jerkov
09-07-2004, 05:08 PM
After reading the thread about GBA/GC connectivity, I started to think about what the best four player games for each system are. I did a thread search and saw a couple of past threads about 4-player games for specific systems, but no threads about 4-player games across all consoles (at least none that I could find, I'd hate to see this topic locked). IMO, I think that having a bunch of people in a room playing the same game is much more satisfying than online deathmatches, so I'd like to see some good 4-player game suggestions. Especially for systems like Dreamcast, Xbox, etc., since we generally only play 4-player games on Nintendo consoles. I'm sure I'll forget a couple, but here are quite a few that my friends and I enjoy playing when we can get enough people together:
NES:
Bomberman 2: Actually, for some reason, the battle mode only allows 3 players as opposed to 4. It's a shame, because Bomberman is always a blast. Still a fun game, but would have been much better if it allowed 4 players.
Crash N The Boys Street Challenge: Another excellent entry into the Kunio series. All five events are fun, although you never actually get to play against all four players at the same time (the game only uses two controllers, so you always have to switch off, which gets a little annoying). I also have Famicom carts of the hockey and basketball entries into the series, which would make AWESOME 4-player games if I had a Famicom and whatever you need to enable 4-players on it. Sadly, there is no way to enable 4-players in Famicom games using an NES.
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat: Very similar to Super Off Road, except you're racing Indy cars. I like this a little better than Off Road because there are pit stops, and you can implement a little "strategy": by ramming your opponents while they're getting refueled, which will kill their little pit crew member and could cause them to run a lap while low on fuel.
Gauntlet 2: I'm sure everyone's familiar with Gauntlet. Fun for about 15-20 minutes, but it gets dreadfully boring after that.
Kings of the Beach: Somewhat fun, but Super Spike V'Ball is much better. I do like the Skate or Die-ish menu screen though.
Magic Darts: Fun little dart game with some interesting selectable characters. I don't think you need the Four Score for 4-players; if I remember correctly, you swap between two controllers.
Monopoly: One of my favorites; if you don't feel like hauling out and setting up the actual board game, just play this. I just about every console out there has a Monopoly game, so some other versions may offer special features and whatnot, but I can tell you that the NES version is a faithful representation of the original game (and it's the only video game version I currently own).
Nightmare on Elm Street: If you can ignore the fact that the game is actually easier just using one player (it gets too confusing with 4-players), this is a fun time. I can't really think of any other 4-player games from this era (besides Swords & Serpents, which I think is a snoozefest) that feature an adventure with all four players working together, so that alone makes this game worth a spin.
RC Pro Am 2: Fantastic game. All the greatness of the original RC Pro Am, except that now you can play with 3 friends. Collecting all the letters for the car upgrades can be hectic and frustrating, especially when everyone else has completed the upgrade and you haven't. I also like how you can buy more continues to stay in the game longer.
Roundball: Actually, this game is just so pathetic that it's fun to pop in once in a while for a laugh. I always manage to get my ass kicked bad, no matter what I do.
Super Off Road: Just as fun as it was in the arcade.....well, almost as fun. Like I said, I like Indy Heat better, but you still can't go wrong with some Super Off Road.
Super Spike V'Ball/Nintendo World Cup: Two great Technos 4-player games on one cart. Super Spike V'Ball is definitely as good as volleyball gets on the NES, while World Cup is another Kunio game - plenty of violence and different playing surfaces to seperate this game from other soccer games.
N64:
Battletanx/Battletanx: Global Assault: I think we've played the Global Assault sequel more than the original, but this is a great game for deathmatches.
Destruction Derby 64: Just bash the hell out of each other and some CPU opponents and see who's the last one standing. There are also some variations, such as capture the flag, which keep things fun.
Dr. Mario 64: 4-player Dr. Mario.....pure heaven. I love kicking everyone's ass in this game; we haven't played this one in a while, due mostly to the fact that all my friends are sick of losing.
Goldeneye/Perfect Dark: Two top notch 4-player FPS games.....I think everyone knows about these two. I do like the team battles that you can set up in Perfect Dark, although we always seem to get our asses handed to us by the CPU during those capture the suitcase matches.
