Intellivision Brasil

MASTER COMPONENT

INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

In 1977, Richar Chang, head of Mattel's Toy Design and Development Department, began to develop the idea of producing a video game device. He hired Glenn Hightower of APh Technology Consultants to help define the project. They found something close to what they were looking for in the General Instrument catalog of integrated circuits. The catalog described a video game system called Gimini 6900 that could be built independently of GI's chips.
GI was excited about the idea of working with Mattel and contributed to the changes. The most important of these was to include a way for programmers to define new graphics for each game; the original design only allowed games to use a ROM graphics library. Design and Development artist Dave James insisted that this would be an important limitation.
Mattel executives, however, were reluctant to compete with Atari in the video game market; they left the project on hold. However, Richard Chang's team started producing handheld electronic games, many programmed by APh. These games, sold under the name of Mattel Electronics, were very successful. In the meeting room at Mattel, executive Jeff Rochlis again raised the idea of a video game device. He finally sold his idea; in 1979, the Intellivision project started moving forward again.
The current hardware engineering (including the design of the controls) was done by a Mattel team led by Dave Chandler, who won the nickname "Papa Intellivision". The internal software (the "Executive") was programmed at APh.
In the middle of the development process, Texas Instruments approached Mattel and argued strongly that Mattel should use TI chips in Intellivision instead of GI chips. Although they offered a large financially considerable deal, Mattel remained with GI, as this would cause a delay of six to nine months. "A good thing," said Glenn Hightower, who fought the TI chip saying it was "inferior".
Intellivision was tested on the market in 1979 in Fresno, California, with four cartridges: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack, The Electric Company Math Fun, Armor Battle and ABPA Backgammon. The test was a success and in 1980 Intellivision had its big release. 175,000 were sold in 1980, 500,000 in 1981 and another 500,000 in 1982. Counting on Intellivision II and clones, approximately 3 million devices were sold on United States.
The Intellivision was originally sold for US$299. In one year, the price dropped to US$249, and in 1982 a discount of US$50 lowered the price to US$200. The "cheapest-to-produce" Intellivision II (which did not come with a cartridge like the original console) was introduced to the market for around US$150, but in late 1983 it dropped to US$69.95. This became the final price for Intellivision. The consoles sold by Mattel Electronics' successor (INTV Corp.) between 1985 and 1990 were sold for US$69.95 each.
Most of Mattel Electronics' cartridges sold for US$39.95, and dropped in price when new titles were released. The games for Intellivoice originally sold for US$43.95 each. USCF Chess, which included RAM in the cartridge, was the most expensive game for Intellivision at a cost of US$55.95.
CURIOUS FACT: Magnavox had patented the home video game concept when it created the Odyssey Game System. When Atari launched the 2600, they obtained a license from Magnavox, according to rumors, for a very low price. When Intellivision was launched, Magnavox realized its error. They demanded a heavy fee from Mattel for each console sold. Mattel decided not to pay; after careful analysis, the legal department concluded that the patent would never be upheld by the supreme court. Well... it was. Magnavox sued, won, and Mattel disbursed a few million dollars.

General Instrument CP1610 microprocessor, 16bit, 894,886 kHz
7168 bytes of ROM (EXEC 5120 bytes + GROM 2048 bytes)
1456 bytes of RAM
General Instrument AY-3-8910 audio chip with 3 channels and 1 noise generator
2 manual controls with 12-key numeric keypad, 4 firing buttons, 16-position directional disc
159x96 points resolution
16 colors
8 movable objects
Run games on cartridges
Included the Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack cartridge. Subsequently, Astrosmash (USA) and Triple Action (Brazil)
PAL-N and SECAM versions launched in Europe and PAL-M in Brazil

(With some corrections and clarifications, the following information is from an internal document dated 10/31/1980)
This document covers the main components of Intellivision (product number 2609) that are of interest to the programmer. They are:

CPU: General Instrument CP1610
Standard Television Interface Chip (STIC): GI AY-3- 8900-1
System RAM: GI RA-3-9600
Sound Chip: GI AY-3-8914
Graphics ROM (GROM) and Graphics RAM (GRAM)
The Executive ROM (EXEC)
Scratchpad RAM
Hand Controllers
In addition, Intellivision includes components not directly accessed by the game program. The main functions of these components are:
1. Generate the system clock at 3.579545 MHz,
2. Convert digital sound and video signals to an RF output and
3. Supply power to the system.
These items will not be discussed further.

