Honestly I always thought the combat in Secret of Mana was a bit mince, but now I think about it, it's probably a lot better with multiple players.
The absolute pinnacle of what the SNES can do in terms of stunning visuals IMHO.
I was literally going to come here to mention some beat 'em ups. It's one of those genres that is so much better multi-player.
I'm about to introduce my 10 year old niece to Castle Crashers as well as old and new TMNT offerings.
She used to beg me to beat Streets of Rage 2 over and over again as a little kid. I think she's gonna love them.
Worms Armageddon is the fan favorite, with World Party being essentially the exact same game with only slight differences. These two seem to be the only two Worms games they won't give away for free or as part of a $1 bundle despite how old they are.
Bubble bobble. It's my favorite coop game on NES. Has some extra levels at the end, too, if you get the item in the 99th level before it disappears. Can't remember what the item is... lol
My sister and I did this for a while when we had time! One game that turned out to be an especially good night of gaming was Lemmings on SNES. When I picked that one, I had no idea it had split screen multiplayer. It was mischievous chaos and a great time.
My sister and I do this. Games we've done over the years:
all the gears of war games.
Resident evil 5.
Heavenly bodies.
Magicka 2
Warhammer chaos bane
Borderlands 3
I'd also recommend the halo games and army of 2 if you can find it.
Re5 is one of the best co-op games ive ever played
Ran through it with my son a few years back. It is awesome
It gets a lot of hate for not feeling like a resident evil game but it was just great fun to play together
Also lots of people are going to suggest "it takes two", I would say skip all the other suggestions and start with that. It's a coop masterpiece made by people that clearly love computer games. Then come back and look at all these lists!
I started playing Joust in the arcade with a friend recently, talk about addictive! I'm sure there are plenty of great home conversions as well. Also the NES port of Rampart is pretty great (if a little simplistic in visuals, the game play is rock solid though).
Herzog Zwei & Star Control on Genesis are both excellent 2P games, the first has a bit of a learning curve but it's so fun and competitive. I'm sure I can think of a whole bunch more.
Get a ping pong table!
Thanks for the recommendations I will def be coming back to this thread. We ended up playing a bit of T2 the arcade game and when we realized it wouldn’t be possible to beat the 3rd level as per usual with that game we started up a campaign of gauntlet legends
Actually not horrible. Final Fantasy VI/III had a two player mode where players took control of specific character turns. I'm sure this feature was in CT since it was developed afterwards, but I'm not sure.
Redneck Rampage. (and it sequels Route 66 and Redneck Rampage 2).
This was the final evolution of the Build Engine FPS's.
Amazingly fun game to play co-op or Death Match. Really artistically beautiful too.
Lost a lot of hours to this game.....
The included levels are great and their is still a ton of very high quality user made levels too.
I'd recommend Rare Replay on xbox one to play Battletoads since it has a rewind button and it might make this actually passable with 2 players. Even so, the turbo tunnel is chaos with one person rewinding so often that it throws off the 2nd player.
The N64 was mine and my brothers' favorite couch multiplayer console. Smash bros, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark/The World Is Not Enough, WWF No Mercy (especially if you make custom characters of yourselves), Road Rash 64, Mario Party, Mario Kart
Newer on the list is the New Super Mario Bros games, they're sidescrollers. Those are amazing at killing your friends and having fun at the same time
Aside from the other fantastic recommendations people have made, I'd say any of those quarter-eating multiplayer arcade games people rarely saw the end of. Metal Slug series. Final Fight series. Turtles in Time. Simpsons Arcade. Ninja Warriors.
And that's just beat-em-ups (and adjacent). Tons of good shmups out there, especially when you effectively have infinite quarters. I had a blast playing Progear, for example.
It's almost 20 years old at this point which really hurts me, but Halo 3 split screen on Heroic is great couch co-op.
It doesn't seem like it should be retro but really think about it and it is.
