Top 25 Intellivision Games

[PhoeniX]

I really think people should consider SEA BATTLE, this game was one of the most amazing multi-player games on a system famous for multi-player games. It involves strategy and provides for amazing range of possibilities with all the ship classes. Also, (though probably not in addition to SEA BATTLE) ARMOR BATTLE was a wonderful multi-player title, though I would defer to anyone else's opinion on this one. Furthermore I further second the motions to add one of the BASEBALL titles to the list perhaps MLB, these game really were ahead of their time, the key pad overlays that allowed for selection of players really I think put them ahead of similiar titles released even on much later systems.

[Moon Patrol]

BOMB SQUAD! That game pwned! It was like...... being a terrorist, before that title even existed!

The game made no sense, at least not to me when I was 4. I just got the scissors and put random pieces in, I thought it was funny as hell whenever that city blew up.

Yes, after having woke up from my epilepsy induced coma from the screen with all those weird flashing characters, I actually managed to cut some wires, put some *fun* pieces in, and blew a ton of crap up. I seriously that that was the point of the game, to blow stuff up, because you're the BOMB squad, not the bomb removal squad!

But anyway, Bomb Squad. End of discussion.

[Veepa]

So, I have an Intellivision and a handful of games. Most of them just aren't very fun.. The only one I am enjoying right now is Night Stalker.

Anyway.. What are, in your opinion, the best games for the Intellivision?

[killersquirel]

I really like Tron deadly discs and Tron maze-a-tron.

Advanced dungeons and dragons (the first one) was really good as well (haven't played much of treasure of tarmin)

Bump and Jump, burgertime, thin ice, and carnival are really good arcade ports as well.

-mike

[wufners]

Burger Time is awesome.

Lock 'n Chase is Pac-Manish, but is different enough to be amusing and maintains some of its own unique charm.

I loved Thunder Castle as a kid, but haven't played it in years. So I'm not sure if I just remember it as fun, or if it really IS fun. (I enjoyed Night Salker as a kid too--so maybe Thunder Castle would hold up for you.)

Astrosmash is kind of like Asteroids from a Space Invaders perspective. If you like either of those games, than you might get a kick out of this one.

Snafu is fun for the music alone--even better if you have someone to play it with.

[FlufflePuff]

Snafu and Utopia are my favorites. Also like Night Stalker.

The question I have, am I the only one who enjoyed Utopia?

[wufners]

Beauty and the Beast is worth a mention too. I think it's just a Crazy Climber ripoff (never played that one so I can't say for sure) and it's got a little Donkey Kong in it as well. It's a fast paced game that still retains some of its fun and challenge.

I've never played Utopia--so I don't what I think of that one. Screenshots always made it look like there was a lot going on. I always assumed it was like the game Risk. Am I even close?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So, I have an Intellivision and a handful of games. Most of them just aren't very fun.. The only one I am enjoying right now is Night Stalker.

Anyway.. What are, in your opinion, the best games for the Intellivision?

If you're a fan of Homestarrunner.com and it's beloved 80's fictional (yet real!) arcade throwback "Trogdor" ... check out "Thunder Castle" ... I've met the Brothers Chaps and I'm still kicking myself for NOT asking them about the MORE than striking resmblance that this game has to our S-shaped "bunanating" dragon friend.

[koster]

The Dreadnaught Factor, Loco-Motion / Happy Trails, Diner (Burgertime 'sequel'), and Safecracker are all pretty fun games.

Much of the Intellivision library is available on compilations - Intellivision Lives! (various platforms) and Intellivision Rocks! (PC-only), as well as the 25-in-1 / 10-in-1 direct to TV handhelds.

[Lucifersam1]

Games I can play for hours: Diner and Astrosmash!

[diskoboy]

My complete list of fuckin' awesome Inty games:

-Astrosmash
-Space Hawk
-Night Stalker
-Utopia
-Shark! Shark!
-AD&D: Clody Mountain
-All Tron titles
-BurgerTime
-Bump & Jump
-SNAFU
-Vectron
-Bomb Squad
-B-17 Bomber
-Buzz Bombers
-Swords & Serpents
-Beauty and the Beast

[DeputyMoniker]

Burgertime
SNAFU
Utopia
Beauty and the Beast
Popeye
Tron Deadly Discs
Astrosmash
Night Stalker
Atlantis
He-Man
Kool-aid Man
Frogger
Mouse Trap!!
Carnival
Auto Racing
NFL Football
Las Vegas Poker

A few that do not belong on the list; Space Hawk, Maze-a-Tron, and Boxing. Boxing wasn't responsive enough.
As far as my own top 20 lists go, you'll never see such a diverse group of games as you do on the INTV. That's the system I grew up with and sometimes I had to play the games that were on sale. That's not something I do these days.

