Intellivision

The Intellivision was developed at Mattel in Hawthorne, California. By 1969, multiple research and development groups came together as the Preliminary Design department on the third floor of the head office. Mattel had a history with technology R&D as design engineer Jack Ryan, who joined the company in 1955 from Raytheon, led a group of engineers, chemists, and sculptors. With a large budget they were expected to be forward thinking, dubbed the blue-sky group. Early design concepts In 1975, mechanical engineer Richard Chang, a director under Ryan, contacted MOS Technology for a demonstration of their new 6502 microprocessor in a video game application. MOS arranged for their client Glenn Hightower of APh Technological Consulting and teacher at CalTech University to do the demonstration. Shortly after, Dave James, an industrial engineer under Chang, wrote a memo dated January 26, 1976, documenting two product concepts. First, a microprocessor programmed video system with "plug-in" ROM modules or cassettes, and a list of applications that include war games, gambling games, strategy and board games, video Etch-a-Sketch, driving simulator, pinball; and football with 10 player a side, defense/offense patterns and floating field background. Second, calculator based games. With Mattel executives skeptical, Chang's group moved forward with handheld electronic games enlisting Hightower's help with a prototype. Choosing a platform In April 1977, David Chandler, with a doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering, a career in Aerospace, also having prototyped an early word processor as well as an arcade video game, joined Prelimanary Design under Chang. Chandler shared Chang's vision for a video game system with rich graphics and long-lasting gameplay to distinguish itself from its competitors and took over responsibility for its engineering. Prior to Chandler's arrival, Chang's group had already met with National Semiconductor about their new video display controller that would be paired with an Intel 8080 CPU. Chandler negotiated better pricing for a simpler design. At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1977, Chandler saw two more video driver chipsets. One from MOS Technology lacked moving objects (sprites) which would make it difficult to program sports games. The other from General Instrument (GI), listed as the Gimini programmable set in the GI 1977 catalog. The GI chipset lacked programmable graphics and Mattel worked with GI to implement changes. GI published an updated chipset in its 1978 catalog. Mattel initially chose National Semiconductor, who wanted to postpone the project, forcing Mattel to turn to GI. Mattel corporate management reacted by putting a halt to video game development for several months. On November 9, 1977, Mattel, GI, and Magnavox (their initial contract manufacturer) met to plan contracts and production. James also creating detailed game proposal documents. During June 1978 CES, Mattel privately showed a prototype to retailers, leading to a Christmas release. Delays at GI pushed that into 1979. Magnavox backed out as manufacturer, replaced with Sylvania. Chandler considered replacing the GI chipset and working with Texas Instruments and their new TMS9918 video processor. The TI chip had more moving objects but half the number on a horizontal line compared with the GI , it also lacked hardware scrolling that the GI provides. Further, the TI chip requires more RAM and software already developed would have to be reworked. At Chicago CES in June, prices were revised to for each component. A shortage of key chips from manufacturer General Instrument resulted in a limited number of Intellivision Master Components produced that year. In Fall 1979, Sylvania marketed its own branded Intellivision at in its GTE stores at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. On December 3, Mattel delivered consoles to the Gottschalks department store chain headquartered in Fresno, California, with a suggested list price of . The Intellivision was also listed in the nationally distributed JCPenney Christmas 1979 catalog along with seven cartridges. By April 1980, markets expanded to Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. A series of advertisements starring George Plimpton used side-by-side game comparisons to demonstrate the superior graphics and sound of Intellivision over the Atari 2600. In 1981, more than one million Intellivision consoles were sold, more than five times the amount of the previous year. Mattel Electronics became a subsidiary and relocated to another building to accommodate their growth. similar