Player Two

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I've been back into collecting and playing a lotta games on a lotta systems since '98 or so, and I've found there's one thing I really, really miss.

I miss the old days of my whole family gathering around the Odyssey 2 and going head-to-head at Baseball, or Computer Golf, or Spin-Out, or Quest For The Rings, or what have you. I miss getting a big laugh or a big gasp if someone did something daring (or stupid). I miss talkin' shit to the person at the business end of the other joystick. I miss Player Two. Might've been my brother, might've been my dad, most of the time it was my mom. And it's gonna sound crazy, but I've never run into a better game player than her. She could royally kick my butt. She got to the third maze on Ms. Pac-Man the first time she ever dropped a quarter into the machine. She could routinely leave me in the dust if she wanted to.

So, to some extent, no matter how many games I collect, no matter how many systems or cartridges I've got, it's never going to be the same. I've gotten married, I've made new friends, but nobody's ever replaced that Player Two, the one who always used to be there. The one who used to like playing these games as much as I do. She's largely to blame for my gaming hobby (God knows, she used to support/enable it enough back in the pre-crash days).

Who would've thought? The best video game player I ever met was my mother. :)

[Captain Wrong]

Man, I know what you mean. I really miss gaming with my father. I'll always think fondly of playing Star Raiders with him and us ripping on each other when we'd get "Garbage Scrow" ranking or the two of us trying to figure out just what the hell Swordquest is about (years later and I still don't know.)

I was suprized when he bought a PS2 last year, but whenever I'm over there my brother in law is playing it by himself. I've never seen my dad actually touch the controller. Though it's fun to watch my in law swerve around in Simpson's Road Rage, it's just not the same as trying to beat my dad's score in Space Invaders or win against him in 2600 bowling. Everyone seems more jaded. Turning on the PS2 doesn't inspire everyone to watch or join in.

[Dahne]

Thank you for bringing back fond memories of watching my dad and brother play Super Mario. Remember how player 1 could pause the game during player 2's turn? My bro always did that while my poor dad was trying to jump over a pit. LOL

I guess parts of games' progression is that they just aren't as accessible anymore. Anybody can grab a controller and start stomping on goombas, while more modern games usually ake a good deal of knowing what the objective is, what the buttons do, etc. The ol' NES has a strange magnetism to it. Whenever there's a group of kids over, they take one look at my PS2 and go straight for Dunk Hunt. 8-)

[ehall]

The new Zelda WW game brought this up for me. They let you hook up the Advance so that "a friend" can run Tingle. It really reminds me of my brother and I playing Zelda on the NES. One of us would play, the other would be the navigator, pouring over world and dungeon maps, leading us to victory. But now, of course there is barely time in the day for me to play, let alone invite my brother over for some nostalgic zelda playing (New or Old game), and my daughter is too young to read, and my wife would sooner strangle me witht the advance cord than play one of my games. So for now, the Advance remains unmanned. :(

[dreamcaster]

Well, I started off with a PC so it was usually long hours by myself wandering through Captain Comic or building a metropolis in SimCity.

My Dad always had a mild interest in games, but never really played them much. Even when I got my SNES, that extra bonus controller collected dust - except when friends came over!

Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing was the first video game to really pique my Dad's interest. But seeing as it was a one player game only - he rarely got the chance to play it.

Then I finally got Super Mario Kart for my SNES just after Xmas '96. My Dad was hooked. He absolutely loved that game. I can remember the grudge he formed with Donkey Kong Jr. and the abuse he hurled at him.

But I didn't have SMK for too long, before I traded my SNES and games on an N64. However, my Dad quickly took to my first game - Cruis'n USA. We didn't care that the graphics kind of sucked, or the crashes were unrealistic - it was just good clean fun and the two-player mode was real blast.

After that though, I never really got any games he wanted to play (although Mario Kart 64 is still a family favourite). But now I've moved the N64 into the lounge room and my Dad and my brother constantly play it (Top Gear Rally is the current favourite). And we also have multiplayer bashes with it every now and then with Mario Kart 64 and Cruis'n World.

Point of the story is that family gaming is still alive and well in my household - even my Mum plays the occasional round of Atari 2600 or NES - so I guess I should probably cherish these times before they end.

[Mayhem]

Fortunately for me I've always had a brother to be player 2... thankfully he's pretty much into gaming... maybe not as rabid nowadays but he still plays a lot. So co-op on Timesplitters 2, WE6FE, Perfect Dark, Smash Brothers can also be balanced out by competition on Soul Calibur 2, Waverace, F-Zero and Goldeneye.

Being brothers also means frequent psychic moments... hence we tend to do very well as a team over most other "pairings" LOL

[chadtower]

I miss cornering my brother in Atari 2600 Boxing (Activision) and just pummelling him endlessly until he threw down the controller kicking and spitting in impotent rage. Ah, those were the days...

[bargora]

I miss cornering my brother in Atari 2600 Boxing (Activision) and just pummelling him endlessly until he threw down the controller kicking and spitting in impotent rage. Ah, those were the days...
Heheh. Excellent. I squished my 16-year-old cousin at Boxing just last weekend! Of course, I had to do it after the drubbing she dealt out in Fishing Derby...

[WiseSalesman]

I've run through countless FPS' with my dad. The only game that ever really got all three of us together (including my mom), was Dr. Mario. We used to play that game tournament style all the time. My mom took to Yoshi's Cookie later, but it wasn't as fun, because I could beat her without really trying, where as she regularly kicked the hell out of me at Dr. Mario. We also played duck hunt together, occasionally, and my Dad was always telling me what a bad shot I was. I think I'm better now.