Aging Gamer: Couch Co-Op

<h3>Story Time<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Gather round&comma; young ones&period; I come with a tale of what you may think is terrifying&comma; but in actuality&comma; it created some fond memories&period; Before the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;top-8-overlooked-xbox-360-games&sol;">Xbox 360<&sol;a> era&comma; you actually had to travel to a friend&&num;8217&semi;s house or arcade to experience co-op gaming&period; How inconvenient&comma; right&quest; Somewhat&comma; but it made couch co-op so much more special than just signing into your <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;pay-for-psn-content-through-your-mobile&sol;">PSN<&sol;a> or Xbox Live account&period; Great memories were made when I was little&period; It saddens me that children today won&&num;8217&semi;t get to experience the fun of sitting on a friend&&num;8217&semi;s couch&comma; totally destroying them in <em>Mutant League Football<&sol;em>&period; Those were the days&period; I wish they would come back&comma; but only Nintendo still tries to keep couch co-op alive and it may soon be dead forever&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Setting the Scene<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>Picture this&colon; Early 90&&num;8217&semi;s and you&&num;8217&semi;re waiting for your parents to take you to your friend&&num;8217&semi;s house for a sleepover&period; You know they have a SNES and Genesis&period; You simply cannot wait to engage in some co-op fun with your buddies&period; Pizza and gallons of soda wait for you as you arrive&period; Controllers are strewn about and you begin to destroy your buddies in <em>Street Fighter II<&sol;em>&period; Round after round&comma; they cannot shake you from the player 1 controller&period; Just when they think all is lost&comma; someone finally figures out Blanca&&num;8217&semi;s special move and you must relinquish that controller you&&num;8217&semi;ve held onto for so long&period; I had so many weekends like this at my house&comma; my friend&&num;8217&semi;s house&comma; at 7-11&&num;8217&semi;s&semi; They were amazing&period; I remember using the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;5-franchises-konami-should-sell-or-lease&sol;">Konami<&sol;a> Code and going through <em>Contra<&sol;em> with my buddies&comma; even taking a picture and sending it to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;news&period;avclub&period;com&sol;every-issue-of-nintendo-power-magazine-is-now-up-on-the-1798250179"><em>Nintendo Power<&sol;em><&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;139852" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-139852" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-139852" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;23143907&sol;Swingers&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"353" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-139852" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Swingers<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Miramax&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Things Change<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; I totally realize that playing online is much easier to schedule&period; Don&&num;8217&semi;t get me wrong&period; During the Xbox 360 era&comma; I spent many a night fragging noobs in <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> while laughing through my headset&period; However&comma; there were times when we still got together to play <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> on split-screen while destroying people&period; There were also nights when we had epic <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;guitar-hero-7-light-day&sol;"><em>Guitar Hero<&sol;em><&sol;a> and <em>Rock Band<&sol;em> sessions&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m glad that the Switch is bringing people together more&comma; but I never hear about people going to each other&&num;8217&semi;s houses for all-night gaming sessions&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m sad that this is happening&comma; but I understand why&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lifestyles have changed significantly since I was thirteen years old&period; Heck&comma; they&&num;8217&semi;ve changed a lot since last gen&period; Everyone seems to have a busier life now&comma; myself included&period; I rarely play my games on workdays and my sessions during my days off aren&&num;8217&semi;t as long as they used to be&period; It is difficult for me to game online consistently now&period; Just ask my <em>Monster Hunter<&sol;em> friends&period; I wish life was simpler again and that I had more time to actually live&comma; but that isn&&num;8217&semi;t in the cards for me right now&period; It seems like most people are in this boat too&comma; or at least friends I used to online game with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Memories<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>I do have great memories playing online with my buddies&comma; though&comma; before all the huge lifestyle changes&period; I went through <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;electronics&period;howstuffworks&period;com&sol;halo-3&period;htm"><em>Halo 3<&sol;em><&sol;a> on Legendary in co-op with my good friend&period; Now that he&&num;8217&semi;s married and whatnot&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s little time for games&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m basically the same person out of high school&period; Just add on the 50 hour work week and taking care of the folks&period; I make time for games&period; I have to&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re a great stress reliever and they let me forget about my problems even if it is for a little while&period; My greatest memories were made with other people&comma; though&comma; sitting right next to me as I crushed their on-screen avatar&period; Those moments from my childhood will be with me forever and I&&num;8217&semi;m very grateful for that&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;139870" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-139870" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-139870" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;06&sol;23235103&sol;main-qimg-728380b221eab43dd4e0cb194bca934d&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"356" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-139870" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>The Big Bang Theory<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; CBS&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Let it be known that I do not think one form of co-op is better than the other&period; I just happen to have lived during the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;goombastomp&period;com&sol;the-lost-art-of-couch-co-op&sol;">Golden Age of couch co-op gaming<&sol;a>&comma; and during the Golden Age of online gaming&period; I can compare them both and do have fond memories of both&period; However it saddens me that couch co-op is dying a slow and miserable death&period; Children should have memories of going to their friends&&num;8217&semi; houses and playing well into the night&period; Instead&comma; they sit at home and play for long hours alone with no real interaction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Seeing the agony of defeat was much more fun for me than hearing someone curse out my gamer tag and tell me what they&&num;8217&semi;d do to my mother&period; A punch on the shoulder from a buddy for a cheap move was much more satisfying than having to mute a competing player&period; Hopefully Nintendo can bring couch co-op back into the fold since <em>Rock Band 4<&sol;em> and <em>Guitar Hero Live<&sol;em> didn&&num;8217&semi;t really help&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>Like what you read&quest; Check out more of my <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;tag&sol;aging-gamer&sol;">Aging Gamer<&sol;a> series on BagoGames&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;