The information also applies to the Radio Shack Tandyvision One, Sears Super Video Arcade and the INTV Master Component (also called INTV System III and INTV Super Pro System), which are simply clones of the Intellivision Master Component with small aesthetic differences.
CPU: The CPU is General Instrument's CP1610. It is a 16-bit general purpose microprocessor with 1024 separate op-codes, and can perfectly use 8 bits, 10 bits, 14 bits and 16 bits of RAM or ROM. The Intellivision CP1610 uses a frequency cycle of 894,886 KHz. Individual operations on the 1610 use between 4 and 12 microcycles (Note: the CP1610 is the prototypical or conventional form of microprocessor. The CP1610 used in Intellivision is precisely the same in all aspects except for the difference in clock frequency). Since most 1610 instructions are 10-bit in size, programs are stored in ROMs that are 10-bit in size. This 10-bit "byte" is known as a decle (rhymes with "heckle"). Some instructions require 16 bits; these are stored in two successive 10-bit positions, known as bidecle. (For prototypes, double 8-bit EPROMs are used, with the low 8 bits of each decle stored in one EPROM and the 2 high bits stored in another).
STIC: The "Standard Television Interface Chip", the General Instrument AY-3-8900-1, controls the display of Intellivision video. Roughly speaking, the CPU tells STIC how to create a desired visual display and STIC does all the heavy lifting without requiring work from the CPU. The STIC will show a background field of 240 cards (20 wide and 12 high; each card is 8x8 pixels), reaching a resolution of 160 pixels wide and 96 pixels high (each pixel measures 2 TV lines in height and in the proportion of 5 wide by 4 high). NOTE: STIC does NOT show the last column of pixels on the right, reaching the actual resolution of 159 by 96 pixels. Each pixel can have one of 16 colors (eight primaries and eight pastels).
In addition, STIC controls 8 movable objects (or sprites), each can be 8 wide by 8 tall or, at twice the resolution, 8 wide by 16 half-pixels in height (each movable object can also be doubled in width and/or height). The beauty of this system is that, once the CPU has defined the shape of the background and mobile objects, it can change the position of an object simply by writing a different address on the STIC. NOTE: moving objects can be positioned on a grid that is wider and higher than the background shown, allowing them to slide smoothly over the edges of the screen.

Blue Sky Rangers comment:
Two methods were developed to deal with the limit of only eight moving objects:
1. "Multiplexing" is to redefine and reposition an object frame by frame to give the illusion of two separate objects;
2. "Sequencing GRAM" is to write directly to the Graphics RAM positions, normally accessed only by the EXEC, to animate background cards.
Because it has a flickering effect on objects, the marketing department has banned the use of "multiplexing" (common in Atari 2600 and Colecovision games). "Sequencing GRAM", however, has been used frequently, including games the Space Armada, Star Strike and TRON Solar Sailer to create full-screen movements.

The STIC will take care of changing the position of an object, background, overlay etc. The STIC will also track the interaction of the moving objects with other moving objects or the background field, and signal the CPU when a failure occurs. For example, the CPU can define a playing field and a ball moving on it. Then, the CPU can move the ball across the field simply by writing a new position X, Y on the STIC. The STIC will make sure that the bottom will reappear correctly after the movement of an object, and (if required) will signal to the CPU when the ball moves out of the field of play or crosses another moving object, such as an opposing player.

STIC can also make the entire background move smoothly, one pixel at a time, in both the X and Y directions. Moving objects are moved with the bottom. (Special subroutines are available to the programmer to use this function and to create funds that scroll continuously.)

Obviously, STIC takes a lot of work out of the CPU and makes it possible for Intellivision to have higher graphics quality than any other video game or personal computer. However, STIC has limitations that programmers had to live with, particularly in the definition of colors. Moving objects can only have ONE color each; a multicolored character must therefore be composed of more than one of the eight possible moving objects.

