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There are two sounds of which I associate my earliest gaming memories. One, is the heartbeat pulse of Night Stalker and the second, is the foreboding sound of doom you hear when you're facing the mother ship in Demon Attack. You might say that this will make me a bit biased when reviewing this system or you may say that the nearly thirty years of experience with and exposure to the Intellivision, will give this system the respect it deserves. Despite being second fiddle to the Atari 2600 in terms of sales and popularity, it's number one in my book! When you're a kid, things like aesthetics don't really matter. As an adult, you can't help but chuckle when you unsuccessfully try to incorporate a gold & wood trimmed console into today's black shiny plastic, silver, or chrome AV equipment. An appliance like this is a victim of its era. Like the faux wood trim of an Atari, the old TV in your grandparent's attic or your uncle's 1980 station wagon, it's memorable if not dated. Despite the color choice, the design is mostly sound. You have to admire the foresight of the engineers who decided that clean lines and a simple geometric shape would suit this system the best. Having cord storage and slots to slide the controllers into, along with buttons that sat flush with the top and a cartridge port on the side, keep the low profile intact. Even with the Intellivoice module attached it still has a small footprint on a shelf, taking less vertical space than just about every major system released since. That and it's one of those rare systems without an AC adapter brick to deal with, unless you have an Intellivision II of course.
Notice I said mostly sound? While the design certainly has its benefits, they went and fudged it with ridiculously short and thick controller cords. If you haven't played one of these systems before, I'll tell you now that you'll fight the controller cord every step of the way. The thick, spiral cord puts up a lot of resistance and you have to keep the system a couple of feet away otherwise it's uncomfortable to use. Of course in the early eighties we all sat three feet from the TV, six inches from the system (to swap carts and hit reset!) so it wasn't a big deal, even to our small and young, hands and muscles. In the age of 6-8 foot controller cords, wireless pads and forty inch TVs, you'll thank me when I tell you to buy a twenty-foot RCA cable to hook this system up with because I guarantee if you want to put any time into this system, it'll be on or very near the couch with you. Speaking of controller, many gamers consider this to be among the worst controller designs ever. In some respects this is true, especially if you're under thirty years of age and your first controller was a NES pad, SNES dogbone or a Sony DualShock. Or if you've never had the pleasure of gaming on a Fairchild Channel F. If you grew up with a controller like this, it gives you a unique perspective and maybe an edge because you've learned to overcome the design. To me it's no more awkward than going back to an N64 pad after two generations of dual analog sticks. Then again I'm left-handed and the Intellivision controller is very neutral in that respect. With large hands, you can appreciate the infamous "disc" directional pad. Holding the controller flat in one hand and using the other to thumb the disc or two finger it for fast movement, isn't that bad at all. It's certainly not as thick a controller as the ColecoVision's which is of similar design and certainly easier to use as an adult than a CX-10 or CX-40 Atari joystick (my opinion of course YMMV). The real trouble comes when you need to hold or press those stiff shoulder buttons for a lengthy period of time. Some games however, use the numpad to good effect, negating this problem. Other issues come with different hand positions causing inaccurate controller responses on the disc or premature wear and tear on the membrane. Not everyone will suffer these problems but it's something to consider when buying a used game system this old.
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Intellivision was released in 1979 by Mattel Electronics. It was also released under different names to expand its market. The Intellivision was released in Sears stores as the Super Video Arcade, at Radio Shack as the TandyVision I and as the GTE/Sylvania Intellivision. The main competitor of the Atari. the graphical capabilities were much better than the 2600's. It was the system to own for playing sports games, but also had a fair amount of action games with a few strategy games thrown into the mix as well.
The Intellivision had little 3rd party support until late in its life (nowhere near the amount the Atari 2600 had). Also many people did not like the disc controllers which may have been great for sports games, but made other games difficult to play. Atari also had nailed down almost every popular arcade / movie license they could get their hands on. This left Mattel scrambling for less popular arcade games from Data East and other developers. So what better way to expand your game library then to add another consoles games! Mattel released a Atari 2600 adapter which gave the Intellivision an even greater library of games. In 1982, the console would be remodeled (Intellivision II) with a lockout feature that prevented Atari 2600 and some of their own games from being played. It did however improve the controllers and added a device that added voice to some games. In July of this same year, Mattel approached Bandai to distribute Intellivision in Japan. The Bandai Intellivision retailed for 49,800 yen. All in all the Intellivision was an impressive machine that sparked the first real console rivalry in console history. For example, Mattel used television advertisements demonstrating Intellivision graphics outperforming Atari 2600. These rivalries would be duplicated by other companies in later years.
Software flyer: FACT: No the stats are not typos... a GI 1600 running at something like 900 kHz. The processor has 16 bit registers, uses 16 bit RAM, with 10 bit instructions. So in an odd way you could call Intellivision a 16 bit system...
