Doppelganger Co-Op [Devil May Cry 3]
One of the weirdest cooperative experiences I’ve seen comes from Devil May Cry 3 — and it even works on the re-releases and PS3 version. There’s a combat style called Doppelganger that spawns a second Dante when you Devil Trigger. If the second controller is plugged into the PS2, a friend can take direct control of that bonus Dante. It doesn’t last long — only as long as the Devil Trigger, but there’s a way around this.
If you play DMC3 enough, you can unlock unlimited Devil Trigger. Once you do that, you can play the entire game with a friend. And that’s not all! Late in the game when Dante fights alongside his evil brother Vergil, a second player can take direct control of that guy too. It’s incredibly weird — modern games would never just throw in experimental features like this.
Play Battles With Friends [Final Fantasy 4, 6, & 9]
For such a prevalent feature, I had no clue it existed for so long. In Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 6, and Final Fantasy 9, you can play cooperative battles with friends. Each player is assigned half the party members during battle and gets to control them when their ATB meter fills. All you have to do is plug-in a controller on the SNES or PS1. Who would’ve known?
Player 1 still controls everything outside of battle. They’ll be doing all the party selection or solving puzzles in the dungeons. Player 2 only gets control of specific character slots, and that makes this mode a pretty good way to introduce to JRPGs without overwhelming them with weird systems. And it’s kind of fun to coordinate with a friend sitting next to you.
Discover more well-hidden multiplayer modes in games we thought were singleplayer only on the next page.