Each 8x8 background card can only have TWO colors. There are two methods for defining these colors:
1. The Foreground/Background mode allows the colors (front and background) of each card to be defined individually, but one of the two colors of each card is limited to eight colors primary. Two pastel colors cannot appear on the same card.
2. The Color Stack mode restricts one of the two colors of each card to the current color or the next color in a circular four-color stack defined by a program. Either way, as all 16 colors are available for the stack, two pastel colors MAY appear on the same card. The modes cannot be mixed on a screen. Generally, creating a complex screen is easier in Foreground/Background mode, but a simpler (or smarter) screen created with Color Stack can be more colorful.

(NOTE: There is the third "Colored Squares" mode, which allows you to define four primary colors per card, but is literally limited to "colored squares" - four blocks of the same size per card, so the entire background must be made up of squares 4 x 4 pixel solids. This mode has only been used three times: in Snafu and in unreleased games Empire and Brickout!).
SYSTEM RAM: The CPU and STIC are connected and served by System RAM, GI RA-3-9600 . System RAM is not just a simple dumb memory chip. It contains:
1. 240 positions of information on the 240 background cards (BACKTAB),
2. 112 simple 16-bit RAM positions, used as a CPU stack and
3. a bus controller to control access to Graphic ROM (GROM) and Graphic RAM (GRAM), both are accessed by the CPU and STIC (but never at the same time). System RAM is crucial from the hardware point of view, but its processing is transparent to the programmer.
SOUND CHIP: The sound chip is a GI AY-3-8914. This chip contains three separate sound channels, each channel can be individually controlled by frequency and volume. There is also a noise generator on the chip, which can be added to any of the three channels. All channels are mixed and sent to the TV's sound output.
GROM and GRAM: Graphics ROM and Graphics RAM (GROM and GRAM) are character chips, which store forms of images used on the screen. GRAM is programmable and GROM is not.
GRAM has space for 64 images of 8x8 bits defined by the program. Background images and moving objects are both stored here; as there can be up to 8 mobile double-resolution objects defined in GRAM, there are always at least 64-(8*2) = 48 positions that the program can set for the background.
GROM contains 213 pre-defined 8x8 bit image positions (TRIVIA: the intention was to allow 256 images, but the space was stolen by an EXEC ROM system overflow) that includes numbers, alphabetic characters lowercase and capital letters, punctuation and graphic characters (triangles, lines, etc.)

For example, GROM position #37 contains the character "E" stored as:
01111110
01000000
01000000
01111110
01000000
01000000
01111110
00000000

Each point of the 240 BACKTAB is allocated to a position in the GRAM or GROM. For example, if position #1 of BACKTAB points to position #37 of GROM, an "E" will appear in the upper left corner of the screen.
BACKTAB contains other information on the screen, such as foreground and background colors, and whether the character is in GROM or GRAM. Therefore, a GROM or GRAM image can be used to produce images with different colors on different parts of the same screen (for example, you can have a white "E" on a black background on one part of the screen and a red "E" on a blue background on another part of the screen; both use the same bit of the image stored in position #37 of the GROM). GROM is a 2K ROM GI RO-3-9503. GRAM is made up of two 256-byte GTE 3539 static RAM chips.
EXEC: The entire system is controlled by a 4K program called The Executive (EXEC) that resides on the chip Intellivision's Executive ROM (with an additional 344 bytes on the GROM chip). In a way, the EXEC is the main program of the game, and the inserted cartridge contains only subroutines and data that are used by the EXEC. Normally, only EXEC routines access GROM, GRAM and STIC control registers. EXEC contains routines for moving objects around the screen, loading GRAM, creating sound and music, testing the interaction of moving objects, etc. EXEC was written for Mattel Electronics by David Rolfe (Major League Baseball) at APh Technology Consultants. [Note: In Intellivision, the Executive ROM physically consists of two 2K chips, one GI RO-3-9502 and a GI RO-3-9504; on Intellivision II is a simple 4K GI RO-3-9506 chip].

