82 replies to this topic

[RetroGam3Nerd]

I own both Intellivision and Atari. I grew up with Intellivision and I know the controllers are hard to get use too, but if you grew up with it you are use to it and if you didn't you are not, thus making it hard to get use too. In my opinion I feel the graphics on the Intellivision are better than Atari. This being said if you want a simple game with up,down.left,right,shoot go with Atari, if you want something more complex and fun to play go with Intellivision, or do what I do and have both. But my vote is for Intellivision.

[save2600]

BassGuitari, on Mon Jan 9, 2012 6:57 PM, said:

I myself am a huge fan of both and can't image a collection without either one.

Yup!

For arcadey type games, I gotta give it to Atari. For the games with more depth and a different type of challenge, Intellivision fits the bill.

[Godzilla]

overall for me it's the 2600. but I do love me some inty. Tarmin is my second favorite game of all time. For speed and color the 2600 can't be beat. For some more thoughtful fare, nearly the entire Imagic line and intellivoice line and so much more are still hella fun. Still haven't played anything quite like micro surgeon or dracula or safe cracker or b-17 bomber or tron solar sailor or others...

[Keatah]

Generally, for twitch gaming and faster action I'd go with the 2600. And downtempo in the evening it could be intellivision as the system of choice. I liked both, and couldn't imagine a classic collection without both.

I personally liked sea battle. It exemplified the slowness of the system quite well. A good thing. Then there b-17 bomber and tron solar sail and amaze-a-tron.. And of course space battle and astrosmash, snafu.. Uhm most all the games I thoroughly enjoyed. No need to make a list.

[lushgirl_80]

Oops I said B52 Bomber instead of B17 Bomber in my last post lol. Oh well. I think I need to plug that one in again just to hear the voice.


Anyways that video RT posted of the INTV getting smashed,yikes! I kinda cringed as they could have spared it and sold it on eBay for good money instead. Kind of a waste to smash videogames.

[thegoldenband]

As others have said, I think the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision complement each other beautifully. I'm glad to have both in my collection, and I come back to them more than any of my other pre-crash consoles.

There's really nothing else quite like the Intellivision, and the experience it offers is quite distinct from every other console I own. I don't favor it for arcade action (with a few exceptions), but for cerebral, strategic games, it's fantastic.

[Ransom]

It's not hard to justify owning the Intellivision for its many wonderful, platform-exclusive games. I have to admit that anyone who is interested in pre-crash console gaming should have a 2600 first and foremost. There are so many iconic games for that system that it's a must have. Next would be an Intellivision and a ColecoVision, each of which have many exclusives and many 'best ports'. Next would be a 5200 (which I put at this point in the list not because it lacks for great games, but because of the overlap with the 2600's game catalog), then an Odyssey2 (inexpensive, with more than a few good, exclusive games). Finally, a Vectrex (I put it this low on the list just because they're so expensive).

Personally, I'd rather not do without any of the above.

[Keatah]

This Intellivision console gets a good burn.. Just get past all the low-brow theatrics.

Edited by Keatah, Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:48 AM.

[Ransom]

What a terrible waste of a system.

[IntellivisionDude]

I could never get used to the Atari joystick. When i play my 2600 i use a Genesis or my modded Nes controller.

I grew up with the Intellivision so i like the disc, but i will admit the side buttons are a pain.

While i still prefer the Intellivision, i love my 2600 just as much. There's games on both systems i can not live without. It's just Apples and Oranges.


Apples




Oranges

Edited by IntellivisionDude, Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:11 PM.

[BillyHW]

Do you have a top 10 ColecoVision games?

[IntellivisionDude]

BillyHW, on Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:02 PM, said:

Do you have a top 10 ColecoVision games?

Not yet. I don't really have enough to do a real top 10.

My favorite would be Burgertime. Then in no order, DK, DK jr, Centipede, Turbo
But so many i still want to get for it.

[Tr3vor]

I don't see why the 2600 version of astrosmash is thought of as better. It just seems to vertically fast, with less variations on the directions and physics of the astroids. I'd much rather play the intellevision game.

[thegoldenband]

Tr3vor, on Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:29 PM, said:

I don't see why the 2600 version of astrosmash is thought of as better. It just seems to vertically fast, with less variations on the directions and physics of the astroids. I'd much rather play the intellevision game.

I find that Astroblast really comes alive with paddle control. Generally speaking, Astrosmash is too slow for my taste -- I don't usually like epic gaming sessions (30+ min.) with arcade-style games.

[Deteacher]

For me, it's real simple. VCS all the way. What good are better graphics and better sound/music/voices when the damn controller sucks, making games nearly unplayable. I've tried on many occasions to play an INTV and end up shutting it off in frustration. I even have a Sears Super Video Arcade with a handful of games. I'm thinking of just getting rid of it

I'll trade graphics and sounds for gameplay any day of the week (and twice on Sundays.)

[ls650]

Deteacher, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:43 PM, said:

What good are better graphics and better sound/music/voices when the damn controller sucks

I tried owning an Inty about 10-12 years ago and found the same issues, I sold the Inty and concentrated on various Atari stuff.A couple of weeks ago I felt like something completely different and bought another Inty with 18 commons for a very good price.Maybe I just had a worn out Inty before, or maybe I am getting more tolerant in my old age, but I now find the controllers are actually not that bad - for some games. The side buttons are very poorly placed if you have to keep pressing them, but if a button can be held down or the game has auto-fire they can be tolerated. The keypad is actually useful for a lot of games, and the disc isn't that bad.I think a lot of the issues with the disc are that it can sense 16 directions, but some programmers only bothered trying to detect the 4 cardinal directions. Say if you want to push 'up', if the programmer only programmed the disc input to sense for 12 o'clock and not the 11 o'clock or 1 o'clock positions, unless you push precisely the 12 position, the input isn't detected.Some games make great use of the controller such as it is, while other games seem to have used poorly designed input schemes.

