Let's Talk About Asymmetrical Multiplayer
This may be one of my favorite features that can be included in a game. There's nothing more fun than playing games with people where each of you have different tools, especially if you are using those tools to destroy each other. This also leads to a lot of possibilities for power trips and unique balancing design.
I define asymmetrical multiplayer as any multiplayer mode that makes people play the game functionally different from each other. I try to focus on modes that don't balance the scales evenly between players, rather giving a smaller group way more power and forcing the others to retaliate, but really any multiplayer mode that has roles that behave wildly differently could be included.
While I think I should only include modes that I have played, feel free to suggest some modes so I can play those too.
I define asymmetrical multiplayer as any multiplayer mode that makes people play the game functionally different from each other. I try to focus on modes that don't balance the scales evenly between players, rather giving a smaller group way more power and forcing the others to retaliate, but really any multiplayer mode that has roles that behave wildly differently could be included.
While I think I should only include modes that I have played, feel free to suggest some modes so I can play those too.
11 Games
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Perfection, emblazoned and calcified into a golden effigy that eats pellets and ghosts.
If you're a big enough loser to have a GameBoy Advance with a link cable and three GameCube controllers, you too can experience pure bliss as three people play as ghosts while one person goes into their lonely little corner to play as Pac-Man on the GBA. If a ghost kills Pac-Man, they get to be Pac-Man, and the cycle continues until there is a winner. As long as you're ok with your controller wires forming a double fisherman's knot as you switch the GBA around over 400 times, you will have such a smooth experience playing this game.
I think something like this can be universally successful if the experience is so fluid and enjoyable that you can relax and just chill out while playing. This game can hop back and forth between calling out positions to your teammates to strategize crunch maneuvers, to talking about your days and discussing life while booling around as spectral beings. Sometimes you may even have a brief intermission to eat some Domino's while the 3-second music loop that plays in the player-switch screen continues for way longer than it should. Either way, you just kind of feel like this is where you should be right now.
Need I mention the special guest, Mr. Mario Mario himself, who orders you to eat fruit that appears and basically serves as this game's commentator. I don't know why he's here but he won't leave no matter how many times I ask.
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Perfection, emblazoned and calcified into a golden effigy that eats pellets and ghosts.
If you're a big enough loser to have a GameBoy Advance with a link cable and three GameCube controllers, you too can experience pure bliss as three people play as ghosts while one person goes into their lonely little corner to play as Pac-Man on the GBA. If a ghost kills Pac-Man, they get to be Pac-Man, and the cycle continues until there is a winner. As long as you're ok with your controller wires forming a double fisherman's knot as you switch the GBA around over 400 times, you will have such a smooth experience playing this game.
I think something like this can be universally successful if the experience is so fluid and enjoyable that you can relax and just chill out while playing. This game can hop back and forth between calling out positions to your teammates to strategize crunch maneuvers, to talking about your days and discussing life while booling around as spectral beings. Sometimes you may even have a brief intermission to eat some Domino's while the 3-second music loop that plays in the player-switch screen continues for way longer than it should. Either way, you just kind of feel like this is where you should be right now.
Need I mention the special guest, Mr. Mario Mario himself, who orders you to eat fruit that appears and basically serves as this game's commentator. I don't know why he's here but he won't leave no matter how many times I ask.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Can one game sell an awful console? No, absolutely not. Did Nintendo Land get close? I would say so.
The Versus Multiplayer modes are so well designed that you could package a version of this game with just those three and it would still be worth sixty dollars. Perfectly balanced in all areas, leaving every player involved sweating. There's also a ton of variance in the roles, where the person with the Gamepad could either be the pursuer in the Animal Crossing and Luigi's Mansion games, or the pursued in the Mario Chase game.
They're just expertly designed, leaving so much room for players to dodge out of the way when attacked by either the one or the three, and even though the Luigi's Mansion game teeters on the scale in favor of the one, it makes up for it by being a really funny jumpscare game that makes people piss themselves when they get caught.
