Split screen – mode history

Splitscreen – how much there is in this word. A whole layer of games that allow you to spend an evening with great pleasure in the company of your best friend or significant other. How did it happen that quite recently this genre seemed extinct and unpromising?. What does "the answer is in the question itself" mean?? So, that’s enough, no need to dislike and close the tab, sadly stroking your cat.

Jokes aside. How did it happen that games in a genre that until recently, if not dead, was certainly best described by the phrase “the patient is more dead than alive,” take first place in the top sales on Steam, receive rave reviews from players and high marks from the press, and their author sends an Oscar to hell?

What if we look further? How did this genre originate?? What the first split-screen game looked like and what console was needed to run it? Who was behind its development? What kind of path did games in this genre go before they became what we see them now, in 2021??

To answer these and many other questions, I – Denis Bystrov – took up this material. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, depending on how you feel about voluminous text materials), there was so much information that it became impossible to fit it into one article.

Therefore, in the first part we will talk about the period from 1977 to 1999. From the first game in the genre to the first full-fledged 3D shooter, from a slot machine to the familiar and beloved PS One. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – it’s better to go back, on the contrary, to the distant year 1977.

era

It’s 1977. Only a year later, Nintendo will create a division that will develop games for arcade machines. And only three years later, in 1980, Shigeru Miyamoto, at that time a 28-year-old designer who had recently graduated from art college, gave the world the game Donkey Kong and a character named Jump Man. Who will later be recognized under the name Mario not only by the gaming community, but by the whole world.

Other events in the gaming industry in 1977 include the launch of the RCA Studio II game console and the Video Computer System, better known as the Atari 2600. And if the first one was not successful, and its production was discontinued already in 1979, then the Atari 2600 by that time received the title of the best-selling Christmas gift. And a little later she was able to license the legendary Space Invaders and by 1980, through sales of consoles and cartridges, she brought Nintendo $2 billion.

Despite the fact that by this time the second generation of game consoles had already seen the light, and personal computers were appearing on the shelves (it was in 1977 that the Apple II was released, and Commodore introduced its first “PET” computer), arcade machines ruled the roost in the gaming industry.
The most popular video game of that time was Pong, which, in addition to its popularity, was noted for other achievements – it became the first commercially successful and competitive video game.

It was on arcade machines that the first widely known video games appeared, which were later ported to consoles and personal computers. Thanks to them, it became possible to play Pong, Pac-Man and join the fighting genre in games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Why, the first shooters also appeared there – just remember the games in the “shooting gallery” genre, which you can still get stuck into when you get into the gaming room. It was for slot machines that the first ever game that supported Split Screen was created.

The first game in the genre

The first game to support split-screen play was Drag Race, created by Kee Games and released in 1977. It was, as you might guess, a drag racing simulator. The automatic would be absolutely typical: a display, a pedal that allows you to add gas and a steering wheel to control the car. It would be, if not for one small but, because it was distinguished from many other machines by the presence of the same controls for the second player. Of course, it was possible to compete with artificial intelligence – but the game became much more interesting if there was a live opponent.

Thus, long before the advent of local networks and the Internet, Kee Games were able to show that you can play not only against the “computer”, but also against other people. Split screen, controls that allow two players to simultaneously control the gameplay. Drag Race had everything it needed to be not only the first split-screen game, but also the first multiplayer video game. Of course, you could also compete in other games – periodically approach the machine to check if you had been knocked out of first place on the leaderboard. But Drag Race made it possible to compete in real time. Feel the excitement and excitement from the process itself, and not from looking at the result at the end.

The next machine from this studio was the Ultra Tank. This time there was no possibility of playing against artificial intelligence – you could only play against a person. The essence of the game was simple and consisted of a tank duel – within the allotted time the player had to destroy the opponent’s tank as many times as possible. The gameplay should have been diversified by settings that would make the location open or, on the contrary, add mines and barriers to it. In addition, it was possible to make the tank invisible.

Unfortunately, despite all the advantages, multiplayer modes and split-screen in particular were not in a hurry to be introduced everywhere. Kee Games stopped producing slot machines in the same 1978 and Ultra Tank became one of the studio’s last two creations.

