The Mattel Intellivision - Then and Now 

Great story!

My kids, born in 2001 and 2003, have the Wii, and it's the Nintendo 64 that they gravitate to!

That's an interesting story thank you, and although I was born in 1967, mine has some similarities... In the 1980's we had an Intellivision and I played it like crazy until the crash, and I didn't really think much of consoles again after that, though I did play the occasional game on PC (because I became an electrical engineer and was working in computing). Then one day in the late 1990's my fiance - who was a doctor then (she has since earned a PhD in genetics and runs a lab now) - suggested we rent a Nintendo 64 to play in the hospital, because she was the Registrar on Christmas Day. That was cool because she got quadruple pay, her family were Orthodox and celebrated Christmas in January anyway, and there's hardly anyone in a small private hospital on Christmas Day, so we could sit in the Registrar's Room playing video games, and she would have to pop out for a quick round every hour or so. Well ... we rented it, and Super Mario 64, and exactly as you said, it was a major upgrade. The thing completely blew my mind in fact, and I have owned every Nintendo console since then (plus various others), and still play video games to this day. So my early years of gaming were also on the Intellivision, and this video brought back lots of great memories for me too thank you... ;-)

"didn't really know there was anything better until..." There wasn't really anything better. NES survived longer with more games, and Duck Hunt🦆, but not really better. Being of that older generation, I was in middle school when the market crashed, and naturally assumed video games were just for children, and teenagers did cool things, with grown-up stuff like cars and even go to arcades. Not staying indoors with kid game! It was only with 8-bit computers that hanging out with your teenage friends playing games was cool. Modems were for rich kids, so no "hacking". Those who could did so mostly to not pay the outrageous telephone charges! So it wasn't like you were really far behind in any way. Nintendo came out when I was working at Toys r' us, and I just wasn't going to spend my money on a console and cartridges that I couldn't type a school paper on. It was my little sister who begged my parents for one. Sorry I turned this into a long essay!

That's wonderful to read your shared gaming experience. When I was a kid I begged my parents for a Nintendo 64. I never received one though, because my parents had the standing statement of "We have favorite shows to watch. We will not be able to watch our shows if you're gaming." Instead, I spent my childhood gaming on a Gateway Desktop Computer that ran Windows 95. I played Tomb Raider, Star Wars X-Wing, and many other favorites. The Desktop Computer continued to be upgraded as time went by: Windows 98, Windows 2000. Finally in 2001, I received my first gaming console, PlayStation 2.

Y TRON :)

Man, I was glued to that game.

Same for me from France. I don’t how many hours I spent on it day and night with my relatives, especially my mum. We were addicted to it. Really great memories ❗️👍

That's cool that you were so motivated.

Ahead of your time, inspirational

Lol now there’s a feedback button in many games and the internet so you can just post “Here’s an idea” and someone will run with it.

@@zebatov do they really, or just pretend to? I think they just work harder at making you think you're participating. And steal as much demographic data as possible while doing it.

@@astrovisionmedia9677 yeah, okay. I got a message from the "blue rangers" for you: get a job!

carljr17 colecovision had just as good or better graphics and sound. Granted it was a newer console. I was always jealous of a couple of my friends who both had the Intellivision and coleco - i had to settle for my atari. Its funny, I remember always had to defend the ataris graphics and games from those heathens lol.

The Intellivision is actually a 16-bit console.

@@douro20 Yeah I didn't realize that until much much later

@@douro20 didn’t know that

Couple random points... Although clearly more advanced, the Intellivision and Colecovision would have a hard time matching some 2600 games, like Solaris and even River Raid. Both have limited color palettes and more restrictive Sprite systems by comparison. Although the Intellivision CPU is technically a 16-bit processor, I don't think the system as a whole can be called 16-bit, at a glance the CPU memory bus requirements seem like they could be more wasteful than any net advantage, or basically the CPU appears overqualified for the product.