Mario Kart 64: To be honest, I haven't played this one in years, and I've been too cheap to pick it up. My friend had it but traded it for Diddy Kong Racing back when it first came out, so I haven't played it since. I really want to play this one again, since the battle modes in Mario Kart: Double Dash suck.
Mario Golf: Played this a little while ago at a friend's house, seems like a great multiplayer game. Don't have it myself, though.
StarFox 64: Only played this with 4 players a few times, but it's definitely a fun game.
Super Smash Bros.: I love the concept, but I think my friends like this game a lot more than I do. I can never seem to get a hang of the controls, as simple as they are. No matter what I do, I get my ass kicked.
WCW Revenge/WWF No Mercy: Out of all the 4-player games I'm listing, these AKI wrestling titles are definitely the ones that we've spent the most time playing. Few things are more fun than the 40-man Royal Rumble matches. Why the hell did THQ hand over the development of all the wrestling titles to Yuke's? What a mistake on THQ's part; I'd love to play an AKI WWE game on the Gamecube. They definitely make the best wrestling games around.
Gamecube:
Bomberman Generations: Just opened this one up last night, actually (I bought it during that big Circuit City $5 sale a couple of months ago). Wish I had opened it sooner, actually; lots of great modes and different battles to participate in, tons of fun.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A GBA/GC connectivity game. Like a deeper, larger, and more diverse Gauntlet game. I just wish I could finish it (damn my idiot friend for acting like an asshole for no reason).
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure: Honestly, this may be the best 4-player game of all time. Even the minigames and the Shadow Battle modes, which both allow you to compete against your friends, would be worthy of a purchase on their own - combine them with a gigantic 4-player quest mode, and you have one hell of a game on your hands. Hell, you can even compete against each other in the quest by stealing away each other's Force gems, kill all the enemies before anyone else can, etc. Why can't there be more GBA/GC connectivity games like this one?
Mario Kart: Double Dash: The racing is top notch in this game, but the battle modes are pretty much worthless. If they could have made the battles similar to the N64 game, this game would have been unbelievable. As it is, it's still a must-have for all GC owners.
Pac Man Vs.: I still love the concept: one player as Pac-Man, the other three as ghosts. I got this bundled with Pac Man World 2, and to be honest, I still haven't even tried Pac Man World 2 yet. Pac Man Vs. was worthy of a purchase on its own.
Super Smash Bros. Melee: see Super Smash Bros. for N64.
NES:
Bomberman 2: Actually, for some reason, the battle mode only allows 3 players as opposed to 4. It's a shame, because Bomberman is always a blast. Still a fun game, but would have been much better if it allowed 4 players.
Crash N The Boys Street Challenge: Another excellent entry into the Kunio series. All five events are fun, although you never actually get to play against all four players at the same time (the game only uses two controllers, so you always have to switch off, which gets a little annoying). I also have Famicom carts of the hockey and basketball entries into the series, which would make AWESOME 4-player games if I had a Famicom and whatever you need to enable 4-players on it. Sadly, there is no way to enable 4-players in Famicom games using an NES.
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat: Very similar to Super Off Road, except you're racing Indy cars. I like this a little better than Off Road because there are pit stops, and you can implement a little "strategy": by ramming your opponents while they're getting refueled, which will kill their little pit crew member and could cause them to run a lap while low on fuel.
Gauntlet 2: I'm sure everyone's familiar with Gauntlet. Fun for about 15-20 minutes, but it gets dreadfully boring after that.
Kings of the Beach: Somewhat fun, but Super Spike V'Ball is much better. I do like the Skate or Die-ish menu screen though.
Magic Darts: Fun little dart game with some interesting selectable characters. I don't think you need the Four Score for 4-players; if I remember correctly, you swap between two controllers.
Monopoly: One of my favorites; if you don't feel like hauling out and setting up the actual board game, just play this. I just about every console out there has a Monopoly game, so some other versions may offer special features and whatnot, but I can tell you that the NES version is a faithful representation of the original game (and it's the only video game version I currently own).
