Couch co-op is slowly fading away from our great hobby, but there are a few games and a few publishers that are trying to keep it alive. Nintendo is the biggest fan of couch co-op with their New Super Mario Brothers games and Smash Brothers, but other publishers are pushing towards online co-op, I’m looking at you Halo 5. I know that online playing makes gaming with friends so much easier with our busy lifestyles, but sometimes you just want your buddies over for some pizza and some slaying. If you do not have a Retro system to co-op on, here are five of the best current gen games to battle on.
5) Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Little did Bungie and Microsoft know that they had made pure gold on a disc back in 2001. And they were nice enough to allow you to play with your friend, the entire campaign could be played with a buddy and in the MCC you can still do that. What makes this collection even better is that 343 did not remove that co-op in this re-release. If you can get your best friend over to the house and can afford an extra sixty dollar controller you can relive the turn of century in high-def. With this collection, you and your friends can play all four original Halo games on the couch. However, when you finish Halo 4 you have to send your friend home to play co-op seeing as finishing the fight can only be done online. These games were great solo, but with a buddy having your back against the Covenant, they become epic.
4) Star Wars: Battlefront
Battlefront has been a long time coming for most gamers, and when EA and D.I.C.E. dropped the title some expectations were not fulfilled. The game has great multiplayer components, I found myself playing the space battle matches more than anything. I did find it difficult playing the very small solo area that was given to us. I played a few matches by myself battling the Empire and while it was fun it was not something I kept looking forward to. If I had a buddy next to me helping Han Solo defeat the Empire while munching on Cheet-O’s that would be great. Instead I sit home alone and my Han Solo avatar looks sad, because no one loves him, and he knows.
3) Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Gearbox’s original IP surprised everyone when it first came, no only did it feature easy to use drop in and out online co-op, it also had some couch co-op goodness with it. Raiding and finding more and more guns was always a hoot when I played this alone on my 360. Finding a few buddies that had the game later on and helping them beat a boss made it even better. Sadly, I’ve never experienced and Borderlands game while a buddy was sitting next to me drinking a cold one. I do feel that it would be one for the ages, every time you get a headshot you drink a shot a so on. Man why couldn’t this have come out when I was in college?
2) Diablo 3
Blizzard’s hellish opus has finally hit next gen consoles and man is it amazing. The somewhat top down aspect of the game reminds me of my early years with the quarter muncher Gauntlet, and the loot system has me hooked. Nothing is cooler than hacking away at enemies and then picking up an even better weapon off a fallen enemy. I know that once I put this game back into my Xbox One I will get lost in the looting all over again. If I could have at least one buddy over to join me on these raids and cleansings of the undead I’m sure I would be shot back into to my arcade visiting days. Whenever I hear the music from Gauntlet I get chills, and Diablo III is the closest I have on this generation.
1) Yoshi’s Woolly World
Nintendo is the undisputed King of couch co-op, even their newest games promote it. I was pleasantly surprised when I began to play Nintendo’s newest Yoshi title, it was gorgeous, controlled great and reminded me of Yoshi’s Island. I saw that there was co-op available in the game and asked a buddy who had it if we could play online. Much to my chagrin he told me that it was couch co-op only. That actually saddened me a bit, I had no one to come over and play and I don’t have a second controller for my Wii U. I was happy that other folks would be able to enjoy this game together, but at that point I was so use to everything being online co-op, the shock of this game not being one startled me. I’m sure I’ll play co-op one day, I’ll take it to a friends or convince a parent to join me, but as of now I’ll game alone.
Did we miss any couch co-op games that belong on this list? Let us know in the comments!