Intellivision overload

[vsp]

As someone whose first game console was a Mattel Intellivision, I'm drooling over a couple of newly released retrogaming products. Now all I have to do is decide which option(s) to take...

<b><a href="http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/ps2xbox.shtml">'Intellivision Lives'</a> for PS2, coming for Xbox after Xmas</b>

Pros:
* Kitschy 80's-style "Hal's Pizza" menu system
* Video interviews, unlockables, history stuff
* 60+ games, including the voice-synth games
* It's $20, with the original designers getting a cut

Cons:
* Licenced games (AD&D, Tron, Lock'n'Chase, Burgertime, Bump'n'Jump) aren't included
* The controls have been hacked to better fit a PS2 controller
* Third-party games (Imagic, Activision, etc.) are missing

<b><a href="http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/direct2tv.shtml">Intellivision 25</a> direct-to-TV handheld </b>

Pros:
* No system required (great, since my wife just got Fatal Frame 2 and will thus have custody of the PS2 for a while)
* Nifty gift idea for my niece
* Some of the better games (Astrosmash, Shark! Shark!, Thin Ice, Tower of Doom) included
* It's $20, with the original designers getting a cut

Cons:
* Only 25 games, and third-party games are still missing
* Controls are hacked even more severely
* Uses four AA batteries

<b>Dragging my old Intellivision out of storage</b>
Pros:
* It's already paid for
* I own many of the "missing" games, some of which were the best on the system (Tron Deadly Discs, the AD&D games, Burgertime, etc.)
* Original controllers

Cons:
* A trip to Radio Shack to buy a newer GAME<->TV switchbox
* The designers get diddly, and I sorta like to monetarily reward companies that take a chance on commercial retrogaming releases
* It's one more thing that'll take up space in my apartment
* None of the unreleased games, obviously

<b><a href="http://www.zophar.net/ivision.html">Intellivision emulation</a></b>

Pros:
* I have all the ROMs already, including unreleased games
* No switchbox or space required
* It's free

Cons:
* The designers will go broke and live in boxes
* Playing these games on my computer keyboard will probably suh-diddly-uck

Decisions, decisions...

[elSicomoro]

I thoroughly enjoyed my Intellivision, which my brother still uses today. Man...what great memories...B-17 Bomber, Sea Battle, AD&D, Utopia, etc.

The only thing I didn't like about Intellivision were those silly insert cards...they almost always got fucked up (either by getting crinkled up or by the printing wearing off the plastic).

[vsp]

Simple solution -- don't put them into the controller in the first place. Either lay them just off to the side (so you can look down for easy reference), or memorize what's on them to begin with. Most of them aren't that complicated, and many of them that are (say, Utopia or AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin) aren't fast-action games, so you can sneak a peek at your leisure.

Doing so also makes it easier to use Intellivision II controllers; I prefer the original's chiclet-buttons to the remake's membrane-keypad.

[vsp]

I did Plan C -- digging my old carts out of storage. I couldn't find my Intellivoice, so a cheap replacement's on its way via eBay so I can play Bomb Squad and Space Spartans.

So I now have eighty-six games on my dresser, not including duplicates (I have four or five Burgertimes, for instance). I'm missing thirty-nine, which are all from 1983 or later, and am now puzzling out which of them are worth hunting down that won't cost an arm and a leg.

In the meantime, between Astrosmash, Treasure of Tarmin, Dreadnaught Factor, Beamrider, Thin Ice, Microsurgeon, Lock 'n' Chase, Bump 'n' Jump, Shark! Shark!, Tron Deadly Discs and Tower of Doom, I don't think I'll be leaving the house this weekend.

[elSicomoro]

Have you seen the Intellivision games that were made for the Atari 2600? I had a few of those--Space Attack, Lock 'n' Chase and Astroblast (don't know why Astrosmash was renamed for the Atari version). Obviously you lost some of the Intellivision functionality, but they were still pretty good games.

Hey, let me ask you this, vsp...was my system just retarded, or can you "pause" any Intellivision by pressing the 1 and 7 buttons at the same time?

[vsp]

The M Network (Mattel-for-Atari 2600) games were... all right. You could really tell that they were "dumbed down" to the level of the 2600's graphics and sound, but most were playable.

(The "dumbing down" wasn't as dramatic as the Coleco games for Atari and Intellivision; those were as terrible as terrible could be (if you thought 2600 Donkey Kong was bad, wait 'til you see what they did to Zaxxon), and they revealed years later that it was intentional so that people would buy a ColecoVision instead.)

