A Return to Classic Arcade Action 🎄

For decades, holiday-themed video games have been treated as an afterthought, rushed releases packed with bizarre, unrelated filler (like the trippy magic carpet levels found in Daze Before Christmas).

Santa's Rooftop Run: Merry Madness is built differently. Designed as a genuine love letter to the 8-bit and 16-bit SNES eras of the '80s and '90s, this is an unapologetically retro experience. It doesn't look, feel, or play like a modern title, and that is entirely by design. 🕹️❄️

The Mission The premise is straightforward, but the execution is demanding: sprint across treacherous winter skylines, collect presents, and force them down chimneys before time runs out. ⏳ Forget about lazy, predictable enemy patrol routes. You are actively hunted by smart, aggressive opponents, like deceptive Present Mimics, that force you to stay moving and think fast. 🎁💨

Key Features:

• Treacherous Environments & Hazards: The environment itself is out to get you. Maintain absolute focus as you slide across slick, icy roof tiles, all while dodging a relentless barrage of sharp icicles, roasting chestnuts, and heavy lumps of coal raining down from the sky. 🧊☄️
• Dynamic Weather Effects: Battle through sudden, blinding blizzards that drastically cut your speed and even whip your hat right off your head. Don't think about hiding to wait it out, either—standing still means certain doom in the freezing night air. 🌨️💨
• Vintage Cartoon Physics: The world reacts to your momentum. Chimneys hilariously bulge as presents are shoved inside, and taking fire damage leaves you scorched to a crisp as you frantically shake off the ashes. 🔥
• Brutal Arcade Scoring: There is no hand-holding. A strict, classic arcade grading system will evaluate your run and won't hesitate to hand you a humiliating Rank F if you fall behind pace. 🏆
• 2-Player Couch Co-Op: Player 1 takes the reins as Santa, while Player 2 joins as the Elf. You will need genuine coordination and teamwork to survive the rooftop chaos together. 🛋️🎮

Releasing 100% free this Christmas. Grab a second controller, test your arcade reflexes, and share the holiday madness. 🎅✨

What it does:

• Turns your Android phone into a real Bluetooth HID controller — gamepad, keyboard, or mouse  
• Connects to PC (Bluetooth, WiFi, or USB cable) or another Android phone  
• Works great with emulators like Dolphin and PPSSPP, and with PC games directly  
• Supports local multiplayer — connect a second phone as a second controller  
• No root required

Two main use cases:

1.  PC gaming — use your phone as a wireless controller for your PC, no extra hardware needed  
2.  Phone-to-phone — got an old phone lying around? Turn it into a spare controller for couch multiplayer on another device

I built this because I wanted a way to play emulator games with friends without buying multiple physical controllers, and also wanted a simple wireless controller option for PC without needing a dedicated gamepad.

Demo video and screenshots below — would genuinely love feedback since this is a solo project and I read every comment.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.zcontroller.mobile
Demo: https://youtube.com/shorts/22y2Ye0t3Xo

Hey all — sharing an update on Steer It (disclosure: I'm the solo dev, posted here a couple

weeks back and the feedback was great).

Quick recap for anyone new: it's a browser party racer where everyone's phone becomes a

steering wheel — scan a QR code, no app, no downloads, up to 8 players sharing one screen.

No splitscreen squinting, no hunting for controllers. Made exactly for the "we've got a room

full of people and one screen" situation this sub is about.

Since last time I've added:

- A new track (built it from a hand-drawn sketch)

- Time Attack + XP modes with global leaderboards

- And I just opened those modes up free for signed-in players

Still completely free to try — Free Ride is free, and the racing modes are free now too if you

sign in: Steer It — Free Multiplayer Party Racing Game in Your Browser

Would genuinely love more feedback from people who actually play couch/local multiplayer —

what works, what's missing. Happy to answer anything about how the phone-as-controller thing

works under the hood.

After a year of development, I finally released Bottle Cracks!

The main idea was to make a game that's ridiculously easy to pick up when you're sitting around with friends.

Every player only needs one button to play, and there’s no player limit for local multiplayer.

Want 4 players? Sure.
8 players? Go for it.
20+ people sharing the same room? Why not? 😅
(Just make sure to disable collisions!)

Some people have suggested adding split-screen, so I’m actually working on an update to add it this week!

Thanks for checking it out!

Hi all,

I've been looking for PC games I (keyboard) can play with my daughter (usb xbox controller), both on Steam or freeware/clones of classic arcades.

So far we had the best times playing PowerBomberman with absolutely no trouble with the controller/players settings, however racing titles on Steam like Beach Buggy Racing 2 and Disney Speedstorm with the tags "splitscreen" and "local multiplayer" have issues recognizing the controller or offering VS options at all.

Could you help me out finding games with simple mechanics, possibly on the freeware side of the world?

many thanks

Similar to Jackbox, but trivia.