Xenophobe

Other developers were in no hurry to act either. The next game with this mode was released 8 years later – it was Xenophobe from Bally Midway. There were many features that distinguished this game from its predecessors. Speaking of technical ones, we can highlight the number of players and the genre (the game became the first full-fledged split-screen shooter). The developers thought – what if they gave the opportunity to play not two, but three players at the same time?? And they decided to experiment by installing three joysticks into the device at once.

In addition, Xenophobe has become much deeper, more diverse and more interesting in terms of gameplay. It seemed that the game does not set unusual goals for players: it is necessary to destroy all opponents in the level within the allotted time. Of interest were the enemies themselves, whose stage of development was reminiscent of the Alien films. For example, if you don’t kill Critter in time, he will certainly mutate into a more tenacious and annoying Roller, who could roll around the location and withstand more hits. Delay with him, in turn, led to the emergence of the strongest enemy – Warrior. He, unlike his brothers, could spit acid across rooms, and could also disarm and stun the player.

Locations couldn’t boast the same variety as monsters. However, one cannot help but notice that they were drawn quite nicely; sometimes there were various little things on them that enlivened the picture. As well as interactive objects that allow you to interact with the environment. A distinctive feature of the locations was their “multi-level” nature. Sometimes there were rooms consisting of several floors – to clear them, players had to use the elevator.

The players were also only partly lucky. On the one hand, there were as many as 9 playable characters to choose from – 3 for each player. On the other hand, they differed only in their skin, which did not provide any advantages and did not in any way affect the gameplay. The character color was permanently tied to the player – red, yellow and blue for the first, second and third joystick, respectively.

Where Xenophobe definitely set a record was in the number of platforms it was ported to. The Atari 7800 port was handled by BlueSky Software, and the Lynx port by Epyx. A port was also created for the 8-bit Atari family, which included the Atari 400 and Atari 800, and it even worked – but was never published.

You think that’s all? Whatever the case! Sunsoft ported the game to NES, MIcroplay ported it to Commodore 64. Later the game migrated to personal computers, including: Amiga, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum.

They don’t forget about the game these days. Already in 2004 (later, for a moment, 17 years from the moment of release) it was included in Midway’s Arcade Treasure 2 for PS2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, and just a year later, in 2005, it also visited PSP.
The game didn’t stop there either – in 2012 it appeared on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in a collection of arcade games called Midway Arcade Origins. Well, Todd Howard and Rockstar have a lot to learn – after all, who knows, maybe Xenophone will be remembered on the current generation of consoles.

Spy vs Spy

Bally Midway wasn’t the only one willing to experiment with multiplayer projects. One of the most interesting games that we will talk about today is Spy vs Spy. The game, created by First Star Software and published by Beyond Software in 1984, was a full-fledged competitive arcade game.

This time two players took on the roles of spies from warring countries. The scene was an embassy, ​​consisting of a chain of interconnected rooms. Each player needed to collect items scattered throughout the locations. After which it was necessary to leave the embassy and get to the airport – both before the other player and before the timer expires.

In addition – as befits real spies, the game allowed you to ruin the life of your opponent – you could set traps according to the level. True, it was worth being careful – they also worked against themselves. So, rushing after an object left in the previous room, you could kill yourself for the amusement of your opponent.
If your opponent turned out to be too cunning or you set a trap in the wrong place, you could always fight hand-to-hand! To do this you had to be on adjacent cells.

There were also several levels of difficulty, differing from each other in the number of rooms and their size. Accordingly, the higher the difficulty level, the harder it is to find the items necessary for victory at the location.

The game was liked by both players and journalists of the time. This allowed the release of two sequels – in 1985 and 1987. Also, relatively recently, in 2012, Spy vs Spy was ported to iOS. However, it is currently not available for download. I don’t know what the reason is; unfortunately, I couldn’t find any news on this topic. So on this sad note we will move on to the next game.

Lotus

Despite the success of Xenophobe, other studios were in no hurry not only to take risks and try to come up with new mechanics, but also to take on multiplayer shooters in general. But they actively continued to develop the topic of racing and sports competitions. In this field, one cannot fail to note the Lotus series of games dedicated to auto racing. However, car fans could guess this already based on the name – after all, it refers to the very popular British sports car Lotus Espirit. It is its outlines that players will have to admire during the races.

