Player Two: The Games to Play With Your Dad

This weekend I wrote about my own three father figures, my dad, my stepdad Wayne, and my grandfather, and the machines every one of them put in my hands. That piece is the why. This one is the how.

Because there are two kinds of Father’s Day gaming lists. One is a pile of games that have dads in them, Joel and Kratos and the rest, and it is a fine list that has nothing to do with your actual father. The other kind is the one I care about: games you can put in front of your dad, hand him the second controller, and actually play together. That is harder, and it is the whole point of this one.

The trick is knowing your dad. A lifelong gamer and a man who has not touched a controller since the arcade are two different jobs. So this is ranked for the one thing that matters on the day: the odds he picks it up, has a good time, and asks for one more round. Pure barrier to entry, weighted by how much fun the two of you have once he is in.

1. Super Mario Kart (1992), or any Mario Kart since

There has never been a better game for handing a controller to someone who claims they do not play, because the whole design keeps the gap between you small. He spins out, a blue shell flattens you, and suddenly the lifelong gamer and the first-timer are neck and neck on the last lap. It is the great equalizer, and that is exactly why it is number one. The SNES original on a couch is the platonic version, but any Mario Kart in the house does the job.

2. GoldenEye 007 (1997)

The split-screen game that pulled in people who never cared about games before and never would again, except for this. Four corners of a tube TV, the Facility, and somebody always calling for slappers only. If your dad was around in the late nineties, there is a real chance this is already a memory for him. If it is not, it is still some of the most pick-up-and-play multiplayer ever built. Set him up as Oddjob and let him think he is getting away with something.

3. The Legend of Zelda (1987)

This is the one I would fight for. Not as a competitive game, as a shared quest. The first game I ever beat with my dad was the gold Zelda cartridge, the two of us hunched over a notebook with no internet to ask and no idea where to go next. That is the recommendation, stripped of my history: there is no better way to spend a long afternoon with a parent than handing them a world neither of you has solved and a sheet of paper to map it on. One of you drives, one of you draws the map, and you both remember it for thirty years. (I told that whole story in the companion piece this weekend.)

4. Tetris (1989)

The secret weapon. More dads (and moms) quietly mastered Tetris than any other game ever made. Hand him a Game Boy (or modern rom handheld), or load any two-player version, and watch a switch flip. No story to catch up on, no buttons to memorize, just falling blocks and the oldest competitive itch there is. It is the lowest barrier on this entire list.

5. Contra (1987)

For the co-op bond specifically. Two players, one screen, and a difficulty curve that guarantees you are going to die together, a lot, and laugh about it. I played this game often with my dad and my cousins. There is something about the shared misery of a run-and-gun that makes it stick, the both of you leaning into the couch on the last life. Teach him the thirty-lives code as a peace offering.

6. NBA Jam (1993), or Madden, or a hockey game

The sports dad entry, and the way a lot of dads come in at all. The first games I ever played with my own father were the old unlicensed NES sports carts, back when they were just called Baseball and Hockey. NBA Jam is also another great one to play with dad, get ready to dominate him and yell “He’s On Fire” as you slam dunk from half court. The sport is the bridge. The game is just the excuse to sit on the same couch.

7. Street Fighter II (1991)

The competitive classic, for the dad who wants to actually beat you at something. Everybody knows Street Fighter even if they have never played it, which lowers the barrier to entry, and he will button-mash his way into a Blanka electrocution and celebrate like he drew it up. That is the correct outcome. Pick your main, give him Ryu, and let the rematches pile up. Few things bond two people like a best of seven that becomes a best of twenty.

8. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (1987)

The pass-the-controller game, and a sneaky-great pick for a dad who would rather coach than play. Punch-Out is a single-player game that turns into a two-person game the second somebody is watching, because the whole thing is about reading tells, and two sets of eyes spot them faster than one. He calls out Bald Bull’s charge, you dodge it, and you are a team. Then you hand him the controller for Tyson and watch him learn real fear.

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (1992)

The arcade, boiled down to a cartridge. Two players side by side throwing Foot Soldiers at the screen, asking nothing, giving back a steady stream of small wins, and over before anybody gets bored. If your dad ever fed a roll of quarters into a beat-em-up at a pizza place, this is the shortest distance back to that feeling.

10. Myst (1993)

The quiet one. Myst is the patient dad’s game: no reflexes, no twitch, just two people, a notebook, and a world to puzzle out together one screen at a time. My stepdad loaded our first family PC with it, and it is the rare game a total non-gamer will lean into, because it plays like solving a mystery, not like a video game. If your dad finds shooters and racers exhausting, this is the one. Pull up two chairs.

Know your dad

If your dad goes back further than all of this, to a kid in the seventies, try and find some old Atari games. Combat is two-player game, and it will mean more to him than anything with a story. If your in your 40’s like me and your dad was computer guy like my step dad, then fire up some classic dos or windows games to play together. My stepdad was the one who pushed me down the PC road in the first place.

The game matters less than the second controller or the time together does. Happy Father’s Day.