Nobody Cares About Intellivision

[AtariLeaf]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I remember the Atari 2600 joystick being uncomfortable and it gave me blisters. I could play as long as I wanted on the Intellivision. Maybe if I owned an Atari 2600 my delicate hands would have gotten use to it. What's not ergonomic of the intellivision controller? A thumb directional pad is what everyone has standardized on now; It gives equal chance for left and right handed players; if the side buttons were less stiff it would have been even better.

 

edit:

Perhaps a lot of people have only tried the Intellivision II controller. I've never used one, but from what I understand, even though it looks similar, it is less comfortable than the original.

 

I can only speak for myself but I've never found any controller that requires it to be laid in my palm while using my thumb and index or middle finger for the side buttons to be comfortable in anyway at all. I did a video on either Atlantis or Worm Whomper years ago and I mentioned that although I loved the games my hand got so cramped I had to stop playing. And it hurt for a while after I stopped too. To me a controller shouldn't be held the way you have to dial a phone. And yes those side buttons were stiff.

[pimpmaul69]

 

I can only speak for myself but I've never found any controller that requires it to be laid in my palm while using my thumb and index or middle finger for the side buttons to be comfortable in anyway at all. I did a video on either Atlantis or Worm Whomper years ago and I mentioned that although I loved the games my hand got so cramped I had to stop playing. And it hurt for a while after I stopped too. To me a controller shouldn't be held the way you have to dial a phone. And yes those side buttons were stiff.

i use a genesis controller more than the intv controller to play inty. I use the intv controller for the christmas carol contest though. As far as systems i had a coleco with the atari attachment but the nes was my first love. Got one in 1985 and super mario bros changed my life forever. The nes is still my all time favorite console.

[mr_me]

 

I can only speak for myself but I've never found any controller that requires it to be laid in my palm while using my thumb and index or middle finger for the side buttons to be comfortable in anyway at all. I did a video on either Atlantis or Worm Whomper years ago and I mentioned that although I loved the games my hand got so cramped I had to stop playing. And it hurt for a while after I stopped too. To me a controller shouldn't be held the way you have to dial a phone. And yes those side buttons were stiff.

I completely agree that using both the left and right side buttons is a problem, but I can't think of any Mattel action games that are done this way (except Bomb Squad if you call that an Action game). Normally in Mattel games, two action functions are duplicated on the left and right side buttons. World Cup Soccer (not from Mattel) did use a third side button function, and I think that was a bad decision. World Championship Baseball does but it's a little different in that you normally make your batting selection before the pitch is thrown. Some of Mattel's simulation games did as well like Utopia, B-17 Bomber, Treasure of Tarmin. There may be others but I agree that an action game should not make you use left and right side buttons.

 

A lot of people hold the Intellivision controller with their fingers, much like a modern game pad, only using their thumbs for buttons and disc. I actually hold it the way you describe using my fingers for the two side buttons. In fact for a game like Pac-Man you can easily play one handed.

 

edit:

I was never a fan of rapid fire games on the Intellivision; maybe the hand cramping was due to the stiff side button; as dz-jay pointed out an intellivision flashback controller might help with that.

Edited June 4, 2016 by mr_me

[wolfy62]

I still care about the Intellivision! I am not quite dead yet and I don't think I am nobody! Who is that nobody guy anyway?

[+fdr4prez]

i use a genesis controller more than the intv controller to play inty. I use the intv controller for the christmas carol contest though. As far as systems i had a coleco with the atari attachment but the nes was my first love. Got one in 1985 and super mario bros changed my life forever. The nes is still my all time favorite console.

 

One of these?

 

http://r.ebay.com/co93Y8

[accousticguitar]

O2 better then Intellivision?

 

I have 20-30 O2 games.... Are any worth playing on that system? KC M. is ok not even OK... lower case baby!

 

Dude, would have expected a much bigger reaction from you..... Were is Eric when I finally want to hear him bitch about something!!! LOL

Killer Bees is fantastic and so is KC's Crazy Chase. KC Munchkin is okay but there are far better games on the system.