The first game in the series – Lotus Espirit Turbo Challenge is quite a racing simulator. Yes, the game modes here are not very diverse; there is only one mode here – a circular race. However: you have to navigate on the track using road signs – the more there are and the closer they are to each other, the more difficult the upcoming turn will be. We must not forget about the amount of fuel in the tank – yes, yes, gasoline can very well run out at the most inopportune moment. And in order not to be left standing like a pillar in the middle of the race track, you need to periodically make a pit stop.

In addition to competing https://rocknreelscasino.co.uk/games/ against each other, players (or the player, if he decides to play alone) will have to face 20 machines controlled by artificial intelligence.
The game consisted of 15 tracks, each of which was more difficult than the previous one. However, in order not to scare away players with high difficulty, there were also relaxations. For example, the starting position on each level was completely opposite to the one the player took in the previous race. This gave a head start to the players who took the last positions, thus allowing them to win back.

The second part, called Lotus Turbo Challenge 2, decided to take a diametrically opposite course and became more arcade and casual in all aspects. Thus, the player no longer had to monitor the amount of fuel; difficulty levels did not increase from track to track – they were completely absent. And the developers even managed to simplify the classic round-robin system. Now, instead of a full-fledged ring, the player had to drive a section of the track in the allotted period of time. If he succeeded, there was a transition to the next segment of the path.
To go to the next level, it was necessary to enter a password, which was given only after completing the previous race.

There’s not much to say about the third part, called Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge. This time, the developers decided to sit on two chairs at once, trying to combine the simulation elements characteristic of the first part with the arcade elements introduced in the previous game. The only thing worth mentioning is the Racing Environment Construction System (RECS for short), which allows you to create levels yourself. This could be done in two ways. The first is by selecting parameters, including: the number and complexity of turns and elevations, the number of obstacles, the type of terrain and the difficulty of opponents.

The second is to leave the choice of all the above elements to the conscience of the machine. In any case, each track created by this system was unique, which is why it could not be learned in advance and each race became a real competition. And this, for a moment, is in 1991!
However, despite the developers’ attempts to please everyone, as well as the RECS system and the updated soundtrack, the press received the game rather coolly and the history of the Lotus series ended in the third part.

Top Gear

However, the development of racing arcades and simulators only continued to gain momentum. This is how Top Gear appeared, which got its name, as you might guess, in honor of the show of the same name. The studio Gremlin Interactive, founded in 1984 and previously involved in. publisher of the Lotus game series. In general, during its existence, “Gremlins” was noted for many things, including at least the creation of the first fully three-dimensional football simulator and the creation of a full-fledged football manager, the first part of which was released in 1992 (a year before the appearance of the first part of Fifa). They even managed at some point to acquire DMA Design, which they later resold to Takes Two. but that’s a story for a completely different video.

In the meantime, Gremlin Interactive interests us as the developers of Top Gear and here they have done very well, although there is little new for us. For example, the soundtrack was completely migrated from the Lotus series, albeit in the form of remixes. The levels were also circular races, and to move to the next location you had to enter a password. The developers did not forget about fuel, the reserves of which had to be replenished at the pit stop. As in the first part of Lotus, if you forget and do not do this, the player will be disqualified from the race and the race will have to start over. A distinctive feature can be considered the ability to choose between an automatic and manual transmission. When choosing the second one, the player had to up and down gears, which made the game more difficult, but at the same time more interesting. Another feature familiar to all racing fans is “nitro”. The developers provided the opportunity to use nitrous oxide three times per race, which made it possible to significantly speed up the player’s car.

Among other achievements of the first part – it became the first video game dedicated to the TV show of the same name, as well as one of the first racing games for the Super NES platform.

Top Gear 2

When working on the sequel, Gremlins definitely took into account the errors encountered in the second and third parts of the Lotus series. The developers still wanted to make the game more complex, filling it with more simulation elements. On the other hand, it was necessary to maintain a balance between simulation and arcade, making the gameplay fun and not boring. And they did it!

The studio began by working on graphics – cars (both player and opponents) began to look more detailed, as did locations. The interface has also changed, becoming much more informative without being overloaded. Now, to the speed scale, gearbox and minimap already familiar from the previous part, an icon has been added that displays the degree and nature of damage to the car. From now on, collisions with opponents and obstacles scattered along the tracks, of which there are as many as 64, threaten not only loss of time, but also breakdown of the vehicle.

And, if we’re talking about cars, we can’t help but note why many people love modern racing simulators so much. Yes, Top Gear 2 finally has the ability to improve your car. Particularly important in the current realities was pumping the gearbox. Unlike the first part, there were no pit stops on the local tracks – but fuel could still run out. Improving the box made it possible to reduce gasoline consumption, thus allowing you to reach the finish line.

Also, cars (both those controlled by players and those of rivals) have become slower. But this was offset by doubling the number of “nitro boosts”! Now you can speed up your transport as many as 6 times during the race. Weather conditions also appeared here, designed to diversify the races due to their influence on the handling of the cars.

One of the main arcade elements that significantly diluted the gameplay was the system of “pickups” – bonuses that could be picked up during the race. They were divided into two types: those that renewed after the completion of the circle and those that were "disposable". The first type included nitro acceleration scattered along the track, triggered at the moment of its selection. For the second – $1000, which after the race could be spent on upgrading the car; as well as additional acceleration (which could be activated at any time). This system made it possible to invigorate the slow gameplay and at the same time, thanks to the disposability of many bonuses, did not skew the balance towards an obvious “arcade”.

Top Gear 3000

You can talk about the third part, which was called Top Gear 3000 (and very soon you will understand why) for much longer!
Firstly, it finally has a full-fledged plot. Okay, the well-known comparison of the plot of shooters with porn films has not yet been uttered by Carmack – what general requirements could there be for a racing arcade game released in 1995??!

The plot was described in the manual that came with the disc (yes, before the invention of cut scenes, it was not so easy to describe the plot using in-game methods). The year is 2962, most of the planets located in the Milky Way galaxy and inhabited by people are depleted by the 17th World War. Almost all entertainment is prohibited by the Galactic Conglomerate of the United Planets, or rather by the Bureau of Intelligent Entertainment, which is under its control. However, as usual, with any system, elements appear who want to destroy this very system. The richest, most experienced and riskiest racers conduct illegal races on planets controlled by a conglomerate once every 1000 years. Well, it sounds absolutely dystopian, large-scale, epic and. exaggerated just enough to look good.

However, you won’t be satisfied with the plot alone, especially when it comes to a racing simulator! All the main gameplay elements were carried over from the previous parts without changes (among them were: a manual transmission, the need to replenish fuel and monitor the condition of the car, the ability to improve the car, etc.d), however with some additions. Thus, it became possible to replenish gasoline by driving through red lines and restore the car’s safety margin by bypassing blue ones.

The main innovation can be considered the presence of two full-fledged modes in the game. The first one was called Championship. In it, the player (or players, if there were two of them) was invited to participate in the championship described above. The gameplay has not changed compared to the second part, except that the bonus system has been expanded. Thus, for completing a race with activated acceleration, the player received 30 thousand credits, for the absence of collisions with other cars – 70 thousand, and if they managed to avoid collisions with obstacles – 40 thousand. If you did not leave the racing track during the race, you could earn 20 thousand credits. There was also a secret bonus equal to 50 thousand credits. To get it, you need to finish the race when the seconds hands show 11, 22, 33, 44 or 55 seconds.

In the third part, not only “passive” bonuses were introduced, but also active skills. Thus, the player had access to a jump, allowing him to jump over obstacles or other cars. Warp, allowing you to "disappear" by 1.5 seconds, while overtaking players and avoiding obstacles and turns. Attractor, which allows the car in front to gain speed (while the opponent’s car does not lose speed). Infrared vision, useful during night rides. And acceleration, familiar to all of us – it, by the way, was the only skill that the player could upgrade during the game.

The second mode, called Versus, offered four people to compete in speed at the same time(!) players. And if such a number was not reached, the missing players were quite successfully compensated for by bots. Unfortunately, that’s where its interesting features ended. Each race was a separate stage; there were no competitive or tournament races that would allow for a knockout game.

Road Rush 2

Admit it, how many of you became interested in motorcycling or even just fell in love with bikes thanks to the Road Rash series of games?? True, I dare to suggest that most of you have fond memories of the later games in the series, released for PS One.
We are interested in the second part, developed and published by Electronic Arts in 1992 for the Sega Genesis. Later, 8 years later, it was ported to the Game Boy Color.

