Reviews
Donkey Kong Jr. ColecoVision Review: The Sequel Swings Higher
The ape is in the cage this time: Donkey Kong Jr. swaps girders for vines and chains, and its ColecoVision conversion is every bit as assured as the famous pack-in.
Author: Sal Benedetto
From the Vault columnist. Grew up feeding quarters to the Ms. Pac-Man machine at his uncle's pizza place; still owns his childhood SNES and every Nintendo Power he ever begged his mother for. Writes the retrospectives and the hidden-gem hunts.
Reviews
Donkey Kong ColecoVision Review: The Pack-In That Sold a Console
The cartridge in the box was the whole argument: ColecoVision’s Donkey Kong brought Nintendo’s arcade giant home in 1982 with three of its four stages, the pink girders and the attitude intact.
Features
Intellivision Hidden Gems: 10 Underrated Classics Worth Hunting Down
Diner’s isometric burgers, Snafu’s party snakes, White Water!’s river, a He-Man quest and six more: ten real Intellivision releases the best-seller lists forgot.
Features
The Intellivoice: When Games Learned to Talk Back
In 1982 Mattel’s voice module made a console speak — as a starship computer, a bomber crew and a heckling bomb. The economics failed; the idea was twenty years early.
Reviews
Demon Attack Intellivision Review: Imagic’s Shooter, Super-Sized
Rob Fulop’s demon waves in richer colour — plus a Pandemonium fortress finale the famous 2600 version never had. The port that completes the legend.
Reviews
Microsurgeon Review: The Strangest, Smartest Game on the System
A robot surgeon, a failing patient and never enough power to fix everything: Imagic’s triage simulation is a game about healing that was decades ahead of its industry.
Reviews
Treasure of Tarmin Review: First-Person Dungeon Crawling in 1983
A first-person, multi-level dungeon with degrading weapons, chests, potions and a Minotaur: Tarmin is the counterexample that starts console RPG history in 1983.
Reviews
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Review: The Quest for the Crown of Kings
An overland journey, caves explored by ear, and a crown on a mountain: Cloudy Mountain founded the console action-adventure four years before the genre had a name.
Reviews
Tower of Doom Review: A Roguelike Before Roguelikes Had a Name
Procedural levels, unidentified items, diplomacy stats and permadeath stakes in 1987 — on a 1979 console. Tower of Doom is one of the most forward-looking games of the 8-bit era.
Reviews
Thunder Castle Review: The Late-Era Fantasy Gem
Knights, dragons, wizards and a classical score in 1986, on a console its maker had abandoned: Thunder Castle is the Intellivision’s swan song and one of its peaks.