[Random Terrain]

IntellivisionDude, on Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:10 PM, said:

. . . [Demon Attack is] a lot more colorful on Intellivision.

Demon Attack is more colorful on Intellivision? The 'demons' on the Atari 2600 look way more colorful than the ones on Intellivision. They also move better and seem more alive on the Atari 2600. The 'demons' on the Intellivision look kind of stiff; their movements seem to have been programmed by a mentally challenged two-by-four.

[Mark T]

RT: "their movements seem to have been programmed by a mentally challenged two-by-four."

LMAO!!!! That's the funniest thing I heard in a looong time! haha...excellent RT!

[IntellivisionDude]

Random Terrain, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:59 AM, said:

IntellivisionDude, on Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:10 PM, said:

. . . [Demon Attack is] a lot more colorful on Intellivision.

Demon Attack is more colorful on Intellivision? The 'demons' on the Atari 2600 look way more colorful than the ones on Intellivision. They also move better and seem more alive on the Atari 2600. The 'demons' on the Intellivision look kind of stiff; their movements seem to have been programmed by a mentally challenged two-by-four.

[Dauber]

I may have posted my thoughts on VCS vs Intellivision before, but here goes...

I remember when the Atari VCS was the hottest thing that some people would say that Intellivision was better -- better graphics, better sound...I had the VCS, and so did my cousins. My best friend at the time had Intellivision, yet I never got to go to his house except once or twice; he'd always come over to mine and we'd play Atari. (He'd always have some excuse why we couldn't meet at his house; dad working nights and sleeps during the day, etc.) My cousins eventually got an Intellivision. And between my friend and my cousins, I was very impressed by Intellivision. Not enough that I would replace my Atari with one, though...

I remember enjoying Las Vegas Blackjack & Poker, Burgertime, Bomb Squad, and B-17 Bomber. Donkey Kong wasn't anything special, but it was better than the VCS version. The baseball game was okay, too, but not mind-blowing. My cousins' Intellivision's controllers were modded with joystick adapters, which actually made playability a lot better. (When they'd get bitchy my uncle would sometimes threaten to put the discs back on!)

So...anyway, probably about five years ago, I bought a used Intellivision and a bunch of games via eBay and was...terribly disappointed. Hated it. The same games I loved as a little kid just...sucked now. B-17 Bomber nearly put me to sleep. Still liked Bomb Squad, though. In terms of playability, though, I did love Beauty and the Beast and Dreadnaught Factor. (Inky had previously turned me on to the Atari 8-bit version of the latter.) Problem, though, was that the console kept overheating and the games would suddenly crash. Apparently that was a common problem. I sold off the games, and sold the console via craigslist. (Literally met the guy as I was getting off the bus and swapped the Intellivision for the ten-dollar bill without stopping walking!)

Edited by Dauber, Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:26 AM.

[Phredreeke]

Demon Attack is actually a good example of the strength and weaknesses of the two systems.

The Intellivision version has a background which would be impossible to draw on the Atari 2600. Meanwhile the aliens don't look as good due to the Intellivision being limited to 8 single-colored sprites on the screen total with no ability of updating sprites mid-screen.

[thegoldenband]

I'm really not too keen on the Intellivision version of Demon Attack, mainly because whoever wrote the controller input handler didn't get it right, so there are hitches and glitches in the ship's lateral movement. As ls650 said, bad programming can make the disc seem a lot worse than it is, though there are also certain quirks inherent to the Intellivision's controller implementation.

[guy767]

Atari games were more creative, colorful and controlled better IMO. The Intellivision just used the same fonts and graphics for most games thus making them seem unimaginative and stale.

Don’t get me wrong though, I love the Intellivision but when compared to the 2600 it pales in comparison.

My love for the INTV is based on the oddity of the system though. It's horrendous and cheap feeling controllers, cart port on the side of the console rather than the front and its unique graphics and sounds make it endearing and lovable.

Every person should experience the grandeur of observing the "running man" animation while literally being in pain holding the torture device that's the INTV controller. The INTV represents old school gaming superbly.

[BladeJunker]

I haven't used an Intellivision very long, bought my first one this year, I have more experience with the Colecovision. Despite this I am seeing a steeper learning curve with the INTV especially without manuals for games like Utopia I'm lost while 2600 games tend to just naturally be intuitive even with the first try but how could it not be with only Move & Shoot.

Graphics wise I think the INTV is competent but it is definitely restrictive compared to the 2600, I have to cite Mattel's policy of no multiplexing as a clear example of tying the hands of game developers. There is an awful lot of graphics used over and over again which does get monotonous as in the fonts and the running man. I think the INTV could have done more than it did back in the day, just look at Donkey Kong original versus the awesome homebrew that's surfaced now.

The 2600 joystick is adequate and fairly comfortable and the INTV Robot Areola ^_^ works well IMO but the button layout is awful on the INTV, I swear a 4 armed alien designed it since that's the only way I think I could use it well. Still when I turn the INTV controller horizontal and hold it like a gamepad its quite comfortable, perhaps future homebrew could support this or maybe a new controller with a reconfigured button circuit so old games played better.

Anyway I'm going to have to give my vote to the Atari 2600 even though I like the INTV.

[Lodmot]

I have to say the Atari 2600 is best, hands down, because of Batari Basic.

Just the fact that I can program my own games easily for the 2600 makes it so much more fun, especially because I've always had a deep passion to make video games.
Batari Basic, the Harmony cart, and the Atari 2600 have allowed me to see my game ideas and concepts being played on a TV with a game controller.