Breaking news: Intellivision flashback coming to retail

[Rev]

Ha, no, not a squid. Long story, but 'Revolution' is always taken.

 

This PCB is small! Im thinking of interesting ways to do something cool.

[wolfy62]

Sorry to hear about that Bill. I'm sure this caused issues for a lot of people.

 

I can imagine there were several pissed off phone calls between AtGames and Toys R Us over this.

 

Having read all the threads here, it seems pretty clear what happened. Toys R Us always had the intent of honoring street date on this for October and had it set up in their system correctly. But they never communicated properly that with their managers at the stores. It's not common to hold a game or toy item -- normaly when it comes in it goes out on the shelves, so I don't blame any of the employees. It was never told to them 'hey, we can't put this out yet, hold it in the back'. So when people brought one up to buy it, that's when they saw it flagged in the system. To their credit, they allowed the person to buy it but then yanked them off the shelves.

 

I could see this really hurting the relationship between AtGames and Toys R Us over this also, as it really messed things up.

What a great message and all of this is correct!

[wolfy62]

http://intellivisionrevolution.com/entries/intellivision-revolution/the-serial-number-database-now-includes-the-intellivision-flashback

 

I didnt waste any time, Flashback owners, feel free to add your Flashback to the official Serial Number Database...........the Flashback has no serial numbers you may be wondering? But it will have 'editions' such as Dollar General, and Sams.......also, on the box and console is something called a BATCH CODE. A date of manufacture, my batch code (date) is 07/2014. Im wondering if they will change the date if a second run of these gets made. Oh the collectors of variants will go crazy!

That is my batch code number as well. I will post it on your site!

[didimo63]

 

Except I can tell you for a fact it wasn't. Street dates have been broken before, intentional or otherwise. It happens in retail, that's why there are usually monetary fines. In any case, this was unintentional and did mess up planning. It's definitely not the end of the world, though, as the mainstream roll-out when it was supposed to be rolled out shouldn't be affected.

I understand. I believe that the effects should nevertheless be positive.

[Flojomojo]

Pcb of the intv flashback.

So teeny! Seems like it would be possible to hack this into a portable case with its own display. If I were Ben Heck, I would consider doing a 3 or 4-way version of a portable Flashback that could do Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Genesis all in one case.

[Bill Loguidice]

So teeny! Seems like it would be possible to hack this into a portable case with its own display. If I were Ben Heck, I would consider doing a 3 or 4-way version of a portable Flashback that could do Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Genesis all in one case.

 

Serious question... Why would you want something like that when you can have something like the GameMID, Shield, or any other Android device that has physical controls? Heck's specialty is taking original hardware and making it portable. I don't see the point of doing it for something that's not, at minimum, a 100% clone.

[Flojomojo]

 

Serious question... Why would you want something like that when you can have something like the GameMID, Shield, or any other Android device that has physical controls? Heck's specialty is taking original hardware and making it portable. I don't see the point of doing it for something that's not, at minimum, a 100% clone.

Fair point. I saw that the SOC was the size of a pack of gum, and that the case was mostly air, and that's where my mind went.

[+evg2000]

I wonder if they left the Easter Eggs in the games? Yes Intellivision games had Easter Eggs in them even though no magazines ever seemed to publish them other then Beauty and The Beast Easter egg.

 

On Space Armada try holding on the right controller both lower fire buttons and on the left 4 and 6 or on the right controller both lower fire buttons and on the left enter and then hit reset. Wait a minute I don't think that can be done since the reset button resets back to the game select screen. So I guess even as good as this Flash Back may be it's still not as good as the real hardware.

They should have put 3 buttons on the flash back unit, Power, Reset and menu.

a bunch of intellivision easter eggs can be found here: http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/intellivision.htm

[+evg2000]

I'm guessing most people want a converter so they can use the new controller for old systems, but for people who might want to use old controllers on new systems seems like there is plenty of room and should be pretty easy to just add two more nine pin controller ports for using old controllers. just a thought.

