In this Source Gaming Roundtable we were asked by our Ultimate Patron, Mr. JBRPG, about our favourite multiplayer video games. Are we competetive players or casuals? What’s our favourite genres and do we have any suggestions for good multiplayer games that you might want to check out? Read on to find out!
When it comes to multiplayer games I find my taste seems to shift quite a lot. Growing up I was really into serious co-operative games like Resident Evil 5, Halo 3 and Gears of War; as well as competetive, ranked-based, games like Call of Duty. Nowadays however, I lean to playing multiplayer games that are goofier and willl make my friends and I laugh as we play. Super Mario 3D World, Golf With Your Friends and The Jackbox Party Pack are just some examples of multiplayer action that I tend to play all the time. Board game-based video games have also been a big part of my multiplayer repetoire in recent years. I have always enjoyed Mario Party but I find I play titles like 100% Orange Juice and Boom Street a lot as well (I’m really looking forward to Dokapon Kingdom: Connect for the same reason).
Saying all this, it doesn’t mean I’m not into more competetive multiplayer games at all. I enjoy Super Smash Bros. (of course) as well as other fighting games like Tekken 7 and King of Fighters 15. there’s also Puyo Puyo Tetris which scratches that puzzle game itch. I just find that I don’t have time to invest into these types of multiplayer games, and if your not willing to invest to learn and improve then you’ll never be able to win – which is off-putting. This is why I don’t tend to follow the competetive Super Smash Bros. scene too closely. I also don’t play any MMO’s. although the reasons there aren’t really to do with the multiplayr aspect of them.
I’m no stranger to the competitive side of multiplayer, with hours upon hours sunken into the launch year of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and the Splatoon series. However, my preferred type of multiplayer is more cooperative. Perhaps that’s why the games I just listed off are Team-Based shooters. I have over 1000 hours invested into a little game you might have heard of called PAYDAY 2. I have spent so much time robbing banks and pulling off the game’s ridiculous heists that I am probably on a watchlist somewhere. The thing I enjoyed the most about PAYDAY 2 was communicating with my team, successfully handing off tasks to each other and pulling out of a sticky situation. Part of me misses those days, I rarely play multiplayer games if at all anymore. But I’ll never forget the memories that I forged with my friends.
I love multiplayer games like Halo, Overwatch, Gundam Evolution, and Fortnite and playing them with my friends. That’s what multiplayer games are all about. Then there’s fighting games, also multiplayer games, that I enjoy far more with a more visible and understandable showcase of skill level like Super Smash Bros., Street Fighter, Melty Blood, Guilty Gear, and any other fighting game. Learning from other people that are more skilled than me is also one of my favorite parts. However, Splatoon is probably my favorite multiplayer series of all time and what Splatoon does so much better is satisfying the player. I love the ability to customize my character with a variety of clothing, choose weapons and abilities that portray my playstyle and how I want to animate, and pick out victory animations to pose with my team: friends or not. There’s more that Splatoon allows it’s players to do and it’s so intertwined with the aspects of gameplay. That merging of gameplay and style is one of my favorite parts of multiplayer games and I wish I knew of more that achieve that.
For me, it’s two things. The first is that multiplayer is a great way to spend time with those I care about. Playing Mario Kart tracks or doing Super Smash Bros. co-op isn’t just a way to play games but to engage with someone as an event (this also includes things that aren’t “really” multiplayer, like going through a game with someone). I love playing Smash, and I play a ton on my own, but playing against someone I know has a connection that playing random opponents online doesn’t. The second would be when a multiplayer experience is entirely new and not really replicable in a single player experience. Splatoon is perfect for that, since there’s not really a way to do a single player version of its Turf War or Salmon Run. I can play a single player shooter campaign, but those modes can’t feasibly mimic the brilliance and stupidity of me or my partners.
When it comes to multiplayer, nothing’s made as lasting an impression on me as Pokémon and Super Smash Bros. have. For the former, connecting with friends from across the globe and working together to complete our Pokédexes and survive ridiculous raids are often where the modern entries shine. Though, I’m also a bit frustrated whenever the role-playing games’ dedication to multiplayer gets in the way of what’re otherwise fantastic single-player experiences (looking at you, Black 2 & White 2’s Challenge Mode). Moving from co-op to competitive, Smash has always been an endless source of one-on-one enjoyment (and, admittedly, salt). Across Brawl, for Wii U, Ultimate, and even a bit of Project+, no other series has been accessible enough to let me play online and get my fair share of wins whenever I want. But the crossover’s offerings don’t stop there, as I’ve been revisiting some of Brawl’s Subspace Emissary in co-op, and it’s been a great time. Oh, and I’d kick myself for not mentioning It Takes Two, a kind of game I can rarely find a partner for, but it was fantastic. Overall, my experiences with multiplayer have been somewhat shallow, but that just makes me appreciate the games that manage to hook me with it even more.
