Toaplan is a Japanese developer known for creating lots of beloved shoot 'em up classics like Truxton, Out Zone, and Zero Wing. Most of these games are available in Toaplan Arcade Collection Vol.1 and Vol. 2 on PlayStation and Switch, or sold individually on Steam. Maybe Plain Jane collections aren't good enough for you, though. You want something special! Well, Kyukyoku TigerHeli - Toaplan Arcade Garage has just launched worldwide on PlayStation and Switch (after first appearing in only specific regions). This new collection was developed by M2, and it offers enhanced ports of Tiger Heli and its co-op sequel, Twin Cobra, plus a whole lot more.

Bikkuri Software is a Japanese indie developer that specializes in shoot 'em ups. Those shmups have historically been single-player affairs, but the developer's latest game (published by Henteko Doujin) is called Revolgear Zero, and it supports 2-player local co-op. It even offers the ability to simulate co-op when playing solo in some modes! Fans of 16-bit and 32-bit shoot 'em ups will want to give this one a look.

Nowadays, there are so many old-school console and arcade titles that are impossible to legally own and play on modern platforms. Thankfully, some publishers do strive to rescue and publish classic games for today's audiences - see Super Bomberman Collection for a recent example. Now Limited Run Games is stepping up to the plate with an impressive compilation of its own: MARVEL MaXimum Collection. The collection features a total of 13 games, five of which will support co-op!

One of last summer's most pleasant surprises was the announcement of a new Scott Pilgrim beat 'em up from Tribute Games. Well, time marches on, and Scott Pilgrim EX is soon to launch on consoles and PC. Ahead of that impending launch, players can try the Steam demo (with local co-op) right now... This very minute. Get to it, folks!

The Bomberman franchise has been mostly dormant in recent years, unless we count the disappointing Super Bomberman R 2 and the sadly-decommissioned Super Bomberman R Online. Still, Bomberman used to be a flagship series, and someone at Konami finally remembered that! As proof, Super Bomberman Collection arrived on consoles and Steam today, collecting all five 16-bit Super Bomberman games as well as both NES games. It's a killer package, though online multiplayer is conspicuously absent.

...and there's the first month of 2026 already gone. In terms of videogames it was a rather quiet January. You can almost count the co-op releases with two hands and even our database didn't see that much of an influx of entries. But that's okay with us. Not every month needs a breakout blockbuster eating up all of our time. Its also nice to have a bit of time to check out smaller affairs. Like the open world action-adventure DuneCrawl, the action-roguelike DunHero or the action-RPG No Rest for the Wicked. And if that's too much "action" for you, how about checking out Kentum, the survival-infused metroidvania adventure?

...and that's it for 2025. And what a year it has been. Steam alone saw the release of over 19.000 games. Many of which were most likely early access friendslop simulator titles of questionable quality slowling replacing the endless wave of early access survival horror games of questionable quality that came before it. Aren't trends wonderful?

Following an unfortunate last-minute delay, the PlayStation 5 version of Megaton Industries' Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders has finally arrived. That's good news since December is the perfect month for skiing, whether solo or with up to 8 online players via cross-play co-op. Maybe the mountain won't be so lonely after all!

Absolum is one of the most popular new beat 'em ups of 2025 (right alongside MARVEL Cosmic Invasion), so it's no surprise that the game will continue to grow. Today, Dotemu announced that a version 1.1 update is in the works, as well as what the update will include. The only downside is that the update won't be released for a while yet, but there's plenty to look forward to!

Yes, we are a bit late this time around. December snuck up on us hard. We are having too much fun playing all those games released in November. And of course enjoying the Awards season. You know: Complaining about our favourite game not winning and such. So let's leave it at that and point you as usual to the lists below. May you and your co-op partners find the games you are looking for there!

It's unusual for bullet heaven games (à la Vampire Survivors) to feature online co-op. That's part of what makes Entropy Survivors, the "bullet heaven roguelike" from First Break Labs, so exciting. Not only does the game have 4-player online co-op, but it has just gotten a Hard mode in celebration of its first anniversary. Now a team of four can face extra-tough challenges together and unlock new skins for their trouble.

The founders of Coffee Stain Studios, the team behind Goat Simulator, have a new studio called Feeble Minds. Their minds might not be as strong as yours or mine, but these guys do have an interesting game in the works. Serpent's Gaze is a cooperative Souls-like action RPG that's coming to PC in 2026. There's already a demo, so the game must be pretty far along.