Ramblings

My fifth favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Super Monkey Ball (GC)

This is a bizarre concept. There’s cute animated monkey imprisoned in hamster-style balls. When the monkey runs around inside the ball, the ball rolls around the level. Single-player mode focuses on getting your monkey through obstacle courses to the goal.

In multiplayer, it gets even stranger. There are a series of different mini-games, each one unique:

Monkey Billiards – Monkeys are imprisoned inside each ball
Monkey Bowling – Your monkey is inside the ball and steers it
Monkey Golf – Monkey inside the ball again
Monkey Race – Mari0 Kart style races
Monkey Fight – Each monkey has a boxing glove stuck into the front of the ball and tries to knock the others out
Monkey Target – Your ball opens up into a glider, and you try to land the monkey on a target

Bizarre? yes. Addictive? also yes.

This is another example of a game with only average gameplay by itself. However, the quick pace and variety of the mini games make it ideal for a large group setting. Each mode is four-player, taking full advantage of the Gamecube’s four controller ports.

This is also a game for non-gamers – rarely do the different modes use more than one button and the directional stick, so anybody can get in on the fun. Plus, the monkeys are just so darned cute!

There was a sequel, aptly titled Super Monkey Ball 2. But it doesn’t quite recapture the magic. New mini-games like Monkey Boat feel tacked on with awkward controls. Stick with the original.

My sixth favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Super Mario Kart (SNES)

Mario has always been Nintendo’s bread and butter. What better way to capitalize on the Italian plumber we know and love than by letting him race go karts?

OK, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But do any of Mario’s adventures, when you really think about it? Just go with the flow.

Super Mario Kart is a joy to play. Each of the many selectable racers have their own stats. Bowser has slow acceleration but can knock anybody out of his way, for example. Picking the right driver can make all the difference in a given race.

SMK is not simply a racing game. Here Nintendo created a unique blend of racing and combat. Stuck in last place? Unleash a turtle shell that homes in on its helpless target and knocks them out for a few crucial seconds.

Taking full advantage of this battle element, the game has an entirely separate combat mode. Racers drive around in an enclosed arena, picking up shells, banana peels, feathers, and more in an effort to do in their opponent. My brother and I spent more time in this mode than the rest of the game combined.

The beauty of Super Mario Kart is in its simplicity. There’s no manual shifting, no overly complicated tracks, no complicated targeting system – anybody can pick it up and play.

Mario Kart made the move to the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and full 3D, and for some reason it didn’t capture the same magic again. Many would disagree with me, but I still prefer the SNES version. Next month the newest incarnation debuts on the Nintendo DS handheld, and this time I have high hopes. The addition of online play will add to the game substantially.

My seventh favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Turok – Rage Wars (N64)

Really, this entry applies to the Turok series as a whole. Rage Wars is just the installment I remember playing the most.

The key to Turok was in its 4-player deathmatches. There was a single player campaign, sure, but I don’t think I ever touched it. This game felt like it was designed from the ground up as multiplayer gold.

Even so, it wouldn’t even place on this list without one single game type: Shoot the monkey. I never saw anything like it before, and haven’t since. One player is randomly chosen to become a small, screeching monkey running around the level. Everyone else’s goal is to shoot that monkey. Once the monkey shuffles off this mortal coil, someone else becomes the monkey. At the end of a time limit, he with the most monkey kills wins. Variations had the target as a chicken or lizard. Whoever came up with this idea gets a gold medal from me. Multiplayer in first person shooters such as this rarely brings anything new to the genre besides graphics and new guns. A little creativity goes a long way.

I spent many an evening in high school crowded around a Nintendo 64 and taking turns at this gem. Highly customizable battles added to the shine – especially unique weapons like the cerebral bore, inflator gun, shrinking gun, and freeze gun. Every round was fun in a new way.

My eighth favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Secret of Mana (SNES)

Secret of Mana was unique in two ways. Not only did it have real-time combat, but it supported three-player simultaneous gaming. Few other role playing games can compete.

The story is pretty standard stuff: You’re the regular joe guy in a medieval village – until you learn of your destiny to pull the sword from the stone and save the world.

Thankfully, Mana’s responsive controls, smooth menu system, extensive options, and collaborative strategies help elevate it to the stuff of legend. I’m generally not a big proponent of RPGs, but this one managed to suck me in.

A couple of summers ago, two friends and I dusted off the old SNES, rustled up an adapter for multiple controllers, and played through it again. Despite being somewhat cliched, the story does have its heartrending moments, and kept me interested all the way through. Secret of Mana stands the test of time, and even twelve years later maintains a used selling price close to its original point.

My ninth favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Tekken 3 (PS1)

Tekken 3 is one of the few fighting games I’ve ever played to any great extent. Its simple, and playable without extensive knowledge of 27-button combo attacks. Those attacks are there if you desire to learn them, but are not essential to victory. The pace of battles is quick, so a number of players can be rotated in and out in a short block of time.

Meanwhile, crazy characters like the diminutive dinosaur Gon, space ninja Yoshimitsu and his buddy the drunken doc keep you coming back and goofing around. However, prepare to be frustrated when your buddy masters the ‘knee to the groin’ move belonging to one of the female fighters.

For an added bonus, play the game on DDR pads. Your ‘dance’ moves translate into fighting moves on the screen. After a few minutes of hilarity, 99% of games in this fashion devolve into a real shoving match as you try to push your opponent off their dance pad and thus ensure victory.

My tenth favorite multiplayer video game of all time:
Worms Armageddon (PC)

There’s a certain simple madness to this game that I can’t resist. You control a team of cute anthropomorphic cartoon worms with a vast aresnal at their disposal. In a twist on the old “gorilla throwing bananas at another gorilla” QBasic game, you have to take many factors into account in your destruction of the opposing team: Wind, distance, barriers, timing, crazy explosion shapes, etc.

I first encountered this game freshman year of college, when it was about all our bare-bones laptops could handle. It broke the ice between a lot of us on the hall, and we wiled away many a happy hour.

As an added bonus, I appreciate the game for taking a surprising amount of brainpower. Crafting that perfect grenade toss to come from behind and win takes both a keen mind and steady hand. And how can you resist the exploding, flying SuperSheep?