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Welcome to the Intellivision Revolution!

intellivision history 1991 to 2017

The early 1990's

The Intellivision scene was mostly quiet in the 90's, with the video game market exploding with popular systems from Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, older systems were mostly forgotten during this period, at least in the public eye. In 1996 an 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 in 1997, 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.

Intellivision Productions

In 1997, 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. 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.

Also in 1997, Intellivision Productions announced they would sell development tools allowing customers to program their own Intellivision games. They were to provide documentation, PC compatible cross-assemblers, and the Magus II PC Intellivision cartridge interface. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled but they did provide copies of "Your Friend the EXEC", the programmers guide to the Intellivision Executive control software. 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

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! and then Xbox and GameCube version 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 (NES-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.

Several licensed Intellivision games became available to Windows computers through the GameTap subscription gaming service in 2005 including Astrosmash, Buzz Bombers, Hover Force, Night Stalker, Pinball, Shark! Shark!, Skiing and Snafu. Installation of the GameTap Player software was required to access the emulator and games. The VH1 Online Arcade made nine Intellivision games available in 2007. 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

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. Keith Robinson also attended several gaming conventions and released the Intellivision Flashback console in a special edition sleeve that was autographed by nearly all of the remaining Blue Sky Rangers. 

Intellivision Homebrews

The homebrew scene started in 2000 with the release of 4-Tris, a port of Tetris by Left Turn only. Following in the mid-2000's with a rerelease and 3 other releases under the Intelligentvision publishing name. Many new Intellivision game releases continue to be released each year by various publishers.