Intellivision Lives! is a compilation of over 60 Intellivisionvideo games, originally produced by Mattel Electronics and INTV Corporation between 1978 and 1990. Using original game code and software emulation, Intellivision Productions released the first edition in December 1998^[2] on a Windows and Macintosh hybrid CD-ROM. A sequel, Intellivision Rocks, was released in 2001 that includes third-party games originally published by Activision and Imagic as well as Mattel Electronics Intellivoice and ECS games.^[3] Versions of Intellivision Lives! were then released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube by Crave Entertainment. In 2010 Virtual Play Games released a Nintendo DS edition.

Some games could not be included due to licensing (e.g. Tron, Lock 'N' Chase, BurgerTime, Loco-Motion, Mission-X, Masters of the Universe, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Diner, Pole Position, Commando). Others such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain and Treasure of Tarmin are working prototype versions to avoid trademarked names. Licenses such as Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA, NHL, NASL, PGA, US Ski Team, PBA, the Electric Company were simply dropped from the titles. Also included were games never before released and made available for the very first time such as King of the Mountain, Brickout, and Takeover.^[4]

1. Play without console: Emulators open a whole new world, where you can play (or replay) every Intellivision game, without owning an original Intellivision console. All you need is an Intellivision emulator (you can find it in this website download section), videogames roms, and 2 particular roms: Executive Rom (the EXEC) and Graphic Rom (the GROM).
2. Intellivision for Mac: Volume 2 offers the original game code of Night Stalker, Space Spartans, and Deep Pockets: Super Pro Pool & Billiards, running on software emulating the Intellivision hardware. Unlike some complex emulators, you can easily download the small file, unstuff it.

In addition to the games, the Crave Entertainment editions, have several unlockables such as the classic Intellivision commercials.^[5] The original Windows/Mac edition is a resource for development history, unfinished prototypes, box art, overlays, instructions, hidden features, programmer biographies, and video interviews.

From Intellivision To Amico: The History Of The Intellivision And Its Future. By Intellivision Nation Feb 14, 2020. 4.5 out of 5 stars 4.

Games[edit]

History and development[edit]

In June 1995, former Mattel Electronics programmers led by Keith Robinson started the Blue Sky Rangers Intellivision website.^[7]Blue Sky Rangers being a nickname given to the Mattel Electronics programmers in a TV Guide magazine article from the 1982 June 19 issue.^[8] The website provides the history of the Intellivsion games and credits the programmers and artists. It was well received with fans asking how the games can be played on their computers. In 1997 Intellivision Productions, Inc. was formed by former Mattel Electronics programmers Keith Robinson and Stephen Roney with the purchase of the rights to the Intellivision and its games.^[9][10]

At the same time, a student in Michigan named Carl Mueller Jr. was independently working on reverse engineering the Intellivision. With the help of Intellivision ROM dumps from Sean Kelly and then William Moeller and Scott Nudds, Carl was able to create the first Intellivision emulator that plays the games on a modern computer.^[4][11] Sean was fortunate to have two Intellivision prototype cartridges with standard 8-bit EPROMS as opposed to the more complex memory mapped ROMS used by standard cartridges.^[12] William and Scott were able to dump the Intellivision embedded executive control software and graphics ROMS, as well as build a cartridge reader to dump any Intellivision cartridge.^[13]

Carl's MS-DOS emulator and a Macintosh emulator created by Intellivisions Productions' Steve Roney would be used in the free Intellipack downloads^[14] so anyone could play select Intellivision games on their computers for the first time in 1997. The Intellivision for PC/Mac Volume 2 download, also of 1997, was the first release of Deep Pockets Super Pro Billiards, the last game programmed for the Intellivision in 1990 but unreleased by INTV Corporation. They would also be used to play the original Intellivision games in the Intellivision Lives! PC/Mac CD-ROM edition released in 1998 by Intellivision Productions.^[4]

PC and Macintosh system requirements[edit]

The PC/Mac edition was produced with Macromedia Director and may not be compatible with modern operating systems. The QuickTime videos, emulators, and Intellivision ROM image files are directly accessible on the CD-ROM.

The Intellivision Lives! PC/Mac v1.0 system requirements:^[15]

• PC: Pentium 90 MHz, Windows 95, 8MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM, QuickTime v3.0 or better
• Mac: Power Macintosh, OS7.5, 100 MHz, 16MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM, QuickTime

The Intellivision Lives! PC/Mac v1.1 system requirements:^[4]

• PC: Pentium 266 MHz, Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP, 32M RAM, 8X CD-ROM, 16-bit DirectX compatible sound & video cards, DirectX 7 or better, QuickTime v3.0 or better
• Mac: Power Macintosh, OS 8/9/X, 120 MHz, 32M RAM, 8X CD-ROM, QuickTime

Controller functions are mapped to the computer keyboard; an extended keyboard is required to access both left and right Intellivision controllers. With Macintosh, USB game controllers could be used indirectly with a joystick to keyboard mapper utility. For PC, Intellivision Productions promoted the Gravis GamePad Pro game controller (game port version).^[16] The MS-DOS emulator, directly accessible on the CD-ROM, also supported original Intellivision controllers through the INTV2PC Hand Controller Interface. INTV2PC is a parallel port adapter that accepts original Intellivision hand controllers. This feature although not promoted is documented in the INTVPC files on the CD-ROM.^[4] Modern intellivision emulators and USB controller adapters have since become available, compatible with the Intellivision Lives rom image files.