I didn't even talk about the co-op asymmetric multiplayer games, imagine if I did though.
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Can one game sell an awful console? No, absolutely not. Did Nintendo Land get close? I would say so.
The Versus Multiplayer modes are so well designed that you could package a version of this game with just those three and it would still be worth sixty dollars. Perfectly balanced in all areas, leaving every player involved sweating. There's also a ton of variance in the roles, where the person with the Gamepad could either be the pursuer in the Animal Crossing and Luigi's Mansion games, or the pursued in the Mario Chase game.
They're just expertly designed, leaving so much room for players to dodge out of the way when attacked by either the one or the three, and even though the Luigi's Mansion game teeters on the scale in favor of the one, it makes up for it by being a really funny jumpscare game that makes people piss themselves when they get caught.
I didn't even talk about the co-op asymmetric multiplayer games, imagine if I did though.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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I always love coming up with increasingly hellish ways for people to play this game. It started with having the one player defusing the bomb get shot with nerf guns when it blows up. Nerf guns evolved to water balloons which evolved into shock collars. I think in 2024 I'm going to suggest that if the bomb blows up, the defuser just gets executed.
Thankfully, no one has ever indulged me in my insanity, so this game can continue to be some of the most fun multiplayer you could ever have. I've never seen asymmetric multiplayer quite as asymmetric as this, so-much-so that most of the players aren't even facing a screen. The experience is so daunting at first but once everyone is assigned their respective pages you become the bomb squad as you call out commands to each other, one person decodes passwords for three minutes, and everyone loses their shit trying to find the needy knobs page. It's so much fun assembling a team of people and training them from imbeciles who couldn't defuse a potato, to expert wire snippers who can read morse code better than their native language.
I was always deemed the complicated wires guy, and I took that role with pride because their is so much joy in being able to read a four-way Venn Diagram.
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I always love coming up with increasingly hellish ways for people to play this game. It started with having the one player defusing the bomb get shot with nerf guns when it blows up. Nerf guns evolved to water balloons which evolved into shock collars. I think in 2024 I'm going to suggest that if the bomb blows up, the defuser just gets executed.
Thankfully, no one has ever indulged me in my insanity, so this game can continue to be some of the most fun multiplayer you could ever have. I've never seen asymmetric multiplayer quite as asymmetric as this, so-much-so that most of the players aren't even facing a screen. The experience is so daunting at first but once everyone is assigned their respective pages you become the bomb squad as you call out commands to each other, one person decodes passwords for three minutes, and everyone loses their shit trying to find the needy knobs page. It's so much fun assembling a team of people and training them from imbeciles who couldn't defuse a potato, to expert wire snippers who can read morse code better than their native language.
I was always deemed the complicated wires guy, and I took that role with pride because their is so much joy in being able to read a four-way Venn Diagram.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆
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I'm including DS as the poster child here, but this will represent all 1 vs. 3 minigames across every single Mario Party.
In an already hectic franchise, introducing minigames which throw the balance of power wildly out of control creates such a wonderful air of carnage that fits nicely with the rest of the experience. Nothing helps infuse more rage in people than finding a target to take it all out on, and nothing triggers someone's survival instincts faster than being encroached upon by three furious Mario Party players, so it's a symbiotic relationship.
I love how unique these games are (Fast Food Frenzy, Spotlight Swim, Look Away, just to name a few), but even more than that, I love how horribly unbalanced some of them are. This would be egregious if it applied to more than 30% of the games, but since it's a smaller margin, I gain so much pleasure from being the one player in Heat Stroke and winning the game less than a femtosecond before it even began.
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I'm including DS as the poster child here, but this will represent all 1 vs. 3 minigames across every single Mario Party.
In an already hectic franchise, introducing minigames which throw the balance of power wildly out of control creates such a wonderful air of carnage that fits nicely with the rest of the experience. Nothing helps infuse more rage in people than finding a target to take it all out on, and nothing triggers someone's survival instincts faster than being encroached upon by three furious Mario Party players, so it's a symbiotic relationship.
