I’m a high school English teacher, writer, and ninja. My co-op gaming life started with the original Double Dragon arcade game in 1987. As I only owned an NES back then, my Sega Master System-owning friend used to get tired of me wanting to play through Double Dragon with him all the time. I still love cooperative beat-em-ups, including Final Fight, Castle Crashers, and Scott Pilgrim. I was once a competitive Saturn Bomberman player, but otherwise I have always been about the co-op.
My first experience with writing about games came in 2003 when I wrote a full walkthrough for Bomberman Land 2, an amazing Japanese Bomberman RPG. Over the next several years, I continued to write FAQs and Achievement guides for various games, culminating in an award-winning Bionic Commando Rearmed guide. I finally joined the gaming press after Windows Phone 7 launched, covering and reviewing games for Microsoft’s fledgling mobile platform. Now I’m on the console scene at Co-Optimus, one of the coolest and most unique gaming sites around.
It has been a while since we named our Co-op Games of the Year, but it’s time to bring it back, baby. This year, your fearless Surviving Editor (I’m not quite dead yet!) and other members of the Co-op Crew each selected a personal co-op game of the year. On top of that, we all picked a "Beyond Co-op" game of the year as well. ...
Forever Entertainment's The House of the Dead: Remake was a pretty good new version of the classic Sega light gun shooter, even if the modern graphics lost some of the original's Japanese charm. Thus, we're glad that Forever will be releasing THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2: Remake in the spring of this year. The Dreamcast version of HotD2 was terrific, so hopefully, the new version will pack a similar level of gory fun.
The Sniper Elite series allows players to enjoy the thrill of sneaking around during World War II and sniping Nazis. Hey, they deserve it! Although the series is up to part 5 now (which I badly need to play!), Sniper Elite 4 has just launched on iOS. It can be played on iPhone, iPad, and even Mac. The only downside to this news is that the 4-player online co-op of the console and PC versions didn't make the cut for the Apple versions.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge kicked off a wave of nostalgic beat ‘em ups that shows no signs of slowing down. While none of these challengers have managed to match Shredder’s Revenge in quality, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, from Digital Eclipse and Atari, comes the closest so far. With a s...
Everything's better in co-op, and that includes 3D platformers. Boti: Byteland Overclocked from Purple Ray Studio and Untold Tales is one such game, a robot and technology-themed platformer that debuted on Steam last year. Now Boti is getting ready to head to consoles in January, and it will include both 2-player local and online co-op.
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge was one of my favorite games of 2023, featuring tight Castlevania III-style gameplay and great local co-op. This must be my lucky day, as Inti Creates and PQUBE have just announced a sequel called Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark. The new game will be a full-fledged Metroidvania platformer with support for both local and online co-op, and it's coming to all platforms in March.
Of all the nostalgic beat 'em ups to follow in TMNT: Shredder's Revenge's footsteps in the last couple of years, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind has been the most promising. It features excellent pixel art, 6-player local co-op, and online play. Rita's Rewind has finally arrived on consoles and Steam just in time for the holidays, and it's making good on most of its promises, though some versions don't have online play just yet.
In November, the console versions of River City Girls 2 received the much anticipated "Double Dragon" DLC, which adds Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon as playable characters. The Steam version, however, didn't get the DLC or the accompanying free update at that time. Thankfully, Steam gamers won't have to wait any longer: the DLC is out now on PC. Are you ready for some Double Dragon action?
Unrailed 2 is a chaotic party game in which players team up to build tracks for a train that never stops moving. The game recently launched on Steam Early Access, and it’s already lots of fun. To find out more about Unrailed 2, we interviewed Thomas Wolf, the founder of Indoor Astronaut. ...
The last few years have seen a bevy of beat ‘em ups based on classic shows and movies. There’s TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and The Karate Kid: Street Rumble, as well as upcoming games like Toxic Crusaders and Lady Death: Demonicron. Canadian developer Maple Powered Games recently released their own nostalgic beat ‘em up in the ...
Both of the main River City Girls games from WayForward have featured cameos from the Double Dragon series in the form of shopkeepers. River City Girls 2 even made Marian an unlockable character. Still, fans have always longed for more Double Dragon content in RCG 2. Now they finally get their wish thanks to the "Double Dragon DLC." The paid DLC adds Billy and Jimmy Lee as playable characters, essentially transforming RCG 2 into a weird, awesome Double Dragon game.
Sometimes you get so busy that life just flies right past you. That's why it's important to stop and smell the roses. One game that looks very rosy is River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next, the sequel to River City Saga: Three Kingdoms. The first game blended historical drama with the addictive beat 'em up/action RPG gameplay of the River City/Kunio-kun series, and the sequel promises throws in motorcycles for good measure. It's out now on PlayStation, Switch, and Steam.
