Multiplayer Madness 3: My Favorite Multiplayer Games Revisited

Whether locally or online, multiplayer is a marvelous way to extend the life of a given video game. That said, not all games need multiplayer shoehorned in. The fact of the matter is that the games on this list, part three of my descent into Multiplayer Madness, has multiplayer that feels like a natural extension of the single player. From Grand Theft Auto V to Wii Sports Club, this list has a wide variety of titles in it that I can't help but enjoy and recommend to you, SuperPhillip Central's readers. If you haven't checked out the previous two parts of Multiplayer Madness, play catch up with these two links: number one and number two.

Grand Theft Auto V (Multi)

To be totally honest, with this first game on my list of favorite multiplayer games, the favorite part here is roaming an immensely expansive game world with other players. There's nothing like speeding along the Great Ocean Highway with a fellow brother of destruction in the passenger seat of your red and black Banshee, warding off a five-star rating to little chance of success. Of course, the various missions and heists you can pull off with other players are also quite rewarding. Then there's excursions like car and boat races, deathmatch modes, and even riveting games of tennis and golf to enjoy. Additional fun comes from the constant progress you make while playing online. You can use money earned to buy new properties, but my favorite thing to do is get a stylish collection of clothes to saunter 'round Los Santos with.

Wii Sports Club (Wii U)

This next game had a really weird release schedule, being sold in parts digitally. I waited until the full package, the retail release of Wii Sports Club, before jumping in. The same five sports from the original Wii Sports are a part of this package, but this time around they all feature Wii Motion Plus controls for added precision and more responsiveness. Whether I successfully made delicate touches with the Wii Remote to hit the tennis ball in the exact location on the court I wanted, or used the GamePad to pitch and field balls in baseball, the added depth to the controls of each sport led to a greater satisfaction with the Wii Sports package. With four players, the satisfaction turned to total contentment.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3, Vita)

I had hoped PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale would be supported with DLC for much longer than it actually was. That said, the project itself wasn't the total success it could have been, but I still find myself drawn to this Super Smash Bros. alternative regardless, as the allure of fighting as PlayStation characters like Nathan Drake, Sackboy, Kratos, and Sly Cooper is too appealing to me. Although the Super-cenrtic point system made traditional combat feel worthless, the actual fighting system is quite well done. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was such a fun game for me that I purchased it twice, once for the PlayStation 3 original and then for on-the-go goodness with the Vita version.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Multi)

I don't hold this next racer to as high of an esteem as other fans of the game due to several glitches and a lesser amount of polish compared to its predecessor, but Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has been such a delight to play that I've gone through the game not only once on the PlayStation 3, but again on my older brother's PSN account. Then again on the Wii U version. Not only is there a World Tour mode that pits players against a myriad of challenge types, but there is your standard Grand Prix as well. The tracks are long and many change the topography and obstacles between laps, making for an ever-evolving, nay, transforming set of tracks and races.

Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Let's go from one kart racer to another. While not the best handheld entry of Mario Kart (for me, that prestigious title goes to Mario Kart DS), Mario Kart 7 has given me so many hours of play, whether online or locally. The former still has plenty of players, so you can always find a room online in seconds, while locally I can play with my older brother even though he doesn't have the game himself. Through the Nintendo 3DS's Download Play, we can race on any track we want, unlike Mario Kart DS's version of Download Play. Of course, my brother is stuck playing as Shy Guy with a generic kart, but the experience is still one that is great fun. He's at no disadvantage other than his usual poor run of luck at the end of a given race!

Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)

There was no doubt in my mind that my favorite golf game, the original Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, would never be usurped by any future golf game. That was until I played Mario Golf: World Tour. The amount of content in this game is phenomenal, whether it's the Castle Club mode where you star as your Mii, the immense amount of challenges, courses, and unlockable characters, costumes, and gear. This is the only Nintendo 3DS game I bought an extra copy of so I could play it with my older brother. Even without local play, there are so many weekly and monthly tournaments as well as fantastic online play that I've easily put over sixty hours into Mario Golf: World Tour, meaning I've thoroughly toured the Nintendo 3DS version of Mario Golf's world.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

The oldest title on this list gives me such great nostalgia and memories of much younger versions of my older brother and I playing the entire Donkey Kong Country Super Nintendo trilogy together. My personal favorite of the trio of games, and one of my favorite games of all time, is Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Unlike Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 3, where I'd always be Diddy Kong in DKC and Dixie Kong in DKC 3, my brother and I split roles on each play-through. Some play-throughs I'd be Diddy while others I'd happily play as Dixie. The levels, ambiance, music, secrets, and bosses are my favorite of the series, and I hold the game to such a high standard.

