Sounds like he proved his own point wrong, honestly.

Calling them "single player games with extra steps" is a wild take when the whole point is you literally can't beat the game alone. It Takes Two won't even let you past certain puzzles without two people, so him quitting just means you were stuck doing nothing anyway. Sounds more like he didn't want to play and grabbed a lazy excuse. Not really a crime, just an annoying guest move on a holiday.

The "wings need constant flipping and still steam themselves" part is exactly what I ran into. I gave up on doing a big pile and now I just do six at a time in a single layer, and yeah it takes two or three batches, but they actually get crisp that way. The trick that helped me most was drying them really well with paper towels and then tossing them in a tiny bit of baking powder before the sauce goes on at the end. Also I stopped crowding the basket, which was my whole problem from the start. Drumsticks are way more forgiving since they stand up and get air on all sides like you said. Wings can work but you have to babysit them, and honestly some nights I just don't want to.