History Platform / Intellivision

In 2018, a brand-new console in the Intellivision line was announced along with the news that industry veteran Music/TommyTallarico was named CEO/President of the company. The UsefulNotes/IntellivisionAmico is set for launch in October 2021.

* ''Shark! Shark!''

In 2018, a brand-new console in the Intellivision line was announced along with the news that industry veteran Music/TommyTallarico was named CEO/President of the company. The UsefulNotes/IntellivisionAmico is set for launch in April 2021.

The UsefulNotes/Atari2600 inspired other companies to enter the market for video games. One of these companies was Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys, which established the Mattel Electronics division to develop a video game console. The '''Intellivision''' was released to the public in late 1980 (although some sources, including a vintage informational video on Website/YouTube say 1979); while it never defeated Creator/{{Atari}} for the hearts and minds of the public, it was the 2600's strongest initial rival, and hung around for some time.

Mattel had trouble securing the rights to produce home ports of UsefulNotes/{{Arcade Game}}s: many popular titles had been acquired by competitors Atari and Coleco (who ended up porting many of them to the Intellivision anyway), and Mattel had to make a deal with then-obscure company Creator/DataEast, with surprisingly good results. To compensate for its deficiency in arcade ports, Mattel invested heavily in rights to make {{Licensed Game}}s, such as three for the film ''Film/{{Tron}}'', but many of which were never developed or never released.

The Intellivision didn't use a joystick. It had a round, touch-sensitive pad and a 12-button keypad above it (games frequently included inserts that went above the pad to show how the buttons were used). On the down side, the controllers were permanently attached to the console, and games couldn't use the keypad and the control disc at the same time.

The Intellivoice add-on is of historical note in that it made the Intellivision the first console capable of voice synthesis, though only five Intellivision games supported it. Other proposed add-ons for the console entered DevelopmentHell; Creator/JayLeno drew laughs at a Mattel function making fun of how long the keyboard add-on project was taking[[labelnote:his joke]]“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.’”[[/labelnote]]. The Keyboard Component, as it was formally named, was heavily marketed at the system's launch, as it was intended to turn the Intellivision into a full-fledged home computer, as a low-cost alternative to the fledgling [[UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers Atari 400/800]] and [[UsefulNotes/VIC20 Commodore VIC-20]]. Unfortunately, the development team could not find a cost-effective means to create a mass-production model, and after the Federal Trade Commission came down on Mattel for failing to live up to their advertised promise, a scaled-down Entertainment Computer System module (developed by a separate in-house team) was released. It also has the dubious honour of being the first console to run on 16-bit hardware, though it obviously couldn't hold a candle to what people associate with 16-bit consoles such as the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]]. Ironically enough, the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 ran off a modified 6502 and yet it boasted visuals similar to its 16-bit contemporaries.

The Intellivision II, released in 1983, was not a new system, but a minor technical upgrade whose most remarkable "feature" was [[UsefulNotes/DigitalRightsManagement incompatibility with Mattel's previously released cartridges]]. Mattel Electronics also released the Aquarius home computer that year, promoting it with video games and other software; the Aquarius, being based on a technologically primitive design, handled both poorly and was quickly discontinued.

In 2018, a brand new console in the Intellivision line was announced along with the news that industry veteran Music/TommyTallarico was named CEO/President of the company. The UsefulNotes/IntellivisionAmico is set for launch in April 2021.

* 1456 bytes

* 159*96 resolution, doubled vertically to 159*192

* ''Series/{{The Electric Company| 1971}} Math Fun''
* ''The Electric Company Word Fun''

* ''Masters Of The Universe: The Power of He-Man''

* ''{{VideoGame/Popeye}}''

* ''{{VideoGame/Turbo}}''

!Tropes:

* BillionsOfButtons: The controller had a whopping 17 buttons total--a 12 button keypad, two trigger buttons on each side, and the disc at the bottom (which is a touch-sensitive D-pad) doubled as an extra button (although it couldn't work in conjunction with the keypad).
* ProductFacelift: Later in the consoles life, a cheaper model was made called The Intellivision II, which made the console smaller and sleeker and had detachable controllers. Mattel also slightly modified the hardware in an attempt to lock out unauthorized third party games, resulting in some games like ''Shark, Shark'' and ''Space Spartans'' and ''Super Pro Football'' having minor sound and glitch issues. Certain games like ''Electric Company Word Fun'' won't run at all on the redesigned model.

In 2018, a brand new console in the Intellivision line was announced along with the news that industry veteran Music/TommyTallarico was named CEO/President of the company. The UsefulNotes/IntellivisionAmico is set for launch in October 2020.

''Intellivision. Intelligent Television.''

The UsefulNotes/Atari2600 inspired other companies to enter the market for video games. One of these companies was Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys, which established the Mattel Electronics division to develop a video game console. The Intellivision was released to the public in late 1980 (although some sources, including a vintage informational video on Website/YouTube say 1979); while it never defeated Creator/{{Atari}} for the hearts and minds of the public, it was the 2600's strongest initial rival, and hung around for some time.