to the original console but with the gold plates replaced with more wood trim. In Japan, Intellivision consoles were branded for Bandai in 1982, and in Brazil there were Digimed and Digiplay consoles manufactured by Sharp in 1983. Software Inside every Intellivision console is 4K of ROM containing the Exec software. It provides two benefits: reusable code that can effectively make a 4K cartridge an 8K game and a software framework for new programmers to develop games more easily and quickly. It also allows other programmers to more easily review and continue another's project. Under the supervision of David Rolfe at APh, and with graphics from Mattel artist Dave James, APh was able to quickly create the Intellivision launch game library using mostly summer students. The drawback is that to be flexible and handle many different types of games, the Exec runs less efficiently than a dedicated program. Intellivision games that leverage the Exec run at a 20 Hz frame rate instead of the 60 Hz frame rate for which the Intellivision was designed. Using the Exec framework is optional, but almost all Intellivision games released by Mattel Electronics use it and thus run at 20 Hz. The limited ROM space in the early years of Intellivision game releases also means there is no space for a computer player, so many early multiplayer games require two human players. Initially, all Intellivision games were programmed by an outside firm, APh Technological Consulting, Cheshire created Intellivision games for Activision. Third-party developers Activision, Imagic, and Coleco started producing Intellivision cartridges in 1982, and Atari, Parker Brothers, Sega, and Interphase followed in 1983. The third-party developers, not having legal access to Exec knowledge, often bypassed the Exec framework to create smooth 30 Hz and 60 Hz Intellivision games such as The Dreadnaught Factor. Cheaper ROM prices also allowed for progressively larger games as 8K, 12K, and 16K cartridges became common. The first Mattel Electronics Intellivision game to run at 60 Hz was Masters of the Universe in 1983. Marketing dubbed the term "Super Graphics" on the game's packaging and marketing. Mattel Electronics had a competitive advantage in its team of experienced and talented programmers. As competitors often depended on licensing well known trademarks to sell video games, Mattel focused on original ideas. Don Daglow was a key early programmer at Mattel and became director of Intellivision game development. Daglow created Utopia, a precursor to the sim genre and, with Eddie Dombrower, the ground-breaking sports simulation World Series Major League Baseball. Daglow was also involved with the popular Intellivision games Tron Deadly Discs and Shark! Shark!. After Mattel Electronics closed in 1984, its programmers continued to make significant contributions to the videogame industry. Don Daglow and Eddie Dombrower went on to Electronic Arts to create Earl Weaver Baseball, and Don Daglow founded Stormfront Studios. Bill Fisher, Steve Roney, and Mike Breen founded Quicksilver Software, and David Warhol founded Realtime Associates. The Microsoft BASIC programming cartridge uses one of these ports. Expanded memory cartridges support 1,000 pages of each. A third pass-through cartridge port is for regular Intellivision cartridges. It uses the Intellivision's power supply. David Rolfe of APh wrote a control program for the Keyboard Component called PicSe (Picture Sequencer) specifically for the development of multimedia applications. PicSe synchronizes the graphics and analog audio while concurrently saving or loading tape data. Productivity software for home finances, personal improvement, and self education were planned. Subject experts were consulted and their voices recorded and used in the software. Only two applications using the PicSe system were released on cassette tape: Conversational French and ''Jack Lalanne's Physical Conditioning. Cassettes in development include Super Football, Spelling Challenge, Chartcraft Stock Analysis, and Jeanne Dixon Astrology''. Programs written in BASIC do not have access to Intellivision graphics and were sold at a lower price. Five BASIC applications were released on tape: Family Budgeting, Geography Challenge, and Crosswords I, II, and III. The Keyboard Component was an ambitious piece of engineering for its time, and it was repeatedly delayed as engineers tried to reduce manufacturing costs. In August 1979, a breadboard form of the Component was successfully entered into the Sears Market Research Program. In December 1979, Mattel had production design working units but decided on a significant internal design change to consolidate circuit boards. In September 1980, it was test marketed in Fresno, California, but without software, except for the BASIC programming cartridge. In late 1981, design changes were finally implemented and the Keyboard Component was released at was only available by mail order. The Keyboard Component's repeated delays became so notorious around Mattel headquarters that comedian Jay Leno, when performing at Mattel's 1981 Christmas party, got his biggest response of the evening with the line: "You know what the three big lies are, don't you? 