[Burp]

Some kind of weird thread, but oh well:

Has anyone got some good 2-players experience with a Shooting game? im a really fan of the genre and i guess that i can do some things with it (i finished a lot of Cave games without use of continues) but with all those years playing the genre, i never get a "funnny" experience with the genre in a 2-players mode, excluding vs. Shooting like Twinkle Star Sprites or Phantasmagoria of Flower View.

There are two problems that i found on Shooting games in 2 players mode: First, the another player needs to get the same skills and experience in the game like you, and, in mostly all titles, is very hard to not confusing your plane (for example) with the other player...

Has anyone knows a good Shooting game that got some good points playing it at 2-players? i know that Ikaruga is just another awesome mode for playing it but you need and INCREDIBLE COORDINATION with the other player for get the chains... but it sure a nice challenge.

[SplashBeats]

You can play VS. Ikaruga by seeing who can push the other person into an enemy the most times in a minute. Bonus points if they are the same color!

[haze]

Strikers 1945 is awesome

Gradius V might have potential for good 2 player action? I tried it a little with someone but he wasn't really good at it. if you don't steal each other's power ups and multiples, you can actually work together, picking weapon layouts to cover each other's weaknesses. This sounds good on paper...!

[icycalm]

Hey man. Nice to see a thread on shooters, but apart from Kiken and perhaps Firenze not too many people here seem interested in them.

You know of course my opinion on Pink Sweets, and that I think it's great with 2 players, but you can't play this game without spending 1,000 bucks or flying to Japan, so I'll offer you a couple more choices.

Basically, you want to stay away from danmaku-style games, because of the confusion with all those bullets, as you pointed out. So you need to go back to older games with fewer bullets and simple scoring mechanics. Early Psikyo games (Sengoku Ace, Gunbird, the first Strikers) have simple scoring systems, but the bullet count does increase considerably halfway throught the first loop. So you can play these games with an inexperienced friend up to 1-4 or 1-5 perhaps, but then your friend will have to do some quick improving in order to continue.

Zero Gunner 2 is late-Psikyo, but it's quite easy overall and, again, lots of fun with two players up to 1-5 or so, even if one of them is inexperienced.

Early Raizing is also good for two players -- try Mahou Daisakusen, for example.

In the long run, though, what you want to do is get a friend of yours (who lives close by) hooked on these games, so that he practices and improves by himself. When he gets to a level of skill comparable to yours, that's when the real fun will start.

I remember seeing two guys take on Ibara together in a Japanese arcade, and man it was just a blast watching them. They were so perfectly coordinated, placing themselves at just the right spots, and helping each other out when the going got tough... too bad I didn't have a camera with me...

[Toups]

Life Force on the NES is good 2 player co-op shooter action.

Also... Senko No Ronde??
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[Toto]

I personally think that horizontal shmups work far better than vertical shmups in this regard. I literally cannot play Strikers 1945 with another person, I just get way too confused. I find it impossible to centre myself and find myself dying constantly, caught up in even the most simple bullet pattern.
Icy, I don't think it's lack of interest. Shooters are just...shooters, and apart from a new gimmick every now and again (hi Cave!), they don't really change. It's all about when to dodge and when to bomb.

[icycalm]

[Burp]

[Martial Loh]

Tyrian, by Epic Megagames, back in the 90s.

You could even link up the 2 ships to become a slightly more powerful one..I think player one had full control of movement. To link up, you just moved your ships together. It was hilarious to link up and then throw player 2 in the path of an enemy..ok maybe not that hilarious.

Although a far cry from the Jap shooters a lot of you love dearly, its easily one of my favourite "shmups" (possibly because it is also easy..)

EDIT- also Mars Matrix and Blazing Star.

[Mikey]

[guest253]

i played a lot of Aerofighters (snes) together with my brother and that was great fun. i have no idea if that still hold up as i was 13 or so at the time and didn't know shit about shmups yet, but yeah, fond memories.

[firenze]

Raiden III has some really cool 2 ship modes. In every mode, including score attack and boss rush, you can select (press Triangle) from standard solo play, duel (1P and 2P on screen), and the fucking awesome "double" mode where one player controls both ships. Each ship is controlled by one of the Dualshock analog sticks, and shoot and bomb are default mapped to the L1/L2 buttons for P1, and R1/R2 for P2. It's really a blast. Kinda prevents the standard shooter equipment of my Saturn pad or arcade stick, but it's oh so worth a try. No idea if these modes will be retained for the supposed US release, mine is the original Japanese version.

Oh, co-op play works quite well with Raiden III as well because the ships are easy to tell apart (one Red, one Blue - very distinct), the background graphics aren't too muddled together, and there aren't TOO many bullets.

