Where Was the Intellivision Born?

[+intvsteve]

 

More like 'sans'.

 

You got it!

[+DZ-Jay]

I seem to remember my Grandfather buying the Intellivision for me during the summer (or at least before the Fall semester started at school). I'm rather certain that it was during its initial release in 1980 (for a time I had calculated it to be in 1979 until I confirmed that it was only then available in the test market in Fresno, CA).

 

It was given to me as a present (bribe?) for passing the grade. I was not doing well in school and my parents promised an Atari VCS (which I've been clamouring for during the past couple of Christmases) if I passed. My Aunt convinced my Father and Grandfather that they should not get the icky old Atari crap, but the newfangled and ultra-modern Intellivision. Besides, it was "Intelligent Television" and certainly more brainy than just plain old bleepy video games for children, and a wholesome part of a nutritious breakfast.

 

The problem is that I have the memory of a goldfish, so I can't recall in which grade I was then, nor which time of the year it was. However, I do feel certain that it was after the school year closed, though not sure if it actually was during Summer or Fall. I believe it was during Summer, since it fits with the rest of my memories of having it as a bribe prize for passing the grade.

 

I remember walking into the A/V store at our local mall with my Grandfather, testing out the Intellivision and walking out with the machine and, I think, two games: Star Strike and Tennis (and of course, the packed-in Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack). Star Strike because I was a Star Wars fan and Tennis because my Grandfather played tennis a lot and even had me take classes back then. I know we got the Tennis game, that's a given, but I'm not sure if I got Star Strike then or later in the year at Christmas.

 

One thing that helps me put it on launch year is that, there were no Intellivisions ANYWHERE, not even commercials on TV, and none in the Sears "Wish Book" Christmas catalogue (which is why I had asked for an Atari before) -- and then poof! I started seeing commercials and announcements everywhere and we got one soon afterwards.

 

Over the years, I've managed to piece together a general timeline from my broken memories, based on some that I actually have anchored to dates.

• I wanted an Atari for at least 2 Christmases before even knowing about the Intellivision
• I had an Intellivision sometime before Christmas
• I received an ECS for Christmas during the year they came out in 1982, and at least one year after my Intellivision
• The ECS was such a dud that I begged for a Commodore 64 the next year (because my best friend had one), and I got it for the next Christmas, 1983.

So it must have been after at least 1978 and before 1982. One other memory that is anchored to this, but of which I have no real date, is that I remember the CableTV company laying down cable the year before, and the streets all over our town being cracked opened with those large circular saws to bury the cables underneath. I remember this because one day, when my mom picked me up from school she said, "when you get home, there's a surprise for you..." and I yelled out "an Atari? YAY!" and she said, "hmmm... not quite."

 

We had just had CableTV installed, which was a big thing back then. Later that same year is when we got the Intellivision.

 

Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere that after the test market success in 1979, Mattel released the Intellivision publicly at the CES in January. It is not clear if it was available then, or just announced.

 

-dZ.

[+DZ-Jay]

By the way, I didn't really pass the grade, I had to take summer school to bring up my grades. This is probably why my Grandfather (whom was very fond of me and spoiled me to pieces) got me the Intellivision and not my parents. Still, it was one of the best gifts I ever got.

[mr_me]

The Intellivision hit the test market on a certain date, I wonder what that was?

 

http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/hardware/index.htmlSays "1979" but there had to be a date to that... Christmas? Halloween? Somewhere in between? Springtime when the lambs were in the field?

I found this on papaintellivision.

So the Intellivision was first delivered to retailers on Dec 3, 1979.

 

 

...

I know we got the Tennis game, that's a given, but I'm not sure if I got Star Strike then or later in the year at Christmas.

...

Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere that after the test market success in 1979, Mattel released the Intellivision publicly at the CES in January. It is not clear if it was available then, or just announced.

 

-dZ.

The same pappaintellivision document says that in January 1979 there was "still no STIC or RAM chips". Maybe they meant ROM chips as the exec was still being worked on in December 1978. I read that the plan was to have a working Intellivision at Jan 1979 CES but they were prepared to bring some emulation boxes. I don't know what they showed publicly (if anything) at that CES.

 

Intellivisionlives has a release date for Star Strike of Dec 22, 1981. I'm not sure how that would have worked out for that Christmas season.

