My television is more intelligent now

[+Cafeman]

There were a ton of Intellivision games & systems at the local Groovy (Pittsburgh) so I decided to try out the system. $20 for a boxed system in good shape with 10 boxed games; also $2 each additional game so bought 6 more. Also bought the Intelli-voice adaptor for $5!

 

I only had time to hook it up and play it one night. The carts go in kind of tight but every one booted up first try - unlike my Genesis! I am not familiar at all with the Intellivision library or the system. Some of its games looked awesome to me back in my 2600 days, but I was an Atari fan only, and besides George Plimpton agitated me so much that I sent him hate letters. First impressions: Graphics have more detail than possible on 2600, music also sounds higher quality. All games seem to run slower than expected, to me. I never was good with the disc controller. I'm still getting used to that. The left one for 1-player seems to always work but maybe I'm pressing in the wrong direction at times. The bubble keypad buttons are surprisingly easy to find and press. I hate how short the controller chords are! I didn't realize they are hard-wired in there. (what do you do if they wear out?)

 

Games I tried so far & impressions. I didn't play each game very long, will return to each as time allows. I got overlays for all mostly all the games so far.

 

Bump & Jump -- First game I tried, I was terrible at it. I used to play this at the local arcade/ pizza shops and it was always fun, this seems a decent version of it. Must get used to the controls!

 

Demon Attack -- despite almost drooling at the detailed screenshots, it doesn't feel as good as the 2600 version to me. The castle killed me quickly. Still a fun shooter.

 

AD&D - the first one. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. I shot all my arrow, pressed the pick up button when I stood on more arrows but it didn't seem to work. I didn't get an instruction book so I was a bit lost. Will play more of course!

 

Star Strike - this one seems lousy. It looks great though.

 

Lock N' Chase - very different from the 2600 version, more complex. Again though, I was having difficulty controlling my man.

 

Tron Deadly Discs - I was immediately disappointed for some reason. But I kept playing. After a while I understood the strategy better and was having more fun. I defeated 1 big recognizer. This one is fun to me and unique.

 

B-17 Bomber -- HAW HAW HAW, the voice module's pronunciation of "B-17 Bomber" is hilarious! This is a detailed strategic game. Need to figure out the goal and strategy. Didn't read the manual yet.

 

Microsurgeon -- I was always fascinated by this game. Played a little but it was late. I love the concept. Basically a tiny maze shooter.

 

I also got the following but didn't play any of them yet: D&D Treasure of tarmin, Utopia, Sub Hunt, Atlantis, Dragonfire, Astrosmash, Bomb Squad (voice) and Space Spartans (voice).

 

Recommendations are welcome.

[nonner242]

Great deal there! some fun games too!

I like tron too. B17 was the "bomb" even without voice back in the day.

Mission X is one of my favorites tho.

Cant forget night Stalker ether.

 

Have fun man!

 

 

[jaybird3rd]

Congratulations on getting your first Intellivision! You got a good selection of games with it, and of course the Intellivoice is a nice bonus, too. I also got into the Intellivision after having grown up as an Atari user, and I was immediately fascinated with it. It's very different from the Atari systems, so it might take some getting used to, but it's a system with a lot to offer even today.

 

The short controller cards are partially a result of the way people used to set up their video game consoles in the late 1970s: they put it on a table or on the floor close to the players, and then ran a long RF cable to the TV (you'll notice this if you look at advertisements or magazine articles from the era). In this configuration, you don't really need long controller cords, but I can see how the cords would be limiting if you set up the Intellivision next to the TV. Another note about the controllers: don't try to use them as you would a gamepad, with your thumb in the center of the disc to press it up, down, left, or right. Use your index or middle finger on the edges of the disc to press it in a given direction or to "spin" it around in a circle, or use both fingers to "rock" it back and forth for games that require horizontal motion (like Astrosmash). You'll save a lot of strain on your hands this way.

 

Many of the Intellivision games, particularly the more sophisticated ones that make heavy use of the keypads (such as the AD&D games and Utopia), might be difficult to figure out without referring to the manuals. Here is a website that hosts scans of most of the manuals and controller overlays, in case you need them. One thing many of the games have in common is that the control you press at the title screen to start the game will also select the level of difficulty: the number keys will usually select a lower speed, and the disc will select the highest speed. If the games seem to be running too slowly for you, try pressing the disc to start the game.

 

As for game recommendations ... the nice thing about the Intellivision is that it got a much higher percentage of quality games than the 2600 did, and many of the best ones were first-party titles (published by Mattel, and later, by INTV Corporation) which are still relatively inexpensive today. Out of the ones in your collection that you haven't tried yet, my favorites are Utopia, Atlantis (a vast improvement over the 2600 version), AD&D Treasure of Tarmin (although I'm not very good at it yet!), and Astrosmash. The INTV Funhouse website will give you short reviews of most of the games, and a search here on AtariAge should produce a few threads in which Intellivision owners posted their recommendations.