Me too! I remember the place where they'd sell the games, the smell of coffee, kids playing snd arguing whose turn was it to play ad&d. They only had one ad&d for several months and everybody was waiting for their own cartridge to arrive in the country. As a 12-yo kid I would just take a bus and travel 20 km each day to the store just to see the game and maybe get a chance to actually play. I loved the feeling of anticipation and I marvelled about the amazing feeling to play video games. To move objects on the tv screen and not just watch tv shows. After a few years, I sold my console and about 20 games and both a vcr. That was too a revolutionary concept. Watching all kinds of movies at home. I got back into gaming and got myself the colecovision, and after that c64, then Amica. These games contributed so much in my life. I still sometimes think about the ad&d and feel the mystery of it all. I consider myself lucky to have lived this era and experienced first hand the beginning and evolution of the whole videogame industry.

I still remember all the sounds in that game. Use to love the Arrow counting noise yell

@@nova6556 Agree , me and my friend hung out as mall rats to play

I used to panic when I came across a monster. I've got this on an emulator, can't play it cause of the control method. I actually have this console, the A D & D cartridge and a few others Tron included. Sadly the console display is not too good, needs attention.

They did. I used to play the baseball and football games all the time! I also liked hockey and bowling.

the flashback unit works decently if you're in a pinch / otherwise its RF to a modulation device then an upscaler (retrotink) to your HD panel haha

@@jonniefast Is this the method to get an old time console to work with a modern TV?

I got one still

Hahaha. Yes thanks for remembering that.

Lots of 1-0 games. Lol

We used to make bets, my brothers and I! Who would win at Sea Battle, many good times, the tri planes where fun also, in their simplicity, I find some of these games more enjoyable than today’s high technology packed ones.

So much fun

Omg I remember..

Thats a good one I also liked astrosmash also imagic had some cool games

kevin Jhonson Have you seen the new Night Stalker for the Intellivision Amico?

@@vc8my it's not gunna come out. Things from a new age intellivision crew that's kinda sketchy with how they're handling this

Same for me in France 👍

@Metal JesusRocks, When it comes to setting up your Intellivision II to the T.V. you have, I noticed you use a Philmore Antenna/Cable/VCR Switch AB78 Rather than using that, would a Video Cable RCA/Composite A/V to RF/Coax /Coaxial Converter Hdmi Modulator TV, be a successful alternative in getting the Intellivision II to function on a LCD T.V.?

@@harlemanthony8834 dude you really think your smart replying to your own comments with your five day old accounts??

It was so cool to see your comment here. Wow. 4 years later. Awesome.

Awesome game

The snake from the Dungeons and Dragons game used to scare the shit out of me as a kid!

Agree. It was delightfully weird and I played it constantly.

Thanks! The channel's still pretty new and I haven't done much to market it, so it'll hopefully build up over time. I only have a few videos so far, so hopefully the views will build up as the number of videos does.

I had one of those for a short time (it was in bad shape, so I sold it off pretty quickly) - totally forgot it had detachable controllers!

Yeah, that's the console I grew up with.

I asked my parents for the Intellivision game system for Christmas 1980. I didn't expect to get it, but it was the Sears version and I was a bit upset, but once I played it for the first time...Wow! All of my cousins, friends etc had the Atari 2600, and they hated the INTV. Lol! Great memories Thx for the upload

My Sears did not have detachable controllers..late 1981odel.

Being able to drive away and venture out into the 'Twilight Zone' tracks (as called them) was what blew our minds.

yeah it was fun.

BANDIT'S THREE O'CLOCK

B17 and Dungeons and Dragons were my go-tos. And I remember getting excited whenever a new Imagic game came out. They had the best box and label art.

CantankerousDave Dungeons and Dragons treasure of Tarmin was hands down the best game for the system. Probably the 1st first person shooter game ever made.

The talking blew my mind at the time.

Wow!! Haven't heard of Capt 20 in a while. I think I had some 'club card' from that show. Back when we had to get up to change the tv channel!