Sam's Intellivision Page

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Intellivision

Left: Intellivision Master Component, 1979 Right: Intellivision II, 1982

This magnificent piece of equipment is the Mattel Intelligent Television system, known as the Intellivision. When released in select areas in 1979, its superior graphics and sound were far better than the main competition, the Atari 2600. When released in 1980 nationwide, the hard-to-use controllers, high price tag ($299.95), and lack of an immediate large selection of games is the only thing that kept Mattel from dominating the video game market in the early 1980's.

Astrosmash - 1981

The Intellivision used a 16-bit CPU (800KHz) that was much more powerful than the Atari 2600's 8-bit CPU, which could only really display two independently moving objects (other than the player 1 and 2 sprites) on the screen at one time. The Intellivision could display up to 8 simultaneously moving objects at the same time, in 16 colors and a much higher resolution than the Atari. Not only that, but eventually, Mattel would release a voice synthesis add-on (the Intellivoice), and the Entertainment Computer System (ECS), which gave the Intellivision more RAM, better sound effects, a keyboard, and a built-in BASIC programming language.

The Intellivoice

In 1982, Mattel Electronics completed their add-on voice synthesis unit for the Intellivision, called the Intellivoice. It was installed simply by plugging it into the cartridge slot on the side of the Intellivision, and the game went into the Intellivoice unit itself. You could play all your Intellivision games through the Intellivoice, but only the games programmed for voice synthesis would generate speech during the game. I was surprised at the quality of the voices - although they are grainy and sometimes unclear, it was very advanced for the time and they are usually very understandable. Here's a list of the Intellivision games that take advantage of the Intellivoice speech synthesis:

B-17 Bomber
Bomb Squad
Space Spartans
Tron Solar Sailer
World Series Major League Baseball*

* Requires the Entertainment Computer System (ECS).

The Intellivision Home Computer

Intellivision Keyboard Component, 1981
Entertainment Computer System, 1983

Ever since 1979, when the Intellivision was first introduced, an attachment was promised that was to make the Intellivision into a 64K home computer. Called the Keyboard Component, the computer would have a large recess on the top, and the Intellivision unit would drop into the recess. Cartridges would then plug into the side of the Keyboard Component, and the keyboard for data entry would be on the front. However, when the prototype was finally finished in 1981 and test marketed in a few select areas, it didn't sell well due to its high price (over $700). So the effort was cancelled, and, for the meantime, the hype was transferred to the Intellivoice module.

But by 1983, the public still wanted to make a home computer out of their Intellivision, and sued Mattel for false advertising. Mattel was to pay a fee for every month they delayed the computer attachment, and the penalty was really adding up. So, they came up with a new computer module to match the Intellivision II. This time, it plugged into the Intellivision, instead of the Intellivision being dropped into the unit, and the keyboard was separate. Also, instead of having 64K RAM as planned, the computer would have 2K, and RAM upgrade modules would be released later to bring the RAM up to 64K, along with a printer, a data recorder, and a modem. None of these planned accessories were ever released. But, in 1983, Mattel finally released the computer, calling it the Entertainment Computer System (ECS).

The ECS had a built in BASIC programming language, and a 49-key music keyboard synthesizer unit could be bought separately. Several games were also made for the ECS:

The Jetsons' Ways with Words
Melody Blaster (requires Music Synthesizer)
Mind Strike
Mr. Basic Meets Bits 'n Bytes
Scooby Doo's Maze Chase
World Series Major League Baseball (Intellivoice compatible)

My Intellivision Collection

I've thought Intellivision was really cool ever since I first played it back in 4th grade! Here's what I have in my Intellivision Collection.

Intellivision I system, 1979
Intellivision II system, 1982

Mattel Intellivoice Module, 1982

Mattel Entertainment Computer System (ECS), 1983

(52 games, some duplicates)

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Armor Battle
Astrosmash
Atlantis
Auto Racing
B-17 Bomber
Beauty and the Beast
Bowling
Bump 'n Jump
BurgerTime
Carnival
Centipede
Demon Attack
Donkey Kong
Dragonfire
Frogger
Horse Racing
Las Vegas Poker and Blackjack
Las Vegas Roulette
Lock 'n' Chase
Major League Baseball
Mission X
Mouse Trap
NBA Basketball
Night Stalker
Pac-Man
Pitfall!
Sea Battle
Shark! Shark!
Snafu
Space Armada
Space Battle
Space Hawk
Space Spartans
Star Strike
Sub Hunt
Tennis
Tron Deadly Discs
Tron Maze-A-Tron
USCF Chess
Utopia
Vectron
World Championship Baseball
Worm Whomper

My Favorite Intellivision Games

Bump 'n Jump - Mattel Electronics, 1983
Frogger - Parker Bros., 1983
Pac-Man - Atarisoft, 1983
USCF Chess - Mattel Electronics, 1983
Lock 'n' Chase - Mattel Electronics, 1982
Burger Time - Mattel Electronics, 1982
World Challenge Baseball - INTV Corporation, 1983
Worm Whomper - Activision, 1983

Bump 'n Jump

In this game, you're driving a little race car and you're trying to bump others off the road while also safely jumping across large bodies of water. Bump 'n Jump has pretty good sound effects and a tune playing while you're driving. Also, the graphics are pretty good as compared with the Atari 2600 version. If you have Bump 'n Jump too, keep in mind that you get a 50,000 point bonus for not crashing any cars! Just ask Greg Troutman, the current Video Game High Score Page Bump 'n Jump high score holder.

Frogger

The popular Frogger arcade game could now be played at home! This one was released by Parker Brothers, also on the Atari 2600, 5200, and the Colecovision. The Intellivision version, although it has a rather boring opening screen, is really great. You are a frog, and the object is to leap across a busy highway, and then across a river by jumping on logs and alligators' backs. Although the graphics aren't as good as the Colecovision, they were quite a bit better than the Atari version. Also, the scoring is different between the systems. Cool music, and very colorful.