Less than a year has passed since the release of the first part, when EA decided to create a sequel. The staff was very modest: 3 programmers, 5 artists and 3 lvl designers responsible for creating racing tracks. The technical director of the first part was promoted to director of technology at EA, which is why he took little part in the development of the sequel. Tight deadlines also added fuel to the fire – the company was given less than a year to develop. It would seem – not the most successful situation – but these guys managed to create a miracle . The second part, the name of which was not particularly original – Road Rash 2, became the most successful electronics project at that time. Both from critics and players, and from a financial point of view.

The company was very careful when creating the game. The developers looked at photographs to ensure that the locations were as similar as possible to their real-life counterparts. They even tried to make chain hits (perhaps one of the main memorable mechanics in the game) as realistic as possible. To do this, Arthur Koch, one of the artists, recorded a video of himself swinging a chain. Technical progress was also on the side of the developers. The transition from 5 megabit to 8 megabit format made it possible to make the game multiplayer, allowing two players to participate in races simultaneously.

We also worked on the artificial intelligence – both of other “racers” and of the police, who were supposed to counteract the players. According to the developers themselves, this was the first game in which you could both “beat a policeman and be beaten by the cops”. However, this feature was almost cut from the game – and the recent beating of Rodney King by police was to blame. Who wasn’t a motorcyclist at all. and a racer too. Well, okay, let’s not try to look for logic in this – fortunately in 2021 we are already accustomed to such situations. As for the canceled "features" – the game should have included weather conditions and a motorcycle. sorry, chopper, similar to similar models from Harley Davidson.

I don’t think it’s worth analyzing the gameplay in too much detail because everyone is at least vaguely familiar with this series. Road Rash 2 was a typical motorcycle racing simulator. with the ability to run away from cops and beat opponents with fists, a metal chain or a stick! The latter could be taken away from rivals, who also did not mind participating in the fight. Rivals could be divided into two types. Some were focused on the race itself – trying to overtake the player, avoid obstacles, etc.d. The latter were more aggressive and tried to literally “knock” the player out of the race.

In the second part, we are interested in the possibility of playing with a split screen, which was so lacking in the first game. Two players could compete both in the classic mode (when there were bots on the track besides them) and in the new Man-o-man mode. As you can easily guess from the name – in this mode there were only two players and police officers on the track, who could still influence the outcome of the race and finish it earlier – by detaining the players until they had time to cross the finish line. In this mode, no money was awarded for victory, and there was also the opportunity to choose which weapon to start the race with.

To summarize, I would like to note: the game has not been forgotten to this day. And I’m not talking about the fact that many players remember with warmth in their souls those days when they sat in front of the TV, passing level after level. In 2006, a port was released for the PSP, and just two years ago, in 2019, the game was released for the Sega Genesis Mini console, which entered the market the same year.

Unfortunately, the third part of the series decided to develop not in depth, but in breadth. As part of the races, we were invited to visit a much larger number of countries. They didn’t forget to replenish the arsenal, which now included nunchucks, crowbars, maces, and so on. However, no major changes were added to the gameplay. The range of modes, both for single play and for two players, has not been replenished either. We had to be content with the same classic mode and Man-o-man mode. So we won’t dwell on the third part, but will move on to another game, or rather, let’s go back a little.

Lemmings

Or more precisely, in 1991, when a game called Lemmings was released from the pen of DMA Design. I’m willing to bet that in terms of the number of personal computers on which it was installed in the 90s and even the early 2000s, only the legendary worms can compete with it. Seriously, who among you as a child didn’t chase these cute and brainless creatures across the screen, trying to bring them to the end of the level??

For those who still preferred worms, I’ll explain. Lemmings is a puzzle game, the essence of which is to bring the creatures controlled by the player from the beginning of the level to the exit. Without control from the player, lemmings only stubbornly move forward, ignoring obstacles, their relatives, and generally trying to cut themselves out in every possible way. However, despite all the stupidity, lemmings are quite docile creatures (at least within the framework of this game). The player had an arsenal of 8 commands that he could distribute to his “subordinates”. Teams that included digging tunnels, changing directions, building stairs, etc.d, designed to streamline the movement of animals.

