Playing games in co-operative mode!

edited March 2006 in Games
Although there were far too few games on the Speccy that required more than 1 person on the keyboard, I found that some games were more playable or more exciting to play when you played it in co-operative mode with a friend.

For example, in most air combat games (like Fighter Pilot, Gunship, Ace) one of my friends would be the gunner/navigator while I would be the pilot (always!). This was great fun especially if the enemy got the better of us whereupon insults and abuses would be exchanged (while mum wasn't around) between the two of us. :)

I liked Operation Thunderbolt because it actually allowed two players to play at the same time. Great stuff shooting down terrorists with teamwork.

I even played Zynaps co-operatively sometimes! I would instruct the "gunner" which weapon I would prefer to get through a particularly difficult section and leave the task of shooting/selecting to him while I concentrated on dodging and weaving my way through the levels.

Then there was Ikari Warrior. Again, great fun while playing in 2 player mode especially since you could inadvertently run over your teammate with a tank or blow him up with your grenade! I remember we eventually came up with a way to avoid blowing/pasting each other up. As soon as one of us got a tank, he would yell "Tank!" and then the other person would run away like mad to the other end and let the Tank person do all the fighting with him in support. And if someone wanted to throw a grenade, we would call "grenade" and the other person would hare down to the bottom of the screen! It must have made for a hilarious sight for a third person. :)

Did anyone else have such enjoyable moments in co-operative play?
Post edited by Arjun on
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Comments

  • edited April 2004
    Well now that you've mentioned it, I remember me and my best mate playing Rebelstar together. We divided operatives and robots and each controled half of them. We even drew map of the compound and study it while we were away from my Speccy (at his house for example) :D Man, a real military tacticians :lol:

    [ This Message was edited by: bjohnnybravo on 2004-04-26 10:06 ]
  • edited April 2004
    Some of the best co op games I played on the Speccy were IK+, Target: Renegade, Silkworm & SWIV.
  • edited April 2004
    escape from the planet of the robot monsters was coop to i think? hmm what else
  • edited April 2004
    Storm by Mastertronic was another one. Me and my mate used to play it lots despite it being crap and also having horrible blocky C64-style graphics.

    It was a Gauntlet clone and well worth forgetting about.
  • edited April 2004
    Daley Thompson and Hyper Sports :D

    Me and my brother used to play with one doing the button-bashing and the other doing the jumps/throw key.

    That was until we worked out the golf-ball trick ;)
  • edited April 2004
    I used to play Gauntlet and Dandy quite a bit 2 player which was cool

    But the best had to be Ikari Warriors which was superb 2 player and also Bubble Bobble !
  • edited April 2004
    I've played a lots of action games togever with my brother. I controlled movements, and he pressed a fire button as fast as he could. This way we played R-Type, Chronos, Flying shark and many other action games. Another sort of action games allowed two characters simultaneously, and it was great! Golden Axe and Target: renegade are very fun to play with a friend.
  • edited April 2004
    Quartet was another multiplayer game (up to 4 players) but i couldnt stand it. Arcade game was great but the spectrum version IMO was very poor
  • edited April 2004
    The Goonies had to be played in cooperative mode, because using 1 player mode and switching characters it was impossible to pass level 5.
  • edited April 2004
    "Ghost Hunters" was all right in co-op mode...even if the character had to stop (while player 2 fired the cursor around the screen) wherever he was...usually on top of a rising coffin. *sighs, and rubs leg ,remembering bruises on leg recieved from irate player 1)*
  • edited April 2004
    Xybots and Bubble Bobble (and later similar games).

    Bubble Bobble required great use of two player cooperation - Until those large diamonds turn up - then it's every cute dragon for itself :)

    G
  • edited April 2004
    er what waas the golf ball trick :lol: :p
  • edited April 2004
    THE GOLFBALL TRICK???

    The cause of more wrecked Speccy keyboards than all the dropped coffee cups in the world.

    The trick was simple - for Decathalon type games on rubber key Speccys you put a golfball on your left/right keys and roll it across the two movement keys very quicky. (remembering to hold your breath and go red in the face)

    The good thing is that you can run at extreme speed.

    The bad thing is taking the metal front of your Speccy after a race to hammer it flat before the next one starts.

    Another possible downside is Aunty Mabel coming to visit and finding you breathless and sweaty-palmed after seeing you bent double and apparently spanking your monkey over a plastic box through the window.

    Or maybe I worry too much
  • edited April 2004
    Poor Aunt Mabel!

    I never used a golf ball, but maybe that explains why I sucked at all the sports games. :)
  • edited April 2004
    RE: The Golf Ball trick:

    Let's just say that the z and x keys were completely rubbed clean using this method. Although I 0wnZ Daley Thompson!!!1111 :p
  • edited April 2004
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    NOTE: A very rare version with blank keys in place of the normal Z and X keys, and with a Metal coloured, "scratch" motif pattern in the vicinity of the blank keys. This is obviously a collectors edition model! A must for any retro fan!

    Starting bid ?199! - A bargain!
  • edited April 2004
    Maybe you should toss in a golf ball for free Monty. ;)
  • edited April 2004
    I used to play Frightmare with a friend,i used to control the man,while he shoot,that was great fun,spent days playing to frightmare,must play again this days...:):):)
  • edited April 2004
    Bruce Lee

    "If one Yamo-kick or one Ninja-punch lands on me, you're dead!"

    --
    Dr. Andrew Broad
    http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
    http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
  • edited April 2004
    Everybody thinks that Realm Of Impossibility is crap (and with incredibly jerky graphics), but I think it was fun, especially in two players mode - and I rememeber that the ridiculous graphics just used to make it even more comic (although this was not the programmers' intention, I suppose...)
  • edited April 2004
    I'm surprised noone mentioned Match Day II. That was awesome in cooperative mode, and so was Emlyn Hughes International Soccer!
  • edited April 2004
    How could I forget Match Day II - that was an amazing use of co-op mode :)
  • edited April 2004
    Yep, Match Day was great fun to play in two player mode.

    BTW, I notice that no-one has mentioned any racing games yet! I would have thought them prime contenders. One game we used to play was Kik Start II - great fun doing all those stunts !
  • edited April 2004
    My brothers and I enjoyed playing (apart o MatchdayII and MatchPoint) SpeedKingII. we loved that game. Two screens,.. it was like science fiction to us.

    _________________
    it smelled like slow death in there.

    [ This Message was edited by: judasEZT on 2004-04-28 15:32 ]
  • edited April 2004
    Arjun, noone mentioned racing games 'cause not many of them would be playable cooperatively, or would they? :) 'less you're steering left and the other guy right, of course... ;)
  • edited April 2004
    Speed King 2 was great, not co-op tho. I used to play that with my brother also.

    The best ever unintentionally co-op game is Pilotwings on the Snes.
  • edited April 2004
    I enjoyed playing with brother Duet (Commando 87). Very nice game.
  • edited April 2004
    The topic was co op not 2 player. Although Battleacars was a great 2 player game! 3 arenas, cutomizable cars, loads of weapons. Great despite its horrendous responsiveness and jerky graphics.
  • edited April 2004
    Skool Daze
    Halls of the Things (3 players team work!!)
    Krakatoa (Escape from..)
    Silkworm
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