Jump to content
IGNORED

Breaking news: Intellivision flashback coming to retail


Rev

Recommended Posts

This is really both good news and confusing. Are these supposed to be out this early? Could I find one if I go to a store in my area? What's the deal here? :ponder:

 

The truth is some retailers broke street date, most likely accidentally. At some point, they'll all have to pull them from the shelves and wait for October 1 to put them back out. Presumably if you're lucky, you might be able to snag some in the next day or so, but I imagine the "leaks" will be plugged by then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[copying here my post from the Colecovision Flashback thread. Fairly new here, so if this is not acceptable, just let me know]

 

So, I'm originally from Italy, born and raised there, but for the past 20 years I've been spending 8 months a year in the US, first as a grad student, then as a college prof. Why does that matter? Well, it doesn't really (especially if you forgive my non-native English ;-)], except that I was in Italy for the whole summer (like I've been doing for the past 20 years). I left in mid-June, and I returned on the 21st.
While in Italy, I don't have a reliable internet connection. I use a crappy 3G Internet Key, which SORT OF works, only really at night, whenI have my own administrative work to do, and very little time to "play" online.
So, as a result, I did not know about the pushed back date for the Intellivision, Colecovision and Atari 5 units.
When pre-orders opened online at Toys'R US several months ago, I thought about pre-ordering, but since no date was specified, and I knew I'd be back on the 21st, I waited.
About 10 days ago I went on the TRUs website and noticed that the pre-orders were nowhere to be seen [so, no, they have not been taken down over the last two days or so. They probably were taken down at least two weeks ago].
Yesterday it was my first jet-lag free day since I returned. I had errands to run and I did not make any plans, and ended up visiting friends in the county, a good 30 miles away from my area. On my way back I decided to stop at a retail store [no, I won't name it], to see whether the Inty, Coleco and Atari 5 had been made available in the meantime. Good, they were on the shelves! I got all 3, debated whether I really needed a Flashback 5 (I already own 1 through 4!), and ultimately decided that YES, I did.

Incidentally, you may recall another post from me, my first, a few months ago. I told how last February I walked into a local Wal-Mart and I saw Atari 5 on the shelves. I just assumed they were already available. I thought against buying one, did not think much about it, then only later did I discover, through a post on one of the forums here, that they were not supposed to be available until August. I had no way to confirm my sighting, and that's ok. But I knew what I saw. The unit I saw last February was exactly like the one I got yesterday, with the Centipede logo and the game boxes (but I somehow thought it had 100 games?).

But I digress.

Seeing all three on the shelves did fill me with joy and I took a picture. To see the names Intellivision, and, even more so, Colecovision again on store shelves after 30+ years was quite the sight!

When I got to the counter, the very courteous clerk scanned the first item and said "we're not supposed to be selling these yet, let me check". They ultimately decided that since they had been selling the Atari's for a while, it was ok to sell them to me. I did not think much of it, I was focused on getting the new toys I wanted :P.

When I got to my car, incredibly happy to have in my hands brand-new official Intellivision and Colecovision products (and yes, I have all the originals. And yes, I did own them back in the days. And yes, I do know they are not the same thing. BUT I'm happy nevertheless, they are interesting products!), I took my iPhone out of my pocket and googled "Intellivision Flashback release date". Only then did I realize that indeed I had in my possession something I was not technically supposed to have yet. I messaged Bill LoGuidice on FB and sent him the pic. He confirmed that they were not supposed to be available yet. Wow.

Now, a brief review:

I am VERY pleased with both the Intellivision and the Colecovision units. The controllers are GREAT! They look and "feel" like the original, only BETTER! The side buttons on the INTV are much more responsive. The disk and keypad feel the same.
Regarding the CV, too, the controllers feel the same, BUT they are much better. The infamous mushroom stick is a bit shorter (or so it seems) and has a nice click to it, very easy to handle. The side buttons are much more responsive, and the keypad has individual buttons, rather than a single-layer plastic. Controllers are detachable, and the CV controllers are compatible with the original console. Can't wait to try my new controller on my original CV, but since classes start tomorrow, that may have to wait a few days :).
As www.intellivisiongames.com explains, this is an official product under the BlueSkyRangers name. Emulation in both consoles is SPOT-ON. It's the original, actual game code. No crappy remakes (unlike the infamous Intellivision 25 from a few years ago, what a sad travesty that was).
Yes, the (bogus) few seconds wait after the title screen in CV games is there :). That's because it's the original rom, folks!

