fiddlepaddle Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 After probably 25 years, I finally got an Intellivision that works. Over the years, I collected Atari games, but always thought of Intellivision as second best. Sure, it had a name for being good at sports games, but I find those boring anyway. There was one game I always loved in the arcade, Happy Trails, that was ported to the Intellivision, but not Atari, so I bought that cart at the flea market sometime back in the 80's, intending to play it sometime. I eventually bought a console or two, but they never worked. I continued to pick up Intellivision carts from time to time, usually when they were in a box of Atari carts, and eventually decided to sort and categorize what I had, including overlays, instructions, and boxes, but I never actually played any of these games. Until today, that is. Yesterday I found a mint-looking Intellivision (model 2609, © 1979 Hong Kong) at a thrift store (originally priced $99.95, discounted to $49.99, $29.99, $24.95, then half-price sale: got it for $12.50) with one game: Sharp Shot. Fun little game, actually, although it's pretty simple. Now, I'm going to have to find that box with all my other games in it, including Happy Trails... Have you ever found yourself to be pleasantly surprised when you finally got around to checking out a game system you had dissed back in the old days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 No - because the only system I refuse to ever buy is the Intellivision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STICH666 Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 For me it was actually the Saturn. I assumed that the Saturn was shit because none of my friends had it. And you know what they say when you assume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 No - because the only system I refuse to ever buy is the Intellivision Why? You're really missing out. It's a great system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I've never really been prejudiced against a system, but that's mostly because I've been completely and utterly ignorant of anything until adulthood. My house was strictly an Atari-only household growing up, and I never even SAW any of the other systems. Colecovision? Intellivision? Never heard of them until adulthood. Getting older I played all the other systems with my friends (both NES, SNES, Genesis, PSX, N64, etc.) but by then I didn't really trash on any system. Everything seemed like it had fun points to it. I loved Mario, but Sonic was also pretty cool. Now that I'm an adult and capable of trying out these systems through emulation or purchasing them, I honestly just want to get my hands on all of 'em and see what they were like! Even if they're "bad" in the traditional sense, it's still pretty cool to goof around with them and see what they were all about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 (edited) No - because the only system I refuse to ever buy is the Intellivision Why? You're really missing out. It's a great system. I'm with you on that one!It really seems the INTV comes last in popularity,i believe the INTV deserves more respect,each to his/her own though.It just seems the lack of popularity is a bit too much to be exact.I myself done get why that is really. Edited October 19, 2009 by Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 It's not really a 'old' system but I was prejudiced aganist the XBox. Until I played one with the better S Controllers. Then I went out and got a used system and some games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+chriswhit Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I dissed the xbox360. finally got one to have for my collection of then and now but still hate the system because she has a lot of problems that I've dealt with so far but when you pay almost 400 for a system it should work at least 20hrs trouble free. Love the games though especially Battle field Bad Company which is why I bought the system in the first place but the issues with the system makes owning one more headache than its worth. My 2600 is 32yrs old and has never had a single part replaced and also preforms almost like the day it was new. How many systems out there can stand the test of time like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technicaltoast Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I dissed the xbox360. finally got one to have for my collection of then and now but still hate the system because she has a lot of problems that I've dealt with so far but when you pay almost 400 for a system it should work at least 20hrs trouble free. Love the games though especially Battle field Bad Company which is why I bought the system in the first place but the issues with the system makes owning one more headache than its worth. My 2600 is 32yrs old and has never had a single part replaced and also preforms almost like the day it was new. How many systems out there can stand the test of time like that? Amen to that! I am NOT a fan of the xBox360 system (a.k.a. - Circle of Death), but some of the games are great. 2600's are tanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlepaddle Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 Well, after looking through my games and reading some history, it turns out there are TWO games that sparked my interest in the Intellivision: Happy Trails, an Activision "original" and Loco-motion, which was the conversion of the Konami arcade game I thought I remembered. These two games are basically the same game. Now that I've played them (both are fun), Happy Trails seems to be a bit more refined and the animation is a little smoother. Loco-motion (arcade) under MAME controlled using the arrow keys on a PC keyboard is still more fun than either, though. A somewhat interesting story: Activision sold Happy Trails (and got good reviews for originality) before Mattel was able to bring the Loco-motion arcade-conversion to market, and Loco-motion was generally perceived as the copy-cat. Then Mattel and Konami couldn't agree on