boxpressed Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 For a while, anyway. Even as a kid, I was disappointed by Space Hawk. It seemed sluggish and repetitive. The only way to play it was with autofire unless you wanted to destroy your fingertips. As I've bragged about in other threads, I own a grips03 custom Sega Master System-to-Intellivision controller adapter. (I believe he is now making a Sega Genesis-to-Intellivision controller adapter.) I have been waiting for a proper arcade stick to pair with it, and I finally got a Battlestation II last month. I thought I would give Space Hawk a go with this new setup. Long story short, I'm impressed. The game becomes somewhat challenging at higher levels. The bubbles home in on you pretty quickly, and there are new foes such as the giant amoeba. I used fastest speed, manual fire, direct movement (no drifting), and quick rotation. The latter two options take some getting used to, but they give you precise control over your guy. I consider myself an average twitch gamer, and I scored 500,000+ points with this setup. I had 84 lives left when I quit. Took me a little over an hour. I may go for a million when I have more time to spare. Video (about 3 minutes) shows you how fast the game is at this level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Nice to see some love for this game! I've always enjoyed it, ever since it was first released. Regular Intellivison controller and all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 I played it a lot as a kid because there were only so many games to choose from. I always thought that it *should* be better than it is; after all, the concept is similar to other games I enjoy such as Asteroids. I was hoping that the control scheme worked against its potential, and I think it does. This game could even be ported to the VCS/2600 if the joystick would orient your guy and thrust if in the same direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vprette Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 imho : noway this game can be fun in any universe! a big disappointment in my childness, my mather could effort a new inty cartridge only each 4-5 months and that was a waste of my life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 My brother and I liked this game as kids for short bursts of gaming, but it doesn't play well for long. I don't enjoy it much now. My childhood experience might be a little different from other folks; my grandfather had the Intellivision and we only got to play it every month or two for 10 minutes to a couple hours. If instead the Intellivision had been at my parent's house like vprette's did, I would likely have hated the game too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 This was one of several games that my brother and I never "got". That is, we owned a copy of it, but we could never really figure it out well enough to enjoy it. We'd try it again, see if we felt any differently, and then switch to some other game like Astrosmash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vprette Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 This was one of several games that my brother and I never "got". That is, we owned a copy of it, but we could never really figure it out well enough to enjoy it. We'd try it again, see if we felt any differently, and then switch to some other game like Astrosmash. astrosmash, soccer took 90% of my play with friends at home... later come lock'chase, tron disk and ad&d.... but I had several games that I felt so boring (space armada, dracula, etc..) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 i did like Space Hawk, what a great forgotten game. I need to stop being so weird about it, or unseal it or get another copy. ok, I will unwrap mine today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 i did like Space Hawk, what a great forgotten game. I need to stop being so weird about it, or unseal it or get another copy. ok, I will unwrap mine today! On one hand, you can find a loose cart for like $0.50. On the other hand, you can find another sealed one for like $5.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vprette Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 i did like Space Hawk, what a great forgotten game. I need to stop being so weird about it, or unseal it or get another copy. ok, I will unwrap mine today! I believe you confused the game with some other ones... check it and come back :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I will thanks. I have not played it in 30 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeM_Intellivision Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Haven't played this one since I was a kid. Got some play out of it as a kid but then went on to other games. Not the worst game in the world, but not the greatest replay value either. Will have to give it another shot one day for nostalgia's sake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 For a while, anyway. Even as a kid, I was disappointed by Space Hawk. It seemed sluggish and repetitive. The only way to play it was with autofire unless you wanted to destroy your fingertips. As I've bragged about in other threads, I own a grips03 custom Sega Master System-to-Intellivision controller adapter. (I believe he is now making a Sega Genesis-to-Intellivision controller adapter.) I have been waiting for a proper arcade stick to pair with it, and I finally got a Battlestation II last month. I thought I would give Space Hawk a go with this new setup. Long story short, I'm impressed. The game becomes somewhat challenging at higher levels. The bubbles home in on you pretty quickly, and there are new foes such as the giant amoeba. I used fastest speed, manual fire, direct movement (no drifting), and quick rotation. The latter two options take some getting used to, but they give you precise control over your guy. I've got a custom built stick that I will test out on this using your settings and report back. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Thread bump! I never played this game much, but decided to play a bit tonight (manual fire/no drift). Up until tonight, my best score was under 5000 and my last game played was in August 2013. Tonight I got 51,320. I might have to switch to auto fire, though. After this relatively short game my thumb was pretty sore. It was nice to see the difficulty increase with the addition of smaller hawks, direction changing hawks, speed increases, space debris (or whatever that white stuff is), and bubbles that follow you. Maybe in a couple more years I'll try again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Yah I pull this out from time to time and I honestly don't mind it at all. There are certainly worse games on this system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intellfan Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I might have to try it again. It is one of the games i played for a very short time and have never played it again . I never really gave it a chance . Then i heard a lot of people say the game sucked . Guess it is time give it a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intellivotion Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) I had prejudice against it, purchased it late (May 2005) because it was very low in my wishlist, played it a couple of times and my verdict was: it sucks. I have to say "I'm sorry" to all those who like this game, but when I gave it a chance to convince me that it is nice I was disappointed. It was very low in my wishlist, now it's very low in my liking list. Edited August 11, 2015 by intellivotion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I always liked Space Hawk. I never had it back in the day, but my cousins did. It's been one of my go-to Inty games the last decade. Chasing the space hawks is just challenging enough to stay interesting, but not so hard as to be frustrating. You can play a long time, but I never got to the point where I could play forever like Astrosmash, so it strikes a nice balance. I like the variety of enemies as well. I did always think the "gas blaster" and bubbles were kind of dumb, though. If they your shots were bullets or lasers it would have been much cooler. I assume they did it for collision detection reasons or something like that. Maybe someone can hack the rom some day... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 (edited) I think Space Hawk is okay as well. For me the default "quick aiming" with the 16 direction disc works best. I've tried d-pads and thumbsticks but I prefer the Intellivision disc. I'm surprised your playing "direct drive" mode as opposed to the default "drift", that takes away a lot of the fun. I use drift, manual fire, and as with all Intellivision games the fastest speed. I think the key to enjoying space hawk is realising it's not asteroids and not to play it like asteroids. I ignore the bubbles and focus on tracking and killing space hawks. I don't know what the space hawks have done to deserve it but that's the way it is. Maybe it's because of all the bubble pollution. One of the knocks against this game is it's a bit easy. I usually just stop when I get to the rainbow bubbles at 100k. I didn't know about the giant amoebas at 200k I should go for that next time. The game looks better on a CRT, the background stands out too much on a modern display. I'd rate Space Hawk below Space Battle but above Space Armada and Astrosmash. Edited August 8, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnPCAE Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Space Hawk is definitely fertile territory for a Super Pro version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 I'm with mr_me, this game always felt like it was best with drift on, like Asteroids. You can line up speed and direction with the hawks much more accurately, plus it feels more "realistic." I liked it as a kid *because* it was easy, but that's the same reason I haven't touched it in almost 35 years. I think it's cool that you rediscovered it and had some fun with a clicky stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 I think it's cool that you rediscovered it and had some fun with a clicky stick. Sounds like the cousin of colormesticky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted August 10, 2018 Author Share Posted August 10, 2018 Since I started this thread in 2014, custom arcade sticks have become much more common for the Intellivision and other systems, making sticks like the Battlestation II less urgent. I will have to go back and try to figure out why I turned off drift. I played with drift as a kid, and it seems like the "natural" way to play Space Hawk. I think it had something to do with the speed of the game at the high levels. No drift must make your player easier to control. The video makes it look like I am off target a lot, but I seem to remember the enemies are moving a lot faster than they appear to on video. If it hasn't been done already, it would be nice to come up with a list of Intellivision games that benefit from an arcade stick. Nova Blast is another one. I don't think there will be many, however. For instance, Burgertime -- which seems like it would -- is much better with a disc so that you can have more precision going up and down ladders. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 11, 2018 Share Posted August 11, 2018 (edited) Alternate controllers will benefit rapid-fire games because the Intellivision side buttons are a little stiff. Space Hawk probably qualifies as a rapid fire game but you might want 16 directions as well. Did you ever get the random hyperspace bug with a joystick? I thought it would only happen with an intellivision controller but I've seen it with other controllers. Edited August 11, 2018 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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