Bad Boss Battles in Gaming History - Part Three

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE FOLLOWING GAMES:

• BioShock
• Dead Rising
• Sonic Generations
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

What's worse than a bad boss battle? How about five bad boss battles? Last November we began a new segment on SuperPhillip Central, Bad Boss Battles in Gaming History. Now, it's several months later and we have a new installment to share. The rationale for our choices of awful boss encounters can be because of one or many of the following issues: they're forgettable, they're boring, they're tedious, they're in the game for no reason, they're counter-intuitive, or they're just plain not fun. After you've read our latest picks, feel free to throw in some agreement/disagreement and ideas for bosses to consider for part four.

Also, feel free to check out our two previous entries.

Part One
Part Two

Sequels, Please! - New Installments We'd Love to See

Similar to other segments such as Localizations, Please! and Remakes, Please!, Sequels, Please! is another segment at SuperPhillip Central where we more often than not fruitlessly beg for games that we desire. Although we do not get what we want most of the time, we've gotten what we begged for several times, such as a new Donkey Kong Country or localization of games like Bravely Default, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Tales of Xillia. Obviously we had nothing to do with these games being released, but we'll take what we can get.

Sequels, Please! delves into individual games or franchises that we would absolutely love to see new installments for. From a Smash Bros. inspired fighting game to an intense stroll through the zombie apocalypse, these games are ones we'd greatly enjoy seeing sequels for. After you've read our picks (we have plenty more in mind, but we gotta make this a series of segments somehow!), please let us know what sequels you've always been dreaming of. The wilder, the better!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

We start off with a game that we cannot believe didn't do as well as we (and Sony) were hoping. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was without any question the PlayStation brand's answer to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. While the games did have their obvious similarities, PlayStation All-Stars altered how points were made. We realize that this caused much criticism, but we can't help but be thankful that SuperBot Entertainment tried something different to distinguish this party fighter from its point of inspiration. With some fine-tuning of the formula and better roster choices, we'd love to see Sony return to this series with a title and cast that definitely are worthy of the PlayStation name.

LEGO City Undercover

Here comes a game that we had no problems declaring it as the best LEGO game yet. It's not even a close race. LEGO City Undercover introduced Wii U owners to a sprawling city with myriad activities to take part in, things to collect, and tasks to complete. While the Nintendo 3DS saw a prequel to its Wii U bigger brother, that game was a technological mess and did not possess even half the charm and wit of the Wii U game. We would absolutely love to see Tt Games return to Chase McCain's world and deliver yet another hilarious and addicting LEGO City game for Wii U. Heck, it doesn't even have to take place in LEGO City!

The Wonderful 101

Give thanks to Nintendo's horrible handling of this game commercially, which funnily enough is a prime reason why the Wii U is a sales disgrace, as to why The Wonderful 101 did not do gangbusters at stores. Quite the opposite actually. The demo, with its lack of a real tutorial, infuriated and turned off many players. However, those of us who have played the final version of the game experienced an increasingly escalating game that continued to dial up the crazy from start to finish. Oh, that ending sequence! On his Twitter (if you don't know the handle, ask your mom), Hideki Kamiya has expressed interest in a possible Wonderful 102, but that's up to Nintendo. Seeing how risk-adverse and safe they have been with their game announcements lately, we're less than hopeful. Still, we'd love for our pessimism to be unfounded.

3D Dot Game Heroes

For a series that is so popular, The Legend of Zelda series has seen very few imitators, much less ones that can hold a candle to any installment. However, the PlayStation 3's 3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to the classic game, The Legend of Zelda proper, offering an abundance of NES-related game references and a nostalgic take on the action/adventure genre. The game used blocks for characters, enemies, and settings, delivering a world that was as fun to look at as it was to explore. While 3D Dot Game Heroes sold poorly in Japan (less than 20,000 its first week), U.S. sales were more than admirable, exceeding Atlus USA's (the publisher) expectations by six times. We'd be grateful for another trip down memory lane in an adventure that blends old and new with another 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

In our review yesterday, we gave a relatively glowing review of the GameCube's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Since the original 2003 release, the Crystal Chronicles sub-series has spawned new iterations, two similar dungeons crawlers on the Nintendo DS, a duo of city-building games on Nintendo's WiiWare service, and a completely different take on the series with the Wii's Crystal Bearers. However, we'd be most interested in seeing Square Enix return the Crystal Chronicles line of games back to basics with the enjoyable dungeon crawling, treasure finding, monster defeating, boss beating, multiplayer action that games like the original GameCube Crystal Chronicles and the DS games contained. We don't care if it's on Wii U or Nintendo 3DS-- we just want our dungeon crawling thirst quenched! Plus, it would take the bad taste out of our mouths from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Couldn't hurt, right?