[LarryBrown]

I'm surprised at this list. I'm a rabid Intellivision fan since 1981, I have my main system plus 3 backups and I play regularly. But even I would have only estimated about 5 great games. So I'm blown away that you guys have trouble with a 25 game limit. I see you guys having fun with games I haven't given a fair chance, so I'm inspired to explore those. Isn't that great?

Part of the argument over the list depends on your point of view. Are you looking at Astrosmash with your 1981 eyes when you were five years old? It might have been good then, but to my 1981 eyes, when I was 21 years old, Astrosmash was totally lame. I look at the list from the point of view of games that still hold up, that are still fun and I continue to play. Thus Tron Deadly Discs was good at one time but no longer holds up.

* * * G R E A T G A M E S * * *
SeaBattle should be the #1 Intellivision game of all time. SeaBattle is a game that still astounds. It’s very challenging but can be picked up, with concerted effort, in an afternoon. The more you play the better you can get, I love that. Gameplay is way intense and unbelievable fun. Deep rule set. Excellent use of the sophisticated controller, making use of the 16 directions, both action buttons, the overlay, and the entire numeric keypad. This game shows why Intellivision is a hobby system, not a toy. No question, it’s got to be on any “best of” list, even if the list is only one title long.

Mind Strike – requires the ECS. This is another game that still stands tall and proud today. Even standing next to arcade versions of Defender, Robotron 2084, etc, this game holds up as one of the best video games ever. Again: extremely intense and unbelievably fun game play, deep rule set, use of the numeric keypad, and room for infinite growth, subject to the skills of your opponent. Successfully blends chess style strategy with intense action. Totally unique game concept blends elements of Chess, Stratego, and Risk. It’s much easier to pick up than Sea Battle but still allows for infinite growth. The intro screen and 6 channel music were mind blowing at the time. 50 unique and exciting screens keep the game fresh. Smoother 3D graphics add appeal.

NBA Basketball: Actually I’ve never played NBA Basketball enough myself, but I knew a ring of guys that played every day. They told me it was an excellent game and that the more you play the better you get. For me that’s a hallmark of a great game.

Snafu – great fun. Simplistic but various options help spice it up. Great sound. I love that tension building rattlesnake hiss it plays while waiting for two snakes to die so it can play that awesome climactic one-on-one theme with the drums.

Loco-Motion – challenging, great sound, unique twist on a familiar concept (the sliding tiles number puzzle), fun, and intense.

Burgertime – just to state the obvious


* * * L O S E R S * * *
These games may have been good but no longer cut it.
Major League Baseball: Back then it was glorious and a reason to pay the exorbitant price for this system. It’s fun and has good room for skill growth. But it has a weakness in that the pitcher can usually field the ball and if both players know how to do that the game runs out of gas. So from this late viewpoint it must be dropped even though back then it may have been the #1 game, right after Sea Battle.

Thin Ice – Good but too simplistic

Tron Deadly Discs - fun back then, but too simplistic and too slow to play anymore other than for nostalgic value. Fight three programs, block open doors, kill recognizer. Repeat infinitely. Everybody looks like they are running through molasses.

Worm Whomper - a breakthrough for its time with all of those moving objects on the screen and the smooth and fast game play. But too simplistic. It's just keep on blasting bugs over and over and over, there's no depth.

Slamdunk - I hate sports games with statistics and picking players. That’s so tedious. So I might prefer NBA Basketball. But I don’t even own this game so I just downrate it because those statistics don’t appeal to me and those other guys told me that NBA was good.

Triple Action
The tanks and race cars are junk. The Bi-planes was excellent for its time, especially when compared to the Atari, but now it’s just an anachronism.

* * * J U N K * * *
I always considered these games junk, even back then:
Astrosmash – Compared to the 360 degree excitement of Asteroids, this vertical scrolling game is simply junk. There’s no physics modeling.
Space Armada – as others said…too ugly.
Star Strike –too simplistic and too dead end. It only takes 5 minutes to beat it, and once you’ve beat it it’s no longer interesting. The game action with fighting the enemy ships is random and silly.
Diner – I can’t believe anyone would rate this ugly game in a “best of” list. I bought this on the strength of Burgertime and was horrified when I played it.
Carnival – ugly graphics and totally lame sound versus the awesome arcade sound ruin this port.


