DS #5213: Intellivision Lives! (USA)

[JLsoft]

Nerdlove to the first person that finds out how to unpack (and repack) the '.Z' format that the binaries inside this ROM are packed with (it's not gzip/etc

)...there are plaintext .cfg files for each ROM laying out how the buttons (and touchscreen areas) are defined, so other Intv ROMs and most likely be inserted and played if packed & set up correctly

...even the overlays, boxart, and instructions are packed this way, so I can see a nice 'custom' version of this ROM coming out if someone works out the packing.

 

[9th_Sage]

Nerdlove to the first person that finds out how to unpack (and repack) the '.Z' format that the binaries inside this ROM are packed with (it's not gzip/etc

)...there are plaintext .cfg files for each ROM laying out how the buttons (and touchscreen areas) are defined, so other Intv ROMs and most likely be inserted and played if packed & set up correctly

...even the overlays, boxart, and instructions are packed this way, so I can see a nice 'custom' version of this ROM coming out if someone works out the packing.

You know...I was wondering if that would be possible.

I don't know if I can contribute when I get the game, but it would be pretty cool if someone figured out how to do it.

 

[Rayder]

I had Intellivision as a kid, so I'm familiar with most of these games. I had over 70 games for INTV back in the day. Too bad we couldn't get some of the Imagic and Activision games in this compilation, many of those were among the best the system had to offer. I'll be honest, a lot of the games in this compilation royally suck, but there are some gems, such as the D&D games and the Intellivoice games, as well as a few others.

This compilation is definitely an acquired taste. Many gamers may not appreciate this old-school stuff. Me? I love it! I have a PC INTV emu, but you can't really play the ones that use the number pad very well when you're fumbling between the keyboard and a controller, not to mention not being able to see the overlay graphics while actually playing, only before you start the game. On the DS, all your number pad keys are labeled right there as you play, which makes it much better than other versions of INTV for other systems just in the control department alone.

I've noticed while playing some of the games that the sound is not perfect....it plays slightly slow. Some games are worse than others, but the aberration IS noticeable for anyone who may have played the original console. I also noticed some speed issues on a few of the games. And the slowdown is in weird places....like in menus and stuff. It's NOT perfect emulation. In fact, I think this may be a lot like the Sonic compilation in that it's only partially emulated, and part rewritten code.

I bet some talented hacker could do a better INTV emu than this on the DS. Don't get me wrong, the games ARE fully playable, it's just not 100% faithful to the actual console.

EDIT:
There is missing voicing in Space Spartans. When you're in a zone, you should be able to hit the "number of aliens" button to get a count, but all it says is "aliens", it never tells the number. It also doesn't tell you your energy level....it's supposed to say "energy level low" and stuff like that, but all it ever says is "energy level". I tested this on the ROM and my retail cart.....no difference. I mean, come on! They had over 5 years to perfect this and didn't catch something like that? Geez....

 

[doom5]

You can replace roms in Intellivision Lives! They're compressed using a gba/ds standard LZ77 format. Just run a gba/ds LZ77 compressor on your rom; then replace one of the existing roms with your newly compressed one -- works great!

 

[Wombo Combo]

Battle and Simulation:
B-17 Bomber
Bomb Squad
Crown of Kings
Minotaur
Sub Hunt
Tower of Doom

 

[Rayder]

You can replace roms in Intellivision Lives! They're compressed using a gba/ds standard LZ77 format. Just run a gba/ds LZ77 compressor on your rom; then replace one of the existing roms with your newly compressed one -- works great!

That's the thing with this compilation, too many crappy games and only about a dozen good ones. There's at least a dozen better games I'd like in it. Yeah, yeah, I know about licensing issues, but still, if we can hack them in.

Hmm......if we really can add/replace games into it, then we need to add Dreadnaught Factor, Demon Attack, Microsurgeon, Burgertime, Bump'n'Jump, Carnival, Mission X and Tron Deadly Discs, among others. Replace garbage games like Star Strike or Frog Bog or any of the few dozen other crappy games with some of the good ones.

Maybe we could even replace the Space Spartans game to actually have ALL the voices (read my previous edited reply).

So where might we find this gba/ds LZ77 compressor deal? (Never mind, I found them)

 

[AsPika2219]

Nice games! I will try it now!

 

[doom5]

You can edit the menu by modifying the menuScript file. I'm not sure what the trailing number at the end of the game name means, though. My attempts to modify the menu cause the game to crash, when I reach the new selection.

 

[Etalon]

What should I do after finishing a game?

I'm just seeing my highscore now, but I can't choose a new game..? Nothing happens with any button!

 

[Rayder]

What should I do after finishing a game?

I'm just seeing my highscore now, but I can't choose a new game..? Nothing happens with any button!

Hitting start will bring up your menu while in a game, push left or right on the dpad to select your option (instructions, hi-scores, reset game, exit game, etc.), then press A. When selecting which game to play, everything is selected with the dpad......left/right to choose a category, down to enter the list of games for that category, left/right to select a game, down to boot the game, up will go back to the previous menu.

Hope that made enough sense for you.

 

[Etalon]

Hope that made enough sense for you.

Yes, thanks a lot. -- But after a game, I'm stuck in the highscore screen and can't get back to the menu to choose a new game?

I tried that with Akaio 1.8.1 with AP Bypass on and off.

 

[Paarish]

ahh... Intellivision... good times

 

[deathking]

how hard would some unlockables such as boxart / commercials / posters be to add to this compilation like the atari ones or the sega ones did before it.
it would of made the game feel more complete and gave the game more life.

 

[lokomelo]

You can replace roms in Intellivision Lives! They're compressed using a gba/ds standard LZ77 format. Just run a gba/ds LZ77 compressor on your rom; then replace one of the existing roms with your newly compressed one -- works great!

this is an important discovery! we need a topic for that... what games have you tried on?

 

[FulgoreSama]

You can replace roms in Intellivision Lives! They're compressed using a gba/ds standard LZ77 format. Just run a gba/ds LZ77 compressor on your rom; then replace one of the existing roms with your newly compressed one -- works great!

this is an important discovery! we need a topic for that... what games have you tried on?

 

[Am0s]

I remember when I was like 4 maybe my dad said we will buy tv games for xmas and I can rember playing that pong game, didnt know it was called that intelivision

 

[gusmento01]

I wish Beamrider was included, it's way better than the Atari version, also Burger Time and definitely Tron. The best INTV games were 3rd party games.

 

[BlueStar]

I remember when I was like 4 maybe my dad said we will buy tv games for xmas and I can rember playing that pong game, didnt know it was called that intelivision

There were stacks of similar consoles around that time, all with pong clones - could have been anything really.

 

[Ravager90]

You can replace roms in Intellivision Lives! They're compressed using a gba/ds standard LZ77 format. Just run a gba/ds LZ77 compressor on your rom; then replace one of the existing roms with your newly compressed one -- works great!

this is an important discovery! we need a topic for that... what games have you tried on?

Ok heres how far I've come by now ... Tried some Random Intellivision Rom, compressed with NL Compressor & LZ77 compression, my gba rom went down the halft size.
Renaming the compressed rom to bowling.z. Injected with Nitroexplorer overwriting the bowling game I end up having two black screens.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

actually...Nintendo was a moron (in a legal stance) to ban this from the DSiWare store....

if it was on DSiWare...us hackers couldn't circumvent the technology and "emulate" other Intelevision games on it...which is why Nintendo rejected it in the first place

so now they forced them to release it retail so we can use DSLazy unpack it, hack it and all that good shit

like Contra 4 DS and the NES emulator included