This week's co-op session was a bit different. With family over my house for my birthday party, my 5 year old nephew caught a glimpse of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection sitting on my coffee table. This of course meant he wanted to play it - and he wanted to play the games in co-op too!
We fired up Sonic 2 first. And of course my nephew wanted to be Sonic, so I was stuck with Tails. I was pretty amazed how easily he picked up the gameplay, figuring out that he needed to jump on bad guys, spin through certain walls to proceed, and of course collect rings.
Once we hit the first Dr. Robotnik boss battle he had some trouble and proceeded to die.
"Lets switch Uncle Nick."
We swapped controllers and I quickly vanquished Robotnik and freed lots of furry creatures.
I had totally forgotten that tails could carry Sonic up to ledges he normally couldn't reach. We quickly began exploring hidden areas of the levels. After getting bored with flying it was back to the races.
One of the problem with the co-op mode in Sonic 2 is that Tails is so much slower than Sonic and tends to get lost on the screen. So once we hit the next level I was zooming through and through. I could sense his frustration.
"Sonic isn't that fast! Slow down Uncle Nick." said my nephew.
"Jadden my boy - there's no one faster than Sonic." I replied.
"Let's switch!"
Sigh.
Next we fired up Golden Axe 2. I told him that this was one of my favorite games of all time. He didn't seem to care, he just wanted to be "the green guy." I chose my favorite red scantily clad female.
Off we went hacking and slashing. Again, I was amazed at how fast he picked up the game mechanics. He even figured out how to make his character sprint and attack.
But for some reason, a few minutes into Golden Axe 2 it just wasn't holding his interest.
"Where's Sonic?" he asked.
I guess a 5 year old doesn't quite understand the word nostalgia yet.