25 best couch multiplayer games of all time
Whether aiding or annihilating your friends in games, it's always best to go local. Discover the best couch multiplayer games of all time.
AI might be a dominant force right now, but there’s something an endless stream of binary just can’t replicate — couch multiplayer. Sure, taking down digital foes in your favourite console games can be fun, but can it match the feeling of scoring a screamer against a human opponent? Can it rival watching their face in real-time while you send a rocket-propelled grenade directly at their in-game avatar?
While greedy game publishers foist all manner of atrocities on us players, including open world collect-athons, iterative updates of the same title, or even live service games (shudder), there’s nothing quite like co-operating with or dominating mates in local multiplayer.
With that in mind — and to celebrate the release of co-operative action-adventurer Split Fiction — we’ve picked 25 unmissable couch multiplayer games that are wonderful for solidifying friendships or destroying them.
GoldenEye 007 (1997)
It’s only right that one of the best Bond movies gets an equally revered tie-in game, and developer Rare put the movie videogame tie-in curse to bed with GoldenEye 007. The single-player experience involved a rock-solid shooter featuring some of the film’s iconic levels, enough weapons to make John Wick blush, excellent stealth and mission objective mechanics and some of the best pause music in gaming.
However, we keep coming back to its multiplayer sandbox, with a host of iconic levels, themed weapon loadouts and rules to fiddle and muck around with. Of course, there’s only one set that separates agents from 00 agents: Facility, slappers only, no Oddjob.
Sure, there’ve been dozens of technically superior shooters released in the last three decades or so, but none have quite captured the feeling of four mates huddled over a 25in CRT slapping each other silly quite like GoldenEye.
Overcooked 2 (2018)
Those who want to test their culinary mettle in a restaurant after bingeing The Bear might find Overcooked 2 a safer investment. Tasked with serving meals to hungry guests, it’s your job to ascertain what ingredients you need and cook them to perfection.
Except this game makes fine dining seem like frying chips, with thieving rats, impatient customers, pan fires and tectonic-esque shifting kitchen layouts to contend with. Cooks have to multitask, communicate and time their ingredient prep and firing to Heston Blumenthal-levels of precision to score those coveted 3-star ratings. But when you find that perfect orchestral sync with your partner, now you’re cooking with gas.
It Takes Two (2021)
Loved Ant-Man and its miniature worlds turned massive? Dive into It Takes Two, a split-screen co-operative game where a shrunken couple is tasked with navigating the massive reimagined corners of their house, including a toy-themed kids room, DIY-esque shed and weed-infested garden. Its genius is that players need to communicate and work together to navigate the various landscapes, with separate abilities to master, such as flinging nails into woodwork to create climbing points or growing leaves for makeshift platforms. What’s impressive is the sheer level of creativity on display, with colourful levels and puzzles that change themes so often that gameplay never has a chance of feeling stale.
And sure, with the plot centering around a couple heading for divorce, it’s hardly cheery subject material, but when the result is feeling more in sync with your partner, who needs couples counselling?
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)
Most Mario Karts could have made this list, with each featuring thumb-wrecking, sweat-inducing action as drivers negotiate every corner, jump, and obstacle this arcade racer throws at you. But for its peak variety, graphics and fun gameplay, we’re giving this spot to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Its cutesy polygons and twee music may seem innocuous enough to an MK greenhorn, but to really succeed, you need to master every corner, speed boost, shortcut and weapon and still steel yourself for the unexpected. And if you’re in the enviable position of being first, just know that a blue shell is never far from ruining your day. With the addition of the DLC pack, there’s a staggering 96 courses to learn, and while there’s competitive online racing, it really doesn’t get better than witnessing first-hand the ire of your mate after red-shelling them and pipping them to the chequered flag by mere inches.