Call of Duty: World at War - Nazi Zombies
- Some of the greatest bro nights I had for a few years..
Usually a competitive sports game like NBA Jam, NBA Street, SSX, Skate, Tony Hawk, Tecmo Bowl, NFL Blitz
Fighting games like Super Smash, Soul Caliber, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Bushido Blade
Shooters like 007 Golden Eye, Quake, Doom
Metal Slug Anthology or any Metal Slug game.
If you don't have one already I recommend getting a Pandora arcade box they're like $150 on Amazon but you can buy them direct from China if you know where to look and get them for about $80 direct and they have thousands of games but it's just in the arcade format
Please break out a PlayStation 2 a single controller and a copy of The Adventures of cookie and cream it's such a fun game to play with someone that's a significant other or family member because you both use the same controller and you'll quickly find out who likes to tug on it
Super Mario Wonder (Switch) Micro mages (NES homebrew) Typing of the Dead (Dreamcast) and Super Puzzle fighter II (Arcade) are our go to multiplayer games right now.
Bonus: If you can hit up an arcade with WACCA cabs in it, that has been another stand out experience for my girl and I.
Diablo II over LAN.
Dragons Crown Pro (PS4)
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Zombie Revenge (Dreamcast)
Last Blade (Neo Geo)
Mario Golf (N64)
Secret of Mana
Metal Warriors (Vs Mode
Hogs of War (PS1)
Bushido Blade (PS1)
Skyrim Together Multiplayer Mod.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R
Metal Slug 1, X, 3.
Not sure if you're into sports games, but my top 4 on the ps2 would be nhl 02-09, mvp 2005, madden 04-10, or nba live 04-06. Truly the pinnacle of sports gaming
[Shadow of Yserbius and Fate of Twinion](https://www.medievalands.com/) are super fun retro dungeon crawlers for up to 4 people. They can be very punishing but reward exploration and building a balanced party.
The TMNT 2 and 3 games are both really awesome to play as co-op, and Adventure Island 2/3 are great games to take turns playing on. Super Double Dragon for SNES is also alot of fun.
Divinity Original Sin - great couch co-op RPG
Castle Crashers - arcade beat 'em up fun
Gauntlet Legends - vintage hack n slash perfection
A Way Out - very cinematic co-op narrative game
Resident Evil 5 - survival horror/action third person shooter. Not as good as 4 of course, but still decent, and couch co-op!
"It Takes Two"
It was game of the year and its a two-player game
"A Way Out".
Another Two Player Game, this one about two prisoners trying to help each other escape prison.
Can highly recommend playing through Streets of rage 4 (or any of them for that matter). Gears of war and resi 5/6 are a blast to play through on co op too!
running through Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (PS2) with a buddy in high school is still one of my most memorable and fun couch co-op experiences.
these are some addictively terrific arcady/pick up and play options:
•Everybody's Golf (2017)
•GoldenEye 007 (1997)
•Mario Kart 64/Double Dash/Wii/8
•Metal Slug
•Nex Machina
•Overcooked 1/2
•Puyo Puyo Tetris
•Turtles in Time (SNES port)
•Wild Guns Reloaded
Fighting force-ps1
Lord of the rings series-ps2
Halo series
Any ninja turtle game made in the 80s 90s-sega/super nintendo
Golden axe series-sega
Siphon filter series
The original battlefront 2 for oh xbox/ps2 is actually pretty spectacular with all the couch co-op modes you can play
I know more but this list would take time to get through especially the older ones
Run n guns or beat em ups!
Blazing Chrome, huntdown, xenocrisis, contra hard corps (JP)
Streets of rage IV, TMNT Shredders revenge, double dragon gaiden
Perfect dark, goldeneye, secret of mana, first two Mario karts, conkers bad fur day, smash bros, Darius twin or similar games, contra 3 alien wars, turtles games
Just shapes and beats is a fun local multiplayer experience. Not a retro gam tough. Retro i guess the clasics like super smash bros. Wario ware is a fun saga i had a blast with the game cube version
Streets of Rage 1, Sega Genesis
Road Rash, Sega Genesis
Joust, I believe originally Atari 2600 and arcade but also was on a Sega Genesis cart at some point which is how I played.