There’s nothing like a good multiplayer game, y’know? Competing against comparably skilled rivals in Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Pokémon Puzzle League, or Pac-Man Battle Royale (or the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, if I may touch upon another hobby) is exciting, a test to see who’s better. It’s also a joy to play casually, and while I don’t play cooperative games often, working together with someone to overcome a challenging campaign is rewarding. Of course, the best thing about multiplayer experiences is that you’re sharing them with others. You’re bonding with people over a common interest, building a foundation for what could grow into an enduring friendship. And though playing against strangers online is fun and a welcome option (one of my greatest gaming memories is the time I carried my teammates to victory in the Xbox 360 co-op shooter Aegis Wing on its “insane” difficulty), I always prefer playing with my peers in person, if possible. The screams, cheers, and other visceral displays of emotions enhance the experience tenfold!
While I’m not much into playing multiplayer online games, besides a bit of Smash and Splatoon a couple times a month, most of my most cherished gaming memories are based on playing alongside friends and family on the same TV or Arcade machine. And among countless hours spent in Soul Calibur 3 (PS2), Metal Slug X (Arcade), Bubble Bobble (Arcade), Part Time UFO (Switch), Pokémon Stadium (N64), Boxboy! + Boxgirl! (Switch), and a lot more, my favorite one to this very day is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES) as, for instance, it might be the very first game I owned at the age of 4! I played it first with my parents, then with my younger siblings as they were able to join me, and lots of neighbors and friends from school. As the name says, it’s the NES port of the famous Arcade game, with a couple more stages to justify the downgrade in graphics, but that doesn’t matter when you are that young, so it was the perfect “sleepover game”, sitting in front of the TV for a couple of hours trying to defeat wave after wave of foot clan mooks in your way to rescue April.
Multiplayer games have taken up most of my time these days, but between competitive and cooperative titles, I’m more inclined towards the latter. It’s no secret that Warframe and it’s co-op is a huge time sink for me, particularly after the crossplay update, and co-op modes in single player experiences like Elden Ring and Genshin Impact are reasons I keep coming back to them. Not to say I don’t like player vs player action, I’ll still frequently boot up Smash or Team Fortress 2 to get a fix, but I’ve somehow found cooperation inherently more satisfying when people appreciate what you can bring to the table that they don’t have, which while not commonly expressed by people directly is still something I like to imagine happens with the person(s) on the other side of the connection.
My favourite aspects of multiplayer games are connecting with friends and making memories. Sometimes that’s due to chance. During a birthday party, a bunch of friends and I were playing Super Smash Bros. Melee. In this round, we played on The Great Bay stage, and a friend fell into the ocean off to the right. It’s usually a quick KO, but nothing happened. There was a long pause, we were confused. Suddenly, the water started to ripple… and out of the water arose my friend riding the Giant Turtle to a triumphant return! It was a comeback that caught us all off guard, and we didn’t even know it was possible.
In other cases, it’s the odd ways we play the game that make them memorable. In James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire, there’s a mode where one person tries to snipe a target getting off the train while the other defends. The target will eventually get back on the train (if not eliminated), and it repeats, but the roles reverse. This goes on until a timer runs out or someone hits a specific number of points. At one point my friend was being mischievous and would shoot the target… regardless if it wasn’t his turn to eliminate, despite losing points. He did so just to purposefully rob me of the opportunity to eliminate the target. What was supposed to be a carefully executed rooftop sniper mission, turned into an all-out assault. We desperately raced towards the train doors, so that as soon as they opened we could beat the other person to the punch. We were dying of laughter throughout the match.
Multiplayer games can also create inside jokes, like my niece accidentally calling Monita, “Montana” during a tense match of the Luigi’s Mansion mini-game in Nintendo Land. Another being from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where I called the black pants alternate of Kazuya, “Hot Pants Kazuya” because of the red flames. Only for another niece to retort back, calling him “Cold Pants Kazuya”. I could go on about the memories made playing both multiplayer and single-player N64 games with my sisters and parents as well, but you get the point. Multiplayer games are an easy way to bond with people, and there’s enough randomness, glitches, and ways to bend the rules for tons of spontaneity and fond memories.
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