TimeSplitters 2 (2002)
Arguably one of the best console shooters of all time, with varied levels and a huge array of enemy types to subdue. Several of the team behind GoldenEye and Perfect Dark left Rare to form new company Free Radical Design, so TimeSplitters 2 shares much of its DNA with these legends. It shows too — gameplay and animations are tight and polished, while the characters ooze personality. The guns are also nicely varied and pack a wallop, making split-screen battles heaps of fun.
For those wanting to mix it up, customisation options are aplenty within 16 multiplayer modes, including standard Deathmatch and Capture the Bag and the ability to trade bullets with four players and up to 10 computer bots. If that wasn’t enough, there’s even a map maker mode, offering seemingly infinite replayability.
Ultimate Chicken Horse (2016)
Ultimate Chicken Horse is a genius mishmash of puzzler and platformer, except levels rarely play out the same way twice. Each offers a blank canvas for players to engineer a path to the exit, using chosen gadgets that can either help or hinder fellow players.
Sounds simple, except getting in your way will be the agents of chaos who can sabotage your attempts with bombs, barbed wire, flamethrowers and sticky patches of honey. Make a course too easy, and there’ll be nil points all round, but make a route too difficult, and no one has a chance of winning, so competitors need to co-operate and sabotage in balanced but twisted ways. Perfect for those who just want to watch the world burn.
Gang Beasts (2014)
If you find conjuring hadoukens and hundred-hand slaps a trifle too technical and po-faced, Gang Beasts allows for some wanton yet simple destruction in the guise of humanoid blobs who desire nothing but to pummel each other into oblivion. With a set moves list that often descends into button-mashing chaos, up to four players also have to contend with the hazardous level itself, which can all too easily flip the script on overconfident pugilists, whether an oncoming subway train, jumping shark or collapsing ferris wheel. The ragdoll physics also make proceedings weighty and hilarious, particularly when you’re headbutting unsuspecting foes and punting them off a highrise.
Super Mario Party Jamboree (2024)
The Mario Party games blend boardgame action with a mammoth selection of minigames that test your dexterity, memory and button-bashing. Players roll dice to navigate the digital board and compete in games for coinage. Trade a star for 20 coins, and those with the most stars wins.
That might have you thinking that winning is directly linked to skill, but this can’t be any further from the truth. Enter the endgame Bonus Stars, the game’s true leveller, with stars awarded for the most arbitrary and unpredictable feats. While it’s sure to incur the wrath of genuinely skilled players, it does help ensure games are never one-sided affairs. Jamboree’s new boards and plethora of fresh minigames will have the whole room waggling their Joy-Cons in hilarious fashion, with a set of boardgame mechanics as well as bonuses and penalties for you to rejoice or cry over — standard-issue boardgame fare then, really. And yes, you need to keep Bonus Stars mode activated (it’s the law).
Guitar Hero: World Tour (2008)
First released with the guitar peripheral, a scaled-down version of the Gibson SG, Guitar Hero gave amateur shredders a cursory taste of the rockstar life by mashing the accessory’s quintet of coloured buttons. While the first title allowed gamers to compete against one another on songs, the fourth mainline entry, World Tour, introduced the drum kit and microphone, letting players jam together as a collaborative band.
The series became a billion-dollar franchise and spawned an entire generation of rhythm action games (as well as a wave of less successful peripheral-based games). Moreover, it gave people the feeling of strumming like Hendrix or Harrison without needing to chuck a TV from a hotel window.
Jackbox TV (2014-present)
Not a single title but a compendium series of fun party games, Jackbox keeps things simple by relegating gameplay to people’s smartphones, so there are no complex controls to learn, and players aren’t limited to the number of available controllers. Games have a huge amount of variance too, and while not all are bangers, standouts are Murder Party, where contenders need to escape a murder house with dark challenges and trivia questions, Quiplash, where players need to rack their brains for the funniest retort to various phrases, and Drawful, in which would-be artists doodle and give their best guesses against a host of random prompts. It’s always entertaining and never fails to descend into silliness and childlish giggles from the outset.
