Shark! Shark!
Platform: Intellivision
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: INTV
Genre: Action 
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1982
Developer: Mattel Electronics
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Players: 1 or 2 Alternating
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In Shark! Shark! you control a fish! Your goal is to earn as many points as possible while staying alive. Swimming in the ocean with you are other fish of various sizes, lobsters, crabs, jellyfish, and a very fast shark. You are able to eat any fish that is smaller in size than you are, and any fish that is larger will eat you! The shark can also be killed if you nibble at its tail several times, but careful for the shark can turn quickly. Each time you eat a fish or nibble on the sharks tail, points are earned. Each time you score 1000 points, your fish will grow larger in size allowing you to eat even more of the fish on the screen. Several different game speeds are included, and one or two players can play.


CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

It's survival of the fittest in the deep, dark waters of the ocean. And you're just a little fish! You must eat smaller fish to stay alive and grow. But you're not the only one struggling for survival. Bigger fish are out to eat you. Beware, the most feared predator of all is on your tail. Shark, Shark! One or two-player action.


PRODUCTION HISTORY:

Marketing totally dismissed Shark! Shark! as an inconsequential kiddie game and was reluctant to release it. It had one of the smallest initial shipments of any Intellivision game -- only 5,600 copies in 1982 (compared to nearly 800,000 for the heavily advertised Star Strike). So, of course, there were almost no copies in the stores when Shark! Shark! went on to become one of the best reviewed Intellivision games ever ("Shark! Shark! is an original. A must cartridge for Intellivision owners...positively delightful...certainly one of the finest cartridges for this system." -- Videogaming Illustrated, June 1983).


BUG:

Due to a timing error in the Intellivision II, the bubble sounds don't have their full effect when the cartridge is played on that system.


FUN FACT:

Everyone thought it would be a great gag to use the song Mack the Knife ("Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear...") for the "game over" music. Andy Sells put together a hilarious arrangement of the song which was used in the prototype version, while the Mattel crack legal team looked into getting clearance to use it. We had never licensed a song before, so they weren't used to tracking down rights, but they finally found the owner: Warner Communications...parent company of Atari. Andy wrote an original tune to use instead.

 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/intellivision/shark-shark
http://www.intellivisiongames.com/bluesky/games/credits/action2.html#shark