Time to trot out another Pixel Verdict feature: the Symposium Ad Nauseum, a week-long roundtable discussion where we (as in “us” and “you,” as in “you” the plural pronoun or I guess “you” the singular pronoun if you have that high an opinion of yourself) engage in a hopefully vigorous back-and-forth about some kind of inane topic that would only appeal to video game geeks.
Each week introduces a new conversation starter that will–in theory–provoke some lively discourse. Your participation is welcome; comment away and we’ll weave particularly compelling insights (i.e., posts that don’t use the word “meh”) into the discussion.
That’s it. Keep checking back for updates! Here we go:
Dave: For our first Symposium Ad Nauseum I’d like to throw this question out to the masses: What are the finest video game multiplayer experiences? Keep in mind, this could be online or old-school offline.
My vote for Best Ever is a no-brainer: Saturn Bomberman. Not only is it the greatest entry into the esteemed Bomberman franchise, but on the Sega Saturn the game allowed for up to eight players. Chaos for sure, but for my money nothing exceeds it for sheer trash-talking insanity.
Tons of power-ups, little dinosaurs with special powers to ride, an achingly repetitive theme song and the opportunity to lob bombs at people even after you’ve been nuked.
Of course it doesn’t help that the game is about as rare as photographic evidence of the Abominable Snowman and securing a multiplayer adaptor, eight controllers and a Saturn itself is no small investment. But trust me friends, once you’ve sampled the goods, you’ll arrive at the same conclusion I have: nothing’s sweeter than vaporizing large-headed sprites.
Erich: Until I bought an Xbox 360, my gaming life was pretty solitary. Platformers are rarely multiplayer, and given my love of Nintendo consoles and general lack of friends, single player has been my preference by default. Back in college, however, I played a whole lotta multiplayer thanks to the release of the Nintendo 64, a friend with disposable income, and a little game called Mario Kart 64.
I was never the best racer on the course, or on the battlefield (Dave and Tim can certainly attest to that), but I had a blast. Depending on who you ask, 64 was either the purest expression of Mario Kart goodness, or an abomination of rubber band physics and ugly polygons. Though I haven’t played the game in a long time (the DS version has been my racer of choice for the past few years), it’ll always have a place in my heart. However high-res the graphics get or how many players developers manage to squeeze onto bloated deathmatch maps, I’ll never forget those late college nights sitting around the tube TV playing “just one more” battle on the Block Fort level. In the immortal words of a certain mustachioed doppelganger, “I’M-A WARIO! I’M-A GONNA WIN!!!”
Adam: Hands down, GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. I never had the game or the system myself, but my friends in high school sure did. It personified the best and worst elements of split-screen gaming, with a convoluted, ugly and eye-straining quad-screen allowed four players to jam together, but on the plus side, it allowed four players to jam together. At the time, it was rare to get this much pure FPS goodness from console gaming. With dozens of weapons, character models and surprisingly well-designed maps, this was heaven for runners and gunners.
I was rubbish at the game (FPS are best left for keyboard and mouse, if you ask me) but I’d never played a game on a console that so best captured the thrill of multiplayer gaming. Cram you and three of your friends on a couch, a tangle of cords draped across the room, and watch the time fly. Many gamers still consider this humble shooter the pinnacle of console FPS, and with good reason. Admittedly dated by modern standards, physics engines and control schemes, GoldenEye 007 it has a certain nostalgic quality that demands an XBLA version. Pretty please?
Dave: Goldeneye was bodacious, no doubt. Tons of college hours that could have been better used for reading were burned up in four-player death matches. We used to play a custom “Execution Style” game, where if you got shot at all, you’d have to kneel down in front of your opponent and he would shoot you point blank with the Magnum. It was pretty sick actually. We also had a “Slapping Only” game where we’d manuever our low-res polygons, punching each other in the face. That took a long time.
Of course, Goldeneye is an unplayable cluster-F in these days of dual-analog sticks, though Oddjob still sucks. Viva la helicopter pilot!
Steve: Street fighter has long been one of those mainstay multi-player games in the Power household. I’ve had many a time on the arcade cabinets as well. When Super Street Fighter II first appeared at the local arcades, it was in the monstrous 4-cabinet, 8-player tourney variety. I was 15 or 16 (I think) and was spending a Saturday afternoon at the arcade while the folks perused the mall. I fired a few quarters into cabinet #5 and by the end of the tourney had shot to first place. The way this particular game was set up, the winner didn’t have to pay for the next game, and as long as he kept winning, he kept playing. Well as the afternoon went on, i kept playing, and I had started to notice a crowd gathering. This was nothing too special, as the machine was still pretty new, and very popular, but soon i began to notice cabinet #1 getting a little crowded, and the competition started changing up, getting older, more skilled. I tried to stay casual, but the heat was definitely on. The crowd got louder and louder, and I couldn’t tell you how long I was playing. I began a fight with an Asian guy about 5-6 years older than me, someone many of us had watched playing SFII in the past. He was FIERCE, and the round finally came down to a time out, after which i won by barely a sliver of health. He grinned, uttered something, and kept grinning. We played three, maybe four rounds against each other, all but one of them being a very close match. Until i felt a tap on my shoulder. Mom had wandered into the crowded arcade, and was telling me my time was up unless i wanted to walk home.
I stepped away from the first controller just as the final round was starting – the guy begged me to step up and finish it, so i did, and again, I just barely managed to snag a slim victory. I graciously stepped back again, and offered the 1st spot to the guy who’d spent an hour or more at #2. He just said, “Great game man.” and shook my hand. And that’s when the place went up. I was more embarrassed than anything but at the same time it felt awesome. I walked out through the arcade’s entrance, and Dad just looked at me and uttered, “What the F— was all that about?”.
Tim: Goldeneye was a great game… like, 12 years ago when it came out. I loved that game and still do, but like just about every game from the PlayStation/Nintendo 64 era, it has not aged gracefully. Mario Kart has held up better then many other N64 games, but it was still limited in that Block Fort is really the only worthwhile battle arena. Anyway, I spent many years waiting for a worthy successor to Goldeneye.
The original Halo was just that, but I was out of college and had no one to play with. Had Halo been out while I was in college, I’m pretty sure I never would have graduated. Halo 2 took me online for the first time in 2004 and I was immediately hooked. I hosted weekly LAN parties to recreate the Goldeneye experience from college (but with more beer), going so far as to buy two more Xboxes. Yeah, I was that into it.
Then, the third chapter of Master Chief’s saga was released, combining the best elements from the first two already stellar games. Hence, it should not come as a surprise that I believe Halo 3 is the ultimate multiplayer game. Online, offline, in matchmaking or four-player campaign co-op with scoring, the game is nigh limitless in features and replay value.
On top of all that, factor in Bungie’s phenomenal support of the game since it’s release. They continue to release new multiplayer maps. Their website has unbelievable stat tracking, file sharing and access to user generated forge maps and game variants.
You can capture video and high resolution screenshots of your most memorable exploits, from sticking a warthog from 100 yards away for a triple kill to head-shotting some sucker as he jumps into a man-cannon, his lifeless corpse cart-wheeling to oblivion. Capture for eternity those “did you see that!” moments you used to trash talk your friends about.
For example, that’s me in the above image hitting my buddy Mo’s prone corpse in the groin with the oddball during an online match, after killing him with it in the first place. Does it get better than embarrassing your friends with digital groin punches, capturing it and sending it to their Xbox Live inbox? I say no. Of course, Mo says otherwise.
There are only two complaints about the game that I put any stock in:
- The steep learning curve that is off-putting to some casual gamers.
- The unfortunate prevalence of douchebags roaming the online matchmaking landscape.
My responses:
- If you want to keep it simple, go flail away at Wii Tennis.
- Hate the players, not the game. Unplug your headset and mute all the idiots. Expect to continue getting teabagged, though. There’s nothing you can do about that except work on your aim.
Jon: I cannot believe that you guys failed to mention what was possibly one of the greatest multiplayer experiences of the past 25 years. If a video arcade had this cabinet when it was unleashed, there was always a throng of howling youths crowded around it was like Cyrus from The Warriors.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had arcades in a stranglehold when it was released in 1989; a quarter-sucking 4-player juggernaut. The graphics at the time were mind-blowing, and the machine seemed to take great pleasure in belting out the unmistakable TMNT theme music in some variety on every level. From the moment my quaking 7-year old hand slipped a quarter into the slot and I took my place alongside my younger cousin and two complete strangers, I was hooked. We pounded our way through a flaming apartment complex full of Foot Clan Robo-Ninjas, smashed a pair of uniwheeled Turtle Terminators, and proceeded to enter a war of attrition with the the first boss; that Rhinoceros faced goon, Rocksteady!Yes, TMNT may have been a brain-dead button masher designed for the sole purpose of tearing fistfuls of quarters from the pockets of kids everywhere, but it was a freakin’ Ninja Turtles game man! Four players! First level on FIRE man! If you collected action figures as a kid and seeing that machine didn’t make you want to run and jump and do AWESOME air kicks; then I’m afraid you lived an unfortunate childhood. This was the beginning of a short era when Konami positively OWNED the arcades with their four-player cabinets. Yes, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat where phenomena all to themselves, but there was a time when the biggest crowds, the ones at the front of the arcade, where they always put the newest, hottest games, would be gathered around TMNT, Turtles in Time, The Simpsons, X-Men, Sunset Riders, or G.I. Joe.
Dave: Man, they don’t make side-scrolling beat’em ups the way they used to (a point you will here me lament often).
By Dave JohnsonTags: multiplayer, symposium, video game
