Summary
- Co-op games like Kalimba require full coordination for both players on a single controller.
- Affordable Space Adventures turns piloting a spaceship into a collaborative puzzle-solving experience.
- In games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, sharing a controller enhances emotional connection and storytelling.
Sharing a controller sounds like a compromise , but for some games , it’s the whole point. Whether it’s navigating a spaceship, puppeteering two conjoined dogs, or trying not to kill each other with laughter, these co-op experiences make dual-wielding a controller with a friend feel more like a trust exercise than a video game.
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Some are chaotic, others surprisingly heartfelt, but all of them prove that a second controller isn't necessary when there's just enough buttons to go around and the right partner to press them. Here are six of the best co-op games that manage to turn one controller into two brains. Or at least, tries to.
Kalimba
Teamwork Makes The Totems Work
Kalimba
- Released
- April 22, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E // Mild Fantasy Violence, Tobacco Reference
- Developer(s)
- Press Play
- Genre(s)
- Action, Casual
At a glance, Kalimba looks like a rhythm game collided with a geometry puzzle and brought a colorblind nightmare along for the ride. Dig in a little deeper, and it becomes clear why it works so well with two players sharing one controller. Each player controls a totem piece, with both stacks moving in sync through an unforgiving gauntlet of spikes, platforms, and timed jumps that demand nothing less than full-on coordination.
The split controls mean one person handles the left side of the controller, the other takes the right. It’s absurdly simple until it isn’t. Precision is everything, especially in later levels when teleporters, switches, and mirrored movement get thrown into the mix. One mistimed jump and both totems suffer, but that’s part of the fun. Few games make miscommunication feel this hilarious, or progress this satisfying.
Affordable Space Adventures
A Budget Spaceship Is Still A Spaceship
|
Platforms |
Nintendo Wii U |
|---|---|
|
Released |
April 9, 2015 |
|
Developer |
NapNok Games |
|
Genre |
Adventure, Puzzle, Stealth, Strategy |
There’s nothing quite like piloting a malfunctioning spacecraft through alien caverns while arguing over which player just crashed it. Affordable Space Adventures, exclusive to the Wii U, lets one player handle movement while the other adjusts internal systems like heat output, thrust, or stealth fields using the GamePad. It feels more like running a fragile submarine than flying a spaceship, with everything performed through one game controller.
What makes this co-op format shine is how dependent players become on each other. Boost too hard and heat builds up, exposing the ship to alien sensors. Forget to toggle the right engine, and it drops like a brick. Every level becomes a slow-burn puzzle, with one half of the controller trying not to die while the other juggles switches like a panicked engineer. It’s the closest gaming gets to turning into a clumsy but lovable episode of Star Trek.
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes
True Friends Yell About Wires
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
- Released
- October 8, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle
On paper, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes shouldn’t work with a single controller, but in practice, it becomes one of the best couch co-op games if players are willing to improvise. One person uses the controller to interact with and defuse a bomb on-screen. The other reads the manual, flipping through pages of complex instructions and shouting advice like “Cut the second wire, no, wait, the red one! Wait, how many batteries?!”
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Since only one player actually sees the bomb, it becomes a game about communication under pressure. The person holding the controller isn’t solving the puzzle. They’re just trying to interpret a mess of jargon while the manual reader slowly loses their mind. Sharing a controller doesn’t just work here. It actively encourages the chaos because both players are constantly leaning in, reacting together, and sometimes yelling at the same buttons.
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons
One Controller, Two Siblings, Infinite Sadness
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
- Released
- August 7, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Starbreeze Studios
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Few games ask players to control two separate characters at once using the same controller, but Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons turns that setup into pure storytelling gold. Each brother is mapped to one analog stick and one trigger. That’s it. The older one is on the left, and the younger one is on the right. Somehow, that’s all it takes to build an emotional bond that players aren’t even prepared for.
The co-op twist comes when two players share control, each taking the reins of one brother. It forces collaboration on everything from pushing carts to solving puzzles, but more importantly, it adds a strange layer of intimacy to the story. The game never uses dialogue. Instead, it builds everything through gestures, animation, and shared interaction. And that ending, when the control scheme itself becomes part of the narrative, hits harder when both players feel it together.
Phogs!
Two Heads, One Long Wobbly Dog
Phogs!
- Released
- December 3, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E For Everyone // Mild Cartoon Violence
- Developer(s)
- Bit Loom Games
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle
In Phogs!, players control a stretchy, two-headed dog. Not two dogs, just one very flexible body with a head on each end. That alone is funny, but it’s the co-op movement that turns it into a full-on comedy act. Each player takes control of one head, using half the controller to stretch, grab, and bark their way through a world filled with food, puzzles, and physics-based nonsense.
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The puzzles aren’t hard in a traditional sense. The challenge comes from getting both players to work in sync while dragging this ridiculous noodle of a dog around. Sometimes they're bouncing across jelly platforms, other times, they're passing food through their body like a furry meat tube. It’s absurd, yes, but also surprisingly sweet. Phogs! Never stops being joyful, and the single-controller setup just adds to the silly closeness.
Manual Samuel
Every Button Is A Body Part And Every Step Is A Mistake
Manual Samuel
- Released
- October 11, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
Some games challenge the player's reflexes, and then there’s Manual Samuel, which challenges their ability to remember how to breathe. Players take control of Samuel, a guy who literally has to manually control each of his bodily functions after making a deal with Death. One person controls the left side of Samuel’s body, the other controls the right, all using one controller. That means that one player blinks and breathes with the left hand while walking and grabbing with the left leg and arm. The other does the same for the right side.
The result? Total chaos. It takes two players just to get Samuel across a room without forgetting to blink or suffocating mid-sentence. And yet, buried beneath the ridiculous premise and slapstick frustration is a genuinely clever design that teaches cooperation in the weirdest way possible. It’s less about skill and more about managing to laugh through the failure, and that’s what makes it unforgettable.
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