[First Spear]

That is a great find. I don't remember seeing that info on Dec 3rd being the release date. Awesome news. Every 3rd day in December should be known as Intellivision Day! Shouldn't Keith Robinson be sending us cake or something?

 

 

 

I found this on papaintellivision.

Clipboard01.png

So the Intellivision was first delivered to retailers on Dec 3, 1979.

 

 

The same pappaintellivision document says that in January 1979 there was "still no STIC or RAM chips". Maybe they meant ROM chips as the exec was still being worked on in December 1978. I read that the plan was to have a working Intellivision at Jan 1979 CES but they were prepared to bring some emulation boxes. I don't know what they showed publicly (if anything) at that CES.

 

Intellivisionlives has a release date for Star Strike of Dec 22, 1981. I'm not sure how that would have worked out for that Christmas season.

[+DZ-Jay]

The same pappaintellivision document says that in January 1979 there was "still no STIC or RAM chips". Maybe they meant ROM chips as the exec was still being worked on in December 1978. I read that the plan was to have a working Intellivision at Jan 1979 CES but they were prepared to bring some emulation boxes. I don't know what they showed publicly (if anything) at that CES.

 

When I said, "after the test market success," I meant the CES following the 1979 soft-release in Fresno. That'll be January 1980.

 

Intellivisionlives has a release date for Star Strike of Dec 22, 1981. I'm not sure how that would have worked out for that Christmas season.

 

Well, it could have been on Christmas 1981, but I'd like to say I am almost positive it could not have been as late as 1982, when my interest in video games was moving towards computers. I know Star Strike was one of the early games I had and I played the crap out of it (Star Wars fan and all that).

 

I know this is certainly flimsy evidence, but this video in YouTube of a Star Strike commercial claims a date from 1981, and this random site off the Internet (IGN.com) claims a release date of 1981.

 

Also, the copyright in my manual and box says 1981, and Intv Fun House claims a release of 1981 as well. All those coincide with my (admittedly crappy) memories.

 

Maybe Intellivision Productions, Inc. got it wrong? It could happen...

 

-dZ.

Edited October 31, 2016 by DZ-Jay

[+intvsteve]

Hmm... I wonder how reliable the print ads would be as independent corroboration?

 

Sometimes the copyright dates on the games and manuals (which is what I've used on my website) are a year or more prior to actual market presence. Several of the test market games are copyright 1978, IIRC.

 

The Intellivision Lives site lists the ECS as released in 1983 - and yet many of the titles for it display copyrights of 1982.

 

I always think of 1981-1982 as the "peak" of the arcade / Atari / Intellivision with ColecoVision sneaking in at the end. 1983 had many great releases, but The Glut had set in for the VCS bigtime.

[mr_me]

Sorry my mistake. The Infoworld article linked below says, referring to the Intellivision computer, "It debuted in June 1979 at the CES. Throughout 1979, Mattel had trouble bringing the computer to market. Recently, Mattel reintroduced Intellivision at the 1980 CES and promised delivery in the spring of 1981."

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240750-is-there-an-exact-date-for-the-introduction-of-the-intellivision/?p=3282878

 

Intellivision Productions does have 1981 as the Star Strike release year. You certainly could have had it Christmas morning. A game takes two to three months to go from manufacturing to store shelves. I'm sure they started advertising well in advance of game releases when they wanted. I remember getting my Star Strike fairly early on. Its a made in USA version (rare in Canada) with the left controller bug and no warning about the bug in the box. At the time I didn't know the bug was only with one controller. I was a little disappointed with that game.

 

Copyright dates generally go with when the games were programmed not released. Or when the Instructions were written. You have to be careful with print ads, especially with retailers. Some stores advertised games and prices that have not yet been released, Those ECS games probably had programming started in 1982. The ECS and World Series Baseball had an unusual sneak preview commercial in Christmas 1982. I remember seeing it and getting very excited. However like many of the other 1983 releases I never saw it in the stores.

 

Edit:

Pinball is a good example, it has a 1981 copyright but released in 1983. Baseball, NBA, NFL, Math Fun, Backgammon, Armor Battle have 1978 copyrights. If I were to guess I'd say I got my Star Strike in 1982, but I really don't remember. I have vague memories of getting specific games for Christmas others in the summer. I wish I had the receipts.

Edited October 31, 2016 by mr_me

[wolfy62]

I live in Los Angeles, and I will check with my friends, but I am almost positive I got my Intellivision Christmas 1980.