To play the games using real Intellivision controllers Intellivision Productions supported the use of a device called the Intellicart.^[17] The Intellicart is a RAM cartridge with an RS-232 interface that can accept a copy of an Intellivision ROM image file from a computer. Rather than play the Intellivision Lives! games through an emulator, they can be played on a real Intellivision through an Intellicart. Since that time modern Intellivision flash memory cartridges have been made that achieve the same result.

In 2002 an updated Intellivision Lives! PC/Mac v1.1 was made available by Intellivision Productions. Those that purchased the original could upgrade for a nominal fee.^[18] It added Windows 98/ME/2000/XP support with a native Windows emulator supporting DirectX sound, video, and game controllers.^[4]

Modern video game consoles[edit]

Realtime Associates developed the video game console editions published by Crave Entertainment for PlayStation 2 (2003), Xbox (2004), and Gamecube (2004).^[19] In these versions the games are accessed from a 3D 'overworld' set in a circa 1980s pizza parlor; an inaccurate representation as the Intellivision games were originally designed for a home console. Games were also re-organised by genres rather than the original Mattel Electronics Networks used in the PC/Mac edition. Some games require two controllers, even to play single player.^[20]

In 2010 Virtual Play Games published Intellivision Lives! for the Nintendo DS handheld system, also developed by Realtime Associates. It features wireless, multiplayer support using a single game card.^[21] The Nintendo DS's touch screen emulates the Intellivision's 12-button keypad including an overlay image for each game. The Nintendo DS lacks a 16 direction pad used by some Intellivision games. This limitation was overcome, in Vectron for example, by mapping directional inputs to the touch screen. Only 10,000 copies of the Nintendo DS edition were ever released.^[22]

The Xbox version of Intellivision Lives! is fully forward compatible with the Xbox 360 console, and in 2008 Intellivision Lives! became available for purchase as a download through Xbox Live Game Marketplace's Xbox Originals.^[23]

Intellivision Rocks[edit]

Intellivision Rocks is the PC-only sequel to the original PC version of Intellivision Lives!. As with Intellivision Lives!, Intellivision Rocks is a collection of games which were originally found on the Intellivision, presented in emulated form. It mainly features 3rd-party games from Activision and Imagic. In addition, several unreleased games are included.^[24]

Reception[edit]

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IGN said that Intellivision Lives! is 'still blocky after all these years, sure...but these games really need the controller.'^[27]GameSpot editors said that although the controller emulation is a little hard to handle, the collection does a fine job in delivering classic Intellivision games.^[25]

References[edit]

1. ^'Official Intellivision Classic Videogame Website - Main Page'. Intellivision Productions. Archived from the original on January 25, 1999. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
   News 12/18/98: 'CD-ROM available now!'
2. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/history.php
3. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/rocks.shtml
4. ^ ^abcdef'Intellivision Lives! PC/Mac'. Intellivision Productions. Archived from the original on 2018-01-16.
5. ^Curtiss, Aaron (3 May 1999). 'Want to Visit--or Revisit--the Early 1980s? You Can'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
6. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/intv4.shtml#pool
7. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 1999-01-25. Retrieved 2010-10-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/people/tvguide.html
9. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/history.shtml
10. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/people/askhal/askhal.html#A5
11. ^Kelly, Sean. 'Intellivision'. Digital Press.
12. ^'Prototype Stuff'.
13. ^'many many thanks'. jzIntv.
14. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/download.shtml
15. ^'Intellivision Brasil'.
16. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/faq/support.shtml#15
17. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/people/askhal/askhal.html#1
18. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/faq/support.shtml#Anchor-WILL-17521
19. ^'Intellivision Lives! (Game)'.
20. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20180116045349/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/retrotopia/ps2xbox.shtml
21. ^'Intellivision Lives!'. 19 December 2011.
22. ^'Intellivision Really Lives'.
23. ^'Intellivision Lives!'.
24. ^'intellivisionlives.com'. Retrieved 2010-10-27.|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
25. ^ ^abTracy, Tim (2004-02-09). 'Intellivision Lives! Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
26. ^Harris, Craig (2003-11-18). 'Intellivision Lives! Review'. IGN. Retrieved 2003-11-18.
27. ^IGNPS2 (2003-11-18). 'Intellivision Lives! Review'. IGN. Retrieved 2010-03-19.