ZombiU

The Wii U launch title, ZombiU, sold poorly. As a result, Ubisoft opted to delay Rayman Legends and port it to multiple platforms. That's a shame, not just the Rayman game being sent to die in September, but because ZombiU is still one of those Wii U games that makes the greatest use of the GamePad, something that Nintendo can hardly design creative ideas for. It's safe to say that without the GamePad ZombiU wouldn't be the same, wouldn't be as scary, and wouldn't be as much of an experience. Using the GamePad in real time to check your backpack's inventory while making you vulnerable to zombie attacks made things all the tenser. Solving puzzles with the controller and doing so much more made ZombiU more than just another shooter. Add in permanent death, and you have an original and criminally overlooked Wii U exclusive that should have gotten more attention. The hope of a followup is pretty low, but even if Ubisoft needs to make a sequel multiplatform, we'll take it. We need our zombie fix!

Puppeteer

Severely overlooked by PlayStation 3 audiences, the insanely charming and whimsical platforming adventure known as Puppeteer was a game that released to no pomp, no circumstance, not even a little "hey!" Instead, Puppeteer was relegated to bargain bin status quite quickly. We are of the minds that Kutaro and the rest of the gang deserve another chance; this time for redemption. Whether it be on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita as a retail or downloadable title, we don't want to see the immensely interesting world of Puppeteer vanish when there's so much potential to it.

Most Overlooked PlayStation 3 Games - Part Seven

It's been over a year since we've looked at some of the more overlooked titles in the PlayStation 3's very impressive arsenal of games. As always, SuperPhillip Central desires to showcase some games that didn't get their due time in the sun. These next five games are ones that did not sell to their potential, were not talked about a lot, or were simply dismissed by critics or the gaming public at large. If you're ready to read, then we're ready to spotlight some overlooked games! Read on, dear friends!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

There were plenty of rumors surrounding Sony having a developer create its own rival to Nintendo's popular Super Smash Bros. series. At the time, Sony neither confirmed nor denied these rumors, simply saying that don't comment on rumor or speculation. The game was finally revealed on an episode of GTTV in April of last year. The final product released that November to sales that were disappointing at best. It's a shame, too, as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale isn't a mere imitator to Super Smash Bros.; it has its own identity, with characters using special moves called Supers to score points by obliterating opponents with them. Sure, the roster of characters wasn't the best, but the amount of love for Sony fans and faithfuls alike was incredibly apparent.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

The original Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is one of our favorite kart racers of the generation, easily beating out Mario Kart. Its sequel, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, released last year with lots of critical claim. We here at SuperPhillip Central still prefer the original, as that game didn't have as many annoying glitches or problems with knowing where to go on a given track, but there's no denying that the game was a fun, exhilarating ride. The initial sales were sluggish, prompting the game to quickly drop towards budget price. It's unfortunate, as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is definitely worth full price, as it's a heavily competent kart racer.

LittleBigPlanet Karting

Oriented more towards children and young teens, LittleBigPlanet Karting found a following with the LBP community, having them create some insanely good tracks with the in-game track creator. The creator allowed players to customize their own tracks to almost OCD-levels of great detail. The actual kart racing was something that a lot of players could take or leave, being difficult even on the so-called Easy Mode. Unfortunately, many PlayStation 3 owners did not have a need for speed with Sackboy and the crew, leaving LittleBigPlanet Karting to be discounted quite quickly.

Anarchy Reigns

As Platinum Games's latest project, The Wonderful 101, has released in several territories already, why not look back at one of their projects from earlier this year. Anarchy Reigns was the follow-up to the Nintendo Wii's MadWorld, offering a mayhem-filled multiplayer mode for online fun. The game had two storylines to follow, with each character's tale overlapping with the other until the final conclusion. Sadly, like MadWorld before it, Anarchy Reigns failed to find an audience on the platforms it was released on, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It seems like Jack Cayman and the gang are forever fated to fall through the cracks and languish on retail shelves.

Nier

Released to middling reviews, Nier is actually a rather excellent action-RPG that forgoes the need to have a weird-garbed teenager as the primary protagonist and instead goes with a middle-aged man. His quest was to find a cure for the disease his young daughter was suffering the ill effects of. Along the way he explored a fully traversible world, battled monsters of all shapes and sizes, and participated in an immense number of optional side quests. While selling relatively well in its homeland of Japan, Nier failed to capture the attention of Western audiences, leading the game to be quickly discounted or taken off shelves entirely. Those who do take the plunge with Nier will find a journey that is quite unlike anything they have experienced.