 

I played so many Sports for hours and hours. Yes, Pinball did come out later for sure. Wolfy

[mr_me]

The Intellivision was definitely available throughout the US and Canada in 1980 maybe as early as August 1980. Most of the rest of the world have to wait until 1981 maybe 1982.

[+DZ-Jay]

The Intellivision was definitely available throughout the US and Canada in 1980 maybe as early as August 1980. Most of the rest of the world have to wait until 1981 maybe 1982.

 

I'll ask my parents and sisters to see how much they remember. I'll also try to rummage through my mother's collection of family photos to see if I find any pictures of my Intellivision loot and trace the dates.

 

The Intellivision being available during summer of 1980 fits within my admittedly broken memory timeline. I have really bad memory, but there are some key things that I do remember well, at least in general if not the details; and getting an Intellivision after the school year ended as a prize for passing the grade, is one of those strong feelings I've carried most of my life.

 

Of course, that's hardly scientific.

 

-dZ.

Edited October 31, 2016 by DZ-Jay

[Utopia]

The Intellivision was definitely available throughout the US and Canada in 1980 maybe as early as August 1980. Most of the rest of the world have to wait until 1981 maybe 1982.

In Australia it arrived late in 1981, in time for the Christmas season. I was working in a retail shop at the time and we were all called in for a early meeting one morning (I think it was in September) and were introduced for the the first time to the Intellivision. I remember that sales meeting with great clarity.

It was also quite expensive at $400.00aus and carts were $69.95.

[mr_me]

The price of the cartridges in Australia was high. In Canada the Intellivision started at cdn$400 but the games were under cdn$40 (except voice games and chess was cdn$45). There was a price drop to cdn$320; I think that was in fall 1981 but I'm not sure.

 

Edit:

In Canada Intellivision cartridges were much cheaper than Atari cartridges. The stores sold Intellivision with you pay more up front but you save on the cartridges.

Edited November 1, 2016 by mr_me

[+intvsteve]

Interesting tactic. Wonder if it panned out?

[1980gamer]

I am thinking August/September 1980 for me. I am pretty certain we got it at Service Merchandise? Might have been Montgomery Ward? One of the catalog companies.

Of course they had brick and mortar locations. I kind of missing thumbing through all the giant catalogs. Yeah, google is great, but what if you don't know what you are looking for!

 

I remember having NFL or MLB and Space Battle as games we got along with the system.

Followed closely by NFL or MLB and Auto Racing a few weeks later.

 

I got to 12 games and stayed at that count for a long time. I was then looking forward to the Colecovision!

 

When we got the CV, I only had 4 games for many years. DK, Zaxxon, Venture and Carnival. I borrowed my friends Lady Bug game.

Then the crash came and I picked up 40-50 games for the intellivision for $.99 each at kaybee toy.

 

 

I got one of each different game they had. I also got the ecs for $39.99

 

Later, I found World Series MLB in an article in Electronic Games Magazine. It was hard to find intellivision games at that point. I called the mattel and got the game for $24.

I think I got the intellivoice for $5.00 at either Zayer or Kaybee. I know It was $5.00. It had a $5.00 rebate. LOL

 

 

Great memories!

 

Bowling with Dad. Horse Racing with my uncle. Baseball with my brother and 2 of my cousins for hours and hours.

 

DZ, isn't it great to be able to link things like intellivision with loved ones! Grand Dad must have been one great guy!

 

Sadly, My Dad was about my age now when we got the intellivision. I couldn't figure out why he couldn't get MLB etc. But liked less action type games like bowling.

Now, darn... I get it! Just a few years ago, I could twitch fast enough to be an elusive Elf. ( or at least remember some helpful patterns ) Now.. I get worse every time I play!

 

I am still pretty good at Galaga... Oh wait. I use the fast shooting hack now don't I. Never mind. LOL

[mr_me]

I am thinking August/September 1980 for me. I am pretty certain we got it at Service Merchandise? Might have been Montgomery Ward? One of the catalog companies.

Of course they had brick and mortar locations. I kind of missing thumbing through all the giant catalogs. Yeah, google is great, but what if you don't know what you are looking for!

 

I remember having NFL or MLB and Space Battle as games we got along with the system.

Followed closely by NFL or MLB and Auto Racing a few weeks later.

...

