Intellivision II and Coleco brand games

[Skylark68]

I don't have any experience with the Intellivision II, but I noticed on some of the boxes I have that are Coleco games there is a sticker that states (Not for Use with Intellivision II!) Is it a physical change that prohibited the Coleco games, or what?

[joeybastard]

From the Intellivision Lives site:

But as more and more games in development at Mattel were found not to work with the Intellivision II, programmers were filled in on the truth - but only on a one-to-one, need-to-know basis. The reason the Intellivision II doesn't work with the Coleco games is that it was designed not to.

 

The EXEC contains a subroutine to display the Mattel copyright notice; the programmer merely needs to provide the year in a certain memory location. Since a competitor's game would not use this routine, that location could have anything in it. The Intellivision II EXEC checks on a particular bit in that location; if the bit isn't set, the EXEC doesn't allow the game to play. With a valid date in that location, the bit will be set; anything else and there is only a 50-50 chance the bit will be set.

 

This was a deliberate attempt to render competitors' cartridges useless, and therefore it may very well have been illegal. No one was to know. But as game size went from 4K to 8K and larger, more Mattel programmers started using special title screens that by- passed the EXEC copyright routine. These programmers had to be told to make sure the bit was set.

[Tempest]

I never understood why they did that. Third party support is often the thing that makes or breaks your system. Just ask Magnavox...

 

Tempest

[Skylark68]

Very interesting. I didn't realize it was an attempt to sabotage 3rd party companies from producing games. So is it only Coleco games that don't work, or Imagic and Activision, etc. titles also?

[thrax]

That does seem like a dumb move since for example many Imagic (one of the most popular 3rd parties for intellivision) had HIGHLY innovative games of which many were exclusive to the Intellivision. To block out 3rd party games was foolish. The only reason i can see them targetting Coleco is that Coleco's intellivision version of games were stripped of levels ,features and were not even close to using the Intellivision's potential.

[Rik]

Sharp!,very observant!i never noticed that.Weird they would do that.Sometimes you wonder,and come to the conclusion,yeah,maybe that rumour of illlegal drug usage was in fact TRUE back in the day concerning the relevant game companys we know of, back then

Edited October 26, 2008 by Rik

[chrisbid]

I never understood why they did that. Third party support is often the thing that makes or breaks your system. Just ask Magnavox...

 

Tempest

 

 

Execs have tunnel vision about their bottom line. Mattel probably figured every dollar spent on a third party title was a dollar not being spent on a first party title. It's the same line of thinking when today's game companies want to make used game sales illegal.

[Skylark68]

I never understood why they did that. Third party support is often the thing that makes or breaks your system. Just ask Magnavox...

 

Tempest

 

 

Execs have tunnel vision about their bottom line. Mattel probably figured every dollar spent on a third party title was a dollar not being spent on a first party title. It's the same line of thinking when today's game companies want to make used game sales illegal.

 

Geez, i didn't know about that either. That's the only way i bought games for my PS2 just about. I sure hope that doesn't happen. I don't intend on buying a PS3 or 360, but that would be really crappy.

[BassGuitari]

I think there are a few Coleco games that actually do work on the Intellivision II. I may be remembering wrong though, since I haven't fired mine up in a long time because I can't find the power supply, but I want to say Donkey Kong Jr. worked on it.

 

Not being able to play Coleco games was never that big a deal to me. "You mean I can't play Donkey Kong? Oh, what a loss."

 

As far as I can tell, all the Activision, Imagic, first-party Mattel games (except for Electric Co. Word Fun...again, big loss), Atarisoft, and other 3rd-party games work, although apparently Space Spartans, Shark Shark, and Super Pro Football had minor sound glitches or graphical errors.

 

It's kind of a bummer that that handful of games won't work properly/at all, but being able to use the 2600 adapter and Computer Adapter makes up for it, for me at least.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

From the Intellivision Lives site:

But as more and more games in development at Mattel were found not to work with the Intellivision II, programmers were filled in on the truth - but only on a one-to-one, need-to-know basis. The reason the Intellivision II doesn't work with the Coleco games is that it was designed not to.

