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@CatPix @Marc Oberhäuser @carlsson Apologies for the tag - I've been digging into keypad controller history, and am wondering about Interton's games - did any of them use the keypad in any meaningful way? I've found that the other early keypad controllers, like the APF, were never really utilized for games, except to enter which game mode to play, number of players, and for gambling games to enter dollar amounts for betting and such. I was curious what the Interton did with it. Thanks for any input you have!

Tron VFD! And it even has tactile orientation, before the 'cross' d-pad

Hey, Majors - I've you're reading the new posts, you've seen that I misread your post - wow that was the Bandai controller? Did you just open your up to take those pics for me? That is so cool, even though I misread it and thought it was the Sears controller, that is a huge bit of info for me, I'd given up on seeing the internals of the Bandai - thank you so much!

Thank you for the correction; so those internals were the Bandai? Gosh, you're right I did totally misread that - thank you for the correction! Very interesting to see that Bandai used the same ball joint pivot that INT used (and Nintendo would later use). Man this thread has been a wealth of info, thx again FDR!

Also - this atari kiosk looks like it is designed to have viewing monitors in that top inverted section, but I don't see any pics indicating such - anyone know?

When Dragon's Lair hit the arcades, it was like a bomb went off. No one had ever seen anything like it, and I remember HUGE crowds of people fighting to get close enough to watch the player play their game. What games do you remember seeing this? Do you know of any pictures of these? I'm trying to find what I can, so I can document this little corner of gaming history.

Exactly, Mr Me - I've been researching d-pad history for my YouTube channel - personally, I think it's ridiculous to exclude INTV from the history of d-pads; yeah, it didn't do it like Nintendo, but it's still a pad shape used for directional control. Of course, I've been ridiculed for it by the Nintendo stands who refuse to acknowledge that Gunpei didn't invent everything. Well this changes everything. Well, not completely - I found another d-pad that predates the Game + Watch on a Tomy handheld. But this is fascinating to learn. Do you know what year the Sears first came out?

Whoa, Majors - I've never seen that before!! I must know more - that looks like a traditional d-pad like Nintendo would do. So was the Sears a standard 8-way d-pad? Do you know what year the Sears first came out? Man I cannot believe this, this is huge.

Ah, thx - I didn't know about the thickness/buttons. Certainly looks uncannily similar for a coincidence. According to others that have posted in this thread, Bandai prob couldn't have had any impact on INTV's keypad, because it was an early part of the controller design and was pretty much finalized in 1977 (for an originally intended 1978 release); I'm not aware of any keypads before that; Interton would've been about that time, i think that was 77 or 78

Yeah, I've tried. It's really rare, couldn't find any "repair" videos on YT, or any websites/pics elsewhere. Really bugs me when there's an unanswered question just barely out of grasp. Elsewhere on the site I saw a repair thread for the Arcadia; that mylar looks similar. Unfortunately I can't see a good picture of the balljoint pivot for the disc; I'm gonna post there and ask.

Wow, Walter - thank you for that awesome info! Some follow-ups - who is Chang? Also, you say the controller design was settled in 1977; so are we to assume that there could be no influence from the Interton VC-4000 (which also had a vertically oriented controller with a keypad)? I had thought that might be the case, but apparently not from your timeline. Can you explain to me what the design flaw actually is that precludes using the control disc and keypad buttons simultaneously?

I think one of the great secrets of the 2nd gen of video games was how groundbreaking the Vectrex controller was, I was wondering if there are any resources someone could suggest to learn more about it?

thank you, Mr. Me. man that is too bad. OMG - that's HIS website? Is someone maintaining that, or saved on the way back machine? Man, I'd hate to see that go away, there's some interesting stuff there. so disappointing how many information black holes there are in 2nd gen console history. We know so much about Yokoi the designer of the NES controller we probably know what kind of toilet paper he used, while people like Dave Chandler fade to obscurity.

Oh man that is awesome! Thank you so much! Man, not sure I've ever heard of him. It'd be a real shame if he's no longer around and was never interviewed.

I think today's retrogamers largely are unaware or disinterested in how big a thing it was when Intellivision introduced it's controller. Are there any resources about it's creation and creator? Does anyone know why the controller for the Bandai Super Vision 8000 which came out the same year) has identical controllers? Bandai later was the JP distributor for the INTV - did they copy INTV's controller? Or vice versa?

You're welcome, thank you for the comment; I knew a lot of people have covered the topic before, so I tried hard to give more historical context, and was really thrilled to find some new, or at least very obscure discoveries. Really nice to hear how much you liked it.

Thanks for the link/pic, Keatah - while I'd like to be able to compare the two shielding constructs - is it possible that they're the same size but the light sixer's were thinner metal? - but due to the images, I'm inclined to think you may be right. Whoa, that story of your homebrew combo hardware console blew me away! Please God, tell me you have some pics, I'd LOVE to see that!