Thats about the same as the earliest release date on intellivisionlives (Aug 25). And their release date for Auto Racing is Oct 3 1980. Your Auto Racing must have had the original "directional" steering before they revised the rom.

[freewheel]

The price of the cartridges in Australia was high. In Canada the Intellivision started at cdn$400 but the games were under cdn$40 (except voice games and chess was cdn$45). There was a price drop to cdn$320; I think that was in fall 1981 but I'm not sure.

 

Edit:

In Canada Intellivision cartridges were much cheaper than Atari cartridges. The stores sold Intellivision with you pay more up front but you save on the cartridges.

 

I just discovered a receipt in one of my spare CIBs the other day. In 1983 they were selling Intellivision games for just under $19 a piece in Calgary. Seems cheap until you take into account inflation, and the Crash. Lucky Americans had games in $5 bargain bins shortly after that.

[+DZ-Jay]

Great memories!

 

Bowling with Dad. Horse Racing with my uncle. Baseball with my brother and 2 of my cousins for hours and hours.

 

DZ, isn't it great to be able to link things like intellivision with loved ones! Grand Dad must have been one great guy!

 

Sadly, My Dad was about my age now when we got the intellivision. I couldn't figure out why he couldn't get MLB etc. But liked less action type games like bowling.

Now, darn... I get it! Just a few years ago, I could twitch fast enough to be an elusive Elf. ( or at least remember some helpful patterns ) Now.. I get worse every time I play!

 

I am still pretty good at Galaga... Oh wait. I use the fast shooting hack now don't I. Never mind. LOL

 

Yeah, great memories! My Grandfather was indeed a great guy. He really didn't play video games, but we did play Tennis a went swimming quite a bit.

 

I played Intellivision with my Father a lot, mostly B-17 Bomber, which turned out to be his favourite. I bought him an Intellivision Flashback for Christmas a couple of years ago and he called me to ask me for the instructions to that game. I told him, "I knew that's the first one you'd play!"

 

As for my initial titles, I know I walked out of the store that day with the Master Component and a Tennis cartridge. I am pretty sure I had a second game, which it turns out cannot be Star Strike. Hmm... Auto Racing perhaps? I know I didn't have nor play any other sports titles.

 

I know that my copy of Auto Racing had the "directional" steering, which was very confusing.

 

Hmm... I'll have to connect some more memories of playing with my sisters and see what I can come up with.

 

-dZ.

[mr_me]

Hmm... I wonder how reliable the print ads would be as independent corroboration?

 

Sometimes the copyright dates on the games and manuals (which is what I've used on my website) are a year or more prior to actual market presence. Several of the test market games are copyright 1978, IIRC.

 

The Intellivision Lives site lists the ECS as released in 1983 - and yet many of the titles for it display copyrights of 1982.

 

I always think of 1981-1982 as the "peak" of the arcade / Atari / Intellivision with ColecoVision sneaking in at the end. 1983 had many great releases, but The Glut had set in for the VCS bigtime.

1981 (and early 1982) was a slow year for new Intellivision releases as Mattel transitioned to inhouse game development. I remember anxiously waiting for new games that were in their pamphlets for a long time.

 

Magazines are good for checking approximate release dates. Did the magazines get preliminary copies for review while cartridges were being manufactured? I would think any Mattel ads would be close to actual availability. Just watch out for some retailer ads as Ive seen vaporware in their price lists. Its hard to find videogame magazines from 1981. The Mattel newsletter fall 1981 has a new games listing. Star Strike isn't mentioned but I think they were targeting a Christmas 1981 release, but not confident enough to put in the newsletter. The winter 1982 newsletter has Star Strike as an available new game along with some 'available soon' games (eg space hawk april 1982). Ive also used mattel promotions to help date things. I was trying to figure out exactly when the Intellivision II came out in 1982, must have been after the Intellivoice (~July 1982) but I think before Christmas 1982 or could it be 1983?. I cant remember Christmas 1981 but I think we got Mazeatron and Vectron for Christmas 1982, even though Intellivisionlives lists vectron as a 1983 release. Anyone remember when they got Vectron?

[1980gamer]

Thats about the same as the earliest release date on intellivisionlives (Aug 25). And their release date for Auto Racing is Oct 3 1980. Your Auto Racing must have had the original "directional" steering before they revised the rom.

 

I am pretty certain it was "realistic" steering. But I have had many copies of the cart since then. I can't be sure. However, I only like the realistic version, so I would think it is the one I learned on.