Rocket League (2015)
Rocket League’s premise is like a young kid’s dream: what about football, but cars? This head-on collision of two disparate genres cultivated one of the most popular multiplayer games of modern times. Witness a match that lasts a handful of minutes, and you’re somehow convinced it’s a cinch to master — simply guide cars to score more goals than your opponent. But the simple mechanics betray a deep game involving ball physics (or lack thereof) and car boosts, flips and jumps. There’s also Pep Guardiola levels of game awareness required to get good. When do you attack the ball, and when should you play defence by sitting at the net? (I don’t know, genuinely asking here). Local multiplayer always leads to chaotic bouts of fun that’ll have players exclaiming, “Just one more game” until the wee hours.
Broforce (2014)
Ever wondered who would win a fight between Rambo, Ripley, McClane, and Dredd? Broforce lets you pit a whole platoon of action heroes against each other in beautifully destructive, pixel-based skirmishes.
While players can engage in co-op play, taking out terrorists and rescuing fellow “bros” in run-and-gun 2D platforming style, there are deathmatches to sort the mean from the meek, with lasers, dynamite, grenades and a river of bullets to dodge. Each bro also has their signature move set and weapons — Brade has his signature katana, the Brominator can shred with his minigun, and Seth Bro-ndlefly can hover in the air, puking up flesh-dissolving acid on hapless foes.
It’s not a game you can play all night long, but few can resist the call for a few bullet-heavy rounds of Broforce.
Cuphead (2017)
Cuphead marries the 1930s Disney cartoon aesthetic — replete with imperfect celluloid grain — with bullet-hell run-and-gun action. Sadly, you’ll be too busy avoiding dastardly bosses like eerily-populated ghost trains, psychotic one-armed bandits (the gambling variety) and giant hypnotic carrots to enjoy the hand-drawn scenes and gorgeously smooth animations. Each frame is also riddled with projectiles, which you need to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge again. Thankfully, you can call upon another porcelain-noggin-ed partner to at least draw some fire, as you team up to repossess rogue souls to appease the Devil in order to wipe clean your hefty casino debts. Frustrating yet exhilarating in equal measure, this hard as coffin nails shooter is hell on your thumbs, but you’ll keep coming back to take on the next weirdly wonderful boss.
Streets of Rage 4 (2020)
Sega’s original Streets of Rage had an uncanny ability to hoover up all our coins in the arcades of yesteryear, so nostalgic joystick wagglers were psyched to play Streets of Rage 4 without needing to break into a Coinstar.
Gone are the pixelated sprites, replaced with a gorgeous cell-shaded art style featuring bold outlines and comic book-esque dotted backdrops. Joining returning characters Axl and Blaze are a pair of fresh vigilantes, the guitar-toting Cherry and cybernetic-limbed tank Floyd, and all are playable in fun and frenetic four-player local co-op, which can lead to some chaotic on-screen action. And when you’re not fighting over who gets to beat up who, there’s also a deadly arsenal of weapons to share, specific team-up moves to master and the “don’t try this at home” floor chicken to scoff for some health.
Moving Out 2 (2023)
Moving house is one of the most stressful experiences you can endure, so it’s only natural they made a game of it. Featuring colourful levels and a cutesy art style, up to four movers need to transport a house’s goods into their van without so much as a broken saucer. And before you yell “Pivot, PIVOT,” standing in your way are a host of unwelcome hindrances, such as doorways, conveyor belts and unco-operative farm animals, all guaranteed to test the teamwork and communication skills of even the most patient transporters. The physics-based gameplay can also foil your three-star rating: bigger items need two people to move, while lighter items swing around when carried, threatening fragile windows and other delicates. While most levels can be completed in time, the real skill lies in nailing all the challenges and hitting tight time targets, which demands ultimate teamwork and strategy. Safe to say, when Moving Out is done with you, you’ll never look at Rightmove again.
