History Main / AsymmetricMultiplayer

* Possibly [[OlderThanTheNES one of the oldest examples]], ''VideoGame/{{Nautilus}}'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers was a two-player game in which one player controlled a submarine and had to destroy underwater buildings, while the other controlled a ship which dropped mines and depth charges and attempted to repair the buildings, but was unable to go underwater. (Fun trivia fact: according to TheOtherWiki, it's also the very first SplitScreen game in existence!)

* Possibly [[OlderThanTheNES one of the oldest examples]], ''VideoGame/{{Nautilus}}'' for the UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers was a two-player game in which one player controlled a submarine and had to destroy underwater buildings, while the other controlled a ship which dropped mines and depth charges and attempted to repair the buildings, but was unable to go underwater. (Fun trivia fact: according to Wikipedia, it's also the very first SplitScreen game in existence!)

* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'': Multiplayer modes allows for a team of players to fight as demons against one single player fighting as the Doom Slayer. Invasions allow this to occur within one person's single player campaign provided the person playing has opted in, while Battlemode is a dedicated multiplayer version set up as a 2v1, best of 3 deathmatch.

However, the concept has been around since ancient ([[OlderThanTheNES by video game standards]]) times. Generally, it is quite rare in games, as creating two completely different gameplay experiences for two different players requires a great deal of balance.

* The board game ''Thud'' (first mentioned as an in-universe game in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/GoingPostal'' and subsequently {{Defictionalized}}) is a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games tafl game]]" where one player controls a large group of [[FragileSpeedster fast-but-weak]] dwarfs and the other player controls a smaller group of [[MightyGlacier strong-but-slow]] trolls. A full match is two games, so to win you have to have mastered both.

* In the Final Chase of "The Chase" ''Series/TheChase'', the players have their clock continue to run during their wrong answers, which the Chaser does not. To balance, the players get a chance to answer the Chaser's dropped questions, for a chance to reduce the Chaser's total.

* ''TabletopGame/Root'': The game is essentially a WarGame, but the Marquise plays a {{Construction and Management|Games}} wargame, the Eyrie plays a {{Programming|Game}} wargame, the Alliance plays a {{Political Strategy|Game}} wargame, and the Vagabond plays an {{Adventure Board Game|s}} with EquipmentBasedProgression. That's just the basic factions; each additional faction plays some other method.

Compare VariablePlayerGoals, which are often paired with Asymmetric Multiplayer but not the same thing (as Asymmetric Multiplayer can have two players working towards the same goal different ways, and Variable Player Goals can have all players use the same game mechanics). SocialDeductionGames are a type of asymmetric game where the goal of one group of players is to figure out which players are secretly part of the other group.

Compare VariablePlayerGoals, which are often paired with Asymmetric Multiplayer but not the same thing (as Asymmetric Multiplayer can have two players working towards the same goal different ways, and Variable Player Goals can have all players use the same game mechanics).

** In the Final Chase of "The Chase" ''Series/TheChase'', the players have their clock continue to run during their wrong answers, which the Chaser does not. To balance, the players get a chance to answer the Chaser's dropped questions, for a chance to reduce the Chaser's total.
* ''{{Literature/Thud}}'': Discussed in reference to the titular board game, which features one side playing a small number of individually powerful trolls, and the other a larger number of weaker but fast dwarfs with very powerful combo abilities. The story mentions that most casual players lose interest because "the dwarfs always win", but at the highest levels of play the win percentage leans slightly in favor of trolls.

* ''{{Discworld/Thud}}'': Discussed in reference to the titular board game, which features one side playing a small number of individually powerful trolls, and the other a larger number of weaker but fast dwarfs with very powerful combo abilities. The story mentions that most casual players lose interest because "the dwarfs always win", but at the highest levels of play the win percentage leans slightly in favor of trolls.

* The board game ''Thud'' (first mentioned as an in-universe game in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' and subsequently {{Defictionalized}}) is a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games tafl game]]" where one player controls a large group of [[FragileSpeedster fast-but-weak]] dwarfs and the other player controls a smaller group of [[MightyGlacier strong-but-slow]] trolls. A full match is two games, so to win you have to have mastered both.

* ''VideoGame/LastYearTheNightmare'': five players take the role of students trapped in a high school with the sixth player, who controls one of three Killers. The students must complete objectives to escape from the school while the Killer must stop them. The students have a variety of gadgets and an advantage in numbers, while the Killer can spawn and de-spawn out of sight of the students, set up traps, and launch OneHitKill ambushes on unsuspecting victims.

* In ''Clue: The Great Museum Caper'', one player plays the thief, who is invisible on the board, trying to steal artwork, while the other players play the detectives trying to catch the thief. This style is also used in games like ''TabletopGame/ScotlandYard'', or in the bio-terrorist challenge for ''TabletopGame/{{Pandemic}}: On The Brink''.

* A few Collectible/Constructed Card Games do this, most notably {{TabletopGame/Netrunner}}. In both the original version and the reboot, one player is the corp defending his servers, while the other is the runner trying to hack into those servers. Each side plays by different rules and has his own set of cards to use; the runner can't use corp cards and corp can't use runner cards.