I wonder if you could tell by the pack-in catalog? Blue vs Black. I know these even had revs. But it is a good line in the sand. Blue label vs. White?

I remember my Space Battle was a red box, but was later a blue box. Is that when the speed changed? Too many mysteries...

[mr_me]

I think intellivisionlives says they added a fifth difficulty to space battle at the same time they changed the box. You can check the instructions for the fifth difficulty level. I think the original directional steering in Auto Racing is broken. The revised rom is how I think the programmer intended it. There is four versions of the instructions, only the first version has the directional steering. In both caaes you can't tell by looking at the cartridges, you can tell by the instructions (unless someone mixed up the instructions). I wouldnt be surprised if the white label games has mixed up instructions. Auto Racing is obvious when you play it. But its hard to tell the difference between space battle level four and five. They both are at the same speed but enemy fire happens more frequently. With Auto Racing I think the change happened early enough that the revised rom got blue catalogs too.

 

Edit: if anyone has a blue label autoracing directional steering, tell us if its USA or Hong Kong. Maybe the directional steering ones were all made in USA.

Edited November 2, 2016 by mr_me

[+DZ-Jay]

 

I am pretty certain it was "realistic" steering. But I have had many copies of the cart since then. I can't be sure. However, I only like the realistic version, so I would think it is the one I learned on.

I wonder if you could tell by the pack-in catalog? Blue vs Black. I know these even had revs. But it is a good line in the sand. Blue label vs. White?

I remember my Space Battle was a red box, but was later a blue box. Is that when the speed changed? Too many mysteries...

 

I always get them confused. Which one is which?

 

Here's what I remember when I was a kid: the steering was strange and counter-intuitive. I haven't played the game in a long, long time so I do not recall what kind of steering it was, just that it was very strange and took a bit of effort and mental focus to get the hang of it (I kept crashing against trees and houses).

 

I'd like to say that it was the "original" way, because I seem to remember hearing about it getting "fixed" later on (either reading about it or playing it at the local video store, etc.). I also seem to recall having the notion that it was "realistic," whether from reading it on the manual or on the catalogue; and convincing my 9 year-old self that I should not berate the game and throw the cart at the wall in frustration; that having a "realistic simulation" was actually cooler.

 

However, I can't recall for sure.

 

By the way, one thing I always wondered about... who the heck builds a race track around a small family neighborhoods? It always struck me as weird that you are supposed to be in a race circuit, yet we're surrounded by my neighbors houses, their yards, and nice neighborhood green ways. Weird.

 

-dZ.

[carlsson]

Interesting if the STIC was not yet available by January 1979, in particular in terms of other manufacturers getting inspired or copying parts of its spec. I would assume that the chip must exist for real in order for anyone to copy it, as a loose spec on paper could be dreamed up by anyone without knowing if it would be possible to realize.

[1980gamer]

"By the way, one thing I always wondered about... who the heck builds a race track around a small family neighborhoods? It always struck me as weird that you are supposed to be in a race circuit, yet we're surrounded by my neighbors houses, their yards, and nice neighborhood green ways. Weird. :lol:"

 

Grand Prix racing! They will close certain streets in a city and build a track to race on. The cars look like Grand Prix cars, though I think they called them F1 cars?

 

Boston tried to get a race this summer, but too many people complained about the traffic impact closing a few miles of major streets in the city.

 

The same losers that shot down the summer Olympics.

 

When did Grand Prix come out for the 2600? Maybe it was before Auto Racing? But didn't you like exploring the short cuts etc.?

[+DZ-Jay]

"By the way, one thing I always wondered about... who the heck builds a race track around a small family neighborhoods? It always struck me as weird that you are supposed to be in a race circuit, yet we're surrounded by my neighbors houses, their yards, and nice neighborhood green ways. Weird. :lol:"

 

Grand Prix racing! They will close certain streets in a city and build a track to race on. The cars look like Grand Prix cars, though I think they called them F1 cars?

 

Boston tried to get a race this summer, but too many people complained about the traffic impact closing a few miles of major streets in the city.

 

The same losers that shot down the summer Olympics.

 

When did Grand Prix come out for the 2600? Maybe it was before Auto Racing? But didn't you like exploring the short cuts etc.?

 

Yeah! I always tried to explore the world and see how far I could go. But, like I said, it always felt like I was driving through my neighbor's yards.

 

-dZ.