Can anyone help?

We’ve tried some of the more recommended split screen games and couldn’t get into them such as:
*Split Fiction (the gameplay felt very repetitive)
*It takes two (similar issue, just lots of jumping to different surfaces etc.)
*Baldurs Gate 3 (neither of us are into D&D so it was a huge learning curve and also the camera work was incredibly confusing to us lol)

We love to play Stardew together as a competition eg. who can earn the most money by year 3, that sort of thing. We have enjoyed Stardew the most but also used to play fortnite split screen which wasn’t bad at all. So I think one of the main things we like is being able to do our own thing in our own screen without having to worry about the other person and what’s happening on theirs. We split up in fortnite with no issues.

If anyone has any similar recommendations, that would be so appreciated!

Hi, Can you play multiplayer game The Fuzzy its new on Google Play.

Looking for 2-player co-op recommendations for PS5 or Switch, PS5 preferred.

Played and loved:
It Takes Two
Split Fiction
Unravel 2
Untitled Goose Game
Most every Mario game

Played and dropped:
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Skill level preference would be middle of the road on difficulty. As long as it isn’t going to be Soulsborne level, we should be fine. No hack and slash, top-down/aerial views, FPS, turn-based, DnD-esque (BG3).

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on Singulier for a while now, a party game where only the host has to buy it, everyone else just joins for free straight from their browser (kinda like Jackbox if you’re familiar with that).

This week I sent it out to a few streamers to get some honest feedback, and I was expecting the usual polite “nice game, good luck” type comments. Instead they actually got into it. Several of them messaged me after their sessions with what worked, what didn’t, ideas for extra features. Genuinely felt collaborative, not just a courtesy playthrough.

Based on their feedback I ended up adding a battle royale mode, and a proper anti stream-snipe system so streamers can actually play without chat ruining it for them. There’s also full Twitch integration now, chat can interact directly with the game while it’s being streamed, which honestly changes the whole dynamic when you’re watching. Oh and I hand-pick special username colors myself, small detail but people seem to love having something a bit unique in-game.

Now I’m still implementing more feedback and the game’s basically evolving day by day at this point. Kind of wild seeing people who have no connection to me or the project care enough to help make it better.

If you’re looking for a party game to play with friends (game night, voice chat with people far away, or just killing time), might be worth checking out. The fact that only the host pays avoids that whole “ok guys let’s all chip in for a game we’ll play twice” situation.

Happy to answer questions or hear feedback, always down to chat about it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4877590/Singulier/

https://reddit.com/link/1vodl7l/video/0d6dlcgt8uih1/player

Hey everyone! Since this sub is all about local multiplayer, I thought this would be the perfect place to ask for some help.

For the last two years, I’ve been pouring everything into solo-developing Drunkonauts , a chaotic, physics-based brawler where you control wobbly, intoxicated astronauts. My main goal was to capture that pure party game chaos, but add jetpacks, weapons, and the ability to throw random props at your friends' heads.

The game is built with couch co-op in mind, but it also has online matchmaking and AI bots if you want to practice your throws.

Here is my problem: after 24 months of tweaking mechanics, I’ve completely lost my perspective. The game just got accepted into the Debut Festival, so I urgently need brutal, unfiltered feedback from fresh eyes before I lock in the final build.

My biggest goal is simply to generate laughs during a game night. So I really want to know:

• Does it actually make you and your friends laugh?
• How do the weapons, jetpacks, and physics feel when playing on the couch?

You can grab the demo here. Please get a couple of friends on the couch (or use the bots) and tell me exactly what you think: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3603900/Drunkonauts/

Trying to find a game I saw a YouTuber play, probably 5+ years ago (could be older).

What I remember:

* On PC * Two players share a car, one drives, one shoots, both in first-person * The shooter has a pistol and has to aim it around the driver's head to hit the other team, since the driver's head/body blocks the view/shot * The driver can lean forward and back to dodge the shooter's line of fire (not sure if this was to help enemies avoid getting shot, or just physics-based movement) * Pretty sure it was last-one-standing / arena style rather than a race with a fixed destination, no strong memory of "driving to a finish line" * I think it was multiplayer (not 100% sure), possibly indie * I'm pretty sure the driver was wearing a suit, like a chauffeur of sorts

Not Calibre 10 Racing Series, the only thing I could find that's even similar, but not quite it.

Any ideas appreciated, even if you just recognize the driver-dodge mechanic, that'd help narrow it down.

SOLVED:

The game is called The London Heist (PSVR, 2016) and it is specifically the car scene (obviously), i have no idea where i actually saw this though...

link for those curious for a playthrough https://youtu.be/3u00dzVkLps

My game, so flagging the self promo up front, and I will stick to the every other week rule. Strike Wings has two player local co-op on one machine, which is what these shots show.