External links[edit]

• Intellivision Lives! at MobyGames

Overview

It’s time to set the way-back machine to the early 1980’s when Reagan was president, MTV was revolutionizing cable TV, and, for a while, the Mattel Intellivision was revolutionizing the home video game market. From Intellivision Productions, Inc (which consists of some of the original Blue Sky Rangers, the original developers of Intellivision games) comes Intellivision Lives!, an emulation of over 50 games and history of the classic console system.

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Gameplay, Controls, Interface

At first glance, you might think this CD is simply an emulator for the Intellivision. While this is true, the program also contains a very comprehensive history of the Intellivision, information on the hardware components, software titles, and people that made it all happen in the first place. Intellivision Lives! has a wonderful interface which is easy to move around in. The interface is completely controlled with mouse movement and clicks. In most areas, the left side of the screen shows a picture or graphic of the selected item while the right side will typically give a description of this item. Everything on the CD is broken into a hierarchy of categorized menus (i.e. hardware, software, type of game, instructions, etc.). Many sections of the interface contain videos of interviews or conversations with the Blue Sky Rangers as well as some of the original commercials with George Plimpton touting the Intellivision’s superior capabilities. Overall, there is a ton and a half of information, pictures, videos, etc. on virtually everything that had to do with the Intellivision system.

The emulation portion is nearly flawless. The graphics and most of the sounds are emulated perfectly as far as I can tell (as compared with my real Intellivision I system). Unfortunately, the only sound that isn’t emulated is the Intellivoice speech. While this isn’t emulated, the text does show on screen so you can at least play the games properly. While many (most? all?) of the games are listed in the interface, not all are playable. There are, however, quite a few (over 50) that you can play. The interface gives marketing, development, and most importantly instructions with pictures of the overlays for almost all games listed whether it’s emulated or not. As a classic game collector, I found this to be invaluable for not only the games on the Intellivision Lives! CD, but also for those cartridges I have that are missing the instructions and/or the overlays. There are a wide variety of the emulated games from all the different game networks: Space, Action, Gaming, Sports, etc. In addition, there are several later releases, unreleased, and unfinished games available that you can play too.

For those of you who have held and used an actual Intellivision controller, you may also remember how advanced it was with it’s 16-position directional disc, four action buttons, and 12-button keypad. You may also sympathize with the hand cramps from holding the original controller. Well, this emulator even takes that into account as the keys are spread apart just far enough to give you an uncomfortable feeling not totally unlike that of holding the original controller. I was a little disappointed to see that the keys were not remappable at all as some of the Player Two keys get in the way of using the Player One keys. This emulator does not support any controllers of any kind either so playing two-player games will likely become a game of Twister over the keyboard. As for the controller response, it is equally as good (or bad) as the original Intellivision and is emulated well.

Graphics

By today’s standards, the blocky graphics and single color sprites look downright appalling. But remember, I told you to set the way-back machine. By 1980 standards, these were the hottest graphics you could get on a console system. The amount of detail in the graphics was far greater than the Intellivision’s competition. Also amazing for the time was the incorporation of background graphics in many of the games. All of the games’ graphics are emulated perfectly in every way (I even double-checked this against my real Intellivision to confirm). The graphics in the interface mostly contain scanned images of boxes, overlays, pictures, and memorabilia and are clean and crisp. Most notably, the overlay pictures are large enough to be able to read.

Audio

Again, by today’s standards, the beeps and blips of these games would be enough to discourage a deaf person from playing. Fortunately, you set the way-back machine to 1980 (you did do that, didn’t you?). Like the graphics, the sounds in these games are also emulated perfectly. The only part of the sound I was disappointed by was the lack of emulation for the Intellivoice speech in the games that support it. To compensate, text is shown on screen, but it just isn’t the same. The music in the interface is very nice and soothing. Different pseudo-spacey or 'futuristic' sounding music plays in the background while browsing the interface -- I found this to be a very nice touch to the product.

Documentation

Absolutely incredible! There isn’t much printed documentation other than the install instructions, quick reference diagram for PC and Mac keyboard mapping, and an addenda explaining common problems. The documentation for each game, hardware unit, history, etc. is in the program’s interface as part of the program and is extremely thorough. In fact, from reading this information, you will probably learn more about any single Intellivision product than you ever wanted to know.

System Requirements

Mattel Electronics Intellivision Master Component Unit Model 2609 or Model 5872, um oops, you mean for the emulated games, sorry...

PC Requirements: Pentium 90, Windows 95, 8M RAM, 8X CD-ROM, .

Apple Macintosh Requirements: Power Macintosh, OS 7.5, 100MHz, 16M RAM, 8X CD-ROM.

Reviewed on: Pentium 233MMX, 6.4G HD, 64M SDRAM, Orchid Righteous 3D (w/ 3dfx chipset), Diamond Stealth 3D, Microsoft Sidewinder 3-D joystick.

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Bottom Line

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This is the best anthology of any classic console gaming system anywhere short of owning a complete collection yourself. If you are a classic gaming fan or collector, this CD is a must have for your library/collection. Even if you just want to learn more about the impact of the Intellivision on the video game market in the early 80’s or to play some great classic games, this CD is the way to go which is why I give it a score of 90.

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