I decided NOT to mention Druaga at all, since it would have just been for running joke purposes. Thunder Castle was designed before Druaga but didn't ship until after, so any similarities are ultimately just coincidence.
Thunder Castle is my go-to game to show off my Intellivision. Okay, that scenario has come up very infrequently but when it does, Thunder Castle impresses. The 1982 copyright screen actually helps because for that time period the game is much more impressive than it was at its actual release date.
We had Thunder Castle when I was a kid. It was likely my first favorite video game, when Intellvision is all we really had access to. I picked up a cartridge and played it again for the first time since 1991, just a few months ago. It's definitely a great game for the system and worth getting an Intellvision for. Tron Deadly Discs and the two Dungeons and Dragons also are fantastic to play. Intellvision is a great system IMO and there's a reason it still has a fan base all these years later. I hope more people have a chance to play these games in the future. The controller is not great, but the many buttons do make more complicated games possible.
I realize now that my neighbor in the late 80's had all these games. I think the dad who lived there bought every cartridge that came out for the intellivision.
I'm sure they sank a TON of cash into that animation. It was a theatrical trailer/commercial that ran before Tron, and it seems to have been inspired by the opening of Blake's 7 from a few years earlier.
Excellent historical insight as always Jeremy. Don't really have much personal interest in Championship Tennis and World Cup Soccer, but Thunder Castle would definitely be something I would want to invest some time into despite it's difficulty because it seems like it has that addictive factor with regards to it's gameplay.
Thunder Castle oozes style and quality in its art direction, animation, and technical implementation. It’s a joy just to watch! It brings to mind other great video games of the 80’s that created evocative and compelling interactive experiences, unlike anything you could find elsewhere.
Intellivision's number pad enabled a lot of game features that weren't possible on Atari's VCS, like discreetly choosing plays in Football, selecting different ships in Sea Battle, or multitasking ship deployment in Space Battle. But that disc was actively terrible on thumbs for action titles and the few third-party joystick addons weren't much help.
It's crazy that people are making Intellivision games right now, in a dialect of BASIC, and that they're almost as good as releases from when the system was actively supported. Heck, someone ported Super Mario Bros and Castlevania to this system, and aside from the coarse resolution they're surprisingly close to the real things.
As rudimentary as the graphics appear on the surface, the animation seems very nice. I don't think any of the black box Nintendo games look quite as fluid or lively as this.
The NES used a different form of graphics than the Intellivision, with a heavy reliance on tiles, and it took devs a long time to figure out how to make animation work like that (I think it only began to happen once memory management chips entered the picture).
Yeah it's comparing apples and Oranges. Both essentially do the same thing but quite different and a lot of it comes down to preference. However I will say that INTV Corps attempt to keep the intellivision going against the onslaught of nintendo and sega (and whatever the hell ataris console division was doing) is admirable. INTV were as focused as they could be with the limited budget and resources they had
Damn Jeremy, you could at least lead me on a little more from hidden potential greatness from the previous video of the Intellivision if we're already getting to a point of "same old same old" 😔 Of course amazing vids as always. This is always a highlight of my Wednesday mornings
Fun fact: the Intellivision only has three action buttons. The two top buttons are the same. The bottom two can have different functions, but the quick look I just took shows that often both bottom buttons have the same function, if not all four buttons. Therefore, you can somewhat more comfortably hold the controller in the palm of your off-hand with the thumb working the bottom button on one side and two fingers working the two buttons on the other.
Deeply jarring to see you teleport in place at 9:04 like that, but I guess that's a "me" problem. I just have to accept that sometimes Jeremy Parish moves very, very fast, and hope I never encounter him in a dark alley.
Yeah, Thunder Castle is the best of the INTV games so far. But I do like videos on the Intellivision since it serves as a link to the earlier 8-bt stuff that only occasionally gets covered. Well, back to the usual next week.
Yess!! You are right, no one liked the Intellivision controller! Now, to be fair, the key pad and side buttons were fine...but that DAMN THUMB DISC directional controller?!! Lol. I still hate it. 😂
Aw, not really. Thunder Castle doesn't go nearly that heavily into the RPG elements. The RPG style is just a visual thing here... it could have been little kids on the beach chasing around sand crabs or something and played the same.
Yeah… Even Intellivision stans agree that the controller you show (the white ITV2 model) sucks. The originals were much better. I did have to clean them a lot back in the day to keep them snappy, but they were so much snappier than Atari’s controllers. The keypad was an attractive feature for those of us desiring micro-computer style complexity in our games. The originality of ITV’s library meant that the keypad was well utilized, often delivering on the promise.
Yet another one here who barely cared for the sports games, but I'd actually try to beat Thunder Castles. I'd probably not have a very good time because having to chase a power-up through an unpredictable maze sounds like it would've driven me insane, but I'd at least give it a go.