Split Fiction (2025)
Swedish developer Hazelight Studios found its niche in developing superlative co-op games, with A Way Out and It Takes Two under its belt. The talented lot have now churned out their best work yet in Split Fiction, a blend of action-adventure platforming and puzzler that demands pitch-perfect timing and teamwork. You play as Mio and Zoe, two writers invited by a book publisher to trial a simulation machine that maps out their stories and lets them experience them first-hand. When things go awry, the two are pulled into their respective fantasy and sci-fi stories where these strangers need to work together to escape unscathed. That’s no small feat, when the adversaries you face include an armoured jetpack fiend wielding a hammer, massive snow tiger and a giant rock dragon.
Released to universal acclaim, Split Fiction is an exhilarating thrill ride that weaves a huge toybox of fun mechanics into its gameplay, with no elements outstaying their welcome in this fast-paced co-op adventure.
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (2015)
Nostalgic for those ’90s action movies involving bomb disposal experts sweating over whether to cut the red or blue wire? Thankfully, you can replicate those sweat and stress-inducing moments of defusing explosives in your own home.
One player controls the wirecutter and needs to describe the bomb’s features, while their partner(s) need to look up a physical manual to find out how to disarm its multiple components. One part might necessitate holding a button until the timer displays a specific number, or there’ll be specific code phrases to follow and press, with similar words to confound you — best get brushing up on your “there, their and they’res.”
Naturally, the bomb’s components are much more complex and numerous the further you progress.
Cool heads and clear communication prevail in this unique game, where if there’s one mistake too many, you’re all going out with a bang.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)
Utterly joyous in that inimitable Nintendo way, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a side-scrolling platformer with bags of charm and a gazillion hidden secrets to unearth. The Mario gang are on their jollies to the Flower Kingdom, when Bowser shows up to pilfer the Wonder Flower and the Kingdom’s castle, leaving its inhabitants behind bars.
What’s new with Wonder is the addition of new power-ups and the Wonder Flower, which kicks off weird and wonderful reality-bending effects. It’s as creative as ever and proves lots of chaotic fun in multiplayer. Plus, some of the playable characters are impervious to damage, making them suitable for smaller kids and minimising tears and tantrums. Some levels can also be downright devious, such as a stampede level where you need to time your jumps to perfection as you ride aloft a herd of bovines. And the joy you get from powering up to a massive elephant is intoxicating as you stomp through the landscape, smashing bricks and enemies to dust.
Portal 2 (2011)
The Portal games are a cerebral experience that demands you throw your knowledge of physics out the airlock and embrace the game’s hyper-real version that would have Isaac Newton choking on his Granny Smith.
Players assume the controls of Atlas and P-Body, two adorable robots designed by psychotic AI mastermind GLaDOS, to test the hazardous environments of the Aperture Science Laboratory. They must use their smarts and portal guns to navigate the environment, chockful of stuff that wants to kill them, like laser grids and turrets. One look at the levels, and you’ll be scratching your heads for minutes until you work the problem by testing what you can and can’t do. Portals help you reach unassailable heights, while falling through portals lets you and other objects gather velocity, letting you manipulate the environment, and suddenly, you’re thinking like the game wants you to, and claiming mastery of some of its later puzzles yields ultimate gratification.
The Quarry (2022)
While technically not a multiplayer title in the traditional sense, The Quarry features a mode where players can swap a single controller as they play various teenage counsellors caught in a monster conspiracy that’s taken hold of a summer camp getaway. When one of the teens sabotages their ride home for one more night of fun and frolics, their lives are suddenly put in grave danger.
Naturally, this choice-based game features plenty of consequences (and plenty of unfair ones too) and endings, so engineering events so that everyone survives the night is extremely tough. Still, whether witnessing some hapless characters meeting a grisly end or choosing as a group what risky action to take, The Quarry is immensely fun, particularly with an audience. It also has a great cast, with talent courtesy of Justice Smith, Brenda Song, Lance Henriksen and David Arquette.
