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Any love for the Intellivision?


jetset

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So I just got my first Intelly (Tandyvision actually) with the following games...

 

A.D. & D./A.D. & D.: Treasure of Tarmin/Astrosmash/Atlantis/Bump 'n' Jump/Burgertime/Demon Attack

Donkey Kong/Dreadnaught Factor/Frogger/Horse Racing/Las Vegas BJ & Poker/Lock and Chase/Nova Blast

PBA Bowling/Pitfall!/Popeye/Q*Bert/Skiing/Space Armada/Space Battle/Space Hawk/Star Strike/Swords & Serpents

Venture

 

So far I'm not impressed. :| Maybe I'm being too Atari fanboy, or just not giving it a chance. Are there any "killer apps" I should get? I mean, some of the games are decent...Bump N Jump and Burgertime being the 2 I like best so far...but the rest...Meh. I thought for sure I'd be at least happy with Demon Attack, hell I even like the Odyssey2 version, but the Intell version just doesn't excite me.

 

For the most part, the controllers are what I had expected...that being not fun, but I wouldn't say they ruin the games. Initially I hated them...but then got a little used to them. Eventually I'll be able to tolerate them, much like I always used to bitch about the Coleco controllers (still do a *little*), and now find they're not so bad once you get used to them.

I really want to like this system...maybe I need to give it more of a chance.

 

Any websites with game instructions and/or overlay pics (so I know what the hell I'm doing on some of the games, like AD&D, etc...)

 

Also...I seem to remember seeing somewhere you could get little attachments to go over the discs so as to use it like a joystick? Maybe not...

 

I was all excited having completed the "1st wave" classic trifecta already having a 2600 and an O2...I don't mean to bash the system at all...it's just....you know....Meh. :|

 

Oh, and PS Tim...Please don't be insulted. You made me a GREAT trade.

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Yes, there are joystick adapters. I have never tried them. The discs are fine once you get used to them. The firing buttons on the side are a pain, but many of the best games don't even use them. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is one of my favorites. Other great apps are: Tron deadly discs, Snafu, Space Battle, Triple Action, B-17 Bomber, Sea Battle, and Shark! Shark! Horse racing is good too; it's kind of a puzzler. Some of the games mentioned are 2 player only or best with 2 players (Snafu, Triple Action, Sea Battle). I'm sure I'm missing a few great games in this list, but these are some of my favorites.

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Yes, there are joystick adapters. I have never tried them. The discs are fine once you get used to them. The firing buttons on the side are a pain, but many of the best games don't even use them. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is one of my favorites. Other great apps are: Tron deadly discs, Snafu, Space Battle, Triple Action, B-17 Bomber, Sea Battle, and Shark! Shark! Horse racing is good too; it's kind of a puzzler. Some of the games mentioned are 2 player only or best with 2 players (Snafu, Triple Action, Sea Battle). I'm sure I'm missing a few great games in this list, but these are some of my favorites.

 

 

Shark shark is a must

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My gut feeling is that, if you didn't grow up with an Intellivision, you will not be impressed with it.

 

The only thing it really had going for it was -- arguably -- its graphics, but honestly once we got to see more of what the 2600 was capable of in the later years, it didn't even have that! I think just about every Intellivision game suffers greatly from one thing -- unbearably sluggish gameplay. Take Night Stalker for instance... that would be a GREAT game if it didn't take 10 rounds for it to get up to a marginally challenging (or, for that matter, even ENGAGING) speed.

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My gut feeling is that, if you didn't grow up with an Intellivision, you will not be impressed with it.

 

The only thing it really had going for it was -- arguably -- its graphics, but honestly once we got to see more of what the 2600 was capable of in the later years, it didn't even have that! I think just about every Intellivision game suffers greatly from one thing -- unbearably sluggish gameplay. Take Night Stalker for instance... that would be a GREAT game if it didn't take 10 rounds for it to get up to a marginally challenging (or, for that matter, even ENGAGING) speed.

I would argue that point. The games I listed are challenging at the higher skill levels. Especially AD&D and Space Battle.

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when i was 14 my girlfriend had a intellivison in her basement, i remember starting happy trails and finishing on another happy trail :P

 

i like some of the games but i havent had mine hooked up since 1996 when i got an INTV2 to test it

 

 

i remember playing Las Vegas BJ & Poker, Astrosmash, Beauty and the Beast, Happy Trails, Lock 'N' Chase, B-17 Bomber, and Truckin' to death tho

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I just brought mine out of the attic and have been playing it for the past few days. It certainly has its plusses and minuses like any other game system, but I was surprised to hear that there were only 125 games released for it. Given how popular it was back in the day, you'd think there'd be more. My favorites are AD&D, Space Battle, Beauty & the Beast, and B-17 Bomber.

