The start of the school year is quickly approaching, and with it comes the return of late nights staying up with college friends. For some students, that means partying or enjoying the latest TV show or movie. For others, that could mean competing against friends in the latest video game.
For those in the latter crowd, it often can be difficult to find games that everyone can enjoy. The games below are to spice up social hour, even for those with no gaming experience.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo Switch
Many are familiar with the nail-biting, friendship-testing nature of Mario Kart. The latest installment of the beloved racing franchise has the familiar formula of collecting items throughout races to get a boost or sabotage other players. Four players can play at a time via splitscreen, but fans may opt to set up their own tournament to allow for more people to take turns joining in on the fun.
Including those added by the game’s paid expansion content, the full game offers 96 tracks and over 40 characters, providing near-limitless replay value.
Mario Party, Nintendo Switch
If Mario Kart tests friendships, Mario Party pushes them to the brink of extinction. A four-player hybrid of board games and video games, Mario Party has players alternate between rolling dice to maneuver around a game board and competing in minigames to earn coins to purchase stars on the board. At the end of the game, the player with the most stars wins.
The true fun of the game comes through cold, calculated sabotage. Players can steal stars, coins and special items from each other; oftentimes, this manifests through backroom — and potentially unfair — deals between players to take out the biggest threat.
Many versions of the game are available on the Nintendo Switch, and a new entry in the series, Super Mario Party: Jamboree, releases Oct. 17.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nintendo Switch
The series that birthed the “platform fighter” genre, Super Smash Bros. is an excellent and beginner-friendly fighting game featuring characters from beloved games, like Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Minecraft. Instead of whittling down a health bar, like in classic fighting games, players use their characters’ unique abilities to try to knock each other off a stage by building up a percentage meter that makes characters progressively easier to launch.
In typical Nintendo party-game fashion, the game offers items to help players get ahead, such as those that heal, damage enemies or spawn temporary NPC allies. Each character also has a chargeable “Final Smash” attack that is especially lethal.
Eight players can play locally at one time, but even more can play using the game’s local tournament mode.
Jackbox Party Pack, all major platforms
Humor is the name of the game in the Jackbox Party Pack games, which are collections of competitive party games that test players’ wit.
Classic games include Quiplash, a game similar to Cards Against Humanity where players enter responses to fill-in-the-blank questions and then vote on the best answer, and Tee K.O., where players create random drawings and taglines for each other and then use them to assemble the funniest T-shirt.
The beauty of the games lies in their accessibility, as every game is playable on a smartphone in lieu of a controller. Some games even support up to eight players, and many allow audience members to participate in some way.
Other games
Ultimate Chicken Horse, all major platforms: Compete with up to three friends in this 2D party platformer title from 2016 where players must reach the end of a level while continuously adding hazards to stop other players.
EA Sports College Football 25, Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5: This new entry in a long-dormant franchise was recently praised by Crimson White reviewer Matthew Mason as immersive and authentic. Four players can play together locally 2v2