The Intellivision controller...tried. It was awkward, felt flimsy, and was just not great. But it did allow for game experiences that you just didn't get on other systems at the time. (Which is a lot more than you can say for the Atari Jaguar's number pad controller.)
Regarding the Intellivision Controller, I have yet to see evidence of a honest-to-god PHONE-style game, either classic or homebrew. Does such a game exist?
What I use to play intellivison games, and this is probably against the rules, is a MiSTeR with one of those japanese super famicom controllers with the numpad on it. Yeah, you lose the overlays, but most games usage of them is pretty obvious.
If you keep doing side content, you're going to need multiple uploads a week. At this pace, you won't finish the NES library before the end of this decade.
Wow, Thunder Castle is genuinely beautiful. Games are art, man.
I love the way the score exists within the level, really neat. And, those are the most Trogdor looking classic game dragon I've ever seen.
Congrats on talking about thunder castle for several minutes without one mention of Duraga. It was tough and we are all proud of you.
Cause they both have the word Castle in their titles? I feel like they are not even close to the same.
@@zombiegeorge749 Agreed. They've got similar aesthetics and that's about it.
I decided NOT to mention Druaga at all, since it would have just been for running joke purposes. Thunder Castle was designed before Druaga but didn't ship until after, so any similarities are ultimately just coincidence.
Thunder Castle is definitely one of those "missing link" games; which explains how we got from there to Famicom/NES.
Games like that are a big part of why I like this channel so much.
It's amusing that the Wizards in Thunder Castle decide against using their magic and instead just want to beat the knight with their canes.
No one said they were particularly good at Wizarding
They're level 1 Magic Users and they already used their spell for the day 😋
Shouldn't have cast Magic Missile at the darkness
Thunder Castle is a definite standout on that Intellivision Lives compilation.
Thunder Castle is one of my fave maze chase games because of the slow, strategic pacing. One of the best looking pre-NES console games, honestly.
"so we'll go with Nice ideas//honestly that sounds better than any of the uncle ideas..."
BARS
Yeah, homeboy gets lyrical with his prose and I dig it
Thunder Castle is my go-to game to show off my Intellivision. Okay, that scenario has come up very infrequently but when it does, Thunder Castle impresses. The 1982 copyright screen actually helps because for that time period the game is much more impressive than it was at its actual release date.
Yeah, it's wild that a console game with such cool organic-looking animation AND some bangin' music almost came out that early.
We had Thunder Castle when I was a kid. It was likely my first favorite video game, when Intellvision is all we really had access to. I picked up a cartridge and played it again for the first time since 1991, just a few months ago. It's definitely a great game for the system and worth getting an Intellvision for. Tron Deadly Discs and the two Dungeons and Dragons also are fantastic to play. Intellvision is a great system IMO and there's a reason it still has a fan base all these years later. I hope more people have a chance to play these games in the future. The controller is not great, but the many buttons do make more complicated games possible.
I realize now that my neighbor in the late 80's had all these games. I think the dad who lived there bought every cartridge that came out for the intellivision.
"Uncle ideas" really got me for some reason 😂
Uncle Ideas and Dad Jokes are cut from the same fabric
It's kinda neat how Thunder Castle's score isn't just in a corner, but integrated into the level.
That pixel art commercial looks more flattering than most attempts that try to make a retro pixel art today
I'm sure they sank a TON of cash into that animation. It was a theatrical trailer/commercial that ran before Tron, and it seems to have been inspired by the opening of Blake's 7 from a few years earlier.
Merry Christmas to you and the family. Your channel has been near and dear to me over the years.
Excellent historical insight as always Jeremy. Don't really have much personal interest in Championship Tennis and World Cup Soccer, but Thunder Castle would definitely be something I would want to invest some time into despite it's difficulty because it seems like it has that addictive factor with regards to it's gameplay.
It's kind of odd to see a fantasy-themed game on the Intellivision that wasn't (as far as I can tell) born out of the old AD&D license Mattel had.
There's still one of those yet to come.
Thunder Castle oozes style and quality in its art direction, animation, and technical implementation. It’s a joy just to watch! It brings to mind other great video games of the 80’s that created evocative and compelling interactive experiences, unlike anything you could find elsewhere.
Intellivision's number pad enabled a lot of game features that weren't possible on Atari's VCS, like discreetly choosing plays in Football, selecting different ships in Sea Battle, or multitasking ship deployment in Space Battle. But that disc was actively terrible on thumbs for action titles and the few third-party joystick addons weren't much help.
Thunder Thunder Thunder... Thunder Castle!
It's crazy that people are making Intellivision games right now, in a dialect of BASIC, and that they're almost as good as releases from when the system was actively supported. Heck, someone ported Super Mario Bros and Castlevania to this system, and aside from the coarse resolution they're surprisingly close to the real things.