BUG: The square root subroutine will lock the system if it receives a negative number. Other EXEC routines that calculate the position and speed of moving objects use this subroutine; a game can freeze if one of them is called after an object moves off the screen at the top or the left side, with negative coordinates. In many games, this problem arose during testing and extra codes had to be added to verify a negative position. But in some games the problem came too late: the version of the B-17 Bomber released may freeze when a bomb comes out of left side of the screen.
When Intellivision II was being developed, it was considered to solve the square root routine problem. But the fear was that games developed and tested mainly on an Intellivision II would be more likely to crash on an original Intellivision. The bug was left as it was.

CURIOUS FACT: The least frequently asked question by the Blue Sky Rangers was from the guy who opened his Intellivision and noticed that there was no data connection bus between the CPU and the GROM chip. He asked, then, how does the processor execute the EXEC instructions that are located on the GROM chip? The answer is that these instructions, when necessary, are loaded from GROM into the System RAM BACKTAB positions. The processor then executes them from RAM. Since BACKTAB normally defines what is on the screen, STIC is triggered to turn off the video output while the instructions are being executed. These instructions are used to load picture definitions from the cartridge to GRAM, which normally occurs only in RESET. This is why the screen goes black for a second when you press RESET, and because you occasionally see a flash of strange characters.
SCRATCHPAD RAM: The 256-by-8-bit scratchpad static RAM chip (GTE 3539) is used by the EXEC and the sound chip for temporary data storage. 147 bytes are reserved for using the game's program and maintaining score, level, remaining lives and other game variables.
HAND CONTROLLERS: Intellivision has a left and a right hand control. Each control has a directional dial, a 12-number keypad and 4 "action" buttons (2 on the left and 2 on the right). The controller disk can indicate one of 16 different positions when pressed, just like a joystick.

There are two peculiarities in manual controls:
1. The top action buttons are welded together, so there are actually three separate action buttons: bottom left, bottom right and top left/right.
2. The 12-number keyboard duplicates the controller dial and action buttons, so you can use the controller disc and action buttons OR the keyboard, but not at the same time.

Each hand control is connected to an 8-bit input port. (These are physically the input ports of the sound chip, but this is not relevant to the programmer). The controller disk sends a 5-bit exit code; the action buttons send a 3-bit exit code. The numeric keypad sends an 8-bit exit code. The EXEC contains routines that check the input keys and convert the disk's 5-bit hardware codes to numbers, from 0 to 15, that indicate directions. A game can access the entrance doors directly, but EXEC routines are normally used instead.

INTELLIVISION II

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

There were three reasons to replace the original Intellivision Master Component with the Intellivision II, developed under the nickname Big Mac, and released nationally in 1983:
1. Redesigned circuits that reduced the number of components and, therefore, the cost;
2. Easier repairs by making the components more prone to breakage - the power source and manual controls - as removable parts, and
3. An external video input on the cartridge door to make System Changer possible.
(Removable controls also made it possible to use alternative types of controls such as track balls and pistols. While most of these never went beyond the brainstorming stage, a joystick-style control - called Dandelion - was demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1984. as an "intention to launch in 1984").
For game creation, the Intellivision II should be identical to the original - the main chips and their functions are the same as described in the technical documentation for the original Intellivision. But there was a big difference...
When Intellivision II was released, it was discovered that three Coleco games on the market, Donkey Kong, Mouse Trap and Carnival would not work on it. Why not? Mattel said it was not sure - perhaps software changes necessary for System Changer to work were causing the problems...
But as more and more games in development at Mattel were discovered not to work with Intellivision II, the programmers realized the reality. The reason Intellivision II didn't work with Coleco games was that it was designed not to work.
The EXEC contains a subroutine to display Mattel's copyright notice; the programmer simply needs to enter the year in a certain memory location. As a competing game could not use this routine, that position could have anything. The Intellivision II EXEC checks for a specific bit in that position; if the bit is not set, EXEC does not allow the game to run. With valid data in that position, the bit will be set; any other information and there will be only a 50% chance of the bit being set. This was considerable experience in rendering competitors' cartridges useless and therefore could perfectly well be illegal. Nobody knew. But when games went from 4K to 8K in size, more Mattel programmers started using special title screens that "skipped" the EXEC copyright routine. These programmers were advised to make sure that the bit had been set.
Obviously, as soon as the Intellivision II was launched, competitors figured out how to make their new cartridges work on it.
CURIOUS FACT: One of the pre-Intellivision II Mattel games, The Electric Company Word Fun, uses its own copyright routine, and therefore won't work on an Intellivision II. The powers-that-be decided it was more important to screw up the Coleco releases than to make the Intellivision II 100% compatible with Mattel's own games.
The change in the Intellivision II EXEC also introduced a slight timing error in the system. Minor problems with sound effects started cropping up. Once aware of this, the programmers were able to get around it, but two already released games, Space Spartans and Shark! Shark! were affected. The biggest timing problem appeared years later, with INTV's release of Super Pro Football. The cartridges were manufactured before anyone tried the game in an Intellivision II -- and discovered that the quarterback didn't appear on the screen until after the ball was hiked. An errata slip had to be included with the (already-printed) instructions.

