This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2020) |
Shark! Shark! | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Mattel |
Publisher(s) | Mattel |
Designer(s) | Don Daglow |
Programmer(s) | Ji-Wen Tsao |
Composer(s) | Andy Sells |
Platform(s) | Intellivision |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Shark! Shark! is an Intellivision game originally designed by Don Daglow, and with additional design and programming by Ji-Wen Tsao, one of the first female game programmers in the history of video games. The player is a fish who must eat smaller fishes in order to gain points and extra lives while avoiding enemies such as larger fishes, sharks, jellyfish, lobsters and crabs. After eating a certain number of fish, the player's fish grows in size and is thus able to eat a larger selection of fish. However, while the larger fish becomes a bit faster, he is less agile than the small fish and has a harder time avoiding enemies.
Shark! Shark! was originally considered by Mattel to be a cute game for kids and unlikely to make strong inroads into the gaming community.[ citation needed ] The game was unexpectedly popular, forcing Mattel to quickly manufacture another batch of cartridges.[ citation needed ] The original cartridge run was only 5,600 units.[ citation needed ]
The Video Game Update praised the graphics of Shark! Shark! and said the game would be appealing to children, while stating adults would also enjoy the challenge. [2] R. Wayne Schmittberger of Games also praised the graphics, stating the underwater effects were extraordinary. [3]
Shark! Shark! was made available for the PlayStation 3 through PlayStation Home in fall 2012 in a collection titled Intellivision Gen2. In addition to players being a fish eating other fish trying try to take down the shark, their food and foes will both swim in a wide variety of new patterns. It was also released on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs in May 2010.
A new version of Shark! Shark! was announced for release on the Intellivision Amico video game console. It is one of the six games that were meant to be included with the console. [4] After the cancellation and abandonment of their Amico console, Intellivision announced that mobile versions of Shark! Shark! would be released as part of the company's Amico Home initiative with a version available for Android OS, while an iOS release is slated to follow eventually. [5]
In 2023, BBG Entertainment GmbH acquired the Shark! Shark! trademark, along with the right to port the Intellivision Amico version of Shark! Shark! to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows and Mac computers. These ports were released on September 28 of the same year. [6] Nick Thorpe of Retro Gamer magazine reviewed the new version. In his review, Thorpe stated that the gameplay becomes monotonous over 12 rounds of single-player action, but a well-rounded, albeit limited, assortment of gameplay modes does help. Ultimately, the new version received a 71% score from Retro Gamer. [7]
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990, when the Intellivision was discontinued. From 1980 to 1983, more than 3.75 million consoles were sold. As per Intellivision Entertainment the final tally through 1990 is somewhere between 4.5 and 5 million consoles sold.
The Magnavox Odyssey 2, also known as Philips Odyssey 2, is a second generation home video game console that was released in 1978. It was sold in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil and Peru as the Philips Odyssey and in Japan as Odyssey2. The Odyssey 2 was one of the five major home consoles prior to the 1983 video game market crash, along with Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Intellivision and ColecoVision.
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Intellivision Lives! is a compilation of over 60 Intellivision video games, originally produced by Mattel Electronics and INTV Corporation between 1978 and 1990. Using original game code and software emulation, Intellivision Productions released the compilation on a Windows and Macintosh hybrid CD-ROM in December 1998. Additional versions were then released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube by Crave Entertainment. In 2010, Virtual Play Games released a Nintendo DS version.
In the history of video games, the second-generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1976 to 1992. Notable platforms of the second generation include the Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision. The generation began in November 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, Magnavox Odyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex, all in 1982. By the end of the era, there were over 15 different consoles. It coincided with, and was partly fuelled by, the golden age of arcade video games. This peak era of popularity and innovation for the medium resulted in many games for second generation home consoles being ports of arcade games. Space Invaders, the first "killer app" arcade game to be ported, was released in 1980 for the Atari 2600, though earlier Atari-published arcade games were ported to the 2600 previously. Coleco packaged Nintendo's Donkey Kong with the ColecoVision when it was released in August 1982.
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Microsurgeon is a maze-like video game published by Imagic in 1982 for the Mattel Intellivision game console. The game was ported to the TI-99/4A computer and the IBM PCjr. Microsurgeon was re-released as part of the Intellivision Rocks collection.
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