Scarlet Moon's Prescription for Music is a series of albums featuring piano/jazz covers from classic and modern games. The latest entry in the series, Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies Volume III, has now been released on digital music platforms. The album features 12 tracks from 11 classic games, including songs from two co-op titles: Diablo and Legend of the Mystical Ninja.
Fans waited many years for Dead Island 2, the sequel to the classic first-person zombie killing game. This year, the game finally became a reality thanks to Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver. Teaming up with friends to battle the undead in 3-player online co-op is even more fun than before thanks to the well-written story, great graphics, and a killer soundtrack. That soundtrack is now available to buy and/or stream in a variety of platforms.
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (formerly known as Grim Guardians) is a fantastic Castlevania-style action platformer set within the Gal*Gun universe. The game features two teenage demon hunters fighting to save their school, so of course it supports 2-player local co-op. Following a digital release on all platforms, physical editions of Gal Guardians will soon be released on PlayStation and Switch.
in 1987, the arcade version of Double Dragon became the first co-op beat 'em up. After the original developer, Technos, closed down, the property started getting licensed to different developers with their own unique visions. WayForward released Double Dragon Neon, a Korean developer unleashed the awkward Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons (the game that brought me to Co-Optimus), and Arc System Works, the current IP holder, created the retro-style Double Dragon IV. Now, Secret Base Games and Modus Games are throwing their hats into the ring with Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, coming to consoles and PC this summer.
Japan has a proud tradition of local festivals that feature parade-like processions, live performances, and food and activity booths. Of course, Japan also had a rich folklore involving a wide variety of bizarre monsters and spirits called yokai. Spooky Spirit Shooting Gallery from Enheart and Aksys Games is a light gun-style rail shooter that comb...
Are you a fan of statistics? No? Oh well, here are some numbers anyway. In April, we counted 38 new co-op-releases on PC, 19 for the Switch, 13 on PlayStation 4, nine on Xbox consoles, and eight that were specifically optimized for PlayStation 5. And our database was expanded by another 111 titles, including all the relevant games from the Knights of Valour beat 'em up-series which was mainly released in Chinese arcades.
1970s action heroes took no guff. They walked into a room and blasted criminals without hesitation. Fast forwarding to the present, Monster Bath Games and Limited Run Games have combined that gritty '70s atmosphere with the colorful shooting of the arcade classic, Sunset Riders, to create Deathwish Enforcers. Up to four local players can join the police force to save the city from an evil army of criminals and zombies in this stylish run-and-gun shooter.
The shoot ‘em up genre lends itself well to cooperative multiplayer, but few shmups support more than 2-player co-op. That’s what makes Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story (AKA Dogfight) so exciting. Dogfight supports 4-player local co-op, allowing a whole team of friends can join together and shoot down the planes, tanks, and mechs of the...
The House of the Dead: Remake was a fun rail shooter, but nobody would accuse it of being colorful. If you want a spooky rail shooter that actually has some colors on the screen, Aksys Games has you covered. Spooky Spirit Shooting Gallery is a Switch-exclusive port of an arcade game in which players blast away at yokai (Japanese spirits and monsters), alone or with up to 3 local players.
Modern shoot 'em ups can often be dark and imposing, but not so for Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story from Katsu Entertainment and Hound Picked Games. Dogfight is colorful, a little bit silly, and more approachable than many shmups. Most impressively, it supports 4-player local co-op. We interviewed Anthony Marinello, Director of developmen...
Scarlet Moon Records, the leading producer of video game music albums, recently announced the thirteenth album in its long-running Prescription for Sleep series. The new album, Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies Volume III (several albums in the series aren't numbered), will include 12 piano/jazz renditions of songs from classic games. Most excitingly for us, two of the cover songs will come from co-op games: Diablo and Legend of the Mystical Ninja.
Humble Bundles regularly bundle a variety of games together on the cheap, though only for a limited time. The latest Humble Bundle, "Fight 4 Your Friends," is of particular interest since it contains nothing but co-op games! Players can get 4 great games for $10 or donate $15 to get the full six games, including Back 4 Blood and Zombie Army 4. Having played 5 out of the 6 bundled games, I can assure you that this is a great value, especially if you can get a friend to grab the bundle for some cooperative multiplayer!
