2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the original Xbox console launch and the debut of Xbox overall, and for many players, it’s a nostalgic time for those who grew up on the console and its wide variety of hit video games.
While there were countless single-player games that entertained thousands on the Xbox, there are just as many amazing couch co-op titles that made playing through them with friends and family an exhilarating event.
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Several games released on the Xbox offered both single-player and co-op modes, but many only offered two-player couch co-op, while some offered four-player co-op, which could then be extended further if people system linked other Xbox consoles and TVs together, allowing eight or even 16 players to play together without Xbox Live.
No matter if games offered two or four-player co-op, they still created very different experiences to those played solo and often created incredible memories that lasted for 25 years, if not for a lifetime.
10
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse
The Comedic Makings of a Zombie Horde
There are many famous and celebrated games released exclusively for the original Xbox, but one of them that offers some of the most unique co-op gameplay is also arguably one of the most forgotten, with that game being Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse.
A third-person horror game set in a sci-fi, fictionalized version of 1959, Stubbs is a rather comedic horror game as gamers play as the titular zombie mysteriously rises from the grave and slowly begins infecting the city of Punchbowl.
The way in which Stubbs spreads this infection is very comedic, as he’ll mostly use his body parts as weapons, such as tossing his head akin to a bowling ball, while he can additionally commandeer vehicles and command small groups of zombies to attack foes.
Stubbs features two-player split-screen co-op, allowing a friend to join Stubbs as an almost identical zombie called Grubbs to make the zombie outbreak in Punchbowl all the more visceral and far-reaching. Plus, the two zombies can even man vehicles together, such as the two riding together in the Sod-O-Mobile.
9
LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
This is Just the Beginning
For thousands of young gamers and Star Wars fans growing up alongside the prequels in the early 2000s, Traveller’s Tales’ first ever LEGO game, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, served as not only one of their first Star Wars games, but video games overall.
In a sense, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game is TT’s LEGO games at their most pure and simplified, as it doesn’t feature any open world elements, only has a few types of collectibles and unlockable characters, and doesn’t feature any dialogue at all.
These aren’t bad qualities, however, as it’s still a ton of fun to play through the Star Wars prequel trilogy in slapstick LEGO comedy form and getting to see all the minikit vehicle sets displayed outside of Dexter Jettster’s Diner.
It’s even more fun to play through the game in local two-player co-op, which can make vehicle levels hilariously chaotic and some sections play differently, such as making player two play as the final boss in Episode 3 – Chapter 6: Darth Vader.
8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus
The Best Co-Op TMNT Video Game
Over the course of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ 40 years of kicking ninja and alien butt across the streets of New York, there’s been plenty of games made about them, but the best TMNT co-op game has still got to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus.
Based primarily on the second season of 2003’s TMNT animated series, Battle Nexus sees the turtles learn the secret behind who and what the Shredder really is, inadvertently travel to space and save Professor Honeycutt, and take part in the titular multiversal Battle Nexus tournament.
Battle Nexus can be played in four-player co-op, which often makes battling bosses and common enemies way easier than normal, but it’s also just a ton of fun to play with three friends to better recreate battle scenes from arguably the best iteration of the turtles.
Plus, all four players can play as other characters besides the turtles, including their mentor Splinter, the hockey mask wearing Casey Jones, Shredder’s adoptive daughter Karai, and the mysterious Utrom bounty hunter Slashuur.
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7
Fuzion Frenzy
Xbox’s Take on Mario Party
Sometimes the best co-op games are those designed for pure, chaotic fun between friends and family, and Xbox’s best take on this type of party game is, without a doubt, Fuzion Frenzy.
A four-player party game similar to Mario Party, Fuzion Frenzy pits players against one another across 45 mini-games in either randomized tournaments or pre-selected game matches with the goal of obtaining as many orbs and points as possible after each round to win.
For example, Paint Panic will task players with spray-painting bugs before they can escape, while Falling Star will task players with collecting falling balls of glitter in small buckets and carrying them to a goal.
While Fuzion Frenzy can be played alone against CPUs, it’s far more fun to play it with friends and family, especially against those who have never played the game before, to see everyone struggle to understand how to play each mini-game.
6
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Marvel’s Ultimate Crossover Game
Towards the end of the original Xbox’s lifetime, many games were released both on it and the then new Xbox 360 console, such as LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and the greatest Marvel crossover video game series, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
A third-person, top-down action game, Ultimate Alliance isn’t based on any particular Marvel comic, show, or film but rather features an original story following the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and many other popular heroes and anti-heroes attempting to stop the plots of Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil.
While every version of Ultimate Alliance features exclusive playable characters, each version features at least 23 playable heroes and anti-heroes, with players being able to select up to four characters to join them on missions, such as a team being made up of Wolverine, Blade, Thor, and Ghost Rider.
Ultimate Alliance can be played alone, but it’s far more fun to play it with three other friends in local co-op to recreate awesome battle scenes with some of comics’ greatest heroes of all time or to simply fool around with a bizarre team of characters like Deadpool, Invisible Woman, Hawkeye, and Magneto.