'The check is in the mail', 'I'll still respect you in the morning', and 'The keyboard will be out in spring.'" Complaints from consumers who had chosen to buy the Intellivision specifically on the promise of a "coming soon" personal-computer upgrade eventually caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who started investigating Mattel Electronics for fraud and false advertising. Mattel explained to the FTC that the Keyboard Component was a failed product, avoiding fines. Mattel subsequently cancelled the product in August 1982, and offered to buy back all of the existing Keyboard Components from customers. Mattel provided a full refund, but customers without a receipt received for the Keyboard Component, for the BASIC cartridge, and for each cassette software. Any customer who opted to keep the products was required to sign a waiver with the understanding that no more software would be written for the system and absolving Mattel of any future responsibility for technical support. They were also compensated with worth of Mattel Electronics products. Entertainment Computer System (ECS) In mid-1981, Mattel's upper management was becoming concerned that the Keyboard Component group would never be able to produce a sellable product. As a result, Design and Development set up a competing engineering team whose stated mission was to produce an inexpensive add-on called the "Basic Development System", or BDS, to be sold as an educational device to introduce kids to the concepts of computer programming. The rival BDS engineering group eventually came up with a much less expensive alternative. Originally dubbed the "Lucky", from LUCKI: Low User-Cost Keyboard Interface, it lacked many of the sophisticated features envisioned for the original Keyboard Component. Gone, for example, was the 16K (8MB max) of RAM, the secondary CPU, and high resolution text; instead, the ECS offered a mere 2KB RAM expansion, a built-in BASIC that was marginally functional, plus a much-simplified cassette and printer interface. Ultimately, this fulfilled the original promise of turning the Intellivision into a computer, making it possible to write programs and store them to tape as well as interfacing with a printer. It even offered, via an additional sound chip (AY-3-8917) inside the ECS module and an optional 49-key music synthesizer keyboard, the possibility of turning the Intellivision into a multi-voice synthesizer which could be used to play or learn music. In the fall of 1982, the LUCKI, now renamed the Entertainment Computer System (ECS), was presented at the annual sales meeting, officially ending the ill-fated keyboard component project. A new advertising campaign was aired in time for the 1982 Christmas season, and the ECS itself was shown to the public at the January 1983 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. However, it would not see release until late December as the Intellivision Computer Module. Prior to release, an internal shake-up at the top levels of Mattel Electronics' management had caused the company's focus to shift away from hardware add-ons in favor of software, and the ECS received very little in terms of furthering the marketing push. Further hardware developments, including a planned Program Expander that would have added another 16K of RAM and a more intricate, fully featured Extended-BASIC to the system, were halted. In the end, six games were released for the ECS; a few more were completed but not released. The ECS Computer Module also offered four player game-play with the optional addition of two extra hand controllers. Four player games were in development when Mattel Electronics closed in 1984. World Cup Soccer was later completed and released in 1985 by Dextel in Europe and then INTV Corporation in North America. The documentation does not mention it but when the ECS Computer Adapter is used, World Cup Soccer can be played with one to four players, or two players cooperatively against the computer. Intellivoice In 1982, Mattel introduced the Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module, a