To Veepa: Unfortunately many of the arcade style one player games for Intellivision are not that great. These are good one player games, you need to play them enough to give them a chance: Burgertime, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Lock-n-Chase, Loco-Motion, Shark Shark. But for real Intellivision fun, you need to recruit a friend (I'm available ) to spend some intense late nights for Triple Action Bi-planes, Snafu, Major League Baseball, and Sea Battle (in that order). If you give it a chance, even in 2008 you will see that it’s great, great fun. You'll need the instructions and overlays to play Sea Battle, without them, no chance.

[Steve W]

My personal favorites, in order from 'most loved' all the way down to 'not as heavily played but still fun'.


Mind Strike (I wish my ECS wouldn't black out after a minute so I could play this again)
Thunder Castle (amazing music and animation, plus a great take on the traditional maze game)
Tower of Doom (lost a whole lot of hours on this one)
Diner
Burgertime
Thin Ice
Utopia
Stadium Mud Buggies
Bump N' Jump
Hover Force
Las Vegas Poker and Blackjack (this game taught me how to play poker)
Space Spartans
Shark! Shark!
AD&D-Cloudy Mountain
Dig Dug (this game gets on this list for not only being fun, but also having an entire other game hidden inside it, Deadly Dogs)
Beauty and the Beast
Motocross
Pinball
Astrosmash
Night Stalker
Star Strike
Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man
Dracula
Venture
Auto Racing

[gepeto]

My favorites
bump and jump In an era where speed racer was the rage this fit perfectly.
Football
the atarisofts were excellent
Pacman
Centipede
defender

I liked
dungeons and dragons

[Ambrosine]

In order of the amount of time I spent playing them:

AD&D Cloudy Mountain
Utopia
Night Stalker
Shark! Shark!
Astrosmash
Swords and Serpents - no one ever seems to mention this great Imagic game
Beauty & the Beast
Dracula
Atlantis
Lock n Chase
Demon Attack
Snafu
B17 Bomber
Triple Action for the Biplanes
Happy Trails/Locomotion

[rgw825]

Now i can't dispute the original topic starters list since i have never played all the games on the list. But this is my own personal top 25.
These are just the games i liked the most from when i was a kid. I have not played some of these games since then. Only a few of them. This is by no means meant to the best games for the system. I had a different mind set 27 years ago on what was a good game and a bad game.

These are in order of my most favorite and most played

1. Burger Time: The game packed in with my Intellivision II. The game i played the most of all the games i owned. I recently bought this again and broke all my old records.

2. Slam Dunk Super Pro Basketball or NBA Basketball: Me and a friend wore these 2 games out. If we wanted more of a NBA feel we would throw in Slam Dunk and if wanted more of a college feel we would play NBA. Slam Dunk was ahead of it's time with being able to draft your own players.

3. Body Slam Super Pro Wrestling: A personal favorite of mine since i am such a huge wrestling fan. Also another game way ahead of it's time. Picking your own move set and even the ability to Sim your own matches. This was even better than the Nes wrestling games in my opinion. And i am a fan of those too.

4. Astrosmash: My Avatar should speak for itself. A combination of Asteroids and Space Invaders. I didn't have an Atari so this was the next best thing. I remember playing this for over an hour straight once as a kid.

5. Shark! Shark!: Simple fun game, eat the fish, kill the shark.

6. Beauty & the Beast: A fun Donkey Kong clone. I liked it better than DK because i was actually good at this game. I sucked at DK. I could have fun either trying to break my high score, or getting to the top of the building and falling off on purpose.

7. Thunder Castle: Awesome music, addicting gameplay. Kind of like if Pac-Man was an Adventure game.

8. Tron Deadly Discs: It's like a futuristic game of Dodge Ball. I have seen a review lately that said the Atari version, even though has worse graphics plays smoother and faster. I'm interested in checking it out.

9. Snafu: Maybe one of the most simplistic games ever made and still one of the funnest. Should rank up there with Tetris. I remember having fun just watching the computer play and just seeing who would win. Could be a good betting game like Horse Racing.

10. Night Stalker: I guess this is kind of like Bezerk for the Atari. I don't really have any comments. Just a great game.

11. Super Pro Football: As you can tell i played alot of sports games. My memories of this game aren't as good as others but i do remember playing it a lot with my friend.

12. World Chmpionship Baseball: No comment, just great game

13. Diner: It's the sequel to Burgertime. This game was fun but hard.

14. Centipede: I have no idea how it compares to other console versions but Centipede was my favorite game in the arcade and this was as close as i could get at home so i loved it.

15. Boxing: I know your gonna say this game sucked but i remember having a lot of fun against my friend playing this.

16. Loco Motion: I loved this game but i also sucked at it. I really need to get this again and see how well i am at it today.