INTELLIVISION III

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

When Intellivision was launched, Mattel's marketing positioned it as the cornerstone of a home computer system, implying that while the Atari VCS (2600) was a toy, Intellivision - "Intelligent Television" - would be an educational tool. After its launch, however, marketing found that the people who chose Intellivision over Atari, for the most part, did it only for the better graphics. Educational games and the Keyboard Component have been lowered in priority and the focus changed to explore the graphics with a series of commercials showing side-by-side comparisons of the Intellivision and Atari games.
The shot backfired when Colecovision was launched in early 1982. Suddenly, Intellivision was no longer the system with superior graphics. Atari tried to compete with the launch of the Atari 5200, but consumers were disappointed that they were unable to play the Atari 2600 cartridges.
Marketing decided that Mattel's only way to respond would be to launch a new console - Intellivision III - that would have graphics as good as or better than Colecovision and could still run all of the original Intellivision games.
The solution to this would be relatively simple since Intellivision has a separate video processor, the STIC chip. Mattel has authorized General Instrument to build an improved STIC for the Intellivision III. This new Super-STIC (STIC 1B) would have twice the resolution in the background mode and would allow more moving objects (sprites) and colors, but, on the other hand, it would be compatible with the original STIC. Keeping the Intellivision III based on the same CP1610 processor as the original Intellivision, old games would still work, and new games would have the advantage of improved graphics. General Instrument created the prototype of the Super-STIC, the Design and Development team modified an Intellivision to use it, and APh Technology Consultants began writing the expanded EXEC program to control it. The project earned the nickname Coffee.
Understood in this way, an Intellivision with a new STIC chip, expanded EXEC ROM and some extra RAM (to track all those moving objects), the product would probably reach the market quickly. Unfortunately Intellivision III fell victim to the "Kitchen Sink Syndrome".
While Intellivision III was in development, Intellivoice went on the market. Consumers liked the concept of talking games, but they didn't like having to buy a pluggable module. Sales were slow. To save the voice program (which represented a major investment), it was decided to incorporate Intellivoice into Intellivision III. The Intellivoice contains a buffer chip for connecting the voice processor to the Intellivision CP1610; it was designed in this way so that other peripherals could also be integrated with the CP1610 by this buffer chip. On the drafting table, at that moment: wireless hand controls. As the buffer chip was to be installed inside the Intellivision III, it was decided to add the (not yet developed) wireless hand controls, too.
Obviously, to double the graphics resolution, you really should double the audio quality, so an extra sound chip was added to the design. And because the input ports on the Intellivision sound chip are used as input for the hand controls, it meant that you could add two more hand controls to the Intellivision III and create games for four players.
All of these extra items meant that the new EXEC would have to be much more complex to control everything. Not only that, but Intellivision programmers wanted to see frequently used subroutines, such as the scrolling screen, added to the EXEC instead of using precious cartridge space. Ray Kaestner was sent to APh to represent Mattel Electronics' programmers during the development of the new EXEC.
These expanded design features were grafted on one at a time over many months, causing a lot of rework, frustration and delays.
In private rooms in the Mattel Electronics booth at the June 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago, major toy buyers were told of the upcoming improved Intellivision to bolster their faith in the product line. At the January CES in Las Vegas, they were told, they would see the working system. But by January 1983, Intellivision III still hadn't progressed beyond the preliminary breadboard stage in the Design & Development lab. So if it never left the lab, what were the toy buyers looking at in the private rooms of Mattel's booth at the January CES? Not a prototype Intellivision III as they thought. They were looking at a plain old Intellivision displaying some really good graphics.