I love how unique these games are (Fast Food Frenzy, Spotlight Swim, Look Away, just to name a few), but even more than that, I love how horribly unbalanced some of them are. This would be egregious if it applied to more than 30% of the games, but since it's a smaller margin, I gain so much pleasure from being the one player in Heat Stroke and winning the game less than a femtosecond before it even began.
5
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆
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This was an amazing idea. Let's have a top-down dungeon crawler where one person is a warrior, and the other three players are enemies. Then, when an enemy kills the player, they BECOME the player. Ingenious truly.
You have so many enemy types to play around with, and they have these upgrade trees where you can continue to become stronger and gain more tools to turn the one player inside out. It's so much fun to try and get creative as to how you murder the living player, and it's also a race against your other two monster compatriots as you see who can spill more blood the fastest and claim that crucial last hit.
But it all comes together in the last section, where a boss fight occurs involving all three players working together by possessing three separate appendages. This unlikely team up turns into such a heated fight, and while this entire last section is heavily sided for the one player to win, the creativity behind it sells the entire mode on its own.
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This was an amazing idea. Let's have a top-down dungeon crawler where one person is a warrior, and the other three players are enemies. Then, when an enemy kills the player, they BECOME the player. Ingenious truly.
You have so many enemy types to play around with, and they have these upgrade trees where you can continue to become stronger and gain more tools to turn the one player inside out. It's so much fun to try and get creative as to how you murder the living player, and it's also a race against your other two monster compatriots as you see who can spill more blood the fastest and claim that crucial last hit.
But it all comes together in the last section, where a boss fight occurs involving all three players working together by possessing three separate appendages. This unlikely team up turns into such a heated fight, and while this entire last section is heavily sided for the one player to win, the creativity behind it sells the entire mode on its own.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
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This will only be talking about Sketch and Fruit, because as much as I want to educate all of you invalids as to why the Fronk game is the best piece of interactive media ever made, that sadly is not asymmetric at all.
These two funny little distractions are actually genius ways to use the WiiU gamepad for asymmetric fun. Being able to sneak around like a little rat in Fruit is so much fun, especially as you watch your friends slowly lose their minds as they accuse random people of robbery while you run away with the goods. While we've gotten games similar to Sketch in many different forms, it works so well here, allowing an unprepared artist to be screamed at by three panicked contestants trying to guess a prompt based off of your shitty stick figure drawings.
Lots of fun to be had, and more than anything, lots of noise to be made, and there's no fun in the world that's better than chaotic fun.
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This will only be talking about Sketch and Fruit, because as much as I want to educate all of you invalids as to why the Fronk game is the best piece of interactive media ever made, that sadly is not asymmetric at all.
These two funny little distractions are actually genius ways to use the WiiU gamepad for asymmetric fun. Being able to sneak around like a little rat in Fruit is so much fun, especially as you watch your friends slowly lose their minds as they accuse random people of robbery while you run away with the goods. While we've gotten games similar to Sketch in many different forms, it works so well here, allowing an unprepared artist to be screamed at by three panicked contestants trying to guess a prompt based off of your shitty stick figure drawings.
Lots of fun to be had, and more than anything, lots of noise to be made, and there's no fun in the world that's better than chaotic fun.
7
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
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This will represent most other role reveal games as well.
I actually hate playing this genre of game, not because I think they're bad games quality-wise. Rather, it's because I hate lying, I'm bad at lying, I can't tell when people are lying, and because of points 1, 2 and 3, I end up making rash decisions that can end games a bit prematurely. Nonetheless, one consistent factor in all of these role reveal games that keeps my mood high is the presence of shenanigans.
Sometimes, a failed double kill in Among Us can be the funniest thing in the world, as both imposters argue amongst themselves as to who was responsible. A well timed head-shot in Trouble in Terrorist Town can create perfect moments of comedic timing that can be long remembered. I wouldn't even be able to start with how fun games like Epic Mafia are too, with over 300 roles to choose from most of which just explode and end the game instantly.
