Masters of the Universe: He-Man opinions (Intellivisionaries)

[Opry99er]

I played this a little bit today. Good game... Probably in my top 10 favorite Intellivision games, but mainly because of graphics and music.. Some of the sound effects are pretty addictive as well.

 

7.833 out of 10

 

[+intvsteve]

I remember getting this one in the bargain-bin days - 1984-1985 or so - at Kay-Bee. The graphics and sound are great, but the gameplay is repetitive -- like most games of the era, really. The screens where you strive to reach Skeletor for the sword battle are kind of an inverse of the objective in Worm Whomper, and appear to use a similar programming technique to get the huge number of "moving objects". (Cycling GRAM?)

Edited March 12, 2016 by intvsteve

[lorenzogino69]

I also loved this game, because compared with the games back then, the mere fact of having multiple schemas, was so charming.

I remember playing hours and hours, my record exceeded the miglione and 100,000 points, and my imagination was flying ...

If you think about it now, I would say that the magic that gave her the cover of the box, and adventure shows what was inside, is not reflected ... in fact, I'd say the game is a bit boring once in a while ...

[fultonbot]

To me it's interesting that He-Man is one of the very few (are there any others?) Intellivision games based on Mattel toy properties.

It was like their other brands wanted nothing to do with the machine, or vice versa.

Oh, and the game itself is disappointing.

[mr_me]

To me it's interesting that He-Man is one of the very few (are there any others?) Intellivision games based on Mattel toy properties.

It was like their other brands wanted nothing to do with the machine, or vice versa.

Oh, and the game itself is disappointing.

I don't think the game is disappointing. It's a decent game for it's target audience; children aged 4-11. You don't even have to hit Skeletor to get him with a bomb; the bomb creates a hole and Skeletor falls in.

 

I thought I heard somewhere that they originally wanted Auto Racing to have "Hot Wheels" in the name. But even within a company there are costs between departments and rivalries.

Edited March 13, 2016 by mr_me

[+intvsteve]

I don't think the game is disappointing. It's a decent game for it's target audience; children aged 4-11. You don't even have to hit Skeletor to get him with a bomb; the bomb creates a hole and Skeletor falls in.

 

I thought I heard somewhere that they originally wanted Auto Racing to have "Hot Wheels" in the name. But even within a company there are costs between departments and rivalries.

 

I wonder if it was a case of Mattel "Toys" and Mattel Electronics actually being separate corporate entities. As such, would formal licensing agreements have been necessary? I.e. it wasn't quite as simple as just sending a memo over to Toys saying "Let's put Hot Wheels on a video game!".

 

Though I swear I remember seeing references to USAC Auto Racing, maybe in Electronic Games magazine. There was a board game of the same name around that time...

[freewheel]

They definitely were going to use Hot Wheels, and IIRC Barbie was discussed.

 

Licensing is generally arbitrary, counter-intuitive, and really just puts a crimp in the creative process. If you guys ever wonder why it's so bleeding difficult to make a licensed homebrew, it's worth noting that MATTEL ITSELF had problems licensing things. Think about that. It was easier, or at least considered easier, to obtain a license from all the major sports leagues - and DISNEY (!!) - than it was to use the Hot Wheels name on Auto Racing or SMB.

 

Mattel Electronics pursued licenses for tons of stuff; it was practically their Prime Directive at one point. And yet virtually nothing from the parent company ever got used.

 

Licensing is just plain weird.

[mr_me]

The major sports leagues and Disney, at that time, were far from the mega corporations they are today. So they were probably much easier to work with than you might think. And Mattel Electronics became a separate company around 1981/82 so definitely before the MOTU game.

[Guest LiqMat]

Got this game in 1983 and thought it was amazing at 12 years old. I specifically loved the castle chase scene and thought the graphics were so detailed.

[mr_me]

 

I wonder if it was a case of Mattel "Toys" and Mattel Electronics actually being separate corporate entities. As such, would formal licensing agreements have been necessary? I.e. it wasn't quite as simple as just sending a memo over to Toys saying "Let's put Hot Wheels on a video game!".

 

Though I swear I remember seeing references to USAC Auto Racing, maybe in Electronic Games magazine. There was a board game of the same name around that time...

Sorry for being off topic but I had to google it. Electronic Games May 1982 calls it "USAC Auto Racing" ( https://archive.org/details/electronic-games-magazine-1982-05 page 59). I wonder where it came from; it would have been a couple of years since Auto Racing was released.

Edited March 14, 2016 by mr_me

[Descolado]

Sorry the language, guys. I dont have much time to translate to english, but, the video show the trick.

 

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Wow, that's an impressive technique.

[freewheel]

Yeah, I noticed this the first time I played the game. You just have to drop bombs and turn around, and you can constantly get him. I don't have the patience for such repetitive gameplay so I've never really played far into the game.

 

Not sure if there's another trick being done in this video but to me this is basically MOTU in a nutshell. Visually attractive game, but rather boring even by the standards of the day.

[+DZ-Jay]

Yeah, I noticed this the first time I played the game. You just have to drop bombs and turn around, and you can constantly get him. I don't have the patience for such repetitive gameplay so I've never really played far into the game.

