Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Intellivision

The Empire Strikes Back, by Parker Brothers, was the first ever licensed Star Wars video game. It was initially released in 1982 on the Atari 2600, then followed in 1983 on the Intellivision.

Continue reading Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Intellivision

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, Intellivision

An early, proto RPG based on the TSR AD&D universe, released for the Intellivision in 1983. It’s actually a sequel to the previous Intellivision AD&D game: Cloudy Mountain.

Treasure of Tarmin is one of my all-time favourite Intellivision games; it’s like an early prototype version of Dungeon Master, with crude graphics and minimal sound. That said: playing Treasure of Tarmin is a great experience if you learn how to play it properly. Reading the manual helps. As does configuring the controls correctly.

Continue reading Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, Intellivision

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain, Intellivision

This early, prototype RPG was initially released in 1982 under the title of “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” and was later re-named as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain to distinguish it from its sequel, Treasure of Tarmin.

Continue reading Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain, Intellivision

B-17 Bomber, Intellivision

B-17 Bomber is a very early – but really rather excellent – WWII bomber simulation, released for the Intellivision in 1982.

Continue reading B-17 Bomber, Intellivision

Diner, Intellivision

Diner is an unofficial/official sequel to BurgerTime, created by Mattel Electronics exclusively for the Intellivision in 1987. ‘Unofficial’ because it’s not really counted as canon, and ‘official’ because Mattel at least got permission from Data East before releasing it.

Continue reading Diner, Intellivision

Lock ‘n’ Chase, Intellivision

An American conversion of a famous Data East coin op, Lock ‘n’ Chase is a stand-out title on the Intellivision, predominantly because of its solid gameplay and colourful visuals.

Continue reading Lock ‘n’ Chase, Intellivision

Intellivision Special

The Intellivision video game console was launched by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It was a direct competitor to the Atari VCS (aka the 2600) and doesn’t tend to get much love, because – like the Atari 2600 – the games are pretty basic. The disc-like controllers were unorthodox too, although each controller does have a numeric keypad, which allows for some complex gaming.

Continue reading Intellivision Special

Vindicators, Arcade

Vindicators is a one or two-player futuristic tank combat game released into arcades by Atari Games in 1988.

The simultaneous two-player co-op mode is arguably the most fun you can have with Vindicators, although the single-player game is also challenging.

Continue reading Vindicators, Arcade

Raiden, Arcade

A 1990 release into arcades by Tecmo of Japan, Raiden is an action-packed shoot ’em up with a vertical screen and impressive 2D graphics.

Continue reading Raiden, Arcade