Intellivisions always paused when you hit 1 and 9 together. The Atarisoft games (basically Atari returning the favor for M Network -- Intellivision Pac-Man was stunning compared to the 2600 version) also used 1 and Clear to freeze the action without blanking the screen.

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by vsp
The M Network (Mattel-for-Atari 2600) games were... all right. You could really tell that they were "dumbed down" to the level of the 2600's graphics and sound, but most were playable.

But they seemed to look and sound better than your standard 2600 games. The non-Atari games (made by Activision, Imagine, etc.) always seemed to be better in that vein.

Yeah, Donkey Kong was pretty damned bad on the 2600...better on the Intellivision though.

Intellivisions always paused when you hit 1 and 9 together.

Shit, it was 1 and 9. I haven't played the Intellivision in...damn, 5-10 years now.

[vsp]

Originally posted by sycamore
But they seemed to look and sound better than your standard 2600 games. The non-Atari games (made by Activision, Imagine, etc.) always seemed to be better in that vein.

Depends on the game. Many of the "big name" Atari games were under VERY intense deadline pressure, which led to terrible end products. (Pac-Man and E.T. come to mind.) Acclaim is a good analogy, or Sega and Data East when it comes to pinball -- they regularly spend more time and money acquiring the rights to a popular property than they do developing a decent game that incorporates it.

The difference, of course, is that Atari's programmers _could_ create a decent game when properly motivated. Acclaim, IMHO, hasn't developed a single one yet. I mean, look at this <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/company/215.html">cavalcade of shit</a>. In Acclaim's _entire history_, they haven't developed a single game that was even _as good as_ similar games on the market at that time, let alone one that was better, and if you take out the Bust-a-Move games, they haven't even PUBLISHED one.

Acclaim fucked up BUBBLE BOBBLE. How can _anyone_ fuck up Bubble Bobble?

Ahem. Anyway, Activision and Imagic generally didn't port familiar arcade properties or spend megabucks on licence fees; for many games, they "borrowed" gameplay mechanics and reused them in creative ways. Astro Blaster became Megamania. Q*Bert became Frostbite and Quick Step. Frogger became Freeway. Battlezone became Robot Tank. Phoenix became Demon Attack. Space Zap became Cosmic Ark. Raiders of the Lost Ark became Riddle of the Sphinx.)

But they also had great original concepts, too. Pitfall broke new ground in platform-scrolling adventures. Stampede, Kaboom, Decathlon, River Raid, Dragonfire... these were simple ideas that made other companies wonder why they didn't think of them first, and they made their companies a fortune. (Hiring away some of Atari's better programmers certainly made this a lot easier.)

Other third-parties were more erratic. Parker Bros. stuck with licenced properties, and had just enough good games to avoid being the Acclaim of their day. CBS had a gem with Mountain King and a slew of mediocre arcade ports. Fox did MUCH better with their original games (Beany Bopper, Turmoil!, Worm War I) than with their licences (Mega Force, M*A*S*H, Porky's, Flash Gordon).

And then you had companies like Froggo and Zimag and Data Age and Mythicon and Apollo that unapologetically shoveled shit onto store shelves in pretty boxes, along with Coleco (who did it for every system but their own).

The 2600 was a bastard to program for, though some intrepid souls have released homebrew games in recent years. (Search <a href="http://www.atariage.com/software_search.html?SystemID=2600">here</a> for Rarity = H (Homebrew) for a list of recent 2600 creations.)

The Intellivision had _much_ more going for it under the hood than the 2600 did, and their games looked much better. So why didn't it dominate its era? Because Atari was there first, _and_ (more importantly) Atari had the licenced properties people wanted to play. The same principle applies today; there were _several_ competitors to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color that kicked its ass eight ways to Sunday, but they didn't have Mario and Tetris and Pokemon and Nintendo's marketing muscle... so they died out.

[Whit]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Damn, I somehow missed this thread earlier... Now I'm feeling strong urges to pull my own Intelivision out of the closet... Complete with AD&D, Burgertime (why the hell is that game that much fun?), Tron: Deadly Discs and Bump & Jump. I've got more, I just don't expect to get past those...
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In it's day the only thing better than the Intellivision was the Commodore 64. Heck, I've even heard rumors that the Commodore 64 could actually do more than play games.

[mbpark]

I've seen Intellivision Lives! for the PC, which does come with an emulator, and it can be hacked to run the other ROM images . This way, at least you can support the Blue Sky Rangers.

One of my friends does have this. It runs on XP Professional.

BTW, I still have my 128D also. It's got a lot of modifications like JiffyDOS and such, and I will be putting a Windows 98 machine on it to serve as a 64HDD server (so I can play all the 64 games on it). Works just fine.