Tennis

Also known as: N/A

Developer: APh Technical Consulting

Mattel could have probably just created a clone of Pong here and people would have bought it…but, to go along with the other sports games on the Intellivision, this variation of Tennis is more about simulating the actual sport than it is about creating a n arcade-style game. If you've played more modern Tennis games, you pretty much have an idea of what to expect here. The person with the ball has to serve the ball…unlike in games of the time, like Pong, the ball doesn't automatically bounce over to the other player - in fact, if the server mis-times their swing, they may miss the ball completely and get a fault. If they fault a second time in a row, then a point goes to the opponent. A fault is also applied if the served ball lands outside of the court. You can also get a "let" by hitting the net when you serve. There is no penalty for getting multiple lets, aside from the fact that you've got to keep serving the ball until you either get it in-bounds or get a fault. Once a good serve is made, it's up to the opponent to return the ball over the net to keep the ball in play. Just like in real tennis, if the ball bounces more than once before it gets returned, then it counts as a point for the opponent. If the ball hits the net at this point, it's still in play and must be hit back over the net otherwise you'll have a point scored against you. To win a game, you must win by getting at least four points, while still being two points higher than your opponent. There are at least six games per set and to win a match, you must win three sets out of five. The attention to detail of the sport is admirable, the gameplay is smooth, and the subtle animations are even impressive - the fans in the background turn their heads to follow the ball while it's in play. Overall, Tennis on the Intellivision is yet another very good simulation of a sport on that console. If you're a fan of tennis, then you'll be a fan of Tennis.

Review added: 11/25/2025

Triple Action

Also known as: N/A

Developer: APh Technical Consulting

If Triple Action had been a launch title for the Intellivision, I probably would think more highly of it…but since it came out two years after the console launched and around a time where video games were evolving at a quick pace, even in 1981, Triple Action kinda feels…well, old. Triple Action is a compilation of three different games - Battle Tanks, Car Racing, and Biplanes. Let's describe each one a little bit, shall we? Battle Tanks is essentially Combat from the Atari VCS, but with mildly better graphics, and the gimmick that your ammo ricochets off of walls…meaning that if you're not careful, you could potentially shoot yourself when attempting to hit your opponent with a trick shot. The ricocheting bullets do add a bit of chaos and fun to this game. Of course, if you prefer plain, ol' tank battles without any ricocheting bullets, there's an option to play that way as well. The game is over after one player manages to score 15 points. Then we get to Racing Cars, or Car Racing, as it's called in the manual and on the box art. Man, what a wreck…pun intended. The goal here is to drive 100 "miles" in the quickest amount of time. You can battle against a friend, or simply against the time, and you've got the options of "normal" and "heavy" traffic. Essentially, your goal is to move left and right between traffic while hitting the gas to speed up and the breaks to slow down. The problem is that the fun aspects of racing games is when you get a sense of speed…and this just feels like someone dumped tar, honey, and a few tons of used chewing gum on the road and asked drivers to try to make their way through it. Even at the glacial pace, you'll probably still find yourself crashing consistently, even on the "normal" traffic setting. Last is Biplanes…a game with some promise, held back by poor execution. The goal in this two-player game is to be the first to score 15 points. You get points by shooting down your opponent's plane and the hot air balloon that ascends to the top of the screen (trying to escape this game, I assume). You also get points, however, when your opponent crashes their plane. Most points gained from everyone involved will likely be from crashing their own planes. You see, once the planes are airborne, if the engine stalls, that's it. You can't save it. Your plane is going to crash….and it's pretty easy for the plane engine to stall, especially if you've never played this game before. With practice, and the ability to keep the planes in the air, the game becomes mildly more fun…but not fun enough to make it worth putting in the time to learn how to properly control everything. Overall, Triple Action is a pretty underwhelming trio of games. Had it been a launch title for the Intellivision, everything may have been a bit more interesting…and maybe that's why this was released as a 3-in-1 package. Perhaps Mattel knew that in 1981, these games wouldn't cut it if released as stand-alone titles. Unfortunately, I don't really think they cut it as a compilation, either.

Battle Tanks

My Score

6.5

Avg Score

6.2

Placement on the List

Racing Cars

My Score

4.0

Avg Score

5.5

Placement on the List

Biplanes

My Score

5.5

Avg Score

5.8

Placement on the List

Review added: 06/07/2026

Turbo

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Coleco

Oh boy. I've said it before….but either Coleco had no desire to port their games over well, so they could point to the Colecovision to show how much better the games are over there, or Coleco simply had no idea how to program for the Intellivision hardware. This port of Turbo is no exception. That isn't just looking at the game with modern eyes, either. The Video Game Update, back in February 1984, gave the gameplay a very rare 1 out of 4 score. The graphics did slightly better with a 1.5 out of 4 score. It was pretty rare for a game to get a score lower than a 2 out of 4 in that newsletter, so it's pretty telling how poorly this port was received when it came out. In fairness, though, I do think that the graphics aren't as bad as they claimed. Coleco did a decent job of creating scaling environments to give the player a feeling that the vehicles were moving, sometimes at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I can't really argue with their score for the gameplay. The biggest issue with Turbo is the controls. Instead of moving directionals left and right, you're required to move your thumb along the disc on the Intellivision controller, like you're using a steering wheel. While this is a nice idea in theory, it simply doesn't seem to work very well and it feels awkward as a result. Simply using directional buttons to move your vehicle left and right would have done wonders, I feel. Also poor is the computer AI. On the easy modes, the game is too easy, making it feel boring. On the more difficult modes, when you crash, the AI-controlled cars will come up from the bottom, basically "spawning" on top of your car, causing you to crash right after your car respawns. While it doesn't happen all the time, it happens enough to make you want to find where the developer of this game lives so you can throw eggs and toilet paper at his/her house. With better controls, and better AI, the Intellivision port of Turbo could have been a decent game. Unfortunately, the skidmarks left by this game are less like the ones found on the road and more like the ones found in dirty underwear.

Review added: 05/28/2026