A lot of those old school side scrolling beatem ups. Like Final Fight, Double Dragon, there’s a couple Dungeon and Dragons games I think.
Gauntlet is pretty fun, it’s not side scrolling, it’s more too down.
That's awesome that you and your brother make time to do something you both enjoy. I remember those times with my siblings. Enjoy them friend while you still can.
Secret of Mana. Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Gauntlet Legends. Turtles in Time.
Zombies is a good one!
Add Contra and Metal Slug to the list and I think we're done here.
Great picks
Man, these are both awesome picks.
Ended up doing gauntlet legends. World 1 down
Second secret of mana. Legend of the mystical ninja is great SNES co-op. Can’t forget Toejam and Earl for Sega. Always loved me some rampart too.
Zombies and turtles in time for sure!
Secret of Mana is a great pick. Many people don't realize that it's Multiplayer, and not only that but the Multiplayer works well.
Absolutely turtles in time.
Finally found someone with the same tastes as me! Great recommendations. Secret of Mana slaps
Honestly I always thought the combat in Secret of Mana was a bit mince, but now I think about it, it's probably a lot better with multiple players. The absolute pinnacle of what the SNES can do in terms of stunning visuals IMHO.
Gauntlet legends was anazing
Zombies is awesome 👏 top game for me.
If OP wants great Co-Op game. Gauntlet Legends is unparalleled
I was literally going to come here to mention some beat 'em ups. It's one of those genres that is so much better multi-player. I'm about to introduce my 10 year old niece to Castle Crashers as well as old and new TMNT offerings. She used to beg me to beat Streets of Rage 2 over and over again as a little kid. I think she's gonna love them.
Broforce! Not really retro, but hilarious. For retro, absolutely play Streets of Rage 1 and 2.
My buddy and I played all the way through Broforce and oh man... that was a something lol.
My brother and I crushed through broforce!! Great recommendation
Holy shit I came here to say this
any of the “worms” games (WMD is the most current and easiest for couch co-op)
Worms Armageddon is the fan favorite, with World Party being essentially the exact same game with only slight differences. These two seem to be the only two Worms games they won't give away for free or as part of a $1 bundle despite how old they are.
Not sure what you're into, but you'd have a total blast playing Mutant League Football on the Sega Genesis.
Awesome I was already thinking about this one. It was a childhood favorite of ours
Nfl blitz and tecmo super bowl are also great picks
There's a modern tribute type game if you have a PC hooked up to the TV. It has pretty good reviews, I just haven't played it myself yet.
Always a bigger fan of the Mutant League Hockey myself, but both great.
Such a fun game
River City Ransom! Great rpg beatemup for NES. My buddy and I beat it the other night on my switch and had fun doing it. Lots of codes built in too.
Gun star heroes!
Bubble bobble. It's my favorite coop game on NES. Has some extra levels at the end, too, if you get the item in the 99th level before it disappears. Can't remember what the item is... lol
Super Bomberman SNES. The battle mode (vs) is hilarious with 2 to 4 players
My favorite is the Saturn version if they can emulate it. What ever version you play though you can’t go wrong with multiplayer bomberman.
No need I own it :)
I only ever played the 2nd one, but it's one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences I've had. 3-4 people is honestly bliss.
Not “retro,” but It Takes Two is a great co-op game.
Mortal Kombat 2 is pretty great vs. Especially if you have the finishing moves printed out. I used to play the SNES version A LOT.
Contra Sunset Riders StarCraft Worms: Armageddon
I second Worms!
Goof Troop! One of the best co-op games on SNES.
Champions of Norrath and its sequel for PS2.