[+nurmix]

I'm guessing most people want a converter so they can use the new controller for old systems, but for people who might want to use old controllers on new systems seems like there is plenty of room and should be pretty easy to just add two more nine pin controller ports for using old controllers. just a thought.

You don't have to go to the trouble of modifying the Flashback motherboard or console cover. You just cut the end off an original Intellivision controller, and solder a new D-sub connector onto the cable, with the rearranged wires. I already adapted a Sears Intellivision controller to work on the Flashback. I posted the picture here earlier of my 'prototype / proof of concept' but here it is again..

[+evg2000]

You don't have to go to the trouble of modifying the Flashback motherboard or console cover. You just cut the end off an original Intellivision controller, and solder a new D-sub connector onto the cable, with the rearranged wires. I already adapted a Sears Intellivision controller to work on the Flashback. I posted the picture here earlier of my 'prototype / proof of concept' but here it is again..

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409503632.732288.jpg

nothing against that, I was just thinking of an easy way without having to build an adapter or hacking a controller. Just different options.

[pimpmaul69]

You don't have to go to the trouble of modifying the Flashback motherboard or console cover. You just cut the end off an original Intellivision controller, and solder a new D-sub connector onto the cable, with the rearranged wires. I already adapted a Sears Intellivision controller to work on the Flashback. I posted the picture here earlier of my 'prototype / proof of concept' but here it is again..

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409503632.732288.jpg

personally i would have modified the board to take the original controllers. Or open the controller and change the wires around. If you give me a pinout for pins 1-9 where they are on the flashback and here they need to be for the classic controllers i could whip up some adapters. I will ship them to someone for testing as i dont have the hardware to test Edited August 31, 2014 by pimpmaul69

[+nurmix]

nothing against that, I was just thinking of an easy way without having to build an adapter or hacking a controller. Just different options.

True. For the record, the controller pictured already had a mangled cable and plug. It was non-functional. I DIDN'T hack a working one.

 

 

personally i would have modified the board to take the original controllers. Or open the controller and change the wires around. If you give me a pinout for pins 1-9 where they are on the flashback and here they need to be for the classic controllers i could whip up some adapters. I will ship them to someone for testing as i dont have the hardware to test

I couldn't modify the board because I was doing this with limited access to Intellivision Productions' prototype Flashback over a month ago. I don't currently have a Flashback to work with.

 

As for the pinouts, all of the information I worked out about pinouts and the differences between the original and Flashback controllers is completely documented in this very thread. I have already made adapters too. You just have to go back a few pages and read. I know things get lost in long threads, so maybe I should start another thread with just the information about the controllers...

Edited August 31, 2014 by nurmix

[+grips03]

True. For the record, the controller pictured already had a mangled cable and plug. It was non-functional. I DIDN'T hack a working one.

 

 

I couldn't modify the board because I was doing this with limited access to Intellivision Productions' prototype Flashback over a month ago. I don't currently have a Flashback to work with.

 

As for the pinouts, all of the information I worked out about pinouts and the differences between the original and Flashback controllers is completely documented in this very thread. I have already made adapters too. You just have to go back a few pages and read. I know things get lost in long threads, so maybe I should start another thread with just the information about the controllers...

 

a new thread with the pinouts would be a good idea.

[Jeffrey Bouchard]

I'm hoping for that and possibly a price on already made adapters by Nurmix so I could possibly have them in hand by the time I can purchase an Intellivision Flashback or 2 for the controllers. Keep up the good work

[mdoerty]

In reading the thread, it appears that the broken street date has been a ToysRUs phenomenon for the most part.

In other words, I don't recall any Dollar General leaks, which is good since that is the version I will seek.

