Hand-held controller brings back early gaming

Don Mayhew

December 2, 2004 – Attention, old-school video gamers: Do you miss the days of onscreen characters who were built like stacks of blocks and had absolutely no facial features?

Do you long for the days when games, limited by the technology of yesteryear, would violently flicker and render parts of the action invisible?

Do you ever wonder how it was that you could move delicately through the playing field despite imprecise, clumsy control features?

Intellivision 25 is a new product that will take you back to the 1980s. The handheld controller is programmed with 25 games and plugs directly into your television's audio and video jacks.

Baseball, football, basketball, hockey and golf -- or primitive versions of those sports -- are included, as are several space battle games and a couple of puzzlers. The system is compact, works smoothly and remains faithful to the early days of video games, which is both blessing and curse. It's available for $19.99 at toy stores and online outlets.