MINOR cosmetic changes on some opening screens for some games due to copyright issues.
Game selection is very good in my opinion, especially in light of the notorious licensing issues.

I'm very, very pleased with both.

Interestingly enough, some of my favorite Colecovision games from 30 years ago seemed a bit faster to me. But then I realized that that's because at the time I was playing the PAL, 50Htz version, which is a 10% slower than the NTSC 60Htz one :).

AtGames has done a great job, as far as I am concerned. One note of praise to Bill Loguidice for the great job on the instructions. They are concise yet complete, a great resource. Bravo Bill!

Hope this helps :).

Ciao!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The truth is some retailers broke street date, most likely accidentally. At some point, they'll all have to pull them from the shelves and wait for October 1 to put them back out. Presumably if you're lucky, you might be able to snag some in the next day or so, but I imagine the "leaks" will be plugged by then.

Nah, I was going to wait to get the special edition at Sam's Club anyway, but thanks for the response. The fact that more then one person was able to find them and buy them indicates a pretty major screw up.

 

Now we have to put up with 'nah, nah, I got one and you don't!' for the next five weeks. :ponder: :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious to see if Keith ends up with some for sale at CGE. Not sure I'd be able to take a few back on the plane so I might need someone to mail them back for me. Otherwise, Rev you get your ass down to Sams Club ASAP!

Yeah, I have a membership there.

 

Also Dollar General is close. Im covered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not my style, I like to take things out of the box so I can play with them! I'll probably keep the box, though. Wish I had one today

Ok, I will open it up and play with it! and then I will buy another and keep it sealed. that's what Cmart would want me to do! ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to check Target soon. Don't have TRU, Walmart, or Dollar General anywhere close by.

 

Honest question: what's the actual harm in them putting these out before the artificial release date? It seems to me that a sale is a sale, and they're unlikely to hurt the other retailers by selling inventory as it comes in. This isn't a so-called AAA game as far as I can tell, so it seems like a victimless crime.

 

Perhaps they're waiting until the atgames website is more presentable?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[...]

 

Honest question: what's the actual harm in them putting these out before the artificial release date? It seems to me that a sale is a sale, and they're unlikely to hurt the other retailers by selling inventory as it comes in. This isn't a so-called AAA game as far as I can tell, so it seems like a victimless crime.

 

Perhaps they're waiting until the atgames website is more presentable?

Great question, and definitely one I had in mind. Clearly, these items were supposed to go on sale in August. While my February "sighting" of the Flashback 5 in a St. Louis Wal-Mart mentioned in another forum post a few months ago cannot be confirmed (I took it at face value, I did not know that they were not supposed to be sold until August), I suspect the Chinese company has had at least some form of these products ready (at least for test market purposes?) for quite some time. [i wondered about that. St. Louis is a fairly big city, but quite provincial].

Sounds like either a) corporate moves, which basically I could care less about (wait until October so that the Christmas mad shopping rush begins, when especially older people look for presents for baby boomers / generation X people?); or b) buying more time to get more organized / visible: get www.intellivisiongames.com in shape, the atgames site in shape.

But frankly I don't see why I, the enthusiastic, dedicated customer of a, frankly, niche product aimed mainly at people between the ages of 35 and 55, would have to wait pointlessly when the product is ready and made available on store shelves.

Did they need more time to come up with a better product because this one was not finalized? NO. I am clearly holding the finalized product in my hand.

Were there safety concerns with my products? NO, clearly. these ones are fine.

So why? Corporate stuff I basically could care less about? I want to play my games, that's all :).

Edited by didimo63
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got the Collector's Edition. :)

 

Congratulations!