Six cartridges were shown; two were supposedly games in progress, the other four demonstrated enhanced features of Intellivision III. The nearest thing to a real technical advancement in these cartridges was that they contained up to 16K of memory. Since they were all graphics, special effects and music (by Bill Goodrich) and no game play, they could be a lot flashier than the then common 4K real game cartridges.
The two "games in progress," shown with printed packaging, were Treasure of the Yucatan and Grid Shock. The first was a static picture of a stone idol overgrown with jungle vines. An impressive, complex screen, it had been done a year earlier by Eric Wels (Mr. Color) when he was first hired, simply to learn how Intellivision graphics worked. The screen eventually found it way into Bill Goodrich's D&D; voice game, Quest. Grid Shock was the beginnings of an actual game by Andy Sells. A wall that swept back and forth across the playing field, changing perspective as it moved,gave the screen a strong 3-D feel. Grid Shock had been abandoned by Andy since he was spending so much time doing sound effects and music for other games (e.g. Shark! Shark! and TRON Solar Sailer), but what was complete was visually interesting enough to pass as Intellivision III.< br> The other cartridges, written by Ray Kaestner and programmers at APh, used sleight-of-hand to demonstrate Intellivision III features -- multiplexing moving objects put more than the normal limit of eight on screen at one time (albeit flickering); updating moving object positions every 1/60 of a second instead of the EXEC's normal 1/20 gave the illusion of smoother, faster motion.
So what games were really in development for the Intellivision III? Well, none. Since both systems were CP1610-based, it was decided to just keep writing for the Intellivision. Then, when (and if) the features and release date of Intellivision III were finalized, any Intellivision games nearing completion would be quickly upgraded for the new system by tossing in fancy graphics and sounds. In October 1982 for a meeting with Marketing and distributors, Gabriel Baum, VP of Application Software, listed the likely candidates to be released as Intellivision III games: the then-in-development Basketball II, Mission X, Thin Ice, Air Battle and Mystic Castle; proposed Winter Olympics and Dungeons & Dragons; and a to-be-determined children's title using one of the newly acquired licensed characters.
But no upgrading was ever needed, because in mid-1983 Intellivision III was killed, done in by the delays. Retailers saw it as too little, too late to compete with the then year-old Colecovision. And with the Aquarius Home Computer System and the Intellivision Entertainment Computer System (ECS), there was already a glut of hardware in the 1983 pipeline. With Mattel Electronics starting to pile up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, it was announced that Intellivision III was being canceled, officially because most of its features had been incorporated into the ECS. (A bogus claim; the extra sound chip and hand-controller ports are the only features they share.) The last hope for the future of Intellivision now rested with the top-secret project code-named Decade: Intellivision IV.
NOTE: The Intellivision III should not be confused with the INTV System III, which was simply INTV Corporation's re-release of the original Intellivision Master Component with minor cosmetic differences. To make it worse: at the January 1987 CES, INTV Corp. announced the INTV System IV, which shouldn't be confused with the Intellivision IV. The INTV System IV was really the Intellivision III; Glenn Hightower of APh had convinced INTV's Terry Valeski that the system was still viable. INTV Corporation, however, was not; despite making the announcement, they didn't have the financial resources needed to actually resume the development that had stopped three-and-a-half years earlier.