who should sue Activision, and no legal action was ever taken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 (edited) I think I would enjoy one now. It's got some great titles, and is totally retro. Back in the day, no freaking way. I could not stand that George Plimpton guy, with his smug lines, implying "Atari Sucks" several times a night on the TV. Some of my peers then scored one, and of course were completely and totally asses about it. As far as I am concerned, that was a potent and quite effective object lesson on why it's a bad idea to sell your product on the idea that other products suck. LOL!!! Looks like George really got the job done, we've still got hold outs!! Nice job holding the Atari line man. Solidarity. I dig it. Somebody has to do it, right! (that's a big grin over here, in case that reads bad) Edited October 19, 2009 by potatohead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I'm actually in the boat of "didn't know it until I was an adult" I live in a poorer part of the nation, and most people here got what was cheaper, and the more side stuff never got here, it's still a problem to this day even. That said, the first third party console besides 2600 and pong clones that I knew about....was the Odyssey^2....in about 93, and I picked it up for $20, and all four games for it. Didn't like it, but it's still kicking around in a paper bag in the corner of the closet somewhere, I think. The second system was in 95, it was an Intellivision, and it came in one of those brown dust cover system cases, with 20 games. I picked it up, actually traded it for a Gamegear and 4 games. It worked, and I actually loved it. It fell on it's ass on a few games, like Donkeykong, which is one of the few games that look WORSE than the 2600 counterpart. But for the most part, I thought of it as a stopgap between the 2600, and the NES, and actually liked it. After that, I picked up a boxed 5200, with four games for $50 from the local TV repair place. I did get working controllers, but all the games I got were just 2600 games redone. Yes, they looked better, no they weren't more fun. About the mid 90's though, I got the internet, late 90's stuff like Ebay pops up, and all of a sudden, it's like WOAH!! If you masturbate to the idea of getting something different, there's something for everyone on this place. I typed in "games" as my firs t search, and couldn't believe all the stuff that poped up. Now what I found out about, and want the most is a Vectrex. Over all, I don't really hate on any system, but in the early 90's, me and my friends were like "F(boop) 3D0 I want a Nintendo" Actually, I still am not really interested in this console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 No - because the only system I refuse to ever buy is the Intellivision Why? You're really missing out. It's a great system. I'm with you on that one!It really seems the INTV comes last in popularity,i believe the INTV deserves more respect,each to his/her own though.It just seems the lack of popularity is a bit too much to be exact.I myself done get why that is really. It's George Plimpton's fault for trash talking the Atari 2600...how dare he ridicule the VCS! I'm serious - for some of us diehard 2600 fans that whole ad campaign was a big turn off. A kid down the street got an Intellivision for Xmas one year and I think that's the only time I ever played an Intellivision. He had Astrosmash which wasn't bad and admittedly the controllers weren't a bad experience. But, at the time the Intellivision didn't have much to win me over and my folks were already invested in a 2600. What was the pack-in game for the Intellivision? I may look at collecting for the Intellivision but next on my list is the Astrocade and Arcadia 2001 systems which seem to be pretty elusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylark68 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I was an Atari die hard and when the NES came out I hated it. I remembered all of the Sears stores that used to carry Atari and next thing I know they were carrying NES back in '85 - '86. I cursed the day that NES became popular because I knew that the Atari wouldn't be around much longer. I was grateful it carried on as long as it did. I still don't care for the NES that much but some of the games are fun in 2 player form (such as Double Dragon 2). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kripto Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 One cool thing about AstroSmash (which was the Intellivision pack-in for a while), was that it was originally a bad rip-off of Asteroids. Fearing a lawsuit, Mattel had the programmer write a new game which was different enough to not land them in court, that was AstroSmash. Because the original game and AstroSmash both used the same graphics and were small enough, they are both actually on every AstroSmash cartridge. The Asteroids clone is able to be accessed only if a freak memory error occurs, similar to "frying" on the 2600. If someone knows another way to get at it, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 One cool thing about AstroSmash (which was the Intellivision pack-in for a while), was that it was originally a bad rip-off of Asteroids. Fearing a lawsuit, Mattel had the programmer write a new game which was different enough to not land them in court, that was AstroSmash. Because the original game and AstroSmash both used the same graphics and were small enough, they are both actually on every AstroSmash cartridge. The Asteroids clone is able to be accessed only if a freak memory error occurs, similar to "frying" on the 2600. If someone knows another way to get at it, please let me know. I was going to say Astrosmash was the packin (but didn't know) As for the other game...I figure, two roms on one cart, couldn't you put a dipswitch into the cart or something? Or are they both on the same rom chip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I dunno, maybe the Playstation 3. Truth is, I usually have a big axe to grind with Sony game systems until I've owned them for about a year... then all that excess contempt goes straight to Sony instead. When (if?) I get this machine working properly and after I've spent some time with Motorstorm and Uncharted, I can decide if the machine has more to offer than what I'm getting from my Xbox 360. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 No - because the only system I refuse to ever buy is the Intellivision Why? You're really missing out. It's a great system. I'm with you on that one!It really seems the INTV comes last in popularity,i believe the INTV deserves more respect,each to his/her own though.It just seems the lack of popularity is a bit too much to be exact.I myself done get why that is really. It's George Plimpton's fault for trash talking the Atari 2600...how dare he ridicule the VCS! I'm serious - for some of us diehard 2600 fans that whole ad campaign was a big turn off. A kid down the street got an Intellivision for Xmas one year and I think that's the only time I ever played an Intellivision. He had Astrosmash which wasn't bad and admittedly the controllers weren't a bad experience. But, at the time the Intellivision didn't have much to win me over and my folks were already invested in a 2600. What was the pack-in game for the Intellivision? I may look at collecting for the Intellivision but next on my list is the Astrocade and Arcadia 2001 systems which seem to be pretty elusive. Yeah, Plimpton was obnoxious and it's a real shame that Mattel chose to go that route. But it still didn't stop me from enjoying both systems back then or now. The original pack-in game for the Intellivision was Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack. Perhaps not the most glamourous pack-in but then again neither was Super Breakout. But that's what we had and we liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Yeah I agree the Plimpton commercials had no class,but were quite memorable.Trying to prove a game was better mainly because the graphics were nicer, That simply was not true in a lot of cases obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 (edited) I'm starting to warm on the Intellivision a little. I wouldn't go out of my way to get one but I came across one at a cheap price I'd give it a go again. I just can't get around those controls. Thats what it always comes down to for me. Controls that are either difficult to use or just don't work. Whoever thought controlling a game using a round disc that you moved with your thumb was on more acid than one person should be. How do others feel about the controls? Are they prone to break easily? Are they comfortable to use? Its been so long since I've played one maybe I should give it another go. The system does have some nice games. Edited October 21, 2009 by AtariLeaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 How do others feel about the controls? Are they prone to break easily? Are they comfortable to use? Its been so long since I've played one maybe I should give it another go. The system does have some nice games. I don't think the controllers are nearly as bad as the reputation they seem to get. They just take a bit to get used to them. The disc is no worse than using a d-pad. In fact it's better since it's much bigger, I think. They need to be treated well since, if they do break, replacing them isn't the easiest thing. That's with the exception on the INTV II and Sears model. Although the controllers did partially fail on my original unit I bought in 81 or 82 I don't necessarily think that they are particularly fragile. That being said though just make certain everything has been tested properly when purchasing one online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 The disc is no worse than using a d-pad. In fact it's better since it's much bigger, I think. Eh? As a former Intellivision owner I have to disagree; I found the flat disc control terrible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I actually like the controller. When you need to move to a direction that is 45 degrees from the direction you are at, you can spin the disc instead of lifting your thumb off the controller. You can't do that on a d-pad. The side buttons suck, but many of the really good games either don't use them or use them sparingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I actually like the controller. When you need to move to a direction that is 45 degrees from the direction you are at, you can spin the disc instead of lifting your thumb off the controller. Doesn't that shred the underlying membrane printed circuit, though? Or at least, I seem to remember someone on Atariage saying that (spinning the disc while pressing it) would destroy a controller pretty quickly. The INTV controllers aren't well-suited for twitch games, IMHO, or for anything where extremely rapid changes in direction are necessary. But for slower-paced stuff where you can "take aim" a bit more (Microsurgeon), or where you're making subtle course changes (Shark! Shark!, Utopia, etc.), they actually work pretty well. The biggest problem with them is the keypad vs. disc/buttons conflict, where you can't move and shoot at the same time in certain games unless you hold a controller in each hand -- which works OK, but still takes some getting used to. I think the 2600 and Intellivision complement each other very well, and if you're going to have just two early-gen systems, it's a nice pair to have. Kind of a left-brain/right-brain thing, almost. And strangely enough, I like the 20Hz "look" of a lot of Intellivision games -- something about it is pleasing to my eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I don't know about it harming the controller. Mine are still working. About moving and shooting at the same time it depends on how the game is set up. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, for example, works well with one controller to move using one thumb on the disc and another thumb on the keypad ready to shoot in the same direction you are moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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