The advent of widely available, high-speed internet made it possible for hundreds of players to connect simultaneously to the same game. While split-screen shooters like GoldenEye 007 provided a glimpse of what was to come on console, PC gamers were already accustomed to frenetic deathmatch experiences like Quake and Unreal. Some of the most compelling multiplayer games for home consoles in the nineties were one-on-one fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat or racing titles like Ridge Racer and Mario Kart. Although born from necessity, multiplayer gaming has been a big part of games from the very beginning, and two-player titles remain a staple of the action genre. In the early days of video games, AI wasn’t advanced enough to challenge human players, so they mostly competed against one another.