speech synthesizer for compatible cartridges. The Intellivoice was novel in two respects: human sounding male and female voices with distinct accents, and speech-supporting games designed with speech as an integral part of the gameplay. Like the Intellivision chipset, the Intellivoice chipset was developed by General Instrument. The SP0256-012 orator chip has 2KB ROM inside and is used to store the speech for numerical digits, some common words, and the phrase "Mattel Electronics presents". Speech can also be processed from the Intellivoice's SP650 buffer chip, stored and loaded from cartridge memory. That buffer chip has its own I/O and the Intellivoice has a 30-pin expansion port under a removable top plate. Mattel Electronics planned to use that connector for wireless hand controllers. Mattel Electronics built a state of the art voice processing lab to produce the phrases used in Intellivoice games. However, the amount of speech that could be compressed into an 8K or 12K cartridge and still leave room for a game was limited. Intellivoice cartridges Space Spartans and B-17 Bomber did sell about 300,000 copies each, priced a few dollars more than regular Intellivision cartridges. However, at $79, the Intellivoice did not sell as well as Mattel expected; Intellivoices were later offered free with the purchase of a Master Component. The Intellivision II was initially released without a pack-in game but was later packaged with BurgerTime in the United States and ''Lock 'n' Chase'' in Canada. In 1984, the Digiplay Intellivision II was introduced in Brazil. A few of Coleco's early games were affected but the 3rd party developers quickly figured out how to get around it. Mattel's own Electric Company Word Fun, however, will not run on the Intellivision II due to this change. In an unrelated issue but also due to Exec changes, Super Pro Football experiences a minor glitch where the quarterback does not appear until after the ball is hiked. There were also some minor changes to the sound chip (AY-3-8914A/AY-3-8916) affecting sound effects in some games. Programmers at Mattel discovered the audio differences and avoided the problem in future games. Decade As early as 1981, Dave Chandler's group began designing what would have been Mattel's next-generation console, codenamed Decade and now referred to as the Intellivision IV. It would have been based on the 32-bit MC68000 processor and a 16-bit custom designed advanced graphic interface chip. Specifications called for dual-display support, 240×192 bitmap resolution, 16 programmable 12-bit colors (4096 colors), anti-aliasing, 40×24 tiled graphics modes, four colors per tile (16 with shading), text layer and independent scrolling, 16 multicolored 16×16 sprites per scan-line, 32 level hardware sprite scaling. Line interrupts for reprogramming sprite and color registers would allow for many more sprites and colors on screen at the same time. It was intended as a machine that could lead Mattel Electronics into the 1990s; however, on August 4, 1983, most hardware people at Mattel Electronics were laid off. Intellivision III Also in 1981, Mattel Electronics executives indicated to APh, interest in a successor system for 1983. Although planned for some time, APh redirected staff efforts on the Intellivision III hardware around summer 1982. Based on a faster CP1610 for backward compatibility, APh developed an updated graphics STIC chip with 4x the resolution, more sprites, and more colors. Mattel Electronics programmers developing the EXEC software. When Mattel Electronics cancelled the project in mid-1983, Toshiba was laying out the new graphics chip, consoles expected to be in production by Christmas, cartridges to be ready by January 1984, according to Glenn Hightower of APh. • CPU: CP1610-2 at 3.56 MHz (2x original CPU speed) • separate 16-bit data bus and address bus • multiplexed data/address mode for backward compatibility with existing cartridges • Graphics: STIC 1B • tiled graphics, 20 cards by 24 rows • 2-color 16×8 pixel cards for a resolution of 320×192 • 4-color 8×8 pixel cards for a resolution of 160×192 • 40 x 24 alphanumerics • 16 programmable colors • color palette selectable per card • 12-bit RGB definition for 4096 possible colors • 8 sprites per scanline • reusable on different scanlines • 16 pixels wide in 1 color, 8 pixels wide in 3 colors • up-to 255 lines high • overlap detect of individual colors • fine pixel horizontal and vertical scrolling (backward compatible) • single data bus allows graphics ROM/RAM storage on cartridges • STIC 1 backwards-compatible mode • RAM: 4K words, 16-bit, DRAM (upgradable to 65K words) • five channel sound with improved frequency range (backward-compatible) • integrated Intellivoice Competition and market crash According to the company's 1982 Form 10-K, Mattel had almost 20% of the domestic video-game market. Mattel Electronics provided 25% of revenue and 50% of operating income in fiscal 1982. The company's advertisement budget increased to over for the year. In its October 1982 stockholders' report Mattel announced that Electronics had, so far that year, posted a nearly profit on nearly sales; a threefold increase over October 1981. The original five-person Mattel game development team had grown to 110 people under new vice president Baum, while Daglow led Intellivision development and top engineer Minkoff directed all work on all other platforms. In February 1983, Mattel Electronics opened an office in the south of France to provide European input to Intellivision games and develop games for the ColecoVision. At its peak Mattel Electronics employed 1800 people. The Taiwan and French offices continued a little while longer due to contract and legal obligations. On February 4, 1984, Mattel sold the Intellivision business for . In 1983, 750,000 Intellivision Master Components were sold, compared to 1.8 million in 1982. INTV Corporation (1984–1990) Former Mattel Electronics Senior Vice President of Marketing, Terrence Valeski, understood that although losses were huge, the demand for video games increased in 1983. Valeski found investors and purchased the rights to Intellivision, the games, and inventory from Mattel. It is a modified Intellivision, the case molded in light beige with gold and blue trim. The Exec ROM expanded, system RAM increased to 1.75K, and graphics RAM increased to 2KB. That is enough graphics RAM to define unique graphic tiles for the entire screen. Games were designed by World Book, J. Hakansson Associates, and programmed by Realtime Associates. Sixteen games were in production, plus one Canadian variation. However, the cartridges and the Tutorvision were never released; instead World Book and INTV Corporation sued each other. In 1990, INTV Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection and closed in 1991. An unknown number of later Intellivision SuperPro systems have Tutorvision hardware inside. A subset of these units contain the full Tutorvision EXEC and can play Tutorvision games. ==Hardware specifications==

Master Component Intellivision, Super Video Arcade, Tandyvision One, Intellivision II, INTV System III, Super Pro System • General Instrument CP1610 16-bit microprocessor CPU • 1 microsecond cycle time, 2 MHz 2-phase clock (1.117 μs and 1.7897725 MHz NTSC) • 16-bit multiplexed data/address bus • 1456 bytes of RAM (SRAM): • 240 × 8-bit scratchpad memory • 352 × 16-bit (704 bytes) system memory, General Instrument RA-3-9600 dual-ported, bridges CPU and STIC buses, 240 words used for graphics • 512 × 8-bit graphics RAM • 7168 bytes of ROM: • 4096 × 10-bit (5120 bytes) executive ROM (4352 x 10-bit Intellivision II) • 2048 × 8-bit graphics ROM (344 bytes used by Exec program) • Standard Television Interface Chip (STIC): General Instrument AY-3-8900/AY-3-8900-1 • operates at 4 MHz or 3.579545 MHz (NTSC) • 14-bit multiplexed data/address bus shared with CPU • 20×12 tiled playfield, tiles are 8×8 pixels for a resolution of 159×96 (right pixel not displayed) • 16 color palette, two colors per tile • Foreground/Background mode; all 16 colors available for background and colors 1–8 available for foreground per tile; grom cards limited to the first 64 • Color Stack mode; all 16 colors available for foreground per tile; background colour from a four colour rotating stack of any four colors, all 277 grom and gram cards available • Colored Squares mode allows each tile to have four different colored 4×4 blocks (e.g. Snafu); first seven colors available for foreground blocks; background colour from the color stack • 8 sprites (all visible on the same scanline). Hardware supports the following features per-sprite: • coordinate addressable off screen for smooth edge entries and exits • Size selection: 8×16 or 8 pixels wide by 8 half-pixels high • Stretching: horizontal (1× or 2×) and vertical (1×, 2×, 4× or 8×) • Mirroring: horizontal and vertical • Collision detection: sprite to sprite, sprite to background, and sprite to screen border • Priority: selects whether sprite appears in front of or behind background. • fine horizontal and vertical pixel scrolling • all STIC attributes and GRAM re-programmable at VBLANK, 60 times a second • Three-channel sound, with one noise generator, audio chip: General Instrument AY-3-8914 (AY-3-8914A/AY-3-8916 Intellivision II) • Connections: • 44-pin cartridge/expansion port • 64K addressable (approx 50K available), more with memory bank switching • typical cartridges: 4K, 6K, 8K, 12K, 16K, 24K (10-bit ROMs) • 2 x 9-pin controller connectors • inline pin connectors internally accessible on original Intellivision and INTV systems • DE-9 connectors externally accessible on Super Video Arcade and Intellivision II • RF/RCA audio/video connector; RGB/scart/péritel in France • Intellivision II only: external power adapter 16.7Vac 1amp or 16.2Vac 955mA Game controller with no overlay inserted The Intellivision controller features: • 12-button numeric keypad (0–9, clear, and enter) • Four side-located action buttons (two for left handed players, two for right handed players) • top two side buttons are electronically the same, giving three distinct buttons • A directional pad, capable of detecting 16 directions of movement • Plastic overlays that slide into place as an extra layer on the keypad to show game-specific key functions The directional pad was called a "control disc" and marketed as having the "functionality of both a joystick and a paddle". The controller was ranked the fourth worst video game controller by IGN editor Craig Harris. Peripherals • Keyboard Component (limited availability) • 6502 CPU, 16K × 10-bit DRAM, 40×24 text overlay, tape-drive, microphone input, two expansion ports • PlayCable (availability through cable TV provider 1981–1983) • Mattel and General Instrument joint venture, manufactured by GI/Jerrold • 8K x 10bit RAM • Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module • General Instrument SP0256-012 • Computer Module (includes the following) • Computer Adapter • 2K x 8-bit SRAM, 12K ECS Exec/BASIC ROM, memory expansion port (discontinued) • AY-3-8917 sound generator • two DE-9 hand controller connectors • audio tape recorder data storage interface, two 3.5mm mono jacks and one 2.5mm jack for optional tape control • auxiliary jack for a serial printer connection (Mattel Aquarius compatible), 3.5mm stereo jack that is RS-232C compatible, where tip is data transmit, ring is DSR/DCD, sleeve is ground, 1200 baud, 8 data bits, 2 stop bits, and no parity • external power adapter 10Vac 1amp • Computer Keyboard • Music Synthesizer (requires Computer Adapter) • 49 key piano keyboard • System Changer • Atari 2600 compatible cartridge slot • two DE-9 Atari 2600 compatible controller connectors • Videoplexer (from Compro Electronics) • cartridge switching accessory with eight cartridge slots ==Games==

A July 1980 article in Video magazine said "Now, arcade addicts can revel in the most sophisticated games this side of the complex simulations designed for high-level computers right in their own livingrooms.", "It may not be perfect but it's certainly the best unit offered so far to players of electronic video games.", "Those used to joysticks will have to endure a short period of adjustment, but even finicky players will be forced to agree that the company has developed a truly elegant solution to the controller problem." Ken Uston published ''Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games'' in 1982 as a guide to potential buyers of console systems/cartridges, as well as a brief strategy guide to numerous cartridge games then in existence. He described Intellivision as "the most mechanically reliable of the systems… The controller (used during "many hours of experimentation") worked with perfect consistency. The unit never had overheating problems, nor were loose wires or other connections encountered." However, Uston rated the controls and control system as "below average" and the worst of the consoles he tested (including Atari 2600, Magnavox Odyssey², Astrovision, and Fairchild Channel F). Jeff Rovin lists Intellivision as one of the seven major suppliers of videogames in 1982 and mentions it as "the unchallenged king of graphics", but says the controllers can be "difficult to operate", mentions the fact that if a controller breaks the entire unit must be shipped off for repairs (since they did not detach at first), and explains that the overlays "are sometimes so stubborn as to tempt one's patience" . A 1996 article in Next Generation said the Intellivision "had greater graphics power than the dominant Atari 2600. It was slower than the 2600 and had less software available, but it was known for its superior sports titles." A year later, Electronic Gaming Monthly assessed the Intellivision in an overview of older gaming consoles, remarking that the controllers "were as comfortable as they were practical. The unique disk-shaped directional pad provided unprecedented control for the time, and the numeric keypad opened up new options previously unavailable in console gaming." They praised the breadth of the software library but said there was a lack of genuinely stand-out games. ==Legacy==

