Exploring Super Mario Bros for 1979 Intellivision! 

@Jaxson Sawhill Good lord.

I am really liking these too!

I enjoy em too. You have a really warm, sincere vibe that makes the videos very comforting.

Lovin' the content gruz! Killer as usual, I'd never know projects like this were happening otherwise. Are you familiar with snesdrunk? You guys seem like you're on the same wave-length, both chilling and enjoying retro games. Ever considered doing a crossover?

Nice to see you as well as hear you gruz!

No funky scanline action?

Can't you do a raster split?

@@pixelcrunch300 What is a raster split?

@@UltimatePerfection Unfortunately you can't write to the STIC registers midframe.

@@espfusion Not even with CPU / Raster interrupts?

I think it'd probably sound more like "SLOOOPAH MAAELIO BLRAATHURRRRS". 😆

@@TheMrRuttazzo BLEEE SLEVENTLEEEEN BAAAWWMMMMRRRR

​@TheMrRuttazzo nah it would be sounding like some "SAEUPEAUH MAEUEAH BATHERS"

"THAANK YOOO MAEUEAH. BUT OUR PRINCEZ IS IN ANOTHER CASEL!"

"LEHTS AH GOH"

Both homebrews are amazing, and you're right about the technical differences. With commercial releases, the Atari 2600 was smoother and typically had more colors, but were less advanced and had less sharp graphics. Recent Atari homebrews show that Atari can rival Intellivision, but when the Intellivision is pushed to the max, it can rival an early NES game! Makes me wonder why games like Astrosmash and Demon Attack aren't as smooth on the vastly superior hardware.

@@bubbythebear6891 Time and money unfortunately. And tools. A guy doing homebrew today can take however long they want and leverage years of tricks people have found. And also use modern development tools. Someone working for Atari/Intellivision or another game developers in the 80s probably had a few months to crank out a game that was it. That's how we ended up with gems like 2600 Pac-Man: "We're shipping this on a 4K ROM and you have 6 months. GO!! Oh, and here's an assembler/editor and some graph paper to build it with."

@CessNight5672 I don't think it was a simple ROM hack. It had scrolling, music, pipes, and power ups!

It seems like the have the sound effects on a lower register (tonally/musically speaking) and the music on a higher register. That's how, to me, it sounds like the music can be fully functioning along with the sound effects instead of being cancelled out one way or there other like on the NES

The Intellivision's sound chip is the 3-voice AY-3-8910, same used in MSX, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum 128K, Vectrex, Atari ST, and Sharp X1, as well as the secondary sound chip in Sunsoft's Gimmick! for Famicom. It sounds more complex than Intellivision official games because it's newer and therefore uses a larger capacity ROM to store more music sequence data.

It was also used in 100's and 100's of popular arcade games, from 1980 on, clear into the 90's. 10-Yard Fight, Burger Time, Commando, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Gyruss, Moon Patrol, Popeye, Spy Hunter, Tapper, Tron, etc just to name a few. 😎

*Bee Seventeen Bommmber!*

The Intellivision was a 16 bit console after all.

@@LUCKO2022 it was more down to its amazing GPU I think it was the first one to have tile based graphics and hardware smooth scrolling. I mean before arcades had it

Jokes aside, this is amazing work.

@Иван Стоилов yeah, Sega’s been known to be more progressive and forward thinking. They saw bunch of guys creating fan games out of their IP, what did they do? They hired them! Christian Whitehead is an example…

Because Nintendo are scum and if people had sense, they'd not buy any of their products

Avgn: Fuuuuuuuuu

The handling for this game looks like it would be similar to super mario land

@@Gameprojordan it sounds like Mario deluxe for GBC

Well said. Was it the first to master that?

Namco's Pac-Land was revolutionary, Super Mario Bros. wouldn't exist without it.

@@CommonSense-hy2sn Doubt

It's not just you. The SN76489 sound chip used in the Master System and the AY-3-8914 used in the Intellivision are very similar, only producing 3 square wave channels + noise (although the AY-3's noise is not a separate channel unlike SN76489)

@@zynidian Thanks for sharing! I am interested in the intricacies of sound chips and stuff, but I just haven't found the time to do any serious research with it.

Even had Stadium Mud Buggies!

The CPU in the Inty isn't actually anything like a 6502, it's more of a PDP-11 style minicomputer replacement deal.

@Exophase is correct. The Intellivision console did not have a 6502-derived processor in it. There was a home computer expansion with a keyboard and tape drive that had a 6502 in it -- production costs were too high for the expansion and Mattel Electronics only made about 4,000 of the 6502-containing computer expansions.

@@DarthGylcolious ah, i guess i misread the article. thank you ;w;

The Intellivision CPU is a CP-1610, compared to other consoles which used a Z80 or 6502/6507. That's also why the Intellivision homebrew scene got off to a slow start.

You'd have to use that original controller to call the Nintendo help line lol

Aw heck, it ain't that bad. Lol, well maybe after a while, but luckily, there are a few homebrew solutions, which are unfortunately a little hard to come by nowadays. 😬

@@AltimaNEO lol hahaha

I sure can. The controller was never the problem. Software was.

Here you are :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--SLBAPc1g5g.html

One or both may or may not be being worked on. ;-)

BTW the Famicom is endeed pre 1985 machine . It is from 1983

I know Mega Man 2 is being worked on.

I'd pick this one just cuz it seems it'd be a bit more challenging. I can practically sleep through the NES version at this point.

I would pick this, as its soundtrack, especially the main theme, is a banger!

Guys, saying you’d take this over the NES version is a bit over the top, but nonetheless I’m speechless that Intellivision had the processing power to so this in 70s. I guess it’s all about game design. Imagine if this programmer takes a crack at SMB3.

@@Nick_Lyston took the words out of my mouth. Those that would prefer this over the Original are deluding themselves.

@@dixonrivera5093 Yeah it reminds me of when they managed to put Dragon’s Lair on the Gameboy Color. Miraculous feat for sure, but to say it would be preferable to playing the original is a bit much. A small RU-vid channel named “Side Quest” does a good review of it if you’re interested.

I think that was one of the big changes Nintendo (and perhaps other systems I don’t know about) made: the ability to actually “beat” a game. I know Atari had killscreens, but it’s not the same as an official end to the narrative. Even as a kid, I remember being a bit miffed that there was no closure to games like Pitfall. The levels either just kept getting harder until you couldn’t continue, or it looped around to the start. Granted, back then the focus was on high scores, which I guess is its own reward. But I liked the fact that there were definite parameters of the game, there was a final objective, and you could reach it. Sure, the “final” Bowser looked the same as the seven Bowsers before him, and the reward was a rather pedestrian-looking princess and a bit of new music, but at least there was something to demarcate the completion of the mission. ET would have still crashed the market (yes, yes-along with all the other factors), but I think distinct endings were part of what made the Nintendo era special.

Nightstalker was great!

I don't know what game you're referring to. Vectron had 99 levels, along with Beamrider and The Dreadnaught Factor at the highest difficulty, and no impressive endgame. Back in 1999, I demonstrated that Vectron is unplayable beyond Level 16 without a ROM hack.

​@@schwaaardPitfall! actually does have an end state. There's a finite number of treasures on the map, and the game ends when you collect them all. Unless you die to life counter or timer first. Not that there's any sort of elaborate ending, but it isn't just "play to destruction"

It has an AY-8910 class sound chip similar to the MSX.

@Иван Стоилов yeah but that defeats the purpose as its a way faster 16bit cpu running 6502 code Its like saying wow i can run mario bros on a snes with co pro

The original Nintendo sound hardware consisted of two square waves, a triangle wave, a noise generator, and a sample channel. The Intellivision's chip offers three selectable waveform channels and a noise generator. It can actually be programmed to generate two square waves and a triangle.

Overlays 🙂

The dreaded EXEC. ☠️

@@R3TR0R4V3 Yep, that's the name of the little bastard. A tremendous blow to the entire system's credibility, if you ask me.

@@R3TR0R4V3 yea. Still it made it quick and easy to make games. Was ok for my slow type games. Same as today mkre high level language / API

@@litjellyfish Can't disagree with you on this. In fact, at that time the subject of "frame rate" wasn't even close to public attention or interest. It would have been nice to have the option to "hit the hardware raw" for the third parties.... but as the Intellivision had no third-party support, it's a moot point.

@@RalphZ80 mmm i mean its pretty frustrating to know that almost all of this new amazing 60fps games are made with intellibasic. More low level / asm style basic but still

It's on Sega genesis too. Sound sucks though

I actually liked the Bowser castle theme on this more than the official one! Sounded more menacing.

5200

ColecoVision was my jam too..My first console. Still have a few actually, plus the FPGA version - CollectorVision Phoenix. There's a highly active homebrew scene nowadays (look on AtariAge), producing some really incredible stuff. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a SMB port, at least that I know of anyway.

@@R3TR0R4V3 I have a Coleco, not many games though. I need to pick some up, but Ive really stopped buying any retro stuff since the market went crazy. I remember looking into a flash cart, but it had a bunch of dip switches and no selection menu which kinda turned me off to it. Ive been trying to get a 5200 as well but its just cursed - Ive had 4 deals go sideways on me trying to buy them. I really like that generation as there are some really good arcade ports, and what homebrewers are doing now is amazing.

It is a really neat controller! It gets dunked on a lot, and while there are valid criticisms to be had, the complaints usually boil down to "this isn't a Super Nintendo controller with extra bits glued on, it is awful!".

Don’t forget the main thing that made it possible was the graphic chip that was ahead of time

You would be surprised what some of these old systems could pull off with the right code, chips and rom size. Sadly it wasn't feasible back then since it was still new and alot of later programming techniques weren't developed yet and cmpanies were pushing programers to get games done quick on very small rom chips (talking 2 to 4k storage) as they weren't cheap.

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Yeah, it's been discussed before with the programmer, but it's all because of "Big N" laying the smack down with C&D's and whatnot, so yeah that's why it's not very likely, unfortunately. :/ In fact, releasing this video was a bad idea in general because it draws unwanted negative attention to it.

I would say a big step in what you could do for more free flowing games like this. Less restrictions than atari

Hardware smooth scrolling of tile based graphics. By a chip made in 78

The Intellivision graphics chip natively allows for scrolling on both axes. Hover Force is probably the most impressive example.

I dunno Intellivision came out in 1979 and the Famicom in Japan in 1983, but at that time 4 years was a looong time in computer tech. I mean compare 1978's space invaders to 1982's Zaxxon. Also don't think the North-American-Console-Crash would affect how good it could be. I think this looks incredibly impressive myself.

I think the graphic is amazing. It pushes it for so only difference would be changing some pixel placement.

I'm not aware of an Intellivision game called Robots From Hell. Given that the Intellivision did have an official release of Pac-Man, are you sure it wasn't a different platform?

There's an active homebrew scene for every vintage console imaginable.. You'd be surprised. Some _really_ incredible stuff being done nowadays, both in hardware and software.

They're coming, slowly but steadily. Not too long ago I saw a port of The Adventures Of Lolo.

There's a pretty good Castlevania.

Well, color me stupid then? Sounds great.