Classic gamers know that the Intellivision is the go-to system when it comes to retro sports, but the console is also home to a number of fun shooters and action titles. The following is a list of essential games for owners of the system looking for something other than armchair athletics.
Bolstered by a whopping 15 different playfields, Diner is the single most amazing game for the Intellivision. Players have a rollicking good time as they climb ladders, grab side orders, shake pepper at rotten foods (hotdogs, bananas, cherries and root beer), and kick food balls down ramps and over ledges to fill plates at the bottom of the screen. Diner is the sequel to BurgerTime, but it never appeared in the arcades or on any other system, making it a must-have for Intellivision owners. The only setback is that it’s hard to find.
Tight controls, slick gameplay and a timeless theme make Beauty & the Beast one of the most enjoyable, most arcade-like games for the Intellivision. The ladder climbing format evokes Donkey Kong, but the game is vastly superior to Coleco’s dreadful Intellivision port of DK. Imagic was one of the best developers for the Intellivision, and this game shows why.
An extremely faithful port of Bally Midway’s 1982 arcade game, BurgerTime is seven screens (one up from the ColecoVision version) of ladder climbing, burger building action. Flourishes include no flickering (unlike the Coleco game), excellent controls, and an animated title screen. BurgerTime truly earned its role as the pack-in title with the Intellvision II (a cheaper, modified version of the original Intellivision).
Borrowing gameplay mechanics from both Qix and Disco No. 1, Thin Ice is a truly delightful entry in the Intellivision library. Players guide Duncan the penguin as he skates around a frozen pond, drawing lines with his skates that weaken the ice. Duncan’s fiendish objective is to dunk (hence his name) a seal, polar bears and other penguins. Edible shrimp cocktails (which make Duncan faster) and a Zamboni machine that repairs the ice are icing on the proverbial cake.
Fans of Missile Command and Centipede will love the surprisingly fast gameplay of Worm Whomper, which has players guiding a spray gun up and down the screen, shooting poison and plough balls (to the right) at hoards of slugs, bugs, snails and other creepy crawlies attacking Felton Pinkerton’s corn crop. Worm Whomper is a nice change of pace from the scores of slower, more methodical games in the Intellivision library.
Gamers who have only played the Atari 2600 version of Atlantis are missing out. The Intellivision rendition is deeper and more enjoyable, thanks to the inclusion of a sentinel saucer, day-to-night transitions, and a gun sight that can maneuver all around the screen. The 2600 game is fun, but its point-and-shoot gameplay is far more simplistic. Atlantis is another winner from the good folks at Imagic.
Bump ’n’ Jump is one of the great guilty pleasures of classic gaming. Players drive a car up the screen, trying to outrace computer-controlled cars. Sounds harmless enough, right? Wrong! The real fun of the game is in bumping into other cars, crashing them into roadside obstacles. Even more fun is jumping over waterways and on top of other cars. The Intellivision version of the game is an excellent port of the coin-op classic and even includes the dump trucks, which are absent from the ColecoVision version.
Demon Attack for the Intellivision isn’t necessarily better than the stellar Atari 2600 version, but it is an interesting game in its own right, adding nice backgrounds (of the earth and the moon) and a beautifully illustrated, Phoenix-like mothership to the demonic bird killing formula. Intellivision owners wanting a break from shooting hoops, hitting home runs, and scoring touchdowns should try the slide-and-shoot pleasures of Demon Attack. Imagic has another winner.
Lock ’N’ Chase takes the dot eating, maze roaming fun of Pac-Man and places it within a cops-and-robbers setting. A player-guided thief with four policemen on his tail runs around grabbing gold coins, locking doors behind him, when necessary, to throw the cops off his tail. Despite some graphical simplifications, the game is a nice port of the Data East coin-op semi-classic.
An amalgamation of Space Invaders and Asteroids, Astrosmash isn’t the most challenging game on the planet, but it is one of the best, most popular titles for the system. As rocks, spinners, missiles and UFOs, rain down from the skies, players shoot them down with a laser battery that operates along the bottom of the screen, losing points if the objects get past. Astrosmash was the first Intellivision game that could be paused, and, in late 1982, it replaced Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack as the pack-in title with the system.
Omg I used to love intellivision. Some friends and I were just talking about it yesterday.
BORING…
Is this a troll, spam or what? I dont get it…
Yeah, it has to be, Segues is a member and on the last lists (s)he said that someone was posting weird comments using his/her username. The real Segues has a picture of a horse. This site should have “thumbs up”, “thumbs down” for this type of thing.
What is that comment referring to?
go away
Meh
Lots of lists in the entertainment section lately.
Intellivision was so awesome back in the day. Lots of good memories.
So over listverse ! -___-
so don’t read anymore jerkoff!!
is it possible they have simply run out of good topics?
Then f*ck off or write a better list yourself you c*ntrag.
I consider myself somewhat of gamer, but I have never heard of any of these games..
I havn’t either, I think it’s the Gen of Atari 2600 which was 80′s in Australia
You forogt to mention that in the PS3 version (the one that you were playing) you can play as Zurg.
For Night Stalker to not even be mentioned in this list… Makes it completely null. I read this list assuming to see it at #1. No Advanced Dungeons and Dragons either? Lol…. Lol.
I second Night Stalker! You could play that for hours! Also They had an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game that was cool, and a game based on He-Man that I will always remember fondly.
…and what about The Electric Company Math Game featuring the monkeys that fall into the water when you mess up. Easy Gameplay but really funny nontheless!
Astounding artcile bro. This kind of is just a exceedingly nicely structured posting, just the tips I was hunting for. Thanks
I had an Intellivision back in the ’80′s. I think my very favorite game was B17 Bomber (I recall it came with ‘voice’) – In the game you could switch between pilot, any of the gun positions and the bombardier’s position – the objective being to ward off fighters and eventually to bomb a designated target. There was also a sea battle game that was like ‘battleships’ on steroids (The mine sweeper was my favorite as it could lay invisible mines) Simple games, but very addictive. I also had ‘Night Stalker’ and the AD&D game both of which were awesome at that time.
B17 Bawwwwwwwmer
ROFLOL… I’m glad someone else remembers that line!
I remember when it came out… “Wow… a game that TALKS!!!”
It would be more interesting to see some screen shots that would give better idea what the games were like, instead of covers that had a little to do with actual games these times.
I still have the system and most of the games still work. Demon Attack and Burger Time were among the favorites…so was Adventure.
Brings back memories. Nice list.
WHAT! No: ‘Beat Em and Eat Em’??
Seriously though, this list would have been worth it if there were gameplay videos attached to each item rather than just the box images. Then the readers would get a better idea of the games on offer. I had access to an Atari 2600 so I am familiar with the era; although I’ve never heard of any of these. From my travals on Youtube I notice there was also a good AD & D game… a bonus perhaps.
I’m sure you can find the videos. Embedded YoutTube links make the site look a mess I my opinion. Nice high-res box art is much better
Sigh…
OK, first, every single game you listed, with the exception of “Atlantis” is either a port or a ripoff of a game on another system.
Second, Burger Time actually had 2 arcade-based sequels (Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory and Super Burger Time). A third sequel (PizzaTime) was in development when the game market crashed in 1983-84. The Intellivision “sequel” was basically a new game developed by the same guy who did the port for Burger Time for the IV, who decided to do a sequel on his own. Data East apparently never challenged the sequel, but it is a sequel only to the IV port.
Third, Intellivision sucked. OK, the system was OK, but those controllers were some of the worst controllers in the history of controlling, to the point of taking away any joy that the system may have otherwise given out.