[jaybird3rd]

Took the thought straight out of my brain. In fact, I've used almost those same words to make this same point in other threads.

Wow, you're right! I even gave a "Like" to that post, but I totally forgot about it. I certainly wasn't intentionally trying to steal your words, but I'm sure that your post influenced my thinking, so I went back and added a citation to my earlier post.

 

I've been thinking along similar lines after talking with my college-age students about their perceptions of game history, and also after hearing Pat and Ian discussing in several of their podcasts why the pre-crash consoles are slowly being forgotten, both from a collector's (Pat) and a reseller's (Ian) perspective. I think there are several reasons why this is happening, and at some point I'd like to make them the subject of a new thread. As someone who remembers the pre-crash years pretty well, and as someone who still gets a lot of enjoyment out of the games from that period (including Intellivision games!), it's disconcerting to think that all of the excitement and innovation of those years could be flushed down the memory hole, as if they never happened.

[carlsson]

But to the point, how many different Intellivision games can you pick up today complete in box for $1 each? Also when he says 400 games for the Atari 2600 for $5, does he mean each or that you'd find 400 games, even loose, for a total of $5? The latter seems entirely absurd, unless he is trolling maximum.

 

Actually I visited a retro gaming event last month where Pat was a guest of honor, but since I don't care about NES, to me he was a nobody. It should be pointed out though, that among the 20 something vendors at the event, barely anyone had any pre-crash games or consoles for sale, ditto about home computer stuff. It was all NES, NES, NES, SNES, SNES, SNES, N64, Master System, Genesis and a few random samples of even newer console and PC games.

Edited June 4, 2016 by carlsson

[high voltage]

NES fan boys know nothing...

[pimpmaul69]

 

One of these?

 

http://r.ebay.com/co93Y8

no. I play my games on my intellivision flashback raspberry pi and use the ultimate pc interface for the controllers. I keep player two on intellivision flashback controller mode when i need to use an intv controller and i have the first player set on six button genesis controller mode. Very rarely do i need player 1's controller to be an intv controller.

[BassGuitari]

Wow, you're right! I even gave a "Like" to that post, but I totally forgot about it. I certainly wasn't intentionally trying to steal your words, but I'm sure that your post influenced my thinking, so I went back and added a citation to my earlier post.

 

I've been thinking along similar lines after talking with my college-age students about their perceptions of game history, and also after hearing Pat and Ian discussing in several of their podcasts why the pre-crash consoles are slowly being forgotten, both from a collector's (Pat) and a reseller's (Ian) perspective. I think there are several reasons why this is happening, and at some point I'd like to make them the subject of a new thread. As someone who remembers the pre-crash years pretty well, and as someone who still gets a lot of enjoyment out of the games from that period (including Intellivision games!), it's disconcerting to think that all of the excitement and innovation of those years could be flushed down the memory hole, as if they never happened.

Ha, it's cool, I wasn't trying to bust your chops or anything. Besides, it's not like my posts are copyrighted.

 

Also when he says 400 games for the Atari 2600 for $5, does he mean each or that you'd find 400 games, even loose, for a total of $5? The latter seems entirely absurd, unless he is trolling maximum.

 

Actually I visited a retro gaming event last month where Pat was a guest of honor, but since I don't care about NES, to me he was a nobody. It should be pointed out though, that among the 20 something vendors at the event, barely anyone had any pre-crash games or consoles for sale, ditto about home computer stuff. It was all NES, NES, NES, SNES, SNES, SNES, N64, Master System, Genesis and a few random samples of even newer console and PC games.

He meant $5 each, not for all 400.

 

I hear you about vendor halls at retro events now. The vendor hall at MGC used to make me giddy with excitement, and now it's mostly just "eh." It's oceans of the same NES, SNES, Genesis, and import games now. Don't get me wrong, there are still cool pre-Crash and non-Nintendo finds to be had--I found an XEGS joystick this year, for instance, as well as a half dozen 2600 and Coleco cartridges I was missing--but there are noticably fewer of them, and for anything past R3 on the rarity scale, it's gotten really spendy. One guy had a bunch of CIB and NIB Atari 800 and Commodore games (f#ckin' A!)...for $30-40 each (awww).