 

The units and games are also pretty cheap...you could build a pretty big collection for a reasonable amount of money.

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My gut feeling is that, if you didn't grow up with an Intellivision, you will not be impressed with it.

 

You may be on to something there. I've tried over and over again to get into the Intellivision (I've actually got a huge collection), but I just can't. It's not that I can't appreciate something I didn't grow up with, I love the Colecovision, but there's just something about the Intelli that doesn't click with me. I think it may be the internal character set graphics that were used for everything, they made everything look so blocky and all the game start to look the same after awhile. The running man was neat though.

 

Tempest

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You definately should get THUNDER CASTLE,easily the best looking and sounding game for the INTV,IMO,really hard to find and a little expensive,especially if boxed

Edited by Rik
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Growing up, I owned an Intellivision and was thoroughly convinced of its superiority to the Atari.

But a decade or so ago when I first got the itch to relive my classic gaming memories, I picked one up at a garage sale and couldn't believe I was ever so enamored with it. I found that re-learning the controller was a pain, the games were - as already mentioned - sorta sluggish and many of the best ones required two players, which meant it wasn't much use as a solo leisure activity. When I scored an Atari a short time later and realized that the box of games that came with it nearly outnumbered the total number of games Intellivision had to offer - and there were still hundreds more to experience - it became a no-brainer which system to keep around.

 

I have extremely fond memories of playing a lot of Intellivision games, but that's all they are - memories.

When the Intellivision Lives CD came out, I gave'em another chance, but most of the games just left me cold.

IMHO, with few exceptions - Utopia and D&D have already been mentioned - most of the best games have equal or better equivalents on the 2600.

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Never owned a Intellivision as a kid and i really never had any intrest in it back then(I really wanted a ColecoVision)but after one of my friends gave me one this past year with a few games i have been buying games and playing it here and there.

 

Not a bad systems to own and collect for as it seems most of the games for it can be found fairly cheap. :)

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I had all three and of the three it was the Colecovision, 2600 and the Intellivision last. The controllers weren't a problem (although they did make my hand cramp after a time), it was just that the other two seemed to have better games ;)

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I'm not crazy about the Intellivision. Granted, I don't have a ton of games for it, fewer than 30, and am missing some of the "must haves." So far, the only one I really enjoy playing is Burgertime. It's certainly one of the best home versions available, and the weird disc controller doesn't hamper it too much.

 

The Inty is part of another trifecta. The telephone-keypad-sidemount-fire-button-let's-see-how-badly-we-can-screw-up-simple-directional-input-trifecta. Namely, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Atari 5200. I actually really enjoy playing Coleco and 5200 though.

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I'm not crazy about the Intellivision. Granted, I don't have a ton of games for it, fewer than 30, and am missing some of the "must haves." So far, the only one I really enjoy playing is Burgertime. It's certainly one of the best home versions available, and the weird disc controller doesn't hamper it too much.

 

The Inty is part of another trifecta. The telephone-keypad-sidemount-fire-button-let's-see-how-badly-we-can-screw-up-simple-directional-input-trifecta. Namely, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Atari 5200. I actually really enjoy playing Coleco and 5200 though.

 

You could see where they were comming from though with the disc controllers. They attempted to do away with the clutter of having joysticks left out and it worked for it was a pleaseing system to the eye. Colecovision attempted to do the same thing by blending a joystick with the intellivion disc pad and got something that was more awkward than useful. Had the Intelli pad been wider it would have been ideal for the pad is quite responsive when you get used to it. Its narrow size with the fire buttons so close together makes prolonged use painful ;)

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I will admit I'm starting to really dig Bump N Jump. Very well done game. It seems like every system it was ported to did a good job...the CV version is great, and even the 2600 version is really good.

 

Here's a link to a site with pictures of many overlays and text instructions. Unlike the CV or the 5200 most games DO use the keypad for gameplay, so w/o the overlay you'll likely be lost.

 

http://www.steverd.com/overintv/intvover.HTM

http://www.steverd.com/docs-in/docs-in.htm

 

 

Thanks man!!!!

Edited by jetset
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The game to have for the intellivision is Baseball. The fact that you could choose which of the fielders to activate made it one of the few games where the controller made sense. I also like Snafu and Shark, Shark.

 

Bill

 

I'm with Bill here about baseball and the sports games in general. They're much more invovled and detailed than the VCS games. However, you do need someone to play against. That's why I have kids - my teenagers can work of a good grounding by playing a little NFL football.

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I can't get into the INTV too much either. The majority of games I like for it are by companies other than Mattel. The Imagic and Activision games for it are the real gems IMHO. Mattel's version of Burgertime and Bump and Jump are good though.

 

Pick up Beauty and the Beast and Dreadnought Factor. Both are really fun on the INTV.

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