2 player games (at same time)

[MiKman]

Looking for some fun games that 2 people can play at the same time. Kind of co-operative and/or opponent based at the same time, Joust is a perfect example, but I already know about that one   Not a big fighter fan or a double dragon, simpsons style game, as they lose their appeal very quickly.  Any ideas?

[krick]

The greatest co-operative simultaneous 2 player arcade game in history...

Smash TV

...and it's sort-of sequel...

Total Carnage

[MiKman]

thanks for the suggestions.  I checked them out, too bad each player needs two joysticks I might have to redesign my control panel to accomodate it.

[krick]

Those two games are the whole reason I got into this hobby.

I'm designing my control panel around them.


Since I'm going to have 4 joysticks because of those two games, I'm trying to come up with a usable 4 player layout in the space I have to work with.

[MiKman]

interesting I like the idea of having a 4 player control panel double for these type of games :-)  but seems like a lot of extra work for me.  I might just be able to remap some buttons for the firing of the gun for each player.  Won't be authentic, but will serve the purpose.  I been trying out smash TV, excellent game. I'll definitely be adding to my favorites.  Any other ideas on cool 2 player simultaneous games like this?

[krick]

There might be a problem with remapping buttons for the firing.

*Supposedly*  (I haven't tried it) if you accidentally press the "fire left" and "fire right" at the same time (or up & down), the game crashes.

[zvar]

There is both of the Gauntlet games, they each have a 2-player rom (normally 4 player) that's co-operative.  The Dungeon and Dragon ones do too, although I'm not sure how well it works with just 2 players.
For that matter, you might want to take a look at all the 4-player games.  Most have a 2-player clone, and at least some are co-operative.

Steven

[rsoandrew]

My kids love the Bubble Bobble series of games, Ribbit, BangBall and JJ squaker.

They are all two player and it eliminates a lot of fighting.

[Apollo]

Bomberman is cool, me and my brother-in-law used to have hours of fun with it.

[elvis]

There are a bazillion sports (basketball/soccer/football/tennis/etc) games in MAME, most of which are two player.

Plenty of two player shooters also.  DoDonPachi, Raiden, Gunbird and Gunbird2, etc, etc.

[quarterstringer]

Mario Bros and Super Sprint are two of my favorites. But you'll need spinners or steering wheels for Super Sprint.

[MiKman]

Bomberman is cool, me and my brother-in-law used to have hours of fun with it.

I love bomberman as well.  Strangely enough, I can't say I had ever played it two player.  Do both player 1 and player 2 play at the same time?

[MiKman]

There are a bazillion sports (basketball/soccer/football/tennis/etc) games in MAME, most of which are two player.

Plenty of two player shooters also.

[Goz]

Pretty much anything NEO*GEO

-Goz

[captainpotato]

My brother came around last night and saw my (as yet unfinished) bartop. We had a great time playing:
- Track and Field;
- Hyper-Sporrts;
- Ironman Stewart's offroad racing;
- Gauntlet (until it kept crashing, that is);
- Bubble Bobble.

For the first two I've configured the prototype CP for them, whereas for the others the second player used a gamepad.

[Stingray]

Pretty much anything NEO*GEO

-Goz

I was about to say the same thing. Blazing Star & the Metal Slugs are big favorites of mine.

-S

[RayB]

There might be a problem with remapping buttons for the firing.

*Supposedly*

[walls83]

4 player Bomberman is a blast(no pun intended)  Even 2 player is fun. My wife and I play it all the time. Super Mario Bros was fun untill my wife became "Mario ass Kicker" she killes me in that game.

2 Player games my wife and I play.

Contra
Tetris
Bubble Bobble
Bomberman
Gradius (I dont know which version its the one where both play at the sametime.)
Toobin'
Total Carnage
Smash Tv
Gauntlet

Those are just a few.

[versapak]

Bomberman is cool, me and my brother-in-law used to have hours of fun with it.

I love bomberman as well. Strangely enough, I can't say I had ever played it two player. Do both player 1 and player 2 play at the same time?

If you have never played bomberman multiplayer, then you have never really played bomberman. You will LOVE it.

[Sephroth57]

WTF, no one in this thread said METAL SLUG!! if you havent played Metal Slug on an arcade machine with sound blasted, guns blaring, buttons being rapidly pressed, then you havent lived

[IMMark]

Don't forget where you started your list....Joust ( my all time favorite),
that has its sequel....Joust 2

another good cooperative game is Jackal.

Are there any other good simultaneous 2 player cooperative games (both players against the CPU, not against each other).

[RayB]

Why is Metal Slug so good? I remember trying to play it when the first one came out, and there was so much going on on the screen I would die very quickly. (Maybe I'm too old!)   

[Apollo]

My wife and I play Chicken Shift together, did anyone mention that?

[versapak]

(Maybe I'm too old!)

That must be it.


heheh


The insane amount of nonstop action is what made it so great to me. Especially good with 2 players. Plus it has branching paths, multiple vehicles & their styles of play, and all those crazy enemy types, and the yummy food, and the... heheheh

Great game.

[Sephroth57]

Why is Metal Slug so good? I remember trying to play it when the first one came out, and there was so much going on on the screen I would die very quickly. (Maybe I'm too old!)

[u_rebelscum]

*Supposedly*  (I haven't tried it) if you accidentally press the "fire left" and "fire right" at the same time (or up & down), the game crashes.