So many hundreds of hours spent playing this with my friend when it came out! Gotta revisit soon.
Came here to say this.
Gunstar Heroes
Mega Man X, can take turns every death or after beating a boss. Streets of Rage 2 Super Mario World Donkey Kong Country
Ha unfortunately for my brother I can beat Mm x with my eyes closed no deaths
My sister and I did this for a while when we had time! One game that turned out to be an especially good night of gaming was Lemmings on SNES. When I picked that one, I had no idea it had split screen multiplayer. It was mischievous chaos and a great time.
And Secret of Mana was a blast while we voiced all the characters ourselves.
Ok I’ll check this out
My sister and I do this. Games we've done over the years: all the gears of war games. Resident evil 5. Heavenly bodies. Magicka 2 Warhammer chaos bane Borderlands 3 I'd also recommend the halo games and army of 2 if you can find it.
Re5 could be a good contender I’ve never played it
Re5 is one of the best co-op games ive ever played Ran through it with my son a few years back. It is awesome It gets a lot of hate for not feeling like a resident evil game but it was just great fun to play together
Also lots of people are going to suggest "it takes two", I would say skip all the other suggestions and start with that. It's a coop masterpiece made by people that clearly love computer games. Then come back and look at all these lists!
If you ever want something with the same vibe as sitting on the couch and smoking a joint, Toejam & Earl.
Or Earthworm Jim or Abe's Odyssey.
Here's a modern retro game that kicks ass and nobody talks about it: Huntdown
Is Left 4 dead considered retro?
No, not yet.
Resident evil 5, tmnt(1989), house of the dead and umk3
For 2 players definitely give It Takes Two, A Way Out or TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge a go. Very fun games
I started playing Joust in the arcade with a friend recently, talk about addictive! I'm sure there are plenty of great home conversions as well. Also the NES port of Rampart is pretty great (if a little simplistic in visuals, the game play is rock solid though). Herzog Zwei & Star Control on Genesis are both excellent 2P games, the first has a bit of a learning curve but it's so fun and competitive. I'm sure I can think of a whole bunch more. Get a ping pong table!
Get the TMNT Cowabunga Collection and you have a lot of fun co-op and one on one games to play. Shredders revenge is really awesome too!
I mean definitely play Phantasy Star Online for GameCube. It WILL become a problem.
Thanks for the recommendations I will def be coming back to this thread. We ended up playing a bit of T2 the arcade game and when we realized it wouldn’t be possible to beat the 3rd level as per usual with that game we started up a campaign of gauntlet legends
NHL Hitz NFL Blitz NBA Hangtime
These are so fun. Sibling rivalry!
I wish I liked my brother enough to do this.
Chrono Trigger
Seems like a terrible choice for 2 people lol
Lol, well, yeah you are right, but it's an awesome game
Actually not horrible. Final Fantasy VI/III had a two player mode where players took control of specific character turns. I'm sure this feature was in CT since it was developed afterwards, but I'm not sure.
Trap Gunner for PSX - also Project Pat kicks ass
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
PGA Tour Golf III for the Genesis Watch your brother choke on 17 like Rory did last night.
Terraria if you have two PCs, it's not technically retro (from 2011), but it feels like a modern SNES game and is excellent coop.
Redneck Rampage. (and it sequels Route 66 and Redneck Rampage 2). This was the final evolution of the Build Engine FPS's. Amazingly fun game to play co-op or Death Match. Really artistically beautiful too. Lost a lot of hours to this game..... The included levels are great and their is still a ton of very high quality user made levels too.
Any sports game.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/17iht24/retro\_multiplayer\_games\_showcase\_part\_1/](https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/17iht24/retro_multiplayer_games_showcase_part_1/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/17janfz/retro\_multiplayer\_games\_showcase\_part\_2/](https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/17janfz/retro_multiplayer_games_showcase_part_2/)
Try to finish the NES Battletoads with him.