17. Lock 'n' Chase: This is a game i was better at as a kid.

18. Skiing: I was real good at this as a kid.

19. Frog Bog: Catching Flies is fun.

20. Poker & Blackjack: Ya i know i can play this on the computer on any site, but this version is still classic.

21. Motocross: Create your own tracks, enough said.

22. He-Man: I love games that has levels where each one is different than others, example being Thunder Castle.

23: Auto Racing: They did a good job with the illusion that your car was going super fast with the rumbling noise and shaking of the screen.

24: Atlantis: I debated this or Demon Attack. Maybe a tie but i think i played this more.

25: Super Pro Hockey: I loved all the sports games

Games i almost added were
Buzz Bombers
Demon Attack
Chip Shot Super Pro Golf


And one game i thought i owned but only have the faintest memories of is Mission X. I am almost positive i owned it but would need to play it again someday to make sure.



Games i never played for the Intellivision but would like to get.

Tropical Trouble
Pac-Man
Commando
Trukin'
Triple Action
Stadium Mud Buggies
Spiker! Super Pro Volley Ball
Tower of Doom
The Dreadnaught Factor
Dragonfire
Dracula

[Steve W]

Games i never played for the Intellivision but would like to get.

Tropical Trouble
Pac-Man
Commando
Trukin'
Triple Action
Stadium Mud Buggies
Spiker! Super Pro Volley Ball
Tower of Doom
The Dreadnaught Factor
Dragonfire
Dracula

Tropical Trouble isn't all that great, maybe it's just that I 'm not good at it. Pac-Man is weirdly scaled down, maze-wise. Commando is pretty decent, although it doesn't really hold a candle to the NES and Atari 7800 versions. Truckin' is one I can't muster any interest in playing for more than half a minute. Triple action, only good with two players. Stadium Mud Buggies is a pretty good game based on the engine for Motocross, with a lot of variety. Haven't played Volleyball. Tower of Doom is one of the first games I play when I hook up my Intellivision. It was nicknamed by Mattel's marketing morons as "Arcade D&D", basically less brains and more action. They got the balance just right with this one. Dreadnaught Factor - I never got that into this one. Dragonfire is surprisingly fast for an Intellivision game. Dracula I found to be a bit boring. Not all that deep gameplay-wise.

[rgw825]

Thanks for the opinions. I am interested in Tropical Trouble because i just found out it's the sequel to Beauty & the Beast. All these years and i didn't know that. Seen one Youtube video of it. Didn't look real special but some reason i still want it. lol

[Steve W]

Thanks for the opinions. I am interested in Tropical Trouble because i just found out it's the sequel to Beauty & the Beast. All these years and i didn't know that. Seen one Youtube video of it. Didn't look real special but some reason i still want it. lol

Really? A sequel to Beauty & The Beast? I never knew that! There's a Movie Trading Company location on the far side of town that has a lot of Intellivision games including some Imagic titles. If I find Tropical Trouble there, I'll let you know!

[rgw825]

Cool, but at the moment i'm broke. Super broke.

[Steve W]

Cool, but at the moment i'm broke. Super broke.

Luckily, at the Movie Trading Company stores, almost everything pre-NES era is at a blanket price of $1.99. They have no clue about rarity. Dammit, I love that about those stores.

[rgw825]

I wish i had a store like that here. The closest one is a whole state away.

[LarryBrown]

Luckily, at the Movie Trading Company stores, almost everything pre-NES era is at a blanket price of $1.99. They have no clue about rarity. Dammit, I love that about those stores.

That's so funny that any store would still have Intelli games. How odd, and for only $2/game, what's the point? They're not making any money that way. Anyone that would still buy those games would pay a lot more than $2. It's not like they're easy to find anymore. It also says a lot that even giving them away basically free they still have games 25 years after the crash, now that's what I call a slow moving inventory.

[Steve W]

That's so funny that any store would still have Intelli games. How odd, and for only $2/game, what's the point? They're not making any money that way. Anyone that would still buy those games would pay a lot more than $2. It's not like they're easy to find anymore. It also says a lot that even giving them away basically free they still have games 25 years after the crash, now that's what I call a slow moving inventory.

Movie Trading Company stores used to be exactly as it's name implies, a video store. They've been bought out a few times, a couple of years ago by a company called Vintage Stock. VS sells old video games, so now the MTC stores have started buying and selling classic games for a little over a year. Their computers have rarity lists for NES games and onward, but they don't have any pricing info for anything earlier. Which works for me. I've found all sorts of rares in that place. And each store has totally different stock, so it's like an Easter egg hunt going from store to store. The one in Ft. Worth used to have a couple hundred Atari games. The Garland store? One. Pitfall. I hope they've gotten a few more in since I visited them last summer.

I freakin' love the Movie Trading Company.