Where art thou, Intellivision Inc.?

[+DZ-Jay]

I'm finally getting around to organizing my collection and updating my games inventory, and I came across something odd.  Everywhere I've looked for games lists, "Intellivision, Inc." is never included as a publisher.  For example:

• https://history.blueskyrangers.com/game-list.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intellivision_games
• https://intvfunhouse.com/games/

 

I see "INTV Corp." but not "Intellivision, Inc."

 

However, among my CIB games I have distinct ones that include the imprint of "Mattel Electronics," "INTV Corp." and "Intellivision, Inc."

 

I imagine that such thoroughly maintained lists as the ones above would not miss something so obvious, so I was wondering what was the reason for this.  Is it that those are just re-prints of original Mattel Electronics games?  If so, why is "Blue Sky Rangers, Inc." often included, but not "Intellivision, Inc." (or "Sears Roebuck & Co.," for that matter")?

 

As I said, I'm trying to organize my collection and I want to be as accurate as possible, and what I've tried to do is include the name of the publisher as imprinted in the box rather.

 

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to classify the games by Publisher?

 

    -dZ.

[+cmart604]

Yes it's because they're re-prints although Intvfunhouse does list them separately. Towards the bottom under Joe's label

( left hand side of the page you linked)

[+DZ-Jay]

24 minutes ago, cmart604 said:

Yes it's because they're re-prints although Intvfunhouse does list them separately. Towards the bottom under Joe's label

( left hand side of the page you linked)

Awwww shucks!  I completely missed that in INTV Funhouse.  I also see Sears and CBS there as well, which I thought were missing.  Dang!

 

I'll now go dwell on my shame in a corner. ?

 

Thanks!

 

     -dZ.

[+cmart604]

30 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:

Awwww shucks!  I completely missed that in INTV Funhouse.  I also see Sears and CBS there as well, which I thought were missing.  Dang!

 

I'll now go dwell on my shame in a corner. ?

 

Thanks!

 

     -dZ.

Haha! They could probably do with being moved above the homebrew section. 

[BSRSteve]

Beefing up the history of Intellivision Inc is one of the things on my list of things to do on blueskyrangers.com, especially as it relates to the packaging history entries I have been trying to make. But I am afraid it is behind getting rid of some of this inventory and probably also moving across the rest of the unpublished games stories.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Be careful in the Intellivision Inc section of Intvfunhouse.  You can get lost in there.  It's a deep collecting abyss.

[Morpheus]

To not memtion the stickers and sleeves variants!!!?

[mr_me]

Just wanted to add that although INTV Corp replaced Intellivision Inc by 1985, they continued to reprint/re-issue the Mattel cartridges as Intellivision Inc.

Edited May 30, 2021 by mr_me

[+DZ-Jay]

Thank you all for the comments.  I have one more question ... I know that INTV Corp. and Intellivision, Inc. were doing re-prints of the original Mattel Electronics games, but I also have a couple of Sports Network games from Mattel Electronics without their major brand licenses, like "Golf" and "Soccer."

 

Are those considered "re-prints," or should I categorize them as the others just part of the original set?

 

(OMG! My OCD is kicking in ... I think I'm in trouble now ...) ?

 

[+DZ-Jay]

Oh, another question ...

 

I have a CIB copy of "Deep Pockets Super Pro Poll & Billiards" which I seem to remember purchasing from David Harley, back when he published it.  However, the box says "Distributed by INTV Corp."

 

I'm confused now, is it an "IntelligentVision" title, or an "INTV Corp." title?  INTV Funhouse seems to think it's an IntelligentVision title, which I thought as well, but I wanted to hear how others categorize it.

 

Also, I have a CIB copy of Wizard of Wor, which I don't remember where or when I got it, but I think @Rev pushed on me when I bought other stuff from him.  It says "CBS Electronics" and all the copyrights notices point to legitimate sources, but I think that's all fake because as far as I know, it's just another home-brew.  Can someone tell me who's the actual publisher of Wizard of Wor?

