Tron: Deadly Discs

Imagine standing in the middle of a digital arena, enemy fighters circling around you, and the only weapon you have is a deadly disc that you must throw, catch and immediately throw again. This is exactly what Tron: Deadly Discs served up, one of the most distinctive titles ever released for the Mattel Intellivision in the early 1980s. The game capitalized on the popularity of the sci-fi film Tron and turned its iconic disc battle into a surprisingly addictive action brawl.

The principle is ingeniously simple, but the controls were unusually thoughtful for their time. The disc flies in one direction, and you must position yourself so as to hit your opponent while also blocking his disc with your own in time. The key was working with the Intellivision's twelve-button keypad and disc controller, which allowed movement in sixteen directions. Combat thus turned into a hectic dance where every second decided whether the enemy warriors would surround you or whether you would fight your way to the exit into the next, faster wave.

Tron: Deadly Discs is the work of Mattel Electronics and belongs among the titles that helped establish the impression that the Intellivision was a smarter platform than the rival Atari 2600. While many licensed film games of the era were slapdash, this one offered honest gameplay, a clear rhythm and escalating difficulty that kept players coming back. For many console owners it was one of the first titles where they truly understood what just one more game means.

Culturally the game is also interesting for how it illustrates a period when a film studio and a game publisher were only just learning to cooperate. Tron as a film was visually revolutionary, and the game adaptation tried to capture its spirit through purely gaming means rather than an attempt at storytelling. The result is an arcade game that aged much better than many more ambitious projects of its era, because it bet on pure playability instead of effects.

Today Tron: Deadly Discs is a sought-after piece among collectors and emulation fans. It belongs among the titles that within a few minutes remind a person why the Intellivision won a loyal community that did not abandon the console even after the crash of the gaming market in the mid-eighties. It is proof that a good idea and finely tuned controls can last for decades.

Why play: For fast, addictive arcade action that to this day ranks among the best the Intellivision had to offer, and that beautifully conveys the power of one of the first film gaming licenses.