Well, I'm impressed - I certainly wouldn't have known of such a thing when I was a kid, so you got that on me. I'll definitely look into this more - perhaps you're right, and this is another common misconception. But I'd say that regardless, it's notable that it wasn't just a cost-cutting measure - clearly it was unneeded, so even if the shielding reduction took place with the 4-switch update, it seems likely that the original design was made to err on the side of too much shielding, rather than aim for 'just enough' shielding. I'll look for those pics; if you run across them again, feel free to post a link here or DM me. And thanks for letting me know about this, don't hesitate to let me know if you find other errors. Oh, thanks - I really appreciate hearing that. The Ultravision isn't exactly a buzzworthy topic, seeing as even many retro gamers don't even know of it, but it was so crazy I had to include it, it's such a cool weird bit of console/portable history. Glad you liked it, I may do a video just on the UV down the road sometime and spend a little more time on it.

Interesting, I've not heard that - if you can point me to a source, I'd like to hear more. I did see several places that cited the RF shielding; it certainly tracked with what I have read about other consoles - the rush to produce consoles in the mid-70s led to a crunch at the government agency that approves RF shielding in a product for consumer release. Some pong consoles were pretty much ruined by the resulting backlog, causing some companies to miss the crucial holiday season for release. This also happened with the RCA Studio II, which was to come out for the '76 holiday season, but due to the testing delay, was released in early '77, where it was DOA (though with the superior Channel F on the market, probably would've been anyway). So when I read that the heavy sixer had excessive shielding that could be removed on the successive design, it made sense. A console that doesn't pass the shielding test, having to adjust and re-design and resubmit for approval, the delay could cause them miss the holiday season themselves which could be catastrophic. So it makes good business sense to err on the side of putting too much shielding in, rather than too little and risking it. But it's an interesting question, again I'd like to hear more about it.

The 32X was utilized by having the video output of the Genesis plug into the 32X, then the 32X had a video output that went to the TV. Perhaps a VIC-20 add-on could've functioned in that manner?

I'll admit - I couldn't find much about Cardco and Protecto - I was glad to share a little context of what they did before their Vic-20 adapter ads, but would've included more. I saw in multiple instances they were deemed vaporware, but I certainly acknowledge anything is possible, we're always making new discoveries when new hardware miraculously surfaces. And that would be freaking cool. But my question would be, and maybe you two know - did Protecto EVER sell any of their own products at any time? Or is it known that they never did and ONLY sold hardware they bought out to resell? Because I can imagine a company doing both, even if they don't do much in-house; for example, Zircon bought out the stock of the discontinued Fairchild Channel F in 1979, just like Protecto was known for doing; however, they released carts that were not only old stock, but some new ones, and they also redesigned the controller, and sold the new design not only to Fairchild customers but also as an Atari 3rd party controller. Someone commented on my video that it couldn't work because of the video signal, but that didn't seem to make sense to me; the Sega 32X was able to get around that issue.

Thank you very much, mozartpc27, really cool to hear your comments - comments like that are why I made it! Really appreciate your thoughts and support; especially as a small channel, just fricking awesome. And always nice to meet a fellow enthusiast of this old hardware

Dutchman2000 and Bill - just wanted to let you know I recently did a documentary on the history of alternate Atari VCS console designs, clones, and adapters - and included comments/posts from both of you to add and explain this new strange twist to the "my console plays your games" saga between Atari and Coleco. Hope you guys like the work.

Hey, thank you AtariLeaf - I really appreciate your understanding, and your general stance on corrections. I have actually already had to issue a correction to my video, and I can tell you that I hate it, I hate when I work on something so long, and a detail slips through the cracks - but it's there. But more importantly, I appreciate you realizing I wasn't "coming after you". Some of the clips I used were BIG youtubers; but some were small youtubers, and that was actually what worried me the most, I am not going to have any impact on those big channels, but I was worried about the smaller channel - I also am a smaller channel, so I can imagine it, and I'm just thankful you saw I wasn't trying to troll you or anything. I'm also glad you replied here because now I finally know the story behind your NAME - dude, I'm from MN - I tell every Canadian I meet in California that "I consider myself an honorary Canadian" because in MN we share so much culture with Canada, and I've made it north of the border a few times. I live in southern Cal now, but I STILL have people pick up on my accent which I've always said is a shared Canadian thing. Anyways, thanks, much appreciated, I'm really glad my vid didn't upset you

Hey, AtariLeaf - I really appreciate you speaking up and your comments. You were one of the channels smaller than me, and I was hoping you wouldn't think I was a bigger channel trying to pile-on to you (though it's bizarre for me to realize I'm a 'bigger channel' at all). When I got responses from you and another of the small channels, it really made me feel better, both of you were very understanding and did not take it personally, I really appreciate your understanding, and also that it wasn't an attack on you. And I'm also glad you replied here - now I finally know the origin of your name - raised in MN but now living in CA, I always tell Canadians that as a Minnesotan, I'm an honorary Canadian, as we share so much in culture, and I've spent several trips up across the border. Thank you again, appreciate your support.