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Favorite NES multiplayer games/memories? [roundtable]
 
This thread is for old people! (But feel free to chime in if you've played the old classics through Animal Crossing or... other means.)

Grant and I were discussing fond NES multiplayer memories in another thread. Perhaps partially because of nostalgia, I am full of affection for the early (primarily Nintendo-published) multiplayer games on the NES. I feel that even the lesser-known games that other people might now deride, like Mario Bros., Balloon Fight, Ice Climbers, and Clu Clu Land, offered a wide variety of multiplayer fun. I even enjoyed the simple, effective sports games of the day, like Ice Hockey and Ten Yard Fight. Urban Champion still sucks, though. (Sorry, Charles.)

If you think about it, multiplayer in the NES/SNES days often meant co-op. Or taking turns. Not as much adversarial stuff. Maybe that has more to do with the popular genres of the day, but co-op has seen somewhat of a resurgence, of late, if primarily in stripped-down arcade modes. What was this topic about again? Oh, yeah. NES multiplayer memories. What are your fondest? Let us all reminisce of happier times...

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01/12/12, 22:58    Edited: 01/12/12, 22:58
 
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Co-op is the best type of multiplayer, I absolutely love its resurgence this gen.

Some old NES favourites:

TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project
Double Dragon II
BattleToads
Balloon Fight
Super Mario Bros 1/3 taking turns
Ice Hockey
01/12/12, 23:05   
Didn't play much NES stuff growing up, & most of the stuff I've played since has been the single player classics.

But the one memory I have of NES multiplayer was the two player mode in SMB3. My older cousin had hired a NES and the game whilst we were staying at my Grandmother's place. So we'd start the game. He'd be Mario and do the first level. Then I'd be Luigi and move on to the secon-...whoops battle time.

Cue an endless cycle of him doing a level, kicking my ass at battle mode, then stealing my turn. Rinse and repeat.

Jerk.
01/12/12, 23:17   
@Shadowlink
This was me and my sister. Good times!
01/12/12, 23:24   
@anon_mastermind
Double Dragon 2 was great, if it's the one I'm thinking of. And River City Ransom is still my favorite brawler of all time.

And Superspike V-Ball is still the best volleyball game of all time.

Speaking of Super Mario Bros. 3, holy hell, what an evil 'two-player' game. It was so awesome how you could just STEAL the other person's turn by beating them at Mario Bros (which, fortunately, I had a hell of a lot of experience with). I used to be such a bastard at that game, much like Shadowlink's older cousin. Beating the other person down might have been more enjoyable than the game proper for me. (I would usually switch controllers after that, though.) I was pretty happy that all of the GBA games came with that Mario Bros. multiplayer suite, even though reviewers complained about it.

You know, I love co-op, too, but I think I specifically love being a jerk in co-op. I don't know why. It is my preferred mode of gaming entertainment. You'd think that straight adversarial multiplayer would be more fun, but...

I mean, the best part of River City Ransom was getting the advanced moves and having an endless high-stakes aerial brawl with your 'partner'. I never even gave a shit about beating the game.
01/12/12, 23:27   
Edited: 01/12/12, 23:29
I also greatly enjoyed Mario 3's swapping system, especially the mini-game they threw in. I remember there was the occasional different type of minigame (like the one with the plant spewing coins and Podoboos).

River City Ransom I only bought a few years ago, but that's another good co-op one. Reminds me of TMNT2 and 3, which were great fun to play together. And Battletoads was solid until around the third level, where it was pretty much impossible to beat with a friend.

I remember playing Dr. Mario with my parents quite a bit, that was neat.

Quick Draw in Kirby's Adventure with my cousin.

And Contra of course.
01/12/12, 23:37   
I suppose playing a lot of TMNT2 with my brothers back in the day otherwise I didn't play a whole lot of multiplayer NES games.
01/12/12, 23:39   
I haven't played a ton of NES games in multiplayer, but I remember playing stuff like Super Mario Bros. 3 with my siblings as a kid. I don't remember much about it, aside from playing the Mario Bros. minigame against other players. I have clearer memories of playing Super Mario World with my sister, though that's a Super NES game. I mainly remember how every time we played, my sister would always wait for me to clear out World 1-1 so she could swoop in and play the Yellow Switch Palace D: I wanted to do that level!

