Multiplayer
From SRB2 Wiki
Multiplayer is a set of game modes in SRB2 that allow play for more than one person. Multiplayer games are either played splitscreen on one computer, or over a network using several computers, with one of them being the host.
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Splitscreen
Splitscreen games are games held on one computer, with the two player screens being split horizontally or vertically. A combination of keyboard controls for both players or use of gamepads are used for control. Splitscreen games include all the same game types that network games use.
Playing online
See main article: Netgame
Multiplayer gameplay types
Official Gametypes
These are the gametypes commonly played in SRB2. The gametypes listed here are all legal play on the Master Server.
Co-Op
Co-Op, short for Cooperative, is a gametype where multiple people help each other through the Single Player game—basically, it's a multiplayer version of the regular game. It can be especially helpful in particularly hard levels, where one person alone would have trouble completing the stage.
The level ends when one player reaches the end, although it's common courtesy to wait for the other players before going past the End Sign. Co-Op is also known more commonly as Coop.
Match
Match games consist of players shooting rings and weapons at each other. This gametype is extremely fast-paced; Match mode in SRB2 would take some getting used to for a player proficient with Deathmatch games in dedicated first-person shooters like Doom or Quake. By default, the third-person chasecam is off in this mode, meaning the camera view will be in first-person. The option does exist to enable the third-person view, however, by typing CHASECAM 1 into the console.
Note: If you can't move in first-person mode, it may be because Analog Control is enabled.
Team Match
Team Match is basically Match mode, except the players play as teams against each other. Teams are made by your character's color, along with others. (If your color was blue, and Player 2 was blue, you'd both be on the blue team.) The player's points as well their other teammates' points are all put together to create the team's points. Whichever collective team has the most points wins.
Race
There are two modes of Race: Full, and Time-Only. Time-Only Race is a straight race to the finish; the player with the shortest time wins. This is similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 3's multiplayer. Full Race has the same objective as Sonic the Hedgehog 2's multiplayer race zones: the person who wins the most of the five measured categories wins. The five categories in Full Race are Time, Score, Ring, Total Ring, and Item Box.
Some levels may be set up in a circuit. Such levels are a race with laps, where the players complete a course to increment the lap counter, and when they finish the final lap, the stage ends. You can play circuit maps in both Full and Time-Only modes.
Tag
- Tag redirects here. For the level design term, see Tagging.
In Tag, one player is "IT", and must tag one of the other players by throwing rings at them. When the IT player hits someone, the victim becomes IT. When this happens, everyone but the two players gets 1 point. This means however, that in two-player Tag games, nobody wins, since no one receives any points.
If a player dies, that player becomes IT.
Although there are no official levels using this in SRB2, a custom map can have No Tag Zones, where non-IT players can retreat to in order to escape being tagged. But if the player remains in the sector for too long, the effect is depleted, and the player can become tagged. And after leaving the sector, the player cannot be protected by it for a certain amount of time.
If TAILSPICKUP is OFF, all players become solid, and the IT player can also tag players by touching them.
As of SRB2 v1.09.4, the scoring in Tag is bugged. At the intermission screen, everyone has 0 points, but then the score from the previous level is carried over to the next. This results in premature level end if a point limit is set.
Capture the Flag
In Capture the Flag, also known as CTF, the goal is to capture the enemy team's flag, and bring it back to the home base to score a point. However, the team cannot score if their own flag is in possession of the other team.
When a player is carrying a flag, they cannot perform their special abilities, e.g., thok, fly, climb.
When a player carrying a flag gets damaged, regardless of any shields they might have, they will drop the flag. The flag cannot be picked up while a player is still invincible after being damaged. The flag will warp back to its base if it lands in a death pit, is not picked up again for a period of time, or is picked up by its team.
Unlike Match mode, enemies will spawn in this mode.
Chaos
Chaos is a defunct game mode in which enemies of all kinds would spawn in a level. These enemies would have to be killed for the highest possible score. Due to a lack of interest, various bugs, and poor gameplay, the mode was removed when v1.09 was released.
Other Gametypes
Often, players invent gametypes that aren't actually officially implemented as part of the game, but are made using elements of existing gametypes.
Diver
Diver is a game mode that, while not officially supported in SRB2, is allowed on the Master Server. It is used in conjunction with Match because it involves players throwing rings at another player.
Diver is played by having a player stand on a platform, and other people shoot at the player as he/she jumps/spins/runs off the platform, to a long fall down. If the player is hit on his/her way down, the player who hit the designated jumper then goes into the water, and becomes the new designated jumper. If the designated jumper is not hit, he/she jumps again. Normally, the designated jumping player is still considered "Fair Game" until he/she is actually in the water (as a player can land somewhere on the ground, instead of in the water), but that is optional.
Diver maps have a pool of water at the bottom that takes the player through a current of that same water back up to the top of the platform. Diver maps tend to include Homing Rings, Infinity Rings, and Rail Rings, to make aiming for the character designated to jump easier. Automatic Rings and Explosion Rings are not used because they unfairly change how the game is played.
Hide & Seek
Hide & Seek is a gametype that, while not officially supported in SRB2, is allowed on the Master Server. It is used in conjunction with the Tag game mode, because both use an "IT" sign above a player's head when said player is IT.
Hide & Seek in SRB2 is just like Hide & Seek in real life. One player is IT, and they walk up to and stare at a wall (or some other tall sector he/she can't see through, such as a tree) and waits for a set time agreed by all players in the game, while those other players hide. The player must then find either one of the other players and throw a ring at that player, or the IT player must find all of the players, and the last person found becomes IT—this person has a ring thrown at him to give him the "IT" sign. Hide and Seek can be played in virtually any level, but it is most common in coop levels.
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is a game mode that, while not officially supported in SRB2, is allowed on the Master Server. It is used in conjunction with Match because it involves players throwing rings at another player.
King of the Hill is played by having all players race to the top of the hill, and attempt to prevent other players from reaching it, such as by throwing a ring at them. If the player stays on top of the hill, that player's score increases rapidly. If a player happens to be hit, they will fly backwards at high speeds, often off of the hill. In short, it's like a survival game to stay on top of the mountain.