Another multiplayer suggestion - Giga Wing 2. You can play FOUR players at once. It's absolutely NOT for serious play, but I don't know if I've ever laughed harder at a videogame than seeing the ridiculous slowdown and hearing a nonstop cascade of "REFRECT FOOOOOOAAAAACE" and "REFRECT RASAAAAAAR" when we got four people in a game.

[JamesE]

I seem to recall Space Invaders for Atari 2600 having around 120 variations where one player controled left, the other right, etc. Also, Combat for Atari 2600 is a damn fine vs shooter. Good times.

[icycalm]

Shit, I forgot this:

DOGYUN

Plus, you can also pick up the 2nd player ship, in 2 player mode, and remove ALL control from him, until you die or let go. This makes your ship big, and also massively increases your main weapon shot. Have a look at the very last 4 screenshots in this review to see the effects.

Great stuff.

Scroll down for pics but don't look at all of them, because Malc has the silly habit of showing readers EVERY SINGLE stage and boss in a game, even before they've played their first credit.


Also, Burp, forget about Ibara, especially with 2 players. I only brought it up as an example of what you can do if you are awesome, and if you have an equally awesome friend. That game's not for you yet :)

[belthegor]

...Metal Slug?

[sol]

Best shooter I've ever had a 2-player experience with was Shikigami No Shiro 2 for DC. While the game was entirely playable singleplayer, it really shines once you start playing with someone else. The systems are entirely geared toward this sort of play, with all points being shared, life ups awarded simultaneously and meaningful character choices.

Most of the character's play dynamics only really become apparent once you have to adapt them to the second player's character. The girl with the reflective shield mostly sucks in singleplayer, while her uses in multi are obvious. Weak spread characters with tight, powerful characters are also useful, etc., and as every character has his own special attack (which you need to get enough points to regain lives), this also plays a huge role in higher level play.

Anyway! It's really good, try it sometime.

[Infernarl]

Most of the SHUMPs available on MAME are co-op, and many other games to... (metal slug any one?)

[dark steve]

[boagman]

[option]

I'm a huge fan of shooters (see name), the lack of means to play PS2 imports is killing me =[

Gradius V is great for co-op because of how pronounced the colors are. vic Viper and Lord British are much harder to mix up than ships in other games. I do kind of wish they didnt make you share options but maybe it would have been too easy?
They much slower pace of the game helps it as a co-op even more. there is actually time to comunicate to the other person between/during waves of enemies... wich is rare in a lot of shooters. The lack of "R-type" syndrome is also a plus as there are enough power-ups all over the place to not make dying that huge of a deal (especially if the other person is powered up to cover you)

Gotta mention since the game was brought up...
Shikigami 2 goes down as having the best voice acting I have ever heard in any game ever. it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO legendarily terrible.... really... the game is worth it for just the voices alone.
The gameplay is pretty good though, for reasons stated above.


Generaly though bullet hells dont work all that well for co-op from what I have seen. It gets really hard to concentrate on dodging when another player is blasting away (especially in games with huge attack waves) and becomes just a game of alternating bombs til you both run out and die.



Ikaruga is still the most perfect co-op game if you both really know whats going on and can get super cordinated. Not good as a casual co-op by any stretch of the imagination though.


also on a side note... I heard Raiden III has a march release date now... can anyone varify?

[option]

[firenze]

[option]

[Loki Laufeyson]

the metal slug series are the only shooters i can play co-op, as otherwise, the other guy'll be using continues, an i'll be all "dammit, now the scores on't end in 0, my high score table's gonna look messy!

[dmauro]

I credit pump through Mushihimesama with my roommate quite often. We don't seem to have a problem distinguishing ships, and the only problem is that when you die the other person sometimes accidentally grabs your power ups even if they are full (if they are too close to you when you die).

And Contra of course.
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[icycalm]

The reason for this:

[dmauro]

huh? how does credit pumping affect ship visibility?
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[kiken]

[Burp]

[haze]

[firenze]

[firenze]

[Burp]

[Gironika]

again, Ikaruga in 2-player-mode.
I tend to play with a friend and we share a black and a white controller which determine what color we have to use, of course, no changing of your color allowed.


Forget about R-TYPE FINALs AI-Mode. It's only fun if both of you have played with a huge bunch of ships and you'll probably end up with having the same ships or at least identical weapons.
And, the worst thing about this, the AI ... isn't too clever, either.
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[tacotaskforce]

[icycalm]

[firenze]

[Burp]

[les meat]

Me and someone who normally only plays morrowind and magic the gathering racked up 20+ hours on 2 player Gradius V during a term at uni.
Awesome game.
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[boagman]

[boagman]