 

The EXEC contains a subroutine to display the Mattel copyright notice; the programmer merely needs to provide the year in a certain memory location. Since a competitor's game would not use this routine, that location could have anything in it. The Intellivision II EXEC checks on a particular bit in that location; if the bit isn't set, the EXEC doesn't allow the game to play. With a valid date in that location, the bit will be set; anything else and there is only a 50-50 chance the bit will be set.

 

This was a deliberate attempt to render competitors' cartridges useless, and therefore it may very well have been illegal. No one was to know. But as game size went from 4K to 8K and larger, more Mattel programmers started using special title screens that by- passed the EXEC copyright routine. These programmers had to be told to make sure the bit was set.

 

 

all american rules, bro! been eating it for 32 years!

[joeybastard]

all american rules, bro! been eating it for 32 years!

 

NICE! Glad to see somebody recognized All American

 

If you like AA, you should check out Five Guys hamburgers in Levittown too. It's a different kind of burger but they are as good as All American in their own way.

[Rik]

I never understood why they did that. Third party support is often the thing that makes or breaks your system. Just ask Magnavox...

 

Tempest

 

 

Execs have tunnel vision about their bottom line. Mattel probably figured every dollar spent on a third party title was a dollar not being spent on a first party title. It's the same line of thinking when today's game companies want to make used game sales illegal.

 

Geez, i didn't know about that either. That's the only way i bought games for my PS2 just about. I sure hope that doesn't happen. I don't intend on buying a PS3 or 360, but that would be really crappy.

Dont be surprised!!!As consumers we're losing our rights and freedoms more and more.Its slowly but surely turning into a goddamn Dictatorship,only a matter of time.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Rik

[Video]

Not being able to play Coleco games was never that big a deal to me. "You mean I can't play Donkey Kong? Oh, what a loss."

 

Yeah, I thinke the INTV version of DK is about the only thing worse than the 2600 version of the game (at least the 2600 was in color)

[BassGuitari]

Not being able to play Coleco games was never that big a deal to me. "You mean I can't play Donkey Kong? Oh, what a loss."

 

Yeah, I thinke the INTV version of DK is about the only thing worse than the 2600 version of the game (at least the 2600 was in color)

 

The Intellivision version was in color...but I get what you're saying. The Intellivision doesn't like brown tones for some reason. I've noticed in Intellivision games that objects that you'd associate with being brown, like Donkey Kong the Ape or the burgers in Burgertime, are almost always green. Maybe it was programmers, I dunno.

 

A favorite analogy of mine: Donkey Kong on Atari is your favorite ice cream sundae, where Donkey Kong on Intellivision is a raw clam, egg, and used chewing tobacco smoothie.

 

And in case anyone's interested, I found my Intelly II power supply and fired up Donkey Kong Jr; DKjr does in fact work on Intellvision II. (It even says so on the label, which of course I didn't bother to look at until after I did all that digging around looking for that f@*%ing power supply. )

[Vic George 2K3]

I wanted to play Venture and Ladybug on the Intellivision back when I had one.

[thrax]

I wanted to play Venture and Ladybug on the Intellivision back when I had one.

Me too. I was a big fan of Venture and when i heard there was an intellivision version i kept calling my local stores for months to see if they had it. It was probalby the only game i wanted to buy that i couldn't get from availability. When i got my first intellivision emulator it was one of the first roms i wanted to get just to satisfy that decades old curiousity.

[BassGuitari]

I did a little research and found that, according to the games' boxes, Zaxxon, Turbo, Lady Bug, and Donkey Kong Jr. work with Intellivision II.

 

The Coleco games that aren't compatible are Donkey Kong, Carnival, Venture, and Mouse Trap.

[Rik]

The best Venture i have is for my CV.Love the game,but i find it to be too easy.There was a link here at AA a while back about a downloadable Venture 2!Its a million times better that the 2600,intv,cv or any other console IMO.I wish i remembered the address to were it is.The monsters all look very detailed,not just cookie cutter blobs moving around,i highly recommend it.Ill see if i can remember where i downloaded it and post the address.Can probably google it too.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Rik