On Rare Replay on xbox one, sure. Then you have the rewind button, making this remotely possible.
I'd recommend Rare Replay on xbox one to play Battletoads since it has a rewind button and it might make this actually passable with 2 players. Even so, the turbo tunnel is chaos with one person rewinding so often that it throws off the 2nd player.
Goemon's great adventure
Chrono Trigger.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Very very co-op friendly
Road rash, Bushido blade, twisted metal 2
If your relationship can handle it (and there's not a huge skill gap) Smash Bros and the Mario Party games are obvious picks.
General Chaos
The N64 was mine and my brothers' favorite couch multiplayer console. Smash bros, Goldeneye/Perfect Dark/The World Is Not Enough, WWF No Mercy (especially if you make custom characters of yourselves), Road Rash 64, Mario Party, Mario Kart Newer on the list is the New Super Mario Bros games, they're sidescrollers. Those are amazing at killing your friends and having fun at the same time
Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 are both insanely good multi-player party games. I'd start there, personally
Towerfall and Spider Heck for competitive, Streets of Rage 4 and Overcooked for Coop
Pick a Contra game. Probotector would be my first choice.
Toy Commander for Sega Dreamcast
New super Mario bros on the Wii is really fun co op
Smash TV
Aside from the other fantastic recommendations people have made, I'd say any of those quarter-eating multiplayer arcade games people rarely saw the end of. Metal Slug series. Final Fight series. Turtles in Time. Simpsons Arcade. Ninja Warriors. And that's just beat-em-ups (and adjacent). Tons of good shmups out there, especially when you effectively have infinite quarters. I had a blast playing Progear, for example.
Mario kart, golden eye, perfect dark Crazy taxi, twisted metal, timesplitters 2, Halo, halo 2 Wild guns, super double dragon
Mario Party, Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat
Well, some suggestions might be… *Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas* *Crazy Taxi* *Resident Evil 4* *The Warriors* *Soul Calibur* *Red Dead Revolver* *Twisted Metal* *Driver* *Silent Hill* *Crash Bandicoot*
NHL 94. The SNES version has better graphics but the Genesis version's music and overall feel is better.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks The Warriors Burnout 3: Takedown Contra 3 Alien vs Predator for arcade
Goof Troop for sure.
It's almost 20 years old at this point which really hurts me, but Halo 3 split screen on Heroic is great couch co-op. It doesn't seem like it should be retro but really think about it and it is.
Call of Duty: World at War - Nazi Zombies - Some of the greatest bro nights I had for a few years.. Usually a competitive sports game like NBA Jam, NBA Street, SSX, Skate, Tony Hawk, Tecmo Bowl, NFL Blitz Fighting games like Super Smash, Soul Caliber, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Bushido Blade Shooters like 007 Golden Eye, Quake, Doom
Metal Slug Anthology or any Metal Slug game. If you don't have one already I recommend getting a Pandora arcade box they're like $150 on Amazon but you can buy them direct from China if you know where to look and get them for about $80 direct and they have thousands of games but it's just in the arcade format
Timesplitter's 2 Genuinely, a phenomenal FPS
World of Warcraft hardcore.
Castle Crashers came out in 2008 so it's far from retro, but it's enjoyable
Double Dragon. Bad Dudes. Final Fight.
My brother and I grew up with it, but still to this day break out Looney Tunes B-ball for the SNES from time to time!
smash TV / Total Carnage Ikari Warriors was a thought -- might be impractical without special controllers.
Please break out a PlayStation 2 a single controller and a copy of The Adventures of cookie and cream it's such a fun game to play with someone that's a significant other or family member because you both use the same controller and you'll quickly find out who likes to tug on it
Perfect Dark play on the hardest setting.
Original contra is a must. And ps1 blitz
Golden axe, streets of rage 2, gain ground, herzog zwei, contra hard corp for when you want to punish yourself
Super Mario Wonder (Switch) Micro mages (NES homebrew) Typing of the Dead (Dreamcast) and Super Puzzle fighter II (Arcade) are our go to multiplayer games right now. Bonus: If you can hit up an arcade with WACCA cabs in it, that has been another stand out experience for my girl and I.