 

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

[pimpmaul69]

AtGames doesn't do xxx on a chip consoles, they use modern internals running emulators. We were the only ones doing new implementations of original old consoles on a single chip format for plug-and-plays, such as the 2600-on-a-chip we did for the Flasback 2 and 2+. They also don't make any of their products hackable (a signature of ours). We talked to Intellivision Productions about doing the same with the Intellivision and they instead went with those poorly received ported games/emulated plug-and-play. We wanted to do the same with the Colecovision as well, and had further plans for the Atari Flashback series (the series we created) before the Los Angeles licensing guys unfamiliar with the background of the series decided to license out the name to AtGames.

flashback 2. Best remake system ever. Hacking them was good fun. I still have the controllers and love them. I use them because they are not as stiff as the original controllers which cramp my hands really bad.

[moonlight_mile]

30 days til release!!!

[ArcadeJunkie]

30 days til release!!!

30 days? I thought TRU was releasing them on the 22nd?

[moonlight_mile]

Was the 22nd verified by ATgames? I am waiting for the SAMs version with extra overlays.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm assuming the Sam's Club version won't be out until Oct 1st, but if someone sees it there before then, please let me know.

 

I'm also willing to pick up some extra units to ship overseas, but I'll make a thread about that when it gets closer.

[Rev]

Don't forget about Dollar General version with 61 games....am I right?

[moonlight_mile]

Don't forget about Dollar General version with 61 games....am I right?

Sir yes sir!

[onmode-ky]

To avoid confusion: please note that this post is about Techno Source's Intellivision plug-n-play systems, not the Flashback.

 

I think others have answered your question about Beach Volleyball already, but figured I'd chime in to confirm. Had occasion to dig out the 15-game Techno-Source two player thingamajig and yeah, Beach Volleyball looks like it intends to be the subset of Spiker! nurmix mentioned.

Extremely belated thanks to both you and nurmix for your help on this. I realize you've put the system back into "the vault" already, but might you have any insight regarding the other sports games on Techno Source's "X2" 2-player system?

 

- "Baseball" = Major/Big League Baseball, World Championship Baseball, or neither?

 

- "Football" = NFL Football, Super Pro Football, or neither?

 

- "Hockey" = NHL Hockey, Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey, or neither?

 

- "Soccer" = NASL Soccer, World Cup Soccer, or neither?

 

- "Tennis" = Tennis, Championship Tennis, or neither?

 

I think that in most of these cases (all of them? I'm not too familiar with the Intellivision library), the most obvious difference is that the older release has no 1-player mode. So:

 

1. Were there any games on the X2 system that had no 1-player mode? If so, which?

 

2. Which of the above sports games already had a 1-player mode in the older release?

 

3. Were any of the X2 system's sports games totally unlike the Mattel/INTV games?

 

Thanks in advance (because it might otherwise be late, like with this post!) to any help, from anyone.

 

onmode-ky

 

P.S. On topic: does anyone else find it odd that the Flashback's soccer and tennis games are the original releases, not the presumably "better" ones from INTV Corp.? Is there an obvious reason for this?

[+intvsteve]

The only thing I can answer immediately is that none of the original Mattel versions of these sports titles you mentioned had one-player modes. I think Auto Racing, Bowling, Skiing, and Golf had one-player support. The rest were two-player only until the INTV Corp releases.

 

If the contents of the online version of the manual are any indication, here's what seems to be the rundown on the sports titles:

• Baseball: Looks similar to World Championship Baseball, but has some odd changes (can't hit curveballs, etc.)
• Beach Volleyball: We talked about this. Looks like part of Spiker
• Football: Inspired by Super Pro football, perhaps
• Hockey: Looks totally different. The screen layout reminds me of Championship Tennis, actually, with the vertical orientation, but neither of the original hockey games scrolled
• Long Drive Golf: Utterly unlike either game, AFAICT; looks like they just took the golf swing part of the Chip Shot and turned that into its own mini-game
• Soccer: More likely inspired by World Cup Soccer, since it had AI, but the screen shots I saw didn't look much different than NASL Scocer
• Tennis: Looks like they added AI to the original Mattel Tennis

So overall, I'd say maybe half of the sports titles on this have a decent resemblance to the originals. Golf and Hockey seem TOTALLY different, and Football seems very weakly related.

Edited September 3, 2014 by intvsteve