2up?

January 23, 2009 8:11 AM

Recommend me some good head to head games for the NES (aka: Famicom or old-skool nintendo).

My friends and I have had fun playing Dr. Mario head to head, and are looking for other games that let two players play at once, either in competition or cooperation. I like sports games okay, but some friends prefer otherwise, so help me build my library to keep everyone happy.

Kind of previously.

posted by 1f2frfbf to sports, hobbies, & recreation (25 comments total)

Tecmo Bowl, or if you can find it, Blood On The Ice.
posted by Aquaman at 8:13 AM on January 23

Contra!
posted by jozxyqk at 8:15 AM on January 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

Super rare (but super-awesome): Tengen Tetris (the one in the black cart)! Co-op tetris will open your eyes, my friend.
posted by bookwo3107 at 8:16 AM on January 23

Pro Wrestling. If not for the fun gameplay that for the engrish. "A winner is you!"
posted by DrDreidel at 8:21 AM on January 23

Bubble Bobble and Ice Hockey! (The best part of Ice Hockey is making your little guys get in fights.)

I enjoyed Excitebike a lot as a kid. And Rampage is good fun.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:22 AM on January 23

Super Dodgeball! River City Ransom!!
posted by philscience at 8:22 AM on January 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

seconding Bubble Bobble.
posted by wocka wocka wocka at 8:26 AM on January 23

Snow Brothers is strange and sort of funny. It has a weird rhythm to it that's easy to get into. A friend and I used to play it together a lot.
posted by interrobang at 8:42 AM on January 23

Blades of Steel (hockey)
posted by a3matrix at 8:51 AM on January 23

Ice Climber and, as previously mentioned, Ice Hockey.

I don't think Excitebike allowed head-to-head play, but I might be wrong.
posted by xbonesgt at 8:52 AM on January 23

Base Wars: Futuristic robot baseball weirdness. Instead of being able to tag someone out, you have to beat them in a fighting game-style robot battle. In league mode you can upgrade your robot players' equipment. If Base Wars is too gimicky for you, my favorite normal NES baseball game is Baseball Stars.

Gold Medal Challenge '92: One of various Olympic-themed games. Track and Field is the best known and most popular, but I prefer Gold Medal Challenge. It has a good mix of straight-up button masher events, and tricky timing events. It also has a fun marathon event where you update your speed for each leg every few events.

Double Dragon series (especially Double Dragon 2): Co-op beat-em-up games. The controls for DD2 were somewhat tricky but very effective considering the limited control options with only two buttons and the d-pad. If you want RPG elements, go with River City Ransom, and if you want more difficulty go with Battletoads.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:58 AM on January 23

Guerilla War is a ton of fun co-op.
posted by pocams at 9:02 AM on January 23

oh! and I can't believe I forgot the original RBI Baseball. I hate playing, watching, and hearing about the sport but I still love this game.
posted by xbonesgt at 9:02 AM on January 23

Smash TV!
posted by shmegegge at 9:03 AM on January 23

Oh, it looks like Excitebike is one-player only. Dang. Scratch that one then.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:39 AM on January 23

Balloon Fight. Also great as a one-player game.
posted by hooray at 10:15 AM on January 23

Super Techmo Bowl, Ikari Warriors.
posted by starman at 10:38 AM on January 23

Jackal.
posted by Who_Am_I at 10:51 AM on January 23

Micro Machines was my favorite head to head NES game.

It has very different and very fun 2 player race option where the two cars appeared, overhead, on a single screen (as in, not a split screen) and the first player to get far enough ahead of the second player so that the car left the screen would get a point. Then the 2 cars would restart at the same spot. First person to 10(?) wins.

It sounds weird, but it really must be played to be appreciated.
posted by Kronoss at 11:41 AM on January 23

(the original Double Dragon for the NES wasn't two-player, except for its one-on-one "vs" mode.)

My suggestion, not yet mentioned: Spy vs. Spy.

My suggestions, already mentioned: Contra! River City Ransom! Double Dragon II!
posted by neckro23 at 11:51 AM on January 23

Crash 'n the Boys

It's vicious.
Games include drowning your opponents in a swimming match, hammer throw golf, and a straight up fist fight.
posted by Acari at 12:17 PM on January 23

There are several lists of faves here. I would highly recommend Super C, RC Pro-Am, Bases Loaded, and Skate or Die 2.
posted by ashabanapal at 12:53 PM on January 23

Tetris 2. It's not really tetris, but if you're into Dr. Mario, it will scratch the block droppy versus itch.
posted by Durhey at 1:43 PM on January 23

Excellent suggestions, all! I'll be taking this list with me to the flea market this weekend and trolling ebay after that.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:54 PM on January 23

Put in another vote for Ice Hockey, or as I like to call it, "the finest hockey simulation ever created"
posted by Monster_Zero at 4:18 PM on January 23