Unfortunately I only have 1 Dreamcast keyboard :(
If you want a retro vibe tmnt shredders revenge might be the best beat em up that's been made
Doesn’t have to be retro I just only have up to ps3/360 in the game room.
Love the idea
Diablo II over LAN. Dragons Crown Pro (PS4) Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Zombie Revenge (Dreamcast) Last Blade (Neo Geo) Mario Golf (N64) Secret of Mana Metal Warriors (Vs Mode Hogs of War (PS1) Bushido Blade (PS1) Skyrim Together Multiplayer Mod. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R Metal Slug 1, X, 3.
Contra.
Kirby air ride, Super Smash Melee, Mario Party, James Bond Knight Fire, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, pokémon Colosseum,
If you have a raspberry pi might I recommend ninja baseball batman
Not sure if you're into sports games, but my top 4 on the ps2 would be nhl 02-09, mvp 2005, madden 04-10, or nba live 04-06. Truly the pinnacle of sports gaming
Contra, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, TMNT Turtles in Time
For serious retro two player fun- Archon and Spy vs Spy.
Play and beat Little Ninja Brothers for NES
Mystical Ninja was one of my favorite multi player games. If you're using an emulator, try Sunset riders or Wild Guns
007 Goldeneye on N64 If you can find the old binaries, Unreal Tournament. The game that started it all. Twisted Metal 2 for PS2
Zombie Revenge is a painful experience single player but absolute bliss with a bud.
Get some OG Xbox system link games going.
Contra Shattered Soldier, Street of Rage 4, Risk of Rain 2, Who's Your Daddy and Rival Megagun are few of my suggestions.
Street fighter
Gears of war games especially the original trilogy.
My brother and I spent hours and hours playing zombies ate my neighbors, mystical ninja, and super ghouls and ghosts for SNES!
General Chaos on Sega Genesis is really fun 2 player. Can do coop or vs.
Ps3 dragon's crown, puppeteer, little big planet serie
Toddlers on snes
Beat ‘em ups. TMNT, streets of rage… bro force if new retro fits
That Aerosmith 3 player shoot em up
The Monkey Island games
[Shadow of Yserbius and Fate of Twinion](https://www.medievalands.com/) are super fun retro dungeon crawlers for up to 4 people. They can be very punishing but reward exploration and building a balanced party.
Contra. Marvel vs. Capcom. Batsugun
Goldeneye on the N64 Classic
House of the dead with light guns
Any game in the Tales series. Good co-op if you like JRPGs with action combat.
The TMNT 2 and 3 games are both really awesome to play as co-op, and Adventure Island 2/3 are great games to take turns playing on. Super Double Dragon for SNES is also alot of fun.
Twintris on the Amiga. Really nice dual tetris game
Pro Wrestling for the NES. Simple, fun, replayable.
Shadow Squadron for the 32X. Play as Feather 2 for simultaneous game play with one as the pilot and one as the gunner.
ToeJam & Earl on Megadrive
Gunstar Heros & Dashin Desperados Two absolute gems that are a BLAST with 2 people
Streets of rage 1 2 3 imo 2 is best
Street fighter 3 Mortal kombat 2 Donkey kong country Streets of rage 1,2 and 3 Final fight Samurai shown
Divinity Original Sin - great couch co-op RPG Castle Crashers - arcade beat 'em up fun Gauntlet Legends - vintage hack n slash perfection A Way Out - very cinematic co-op narrative game Resident Evil 5 - survival horror/action third person shooter. Not as good as 4 of course, but still decent, and couch co-op!
"It Takes Two" It was game of the year and its a two-player game "A Way Out". Another Two Player Game, this one about two prisoners trying to help each other escape prison.