5
Destroy All Humans! 2
Two Cryptos are Better than One
Pandemic Studios’ Destroy All Humans! was one of the best third-person sandbox games released during the era of the original Xbox as it blended classic 1950s sci-fi tropes with modern comedy. All of these features were improved upon in 2006’s Destroy All Humans! 2.
Destroy All Humans! 2 is set 10 years after the first game and sees Cryptosporidium-137 be mysteriously killed off-screen and another alien clone, Cryptosporidium-138, take his place and begin a war against the Soviet Union after the KGB destroyed the mothership.
In terms of gameplay, Destroy All Humans! 2 is basically just a bigger, better version of the first game with Crypto being able to travel across the globe and even to the moon instead of just 1950s United States and being able to cause all kinds of destruction with a plethora of new weapons and UFO abilities.
This time, however, Crypto won’t have to wreak havoc on humanity alone, as Destroy All Humans! 2 features local two-player co-op for all the game’s modes, allowing players to freely destroy cities and manipulate the minds of people together in classic sandbox alien fashion.
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4
Blood Wake
Xbox’s Take on Twisted Metal
Compared to later Xbox console generations, the original Xbox was full of a wide variety of exclusive titles, from the mascot attempt Blinx: The Time Sweeper to unique RPG Jade Empire, but one of the most underrated Xbox exclusive games of all time is Blood Wake.
Originally conceived as a rival to PlayStation’s Twisted Metal series, Blood Wake is a naval combat game set in a fictional, Asian-inspired world where clans and raiders equipped with machine gun-mounted speedboats, battleships, and sailboats fight each other for control of the seas.
In terms of gameplay, Blood Wake functions more akin to a fighter plane game but with boats instead and each type of boat featuring its own unique armament, strengths, and weaknesses, such as the massive Devil Boat being relatively slow and more susceptible to attacks but being equipped with several torpedo launchers, mine launchers, and autocannons.
Blood Wake does feature an interesting single-player campaign, but it’s even more fun to play it in four-player multiplayer in traditional modes such as Capture the Flag, but also in unconventional modes such as Blood Ball, which essentially has people play a game of soccer with these massive killing machine boats.
3
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
A Flight Sim in Dire Need of a Comeback
As mentioned before, the original Xbox was home to many unique and fun exclusive titles that featured fantastic single-player, co-op, and online multiplayer options, and one of the few games to excel at all three gameplay options was Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.
The second and last entry in the Crimson Skies video game series, Revenge is set in an alternate 1930s where, following The Great Depression, planes and zeppelins became the main mode of transportation and the United States dissolved into several smaller warring nations.
Revenge is primarily played in third-person planes equipped with machine guns and missiles as players take part in aerial dogfights against rival air pirate gangs or military air fleets, but there are a few sections primarily seen in its single-player campaign where players control anti-air turrets in first-person.
While Revenge does feature an incredible single-player campaign, it does feature high-octane four-player split-screen multiplayer as well as system link and online multiplayer for up to 16 players, allowing friends to craft epic air battles above oceans, through dynamic mountain ranges, or cramped city skylines.
2
Halo 2
Xbox Live’s Definitive Multiplayer Game
The original killer app of the Xbox was Halo: Combat Evolved, which practically ensured the survival of Xbox as a proper competitor in the gaming market all on its own, but its sequel, Halo 2, not only solidified Halo as a strong gaming franchise but became the blueprint for modern multiplayer experiences to this very day.
Much like its predecessor, Halo 2 features a robust campaign following Master Chief in his ongoing struggle to save humanity from the alien hegemony known as the Covenant, but this time he’s not the only playable protagonist, as players are able to play as Arbiter, a shamed Sangheili warrior striving to redeem himself for past transgressions.
Halo 2‘s campaign can be played solo or in local two-player co-op similar to CE, which is a ton of fun, especially in vehicle sections where one player can drive the Warthog or Spectre while the other mans the vehicles’ turrets.
However, what made Halo 2 standout even compared to CE was its innovations in local and online PvP console multiplayer matches, as players could dual-wield select weapons, play as Spartans or Elites, and even customize game types to make brand-new multiplayer modes, such as the ever popular Infection.
1
Star Wars: Battlefront II
Fully Realized Galactic Battles
While Halo 2 did offer fantastic local and online multiplayer options, I’d still argue that the best couch co-op game to ever launch on the original Xbox is Pandemic’s much beloved Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Not to be confused with EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II, Pandemic’s Battlefront II was the much celebrated 2005 sequel to Star Wars Battlefront, featuring maps from planets and ships seen across the original six Star Wars films and introducing a dedicated campaign as well as intricate space battles.
Most of Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s modes can be played solo against CPUs or in four-player co-op and those options alone often set the groundwork for tense and memorable battles together with friends or against each other.
Personally, I’ve spent many friend gatherings just having an absolute blast recreating the battle of Kashyyyk and Hoth, boarding enemy capital ships and destroying their internal systems, and even just having a wacky time with friends fighting all the heroes and villains in Hero Assault on Mos Eisley.
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Gather around and plug in those paddles.