 

I would start by picking up a few more of what are generally considered the "core" Intellivision titles: Night Stalker, Triple Action (a collection of three mini-games, of which "Biplanes" is the most popular), Snafu, Shark! Shark!, Frog Bog, BurgerTime, and Loco-Motion. They're all great games and they're all very common, and you should be able to pick them up for only a few bucks each, even NIB. You've already got a few good titles from Imagic, so definitely look into some Activision titles also, especially The Dreadnaught Factor, Happy Trails, and Beamrider. Of the less-common titles, most of the later releases by INTV Corporation are excellent: Thin Ice, Diner (a GREAT BurgerTime sequel), Thunder Castle, Commando, and Tower of Doom (the "unofficial" third AD&D game, although it was never licensed as such). The sports games were the most popular genre on the Intellivision, but most of the first versions (from Mattel) were two-player only. The later INTV versions (the "Super Pro" series) added a computer opponent, among other enhancements, so those might be the ones to get if you're interested in sports games and will be playing solo.

 

Welcome to the club, and have fun exploring the Intellivision!

[Rev]

Congrats, and welcome to intellivision.

 

i recommend picking up some of the arcade games like: popeye, frogger, pac man, centipede, burgertime and so on..

 

also 2 of my personal favorite imagic titles: beauty and the beast and white water.

[Ransom]

Congrats on your purchase!

 

The Intellivision controller does take some getting used to. As far as length of the cables, you can always look for the Sears version of the console which had controllers you could unplug, then get an extension cable. The cords for the Sears one are also straight, not curled. Until then, as others have said, just keep the console close to you while playing.

 

As far as good games, there are a lot of mines in that minefield with the Intellivision. IMO, any game that was originally on another system is better played on that system. Games made with the Intellivision firmly in mind in the design stage tend to be really good.

 

I do like the Intellivision versions of Bump 'n' Jump and Burgertime, though.

 

Other good ones, off the top of my head:

 

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons - My favorite game on the platform. A great, early action RPG.

Astrosmash - You'll probably be able to play a single session of this for hours at some point, but it's still a good game.

Beamrider - This is the platform it was designed for, and the Inty does a great job with this one.

Beauty & the Beast - Not just a Donkey Kong clone. Really fun.

Frog Bog - Another fun one. Known as Frogs and Flies on the 2600, but this version is prettier.

Lock 'N' Chase - Best version of this game that I've found.

Loco Motion - Nice puzzle game.

Night Stalker - Could have been better, but still really fun.

Shark! Shark! - Great two-player competitive game.

Sharp Shot - Simple game that was supposedly developed to be used in a TV game show. Reuses a lot of sprites from other Intellivision games. Fun, though.

SNAFU - Nicest version of surround on the classic systems, IMO.

Space Armada - Kinda gets whacky with the invisible aliens, but still fun.

Space Hawk - A version of Asteroids really well customized to the advantages and limitations of the Intellivision.

Star Strike - As you noticed, not a lot going on here, but it is beautiful and it's fun to play for short sessions.

Tron Deadly Discs - Gets better the more you play, IMO.

Utopia - Civilization version 0.1

[Rev]

Ransom: "Night Stalker - Could have been better, but still really fun."

 

 

 

I actually like the Intellivision version better than the 2600 version. But you are right about being better...how about some kind of randomly generated mazes.

Similar to Maze Craze on the 2600. I wonder if it could be done?

[+cmart604]

Welcome to our little tribe! You'll like it here. Many great recommendations so far, check back through the previous threads as we have a few lists of our favourites in there somewhere. Sounds like you got a pretty good start, if/when you need more thare are a few of us here who I'm sure have some extras we could help you out with. As Jay mentioned, if you like sports, the Super Pro series for one player games is pretty great. Good times ahead for you.

[Ransom]

Ransom: "Night Stalker - Could have been better, but still really fun."

 

 

 

I actually like the Intellivision version better than the 2600 version. But you are right about being better...how about some kind of randomly generated mazes.

Similar to Maze Craze on the 2600. I wonder if it could be done?

 

Randomly generated mazes would have been fantastic!

 

I'd read somewhere (can't find it now) that the spider and/or bats were originally supposed to have some different behaviors that would have made the game more interesting. My crusty mind can't remember what those were right now, though.

[jaybird3rd]

Randomly generated mazes would have been fantastic!

 

I'd read somewhere (can't find it now) that the spider and/or bats were originally supposed to have some different behaviors that would have made the game more interesting. My crusty mind can't remember what those were right now, though.

The spider was originally supposed to leave a trail of webs behind it that would slow down the man if he tried to walk through them, although he could shoot through them with his gun. This was cut due to memory or time constraints. There were also some plans for an enhanced version of Night Stalker which added some new features (different mazes, a bazooka to blast through walls, etc), but that never materialized either.

[Ransom]

The spider's trail must have been what I was thinking about. Something to make it more of a menace.

[roberto]

Welcome to the Inty!

My personal recommendations would be for some Imagic titles like Swords and Serpents, Dracula and Safecracker (to me, GTA 0.1 )

Cheers!