Guides
Rarity Guide
Rating Guide
Intellivision Games
Game Info & Reviews
Software
Mattel Electronics
Action
Arcade
ECS
Gaming
Intellivoice
Learning
Space
Sports
Strategy
1983
PlayCable
INTV Corporation
Blue Sky Rangers, Inc.
Imagic
Activision
Coleco
Parker Brothers
Atarisoft
Dextell, Ltd.
Interphase
Sega
Test
Demo
Independent
2600 Connection
5-11under
Blah Blah Woof Woof
CollectorVision
Côté Gamers
Dr. Ports
Elektronite
Freewheeling Games
Good Deal Games
Intelligentvision
Intellivision Collector
Intellivision Revolution
Inty‑Home
Kai‑Magazine
Left Turn Only
Zbiciak Electronics
Intellivision, Inc.
Sears
Digiplay
CBS Electronics
Hardware
Mattel Electronics
INTV Corporation
Sears
Tandy
GTE Sylvania
Independent
Overlays
Text Table
Mattel Electronics
INTV Corporation
Imagic
Activision
Coleco
Dextell, Ltd.
Interphase
Intellivision, Inc.
Trade Lists
Want List
Other Stuff
Technical & Repair Info
Odds & Ends
Old Gaming Magazines
Site Updates
Contact INTV Funhouse
|
Follow this link for info about
the review system. 1 = Terrible, 5 = Awesome!
It's not Tetris, but it is. An excellent game. It is also the first homebrew release for the Intellivision actually released in cartridge format.
| Graphics: 4
Sound: 5
Replay Value: 5
Notes: 1-player game; Easter Egg
Screen Shots |
4‑Tris is a fabulous game. The gameplay is reminiscent of
Tetris (that should be obvious from the name ;-) so if you like Tetris, you
should like this game. All of the mind-numbing addictiveness is there, and
the graphics are all they need to be. A nice touch is the use of special new
fonts for the score and other status information. And the soundtrack is
superb! For those of you who tire of it eventually, you can disable the
music at any point in the game.
Other handy features include a 'Next Piece' preview and a sound test screen
accessible from the startup screen. If you watch closely, you'll notice a nice
touch on the title screen - the copyright date scrolls from 1979 to 2000. I'll
leave it as an exercise to the reader to decide why these dates are relevant.
I can say that you will find yourself spending waaaay too much time playing this game.
Best Score: 505720
[Level 11, 104 Lines, Start Level: 1]
ROM |
At least five ROM variations exist in cartridge format. |
Box |
Not sure if there was a Philly Classic variation of the box. So far, four variations have been found. |
Manual |
Five variants have been identified. |
Overlays |
Four different overlay variations are known to exist. |
Label |
To date, four labels have been recorded. |
Easter Eggs |
Plenty of Easter eggs exist. Only IntelliJoe knows them all! |
A total of four 4-Tris box variants have been documented.
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01 |
2001 |
Texas |
Hand-made boxes, individually numbered. Personal copies are numbers 002 and 008. Copy 008 has an extra protector flap on the box tab that 002 does not (if memory serves). |
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01-SE |
2001 |
Texas |
Hand-made boxes for the Philly Classic release; individually numbered and autographed. Image courtesy of the Intellivision Library. |
|
Intelligentvision |
9111-2004 |
2004 |
U.S.A. |
Intelligentvision 2005 release box design by Roger Matthews; personal copy is serial number 012; opens on bottom flap, cart centered |
|
Left Turn Only |
LTO-02 |
2007 |
U.S.A. |
Left Turn Only 2007 release. Part number is followed by the serial number on a hologram sticker in the format LTO-02-NNN. Image courtesy of the Intellivision Library. |
There are at least five different versions of the
4-Tris ROM released in cartridge format, as follows:
- Philly Classic 2001 Release (first run, v1.12?) (Source: Joe Zbiciack)
- Philly Classic 2001 Release (second run, v1.13?) (Source: Joe Zbiciack)
- Regular Zbiciack Electronics Release (first run, v1.14) (Source: Joe Zbiciack)
- Intelligentvision 2005 re–release
- LTO 2007 re–release
The Philly Classic releases were specifically for attendees of the
2001 Philly Classic
convention. I hope to be able to acquire better scans of the box, manual, label,
and overlays of this release to put up on this page. The Philly Classic release
had special documentation as well as a customized title screen.