 

Not sure if there's another trick being done in this video but to me this is basically MOTU in a nutshell. Visually attractive game, but rather boring even by the standards of the day.

 

Personally, I don't recall many arcade/action games with much depth from back then... I think it was comparable to others, and at least it had more than one screen. And this is without having any nostalgic attachment to it, since I didn't own it as a kid, nor did I care for the Master Of The Universe franchise.

 

I guess horses for courses.

[+nurmix]

I interviewed both programmers last night (Ray Kaestner and Rick Koenig). Neither of them were aware of this 'trick'. I will send them the video link.

 

 

Sent from my Intellivision ECS using Intelli-Tapatalk

[Opry99er]

Holy cow, 92,000 points on the first board!!

 

Geeez....

[+intvsteve]

[OT] Are there any MOTU collectors on this thread? I came across an interesting item -- a 1986 calendar from Lay's -- complete with coupons!

[BydoEmpire]

I was a big fan of the He Man cartoon when I was a kid, and I thought the Intellivision game was a blast. The graphics and music are top notch, the two gameplay sections keep it interesting, and it while it gets challenging later it has a nice, easy ramp up. I did wish for more swordplay, though. It's like the paladin in the D&D cartoon - just as shield? Lame. I wanted to cleave stuff with He Man, although he didn't do that much in the cartoon. Maybe some of Skeletor's robots. Despite that, it's still a lot of fun. Probably a top 5 game on the system, but on the borderline. Definitely top 10.

 

 

 

t's a decent game for it's target audience; children aged 4-11

4 year olds watching He Man? Really? That seems like quite a stretch. /grumpyoldman Edited March 19, 2016 by BydoEmpire

[mr_me]

 

I was a big fan of the He Man cartoon when I was a kid, and I thought the Intellivision game was a blast. The graphics and music are top notch, the two gameplay sections keep it interesting, and it while it gets challenging later it has a nice, easy ramp up. I did wish for more swordplay, though. It's like the paladin in the D&D cartoon - just as shield? Lame. I wanted to cleave stuff with He Man, although he didn't do that much in the cartoon. Maybe some of Skeletor's robots. Despite that, it's still a lot of fun. Probably a top 5 game on the system, but on the borderline. Definitely top 10.

 

 

 

4 year olds watching He Man? Really? That seems like quite a stretch. /grumpyoldman

 

 

Here's the clip from Mattel's 1983 dealer catalog, I had back at that time. Mattel could have been wrong on their facts. This catalog only mentions a MOTU game in the M-Network section.

Edited March 20, 2016 by mr_me

[+nurmix]

 

Here's the clip from Mattel's 1983 dealer catalog, I had back at that time. Mattel could have been wrong on their facts. This catalog only mentions a MOTU game in the M-Network section.

Yeah, those screenshot / mockups clearly look like Intellivision graphics - and I recall the Scooby Doo one being shown in magazines back then as an upcoming Intellivision title. Must have been a marketing mistake categorizing these as M-Network games.

 

 

 

Sent from my Intellivision ECS using Intelli-Tapatalk

[mr_me]

Apologies, I was referring to Mattel's claim "...is doing very well with boys 4-11."

[BydoEmpire]

 

 

Here's the clip from Mattel's 1983 dealer catalog, I had back at that time. Mattel could have been wrong on their facts. This catalog only mentions a MOTU game in the M-Network section.

Wow, interesting. I think I got into He Man when I was about 9-10. No way would I have been able to handle the "scary monsters" in the cartoon when I was 4 (not that He Man existed then). I've got the DVDs of the 1st two seasons, but my son isn't ready for it yet and he's 7... pretty close, though. There's a big difference between 4 and 7,8,9... Then again, there's a big difference between the cartoon and the video game. I can see a 4 year old handling the game if they have the coordination to play games.

[freewheel]

Apologies, I was referring to Mattel's claim "...is doing very well with boys 4-11."

 

The age range is skewed a bit old, but otherwise it's correct. He-Man was a hugely popular toy with the 4-9 crowd. 10-11 year olds would have been more into Transformers and GiJoe.

 

It's very much the Lego/Duplo thing in terms of co-ordination skills. Notice how much bigger and more rugged a He-Man figure is compared to GiJoe. And the cartoons reflected this as well. He-Man was rather... innocent (homoerotic understones aside). Shows like Transformers and GiJoe were much more intense and violent, by comparison.

[mr_me]

Wow, interesting. I think I got into He Man when I was about 9-10. No way would I have been able to handle the "scary monsters" in the cartoon when I was 4 (not that He Man existed then). I've got the DVDs of the 1st two seasons, but my son isn't ready for it yet and he's 7... pretty close, though. There's a big difference between 4 and 7,8,9... Then again, there's a big difference between the cartoon and the video game. I can see a 4 year old handling the game if they have the coordination to play games.

That was Mattel Canada marketing. Canadian 4-year old boys are obviously tougher than American 4-year old boys.

[BydoEmpire]

That was Mattel Canada marketing. Canadian 4-year old boys are obviously tougher than American 4-year old boys.

Hah, yeah, I guess so! They start wrestling moose in kindergarden, right?