The images of the Intellivision are categorized and show the console, joystick controllers and accessories. You will also find detailed close-ups of the ports and connections available on the Intellivision.
The front of Mattel Electronics Intellivision box. I purchased this unit online and to my surprise it came in a box - complete with a 50% mark down at Kaybee Toys. It's a little battered, but it's always fun to have some original packaging.
The back of Mattel Electronics Intellivision box showing screen shots of some of the available games. Poker & Blackjack was the pack-in cartridge. it was released by Mattel in 1980.
The side of Mattel Electronics Intellivision box with a very 80s-centric "family fun" image. Development of the Intellivision began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600.
Three-quarter view of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision box. Intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Over 3 million consoles were sold and 125 games were released.
Intellivision Console
The front of Mattel Electronics Intellivision game console. The console was test marketed in Fresno, CA, in 1979 with 4 games available, then released nationwide (in North America) in 1980 for $299 - The pack-in game: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack.
Top view of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console. The controllers have a built-in storage area that also hides the curly-cables. A series of advertisements featuring George Plimpton (an American journalist widely known for sports writing) were produced to demonstrate the superiority of the Intellivision's graphics and sound over the Atari 2600. They often used side-by-side game comparisons.
Front of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console. Rebadged units include the Radio Shack TandyVision, GTE-Sylvania Intellivision, and Sears Super Video Arcade. Sears was already selling a Rebadged 2600.
Left side of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console. By 1982, over two million Intellivision consoles had been sold prompting 3rd party Atari developers Activision & Imagic to begin releasing games for the Intellivision. Mattel fought back by creating M-Network which released Intellivision titles for Atari's console.
Left side of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console. Mattel promised what they called a called the "Keyboard Component", but it was unreliable and too costly to produce. This was part of the broken-promises phase where console makers rattled off all sorts of peripherals and accessories that never came to market.
Right side of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console with slight view of the cartridge slot on the lower right side.
Rear of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console showing the power cord coming off the back. An internal power supply was part of it's design. No external power brick as seen on so many consoles. This was changed on the Intellivision II.
Rear of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console with a better view of the A/V Out port and power cord.
Bottom of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision console.
The Mattel Electronics Intellivision with one controller removed from the cradle. The controllers were hardwired to the console. Broken controller = bad news. This was another change on the Intellivision II - detachable controllers.
The Mattel Electronics Intellivision with both controllers out of their cradles. Intellivision could be considered the first 16-bit game console, as the registers in the microprocessor are 16 bits wide.
The Mattel Electronics Intellivision with a game cartridge inserted in the cart slot.
Another view of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision with a game cartridge inserted.
Right side of the Mattel Electronics Intellivision with a game cartridge inserted.
Intellivision Controllers
The Intellivision's 12-key controller with control disc. The "bubble" buttons gave nice tactile feedback allowing players to focus on the TV screen rather than having to look down at the overlay on the controller.
Side view of he Intellivision's controller showing the dual fire buttons. These buttons are located on both sides of the controller for right or left handed play.
Close-up of the fire buttons on the side of the INtellivision controller.
Reminiscent of the Atari 5200 controllers, the Intellivision also used overlays to define the key pad buttons for individual games..
Intellivision Console Ports and Connections
The A/V port on the rear of the Intellivision console delivers both sound and video to the TV.
The power cord and connection on the rear of the Intellivision console.
The On/Off switch and Reset button on the top front of the Intellivision console.
The cartridge slot on the right side of the Intellivision console.
Intellivision Game Media
Typical games for the Intellivision came boxed with the cart, 2 controller overlays and a manual.
Front view of the IntelliVoice. It came to market in 1982 (around $100) with an initial lineup of 3 games: Space Spartans, Bomb Squad, and B-17 Bomber. No 3rd-party games ever supported the Intellivoice. Intellivoice titles retailed for as much as $45, compared with $40 (quickly dropping to $25) for standard games.
Left side of the IntelliVoice. The words included numbers, "press," "enter," "and," "or," and "Mattel Electronics Presents" in a generic male voice. Once the bugs were ironed out, Mattel committed to producing voice games and built a state-of-the-art voice lab at their Hawthorne, CA facility to do the recording and digitizing.
Left side of the IntelliVoice showing the connection the main console. The digitized voice data required a great deal of ROM space; as much as, or even more than, the game itself.
Right side of the IntelliVoice showing the cartridge slot. Since the Intellivoice package didn't include a game you had to shell out as much as $150 just to get 1 game that spoke.
Rear of the IntelliVoice. Due to limited ROM space, words had to be digitized at the lowest possible sampling rate at which they could still be understood. The sampling rate was often changed three or four times within the same word (lower rates for vowels, higher for consonants) to save space. This gave the voice a very mechanical sound.
Top of the Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module.
IntelliVoice with a game cart inserted. A version of the Intellivoice module, designed to match the white Intellivision II, appeared in the 1983 Intellivision catalog. However, it was ever actually produced, not even as a prototype.
IntelliVoice attached to the console with a game cart inserted. The Intellivoice was discontinued in 1983 due to poor sales, with only 5 games released that supported the device.
Volume control dial on the IntelliVoice. In August 1983 all personnel related to Intellivoice game and hardware development were laid off
Cartridge slot on the IntelliVoice. A total of five games were produced and released for the Intellivoice: Space Spartans, Bomb Squad, B-17 Bomber, Tron: Solar Sailer and World Series Major League Baseball.
Console connection on the IntelliVoice.
Intellivision Promotional Items
Mattel Electronics IntelliVoice ad - 1982.
"Now you can tell the difference between Intellivision and Atari with your eyes closed."