This is, in fact, what the game is based on. You get to the level, assess the situation, and then try to deliver the lemmings to the other side of the map in the shortest (or vice versa, stupid but terribly effective) way, simultaneously watching how they die this time.

The two-player mode made the game more interesting. The gameplay in it has not undergone any changes – only the victory conditions have changed. The screen was vertically divided into two parts, each of which had a base. For the first player – blue, for the second – green. Each player could only give commands to his own lemmings. The winner was the one who delivered the most rodents alive. Unfortunately, if a single company was represented by a hundred levels, then only 20 locations awaited those who wanted to enjoy a duel with a friend.

There is much more to be said about the legacy that Lemmings left behind. Firstly, this game was the first for DMA Design, which would later be renamed Rockstar North and literally turn the industry upside down with the legendary Grand Theft Auto series. Secondly, another record was important for the young studio – the game became one of the best-selling in history, selling approximately 20 million copies. Thirdly, Lemmings have become one of the most “portable” games. Peter Jones, a designer and programmer who worked on the game, stated that after the 20th platform the game was ported to, he stopped counting. What can I say, the last port that I managed to find dates back to 2018 (for a minute, 27 years after the release of the original version) – then the lemmings visited iOS and Android.

Developers and publishers could not ignore such success, and between 1991 and 2000, 5 full-fledged games were released (two of which were developed by other studios), as well as various offshoots like Lemmings Paintball, which, as you might guess, was a paintball simulator. The second was a little more interesting, because it was a full-fledged platformer. Unfortunately, in all subsequent parts there were no modes for two players – so we will not talk about them within the framework of this material.

Super Mario Kart

Well, where would we be without Nintendo?? In this case, they were noted for the game Super Mario Kart, which was released in 1992 for the SNES and became the first in the series, games under the name of which are still released in our time. In addition, the game became the founder of the kart racing genre. For a modern player familiar with the genre, the gameplay will not seem anything special: there is a set of well-known characters, including: Mario, Luigi, Bowser and others. It’s worth noting that the kart’s acceleration, top speed, and handling varied from character to character.

There were also bonuses and traps familiar to subsequent games in this genre, by selecting which you could either become invulnerable for a while or play a trick on other participants in the race. Various game modes were supposed to make confronting them more exciting and diversify the gameplay. There were five of them in the game: two single and three multiplayer. The first ones don’t interest us much, so let’s move on to the second ones.

1) Mario Kart GP – a mode completely identical to the standard single-player one with one exception – two players participate in the race, the total number of participants remains the same (in addition to two players, there are 6 cars controlled by artificial intelligence).

2) Match Race – the same thing, only without bots.

3) Battle mode – perhaps the only mode that is significantly different from all previous ones. Both regarding Super Mario Kart itself, and regarding other games presented in this video. Its essence is as follows – the cards controlled by the players are surrounded by three balloons. The player who is the first to destroy all the opponent’s balls using upgrades scattered around the track wins.

If in ordinary races improvements only allowed you to speed up yourself or, conversely, slow down your enemies, but the course of the race was influenced rather by competent passage of the track, here they began to play a key role. From an ordinary race with the ability to ruin the lives of your opponents, the game turned into a real competition, the main goal of which was to literally knock your opponent out of the game. This added excitement, made the races much more interesting and fun, turning them from a parody of a serious competition into an exciting arcade game.

Colin McRae Rally

I think many of you are familiar with this series and have played at least one of the parts of which, at the time of the release of this material, as many as 13 pieces had accumulated. The first part of the series, briefly and concisely named – Colin McRae Rally, appeared in 1998 simultaneously on PlayStation One, PC, Game Boy Color. The game, named after the famous rally driver Colin McRae (who participated in the development and advised the creators), was a fairly realistic rally simulator.

Realism was in everything, from the tracks and cars (not just any countries and cars were included in the game, but only those that were involved in the 1998 World Rally Championship), ending with the characters. As befits a real rally race, there is a driver and a co-driver in the car – one of such couples was Colin McRae himself and Nicky Grist who, in addition to consulting with the developers, gave the characters their voices.

The good power of the first PlayStation and personal computers of that time allowed the developers to make each machine similar to its real-life counterpart. Which is not surprising: to achieve such a similarity, they used laser modeling.

