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Split screen is a display technique[1] incomputer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into non-overlapping adjacent parts, typically as two or fourrectangular areas. This allows for the simultaneous presentation of (usually) related graphical and textual information on acomputer display. TV sports adopted this presentation methodology in the 1960s for instant replay.[2]
Non-dynamic split screens differ fromwindowing systems in that the latter allowed overlapping and freely movable parts of the screen (the "windows") to present both related and unrelated application data to the user. In contrast, split-screen views are strictly limited to fixed positions.
The split screen technique can also be used to run two instances of an application, potentially allowing another user to interact with the second instance.
Thesplit screen feature is commonly used in non-networked, also known as couch co-op, video games withmultiplayer options.
In its most easily understood form, a split screen for a multiplayer video game is an audiovisual output device (usually a standard television forvideo game consoles) where the display has been divided into 2-4 equally sized areas (depending on number of players) so that the players can explore different areas simultaneously without being close to each other. This has historically been remarkably popular on consoles, which until the 2000s did not have access to the Internet or any other network and is less common today with modern support for networked console-to-console multiplayer. In competitive split-screen games, it iscustomarily consideredcheating to look at another player's screen section to gain an advantage.[3][4]
Split screen gaming dates back to at least the 1970s, with games suchDrag Race (1977) fromKee 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 beingKikstart II for 8-bit systems, a number of 16-bit racing games (such asLotus Esprit Turbo Challenge andRoad Rash II), and action/strategy games (such asToejam & Earl andLemmings ), 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, withMario Kart 64 andGoldeneye 007 on theNintendo 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.