Trine

Broforce

Gang Beasts

It Takes Two

Split Fiction

Contra (NES)

My 1 seed for the PS2 is Cookies and Cream. It’s a split screen co-op game for 2 players where each side will have obstacles that only the other side can solve. Very fun and very addictive, but it also has a solid control scheme that is easy to pick up.

My wife and I played it a lot when we were first dating and she loved it even though she rarely, if ever, plays video games. Still have the original copy and I’ll never part with it 😊

Some of my favourites…

• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect - PS2
• Sunset Riders - Arcade
• Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Arcade

If you’re up for a 90’s classic you could try Goof Troop for the SNES.

games with little to no internet

This is kinda vague and I dont exactly know what you mean by this. Do you mean games that you can play on a single screen? Or games with LAN or private server capability such as Minecraft?

For local co-op games:

• Gauntlet Legends & Dark Legacy
• Halo 1-Reach
• Dragon’s Crown
• Helldivers 1 (broken in RPCS3 unfortunately, but if you have a PS3 can be played offline)
• The Legend of Zelda Four Sword Adventure
• Any Call of Duty Zombies (beginning with World At War)

If you’re taking about couch co-op games these are pretty great:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (6p)

• Boomerang-fu (6p)

• Overcooked (4p)

I have three recommendations.

Split Fiction is a master class in game design. The split screen is so integrated into the experience that even online multiplayer is in split screen. The screens are a part of the story.

The gameplay is constantly changing to the point that discovering new mechanics becomes the gameplay loop.

The level designs are so clever that you’ll have several moments that feel scripted but were actually just inevitable because of how we play games.

To give a snapshot of the experience: there was one scene where my character was driving a motorcycle along the sides of skyscrapers, doing the craziest stunts imaginable, and my wife’s character was sitting on the back frantically trying to solve a series of CAPTCHAs on her phone. She was so focused on keeping a steady hand that she barely noticed the death-defying stunts happening literally out of the corner of her eye.

By the end of it I was like, “Did you see that??” and it turns out she did not. It was absurd and hilarious, and it’s the kind of storytelling that only works in a video game.

My current obsession is UFO 50, which is a collection of 50 “retro” games. In real life they’re all new, but the story of the game is that they’re from a company from the 80s called UFOsoft, and then there’s a dark meta narrative hidden in the background.

Which is all just a framing device for 50 games, most of which are good, some of which are amazing, and half of which are couch co-op multiplayer. It’s like exploring the Switch’s retro NES collection for hidden gems, except there’s a lot more gems.

There are beat 'em ups, obscure sports games, some platformers, tactics games, a little bit of everything.

I’ve enlisted my wife to help me, because a lot of these games are just begging to be grinded out in co-op.

I got the game when I saw someone describe it as “a master class in game design”, and I thought, “that’s the phrase I’ve just been using to describe Split Fiction.”

And finally, I recommend Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, because that’s the multiplayer game I’ve been recommending for almost ten years.

You each play as adorable creatures in an adorable space ship that you customize as you go. The ship has several stations that need to be manned, including the captain’s seat, navigation, a directional shield, and multiple weapons.

But you each can only man one station at a time. So if you need to stay on the shield but a new enemy is approaching from the other side, then that means the captain is going to have to jump on a weapon and leave the ship adrift.

You may have arguments over which type of weapons to add to your ship or over who’s better at piloting which kind of engine. Or maybe you’ll work together in perfect harmony, relying on each other’s strengths and covering each other’s weaknesses as you adapt to every new challenge. Both ways are fun.

Also great for up to 4 players.

Couch Coop?

• Smash bros
• Castle crashers
• mario Kart 64 versus mode
• frantics
• rabbits party of legends (only good the first time, so make it count!)
• mario kart double dash
• bud Spencer & Terrence hill slaps and beans
• a Pokémon nutzlocke soullock challange
• playing any game where one has the right and the other one the left joy con (fun if 5 people and 2 are gaming pros and they are forced to share one controller)
• screen cheat
• lovers in a dangerous space time
• bayblade V-Force
• digimon rumble arena 2
• digimon world 4

Kuri Kuri Mix. PS2. FromSoft’s forgotten game.

Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance was good too. Felt like Gauntlet.

do we include arcade games? because the xmen and golden axe2 were big ones to play with a friend using only one quarter. The old baldurs gate for consoles from the aughts was a great two player co-op.

I posted a review here earlier this year, but A Way Out was an excellent 2-player co-op game! I really enjoyed it. Story rich puzzles with some action interspersed. And it’s split-screen even if you’re playing online, so you can see what your partner is up to and coordinate with them. The ending was heart-wrenching too! Such an emotionally impacting story. Check out my review for a spoiler-free intro to that game.

My girlfriend and I play (mostly local) co-op sometimes. Some games that we enjoyed so far were (local unless otherwise indicated):

• Divinity: Original Sin 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Portal 2
• Diablo 3
• It Takes Two
• A Way Out
• Minecraft (online)
• Stardew Valley (online, may also work locally now)

My wife and I beat Unravel Two.

That was a fun little game.

magicka 1 and 2 has couch and/or online coop, it’s challenging, chaotic fun, with some pretty funny jokes
if you get into emulation, cooptimus hides older platforms under “classic”, but it has another dropdown to filter them more precisely