Jason_Atari Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I'm new to collecting for the intellivision, and picked up a bundle recently. Are the games region free, therefore the rarity guides would be the same worldwide? Some of the games i picked up seem quite uncommon. Any help would be appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I'm new to collecting for the intellivision, and picked up a bundle recently. Are the games region free, therefore the rarity guides would be the same worldwide? Some of the games i picked up seem quite uncommon. Any help would be appreciated What do you mean by "region free"? If you mean if they are locked to one region or another, the Intellivision does not provide mechanisms for that. If you mean if they work on either NTSC or PAL consoles to the exclusion of the other, then it depends on the game and how it was programmed. If you mean with regards to the localization of the box and other collateral, then there are "international" editions printed in non-English languages. Other collectors may provide more details. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 I meant say i bought games from the states would they work 100% on my PAL console (NTSC carts work fine on my 2600 but the colours are all screwed up) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intvsteve Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) Almost all of the original games work on PAL and NTSC systems. I know that The Dreadnaught Factor from Activision will not work on PAL systems, as well as some copies of Motocross. There may be a few others with issues, but those two immediately come to mind. More generally, the PAL games will sound "slow" and a bit off-key, and, depending on how programmed, may play "too slow" or "too fast". IIRC most of the original titles play a bit sluggishly on PAL systems (50Hz vs. 60Hz video refresh). Other than the gameplay speed difference, though, they're fully playable. Many of the more recently developed titles have taken pains to have consistent gameplay experience (sound and speed) on NTSC and PAL, so if you're ever bitten by the "home-brew" bug, know that this discrepancy can be - and often is - addressed on the newest releases. Edited May 30, 2016 by intvsteve 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Welcome! We could probably give you a better estimation of rarity/price than any of the current guides. Many of the games had releases in multiple countries, which often had unique packaging and components; a good example being the CBS versions of Coleco titles released in Europe. Rarity guides seem to group sales buy title alone, but some variations are more valuable than their normal counterparts. If you feelings sharing any pics, I'm sure we could help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 I meant say i bought games from the states would they work 100% on my PAL console (NTSC carts work fine on my 2600 but the colours are all screwed up) Intellivision is a bit unique. It's "region free" in the sense that we came to associate post-NES. But as mentioned, some games just won't work in the wrong region's console. And many will work, but the gameplay will not be optimal (speed and sound issues). It's not like the 2600, where ALL games are wonky if you try with the wrong region. Or later consoles, where the games almost always play fine, but there's a hardware/code lock in place to stop it from happening entirely. Or the ones in between that we just plain region free (like most of the handhelds). It's a bit of a mixed bag that all depends on how much effort the programmer put into a particular game. And values vary highly. I'd say that in general US releases are the common/standard. Anything outside of that would carry a premium. The Intellivision was a very US-heavy system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 If you mean if they are locked to one region or another, the Intellivision does not provide mechanisms for that. Hm. Given that it's pretty accurate to detect CPU frequency, one could build a shitty region protection system into a game. Just don't play if you detect the wrong freq. It'd be a total douchebag move, but it should be possible, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Hm. Given that it's pretty accurate to detect CPU frequency, one could build a shitty region protection system into a game. Just don't play if you detect the wrong freq. It'd be a total douchebag move, but it should be possible, no? None of the existing games have that. There is no "region lock" on the Intellivision. Who cares if it could theoretically be added to some hypothetical new game? -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 None of the existing games have that. There is no "region lock" on the Intellivision. Who cares if it could theoretically be added to some hypothetical new game? Someone asked if it exists, you said there's no mechanism provided. This is a mechanism. No one's used it, sure - well not intentionally anyway. Several games are effectively region locked but all signs point to incompetence over malice. Given the forum we're on, I think plenty of people care about theoretical possibilities in hypothetical new games, even if there's no chance of it ever actually happening. Have you seen what those crazy Aquarius guys are trying to do with its graphics etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) Someone asked if it exists, you said there's no mechanism provided. This is a mechanism. No one's used it, sure - well not intentionally anyway. Several games are effectively region locked but all signs point to incompetence over malice. Given the forum we're on, I think plenty of people care about theoretical possibilities in hypothetical new games, even if there's no chance of it ever actually happening. Have you seen what those crazy Aquarius guys are trying to do with its graphics etc? Fine, you want to play the aspergers-nerd-dick card and take things literally instead of really paying attention to the original questions, then be that way. You know what would be better, though? Contributing productively to a conversation with real people. -dZ. Edited May 31, 2016 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Fine, you want to play the aspergers-nerd-dick card and take things literally instead of really paying attention to the original questions, then be that way. You know what would be better, though? Contributing productively to a conversation with real people. -dZ. I like how you commonly go full-on aspie when you accuse people of the very thing. There are games for the system that for all intents and purposes are region locked. You're harping on whether or not it was a "provided mechanism". Focusing on minor details that don't actually effect the overall impact of something is pretty much the textbook definition of a "nerd-dick card". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 I like how you commonly go full-on aspie when you accuse people of the very thing. There are games for the system that for all intents and purposes are region locked. You're harping on whether or not it was a "provided mechanism". Focusing on minor details that don't actually effect the overall impact of something is pretty much the textbook definition of a "nerd-dick card". I wasn't focusing on anything of the sort. I was trying to answer the question of the original poster in a practical way. I even asked for further information to see what he meant by "region free." Based on the phrase "region free," I took his question to be related to region-based DRM, and if so, there is no such thing on the Intellivision for existing games. I thought this was practical information to have. You've done this before in other threads where someone (not necessarily me) provides what seems to be useful and a propos information to a question, and you go on a tangent about some theoretical edge case that could be done in the future if someone tries hard enough. Now that I think about it, I believe it was also to do with DRM. Fancy that. The original poster's concerns appear to be about running games in PAL and NTSC unrestricted. I do not have a list of what runs on where, and I invited others to provide that information. I see that they have to some extent. What did you add? -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 The original poster's concerns appear to be about running games in PAL and NTSC unrestricted. I do not have a list of what runs on where, and I invited others to provide that information. I see that they have to some extent. What did you add? I explained where the Intellivision fits in between region-locked-due-to-technology (the 2600) and region-locked-due-to-design (post-crash systems). Then I speculated on the possibility that it could be used intentionally, given that we actually did see games that for all intents and purposes did exactly that, albeit unintentionally. There are games that in every practical sense are not "region free", and I was elaborating on that. Whether or not Mattel designed it this way doesn't really have any bearing on a present-day collector. But of course someone responded to a post of yours in a way that didn't jive with your desired narrative (I guess more correctly, seemed to possibly contradict something you said), so you've decided to be all bitchy about it, which seems to be your style the past couple of weeks. I mean moreso than usual - we're both plenty bitchy on average. You used to at least steer away from the name-calling. :shrug: I guess you can call it being a pedantic nerd (or whatever insult you'd like to toss my way), but a game that doesn't play on a given region's consoles seems to be not exactly "region free" to me. Anyway, peace out. Dreadnaught Factor won't play on PAL consoles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Welcome! We could probably give you a better estimation of rarity/price than any of the current guides. Many of the games had releases in multiple countries, which often had unique packaging and components; a good example being the CBS versions of Coleco titles released in Europe. Rarity guides seem to group sales buy title alone, but some variations are more valuable than their normal counterparts. If you feelings sharing any pics, I'm sure we could help. As Jason mentioned, if you wanted to show us some pics we could give you a sense of what you have and maybe make some suggestions as to what you should go looking for next. Also, you'll likely find tons of guys here with extra games happy to help fill out your collection at reasonable prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted May 31, 2016 Author Share Posted May 31, 2016 Welcome! We could probably give you a better estimation of rarity/price than any of the current guides. Many of the games had releases in multiple countries, which often had unique packaging and components; a good example being the CBS versions of Coleco titles released in Europe. Rarity guides seem to group sales buy title alone, but some variations are more valuable than their normal counterparts. If you feelings sharing any pics, I'm sure we could help. These 4 games i think might be the rarest of the bunch i got. Unfortunately the box for turbo isn't great, cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 With the possible exception of Turbo, all the others are decently collectible, but also really fun to play. Super Cobra is the rarest and most valuable of the bunch, having never been released in the US. Thunder Castle is more common, but most everyone wants it. The music is pretty good. Turbo can be collectible, but more so in the box. Nice boxes are tough to find and command higher prices. Those are some nice ones to get out of the way early on, especially if you got a good price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted May 31, 2016 Author Share Posted May 31, 2016 With the possible exception of Turbo, all the others are decently collectible, but also really fun to play. Super Cobra is the rarest and most valuable of the bunch, having never been released in the US. Thunder Castle is more common, but most everyone wants it. The music is pretty good. Turbo can be collectible, but more so in the box. Nice boxes are tough to find and command higher prices. Those are some nice ones to get out of the way early on, especially if you got a good price. Yeah i picked up the console and 20 boxed games for practically nothing, all working too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Yeah i picked up the console and 20 boxed games for practically nothing, all working too If you're interested in playing the games, there are people in this community who would gladly offer some duplicates to get you started. Of the four games you got, Thunder Castle is the better one, and Turbo is kind of crap. So don't judge the Intellivision by those. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intellivotion Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Defender is a very nice port too. Super Cobra? I used to play and love the arcade. IMAO, the Intellivision version is not exactly crap, but it smells a little like it. The music in Thunder Castle is awesome. If you don't recognize the themes you can take a look here . I also love the gameplay, but I suggest the enhanced version by David H. which ROM you can find here (with the original name of the game, Mystic Castle). Turbo is turdo, as Mr. Intvfunhouse prefers to call it (and I agree) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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