Four controllers, one couch, a night that gets out of hand: four-player gaming is a religion. This Top 50 gathers the best retro titles of the multitap era — party games, races, sports and group brawls. RomWize ranks them by its re-evaluated scores and specifies each one's versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"An arcade racer where brushing danger fills your boost and spectacular pileups are part of the show, fought over in split-screen. The competition bets on risk: who'll dare hold the opponent's lane at full speed to scrape a few seconds? Direct and heady, it turns every crash into a laugh and every tight finish into trash talk, perfect for quick challenges among friends."
"Built for two, this spectacular survival game blooms in co-op, where you share ammo and healing while juggling the inventory on the fly. Mutual aid is constant: covering each other back to back against the hordes tightens the bond and forces decisions under pressure. Playable in local split-screen, it avoids server dependence and stays a great shared thrill to restart without hesitation."
"An off-road race of joyful chaos, where mismatched vehicles fight over muddy tracks strewn with risky shortcuts and spectacular pile-ups. The competition blends aggressive driving and route choice, the right lane at the right moment able to flip everything. The original online is no longer guaranteed, but local split-screen keeps its raw energy and hilarious crashes to restart endlessly."
"Loot pillaging and unhinged gunplay marry here in four-player co-op where everyone cultivates their class and a wild arsenal. Mutual aid dominates, but the race for legendary guns breeds a teasing one-upmanship full of twists. Playable two-player in local split-screen, it suits express sessions as well as long campaigns, always with savage humor."
"A more ambitious sequel to the galactic battlefield, widening the fronts, adding heroes and even space dogfights to wage in multiplayer. The competition gains variety: alternating infantry, fighter piloting and objective capture opens rich strategies and heady reversals. Spectacular and generous, it offers shared battles of wild scope where coordination and panache combine."
"A loot-driven hack-and-slash built for four-player co-op, playable locally on one screen, which makes it a precious rarity in the genre. Mutual aid guides the dungeons, but the hunt for legendary items fuels a joyful one-upmanship where everyone compares finds. Readable, generous and cathartic, it restarts with the family for sessions where you progress together without ever drowning in complexity."
"A race of miniature radio-controlled cars that turns kitchens and living rooms into circuits strewn with traps and offensive power-ups. The competition blends precise driving with timely dirty tricks, each pickup able to revive the last-placed or topple the leader. Cheerful and accessible, it suits four-player games where you laugh as much at the spins as at well-aimed paybacks."
"A zany first-person shooter whose split-screen multiplayer overflows with wacky modes, bots and options to fiddle with for four. Joyful chaos rules: goofy weapons, improbable characters and vertical arenas flip matches in an instant. Competition and laughter go hand in hand, and the map editor endlessly extends the urge to restart for fresh madness."
"A first-person shooter with an inventive arsenal, whose multiplayer modes bet on crowded firefights and a strong collective sense. The competition rewards mastery of exotic weapons and team coordination, while a co-op strand reinforces camaraderie. Lacking split-screen for online and reliant on uncertain servers, it nonetheless keeps a strong identity and a snappy shooting joy."
"Mixing Puyo chains and Tetris lines into a single duel makes for fights of frantic speed. The competition is twitchy, full of lightning reversals where one well-built combo flips the match in a handful of seconds. The skill gap can quickly dishearten a newcomer facing a veteran, but between players of similar level the rivalry stays electric and rematches keep stacking up on their own."