I also brought my NES and Contra to a friend's house a few years ago, and we played through the whole game. That was pretty fun.
01/13/12, 00:07   
The greatest are Little League Baseball and Dr. Mario.
01/13/12, 00:47   
TMNT3 was suhhhhweeeet. I don't think I've played a whole lot of beat em ups back then, but that one was by far the best IMO. I remember it being brutally difficult though.
01/13/12, 02:15   
Oh yeah, this thread has come into fruition!

Besides head-to-head games in Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel, I remember having a blast with TMNT II: The Arcade Game with a buddy of mine. Playing Super Mario Bros. with my cousins over winter break from school, and getting as far as possible in Contra will always have a special place in my heart.

I remember playing P.O.W. with a buddy of mine as well. But I don't think the NES version was two-player, was it?

Maybe he and I just took turns playing, handing over the controller after each stage, or Game Over.
01/13/12, 02:19   
So I was young and my friend's older brother still had his old dusty NES. He would only hook it up on special days/events, but when he did, me and my old bud would just drop the Super Nintendo controller and play SMB3, taking turns, all afternoon. I also remember playing Battletoads.
01/13/12, 02:39   
-Contra is a given.
-I remember getting the NES Satellite with Kool-Aid points and being able to -- and being the only kid on the block with one -- play a 4 Player game on NES; Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off-Road, baby! So much fun, and you could do it (working with your friends) to alternate who won and who finished last so you never had to eliminate someone.
-Turtles 2 was a great game.
-Tecmo Bowl / Tecmo Super Bowl.
-Blades of Steel.
-Chip N Dale Rescue Raners was solid, too.

None other really comes to mind outside of Life Force, but I spent the majority of my time with that one on Single Player. Everything else that I spent a lot of time on with friends was probably alternating the hard way (swapping the controller, how it used to be!). My NES collection now was nowhere near as large back then. My friend had most of the cool games that I have now so we were kinda restricted to what we could play. I remember playing lots of Spy Hunter and Ninja Gaiden for some reason. And WrestleMania at another friends house. You know, outside of Super Mario Bros. stuff.

I just realized I'm going home reeeally late tonight. Thanks a lot, Abobo!
01/13/12, 04:59   
A recent-ish memory is playing the crappy Nintendo Pinball game in Animal Crossing in my dorm room with a friend in college just talking about people and girls and classes and shit. One day he got himself a Dreamcast and a NES emulator and we started playing RBI Baseball 3 instead.
01/13/12, 07:29   
I have fond memories of playing Baseball Stars with my dad as a kid. I also remember speeding through Life Force with my cousin at grandma's house every time we visited. My friend and I would play Rescue Rangers almost daily to see how many times we could ace it before we got tired of it (I think we topped out at two straight weeks).

Also, my friends and I really liked River City Ransom, Nintendo World Cup Soccer, and Super Dodge Ball.
01/13/12, 17:54   
@Guillaume

Crappy NES Pinball?!?

Why must you hate everything I like?
01/13/12, 19:13   
@GameDadGrant

I like it. We wouldn't have played it so much if I didn't.

But it's crappy.
01/13/12, 19:33   
@Guillaume

I wish Pinball would have been one of the 3DS Ambassador games. I would have preferred that over something like Wrecking Crew.

I also would have preferred Ice Hockey over NES Open. Maybe. The lack of multiplayer would certainly cut down its appeal.
01/13/12, 19:52   
I like Pinball better, but I feel like I should play Wrecking Crew...

Wait, I already bought it on VC and never played it!

@Mr_Mustache
Hell, yeah, Ivan Stewart's Off-Road. Those top-down racers are so great. Have you ever played Micro Machines 64? WITH EIGHT PLAYERS?

Contra is pretty much the best of the multiplayer action games. Life Force was pretty awesome, but I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up Stinger, the greatest shmup of all time. God damn, we WORE OUT that cart.
01/14/12, 03:04   
TMNT III

I rented the game so many times from my local video store that in retrospect, I should have bought it. But hey, for the equivalent of $.50 back in the 90's, I sure got my money's worth.

Everytime I rented the game, I would invite my cousins, or my friends to have a sleep over and play the game till late at night.

That game is excellent and it was our gateway to other 2 player games. Chip and Dale, Battletoads (OMG, never got far on this one, specially on 2p mode CRAZY FUN GAME THOUGH), Double Dragon II, Double Dragon III, TMNT II (Although I found that game to be more difficult), snake rattle and roll.

That last game was also another impossible game that we never finished =/
01/14/12, 03:37   
Did any of you guys play Tiger Heli before? Great game. A buddy and I got a good amount of play time out of that one.
01/14/12, 04:00   
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