Finally, I’m distressed to see other, better games left off the list. Terrible controllers notwithstanding, there were some great games out there. Tron: Deadly Discs was a great, simple, challenging little game. Major League Baseball was a great sports game for its time. AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin was a phenomenal breakthrough in console RPG’s. Finally, Utopia was a groundbreaker in terms of real-time sim games.
/classicvideogamenerd
I have genuinely never heard of the Intellivision. Granted, it was before my birth, but I thought I had heard of most, if not all, games consoles.
Ever hear of the Fairchild? I had one of those.
same with me…never heard of it, I had to google it. That control pad looks horrible. The first games ‘console’ I had was an MSX.
Yeah I’ve never heard of this console either O.o pretty sure it was before I was born…
Anyway, it seemed like it could be a fun experience to play it
And for all the people who bother complain about crappy lists: you better start writing the most *****ing amazing list that has ever been on listverse… Or you get to face the wrath of some of the nasty comments,*****y people etc. etc.
People are complaining that listverse has no good topics anymore. I have so many great ideas for lists! I’m just too lazy to write them
Lovely. The world needs more people like you. “I have a great idea for curing cancer, but meh, too lazy…”
I have a few, but then I look them up here and either it has been done or it is on some other website; not only are we not supposed to steal content, but seeing this makes me realize maybe the ideas aren’t as original as I thought. This is hard!
I was sdityung some of your posts on this site and I think this website is real informative! Continue posting.
I would add “Truckin’”, “Happy Trails” and “Microsurgern.” However, “Utopia” was a hell of a drug.
I loved B-(52/17/29-I don’t remember which) Bomber. “Bombs away!”
I was born in 85, hence after Intellivision came out apparently, but I honestly never heard of Intellivision before (although I had heard of Atari and such). So I didn’t understand this list at first.. I was imagining “intellivision” was a certain genre of video game or something.
Anyway, this list isn’t really my cup of tea, but I guess it’s because I can’t relate to it at all.
where’s Frog Bog ?
I can hear that bloopy soundtrack still… Love it.
We had intellivision when I was a teenager. Utopia was my favorite game.
I was born late 80s so that when I started video gaming we had more things to play with, but Burger time and Thin Ice were super fun and a bit frustrating. Thank god for PC emulators that allow anyone to play really classic games without having the consoles.
Nobody cares, she’s probably dead already considering that most abduction victims are killed within the first 24 hours of being kidnapped.
Loved burger time. I didn’t think anyone else remember intellivion but me
No offense to who ever wrote this list, but I just do not find it interesting in the slightest. Need more history related list!!!
looks like a lazy copy & paste job.
no screenshots and lack of detail make this a very boring list.
AD&D, B-17 Bomber, Utopia, Space Spartans, One you had to disarm the bomb before it exploded (it talked as well) – they all rocked!
No Truckin’ no party
Give me a break. The Biplanes section on Triple Action alone should have taken #1 with ease. Virtually ALL of the sports games on the Mattel Intellivision were far ahead of their time. B-17 Bomber, AD&D, Sea Battle, Sub Hunt, even Snafu was better than most of those games.
I can’t believe Utopia isn’t on this list. Seriously.
This list makes me happy! I LOVED intellivision. About 10 years back I “modified” mine to work with the newer tvs. It’s in storage so haven’t played it in a long time. I loved lock n chase but also frogger, cops and robbers, and i had a nifty poker game that I can’t recall the name of now.
http://thetechlusion.com/?p=881
nice good work =D
Anyone up for some Nightstalker?
you are saying wrong
http://thetechlusion.com/?p=1097
http://thetechlusion.com/?p=1097
No way man, Beauty and the beast was the only one I would agree with listed. What about Intelevisions Baseball, and Boxing?
Or does anyone remember Intellivoice , the Bomb squad game where you had an hour to defuse the complicated Bomb or watch the city blow up.
Many of the people posting must be babies. Intellivision was the vastly superior rival to the Atari 2600, even if Atari was in more homes. You can’t call yourself a gamer and not know the consoles of the late 70′s/early 80′s.