Rayman Legends (2013)
When there’s the dungaree-wearing plumber and the Blue Blur about, Rayman might seem like second (or even third) fiddle, but this limbless wonder blew us away in Legends. Its varied levels are truly gorgeous and feature epic layers of depth, while its handpainted styles look alive with detail and nuance — every screengrab looks like it belongs in the Tate.
Its leftfield action and quirky humour also never misses. With many levels seemingly involving a slog from A to B, you find that Rayman hides a depth of hidden gameplay mechanics that keep things fresh. How about a burning tower escape set to the beats of Black Betty? Or riding snakes to a mariachi rendition of Eye of the Tiger? And of course, four players can join in the action, making for thrilling and hilarious set pieces. Whether flying solo or multiplayer, don’t sleep on one of the best platformers around.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013)
Less said about that other ill-fated Avengers game, but if you want the definite Marvel team-up experience, you want it in brick form. You can play as all the heroes you love and loads more you likely haven’t heard of, with more than 150 on the roster to choose from. Each one features signature abilities and powers to unlock various sections to progress. You’ll battle your way through Marvel’s gallery of villains while exploring favourite Avengers haunts like Manhattan, Asgard, or the SHIELD Helicarrier.
Naturally, as it’s a Lego game, the tactile nature of destroying and rebuilding bricks is as tactile as ever, while hoovering up gold pieces is always satisfying. In true team-up fashion, there’s a 2-player splitscreen mode, with a massive treasure trove of collectibles and missions to complete, and that roster ensures that no-one’s fighting over who gets to play as Hulk. And of course, it features missions given by the late, great true believer Stan Lee himself. A must for any Marvel fan.
Wii Sports (2006)
One of the best-selling games of all time, Wii Sports enraptured everyone with its motion control gameplay and introduced many who had never picked up a controller before. Sure, its successors Wii Sports Resort and Switch Sports might offer enhanced graphics and more accurate motion controls, but for our money, Nintendo absolutely nailed the mechanics and fun of its five featured sports: boxing, bowling, tennis, golf, and baseball. The way your arms are always caning after a furious combo in boxing. That satisfaction of making it to the green in one swing in golf. The tactile collapse of pins when you clinch that perfect strike in bowling. It not only brought different generations together to game, a testament to its ease of playability, but Wii Sports was responsible for so many joyous multiplayer memories for party nights and hangouts to come. P.S. RIP to all the TVs with unsecured Wiimotes stuck in them.
Untitled Goose Game (2019)
This charming game has you playing the un-titular feathered friends who orchestrate a campaign of terror against a sleepy British village by stealing keys, locking people in pens, and throwing radios in the river. Your to-do list comprises a litany of dastardly deeds, which mainly revolve around stealth and puzzle solving. With no opposable thumbs to speak of, you need to sneak around, drag around objects, create diversions and unleash mayhem. And yes, there’s a dedicated honk button. With a friend, the deviousness is double-fold, as one draws attention, while a beaked partner does the raiding. It’s ultimately a short-lived caper, but until then, terrorising those poor villagers has never been so much fun. Crime might not pay, but fowl play sure does.
Pro Evolution Soccer 17 (2016)
It feels like there are enough football games to gift a different one to every denizen of a small country, but despite a plethora of pretenders, we likely reached the zenith with PES 17, particularly as the franchise was rebranded to the free-to-play but buggy eFootball series.
PES 17 excelled at its gameplay, finally releasing itself from the icy shadow of FIFA after some years left in the cold. The tactical options were more fleshed out, while the player heft and animations just felt spot on. On the couch, it made for masterful multiplayer matches, and delivering a 35-yard screamer in the top corner made for some epic sofa-bound celebrations.
Developer Konami went some way to get licensees onboard, with the likes of Barcelona and Liverpool signed up. The Nou Camp and the likes of Messi et al were captured in astonishing detail here. For the others, it doesn’t take long to get used to some interchanged vowels. This is a beast of a beautiful game, just not in name.
Matt Ng