There was no damage system in the game: both in the “physical” sense (the ability to “kill” the car, negatively affect its characteristics, or stop your race altogether), and in the visual sense – collisions with obstacles and departures from the track did not in any way affect the appearance of the car.

However, at the end of the race the cars were covered with a layer of mud, which added to the authenticity. The sound was also pleasing – from the pleasant roar of the engines to the navigators’ remarks warning about the next turn. The latter were also duplicated by icons popping up on the screen, by looking at which one could estimate in which direction and at what angle one would have to turn.

Despite many revolutionary and experimental things, the developers from CodeMasters decided not to take risks with game modes. There were three difficulty levels and eight rally stages, just like at the real World Championship. Or rather, there were seven of them – the stage of the race in Indonesia was canceled due to the situation in the country.

Local multiplayer, supporting up to eight players and splitscreen mode, was supposed to diversify the gameplay and make it replayable. The latter differed from a single company only in the presence of a second player.

Despite all the flaws, the game turned out to be absolutely successful. It was appreciated by both the press and players, and sales were so good that a sequel was released less than two years after the release of the first part. What can we say – the last part of the series was released on the new generation of consoles in 2020. And so far this series is in no hurry to retire.

Medal of Honor

It is symbolic that this video ends with the game that marked the beginning of an entire genre. A genre that to this day remains, if not the most popular, then certainly one of. Of course, the genre is changing – new technologies appear, trends change, the target audience grows up (or vice versa gets younger). However, the influence of the Medal of Honor on the military shooter genre as a whole is visible to the naked eye.

There is also some complexity in this – I don’t want to talk about it briefly and generally seems like a kind of blasphemy. On the other hand, the development history, detailed description of gameplay mechanics, and so on – draws on a full-fledged material. Therefore, I’ll just make a reservation that I endlessly respect the first part of Medal, although I wasn’t able to play it on the console and I tried it much later, thanks to the emulator. But today I would like to talk specifically about the “multiplayer” component, namely the duel mode.

Yes, today the opportunity to fight with another player “one at a time” is hardly tempting. Even Quake, which has a lot more mechanics and game conventions, died a long time ago. However, let’s take a look at the release dates of the main (currently) online shooters.

Medal of Honor was released on PS One in 1999, 1 year before the release of Counter Strike, 3 years before the release of Battlefield 1942 and 4 years before the first Call of Duty game. The ability to have a full battle between two players on one device was a real breakthrough! Even if sometimes you had to run around not the smallest locations, trying to find your opponent. Even if the ability to see half of your opponent’s screen was a kind of first online “cheat”. But this was the first full-fledged competitive split-screen shooter.

And it’s very interesting that all of the above became possible not thanks to some eminent game developer, but because of the idea that came to Steven Spielberg’s head. Thus, he gave the world not only a great film about the war and two wonderful TV series – but also a series of games. A series that was beloved by many players. A series that many hope for its return, reading reports from annual gaming exhibitions. I would like to believe that someday she will return. Will return to create another revolution in the genre.

Epilogue

Well, as you may have already noticed, there were quite a few games that allowed several players to play on the same screen at once. I think it’s worth making a reservation – not all of them were included in this video. Firstly, there were really a lot of them and if I started talking about each one, the video would last for ages. Secondly, information about some of them is quite difficult to find even in foreign sources. Thirdly, and you might have noticed this too – the games of that time were not so different from each other (within the genre, of course).

Technologies were still developing, even full 3D was achieved only in the last game I mentioned. The developers were afraid to experiment and tried to act according to proven schemes. In essence, split screen simply added the opportunity for a second player to participate in the same game. Mainly for competitive purposes.

It did not attempt to expand or modify the gameplay in any way. And even more so, there were practically no games that supported only this mode.

However, 3D will soon cease to be something amazing. Soon the first online games will begin to conquer the industry, and competitions in them will begin to gather not a couple of spectators near a machine installed in a pub, but entire stadiums. Although having previously passed through the stuffy computer clubs.

Soon people will understand that you can not only compete in games, but also go through them together. And if you make the gameplay different for each of the players, it will add replay value.
And then Jozef Fares will appear, who will decide to turn this regime upside down, turning it, in fact, into a full-fledged genre. But we will talk about all this in the second part.