These are the most fun to me when you're taking the piss, and it wouldn't be nearly the same if everyone had access to the same tools, so I'll proudly self-report goddammit!
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This will represent most other role reveal games as well.
I actually hate playing this genre of game, not because I think they're bad games quality-wise. Rather, it's because I hate lying, I'm bad at lying, I can't tell when people are lying, and because of points 1, 2 and 3, I end up making rash decisions that can end games a bit prematurely. Nonetheless, one consistent factor in all of these role reveal games that keeps my mood high is the presence of shenanigans.
Sometimes, a failed double kill in Among Us can be the funniest thing in the world, as both imposters argue amongst themselves as to who was responsible. A well timed head-shot in Trouble in Terrorist Town can create perfect moments of comedic timing that can be long remembered. I wouldn't even be able to start with how fun games like Epic Mafia are too, with over 300 roles to choose from most of which just explode and end the game instantly.
These are the most fun to me when you're taking the piss, and it wouldn't be nearly the same if everyone had access to the same tools, so I'll proudly self-report goddammit!
⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆
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The versus modes in Left 4 Dead 2 are honestly some of the coolest ideas I have ever seen for a game of its genre, yet there are so many things holding the modes back that nobody could've really done anything about.
I'll focus on the Campaign Versus since that's the one I played most. You get a team of survivors, and a team of infected zombies. While the survivors trudge to the safe room, the zombies will do everything they can to brutally murder everyone. It's a lot of fun because when you play as the zombies, you get to be special infected, which come with a whole host of unique powers. Then once one side wins, the roles are reversed and the same section of the campaign is replayed but with opposite teams, zombies are survivors and vice versa.
So why have I only played this mode once ever in my whole life? Firstly, it plays best with eight people. Good fucking luck getting eight people in your adult life to play out a full campaign, so you may have to settle for six which is also ok. No other numbers will work, because all odd numbers give uneven teams, and even numbers four and below just beckon you to play the game normally and not deal with spotty AI.
Let's say hypothetically you got eight people to play this with. Well I hope they've got a lot of time on their hands cause this mode takes forever to finish as it is double the length of a standard campaign, with each section being played twice over. If you decide to go through with this mode, it will be the only thing you do that night.
Is it all worth it to play as a Tank and go sicko mode on some unsuspecting clowns? Ok, probably.
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The versus modes in Left 4 Dead 2 are honestly some of the coolest ideas I have ever seen for a game of its genre, yet there are so many things holding the modes back that nobody could've really done anything about.
I'll focus on the Campaign Versus since that's the one I played most. You get a team of survivors, and a team of infected zombies. While the survivors trudge to the safe room, the zombies will do everything they can to brutally murder everyone. It's a lot of fun because when you play as the zombies, you get to be special infected, which come with a whole host of unique powers. Then once one side wins, the roles are reversed and the same section of the campaign is replayed but with opposite teams, zombies are survivors and vice versa.
So why have I only played this mode once ever in my whole life? Firstly, it plays best with eight people. Good fucking luck getting eight people in your adult life to play out a full campaign, so you may have to settle for six which is also ok. No other numbers will work, because all odd numbers give uneven teams, and even numbers four and below just beckon you to play the game normally and not deal with spotty AI.
Let's say hypothetically you got eight people to play this with. Well I hope they've got a lot of time on their hands cause this mode takes forever to finish as it is double the length of a standard campaign, with each section being played twice over. If you decide to go through with this mode, it will be the only thing you do that night.
Is it all worth it to play as a Tank and go sicko mode on some unsuspecting clowns? Ok, probably.
⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
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A great concept can only go so far if the game it's housed in is mediocre at best.