MATTEL ELECTRONICS REVOLUTIONIZES THE VIDEOGAME WITH THE PRESENTATION OF A NEW ARTWORK

The electronics industry constantly speculates when a home video game will be developed that makes full use of the capabilities of televisions. This milestone will be reached in late 1983 with the introduction of INTELLIVISION III, a revolutionary video game from Mattel Electronics.
"The new device contains a built-in speech synthesizer, high-resolution graphics with complex details, infinite colors and real graphics," explains Peter Pirner, senior vice president of marketing at Mattel Electronics. "We believe we have arrived at the masterpiece of video game technology," he added. The graphics and gameplay supported by Intellivision III will be accessible through the use of 320x192 lines of resolution, as well as the ability to show more moving objects on the screen than any other system. The device also allows the use of almost infinitely programmable colors and the ability to move objects on the screen twice as fast as other systems. The Intellivision III's six channels of sound effects and music can be enjoyed through a stereo system with auxiliary input. The equipment also contains a built-in speech synthesizer for use with specially programmed speech cartridges, without an external module. The high-tech console will come with battery-operated manual controls, which allow player comfort anywhere in the environment. Each hand control has quick response keys, as well as a standard joystick. The device will also contain ports for two additional manual controls, so that up to four players can participate in a game at the same time. The smooth design of the Intellivision III will be complemented by LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) that will indicate the sound level, on/off, correct insertion of the cartridge and pause mode.
The equipment, which is subject to FCC certification, will be compatible with all Intellivision and Intellivision II cartridges, as well as Intellivision II modules, such as the Entertainment Computer System.
"Due to the compatibility of Intellivision III, we currently plan to have around 50 software titles available for the device by the end of the year," commented Pirner. A selection of action games will be available for Intellivision III in the sports, space and adventure areas. All games are designed to take full advantage of the system's advanced capabilities such as natural graphics and interactive sound effects.
"It has always been Mattel Electronics' goal to provide the most sophisticated home entertainment system possible," added Pirner. "With Intellivision III, families can experience the most of the video game experience." Mattel Electronics, based in Hawthorne, California, is a division of Mattel Inc., and the creator of high quality electronic products including Intellivision Intelligent Television, Intellivision Entertainment Computer System, Aquarius Home Computer System, M Network software entertainment, as well as portable electronic products in sports, strategy and music.

Demonstrated at the 1983 Consumer Electronic Show, but never released
Would run the new games in high resolution (320 by 192 points) in addition to the original Intellivision cartridges
6-channel stereo music generator
Built-in Intellivoice
Wireless Controls
64 simultaneous sprites with 3 colors plus background color
Indicative lights for pause, cartridge inserted and volume
Dimensions: 12.5" x 6.5" x 2.5" (15cm x 16.5cm x 6.4cm)
Colors: Silver/metallic grey
Compatible with System Changer, ECS and Music Synthesizer
Mattel's move to compete with ColecoVision
The 1610 Briefly processor would be used in the upcoming "INTV System IV" announced in 1987 by INTV Corp. but also not released

INTELLIVISION IV

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

After the Keyboard Component was canceled, Dave Chandler and his design group were able to devote full time to their biggest project: Intellivision IV. Intellivision III had been rushed into development simply as a stopgap product to compete short-term with Colecovision. Intellivision IV, on the other hand, was to introduce the next generation of video game systems.
Code named Decade, since it was to be the cornerstone product of Mattel Electronics for the rest of the eighties, Intellivision IV was developed from mid-1982 to mid-1983 secretly in an unmarked building a mile away from Mattel headquarters. Being away from the daily whims and pressures of marketing and administration, Chandler's group was able to create freely.
The system they created was based on the MC68000 processor, the CPU later used in the first Macintoshes and the Amiga. Video was handled by a custom chip named Magic. Screen resolution was 240 by 192 pixels (40 by 24 4-color 6x8 cards) with a programmable 16-color palette, 16x16 4-color sprites and hardware scrolling. Onboard software supported 3-D graphics along with music and speech synthesis. The Combo chip coordinated peripheral devices, including a built-in modem: a point-of-view two-person tank battle played over phone lines was talked about as a typical Intellivision IV application.
Unlike the other hardware in development in 1983, the Intellivision IV had the potential of being a significant step forward; after Intellivision III was canceled, many people saw Intellivision IV as the last hope for the company. The hope didn't last long. Losses kept mounting and on July 12, 1983 the president of Mattel Electronics, Josh Denham, was replaced with Mack Morris. Morris set about shifting the company from hardware to software; on August 4 most of the hardware people were laid off, including those working on Intellivision IV. The shift didn't help; January 20, 1984, Mattel Electronics was shut down.
Would Chandler's group have succeeded in creating a super game machine at an affordable price, or would it have been another Keyboard Component? With all the secrecy surrounding the project, it's not known how far along the system really was. We do know it never reached the stage of actual game development; about the only involvement the Blue Sky Rangers had with Intellivision IV was when Dave Chandler borrowed a couple of graphic artists to create some demo screens. The actual screen shot on this page of Castle Grayskull from Masters of the Universe, rendered by Joe Ferreira, is about all that remains of the game machine that was going to save Mattel Electronics.

