Topic: Retro co-op suggestions?

Been playing co-op games with my 6 year old son the past few months and am looking for suggestions. Difficult part is that I’m looking for non-violent and non-competitive games. He loved Unravel 2 on switch, has also enjoyed Dark Chambers on Atari 2600 and Shift Happens on switch. Console restrictions are pretty much anything that can be emulated on a hacked Genesis mini up through N64 and PS1. And switch.

@HoyeBoye Toejam & Earl is a good non-competitive game on the Genesis. The extent of the violence in the game is throwing tomatoes at enemies on occasion, and the enemy attacks on you which isn't much. They pop like balloons instead of dying. It may not suit your criteria or your taste, but it's worth a look if you are not familiar with it.

Oooh. I totally missed this game growing up. I’ll give it a go!

Bubble Bobble.

If you don't mind the odd bit of cartoon violence, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat em up games are good fun too.

I would recommend Wiz N' Liz on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
A completely non-violent co-op game with a fun twist where you're saving bunnies and collect letters with a time limit.
You can also find vegetables to create temporary upgrades for your characters.

A really underrated game.

@dmcc0 Great picks! And I’m going to keep the TMNT beat em ups in reserve. He joined me once when I was playing the Sailor Moon beat em up and he got real amped up. Gotta use those strategically.
@sarato I’m shocked at how Wiz n Liz sucked me in. I decided to test it out after work and ended up getting dinner to the table late.

@HoyeBoye World of Illusion(Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck) is a two player platformer on the Genesis that people seem to like. Great Circus Mystery(Mickey and Minnie) is another platformer on both Genesis and SNES and is two players. They might meet your criteria as well.

@HoyeBoye It's a very addicting game. The soundtrack is also made by Matt Furniss, which to me is a huge plus.

@sdelfin Toejam and Earl was fantastic! We rolled credits on it last night after a few nights of save scumming. This game has so many elements of Angband. The mystery/randomized present contents, multiple levels and you can fall back down to lower levels, randomized levels. Such a great experience.

@HoyeBoye Really glad to hear the game ended up being such a hit for you. I have always loved the game, and it was one of my earliest Genesis games after seeing it in TV commercials. The concept is not for everyone, but I have recommended it before with good results. I played it with a friend a while back and it was a hit then too. There are a few sequels that might be worth a look. The fourth one from a few years ago seems most similar to the first. I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Thanks for following up and letting me know you liked so much.

I have a 5 year old daughter! She's really into Sonic characters, so we played Mania with her playing as second-player Tails or Knuckles. The problem was, it was a bit frustrating to get left behind so often, but more recently we started Superstars and she likes it much more.

We haven't gone very retro yet because she's learning how to play and I don't want to see her frustrated, but we played the Origins versions of MD Sonic games, and NES Chip and Dale in the Disney Afternoon Collection. I'd recommend that one, it's easy for NES standards, beautiful and fantastic music!

Chip and Dale is a great suggestion! We have that same problem with Sonic games; Tails always gets left behind. The other problem is that my 6 year old always wants to be Knuckles. Does Superstars handle co-op better than the older games?

Over the last 2 months, he’s been wanting to play Pikmin but the only co-op Pikmin is 3 and there’s problems balancing 3 captains with him in levels designed to use 3 captains. Thankfully, there’s a multiplayer mod for Pikmin 2 that is his new favorite (and mine, too!).

Superstars zooms out when players separate, the camera follows the one who goes first, not only the player one, and when someone is left behind they can return immediately with the press of a button. Also, players can choose any of the four characters, so your son could always be Knuckles if he wants! The game itself feels a bit bare-bones and I wouldn't call it my favorite, but she loves it!

Writing down everyone's suggestions here, for our future sessions 🙂

@iacobus_magnus Chip and Dale is a cracker isnt it

Going to resurrect this topic with a surprisingly successful co-op: Trials of Mana from the Mana Collection on Switch. We got pretty far but had to stop when the walkthrough we were using ended suddenly and we had no clue where to go. We were struggling prior to that because we accidentally chose two warriors and a rogue, making healing only available through items. We are going to try Secret of Mana in 3-player mode so my 10yo daughter can join.

@HoyeBoye Happy to read you again, and thanks again for the suggestions. We mostly play platformers but I'd like to introduce new genres, and the Collection is on sale right now so the timing of your post is perfect!

It's been one year since my last post and my daughter is now 6, she's gotten much better at platforming. We picked up Super Mario Wonder for Christmas and it's become her new obsession. It helps that the game is absolutely terrific, it could very well be the best 2D Mario and it's not an exaggeration... And it's full of accessibility options that aren't hidden away in a menu, they are integral to the gameplay and there's no penalty for using them, it's lovely.

On the retro front, I subjected her to retro gaming on original hardware, and she enjoyed it! She's not bothered by having to start the game from the beginning every time. Obviously, I played it safe and picked Sonic 2

@iacobus_magnus - You’re recommendation knocked me off the fence on Mario Wonder. Just ordered a physical copy, which is on sale! Now I just have to wait for it to arrive. I’m so glad to hear the accessibility is baked in so well. My 10yo daughter doesn’t have great hand/eye coordination which makes games harder for her. She actually asked the other day if we could play “the chicken game” which is Freeway on Atari 2600. It’s an easier version of Frogger in that you can only run forwards and backwards, no side to side.

Did your daughter have any problems holding the Sega controller? Watching my 7yo hold it looks so uncomfortable with his short little thumbs.

@HoyeBoye I hope you enjoy Mario, I was certainly surprised by the amount on effort that went into making it an enjoyable game for everyone. There are characters who take no damage, players can ride another player's Yoshi to skip tricky sections, the badges that you can change at will to give you different advantages depending on the level (e.g. one to bounce off pits for levels full of them). And there is no penalty as I said, no "shame" marks for having played the level with an invincible character or a badge, harder levels are mostly optional, it's up to you and the amount of challenge you want to have.

Megadrive controllers are indeed huge, I doubt she would be able to reach A holding the controller from the sides... Later I got her a 6-button and it's much better.

@iacobus_magnus - That sounds wonderful! 7yo son and I played Bonk 3 yesterday, a 2-player co-op platformer for TG16. We had fun and it's very cute. You can grow huge (like take up 1/4 of the screen), tiny, and you turn into a crab if things crush you. Also use your teeth to climb walls and spin on cylindrical platforms. I wish I had read the manual before playing because we did have some difficulties. Took a while to figure out both Bonks had to stand exactly together over a pipe to get sucked down. Also hit a point in the 3rd level where he just couldn't do the platforming and the screen wasn't big enough for me to play him through it. You can carry your partner on your head, but not while climbing. We thought that if one player falls off the screen, the other player has to go back to get them, but I read the manual this morning and you can hit select to warp next to the on-screen player. So maybe it's not so bad as long as you read the manual: http://www.videogameden.com/hucard/extra/pk3_us.pdf

Kirby: Star Allies, Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Kirby and the Forgotten Land are EASILY the best accessible multiplayer games on Switch IMO. Star Allies especially is the biggest winner in this regard IMO since the second player has more freedom with what they can be, AND the game reaches Gunstar Heroes/Metal Slug levels of insane ammounts of action when playing with another player, only with non of the violence and gore of the latter! There are a ton of really good non-competitive arcade games too, The Simpsons is my favorite since on top of being very colorful and creative visually, it ENCOURAGES you to work alongside and help your other players, rather than socking them in the face like Double Dragon, to the point you can do fun team-up attacks by having your characters stand next to eachother for a few seconds!