Intellivision Lives! Intellivision games became readily available again when Keith Robinson and Stephen Roney, both former Intellivision programmers at Mattel Electronics, obtained exclusive rights to the Intellivision and games in 1997. That year they formed a new company, Intellivision Productions, and made Intellivision for PC Volume 1 available as a free download. Intellivision games could be played on a modern computer for the first time. That download includes three Intellivision games and an MS-DOS Intellivision emulator that plays original game code. It was followed by Volume 2 and another three games including Deep Pockets Super Pro Pool & Billiards; a game completed in 1990 but never released until this download in 1997. In 2000, the Intellipack 3 download was available with another four Intellivision games and emulators for Windows or Macintosh. Intellivision Productions released Intellivision Lives! and Intellivision Rocks on compact disc in 1998 and 2001. These compilation CDs play the original game code through emulators for MS-DOS, Windows, and Macintosh computers. Together they have over 100 Intellivision games including never before released King of the Mountain, Takeover, Robot Rubble, League of Light, and others. Intellivision Rocks includes Intellivision games made by Activision and Imagic. Some games could not be included due to licensing, others simply used different titles to avoid trademarked names. The CDs are also a resource for development history, box art, hidden features, programmer biographies, video interviews, and original commercials. By 2000 Intellivision hobbyists ultimately created their own development tools, including Intellivision memory cartridges. In 2005, Intellivision Productions announced that new Intellivision cartridges were to be produced. "Deep Pockets and Illusions will be the first two releases in a series of new cartridges for the Intellivision. The printed circuit boards, the cartridge casings, the boxes are all being custom manufactured for this special series." Illusions was completed at Mattel Electronics' French office in 1983 but never released. Deep Pockets Super Pro Pool & Billiards was programmed for INTV Corporation in 1990 and only released as a ROM file in 1998. However, no cartridges were produced. Previously, in 2000, Intellivision Productions did release new cartridges for the Atari 2600 and Colecovision. Sea Battle and Swordfight were Atari 2600 games created by Mattel Electronics in the early 1980s but not previously released. Steamroller (Colecovision) was developed for Activision in 1984 and not previously released. Licensing Intellivision Games Also in 1999, Activision released A Collection of Intellivision Classic Games for PlayStation. Also known as Intellivision Classics, it has 30 emulated Intellivision games as well as video interviews of some of the original programmers. All of the games were licensed from Intellivision Productions and none of the Activision or Imagic Intellivision games were included. In 2003, Crave Entertainment released a PlayStation 2 version of Intellivision Lives! followed by versions for the Xbox and GameCube in 2004. In 2010, Virtual Play Games released Intellivision Lives! for the Nintendo DS including one never before released game, Blow Out. In 2008 Microsoft made Intellivision Lives! an available download on the Xbox Live Marketplace as an Xbox Original and playable on the Xbox 360. In 2003, the Intellivision 25 and Intellivision 10 direct-to-TV systems were released by Techno Source Ltd. These are an all-in-one single controller design that plugs directly into a television. One includes 25 games the other ten. These Intellivision games were not emulated but rewritten for the native processor (Famiclone-based hardware) and adapted to a contemporary controller. As such they look and play differently than Intellivision. In 2005 they were updated for two-player play as the Intellivision X2 with 15 games. They were commercially very successful altogether selling about 4 million units by end of 2006. Using a Shockwave emulator these Intellivision games could be played directly through a web browser with Shockwave Player. In 2010, VH1 Classic and MTV Networks released 6 Intellivision games to iOS. Intellivision games were first adapted to mobile phones and published by THQ Wireless in 2001. On March 24, 2010, Microsoft