History Main / AsymmetricMultiplayer

* In ''VideoGame/{{Allegiance}}'', one player on each team is the commander. The commander gives orders to computer-controlled miners and building vessels while also giving instructions to players, directing them on where to go and who to attack. They are also the only player that can give authorization to other players to pilot more powerful vessels such as bombers.

* ''VideoGame/LastYear'': Five players take the role of classmates trapped in a nightmare with the sixth player, who controls three Fiends per match. The students must complete objectives to escape while the Fiend must stop them. The students have a variety of gadgets and an advantage in numbers, while the Killer can spawn and de-spawn out of sight of the students, set up traps, and launch OneHitKill ambushes on unsuspecting victims.

Creator/{{Nintendo}} popularized the term with their UsefulNotes/WiiU console, as a way to describe how one player could play the game using the touchscreen-equipped [=GamePad=] controller, while others play on the TV, and the two groups have very different goals and even game mechanics. An example is ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', where players who use traditional controllers control characters who run and jump on the TV, while the [=GamePad=] player can interact with the environment by messing with enemies, placing blocks in mid-air, and doing other things that affect the TV players' experience.

* ''Franchise/GIJoe: Cobra Strike'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} was similar in multiplayer. One player controlled a giant mechanical cobra that dripped venom from its fangs and could fire a laser beam to attack Joe troopers, while the other player controlled a shield that they could use to block the venom and lasers, and fire missiles to try to destroy the cobra.
* Possibly [[OlderThanTheNES one of the oldest examples]], ''VideoGame/{{Nautilus}}'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers was a two-player game in which one player controlled a submarine and had to destroy underwater buildings, while the other controlled a ship which dropped mines and depth charges and attempted to repair the buildings, but was unable to go underwater. (Fun trivia fact: according to Wikipedia, it's also the very first SplitScreen game in existence!)

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' has a co-op mode where one player controls Link and the other uses a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance connected to the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] to provide support (potions, bombs, etc.) with the Tingle Tuner in-game item. (This doesn't apply to the Wii U remake - ironic in light of the Wii U [=GamePad=] that can replicate the GBA functionality - instead having been replaced with Miiverse message sharing in the form of the Tingle Bottle.)

* The UsefulNotes/WiiU version of ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed]]'' has two exclusive modes: Banana Heist, where one person controls [[VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall Aiai]] in a ball while everyone else races normally, and Aiai must take bananas from them; and Ninja Tag, where one person controls [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Joe Musashi]] and runs into the other players. In both modes, all of the other players need to defend themselves.

* A UsefulNotes/GameBoy game for ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' had a two-player mode where the second player was the Soviet commander hunting the titular submarine, and thus controlled all the enemy forces one would find on a typical level of the game.

* VideoGame/{{DONTLOOKAWAY}} pits up to four players controlling ordinary humans against a single player as the Entity, a demonic spirit that can possess [[MurderousMannequin mannequins]].