INTELLIVISION FLASHBACK

INTELLIVISION PRODUCTIONS / AtGAMES

Launched in 2014 by Intellivision Productions, Intellivision Flashback joined the other consoles launched by AT Games: Atari Flashback, ColecoVision Flashback and Sega Genesis Classic Game Console.
With a visual similar to the classic and compact model like the Intellivision II, the console is directly connected to the TV and brings 60 games in memory. A special version was released shortly afterwards with 61 games.
Some successful games were not included for legal reasons. Overlays were also included in the product, but not for all games. An additional package of overlays was sold separately in the following months.
Unlike the handheld launched in 2003 and 2006 by Techno Source, which featured games recreated without the same care for sound and image, Intellivision Flashback contains the games originals previously released in cartridge. The controls have also been faithfully reproduced, giving the player the same feeling of playing on the original console.

INTELLIVISION AMICO

INTELLIVISION ENTERTAINMENT

On 05/29/2018, Intellivision Entertainment announced the Intellivision Amico.
With extremely advanced hardware and games in digital format, the new console aimed to rescue family entertainment, with friends playing in the same physical space in a collaborative or competitive mode. For this reason, online games are not supported.
The equipment would be available for purchase on 10/10/2020 (in honor of Karen Tallarico, sister of company president Tommy Tallarico who passed away and would turn 48 on that date), but there were two postponements (to 04/2021 and later on 10/2021) due to the New Coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019. In 2021, global supply and distribution chains were still experiencing the strong effects of the pandemic, which led to a further delay to 2022 and considerable frustration from fans.
On social media, several supporters of the project were already expressing their displeasure about the tests carried out with the console in test events (such as the demonstration at the Crayola Experience activity center, which provoked the restructuring of the game Cornhole and showed the need for improvements in the functions of the controls). According to the company, the purpose of the demonstration would be precisely the improvement of the equipment, but these issues, added to the constant delays, did not convince part of the initial investors, who requested the return of the amount paid in advance for a special collector's edition.
With a launch price of US$249, the console has 6 games in memory and was made available in 2 versions (White Glacier and Black Graphite), in addition to 3 other models with limited edition (Vintage Woodgrain, Galaxy Purple and GTO Red).
The controls (now wireless) are similar in design to the original. However, the numeric panel gave way to a touch screen, in addition to the introduction of microphone, speaker and movement control. With the use of an application, it is possible to use a smartphone as an additional control, totaling 8 players simultaneously.
Classic games have been recreated and great titles on other consoles have also gained versions for Amico, such as Moon Patrol and Earthworm Jim. The games, priced between US$2.99 and US$9.99, have gained special attention by banning violent or offensive content.

MASTER COMPONENT

INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

INTELLIVISION II

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

INTELLIVISION III

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

INTELLIVISION IV

MATTEL ELECTRONICS

INTELLIVISION FLASHBACK

INTELLIVISION PRODUCTIONS / AtGAMES

INTELLIVISION AMICO

INTELLIVISION ENTERTAINMENT

CLONES

INTELLIVISION

BANDAI ELECTRONICS

SYLVANIA INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT

GTE CORP.

INTV SYSTEM III / SUPER PRO SYSTEM

INTV CORP.

TANDYVISION ONE

TANDY CORP. / RADIO SHACK

SUPER VIDEO ARCADE

SEARS / TELE-GAMES

TUTORVISION

INTV CORP. / WORLD BOOK INC.

INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT (PROTÓTIPO BRANCO)

MATTEL ELECTRONICS