Intellivision Lives!

aka: Intellivision Lives
Moby ID: 11461
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Description official descriptions

IntelliVision Lives! is a compilation of over sixty games that appeared on the IntelliVision game system in the early 1980's. You get over sixty games in several categories, and they are:

Combat and Sorcery

  • Armor Battle
  • Battle Tanks
  • Biplanes
  • B-17 Bomber
  • Hover Force
  • Sea Battle
  • Sub Hunt
  • Thunder Castle
  • Tower of Doom
  • Utopia

Unreleased Titles

  • Number Jumble
  • Space Cadet
  • Demo Cartridge (not a game, but a demo showcasing IntelliVision games)
  • Hypnotic Lights
  • Takeover
  • Magic Carousel

Space

  • Astrosmash
  • Space Armada (think Space Invaders)
  • Space Battle
  • Space Hawk
  • Space Spartans
  • Star Strike

Kids

  • Crosswords
  • Factor Fun
  • Frog Bog
  • Math Master
  • Memory Fun
  • Sharp Shot
  • Word Hunt
  • Word Rockets

Sports

  • Baseball (Baseball, World Championship Baseball)
  • Basketball (Basketball, Slam Dunk: Super Pro Basketball)
  • Bowling
  • Boxing
  • Football (Football, Super Pro Football)
  • Golf (Golf, Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf)
  • Hockey (Hockey, Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey)
  • Racing (Auto Racing, Motocross, Stadium Mudbuggies)
  • Skiing (Skiing, Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing)
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Track & Field (Super Pro Decathlon)
  • Volleyball (Spiker: Super Pro Volleyball)
  • Wrestling (Body Slam: Super Pro Wrestling)

Arcade

  • Bomb Squad
  • Buzz Bombers
  • Racing Cars
  • Night Stalker
  • Pinball
  • Shark! Shark!
  • SNAFU
  • Thin Ice
  • Vectron

Gaming and Strategy

  • Backgammon
  • Checkers
  • Horseracing
  • Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack
  • Reversi
  • Las Vegas Roulette
  • Royal Dealer

The game also features two video features; one is the history of the IntelliVision, and the other is a collection of interviews with various game programmers who worked with the IntelliVision. You can also unlock bonus commercials for the games (as shown originally in the eighties) by completing goals in certain games (like scoring 20,000 points in Space Armada).

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

32 People (25 developers, 7 thanks) · View all

President
VP Software Development
Music
Special Thanks to
  • All the Blue Sky Rangers
Lead Programmer
Programmer
Producer
Art Director
3D Artist
Special Thanks to
PlayStation 2 Core Engine and tools
  • FarSight Studios Inc.
Executive Producer
Associate Producer
Sr. VP, Product Development
QA Lead
Primary Tester
QA Team
Director of Marketing Services
VP, Corporate Counsel
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 15 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 27 ratings with 2 reviews)

What a blast from the past!

The Good
I never knew it was possible, but here they are again-- all my favourites from the 80's, back on my good old PS2! The Intellivision, originally released from Mattel, was a great console designed to go up against Atari.

Atari won, of course, but there were still some amazing games made for this console despite the graphical limitations, and now you can play them all again in this great package that contains almost 60 Intellivision games! Besides that, there's behind-the-scene production notes on every game, as well as bonus commercials that were aired, as well as some cool unlockable games that were never released!

The Bad
Hmm, well, if I had to complain, it'd probably be about how the Intellivision controller (an awkward thing with nine programmable keys) is mapped to the PS2 controller. You hit the "Select" button and the intellivision controller appears on your screen, complete with the themed overlay for that game (ahh, overlays.. you don't see those much any more, do you?) You then navigate through the controller by selecting one of the 9 buttons and hitting enter.

It's probably the only way that you could manage something like this, so I'm not complaining. I'm sure it will become intuitive after further play.

The Bottom Line
In the past year or so, I haven't found a game that has really warranted my purchase-- that made me REALLY want it. This game cost only $20, and I'm sure it will last me for months on end. Highly recommended.

PlayStation 2 · by xofdre (78) · 2004

It Has It's Moments, Yet There's Some Things Missing....

The Good
I do like these classic gaming compilations. It's a nice way to preserve video gaming history for today's crowd. And this compilation has a lot of classics on it: Astrosmash, Night Stalker, Thunder Castle, Snafu.... There's a wide selection of games to choose from, with a handful of secrets to unlock.

The games hold up to what they originally were as far as sound and graphics go, and they play at the right speed, so there's not a lot of changes to gameplay as far as the emulation is concerned.

In addition to the gameplay, there's a lot of history that goes behind the scenes for Intellivision, Mattel, and discusses all the way from the '80's gaming craze, the big crash, and the rebirth of gaming into today's modern titles. It's good to see that a lot of the original developers are keeping the legacy of their baby alive and well. And they should. The Intellivision was an important piece of gaming history.

The Bad
That said, a lot of these games were simply meant for Intellivision's controller. It's an admirable attempt to try and make the control configuration of the Intellivision pads work, but there were just too many buttons on the original, and in an attempt to emulate the original, it just feels clunky. Not for all games, but there are some titles that just feel virtually unplayable.

Due to licensing issues, some of Intellivision's best didn't see the light of day. The Dungeons & Dragons and TRON series are sorely missed, and even moreso are the brilliant Imagic titles. I'd give just about anything to play Dracula, or Beauty and the Beast, or Microsurgeon again. If they ever brave another compilation, I hope they license the rights to bring these titles to the next set.

Also of note is the music in the arcade. Most of it are remixes of Intellivision game music. Other selections are just ghastly. I wish they had taken the Activision Anthology route and tossed in a few '80's classics to bring the nostalgia home with the pizza parlor theme.

The Bottom Line
If you love classic games, the title is cheap enough to warrant a look. The simpler games still hold up well and are fun to play, and the game prototypes and demos are interesting to take a stroll through. I wish there was a better way to recreate the Intellivision controller experience, but current controllers just can't do it. The biggest thing missing are some of the third-party and licensed titles, which really showed off how unique Intellivision could be.

Worth a look for retro gaming fans who need a quick fix. It's just too bad they couldn't have brought the full experience home.

PlayStation 2 · by Guy Chapman (1748) · 2006

Discussion

Subject By Date
Which one is the RPG? ZenicReverie (2132) May 30, 2011

Trivia

References

The Blue Sky Rangers that the game mentions refers to those who were the first to develop for the IntelliVision. The people behind the machine claimed the "sky was the limit", hence the name Blue Sky Rangers.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 11461
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Corn Popper.

PlayStation 3 added by CrankyStorming. Xbox added by skl. GameCube added by gamewarrior. Xbox 360 added by Parf.

Additional contributors: MAT, JPaterson, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 27, 2003. Last modified April 1, 2023.