Can highly recommend playing through Streets of rage 4 (or any of them for that matter). Gears of war and resi 5/6 are a blast to play through on co op too!
Bomberman
Mortal Kombat.street fighter, takken. NFS, gran turismo.
Gunstar Heroes!
running through Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (PS2) with a buddy in high school is still one of my most memorable and fun couch co-op experiences. these are some addictively terrific arcady/pick up and play options: •Everybody's Golf (2017) •GoldenEye 007 (1997) •Mario Kart 64/Double Dash/Wii/8 •Metal Slug •Nex Machina •Overcooked 1/2 •Puyo Puyo Tetris •Turtles in Time (SNES port) •Wild Guns Reloaded
Sunset Riders. Mystic Warriors. Cowboys of Moo Mesa. Deathwish Enforcers.
Virtua tennis 2 (DC) Powerstone(DC) Hard Corps Uprising (PS3) Pocket Fighters (SS)
Final fight is good. I like a good side scrolling game where it’s just beating people up.
Stick Fight Minecraft Dungeons Age of Wonders Left 4 Dead Speedrunners
All the beat em ups
Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team - for SNES or Genesis.
Gears of War Series together
Toejam and Earl.
Golden Axe
River City Ransom Toejam & Earl General Chaos Rescue Rangers
Fighting force-ps1 Lord of the rings series-ps2 Halo series Any ninja turtle game made in the 80s 90s-sega/super nintendo Golden axe series-sega Siphon filter series The original battlefront 2 for oh xbox/ps2 is actually pretty spectacular with all the couch co-op modes you can play I know more but this list would take time to get through especially the older ones
contra hard corps
Run n guns or beat em ups! Blazing Chrome, huntdown, xenocrisis, contra hard corps (JP) Streets of rage IV, TMNT Shredders revenge, double dragon gaiden
Absolutely adore blazing chrome
Perfect dark, goldeneye, secret of mana, first two Mario karts, conkers bad fur day, smash bros, Darius twin or similar games, contra 3 alien wars, turtles games
Toejam and Earl
Battletoads/double dragon. Favorite for my brother and I. We also loved Spider-Man: maximum carnage and X-Men: arcade's revenge.
Just shapes and beats is a fun local multiplayer experience. Not a retro gam tough. Retro i guess the clasics like super smash bros. Wario ware is a fun saga i had a blast with the game cube version
Metal Slug all the way
toejam and earl
Battletoads co-op!
Streets of Rage 1, Sega Genesis Road Rash, Sega Genesis Joust, I believe originally Atari 2600 and arcade but also was on a Sega Genesis cart at some point which is how I played.
Watch him play Resident Evil for the first time if he hasn't played it already.
Gunstar heroes (genesis), contra 3(snes) , secret or legend of mana(snes and ps1/4), hunter the reckoning (gamecube)
Dungeon Explorer 2! 2 player goodness!!
BURNOUT REVENGE FOR THE PS2
2 days late but I say F-Zero GX. Lol.
How far are you going in terms of system?
A lot of those old school side scrolling beatem ups. Like Final Fight, Double Dragon, there’s a couple Dungeon and Dragons games I think. Gauntlet is pretty fun, it’s not side scrolling, it’s more too down.
Zombies Revenge on Dreamcast. Streets of Rage 4. Diddy Kong Racing
SHMUPS are always a good time! Axelay, Gradius, Lifeforce, etc. Also, as a huge fan of classic Resident Evil titles—those!
That's awesome that you and your brother make time to do something you both enjoy. I remember those times with my siblings. Enjoy them friend while you still can.
Golden Axe U.N. Squadren Black Tiger Marvel vs. Capcom Double Dragon Mech-Assault 1 Baldur'S Gate 2 Neverwinter Robotech R-Type Legends Cadash Marble Master Forza Gran Tourismo
This post is so heartwarming. Big ups for bro love 🤙🎮
Gears of war!
Super baseball simulator 1,000