Homebrew version of Warlords on the Atari 2600 called Medieval Mayhem. Available in cartridge form but the ROM is downloadable too. However you need paddles - so the ROM is only of use to you if you have a 2600 and a Harmony cartridge.

Virtua Striker 3 competition in honour of the world cup is on in my office next week. Have a field of 12 so far.

Picked that game because it is Sega arcade style and therefore ultra-accessible. Really simple pass or shoot controls will remove all barriers to entry at the price of depth - but with the experience levels of the entrants and short 5 min matches in a knockout format that shouldn't be a problem.

Didn't know about that cheers. Good idea re goal rating too - that can be golden boot award.

Thats a really good question. The honest answer is I don't know. There are no visible stat scores for each team, they just have their own formation and strategy option. I always play as The Netherlands (no real reason) but now I'm interested to see if Iran are at a similar level.

If I was to stick my neck out I'd say they are all the same!

First 3 matches in our office World Cup Virtua Striker competition completed. I was wary about goals getting scored as it can be hard enough to score in these games - but we got a result in each (albeit 1-0).

Golden boot award for most beautiful goal - current leader on 225pts. Some way to go as I believe you can get up to 700pts in that.

The game is quite fun to play and the big screen means we are getting a few spectators. Have a field of 14 which is a decent turnout.

Yes - I beat our token Scotsman who was allocated Scotland.  A tight 1-0 win for me playing as Portugal. Looking at it I don't think team selection makes a difference in 2 player. 

So I'm through to the last 8. Logistics being what they are re getting people with free time during a working day - even at lunchtime (our lunch is flexible between 12 and 2) this will probably last as long as the real thing. 

I'm also our 2 time Christmas Tetris tournament champ...Go me. But when it comes to our gamers league I am a journeyman.

Our gamers league last year consisted of Monkey Ball, Tank (Atari 2600 version), Virtua Tennis, Tap Runner , Typing of the dead and Tetris. All excellent same room games. Worth noting that 4 of those games are by Sega.

Just came across this website and could think a suitable place to post until Ian's game index thread came into its own:

http://www.co-optimus.com/games.php?type=couch

Basically a website that lists a games multiplayer credentials. It would be better if it went back a bit further (Currently PS2/ OG Xbox are the earliest) but still a decent reference tool for future gaming nights.

I take heart from the fact that such an info source actually exists. 

It makes sense to start from PS2/Oldbox on as that was when local modes started to disappear from games.

Some of the early NES games had a 2 player mode that was the optimal way to play. Balloon Fight and Ice Climber are two examples.....but yeah the era was quite short lived and was at its peak in the early arcade and 2600 era.

Quite a few shmups still have 2 player simultaneous modes but the hardcore tend to look down on those. i think it's an under-rated way to play those games - especially something like Raiden III that compares scores and %enemies shot down at the end of each level.

Sports games kept things going for a while too of course.

Thread revival!

Well to tonight I had 8 of my old mates round playing a whole host of multi-player games, it was brilliant.

Started off with Speed Runners ( bone) which no one other than me had played before and ended up being the smash of the night, think sectional micro machines and you've got it.

Rocket League bone
The premise of the game sounds shit but it is ludicrously good fun to play

Virtua Tennis 2 DC
Possibly my favourite of the night. Even watching this is great fun and animal.sfion wisr still looks great

Mario Chase Wii u
One of the simplest game mechanisms yet it plays out so incredibly well.

Great selection (haven't played Speedrunners yet myself, but it's coming).  How did you Rocket League, is it split screen?

Towerfall Ascension might be worth a look if you host another one of these, superb game.

One player runs away/hides using the Wii U gamepad screen, while the other players attempt to catch him by collaborating on the TV screen (split screen).  "He's in the blue zone!" etc.  For something so magical (wording stands if you've played it) it's a crying shame there's so little content, it really could have done with a few extra maps as DLC.  Still, light as it is it's possibly the best thing on the Wii U and definitely the best example of the console's USP.  As far as same room mp goes with a mixture of players who have and haven't played it it's a [10].

Moot is bang on. Why there was no added dlc maps on Mario chase was criminal. Could do with a small indie ripping off the formula for the switch.

Eric wrote:

Moot is bang on. Why there was no added dlc maps on Mario chase was criminal. Could do with a small indie ripping off the formula for the switch.

It wouldn't work unfortunately, unlike the Wii U the Switch either displays on the TV or on the device itself, but never both.

Mario chase sounds like a reskinned Pacman Vs.

Players take turns to be Pacman. The player controlling pacman uses the GBA with link cable and sees the whole maze. Other players are ghosts on the TV and it's split screen with them; each having a restricted view of where they are. The maze segments are colour coded to aid teamwork. The ghost who catches Pacman gets to control him next. WHile Pacman you score points and there's a target amount of points to go for to win.

It's genius as the ghost players co-op but at the same time want to be the one to catch Pacman.

It was a light game too - but there were several mazes and you could set the winning amount of points too. It was free on a 2nd disc with R:Racing and Pacman World 2 as far as I know. It's the only reason I bought R:Racing.

Without Wavebirds the game cables would form a cats cradle though...