Intellivision Productions, Inc. is excited to announce three of its classic games are coming to PlayStation Home. Astrosmash, Shark! Shark! and Night Stalker, which thrilled players in the early 1980s, have been upgraded while staying true to the spirit of the games’ classic looks and game play. We think of them as “enhanced yet completely faithful conversions,” but we call them Intellivision Gen2.
When the Intellivision console was introduced in 1980, it drew attention with its 16-bit graphics. Of course, it takes more than great graphics to make great games, and Intellivision fans quickly discovered the fun of iconic games such as Astrosmash, Shark! Shark!, Night Stalker and many others.
Until now, the games released by Intellivision Productions and its publishing partners have primarily been exact, faithful reproductions – usually deliberate emulations – of the original titles. While this great for players who want to relive their childhoods, we’ve wanted to try updating the games a bit; putting in some features we would have liked to put in back then.
Sony has given us that chance. The PlayStation Home team, many of whom grew up playing Intellivision, wanted to bring the Intellivision game library to Home, but with the freedom to try out some new ideas. We kept the basic look of the games recognizable to tickle the memories of our lifelong fans: still a bit blocky, but with a retro-pixel-inspired look. The goals and play of the games immediately feel like the originals, but with added levels, features and challenges. We worked to capture the best of Intellivision, then pushed that best further.
In Astrosmash, you blasted meteors falling to the planet’s surface while avoiding UFOs in a fast-paced, heart-pounding game. In Astrosmash Gen2, you are still blowing up those meteors, but now the game features more types of UFOs, more pronounced difficulty level progressions, and base weapon power-ups. If Astrosmash was your game, you’ll quickly get back into the intense rhythms of this game of survival!
In Shark! Shark!, you were a little fish that grew larger as you ate other fish. And even the smallest fish could take on the deadly shark. Well, in Shark! Shark! Gen2 you are still a fish eating other fish, you still try to take down the shark, but your food and foes both swim in a wide variety of dizzying new patterns. And, if you are fortunate enough to win the mermaid’s heart, you power through bonus rounds as well!
In Night Stalker, you raced through an underground labyrinth of bat and spider-filled tunnels, avoiding and blasting robots of ever-increasing intelligence. Well, get running and find your gun; Night Stalker Gen2 is still filled with bats and spiders, but now it has a greater variety of killer robots, each more challenging to confront, along with a variety of maze structures to sweat through!
Intellivision is delighted to bring you these enhanced titles. Of course, Intellivision is not abandoning our classic games; we will always make the exact originals available on a variety of platforms. But we are excited about this opportunity Sony has given us to let new generations discover the fun of Intellivision – simple games that can be learned in minutes but provide a lifetime of challenge. Intellivision Gen2 games will be available this fall — stay tuned!
