Best Video Game Duos

Link & Zelda (The Legend of Zelda) wins 57% of its duels and tops the Video Game Duos ranking ahead of Sonic & Tails (Sonic).

The 35 ELO points separating Link & Zelda from Sonic & Tails at ranks 1 and 2 mark the sharpest divide in the upper tier, a gap that underscores the Hyrulean pair's consistent appeal across 552 duels. Ratchet & Clank (Ratchet & Clank) sits just behind at rank 3 with 1366 ELO, while Donkey & Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong) claims rank 4. The Mario brothers land at rank 5 despite posting a 61% win rate across 461 duels, suggesting that even mascot royalty faces stiff competition when the question turns to duo chemistry rather than solo stardom. The podium leans toward iconic platformer partnerships, with no room for modern narrative-driven pairs. At the bottom, Kay & Yu (Haven) registers 991 ELO at rank 49, trailing Naiee & Naia (Brothers) at rank 48 and Simon & Catherine (Soma) at rank 47. The drop-off suggests that indie game duos struggle for recognition against decades-old mascot teams embedded in collective memory.

This ranking draws from 11194 duels across 49 contenders, shaped by 65 players as of 10 October 2026. The dominance of Nintendo and Sega franchises reflects the weight of nostalgia and multi-generational exposure in a category where partnership chemistry competes with brand power. Vote now on VAINKEURZ to shift the standings or confirm which duo defines cooperative play.

Updated on October 10, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →