System link is a way of connecting two or sometimes multiple video game consoles by cable or wireless to allow offline multiplayer games.
The term system link is more widely known to xbox and xbox360 users as an official term used by Microsoft, but system link is often used when talking about linking other video game systems too, such as the Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance as well as the Playstation, amongst others, for which system link cables exist to link up the devices.
System link should not be confused with online multiplayer gaming such as Xbox Live, where the players link up across the Internet. System link is all about offline gaming across a local network, typically using ethernet cables to connect the consoles together in a LAN (Local Area Network).
Some consoles will require a specific system link cable for direct connection between systems, and some consoles will allow direct connections using a standard or crossover ethernet cable, or connections from a LAN network switch or even wireless connection.
Find out more about connections elsewhere on this website.
To use system link, you generally need to make sure that the games you're playing support multilayer gaming in this way. This is especially true with the Xbox and Xbox360 systems, but we will provide a list of system link games for you.