Pac-Man

One of the all-time most popular arcade games ever, Pac-Man single-handedly caused a coin shortage in Japan in 1980! Now Atari themselves released it for Intellivision, under the 'Atarisoft' label. Even though Pac-Man is probably one of the worst games for the 2600, the Intellivision version is actually very good. The ghosts don't blink, the maze looks good, the fruit is fruit instead of those "vitamins", and the coolest thing are the intermissions! Sit back and watch as the Intellivision plays a movie of Pac-Man defeating the ghosts in one way or another. Definitely a great game.

USCF Chess

Released by Mattel in 1983, this game was not only the longest in development (19 weeks), but it was the first and only Intellivision game to contain extra RAM (2K is soldered inside the cartridge) and also was actually shipped off by Mattel to another company to program the computer's "brain". It was actually a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that was the other company's specialty. Well, it's also fun to play, and I haven't even beaten the computer myself yet, but I am still trying. Don't play on skill level 8 or 9, because even in the instruction booklet, they warn you that the Intellivision could take hours....or even days...to think of a move. Not quite Deep Blue here, but it's definitely worth playing.

Lock 'n' Chase

In this Pac-Man clone you are a robber in a bank, and the object is to avoid the policemen, grab the bag of money once in a while when it appears, and pick up the gold coins scattered in the hallways. To hinder the police, you can also close doors behind you. However, they are temporarily locked, and not even you can pass through until it disappears a few seconds later. Again, this game is not one of my specialties as far as high scoring, but it's one of everyone's favorite Intellivision games, as well as mine.

BurgerTime

Another arcade translation, this one was voted to have better control than the Colecovision version, although the CV version has better graphics. And the Atari 2600 version? It's just a bunch of nondescript squares jumping around a low-res squarefield. Anyway, in BurgerTime, you are Chef Peter Pepper and you're trying to build burgers by dropping them into a pan far below, while avoiding various food items, such as pickles, hot dogs, and an egg. If you get in a squeeze, you can shake pepper in their faces to temporarily blind them! This game is colorful, has good graphics, and has a cool tune playing in the background while you play. Also, the BurgerTime opening screen is my favorite...not only because of the food walking around, but because Mattel actually used a Copyright symbol instead of an @ symbol! =) Well, this is a very fun game, and be sure to check out BurgerTime's sequel, Diner.

World Championship Baseball

After the huge success of Major League Baseball, Mattel wanted to make a game where one person could play against the computer, instead of having to always have two people playing agsinst each other. So, in 1981, Mattel began their project, calling the game All-Star Major League Baseball. However, the Intellivoice, the ECS, and countless other projects delayed the development of All-Star Major League Baseball long enough that in January of 1984, Mattel Electronics declared bankruptcy before the game was released. However, it was almost completely finished. So, the company that bought the rights to the Intellivision, INTV Corporation, released the game as World Championship Baseball, and the public loved it. The improvements were many over the original Major League Baseball - you could slide, there were catchable fly balls, the view scrolled upwards a little bit in the outfield, and the player animations were improved a little, to name a few. I love being able to play against the computer, and the graphics are pretty good. Definitely one of my favorites.

Worm Whomper

Worm Whomper was the very first Intellivision game I played, way back in 4th grade. The idea is simple - a farmer is trying to protect his sweet corn crop from thousands of hungry pests, armed only with a pesticide gun and some plough balls. You shoot the pests with the pesticide, and try to keep them away from your corn. If they touch you, you must return to your tool shed and retrieve another spray gun. If they reach your corn, it will wither and die. Most Intellivision games suffer from slow movement, but this is a definite exception. The fast action, colorful graphics, and great fun make this one of my favorite Intellivision games of all time.

Deep Pockets: Super Pro Pool & Billiards

Completed in 1990 by Intv Corp., this game was the very last Intellivision game ever programmed. However, it was never released to the public - just about the only way you can play Super Pro Pool & Billiards is by downloading the Intellivision for PC emulator (see bottom of this page!). Super Pro Pool & Billiards has lots of different types of billiard and pool variations to choose from, for 1 or 2 players. I definitely recommend this game - it's a lot of fun, and the graphics are great! I especially like the opening tune when you first turn on the game. Hey! If you have a computer and you don't have this game, you're missing out!

My Least Favorite Intellivision Games

They're just about all fun, so this will be a short list!

1. Space Hawk - Mattel Electronics, 1981
It tried to be Asteroids. I'd rather pull my Atari 2600 out and play Asteroids instead. Or, I'd much rather push RESET hundreds of times trying to play Meteor!, the Mattel Electronics version of Asteroids hidden in Astrosmash. If you don't want to wear out your RESET button, download the Blue Sky Rangers' Intellivision for PC emulator.

2. Donkey Kong - Coleco, 1982
Now, I wouldn't rather play the 2600 version of this one, but I know the Intellivision can do better than this. A 45-minute effort by the programmers at Coleco. Hmm...maybe they knew the Intellivision could support a version of Donkey Kong that would rival their Colecovision? Most likely the reasoning behind this one.

Play classic and unrealeased Intellivision games on your home computer!

Thanks to Carl Mueller, Jr. and the Blue Sky Rangers, you will soon be able to enjoy all your favorite Intellivision games from the 1980's right on your computer.

VOLUME ONE contains Astrosmash, Skiing, and Utopia.

Download Volume One, MS-DOS (306K)

VOLUME TWO contains Night Stalker, Space Spartans (Voice Synthesis) and Deep Pockets: Super Pro Pool & Billiards (unreleased - see above review!).

Download Volume Two, MS-DOS (504K)