Beauty & the Beast

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Imagic

I'll admit it - even with Imagic's solid track record, I was ready to write Beauty & the Beast off as a simple Donkey Kong clone. I was way off. The concept of the game is similar to Nintendo's hit arcade game - climb to the top of the screen to save the lady being held hostage by a big brute. In Donkey Kong, that brute is everyone's favorite gorilla. In Beauty & the Beast, that brute is Horrible Hank, who has a chin that would make Jay Leno envious. The manual says that Hank eats "hot buttered bricks" for breakfast…it sounds like Hank has some psychological issues, doesn't it? The manual also states that he drinks alligator blood like most people drink water and that when he speaks, paint peels off the walls. Well, yes, with that diet, I'm sure his breath is as wretched as his attempts to be Chuck Norris. Let's see Horrible Hank slam a revolving door!! Anyway, the damsel in distress is "Tiny Mabel." Mabel, I guess, is a little person? Horrible Hank holds her with one hand like she's a lollipop, so she's gotta be tiny. You take the role of Bashful Buford, who is trying to climb the building, dodging birds, bats, rats and avoiding the boulders that Hank is tossing down. Of course, Mabel sends her love down to Buford in the form of hearts. If Buford can manage to catch them, then he becomes invincible for a short time, allowing him to plow through all enemies and boulders with ease. The goal is to find open windows, which allow Buford to get some footing to be able to climb up to the next floor of the building. Reaching Hank completes that stage. As you complete each stage, Hank climbs higher, forcing Buford to also climb higher. The higher you climb, the more narrow the building becomes…and yes, if you're not careful, it is entirely possible to fall off of the side of the building. Eventually, you'll reach the top, Horrible Hank will fall from the top of the horrible skyscraper to his horrible death, and all is well in the world…until you realize that Hank's chin must act like a cushion to soften the impact, and he steals away Mabel again, making you climb an even taller building with even more obstacles. My only real complaint about the game is that I wish it had different difficulties. It starts out very easy, and it takes a while for the difficulty to ramp up….that's good for first-time players, but it can be a bit boring if you've played this game a bunch already and you've got to play a while to get to a part that challenges you. That one complaint aside, Beauty & the Beast is a really well-made game that may have been inspired by Donkey Kong, but manages to stand out on its own as a very solid platformer…plus, what other game stars someone named Buford? That's gotta count for something, right?

Review added: 05/13/2026

Boxing

Also known as: N/A

Developer: APh Technical Consulting

The Intellivision take on Boxing is more visually impressive than Activision's go of the sport on the Atari 2600, but it doesn't seem as smooth to play, or as fun. But, that doesn't make Intellivision's Boxing any less impressive of a game. In this version of the sport, the game can go up to a whopping fifteen, ninety-second rounds…unless one boxer or the other gets a knockout. Basically, the game starts with both the first and second player picking a boxer. Each boxer is a different color and have their own stats - blue has strong defense, red has stronger offensive power, tan has more endurance, dark green is a balanced fighter, light green is another balanced fighter, and yellow is labeled as "unpredictable" in the game's manual. Basically, the yellow fighter has randomized stats every fight, so he could be an invincible juggernaut or a guy that has difficulty fighting his way out of a wet paper bag. Once the boxing starts, you've actually got a lot of options here…You can throw upper, middle, or lower punches with both your left and right hands. Since both hands are in use, you an throw combinations at your opponent and get them reeling. You can feint punches with either hand to trick your opponent, or pull a punch.. You can also duck and dodge oncoming attacks. In other words, it does a pretty good job of simulating a real boxing fight - this isn't simply Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots. You'll want to box smart, and not just blindly throw punches, if you want to win in this game. While you may get lucky with a knockout, if you're more strategic with your boxing, you'll likely wind up with more points. As I mentioned, the fight could potentially go for fifteen rounds. If it does get that far, then the person with the most points is the victor. Overall, Boxing is a very impressive game for its time. As I mentioned at the start, I do prefer the simplicity and pick-up-and-play aspect of Activision's take on the sport…however, if you're a boxing enthusiast and have a friend who is also one, and you don't mind spending nearly twenty minutes on a single boxing match to see who floats more like a butterfly and stings more like a bee, then I could definitely see you preferring the complexity of this game over the simplistic variation on the Atari 2600.

Review added: 11/28/2025

BurgerTime

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Mattel

When people owned an Intellivision as a kid, they all have different memories of what their favorite game was. However, the one that seems to come up the most often when I talk to folks is Mattel's port of the arcade game, BurgerTime. The game looks good for the hardware that it's on - Peter Pepper looks good, the Michael Myers-like food stalkers (Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg, and Mr. Pickle) all look good, and the burger ingredients, while sporting a different look than what you'd see in the arcade, and completely missing the cheese slices, still look good, all things considered. And if you're wondering why I'm annoyed that the cheese is missing, I'm from Wisconsin. As a Wisconsin native, it's very well known that one thing you never do is cut the cheese….that's what Mattel did here, and it stinks. Alright, now that I've got that awful fart joke out of the way, let's continue. The gameplay is the important part of any game, and Mattel did a good job of bringing the addictive gameplay from the arcade game to its home console. Making your way around the platforms and climbing the ladders is all done with ease, and it's still fun luring the pursuing provisions onto a piece of the burger, just to cover them in pepper and watch them drop to their demise with the burger ingredients that you just dropped. It's also worth mentioning that this game includes every level from the arcade game, plus an extra, exclusive-to-Intellivision level…extending the fun, and possibly cementing itself as the definitive version of the game, even over the arcade original. Speaking of cement, Mattel should use some cement and make a statue of themselves for putting out such a fantastic game…even if it lacks the all-important cheese.

Review added: 05/22/2026