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Intellivision Cuttle Cart 3 Available


cschell

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Hi Everyone,

 

I ran into our faithful moderator CPUWIZ at CGE this year, and after he got over the shock that I wasn't a 6'10" crazy old wizard looking guy :) , he suggested to me that the classic gaming general forum was a little low on the visibility side and I should announce the CC3 here in the marketplace forum. So I'm taking his advice.

 

Intellivision Cuttle Cart 3's are now available for US$150.00. Details on my website.

 

http://www.schells.com/cc3.shtml

 

Basically it's a MicroSD card based menu driven multicart for the Intellivision similar to the Cuttle Cart 2 for the Atari 7800.

 

Thanks for the tip CPUWIZ.

 

Chad

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Hi Everyone,

 

I ran into our faithful moderator CPUWIZ at CGE this year, and after he got over the shock that I wasn't a 6'10" crazy old wizard looking guy :) , he suggested to me that the classic gaming general forum was a little low on the visibility side and I should announce the CC3 here in the marketplace forum. So I'm taking his advice.

 

Intellivision Cuttle Cart 3's are now available for US$150.00. Details on my website.

 

http://www.schells.com/cc3.shtml

 

Basically it's a MicroSD card based menu driven multicart for the Intellivision similar to the Cuttle Cart 2 for the Atari 7800.

 

Thanks for the tip CPUWIZ.

 

Chad

Nice!

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I ran into our faithful moderator CPUWIZ at CGE this year, and after he got over the shock that I wasn't a 6'10" crazy old wizard looking guy :)

 

I did actually say something along those lines, I thought he was the mad professor type, not some ordinary dude that was even younger than me. :D

 

Glad to have finally met you!

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I ran into our faithful moderator CPUWIZ at CGE this year, and after he got over the shock that I wasn't a 6'10" crazy old wizard looking guy :)

 

I did actually say something along those lines, I thought he was the mad professor type, not some ordinary dude that was even younger than me. :D

 

Glad to have finally met you!

 

Wiz you are old! 40 is right around the corner.

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I ran into our faithful moderator CPUWIZ at CGE this year, and after he got over the shock that I wasn't a 6'10" crazy old wizard looking guy :)

 

I did actually say something along those lines, I thought he was the mad professor type, not some ordinary dude that was even younger than me. :D

 

Glad to have finally met you!

 

Wiz you are old! 40 is right around the corner.

 

Yep, same age as you. :P

 

* free bump *

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If only he'd bring back the original 2600 cuttle cart...

 

I don't understand why it is so difficult to get a multicart for the 2600...

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

 

And the CC2 consistently goes for over 300.00, there is a demand for a new run of CC2.

 

 

Yeah. I recently bought one at a decent price. More than $200 but less than $300. There's probably enough interest for another run of these.

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Ok this is kewl item but I wouldnt pay more than 30 for something like this.

 

So you don't have the slightest idea how complicated and expansive the development of such a device is...

Doesn't change what people would be willing or want to pay.

 

Why do you think MicroSoft and Sony sell their consoles at a loss. Because no one would buy the 360 or PS3 if it sold for what it actually cost.

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Ok this is kewl item but I wouldnt pay more than 30 for something like this.

 

So you don't have the slightest idea how complicated and expansive the development of such a device is...

Doesn't change what people would be willing or want to pay.

 

Why do you think MicroSoft and Sony sell their consoles at a loss. Because no one would buy the 360 or PS3 if it sold for what it actually cost.

 

Sure, I understand his point. Nevertheless, it's still worth it. And Chad ain't no MS or Sony who make the money with the royalties per produced game...

Edited by Marc Oberhäuser
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  • 2 weeks later...

$150 for a brand new programmable, removable memory Multicart is a very reasonable price.

 

I think the question is if the Intellivision and Intellivision library merit the expense.

 

To me, emulation of the INTV on modern equipment, without the INTV controllers, and with no REAL good way to adapt an INTV controller to USB (without most likely leaving an INTV *without* controllers), is one of the least satisfactory emulation solutions in the retro scene.

 

The Atari 8 bit, 5200, 7800, and 2600 can all be very faithfully emulated via a variety of USB to D-shell 9 pin stick solutions, as well as a host of OTHER PC controllers that do a fairly accurate job of allowing you to control most games.

 

The Intellivision, on the other hand, has the incredibly quirky disk controllers and a LOT of games were designed to be played by "spinning" your finger around the outside of the disk, much like controlling an iPod. Actually, remarkably like an iPod. I bet an iPod could be made to be an EXCELLENT INTV emulator machine. But that is an aside.

 

This, for me, makes the CC3 indispensible. I enjoy INTV games on the real hardware, but I find they really suffer in emulation. I don't feel the same way about Atari games. Most of them are every bit as enjoyable via emulation with a good controller solution as they are on the real hardware. Having bought multiple different multicarts, I find the $150 price tag completely reasonable, although I understand that in raw "potential", the CC3 will probably never offer the kind of flexibility as the CC2 or Atarimax 128-in-1 USB cart.

 

So... The only two carts I have with phillips head screws are Lock N Chase and Astrosmash.

 

Which one is more expendable, from a Commons perspective? Lock N Chase has a molted label.

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Chad, I am a very satisfied Cuttle Cart 2 owner and can vouch for the quality of your work. I am also thankful for the contribution that the CC2 has had to making 2600 and 7800 homebrew programming accessible to more people. I look forward to having the free time to write my own 2600 homebrew one of these years. I hope the Cuttle Cart 3 is a big success.

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So... The only two carts I have with phillips head screws are Lock N Chase and Astrosmash.

 

I picked up a Boxer 100 Pcs Assorted Power Bits Set for $13.99 from Fry's Electronics (Outpost.com) which has the correct trianglular bit for opening Int carts. It also comes with 99 other handy security bits to have! ;)

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Gonna have to pick that up, just for things in general. I always end up losing my unusual bits. Amazing how many manufacturers still insist on using these screwball slots, even though they don't seem to have the intended effect of keeping unauthorized people out as much as they used to.

 

Anyhow... so I pulled the Lock N Chase... tested it out, and I gotta say, the CC3 is leaps and bounds ahead of the CC2 in ease of setup and use. At every point, you can see where Chad has learned from his previous efforts. It makes it almost unfortunate that Chad didn't do this AHEAD of the CC2... because the CC2 would be a much better product (not that it is a bad one), with the overall features of the CC3 cart.

 

I think MicroSD was an excellent choice that will be much easier to support in the future than the MMC on the CC2. We all know the reasons why Chad went with the MMC, but in retrospect, I think everyone would have rather paid $25-50 more and had a card bus on their CC2 that looked like it was going to be fully supported in the future. I was going to run over the Best Buy after hitting the grocery store this evening, but the grocery store had a MicroSD 512mb for $9.99. That is the kind of accessibility I want for an item like this. Kingston MicroSD, btw, if anyone is interested. Hopefully the SD format won't suffer the same kind of compatibility issues that troubled the CC2 with MMC, as well.

 

Installation into an INTV cart shell was a piece of cake, and I actually like the idea that nothing is exposed and that you can't get to the card without opening it up and removing it. I suppose this introduces more handling of the PCB than is necessary, but honestly, I think MOST users set it up ONCE with their ROM choices, and very rarely make changes thereafter. Once you get a MicroSD set up the way you want with all the images you want, it is just like another cart in your collection.

 

The GUI interface on the Win32 software is far more intuitive and easier to manage. I copied over all my INTV Roms and wasn't actually CERTAIN that it had done it. I had to go into Explorer and double check. Those of you who were afraid of the complexity of the CC2 have no excuse with the CC2. I can understand how certain users were hesitant to purchase the CC2 with the relatively obscure setup process required to configure your cart. The CC3 completely does away with this. The new interface is not as POLISHED as the Atarimax 128-in-1 USB interface, and obviously, it isn't going to arrive in as PnP as condition as that cart, but it is CLOSER to the 128-in-1 than to the CC2 in ease of setup and use.

 

I only played 1 title for a few minutes to test it out, and I'm not going to get a chance to REALLY put the cart through its paces until well... Thursday night at the earliest, maybe a couple of weeks out at the latest... but from the short time I spent with it, it looks like another winner from Chad that is a must have for anyone interested in the INTV. I say this a lot, but if you're a gamer and not a collector, and you want to enjoy the games on the original hardware and not through emulation, multi-carts are *essential* despite what seems like a steep initial price. You may reason that you can pick up carts used for chump-change and it would take a LOT of carts to equal the price you would pay for this ONE item. That may be true, but figure in the time to track them down, the fact that they're 30 years old, and that SOME of them are rare and expensive, and the CC3 quickly becomes an economical alternative that is likely to save you a LOT of money over the long haul. The CC3 is a piece of NEW technology that leverages all of the changes in the last 30 years to make a 30 year old console a VIABLE platform for gaming once again. These things breath new life into ancient consoles. They're more important than the consoles themselves, in that sense. People ALWAYS end up regretting it when these limited run items run out and they never got around to buying one... and their value ALWAYS goes up once that happens. There is no better, safer purchase you can make in retro-gaming, nothing MORE like an actual INVESTMENT, that is also as rewarding as these things. If you're remotely interested, do yourself a favor, and pony up the $150 now. I'd really like to see these items in the $75-$99 price range, but $150 is actually a bargain. The fact that I'm plugging it into a device that I got at a Goodwill for $5.99 is really irrelevent.

 

I may even buy myself a spare on this item, as I find myself wishing I had done the same with the CC2.

Edited by Paranoid
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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting side note... I'm finding that my biggest concern about playing INTV games on the real hardware is concern about the long term impact on the 30 year old controllers, which are in all ways far harder to replace or repair than a 2600 or even 5200 controller.

 

They just don't feel real reliable or solid. Not to mention that it is ironic that the 5200 consistently gets named for having the "worst" controller in the world. The 7800 Prostick is a better design than the INTV controller.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just got one of these a week or so ago, and haven't yet assembled it. My question for now is, can someone point me (and other CC3 owners) toward a website that has Intellivision manuals typed in ASCII format? I would like to take advantage of this feature (i.e. being able to store the instructions on the CC3 along with the games themselves).

 

I am in the process of selling my Intellvision library and am keeping certain overlays; if I knew I could have access to the instruction manuals somehow (either in ASCII format on the CC3 or just physical scans of the manuals on the web somewhere), I wouldn't have to keep any of the manuals and could sell them with the games, helping their value. Of all my systems, I found the Intellvision to be the one where I would need to go back and refer to the manuals often. (It was a well-named system!)

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k8rack,

 

More manuals can be found here:

 

http://www.intellivisiongames.com/index.ph...4&Itemid=39

 

http://www.steverd.com/docs-in/docs-in.htm

 

Note the formatting required for cc3 - lines can be 20 columns wide at most with a CR / LF at the end of each line. The easiest way to format them for me was to cut and paste text into MS word. Move the right margin over until there is only 19 characters on each line. Then save file as a .txt file. Option will then be presented to put a CR / LR at the end of each line. Click the box and your formatted nicely.

 

Got the cc3 yesterday. Excellent quality. Well worth the price asked for. Works just fine. It's great for people who actually play the games. The entire libray of released, prototypes, demos and homebrews now available to play on an actual intellivision console

Edited by rayik
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