Thunder Castle 🏰 looks awesome for me to check out. 😀👍🎮
As rudimentary as the graphics appear on the surface, the animation seems very nice. I don't think any of the black box Nintendo games look quite as fluid or lively as this.
The NES used a different form of graphics than the Intellivision, with a heavy reliance on tiles, and it took devs a long time to figure out how to make animation work like that (I think it only began to happen once memory management chips entered the picture).
Yeah it's comparing apples and Oranges. Both essentially do the same thing but quite different and a lot of it comes down to preference.
However I will say that INTV Corps attempt to keep the intellivision going against the onslaught of nintendo and sega (and whatever the hell ataris console division was doing) is admirable.
INTV were as focused as they could be with the limited budget and resources they had
Thunder castle looks really good. Deffo caught the intellibug
Those are some intense scan lines 👀
Nothing to do with anything, really, but I love that Jeremy has the same little dragon quest slime plushie that I do.
Damn Jeremy, you could at least lead me on a little more from hidden potential greatness from the previous video of the Intellivision if we're already getting to a point of "same old same old" 😔
Of course amazing vids as always. This is always a highlight of my Wednesday mornings
Fun fact: the Intellivision only has three action buttons. The two top buttons are the same. The bottom two can have different functions, but the quick look I just took shows that often both bottom buttons have the same function, if not all four buttons. Therefore, you can somewhat more comfortably hold the controller in the palm of your off-hand with the thumb working the bottom button on one side and two fingers working the two buttons on the other.
Deeply jarring to see you teleport in place at 9:04 like that, but I guess that's a "me" problem. I just have to accept that sometimes Jeremy Parish moves very, very fast, and hope I never encounter him in a dark alley.
"Wanna see me run to that rock? Wanna see me do it again?"
Interesting,
Would be worth digging out the matching Evercade cart with Thunder Castle😅
Yeah, Thunder Castle is the best of the INTV games so far. But I do like videos on the Intellivision since it serves as a link to the earlier 8-bt stuff that only occasionally gets covered. Well, back to the usual next week.
I like the Intellivision controller!
Yess!! You are right, no one liked the Intellivision controller!
Now, to be fair, the key pad and side buttons were fine...but that DAMN THUMB DISC directional controller?!!
Lol. I still hate it. 😂
Nice video. Ha!
Nostalgia and Morning Coffee!
So Fresh!
Would Tower of Druaga be an apt comparison for Thunder Castle?
Aw, not really. Thunder Castle doesn't go nearly that heavily into the RPG elements. The RPG style is just a visual thing here... it could have been little kids on the beach chasing around sand crabs or something and played the same.
When's Coleco entering the fray???
ColecoVision was dead and buried by the time NES arrived, I'm afraid, so it doesn't have a part to play here.
@@JeremyParish Fair enough. Thanks for dipping into Intellivision and the Atari pools.
Yeah… Even Intellivision stans agree that the controller you show (the white ITV2 model) sucks. The originals were much better. I did have to clean them a lot back in the day to keep them snappy, but they were so much snappier than Atari’s controllers. The keypad was an attractive feature for those of us desiring micro-computer style complexity in our games. The originality of ITV’s library meant that the keypad was well utilized, often delivering on the promise.
I'm starting to like the spotty wall. What does this mean? Maybe I should upgrade from ' Hot Cougars near you want to meet ' to hot cheetahs.
Hey Jeremy, will there be an episode released on Christmas Day? Because that would be the best gift.
Look forward to Phantasy Star one week from today
@@JeremyParish I love you, dude.
Yet another one here who barely cared for the sports games, but I'd actually try to beat Thunder Castles. I'd probably not have a very good time because having to chase a power-up through an unpredictable maze sounds like it would've driven me insane, but I'd at least give it a go.
The Intellivision controller...tried. It was awkward, felt flimsy, and was just not great. But it did allow for game experiences that you just didn't get on other systems at the time. (Which is a lot more than you can say for the Atari Jaguar's number pad controller.)
ok i didnt love the intellivision controller, but as a youngster, i liked it more than the atari 2600 joystick *shrug*
My uncle idea was to teach my nephew how to play video games
WDMB Bros.
Regarding the Intellivision Controller, I have yet to see evidence of a honest-to-god PHONE-style game, either classic or homebrew. Does such a game exist?
What I use to play intellivison games, and this is probably against the rules, is a MiSTeR with one of those japanese super famicom controllers with the numpad on it. Yeah, you lose the overlays, but most games usage of them is pretty obvious.
I prefer the simpler Tennis by Activision on the 2600.
Tower of mfin doom. Roguelike! Way better than thunder castle.
Yep, i’s in an upcoming episode.
If you keep doing side content, you're going to need multiple uploads a week. At this pace, you won't finish the NES library before the end of this decade.
Yes, that's correct.