An Example of GOOD Teamwork in Multiplayer

Cooperative Multiplayer.

The more I look at videos of New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii, The more dissapointted I become when seeing it's co-op. Many say that game did not do the cooperation right. The teamwork is horrible.

So, what games shows a good example of teamwork?

Well, I did find one vid. A "No Miss Clear" Co-op of Captain Commando.

\\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EacW4Cp5t8c \\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8yZZ80mOYk&feature=related \\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNvgEhl1Ci4&feature=related

OFF-TOPIC: So, is there a way to make a "Single-Space Enter" list-like way of text here?

edited 12th Dec '10 2:46:39 PM by asiacatdogblue

Beat 'Em Ups are pretty good with teamwork, especially if friendly fire is off (or doesn't exist).

Scott Pilgrim in particular. One of the characters has a heal/status buff that affects all teammates, and everyone can attempt to revive their friends when one is at 0 health (There's a 9 second countdown before actual death).

Though apparantly people in Japan do play NSMBW the way it was intended.

Tactical Shooters, such as Operation Flashpoint, ARMA and Rainbow Six (especially the pre-Vegas titles), are difficult enough to drive away players who are less, er, inclined to use teamwork. Those games reward cooperation.

edited 12th Dec '10 11:28:30 AM by Nimitz

@ OFF-TOPIC:

You can use asterisks to create a list. An asterisk before each item.

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I expect First Person Shooters to use teamwork. And Friendly Fire was a major bitch in Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage.

You can use asterisks to create a list. An asterisk before each item.

Is that... the only way?

edited 12th Dec '10 11:59:04 AM by asiacatdogblue

Use double reverse backslashes
Okay, now it won't even let me show them. Freaking formatting difficulties.

Remember, reverse backslashes, not these ones://

edited 12th Dec '10 2:07:04 PM by RadicalTaoist

The platforming Mario games were never built around co-op as far as I know (besides Mario Bros., and teamwork there was still optional). Most didn't even have multiplayer at all. Those which did have multiplayer essentially have 2 people playing singleplayer at the same time on the same screen.

Bad teamwork or lack of incentives for teamwork are characteristic of the series.

That would explain why Mario Platformers are better as Single-Player Experiences.

And it STILL makes me queston the point of keeping Green L/Luigi.

Weegee was the player 2 character for the very first Mario Bros., in which the option for teamwork existed. I guess he was included in subsequent games because he was already 'there'.

...

Am I the only one who played New Super Mario Bros Wii cooperatively?

I grew up with two other brothers and we would always use teamwork when playing multiplayer games (to the point where I preferred multiplayer games to single-player ones for a long while). Even in games like Mario Kart (back when they allowed more than one player to play the Grand Prix) and Super Smash Bros we'd still cooperate.

Maybe I just lack natural competitiveness. I do agree that NSMBW (as well as Four Swords Adventures, which is somewhat similar in multiplayer elements) doesn't really give any boon towards working together though.

As for co-op vids on Youtube, this user had a bunch of co-op videos uploaded (most of them are from arcade beat-em-ups though), so there's that.

edited 12th Dec '10 3:08:20 PM by Customer

I've been tring to find that impressive co-op speedrun of Contra III, but no luck so far. Anybody saw that one?

Most older games tend to reward both singleplayer and multiplayer equally, i.e. they reward neither. Many were actually designed around singleplayer in the first place and then given the option to have someone else play the same thing simultaneously. That means there's often only enough powerups for one player unless some give and take occurs. On the other hand, levels designed around multiplayer with the option to play alone tended to be incredibly easy as there was twice the number of powerups.

It's mostly the newer games which have the technology/ developer effort to balance singleplayer and multiplayer separately. Not saying there weren't any older games with this feature but they were rare enough that some became classics for it alone.

Despite my dislike for real time tactics, World in Conflict is all about its strong multiplayer. People have to work together closely.

Left 4 Dead also thrives on teamwork. You have to watch your fellow players' backs constantly and stick together. Even if you are a good shot there are moments where you WILL die for bad teamwork.

Just about any decently balanced RTS I can think of would count as a good team game, IMO. Starcraft 2, for instance, becomes a totally different animal when players are given free reign to pursue a certain avenue recklessly, knowing that a friend is able to shore up their shortcomings, especially when shared unit control is on.

Super Mario Bros Wii does teamwork fine. I got more than a few difficult coins and secret entrances through good cooperation with an understanding friend. Picking him up and throwing him in a ditch was more fun though.

Donkey Kong Country Returns did it well also. Player 1 is still more "dominant" but Player 2 gets a few advantages and you can't really interfere with each other outside of making certain platforms crumble before the other gets to it.

You will lose very quickly in Team Fortress 2 if you don't work with your team. Every team member is specialized to the point of not being able to survive without others (well, except maybe the Soldier).

What about Battlefield: Bad Company 2? The Rush mode comes to mind, since the attacking side needs to work together to destroy the objectives without losing all of their lives, and the defending side needs to work together to deplete all of the attacking sides lives, but still keeping themselves alive once the attacking side rolls up in tanks.

I've actually played New Super Mario Bros. Wii co-op with my cousin, and we actually managed to help a lot more than we hindered each other. The issue is that you and your teammates actually have to coordinate with each other. Most people I've seen just have everyone each do their own thing and hope it somehow works out. And when that inevitably ends in failure, they proceed to repeat the exact same method over and over and hope for different results. Kind of like Congress.

I also played through the game first on a dedicated, personal single-player file, and I noticed that several of the Star Coins were easier to get in multiplayer (the second time around for me, on my cousin's file) if you can use the A button to bubble yourself strategically. Namely, there are several places where Star Coins are in a dangerous spot. In single-player, you have to run in, snatch it, and get back out, and if you screw up, you had to return to the last checkpoint. In multiplayer, you can have one player rush to the coin while the rest stay behind and wait, then have the courageous volunteer bubble themselves at the first sign of danger or upon nabbing the Star Coin. If you want, take turns with each failure. This is especially useful for those Star Coins which are found floating above a bottomless pit, since you don't have to worry about falling in as long as you bubble yourself in time. But again, the problem I usually see is that everyone tries to go for the Star Coin at the exact same time, inevitably resulting in accidents like people crashing into each other in mid-air and screwing up each others' jumps.

edited 14th Dec '10 1:58:44 PM by Poochy.EXE

Team...work? What is this "team work" thing?

NSMBW seems to be built less around teamwork, and more around occasional teamwork and hopefully-not-too-excessive amounts of being dicks to each other the rest of the time. It can be played quite effectively with actual teamwork though, it's just people tend not to because it's not necessary.

edited 14th Dec '10 9:17:59 PM by Pykrete

My squad in Gears Of War. Mostly because if you don't have a good squad in Gears against someone who does you're probably going the ground into pulp. Literally. But yeah, rescue and support, coordinated attacks, playing to strengths, you name it. Good times.

The best case of teamwork I've seen so far was actually in Halo. Yeah... Halo.