My Kong mode is a fun idea. One person with the WiiU gamepad gets to be a massive gorilla-robot and pound the shit out of the other players controlling these teeny tiny tanks. It can be really satisfying to unleash your fury upon an incredibly fragile city, but when you're not the ape, the mode can become mind-numbing as you thoughtlessly blast away at your enemy until you're crushed and re spawned. There really aren't any stakes for the tanks, and there's no need to coordinate. If the people controlling the tanks are even half-decent at the game, the one player will likely lose.
However, a lot of the fun of this mode and the only reason I remember it exists comes from the fact that you can plaster your face on the front of the gorilla robot. This adds so much you wouldn't even believe it, and I have fond memories of trying to make the most hideous expression possible so everyone else will be forced to look at it for another three minutes.
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A great concept can only go so far if the game it's housed in is mediocre at best.
My Kong mode is a fun idea. One person with the WiiU gamepad gets to be a massive gorilla-robot and pound the shit out of the other players controlling these teeny tiny tanks. It can be really satisfying to unleash your fury upon an incredibly fragile city, but when you're not the ape, the mode can become mind-numbing as you thoughtlessly blast away at your enemy until you're crushed and re spawned. There really aren't any stakes for the tanks, and there's no need to coordinate. If the people controlling the tanks are even half-decent at the game, the one player will likely lose.
However, a lot of the fun of this mode and the only reason I remember it exists comes from the fact that you can plaster your face on the front of the gorilla robot. This adds so much you wouldn't even believe it, and I have fond memories of trying to make the most hideous expression possible so everyone else will be forced to look at it for another three minutes.
⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
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When you give someone the WiiU Gamepad while playing New Super Mario Bros. U for the WiiU, you are giving that person the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.
To place blocks where the players want to land is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to place a block right on top of someone as they jump over a pit. Therefore, playing this game with the WiiU Gamepad presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will fine you or kill you for making a wall of blocks in front of everyone, you gain nothing for placing blocks conservatively. You must place blocks respectfully out of the goodness of your own heart, because it is the right thing to do.
A person who places blocks like an asshole is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.
New Super Mario Bros. U is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
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When you give someone the WiiU Gamepad while playing New Super Mario Bros. U for the WiiU, you are giving that person the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.
To place blocks where the players want to land is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to place a block right on top of someone as they jump over a pit. Therefore, playing this game with the WiiU Gamepad presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will fine you or kill you for making a wall of blocks in front of everyone, you gain nothing for placing blocks conservatively. You must place blocks respectfully out of the goodness of your own heart, because it is the right thing to do.
A person who places blocks like an asshole is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.
New Super Mario Bros. U is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
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I honestly cannot believe how effortlessly they took such a cool idea, told it to look at the pretty flowers and shot it in the back of the head. Balance is the word of the day here, folks, and it seems Bowser Party slept in because this may be one of the most unfair modes ever devised in any game.
Bowser himself is stupidly overpowered, and depending on which minigame you happen to get when he inevitably catches up to your team, he can end the whole shebang in one turn with a challenge that lasts less than three seconds. This isn't even discussing any of the heinous board events that could occur, giving Bowser buffs or slowing you down dramatically.
Trying to keep you and your teammates composed for an entire board of this nonsense is nigh impossible, and I have never, in the many times I have watched this travesty go down, seen Bowser lose.
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I honestly cannot believe how effortlessly they took such a cool idea, told it to look at the pretty flowers and shot it in the back of the head. Balance is the word of the day here, folks, and it seems Bowser Party slept in because this may be one of the most unfair modes ever devised in any game.
Bowser himself is stupidly overpowered, and depending on which minigame you happen to get when he inevitably catches up to your team, he can end the whole shebang in one turn with a challenge that lasts less than three seconds. This isn't even discussing any of the heinous board events that could occur, giving Bowser buffs or slowing you down dramatically.
Trying to keep you and your teammates composed for an entire board of this nonsense is nigh impossible, and I have never, in the many times I have watched this travesty go down, seen Bowser lose.
Clanky14
10 months ago