Snafu
Platform: Intellivision
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: INTV
Genre: Action
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1981
Developer: Mattel Electronics
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Players: 1 or 2 VS
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Snafu is an arcade action game similar to the Atari game Surround. You control a constantly moving and growing wall; the goal is to trap all of your opponents before you become trapped yourself. If you crash into the borders of the screen, into another players wall, or your own wall, you are out for that round. The last player left standing wins the round! Several game options are available which allow or forbid diagonal movement, set obstacles in the playfield, allow a players wall to disappear or remain on the screen after they crash, control the speed of movement, and select the number of rounds to play. The game can be played by one or two human players, and optionally two additional computer players can be added for up to four players on the screen at a time.

Also included is a two player only game where you control a serpent containing 10 links, and your goal is to bite the links off of your opponent one at a time. Only the very last link of the serpent can be bitten off, so you need to be sure you keep your tail away from your opponent! The screen walls and the players links are non lethal if you crash into them in this variation, however if you double back accross your own path you will lose a link. The first player to bite off all of his opponents links wins.


CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

You each start off with little lines that start to grow.

They grow fast, tangling, weaving, writhing like magic beanstalks. And you're at the controls, trying to completely enclose the other guy so he can't grow any more.

This is a game of lightning quick strategic decisions. Hesitate...or slip...and you'll find yourself surrounded.


PRODUCTION HISTORY:

Developed under the working title Blockade+Snakes to reflect the two basic versions of the game. In the first, inspired by the board game Blockade, opponents try to surround and trap each other. In the second, inspired by a handheld LED game in development at Mattel but never released, opponents bite at each other's tails until one is reduced to nothing.

Mike liked the name Ssssnakes! and started using it on the title screen; he fought for it to be the final name. Marketing instead chose Snafu, from the military acronym "Situation Normal -- All Fouled Up" (actually, most veterans use a different word than "Fouled"). Mike hated the name since it had nothing to do with the gameplay.

Snafu was the only game released to use the Intellivision video chip's colored squares mode.

An Aquarius version of Snafu was also released.


PLAYING TIPS:

From Intellivision Game Club News, Issue 2, Winter 1982 (credited to "Mike, another Intellivision programming specialist"):

* Practice steering -- Get a good feel for the action of the direction disk. 

* Anticipate -- Concentrate on the moves of the opposing snakes as well as your own. 

* Plan ahead -- Press the direction disk JUST SLIGHTLY ahead of when you want to turn. If you wait too long, you won't be able to turn until the next avenue. 

* For the "trap" games -- try getting in front of the opposing snakes forcing them to the outside. If you're clever, you can create channels around the perimeter from which the opposing snakes cannot escape. Allow a snake back into the middle and you make it easier for it to double back to trap you. 

* For the "bite" games -- learn to read the rebounds. Be careful not to bite off your own tail by doubling back on yourself. Alternate between the horizontal, vertical and diagonal modes to cross up your opponent. Go on the defensive when you have only a few links left. This will give your snake time to grow new links. For a twist in strategy, go on the defensive right from the start. Grow extra links before you attack.


http://www.mobygames.com/game/intellivision/snafu
http://www.intellivisiongames.com/bluesky/games/credits/action.html#snafu
