Double Play



A Self-Imposed Challenge in two-player games in which you play both players at once.

Actually makes things easier in Light Gun Games as you can simply dual-wield, but harder in games where each player controls an on-screen character, as well as games in which you use Stock Control Settings.

Compare Teamwork Puzzle Game.

Since this Self-Imposed Challenge can be done on virtually any multiplayer game, examples will be limited to games that offer a doubles mode and thus recognize it, or games where this style of play gets enough attention.

Games that offer a specialized "double play" mode:

 * Most of the Bemani series as well as some other Rhythm Games, though the double-play modes present in most of the games offer specialized charts.
 * Beatmania IIDX allows you to play Double Battle mode, in which you can play the same single-player chart on both sides.
 * Pump It Up has the Freestyle and Nightmare difficulties, which are double-play difficulties. Unlike in DDR and In the Groove, where double mode is typically seen as an optional challenge, if you're a very skilled Pump player, you're expected to be able to play Freestyle and Nightmare.
 * Audiosurf has the Double Vision (not to be confused with one of the AVGN's 2-Part episode). It comes in three flavors: Casual, Pro, and Elite, which are Easy, Normal, and Hard, respectively. It was even intentional to be either Two Players or Double Play, as it says on the description: There are two cars to control. Play by yourself or with a partner.
 * Guitar Hero 5 has Just Dance by Lady Gaga available for download, it has no strummed notes and thus both guitar and bass can be played at the same time.
 * It's very possible to play Versus by yourself on Dance Dance Revolution with reasonably easy charts that have no or few jumps. You have to spread your legs out three panel widths and every step ends up being a jump.
 * 3rd mix featured Unison mode, which is meant for two players. There is just one set of "guide arrows" in the middle of the screen, and the arrows are color-coded (red = 1P, blue = 2P, yellow = both), but you can hit the other player's steps. It should be pretty easy to see where this trope comes into play.
 * Contra 4 contains ports of the NES versions of Contra and Super C. Due to some limitations, if you choose their respective 2-player modes, you'll find that they aren't really 2-player modes so much as this trope.
 * Raiden III and IV. Interestingly, you can configure the controls to control both ships with one controller, or if you're feeling exceptionally coordinated, with separate controllers.
 * Target Terror Gold's Justice Mode allows you to use both guns on a single credit.
 * While there's no official mode for it, the loading screens in Rock Band suggest playing an instrument while doing vocals, and the vocal harmony feature introduced in The Beatles: Rock Band outright encourages as many players as possible to multitask at the same time.
 * Performing bass and vocals simultaneously is generally referred to as "Geddying" in the fandom. Of course, now that a keyboard peripheral has been introduced, it's possible this term could be expanded to players who do bass, vocals, AND keyboard at the same time.
 * The World Ends With You's battle system is a variation of this. For the vast majority of the game, you control both characters, with each character having its own screen. You can have a CPU help you out with the top screen if you're not coordinated enough, though the CPU sometimes does some not-so-intelligent moves.
 * House of the Dead: Overkill offers you a dual-wield mode after you've cleared the game's Director's Cut mode. Do an entire level in it and it opens the last few unlocks.
 * It is actually possible to double-play a co-op race in Mario Kart Double Dash, due to the game having two people in carts rather than one; the process involves holding the driver's controller on top of the rear guy's and playing as if it is one huge, complex controller. While the nature of this setup makes getting mini-turbos and aiming items much more difficult; having the ability to punch rivals - spinning them out AND stealing their items, the ability to nudge yourself using said punch to avoid hazards, an stronger starting boost when both controllers are timed correctly practically makes up for it.
 * The game Uberschizoid on XBLA has this mode (uberschizoid mode). The blue ship is controlled using the left stick and the orange ship is controlled by the right one in this mode. Due to the nature of the game, however, this game may actually be easier to play in dual mode than single mode once the control feels natural.
 * Dance Dance Revolution has "Double" mode, with specially-designed stepcharts for 1 player on two pads.

Notable examples of Double Play in other games:

 * Pictured above is an Ikaruga player doing a double-play run.
 * What makes that one especially notable is that he does a no death, S++ rank game all the way up to partway through the final boss. Watch it here.
 * Tetris the Grand Master 2 PLUS has a Doubles mode that is intended for two players in which both sides share one field and must cooperate to reach level 300. Some players have completed it solo.
 * In Bub & Bob, a Mac clone of Bubble Bobble, the level layouts are the same but the gameplay is slightly different. One consequence is that on Level 99 (the last true level; Level 100 is a boss fight) the two halves are completely separated, so you must use both players. However, since you can call the other player into existence at any time, it's easy for a solo player to Double Play this level without having to Double Play the entire game.
 * More to the point, all versions of Bubble Bobble give you a Bad Ending if you complete the game without a second player.
 * A very odd variant that practically counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome is a simultaneous tool-assisted speedrun of Mega Man 3, 4, 5 and 6, or Mega Man X 1 and 2. The player is using the same controller inputs perfectly synced for all the games. If you pay attention to only one game, some moves will seem silly...
 * There's now also one for Super Mario Bros. 1, 2-Japan, 2-USA, and 3.
 * Speaking of Mega Man 3, there's a pseudo-example of this in the form of a couple of cheat options in that game that require input from Controller 2.
 * In Super Smash Bros Brawl, it is possible to use a single Game Cube Wavebird controller with multiple receivers to control multiple characters, almost in the style of the Ice Climbers.
 * DJMAX Technika 2's Duo Mixing mode, in which two players play on a single, split-up touchscreen, has been played solo countless times. The game itself even proposes doing this.
 * This is very easy to do in the PC version of Sonic 3 and Knuckles (or using Emulation) when playing as Sonic and Tails as only one hand is needed to control each character. Because of Tails's invulnerability and ability to fly wherever you are if he goes offscreen or dies, you just have to focus on keeping Sonic alive.
 * At least one person has done a Quadruple Play of Donkey Konga.
 * Gradius Gaiden has been double-played. On Hardest.
 * World of Warcraft invented 'multi-boxing', which involves one player playing up to 5 separate characters at once and making leveling a breeze. Blizzard endorses this, probably because it also means you need pay for 5 separate accounts.
 * Also done in MMOs well prior to WoW [Everquest, for example], and even MU Ds.
 * JoshTigerheart suggested the inverse as a solution to people complaining that Escape Velocity should have multiplayer: Have one guy controlling your ship's maneuvering, and the other guy manning the guns, or however you wish to arrange it.

References to Double Play in other media :

 * Live Action TV series Noob happening mostly in a MMORPG has several players with two characters. See work's page for more detail.