 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Julius

[WackerJr]

I’m not really going to add to this category, more reinforce the great games already mentioned.

I’m so pleased Sensible Soccer was mentioned (thanks @londragon), but for me like many others it has to be an N64 title.

I played many hours of Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Mario Kart 64, Smash Bros, F-Zero X and NHL ‘99 with friends.  I was always the worst at F-Zero and NHL though so I won’t be choosing them!

To be different I’m going to plump for Mario Party 2.  This totally took me by surprise, and even more surprising was just enjoyable this was with friends and how often they made this their game of choice for some multiplayer action.  Rather than the actual board games though, we usually went with just the minigames.  Everyone had their own areas of expertise (button mashing was not one of mine!), and it made for some close contests & some entertaining sessions.

[Jonnas]

This is a tough one. Everybody has given excellent shout-outs to the likes of Timesplitters 2 or Wii Sports... Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was at the center of a brilliant point in time where my entire class could play that game in LAN, in a room full of computers. Worms Armageddon is easy to play in multiplayer, and absolutely divine at it. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is my all-time favourite game, the first time I've been part of a competitive gaming community, allowed me to meet a ton of cool people, and is just part of some of the multiplayerest series there is. And yet my vote for best multiplayer goes to...

Snipperclips

The choice was clear, after a few sessions of playing this with my extended family. Seeing my older uncles and aunts follow what was happening, cheering people on, and making suggestions... it's like I had found world peace. We tend to split into different groups doing different things in these reunions (if only because physical space is limited), to the point that taking a group photo can take a while... but everybody willingly joining in for the same activity? From the 6-year olds to the 60+ years-old? It's a miracle, that's what it is.

This is legit the only game I can think of that's enamoured hardcore and casual gamers alike. It's the only game where Co-op is just as fun as the competitive/party mode. It promotes creative thinking for solving puzzles, it includes missions for 4 players, the main mechanic is so simple it's genius, and it only needs 3 buttons... The elegance in this game's design (and its multiplayer options) is out of this world.

And it looks adorable! Look at those tykes! Look at that basketball! It's perfect!

[Glen-i]

I'm so glad someone mentioned a Mario Party, beause nothing makes you hate your friends quite like Mario Party.

Although, Mario Party 3 is the best N64 entry, and that's that.

[Cube]

Day 4 - Favourite villain/antagonist.

Saren Arterius from Mass Effect.

He believes he's doing the right thing, but doesn't realise that he's being manipulated by a greater power - he thinks he's able to protect himself and is better than them.

However, despite being manipulated, he's not secretly a "good guy misled into doing the wrong thing" - he was a pretty vile person to begin with. Even so, it's still possible to get through to him and make him realise that what he's doing now is completely wrong (I don't think I've ever seen the boss battle that happens if you don't get through to him.

 

[Londragon]

Day 4 - Favourite Villain

 

Cube’s chosen a villain based on substance and character. Mine is purely aesthetics, and in that vain Gannondorf in his Wind Waker attire is a cut above the rest.

 

[Cube]

Wind Waker Ganondorf was high up on my list - he's the most interesting version due to both style and substance. You end up feeling slightly sorry for him. 

[bob]

Favourite villain/antagonist


For this category I first thought about all the enemies I've enjoyed fighting - like the Flood in Halo, or well-written villains like Vaas from Far Cry 3, but then I thought about the term 'antagonist'. Who was the most antagonistic villain in any game, and I instantly thought of this smug motherfucker:


Hiroki Awano from Yakuza 0

I can't remember a game where I have so looked forward to fighting a certain 'boss'. The guy just grates you from the first time he is introduced. I could not wait to wipe the floor with his stupid, turtlenecked, face.

[drahkon]

Favourite Villain

The Patriots from the Metal Gear Solid series.

Not going to spoil anything about it, though. It would also take a looooooot of words to explain

[Will]

Favourite Villain

I think for this I have to go for a video game classic, and pick Dr Robotnik. I always liked the general design of the character and the use of his gadgets that allowed him to constantly evolve throughout a game made him always feel fresh.

I also quite like the fact that it makes zero sense that he’s even part of the Sonic universe, yet somehow is totally essential to it.

 

[Nicktendo]

Local Multiplayer

Like others, my best memories of local gaming is from the N64 era. Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Smash Bros. 64 and Diddy Kong Racing all deserve a mention here, but I'm going to plump for Mario Party. Me and my brothers spent hours and hours playing this game and destroyed all three of our controllers in the process. 

Best villain

This is a tougher one. I think Wind Waker Ganon would probably take it for me too, superb re-imagining after Ocarina of Time. I think I'm going to go for this guy though. I really like his design and how different he is from other Nintendo bad guys. Has a lot of personality and an Emo hairstyle that hearkens back to the era he was conceived in. 

[Ronnie]

Favourite villain/antagonist

I'm going the Hard Mode route and so as I'm not being able to repeat games I've gone for a deeper cut than most "villains": Badeline from Celeste, in other words your own demons and insecurities. It's not so much a personal tale I can especially relate to, I just found her to be a great character, with a really well done story, all wrapped in such an incredible game. Madeline's interactions with her other half were really compelling and the boss fights and animations were top notch, especially having Badeline pop out of her character box at certain points   Definitely a very memorable antagonist and easily one of my favourites.

[Goafer]

Favourite Villain/Antagonist

There's only one choice for me. The fact that I'm just going to leave their theme here and you'll all know who I'm talking about is testament to how iconic they are.

 

I was almost tempted to go with the Colossi from SotC, but I have a feeling I'll need to save that game for a later category.

Edited July 4, 2020 by Goafer