new intellivision system

[atari5200dude82]

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMEONE COMPLETE EITHER THE OLD INTELLIVISION SYSTEM 3 OR 4 SYSTEM FROM THE MATTEL DAYS AND MAKE SOME NEW GAMES. US INTELLIVISION FANS GOT ROBBED OF A NEW SYSTEM BESIDE THE ESC.

[GroovyBee]

Stop shouting! Given that the Inty chips are obsolete you're looking at an FPGA/ASIC implementation which is a big time commitment for hobby developers. There are some "new" commercial Inty systems however from what I understand they are effectively NOACs. The Inty homebrew scene is alive and well, just search the forum.

[PsychoKittyNet]

It would be cool though, I seem to recall some discussion on the CV board of an attempt too make a new CV.

[atari5200dude82]

It would be cool though, I seem to recall some discussion on the CV board of an attempt too make a new CV.

I know, i heard that toO. Opcode is supposed to have a new colecovision system , sometime next year, with new games. They are supposed to release the super game module, sometime this year.

[jaybird3rd]

The idea of doing a "Flashback 2 style" Intellivision system has been brought up a few times in the past, but "recreating" the Intellivision via FPGA/ASIC presents certain challenges that other systems, such as the ColecoVision or the Atari 2600, would not. I posted some thoughts on the subject late last year, and on the new Intellivision handhelds (the NOAC-based 25-in-1 and 10-in-1 controllers) that GroovyBee mentioned:

 

I seem to remember somebody asking this question before, but anyway ...

 

The problem with the Intellivision is that a lot of its hardware (the GI 1610, the STIC chip, etc) wasn't used in anything other than the Intellivision, so it would be more difficult to replicate in an integrated chipset than a console based on a 6502 or a Z80, for which there are off-the-shelf implementations available. The controllers are also more difficult to replicate, since they would require a sixteen-direction disc and an overlay system of some kind. The Flashback 2 also had the advantage of "Atari nostalgia," whereas the Intellivision only sold about one-fourth as many consoles as the 2600 did and doesn't have the same level of name recognition among the general public. That's not to say that a lot of people wouldn't enjoy having a real Intellivision console, but it would be a much different business proposition.

 

I actually liked the concept of the Intellivision X-in-1 controllers: repackage the Intellivision games, but present them in a way that is more accessible for kids and casual gamers. The problem was that the versions of the games that Techno Source used were "undercooked," just like the games in a lot of the other plug-and-play consoles (like the Jakks Atari joystick and the Flashback 1). In my opinion, Digital Eclipse did it the right way with the Atari 13-in-1 Paddle for Jakks Pacific: use some sort of emulation, or some version of the original code re-engineered for the hardware in the handheld, instead of trying to reprogram all of the games from scratch. Perhaps this simply wasn't feasible, given that the Intellivision X-in-1 handhelds used the same generic Nintendo-on-a-Chip that a lot of these other plug-and-play units did; it's actually less powerful than the original Intellivision in certain ways. They did a somewhat better job on their 10-in-1 Second Edition controller (and made some interesting enhancements to Astrosmash, as I recall), but it wasn't enough.

 

I remember that Keith Robinson was asked about this once (five years ago or so), and he also said that the cost of reproducing the Intellivision hardware was too great. But, he seemed to think that a platform powerful enough to emulate the Intellivision would soon be cheap enough and efficient enough to use in a battery-powered handheld or in an inexpensive Flashback-style console, so perhaps that's something they'll look into now that Intellivision Lives! DS has finally made it out. Personally, I'd rather see them release the rare cartridge reproductions that they've been talking about for a few years now: I'd love to get my hands on a new copy of Spiker! or Stadium Mud Buggies.