 

Some of that is my problem, I suppose; my collection is advanced enough that I don't need to go after deals like the CIB Intellivision II w/ 15 CIB games for $80 or whatever. The stuff I still want/need for my collection is just expensive since I have most of the easy stuff out of the way. It's actually kind of tempting to just sell off a bunch of my stuff and start over, but I know I'd pay far more the second time around than I did the first time.

[AtariLeaf]

 

One of these?

 

http://r.ebay.com/co93Y8

 

I have something similar for the Colecovision, but it was given as a gift I didn't buy it. If I didn't I'd probably never play my Colecovision for the same reason - I hate the design of the controls, same with the 5200, same with the proline 7800 stick. That design with side buttons is not comfortable to me.

 

Back to the genesis controller mod, I had the first Intellivision though when I owned one so I guess this wouldn't have worked with it anyway.

Edited June 4, 2016 by AtariLeaf

[+intvsteve]

I completely agree that using both the left and right side buttons is a problem, but I can't think of any Mattel action games that are done this way (except Bomb Squad if you call that an Action game). Normally in Mattel games, two action functions are duplicated on the left and right side buttons. World Cup Soccer (not from Mattel) did use a third side button function, and I think that was a bad decision. World Championship Baseball does but it's a little different in that you normally make your batting selection before the pitch is thrown. Some of Mattel's simulation games did as well like Utopia, B-17 Bomber, Treasure of Tarmin. There may be others but I agree that an action game should not make you use left and right side buttons.

 

A lot of people hold the Intellivision controller with their fingers, much like a modern game pad, only using their thumbs for buttons and disc. I actually hold it the way you describe using my fingers for the two side buttons. In fact for a game like Pac-Man you can easily play one handed.

 

edit:

I was never a fan of rapid fire games on the Intellivision; maybe the hand cramping was due to the stiff side button; as dz-jay pointed out an intellivision flashback controller might help with that.

Vectron is the action game that required use of both lower side buttons. Now, personally, I really love this game, but most Inty fans don't seem to share that feeling. The worst of it for me is that you *must* have clean, pretty glitch-free controllers. Now w/ the Flashback controllers I should see about getting back into Vectron.

 

For me, the worst (most painful) controllers of all time are the Colecovision controllers -- and this from someone who loves the Inty controllers! Never had too much of a problem w/ Atari controllers, and never played NES enough to have a valid opinion on those.

[mckafka99]

Killer Bees is fantastic and so is KC's Crazy Chase. KC Munchkin is okay but there are far better games on the system.

Add Turtles to those first two and you get the trio I regularly play and enjoy on the O2.

[mr_me]

Vectron is the action game that required use of both lower side buttons. Now, personally, I really love this game, but most Inty fans don't seem to share that feeling. The worst of it for me is that you *must* have clean, pretty glitch-free controllers. Now w/ the Flashback controllers I should see about getting back into Vectron.

 

For me, the worst (most painful) controllers of all time are the Colecovision controllers -- and this from someone who loves the Inty controllers! Never had too much of a problem w/ Atari controllers, and never played NES enough to have a valid opinion on those.

Thanks. Yeah Vectron is one of the games we returned for a refund. And I understand the recommended strategy is to work your way in one direction.

 

edit:

With jzintv I think you can completely remap the intellivision controller functions including each disc direction; I remember I was thinking of doing this for Vectron.

Edited June 5, 2016 by mr_me

[+fdr4prez]

<snipped>

 

Back to the genesis controller mod, I had the first Intellivision though when I owned one so I guess this wouldn't have worked with it anyway.

 

sounds like it is too late for you now, but it would work with the first Intellivision with the correctly made adapter. Nurmix should be able to make an "Inty 2 to Inty 1" adapter for it

[BassGuitari]

FWIW, *I* like the Intellivision II controller...

Well, maybe "like" isn't the right word. I should say, I don't mind it. Or, it isn't bad enough that it bothers me.

[Keatah]

I don't want to put too much blame on the #CUPodcast guys. The perspective that "nobody cares about the Intellivision" didn't originate with them, and it seems to be the new consensus that is emerging about all the pre-crash consoles, not just the Intellivision.

