Split screen gaming dates back to at least the 1970s, with games such
Drag Race (1977) from
Kee Games in the arcades being presented in this format. It has always been a common feature of two or more player home console and computer games too, with notable titles being
Kikstart II for 8-bit systems, a number of 16-bit racing games (such as
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge and
Road Rash II), and action/strategy games (such as
Toejam & Earl and
Lemmings ), all employing a vertical or horizontal screen split for two player games.
Xenophobe is notable as a three-way split screen arcade title, although on home platforms it was reduced to one or two screens. The addition of four controller ports on home consoles also ushered in more four-way split screen games, with
Mario Kart 64 and
Goldeneye 007 on the
Nintendo 64 being two well known examples. In arcades, machines tended to move towards having a whole screen for each player, or multiple connected machines, for multiplayer. On home machines, especially in the first and third person shooter genres, multiplayer is now more common over a network or the internet rather than locally with split screen. ==See also==