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System III questions


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If you take the top of the case off you can unplug the controllers.  It's the same design as an original Intellivision.

 

It has the same exec as an original Intellivision, so it plays the cartridges the Intellivision II doesn't.  I don't know if the sound chip is the same as the original or the Intellivision II.

 

Edit:  The knock on the System III are the controllers with flat keypads.  A few have bubbled kepads but they're not common.  You could replace the controllers with any Intellivision controllers including Flashback controllers.

 

I should have said the controller connector inside is not a de9 like the flashbacks.  It's a straight nine pin connector so you'd have to adapt the end connector.

Edited by mr_me
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1 hour ago, atari2600land said:

I have a few questions regarding the INTV III.

- Can I remove the controllers from one? There is one on eBay for relatively cheap because it has broken controllers.

- Can it play all games? INTV 2 won't, so I'm wondering if III will.

Same as with the original Intellivision, they are detachable, but you have to take the unit apart to get to the connectors.

 

I did that once with a pair of Intellivision-III controllers, and never wish to do so again.  The Power LED is tacked-on in the most literal sense of the phrase.  There are a pair of wires crossing over the whole assembly, making it much more difficult to get to the connectors without doing some damage.

 

EDIT: as for your second question, yes, it should work fine for all games, because it has the same Executive ROM the original Intellivision had.  The Intellivision-II had a slightly modified Executive ROM to require a certain bit in the cartridge ROM header to be raised, which was a cheap way to lock out Coleco games (and Word Fun, but who wants to play some dumb educational game anyhow?)

Edited by Zendocon
Answered second question
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14 minutes ago, Zendocon said:

The Power LED is tacked-on in the most literal sense of the phrase.  There are a pair of wires crossing over the whole assembly, making it much more difficult to get to the connectors without doing some damage.

The term you are looking for is "hot glued" on. I was pretty surprised by this as I figured it would have been installed in a more secure way. But as you said, it it literally just hot glued to the top shell with wires running to the I think the RF shielding for ground and the +5 from one of the pins off the cartridge port. 

 

On the power LEDs I've added/installed into client's Intellivision model 1 systems,  I use dupont connectors so that it can be disconnected without risk of pulling any wires loose.

 

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2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The term you are looking for is "hot glued" on. I was pretty surprised by this as I figured it would have been installed in a more secure way. But as you said, it it literally just hot glued to the top shell with wires running to the I think the RF shielding for ground and the +5 from one of the pins off the cartridge port. 

 

On the power LEDs I've added/installed into client's Intellivision model 1 systems,  I use dupont connectors so that it can be disconnected without risk of pulling any wires loose.

Yeah, I forgot about the bit of glue as well.

 

I love that Neverending Story Ivory Tower avatar.

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I hope it's as simple as putting a new keypad on it. The pics didn't show a keypad on the controllers. So we shall see when it gets here. I have an INTV 1 controller for some reason in the garage, so I can use that. It's not like I have anyone to play a 2-player game with.

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Controller inputs go through the sound chip.  That seems to be a rare point of failure.  The keypad shares signals with both the disc and side buttons so it would be odd for the keypad to not work at all while the disc and side buttons are fully functional.

 

I'll add that a different connector inside the controller was introduced by INTV.  It makes the controller flex circuit incompatible with Mattel controllers.  I've seen both types used on INTV systems.  You can see the new ones have extra plastic where the cable goes in the controller.

Edited by mr_me
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Be very careful when removing the cover.  Because the LED is glued into the top, it is easy to accidentally rip one or both wires off.  In the unfortunate scenario where this happens, it only keeps the LED from lighting up but the rest of the Inty III will be fine (if you know how to use a soldering iron, it is also easy to fix).

 

Also, pull the On-Off switch cover off before removing the cover.  This only needs to be done so you don't risk losing it.  Just pull it straight up vertically.

 

Other than these two easy things, swapping out the game controllers is easy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got the thing in the mail a week ago. I pulled the cover off and tried to replace the controller, but when I screwed some stuff back, I discovered that there is now no picture whatsoever. If I pull the AV cord so it reaches the rim of the hole, I get yellow static, but that's about it. Is this a fixable thing or should I toss it?

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You can use Intellivision II controllers you just have to make an adapter cable.  For example, you can take a genesis controller extension cable, cut the end off, and put on the end connector from the System III controller.

 

Do the System III controllers work at all?

Edited by mr_me
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