Nightmare on Elm Street: If you can ignore the fact that the game is actually easier just using one player (it gets too confusing with 4-players), this is a fun time. I can't really think of any other 4-player games from this era (besides Swords & Serpents, which I think is a snoozefest) that feature an adventure with all four players working together, so that alone makes this game worth a spin.
RC Pro Am 2: Fantastic game. All the greatness of the original RC Pro Am, except that now you can play with 3 friends. Collecting all the letters for the car upgrades can be hectic and frustrating, especially when everyone else has completed the upgrade and you haven't. I also like how you can buy more continues to stay in the game longer.
Roundball: Actually, this game is just so pathetic that it's fun to pop in once in a while for a laugh. I always manage to get my ass kicked bad, no matter what I do.
Super Off Road: Just as fun as it was in the arcade.....well, almost as fun. Like I said, I like Indy Heat better, but you still can't go wrong with some Super Off Road.
Super Spike V'Ball/Nintendo World Cup: Two great Technos 4-player games on one cart. Super Spike V'Ball is definitely as good as volleyball gets on the NES, while World Cup is another Kunio game - plenty of violence and different playing surfaces to seperate this game from other soccer games.
N64:
Battletanx/Battletanx: Global Assault: I think we've played the Global Assault sequel more than the original, but this is a great game for deathmatches.
Destruction Derby 64: Just bash the hell out of each other and some CPU opponents and see who's the last one standing. There are also some variations, such as capture the flag, which keep things fun.
Dr. Mario 64: 4-player Dr. Mario.....pure heaven. I love kicking everyone's ass in this game; we haven't played this one in a while, due mostly to the fact that all my friends are sick of losing.
Goldeneye/Perfect Dark: Two top notch 4-player FPS games.....I think everyone knows about these two. I do like the team battles that you can set up in Perfect Dark, although we always seem to get our asses handed to us by the CPU during those capture the suitcase matches.
Mario Kart 64: To be honest, I haven't played this one in years, and I've been too cheap to pick it up. My friend had it but traded it for Diddy Kong Racing back when it first came out, so I haven't played it since. I really want to play this one again, since the battle modes in Mario Kart: Double Dash suck.
Mario Golf: Played this a little while ago at a friend's house, seems like a great multiplayer game. Don't have it myself, though.
StarFox 64: Only played this with 4 players a few times, but it's definitely a fun game.
Super Smash Bros.: I love the concept, but I think my friends like this game a lot more than I do. I can never seem to get a hang of the controls, as simple as they are. No matter what I do, I get my ass kicked.
WCW Revenge/WWF No Mercy: Out of all the 4-player games I'm listing, these AKI wrestling titles are definitely the ones that we've spent the most time playing. Few things are more fun than the 40-man Royal Rumble matches. Why the hell did THQ hand over the development of all the wrestling titles to Yuke's? What a mistake on THQ's part; I'd love to play an AKI WWE game on the Gamecube. They definitely make the best wrestling games around.
Gamecube:
Bomberman Generations: Just opened this one up last night, actually (I bought it during that big Circuit City $5 sale a couple of months ago). Wish I had opened it sooner, actually; lots of great modes and different battles to participate in, tons of fun.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A GBA/GC connectivity game. Like a deeper, larger, and more diverse Gauntlet game. I just wish I could finish it (damn my idiot friend for acting like an asshole for no reason).
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure: Honestly, this may be the best 4-player game of all time. Even the minigames and the Shadow Battle modes, which both allow you to compete against your friends, would be worthy of a purchase on their own - combine them with a gigantic 4-player quest mode, and you have one hell of a game on your hands. Hell, you can even compete against each other in the quest by stealing away each other's Force gems, kill all the enemies before anyone else can, etc. Why can't there be more GBA/GC connectivity games like this one?
Mario Kart: Double Dash: The racing is top notch in this game, but the battle modes are pretty much worthless. If they could have made the battles similar to the N64 game, this game would have been unbelievable. As it is, it's still a must-have for all GC owners.
Pac Man Vs.: I still love the concept: one player as Pac-Man, the other three as ghosts. I got this bundled with Pac Man World 2, and to be honest, I still haven't even tried Pac Man World 2 yet. Pac Man Vs. was worthy of a purchase on its own.
Super Smash Bros. Melee: see Super Smash Bros. for N64.