launched the Game Room service for Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. This service includes support for Intellivision games and allows players to compete for high scores via online leaderboards. At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft announced a version of Game Room for Windows Phone, promising a catalog of 44 Intellivision games. AtGames and its Direct2Drive digital store has Windows compatible Intellivision compilations available for download purchase. Intellivision Flashback The number of Intellivision games that can be played effectively with contemporary game controllers is limited. On October 1, 2014, AtGames Digital Media, Inc., under license from Intellivision Productions, Inc., released the Intellivision Flashback classic game console. It is a miniature sized Intellivision console with two original sized Intellivision controllers. While adapters have been available to interface original Intellivision controllers to personal computers, the Intellivision Flashback includes two new Intellivision controllers identical in layout and function to the originals. It comes with 60 (61 at Dollar General) emulated Intellivision games built into ROM and a sample set of plastic overlays for 10 games. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games were included as Crown of Kings and Minotaur. As with many of the other Intellivision compilations, no games requiring third-party licensing were included. Intellivision Entertainment In May 2018, Tommy Tallarico announced that he acquired the rights to the Intellivision brand and games with plans to launch a new home video game console, the Intellivision Amico. A new company, Intellivision Entertainment, was formed with Tallarico serving as president. Intellivision Productions has been renamed Blue Sky Rangers Inc. and their video game intellectual property has been transferred to Intellivision Entertainment. In 2021 Blaze Entertainment released a collection of twelve emulated Intellivision games for the Evercade systems. They released a second collection of twelve emulated Intellivision games in 2022. Intellivision Sprint On May 23, 2024, Atari SA announced the acquisition of the Intellivision brand and library from Intellivision Entertainment. The deal did not include the unreleased Intellivision Amico console nor the Intellivision Entertainment company itself, both of which would be renamed. However, that company would secure a licensing deal with Atari to continue to release newer versions of Intellivision titles for the Amico. Atari announced the Intellivision Sprint for pre-orders in October 2025, and shipping on December 5, 2025, for $150. As a retro console based on the original Intellivision design, the Intellivision Sprint will include 45 games from the original Intellivision. It will include two controllers based on the original design of the Intellivision, though both will be wireless and charged by USB ports on the console. Overlays for each of the built in games will be included. The console also supports HDMI video output and USB-A connections. ==Innovations==

• Intellivision was the first 16-bit game console, as it has a 16-bit microprocessor with 16-bit registers, 16-bit RAM, and a 16-bit data bus. • The first home console and one of the first video games to use a tile-based playfield. It allowed for the display of detailed graphics and colour with very little RAM. • The Intellivision was also the first system to feature downloadable games with PlayCable in 1981. • Intellivision was the first game console to provide real-time human voices in the middle of gameplay, courtesy of the Intellivoice module. • The first game controller with a directional thumb pad. • The Intellivision was also the first game console or home computer to offer a musical synthesizer keyboard. • Intellivision was also the first console to have a complete built-in character font. While Odyssey² had a limited character font (uppercase alphabet, numerals, and some other characters), Intellivision's system font had complete upper- and lowercase alphabets, numerals, and almost all of the punctuation and symbols found on standard computer keyboards. • Utopia (1982) is credited as the game that spawned the construction and management simulation genre. • World Series Major League Baseball (1983) is considered to be the first sports simulation video game with a number of innovations: multiple views of a 3D calculated virtual play-field, statistical based game-play using real historical baseball player statistics, manager player substitutions, play-by-play speech, and save games or lineups to tape storage. ==See also==