 

    -dZ.

[Intymike]

42 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:

Oh, another question ...

 

I have a CIB copy of "Deep Pockets Super Pro Poll & Billiards" which I seem to remember purchasing from David Harley, back when he published it.  However, the box says "Distributed by INTV Corp."

 

 

You didn't purchased it from David, it was a surprise gift from him to returning customers.

 

[+DZ-Jay]

7 minutes ago, Intymike said:

 

You didn't purchased it from David, it was a surprise gift from him to returning customers.

 

Hmm ... OK, honestly, I don't remember very well.  I do recall vaguely having a private conversation with him about it back then and asking if I could have a copy, and he telling me that I probably wouldn't like it because it was a bootleg of an unreleased game, and back then I wasn't really into those ...

 

... but I can see now that I have a copy, so I guess we transacted.

 

Anyway, is it considered an IntelligentVision or INTV Corp. release?

 

   -dZ.

Edited May 30, 2021 by DZ-Jay

[+intellivotion]

2 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

Thank you all for the comments.  I have one more question ... I know that INTV Corp. and Intellivision, Inc. were doing re-prints of the original Mattel Electronics games, but I also have a couple of Sports Network games from Mattel Electronics without their major brand licenses, like "Golf" and "Soccer."

 

Are those considered "re-prints," or should I categorize them as the others just part of the original set?

 

(OMG! My OCD is kicking in ... I think I'm in trouble now ...) ?

 

I suppose you have non American edition of those games. In Europe and in Australia NASL Soccer was released as Soccer, PGA Golf as Golf, NBA Basketball as Basketball, NHL Hockey as Hockey, et cetera.

 

Look at the pics below (courtesy of intvfunhouse.com). They are both Mattel, but PGA Golf was sold in the US, Golf without the PGA logo was sold in Europe, Australia and in other countries.

 

 

[+JasonlikesINTV]

3 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

Oh, another question ...

 

I have a CIB copy of "Deep Pockets Super Pro Poll & Billiards" which I seem to remember purchasing from David Harley, back when he published it.  However, the box says "Distributed by INTV Corp."

I'm confused now, is it an "IntelligentVision" title, or an "INTV Corp." title?  INTV Funhouse seems to think it's an IntelligentVision title, which I thought as well, but I wanted to hear how others categorize it.

Intelligentvision was working through the list of unfinished titles that were originally planned for release by Mattel prior to the crash.  INTV Corp managed to release some, but games like Deep Pockets, KOTM, Rocky & Bullwinkle, etc were never completed or released...until 2011 as homebrews.  A lot of homebrew ports list the planned publisher and/or planned year of release for nostalgic reasons.  Potentially a little confusing, especially if you're trying to remember the actual modern release date, but it is what it is.

[+DZ-Jay]

1 hour ago, intellivotion said:

I suppose you have non American edition of those games. In Europe and in Australia NASL Soccer was released as Soccer, PGA Golf as Golf, NBA Basketball as Basketball, NHL Hockey as Hockey, et cetera.

 

Look at the pics below (courtesy of intvfunhouse.com). They are both Mattel, but PGA Golf was sold in the US, Golf without the PGA logo was sold in Europe, Australia and in other countries.

 

 

 

Ah, I understand.  So they are not "cheaper re-prints," but actual international first edition releases.  Gotcha!  I'll update my database, thanks.

 

    -dZ.

[+DZ-Jay]

20 minutes ago, JasonlikesINTV said:

Intelligentvision was working through the list of unfinished titles that were originally planned for release by Mattel prior to the crash.  INTV Corp managed to release some, but games like Deep Pockets, KOTM, Rocky & Bullwinkle, etc were never completed or released...until 2011 as homebrews.  A lot of homebrew ports list the planned publisher and/or planned year of release for nostalgic reasons.  Potentially a little confusing, especially if you're trying to remember the actual modern release date, but it is what it is.

