8 Video Game Revolutions We Don't Need Anymore

8. Multi-Taps

Video games have always been a communal thing, from the most humble days of the hobby until the present day. From the arcade to the lobbies of your favourite battle royal.

The earliest home consoles largely didn’t think twice to include the ability to play with a friend, sibling or potential mortal enemy… but largely multiplayer meant “two-player” maximum. As the PlayStation hit stores in 1995 and exploded, its contemporaries saw a chance to boast that their games were more multiplayer friendly. The Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast both came equipped with four controller ports.

It seemed like this was the one thing the PlayStation didn’t have - until it did. The company introduced an optional, boomerang-shaped peripheral that allowed gamers to play in groups in four. Or, if you had two Multitaps and a compatible game, even eight players.

In retrospect, Sony releasing the original PlayStation with only two controller ports seems incredibly ill-sighted but it must’ve worked. They had the confidence to repeat the process when the PlayStation 2 launched in exactly the same state, necessitating a new Multitap release for the new generation.

Of course, controller ports themselves tend to be a thing of the past now as systems ship with wireless pads - and so there’s no real need for a restriction at all.The Xbox Series X, if you so desire, can support eight controllers. Sony’s PlayStation 5, by some ironic and stubborn measure, can handle half of this… it’s better than two at least.