All three new Flashbacks say Collector's Edition. Plus there are three variations of each Flashback depending on the store.

I went to Toys R Us and they only had 2 Flashback 4's out, one with 74 games and one with 75 games (bonus Millipede).

To have any model WITHOUT Millipede is sacrilege!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great question, and definitely one I had in mind. Clearly, these items were supposed to go on sale in August. While my February "sighting" of the Flashback 5 in a St. Louis Wal-Mart mentioned in another forum post a few months ago cannot be confirmed (I took it at face value, I did not know that they were not supposed to be sold until August), I suspect the Chinese company has had at least some form of these products ready (at least for test market purposes?) for quite some time. [i wondered about that. St. Louis is a fairly big city, but quite provincial].

Sounds like either a) corporate moves, which basically I could care less about (wait until October so that the Christmas mad shopping rush begins, when especially older people look for presents for baby boomers / generation X people?); or b) buying more time to get more organized / visible: get www.intellivisiongames.com in shape, the atgames site in shape.

But frankly I don't see why I, the enthusiastic, dedicated customer of a, frankly, niche product aimed mainly at people between the ages of 35 and 55, would have to wait pointlessly when the product is ready and made available on store shelves.

Did they need more time to come up with a better product because this one was not finalized? NO. I am clearly holding the finalized product in my hand.

Were there safety concerns with my products? NO, clearly. these ones are fine.

So why? Corporate stuff I basically could care less about? I want to play my games, that's all :).

 

I can only tell you exactly what AtGames themselves has told me. These were all meant for an October 1 street date. I know for a fact these products were not ready at the Chinese factory until quite recently, since the final products were not signed off on until fairly recently (in fact, my "exclusive" review units direct from AtGames, don't arrive until this week). Some of these retailers were allowed to pick up stock directly from the factory, rather than waiting for it to be shipped. They were expressly directed not to sell until October 1.

 

While it may seem harmless letting them go out (and most likely, in the grand scheme of things, it is), the fact of the matter is there are advertising schedules (on ALL sides) that were planned in advance and time is needed for all of the stock to reach all of the stores so there's an even playing field as it were. It's not just something you get whenever and throw on the shelves willy nilly. There's a danger (and again, I'm not sure anything necessarily bad will happen in this case) that if other retailers get wind of other retailers getting "preferential treatment" (even if it comes down to them simply erring and breaking street date), there could be ramifications for AtGames in terms of future deals. Street dates are there for a reason, and is quite common in the world of videogames as we well know (and usually ramifications for those retailers who break them--AtGames is a relatively modest sized company, so I don't now if they have the clout to "punish" these retailers or would even want to--I have no clue).

 

So again, from those who were lucky enough to score units, it's fantastic for them (and if I saw something like that I wanted in a store, you bet I'd snatch it up). For others who missed out and for all the behind the scenes stuff that now has to be changed on the fly to accommodate this deviation from the plan, it's not necessarily a good thing.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[...]

So again, from those who were lucky enough to score units, it's fantastic for them (and if I saw something like that I wanted in a store, you bet I'd snatch it up). For others who missed out and for all the behind the scenes stuff that now has to be changed on the fly to accommodate this deviation from the plan, it's not necessarily a good thing.

I understand. Thank you for taking the time to explain.

That said, my inner child is still very, very happy he found them :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So the standard Intellivision version comes with 10 overlay pairs (Astrosmash, Buzz Bombers, Crown of Kings, Minotaur, Night Stalker, Space Spartans, Space Hawk, Utopia, WC Baseball, Word Fun). Do we know how many are included in the Sam's version?

Edited by JasonlikesINTV
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So the standard Intellivision version comes with 10 overlay pairs (Astrosmash, Buzz Bombers, Crown of Kings, Minotaur, Night Stalker, Space Spartans, Space Hawk, Utopia, WC Baseball, Word Fun). Do we know how many are included in the Sam's version?

 

The Sam's Club versions will have 15 pairs each for the ColecoVision and Intellivision Flashbacks, so 5 more pairs.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...