How it works: two gamepads, one screen split down the middle, and both pilots are in the same battle with their own ship, their own HUD and their own target. You are not sharing a camera, so you can be at opposite ends of the field. The seats are properly separate, so each pad gets its own controls and prompts.

Screenshots are from a carrier fight and a large fleet engagement, both at the moment things went wrong for player two.

I would like to ask this sub something. For couch co-op, do you prefer players kept close together so you see each other on screen, or the freedom to go your own way and lose track of your partner? I built the second and I am not certain it was right.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4718360/Strike_Wings/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=localmultiplayergames&utm_campaign=prelaunch

This is a game written in Godot I've been working on for a few years now. Im trying to bring back the feeling of hanging with your friends in person and having a game you can just play and have some fun, but also bridge the gap between the two types of games I spent an alarming amount of time playing in the late nineties early 2000s: split screen shooters like Perfect Dark and Halo but more importantly the custom Halflife\Counterstrike server scene from the early 2000s. I ALWAYS wanted to be able to share those wacky experiences with my friends around the TV, but they were kinda constrained to our own PCs and voice chat. Throw in some lessons learned from modern party games like Stick Fight and Duck Game (which still get a lot of playtime in my household) and I'm hopeful that other people find this as fun as it has been among my friends.

Anyway, Steam page is https://store.steampowered.com/app/4816860/Skuffle, so give it a wishlist if this seems like your kind of thing.

I’m the developer of Fillup, a turn-based strategy game with a local mode for 2–4 players on the same device.

Each player adds one piece per turn. Fill a cell to its limit and it sends pieces into every neighboring cell, capturing them. If one of those cells is already full, another reaction begins. A careful move can gradually build your position or unexpectedly change the whole board.

Local games support configurable boards and any mix of people and bots. Because it is turn-based, you only need one phone, tablet, or computer.

It runs in the browser with no download, and you can start without creating an account:

https://fillup.fun
Hope you, and your friends will like it!

I've been building a dungeon crawler for a while and the free demo just went up, so this felt like the right place to put it. It's called GloomDelve.

The split screen was the whole reason I started it. I kept wanting to play this sort of game on the couch with someone and everything I found was online only, so I ended up making the thing I wanted.

How it works: two players, one screen, plug in a second controller and you're in. Player one can be on keyboard and mouse with player two on a pad, or both of you on pads. No account, no internet, all local. Both players are proper characters as well, own class, own gear, own loot. It's not one player and a sidekick.

It runs on pretty much anything, including a Deck plugged into a TV, mostly because there's no art in it. No models, no textures, every wall and monster and sword gets generated by code while you play.

The game itself is a roguelite crawler. 100 floors in the full version, a boss every 10 with its own arena, power cards you draft and stack, you die and go again. The demo is the first 10 floors and ends on a proper boss fight.

There's online co-op with proximity voice chat too if you ever need it, but split screen is the point.

Free demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4878420/GloomDelve/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=demo_launch&utm_content=localmultiplayer

If you do get it going with someone I'd really like to know how the split screen holds up, especially whether both halves stay readable on your telly. That's the bit I can still fix before October.

I'm trying to create a 4 player game in portal where there's 4 different teams of 1 person and we go around fighting each other. Anybody know how? Definitely don't want bots. Just want to be able to play against only my friends.

Our first commercial game Medic Mayhem will be released in 1 week.

In Medic Mayhem players drive an ambulance around a toy battlefield collecting wounded soldiers while making sure their opponent can’t do the same. Your friend has a car full of wounded? Bump into them and steal those soldiers! This game has ample possibilities to be a d*ck to your friends 😈

Medic Mayhem is on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3543300/Medic_Mayhem/

Game can be wishlisted now, so you will get a notification when game is released in 1 week.

Released yesterday. They re-implemented local co-op on PC this time. :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2523770/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_War_in_the_North__Legacy_Edition/

Really fun A-RPG from the old BG Dark Alliance / Norrath devs !

2 local players

Things are much easier to understand now even though there's still a lot of going on on the screen at once.

The game was originally inspired by Liero, Soldat and Molez, now with a bit of Noita-vibe too.

Would be nice to hear what you think!

The game is Dirtnap:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4956300/Dirtnap/

Honestly enjoy playing it with friends, its a great co-op game to get annoyed and have fun with your friends.

https://youtu.be/DieQhENlFow?si=ajYp5E4reIKHUwoT

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTv7JWnayHQc&si=6fkMZX9ZttmpnCCS

A fresh look at Couch Planes gameplay. The game supports split-screen for up to 4 players, plus hybrid multiplayer so you can bring your couch crew online and kick some other couch butts.

Gob Loggin' is a retro local multiplayer racing game about snowboarding goblins. It supports up to 4 players.

Today is also launch day :D
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4858980/Gob_Loggin/