This is absolutely true of the original JAMMA board. I used to own one in a cabinet with 4 buttons per player (in a diamond configuration). The question is, does it still crash in MAME?

No, it does not crash. 

Mame simulates physical joysticks by filtering inputs so the game cannot see opposites pressed at the same time.  This happens for the normal left, right, up, down, and dual stick left_left (ect), and right_left (ect) input types.

[missioncontrol]

Mario Bros.

[RayB]

Has anyone mentioned Street Fighter II?

There's also Atari Tetris. It's not really competitive 2 player, more like simultaneous 2 player.

[Kremmit]

Playable with one regular joy + buttons per player:

Two Tigers
Tetris
Altered Beast
Golden Axe
Mario Bros (not Super) - everybody forgets this one, it seems like.
Xybots (used special joysticks, but can be played fine with a regular joy + two rotation buttons)
Rampage (up to 3 players)
Silk Worm
...

Also try these, if you've got the controls:

Blasteroids, Pong (dual spinners)

House of the Dead, & all the lightgun games

Ikari Warriors, Time Soldiers, Heavy Barrel, etc.  (rotary joysticks)

Cabal  (dual trackballs)
Atari Football / X's & O's (dual trackballs)
Marble Madness (dual trackballs)

Can't agree enough about Smash TV, you can play that for hours.  If you've got the 4-stick setup for it, download Mutant Storm, too.  It's a PC game, not MAME, but it's a two-stick shooter like Smash TV, that plays well on a cab.  2-player Karate Champ is cool, too, but you're supposed to have 4-ways for it, so avoid the diagonals if you're using 8-ways.

[quarterback]

WTF, no one in this thread said METAL SLUG!!

Blazing Star & the Metal Slugs are big favorites of mine.

[Stingray]

WTF, no one in this thread said METAL SLUG!!

Blazing Star & the Metal Slugs are big favorites of mine.

Thanks, I was just about to point that out.

-S

[Sephroth57]

ah ok sorry didnt see that... but still it needed a larger credit. Metal Slug owns the 2P non fighting game play on my machine anyway, everyone loves it

[elvis]

Not a big fighter fan or a double dragon, simpsons style game, as they lose their appeal very quickly.

Has anyone mentioned Street Fighter II?

No.  No-one mentioned it mainly due to the first post asking not to mention fighters.

During the 80's 2-player games where pretty much the norm.  Just about any game will allow a second player to join in simultaneously.  I would hazard a guess and say there's more simultaneous 2-player games than there are 1player and alternating 2-player.

This is the kind of thing where SortInfo would help enormously:

http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html

[NoOne=NBA=]

One of my all-time favorites is Space Duel.
I built an entire swappable CP just for that one.

For those who haven't played it, it's basically two player Asteroids.
There are 2 modes for you to play.
The first has two separate ships, one for each player.
The really fun one is the one that has both ships linked together by a "rope".
If one guy thrusts, and the other doesn't, you end up in a spin around the rope.
That mode requires two players with alot of skill and coordination.

Another favorite of mine is Blasteroids, but it requires two spinners.

[elpresidente]

One of my all-time favorites is Space Duel.
I built an entire swappable CP just for that one.

For those who haven't played it, it's basically two player Asteroids.
There are 2 modes for you to play.
The first has two separate ships, one for each player.
The really fun one is the one that has both ships linked together by a "rope".
If one guy thrusts, and the other doesn't, you end up in a spin around the rope.
That mode requires two players with alot of skill and coordination.

Another favorite of mine is Blasteroids, but it requires two spinners.

That's the name of that game? I loved that one. Thanks for mentioning it. I might have to through a few extra spinners in my soon to be started cp (easily said  ).

[MiKman]

This is the kind of thing where SortInfo would help enormously:

http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html

Hmm I tried sort info. but I think it hasn't been updated to handle the xml output or something yet. I tried importing a list generated from the listxml and the listinfo command and just got gobldy gook :-/ I guess I need an older version of mame to import a list into sortinfo...

[elvis]

Hmm I tried sort info. but I think it hasn't been updated to handle the xml output or something yet. I tried importing a list generated from the listxml and the listinfo command and just got gobldy gook :-/ I guess I need an older version of mame to import a list into sortinfo...

It works fine. 

At a command prompt within your MAME dir type:

mame -listxml | xml2info > listinfo.txt

That command will create the old-style listinfo.  The xml2info.exe command was left behind for any frontend or rom/info utility that wasn't up to date with the MAME releases.  Handy that.

Now open SortInfo and click:

File -> Import -> MAME Listinfo file

select the listinfo.txt from whatever directory you created it in (probably your MAME dir) and all is well.  Sort the info to your heart's content.

[the3eyedblindman]

Why is Metal Slug so good? I remember trying to play it when the first one came out, and there was so much going on on the screen I would die very quickly. (Maybe I'm too old!)

[Sephroth57]

pssh, Metal Slug owns... go play mappy =P

[Goz]

I dont think metal slug is that great either, its the sound that makes it good. If it didnt have the cool noises, screams, gunfire, it would just be another average game.

Dude don't get me started on Moonwalker 

The Metal Slug series is one of those that I can use to justify one of my cabs as a cardiovascular work out machine. The sound, the non stop action, the unbeatable odds, the puking zombies, mummys, and other cool stuff.....

-Goz