(Image courtesy of Joe Zbiciak)
According to the author, many of the changes between ROMs are 'small tweaks',
such as some code optimization and a fix to an Easter egg.
Most important are changes to the built-in self-test. There are also
differences between my copy of the cart (Regular release, second run, v1.14)
and the ROM image I've got (v1.1), as the hidden Pong game on my cart is in
color, while the ROM image version is black & white. See the Easter Eggs
section for more about the Pong Easter egg.
Since 4-Tris has been distributed for some time on the web for free, the actual
number of versions of the ROM available is unknown. The revisions referred
to here are specifically the ones that shipped on actual physical cartridges. If
anyone who owns this cartridge from one of the other releases would like to
let me know which ROM version they've got, please do so.
A total of five 4-Tris manual variants have been documented.
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01 |
2001 |
|
Standard version of the manual |
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01-SE |
2001 |
U.S.A. |
Special Philly Classic 2001 version of the manual. Image courtesy of the Intellivision Library. |
|
Intelligentvision |
Rev. B 9111-2004 |
2004 |
U.S.A. |
Special CGE 2005 edition of the manual, of which only 20 were made; full-color manual on different stock than standard IntelligentVision release; includes errata slip |
|
Intelligentvision |
Rev. C 9111-2004 |
2004 |
U.S.A. |
High-gloss, full-color manual; standard IntelligentVision release |
Image not available. |
Left Turn Only |
N/A |
None |
|
LTO 2007 release. |
A total of four 4-Tris overlay variants have been documented.
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01 |
2001 |
U.S.A. |
Standard version |
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
JZ01-SE |
2001 |
U.S.A. |
Philly Classic 2001 version. Image courtesy of the Intellivision Library. |
|
Intelligentvision |
9111-JZ01 |
2001 |
U.S.A. |
IntelligentVision 2004 release |
|
Left Turn Only |
N/A |
2007 |
|
Left Turn Only 2007 release; image courtesy of the Intellivision Library |
A total of four 4-Tris label variants have been documented.
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
N/A |
2001 |
|
Standard version of the game label included the serial number of the game, so technically, each is unique; © 2001 JMRZ lower left, serial number lower right |
|
Zbiciak Electronics |
N/A |
2001 |
|
Special Philly Classic version of the game label included the serial number of the game, so each is unique; serial number lower left; Philly Classic logo in right half, game name in left half; need better scan! |
|
Intelligentvision |
N/A |
None |
|
Standard IntelligentVision 2004 release label |
Image not available. |
Left Turn Only |
N/A |
None |
|
Left Turn Only 2007 release label; presume this release used standard Mattel cartridge shells |
|
Title screen scrolls through the years up to 2000 and plays music from The Nutcracker. Some get tired of the tunes, but I enjoy 'em. |
|
Nifty fonts and animated scoring keep the game screen interesting. |
|
You can test various sounds and so forth here. Seeing references to web addresses and email in an Intellivision game is priceless. |
Title Screen Easter Egg
Credit: Joe Zbiciak
Right or Left Controller: Press and hold: [6],[9]
Press Reset
Easter Egg: The title screen shows a message from Joe.
Hidden Game Easter Egg
Credit: Joe Zbiciak
Left Controller: Press right on disk
Right Controller: Press and hold: [5]
Press Reset
Easter Egg: You get a hidden game - Pong!.
Diagnostic Test Easter Egg
Credit: Joe Zbiciak
Right or Left Controller: Press and hold: [1]
Press Reset
Easter Egg: The cartridge enters a ROM self-test (not pictured).
If you find new, contradictory, or other information you wish to share, please
send a message!
|