Today's world of video games has so many multiplayer titles available.

There's even this thing called the internet. And you can play against someone across the globe.

But the best multiplayer was really before all of these modern internet modes. What's now often called local multiplayer is enjoyable and memorable.



Not that far back.






Right around the time of the Nintendo 64, there were a bunch of great multiplayer games. We got Mario Kart 64, with both racing and battle mode. Battle mode is a key feature I want to mention though, and I'll come back to it shortly.

Donkey Kong 64 had a "Monkey Smash" mode, which put your choice of a character in a course to find and attack opponents.

Star Fox 64 had an arena multiplayer mode with vehicle choices.

There were plenty of other games as well, and these are just a few first party ones. I want to point out the similarity amongst these, though.

In Mario Kart, you battled in a free-for-all match to pop opponents' balloons. In DK64, you pummeled other characters to take out their life supply of melons. In Star Fox, you simply fired at others to deplete their meter.

Notice how all of these are variations of a free-for-all, and in some cases, rather creative ones. These particular types of battle had no timers, which could potentially lead to quite lengthy matches. That's okay, though. There's no one waiting on the internet for the match to end in order to join in.

Modern hindrances to this classic formula in 3D environments are likely added because of internet play, especially timers. Modern Mario Kart battle modes have timers to keep matches short, but this in turn changes the objective of the battle. Another example of a likely internet-influenced timer-integrated multiplayer game is Sub Wars. I wrote a blog about it a while ago, and it is a great game, but it has a timer.

What's so bad about the timer though? Isn't it a good idea for games with internet modes?

Yes and no.

For one thing, the timer does benefit the quick internet matches so that other players can join in. But there's no reason there can't be classic modes on local multiplayer.

See, with the recent shutdown of DS and Wii Wi-Fi enhanced games, only local multiplayer still is available. But if the mode was built specifically for internet, how does it benefit local-only battles? It doesn't, really. The mode was built for internet play, which is now not available. So why not play Mario Kart 64 or Double Dash, where fun battle royales can take place? Internet modes don't last; local modes do.

The formula used is so much fun in my opinion because it's similar to playing with friends out in a yard, for example, and shooting nerf guns or water guns at each other.

This is part of the reason I really like older games since the multiplayer modes are kept simple-- the last man standing wins. And this is why classic multiplayer is fun.