 

The prevailing view seems to be that the NES was the first video game console that really "got it right," and that the pre-crash consoles aren't any fun to play anymore. They're just the early failed experiments and evolutionary dead-ends of the video game industry, and as BassGuitari said in another thread about collecting, are only worth revisiting for the purpose of considering the necessary mistakes which made the NES possible.

 

I'm sure I'll come up with a longer response later, but suffice it to say that I don't agree with this view at all.

 

In the future, someone will say that about the NES, that it was an early failed experiment, and some other console will be the "first" real console.

 

And on and on and on..

[+Random Terrain]

In the future, someone will say that about the NES, that it was an early failed experiment, and some other console will be the "first" real console.

 

And on and on and on..

 

Yeah, why would anyone make a rectangular controller? Talk about a failed experiment. At least the company learned by the time they made the SNES. It was nice to finally have controllers with rounded edges, like the NES should have had. I complained about those stupid rectangular NES controllers from the moment I got an NES. I eventually bought an NES Advantage to get away from those stupid rectangles.

[pimpmaul69]

 

Yeah, why would anyone make a rectangular controller? Talk about a failed experiment. At least the company learned by the time they made the SNES. It was nice to finally have controllers with rounded edges, like the NES should have had. I complained about those stupid rectangular NES controllers from the moment I got an NES. I eventually bought an NES Advantage to get away from those stupid rectangles.

i really like the nes controllers. The nes max controller is pretty good too. Its really comfortable. My only gripe about the nes dogbone controllers is the a and b buttons have the same angle as the snes buttons making it a little awkward trying to run and jump in super mario games. I have all for official nes controllers though and i love them.

[Schizophretard]

I disagree that Atari 2600 is easy to collect for. I consider complete all of these plus anything that is missing.

[Byte Knight]

Actually, in the nes time frame..... I'd take a C=64 No doubt about it.

 

Agreed (although I'd take an Apple II) - I had already moved on to computer gaming when the NES came out. Compared to computer games, the NES's graphics seemed very "cartoony" and targeted more at a younger audience.

[Byte Knight]

BTW, everyone in the Intellivision forums should "dislike" his video. Let's show him that we do care!

[+nurmix]

Vectron is the action game that required use of both lower side buttons. Now, personally, I really love this game, but most Inty fans don't seem to share that feeling. The worst of it for me is that you *must* have clean, pretty glitch-free controllers. Now w/ the Flashback controllers I should see about getting back into Vectron.

 

For me, the worst (most painful) controllers of all time are the Colecovision controllers -- and this from someone who loves the Inty controllers! Never had too much of a problem w/ Atari controllers, and never played NES enough to have a valid opinion on those.

You and me both, Steve.

 

I got Vectron as a kid, and while it was definitely different, I got into it quickly and really enjoyed the challenge of it. Yes, it can be frustrating, but it kept me coming back for another round.

 

And even though I love the Colecovision, the controllers are the worst. The level of discomfort is off the charts (especially if you're playing a game that requires both side buttons). Directional control is also very spotty with the joy-stubs. They require a lot of effort to hit the right direction (particularly diagonals), and they make a lot of cracking noises while doing it. I almost always switched to the Super Action controllers - then and now. They still cause cramping, but are far more comfortable and responsive.

 

Extended playing sessions with just about any controller on any system will cause hand or finger pain eventually. The 2600 joysticks, Intellivision controllers, NES, even the stock PS2 controllers. It just takes longer to occur than with the CV.

 

 

 

Sent from my Intellivision ECS using Intelli-Tapatalk

Edited June 5, 2016 by nurmix

[IntellivisionDude]

BTW, everyone in the Intellivision forums should "dislike" his video. Let's show him that we do care!

 

That probably wouldn't do anything. They wouldn't know why that video got more dislikes. And most youtubers pay no attention to the like/dislike ratio. As long as people watch is all that matters.

 

If everybody left a comment on the video then that would let them know. I already left one.

Edited June 5, 2016 by IntellivisionDude