- Take me back to 1987
In 1987, the beat-em-up genre fulfilled its destiny with Double Dragon -- it was multiplayer mayhem for two; specifically, 2P co-op!
Instead of trading-off turns between deaths or simply being on-screen for short stages limited to a single-screen, this was a side-scrolling adventure for two against an entire gang!
- Kidnapped!
- Attack me if you dare, I will crush you.
It was all to save the damsel in distress, who gets kidnapped in the first 5 seconds of non-verbal exposition.
Back when games were created mainly by males for heterosexual adolescent males, that was pretty much the story of most games (if it had one at all).
- BRAWLER BROS.
- Last Stage
- Final Big Boss
But then there was the twist-ending.
After all those quarters, button-mashing and brawling to take down the bad guys to save the girl, there was one problem -- there was only one girl.
No indication was made to suggest what came next, but Double Dragon was the first 2P co-op game I can recall where your partner could take collateral damage. And the reason was clear, now.
There was only one way to settle the dispute, since the clock was ticking, no more enemies were in-sight, but the girl remained bound to the wall: a fight to the death between Player 1 & 2.
- Final Fight
Sure, there's plenty of PvP games, but this game played out as 2P co-op until the very end, when it shifted to 1v1 -- all over the one thing they both desired...
- THE END
Needless to say, the Corner Arcade was an interesting place to learn life's lessons.