I always thought that the Atari Emulator sucked so I was loath to try this one. Then I found a coupon and a sale and picked this up for 15 bucks and wow! It is pretty damn cool. I especially like the portability of it, just pop it in your suitcase or backpack and you have a nice little gaming system wherever you go. It of course has no comparisons to modern day gaming but if you like classics you will not be dissapointed. The review below is from:
www.gameshark.com
Doofus
Intellivision Productions unveiled its new Intellivision 25 and Intellivision 10 all-in-one video game systems to the public for the first time at Classic Gaming Expo 2003 in Las Vegas this year. Intellivision Productions was kind enough to give GameShark.com a production sample of the 25 game model for review and yours truly, the resident old gamer, has been putting it through its paces.
The Intellivision 25 system has-guess what-25 classic Intellivision games programmed into it. The games included are: Astrosmash, Baseball, Basketball, Buzz Bombers, Football, Golf, Hockey, Hover Force, Motocross, Night Stalker, Pinball, Skiing, Shark! Shark!, Snafu, Space Armada, Space Hawk, Space Battle, Star Strike, Sub Hunt, Thin Ice, Thunder Castle, Tower of Doom, Vectron, Volleyball and Wrestling. Some of these are among the rarer of the Intellivision games and even collectors for the system may not ever get to play a game like Hover Force if it were not for this system.
Unlike the Jakks Pacific Atari 10-in-1 video game that looks like the joystick controller of the Atari 2600, the Intellivision 25 unit bears no resemblance to any part of the original Intellivision. It is based on the Techno Source TV Play Power technology, which means what they are doing is having NES hardware emulate an Intellivision. It really looks like a Dreamcast controller more than anything else. Just as well. I've always thought that the original Intellivision 16-position thumb-pad controller must have been designed by someone with an utter hate and contempt for humanity. The nice thumb stick and D-pad lets me finally enjoy playing some of these great games that the original controller made less than fun.
Setting the system up for play could not be simpler. Removing a single screw opens the battery compartment housing four AA batteries. An eight-foot AV cable with a video and one audio line connects the system to most modern TVs. A small on/off switch with an LED indicator puts the unit into operation.
For controls the Intellivision 25 has a short thumb stick, D-pad, start, select, reset and four action buttons. Of the action buttons, only the "A" and "B" buttons are actually used during game play. Looking like a Dreamcast controller of course means the Intellivision 25 does not have the numeric keypad that was central to selecting options on the Intellivision. On the Intellivision 25 these functions are handled using the directional pad.
The game selection interface is one of the better I have seen. After an initial title screen the system displays the name of the first game complete with a screen shot. The thumb stick or D-pad moves between games to select and a punch on the "A" button brings up the game.
By now you're probably asking, "But how do the games play?" The answer to that depends on how much of an Intellivision purest you are. The emulation of the games is not Intellivision perfect. The changes mainly take the form of differences in sound, very small graphic details and the controller scheme. These things may really bug someone who devoted many long hours to mastering the games of the Intellivision back when it was a new system. For everyone else, they are just going to have fun. The games are real retro-gaming goodness when taken just on face value. The unique Space Invaders/Asteroids mix of the classic Astrosmash has never been equaled.
It should be noted that the Intellivision was always famous for its two-player sports games. On the Intellivision 25 all the sports games are single-player contests. However I don't believe anyone would actually think of making an Intellivision unit and not include the sports games that made the system a force to be reckoned with back in the early 1980s. The sports games on the Intellivision 25 give players a taste of what sports games were like on the actual system even though there is no way to bring in the true live-player experience.
For someone just looking to try the great, classic Intellivision games without hunting up an entire system and cartridges, I highly recommend the Intellivision 25. For the serious Intellivision player and collector...who are we kidding, you'll want to pick up the Intellivision 25 just to have a complete collection of Intellivision stuff. Either way - buy it!
Intellivision emulator
Linear Mode