In 1984, the rights to the Intellivision were sold. Afterword rumors of the release of the INTV III,
or Super Pro System, began to surface. This redesigned unit was identical to the original console, except that it has a black plastic
case with silver plates, and also had a Power LED indicator between the Power and Reset switches. This console was released in limited
numbers. |
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The game library for the Intellivision is small (125+) but varied in scope. Plenty of sports titles impressive for their day, racing titles, complex strategy games, simple space shooters and even a decent selection of simulations just to name a few. There was always a give and take between an Atari version of a game and an Intellivision one. Sometimes one was better than the other. Other times one was completely superior. Coupling the large scope of genres within a small number of games with a dizzying array of controller configurations ranging from one to sixteen buttons with directional disc, few games provide a similar gaming experience to one another and most require a good amount of skill to truly master
You may ask, is it worth buying if compilations and emulation exists? Oddly enough, none of the console or PC compilations have well
mapped controls. I can tell you from experience that playing these games on a PS2, PC, Xbox and
Xbox 360,
I can't come close to touching the scores I can set on the real hardware itself. Not only because of the poor D-pads or analog sticks too sensitive
for playing four direction titles but also because of the clunky interfaces in which the numpad is mapped. The PC comes closest because many keyboards
have a numpad but it doesn't have sixteen direction movement without a specialized piece of kit. So by all means, put a few dollars down and add one
of the all-time classic game systems to your collection. This is definitely one of those game systems where lack of authentic hardware just loses
something in emulation. |
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Various picture\media for this console. See the Models section below for the full line of systems. Click pictures to enlarge. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mattel Intellivoice Front 
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Model 1 System with Cover Removed 
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Mattel Intellivoice Back 
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Mattel Keyboard Accessory 
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Disassembled Model 1 Hardwired Controller
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Typical Game Cartridges Front and Back 
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Intellivision Model 1 Dust Cover |
Typical Game Box Front & Back
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Mattel Intellivision with Peripherals (picture credits unknown)  |
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For the hardware enthusiasts out there - all the detail you\we love. |
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Games, media format, emulators and screen shots for titles released on this system. |
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Four games (pictured to the right) were released during the test market launch in 1979: Armor Battle, Backgammon, Las Vegas Blackjack & Poker and The Electric Company: Math Fun. First party games were initially organized into Entertainment Networks which consisted of the Action, Sports, Strategy, Gaming and the Children's Learning network. Game boxes were color coded to denote their respective category, but this was a loosely enforced standard. As with the Atari 2600, cheap, flimsy cardboard is the material of choice for game packaging. Water-color graphics dominated the cover art during the initial years, with later offerings featuring detailed images. |
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Mattel Intellivision Game Boxes (First Party)
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Mattel Intellivision Game Screenshots |
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Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
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Armor Battle
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AstroSmash
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Auto Race
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B-17 Bomber
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Beauty and the Beast
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Body Slam Super Pro Wrestling
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Burgertime!
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Chip Shot Super Pro Golf
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Demon Attack
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Dig Dug
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Dracula
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Frog Bog
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Las Vegas Blackjack and Poker
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Lock 'N' Chase
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Microsurgeon
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Mission X
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MLB Baseball
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Moto--Cross
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NBA Basketball
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NFL Football
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NHL Hockey
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Night Stalker
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Pinball
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Popeye
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Stadium Mud Buggies
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Star Strike
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Super Cobra
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Tennis
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Thunder Castle
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Additional authorized releases for this console. Click pictures to enlarge. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mattel Intellivision Model 1 Front
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Mattel Intellivision Model II Front
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INTV System III Front_Front.jpg "Click to enlarge")
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Mattel Intellivision Model 1 Back
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Mattel Intellivision Model II Back
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INTV System III Back_Back.jpg "Click to enlarge")
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| The following are other officially licensed releases of the three base models shown above. Pictures courtesy of our good friend Adrian Scheel. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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INTV Intellivision Super Pro System
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Bandai Intellivision
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Sears Tele-Games Super Video Arcade
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Radio Shack TandyVision One
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Digiplay Intellivision
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Sylvania Intellivision
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Digiplay Intellivision II
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World Book Tutor Vision (Intellivision)
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Non-licensed releases (clones). |
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| No clones were released for this system, but there are a myriad of post-patent Plug N Play systems for the Intellivision. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Highly recommended additional sites\resources for this system. |
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Copyright 2008-2011 The Video Game Console Library. This website and the information contained within it is protected by
copyright. Reproduction of part or all of the |
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HANDS ON REVIEW by 
DW FACTS by 
HANDS ON REVIEW
DW FACTS
You
can't review this system or its controller without mentioning the overlays. The Intellivision gets a bad rap from people who just don't
see the usefulness of these colorful and sometimes necessary accessories. Then again the merit of an overlay really is dependent on the game
itself. In the picture above are three examples of different games whose overlays cover the spectrum of useful to useless. While many games on
other systems at that time used a button or two, sometimes the Intellivision had a full range of controls that were mapped for convenience or
to allow a better gaming experience. How many button presses does it take to cycle through your clubs in a modern golf title? Or how many
early RPGs for consoles provided as rich an experience as AD&D Treasure of Tarmin with its wide range of controls? However, cramming
one of these easily crumpled or ripped overlays into a controller for a game that used little more than a fire button or directional pad is
useless. It's really a case by case basis and more often than not I leave the overlays in the box. Memories of bent corners and bottom edges
as a kid trying to line the overlay with its slot make the collector in me cringe with the thought. Nowadays if I need one I'll set it beside
me and refer to it as needed.
Software
for the Mattel Intellivision was distributed on ROM cartridges and included controller overlays along with the instruction manual.
Most packaging opened book-style, with a slide jacket built into back of the front cover to house the overlays.