Gotcha.  That's kind of what I thought too, thanks.

 

     -dZ.

[Intymike]

40 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:

 

Ah, I understand.  So they are not "cheaper re-prints," but actual international first edition releases.  Gotcha!  I'll update my database, thanks.

 

    -dZ.

You recognize them by the slots on the back which held the country specific manual on the back (some very early international boxes missing the slots)

 

[Intymike]

2 hours ago, intellivotion said:

I suppose you have non American edition of those games. In Europe and in Australia NASL Soccer was released as Soccer, PGA Golf as Golf, NBA Basketball as Basketball, NHL Hockey as Hockey, et cetera.

 

Look at the pics below (courtesy of intvfunhouse.com). They are both Mattel, but PGA Golf was sold in the US, Golf without the PGA logo was sold in Europe, Australia and in other countries.

 

 

No rule without exceptions. International games with their licenses.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Intymike

[+DZ-Jay]

1 hour ago, Intymike said:

You recognize them by the slots on the back which held the country specific manual on the back (some very early international boxes missing the slots)

 

Yup, those are it.  I got plenty of those.  I think I bought an Intellivision lot from Britain once.

 

     -dZ.

[BSRSteve]

3 hours ago, Intymike said:

You recognize them by the slots on the back which held the country specific manual on the back (some very early international boxes missing the slots)

 

The international 0410 boxes have the slots (or not).  There are also 0810 UK boxes for many which do not have slots, and even have text on the back. These boxes also show up from Australia with a white sticker on the bottom.

 

One of the things I HAVE added to the site: https://history.blueskyrangers.com/mattelelectronics/packaginghistory.html

[BSRSteve]

6 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

Hmm ... OK, honestly, I don't remember very well.  I do recall vaguely having a private conversation with him about it back then and asking if I could have a copy, and he telling me that I probably wouldn't like it because it was a bootleg of an unreleased game

At least he correctly identified it as a bootleg. This game was certainly not ever published by INTV Corp, and Funhouse lists it as Intelligentvision (correctly, I think). It was originally released as a ROM on Intellivision Lives.

[Intymike]

50 minutes ago, BSRSteve said:

The international 0410 boxes have the slots (or not).  There are also 0810 UK boxes for many which do not have slots, and even have text on the back. These boxes also show up from Australia with a white sticker on the bottom.

 

One of the things I HAVE added to the site: https://history.blueskyrangers.com/mattelelectronics/packaginghistory.html

 

The UK are special in many ways. I'm pretty sure that they got the Intellivision much earlier than other PAL countries. 

[+DZ-Jay]

6 hours ago, BSRSteve said:

The international 0410 boxes have the slots (or not).  There are also 0810 UK boxes for many which do not have slots, and even have text on the back. These boxes also show up from Australia with a white sticker on the bottom.

 

One of the things I HAVE added to the site: https://history.blueskyrangers.com/mattelelectronics/packaginghistory.html

Whoa!  That's a lot of information on a lot of variants!  Thanks.

 

[+DZ-Jay]

Another question similar to the Deep Pockets one:  Who published Game Factory?  I was under the impression that it was an IntellivisionRevolution release, but the box and manual do a good job at "faking" the Mattel Electronics collateral.

 

How should I classify this one?

 

   -dZ.

[+intellivotion]

59 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:

Another question similar to the Deep Pockets one:  Who published Game Factory?  I was under the impression that it was an IntellivisionRevolution release, but the box and manual do a good job at "faking" the Mattel Electronics collateral.

 

How should I classify this one?

 

   -dZ.

I classify it as an Intellivision Revolution release although box and manual were produced by a fan collector (one of the greatest, actually) who, if I remember correctly, had the chance to get his hands on the original prototypes and faithfully reproduced them for the masses.

...hmmm... did I say masses?  

Edited June 5, 2021 by intellivotion