The Intellivoice add-on is of historical note in that it made the Intellivision the first console capable of voice synthesis, though only five Intellivision games supported it. Other proposed add-ons for the console entered DevelopmentHell; Jay Leno drew laughs at a Mattel function making fun of how long the keyboard add-on project was taking. The Keyboard Component, as it was formally named, was heavily marketed at the system's launch, as it was intended to turn the Intellivision into a full-fledged home computer, as a low-cost alternative to the fledgling [[UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers Atari 400/800]] and [[UsefulNotes/VIC20 Commodore VIC-20]]. Unfortunately, the development team could not find a cost-effective means to create a mass-production model, and after the Federal Trade Commission came down on Mattel for failing to live up to their advertised promise, a scaled-down Entertainment Computer System module (developed by a separate in-house team) was released. It also has the dubious honour of being the first console to run on 16-bit hardware, though it obviously couldn't hold a candle to what people associate with 16-bit consoles such as the Genesis and SNES. Ironically enough, the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 ran off a modified 6502 and yet it boasted visuals similar to its 16-bit contemporaries.

In 2018, a brand new console in the Intellivision line was announced along with the news that industry veteran Music/TommyTallarico was named CEO/President of the company. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokUnn1lBGA Intellivision Amico]] is set for launch in October 2020.

The Intellivoice add-on is of historical note in that it made the Intellivision the first console capable of voice synthesis, though only five Intellivision games supported it. Other proposed add-ons for the console entered DevelopmentHell; Jay Leno drew laughs at a Mattel function making fun of how long the keyboard add-on project was taking. The Keyboard Component, as it was formally named, was heavily marketed at the system's launch, as it was intended to turn the Intellivision into a full-fledged home computer, as a low-cost alternative to the fledgling [[UsefulNotes/Atari8BitComputers Atari 400/800]] and [[UsefulNotes/VIC20 Commodore VIC-20]]. Unfortunately, the development team could not find a cost-effective means to create a mass-production model, and after the Federal Trade Commission came down on Mattel for failing to live up to their advertised promise, a scaled-down Entertainment Computer System module (developed by a separate in-house team) was released.

The UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} inspired other companies to enter the market for video games. One of these companies was Creator/{{Mattel}} Toys, which established the Mattel Electronics division to develop a video game console. The Intellivision was released to the public in late 1980 (although some sources, including a vintage informational video on YouTube say 1979); while it never defeated Creator/{{Atari}} for the hearts and minds of the public, it was the 2600's strongest initial rival, and hung around for some time.

* ''VideoGame/CongoBongoo''

* ''Armor Battle''

* ''Night Stalker''

* ''Congo Bongo''

The Intellivision II, released in 1983, was not a new system, but a minor technical upgrade whose most remarkable "feature" was [[{{DRM}} incompatibility with Mattel's previously released cartridges]]. Mattel Electronics also released the Aquarius home computer that year, promoting it with video games and other software; the Aquarius, being based on a technologically primitive design, handled both poorly and was quickly discontinued.

* BillionsOfButtons: The controller had a whopping 17 buttons total--a 12 button keypad, two trigger buttons on each side, and the disc at the bottom doubled as an extra button (although it couldn't work in conjunction with the keypad).

* Add-on General Instruments SP0256-AL2 speech synthesizer chip via the [=Intellivoice=] expansion cartridge

Mattel Electronics was one of the first casualties of TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, shutting down operations in early 1984. Interestingly, a former Mattel exec ended up buying the rights to it, and the new company (INTV Corp.) was able to sell the console and a few new games via mail order, until it too succumbed and went out of business entirely in 1991. Ultimately, the rights were sold to a former game developer who formed [[http://www.intellivisionlives.com Intellivision Productions]], which continues to license Intellivision properties to this day.

* ''Series/TheElectricCompany Math Fun''

* ProduceFacelift: Later in the consoles life, a cheaper model was made called The Intellivision II, which made the console smaller and sleeker and had detachable controllers. Mattel also slightly modified the hardware in an attempt to lock out unauthorized third party games, resulting in some games like ''Shark, Shark'' and ''Space Spartans'' and ''Super Pro Football'' having minor sound and glitch issues. Certain games like ''Electric Company Word Fun'' won't run at all on the redesigned model.

----

Mattel had trouble securing the rights to produce home ports of {{Arcade Game}}s: many popular titles had been acquired by competitors Atari and Coleco (who ended up porting many of them to the Intellivision anyway), and Mattel had to make a deal with then-obscure company Creator/DataEast, with surprisingly good results. To compensate for its deficiency in arcade ports, Mattel invested heavily in rights to make {{Licensed Game}}s, such as three for the film ''Film/{{Tron}}'', but many of which were never developed or never released.

** [[VideoGame/TreasureOfTarmin ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin'']]

** ''[[VideoGame/TreasureOfTarmin Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin'']]

** ''[[VideoGame/TreasureOfTarmin Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin''