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Intellivision Fonts


BillyHW

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OK, here's my comprehensive font list and sources for all things Intellivision...

 

For the Intellivision logo font, SF Intellivised is the one to use. You can download it here.

 

The Mattel Electronics font is rather unique. I haven't seen an exact match, but the closest one is called Sailer. The "N" is different, but the other characters are pretty close. Download it here.

 

For the words "Intelligent Television" use Helvetica Thin or Helvetica Nue Thin. There's a free version here. Set the tracking, or letter spacing, to something tight like -50 in Photoshop.

 

This site has an interesting dingbat font with lots of varieties of the running man that can be useful.

 

For cartridge labels and game titles on boxes, Mattel used Helvetica Black. There's a freebie version called QT Helvet Black that you can download here.

 

For the text you see on Intellivision game title screens, you want Intellec. It's available here. You can use it as is, but to match the on-screen look exactly, you need to reduce the horizontal scale of the characters to 84 percent, set the tracking to 2, and use an "N" instead of a regular space (assign it the same color as your background). You can probably tell I've spent way too much time in the past figuring this out. :) Have fun!

 

post-39531-0-10743200-1426907770_thumb.png

Edited by mthompson
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Shy Foundry had a font that approximated the font used in the Intellivision logo called SF Intellivised. You can probably google it.

 

EDIT: I see mthompson and I cross-posted. His post is much more comprehensive, clearly. :)

Edited by intvnut
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The first time I googled for an intellivision font fontmeme came up.

 

I think it works great, easy to use and you can colorize the text. (http://fontmeme.com/intellivision-font/)

 

No mattel electronics font though, but on fontsinuse.com it says:

 

"The Mattel Electronics logo appears to be Gemini Computer with customized ‘M’, ‘A’, and ‘N’."

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No mattel electronics font though, but on fontsinuse.com it says:

"The Mattel Electronics logo appears to be Gemini Computer with customized ‘M’, ‘A’, and ‘N’."

 

 

Gemini Computer is close, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I pieced together a sample from a character map of Gemini Computer that I found online. The M, A, E, and N are different. Mattel may very well have mixed and matched fonts for that logo or created an entirely different one.

 

It looks like Sailer mimics what you see on the title screen for TRON Solar Sailer (if you reduce the horizontal scale and tighten up the letter spacing). The M and N still differ from the printed logo, though. I wonder if anyone has found a better match for this.

 

post-39531-0-16008100-1426932836_thumb.png

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For the Mattel Electronics logo, I found Xped to be a pretty good match.

 

A pretty good match? Holy crap, that's the exact font. Let it be known from this day forward that Xped is Mattel Electronics logo font. Steve, you are the man!

 

I updated my little comparison chart below. I did adjust the tracking and individual pair kerning to get the same letter spacing as the actual logo, but otherwise Xped is unmodified.

 

post-39531-0-61934100-1426954131_thumb.png

 

One other bit of Intv font info is that the typeface used on the controller keypad and some of the overlays is Microgramma Bold Extended, available here.

 

Hopefully, now when anyone else is looking for answers to Intellivision font questions, they'll find this thread first and not have to search all over the place for the different bits and pieces. The attached zip file here has all of the fonts and instructions in one package to make thing easy.

Intv Font Package.zip

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It looks like some of the Xped verticals are a wee bit too thick. Then again, that could be artifacts from scanning and cleaning it up, I suppose.

 

Thanks for putting together that font package, Mark. Will you update the readme to have more precise info for how to adjust the fonts to match, like you did for Intellec, or isn't needed?

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It looks like some of the Xped verticals are a wee bit too thick. Then again, that could be artifacts from scanning and cleaning it up, I suppose.

 

Thanks for putting together that font package, Mark. Will you update the readme to have more precise info for how to adjust the fonts to match, like you did for Intellec, or isn't needed?

I just eyeballed the Mattel Electronics logo when I did the pair kerning. Almost all the pairs are different, and maybe not perfect. I also included the full font package, which has some other weights available.

 

The tracking for "Intelligent Television" isn't fancy, just super tight. Same for the cart labels. Mattel didn't waste any space! Depending on the software people use, the spacing adjustments might not allow precision, but these fonts definitely get the job done.

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It looks like some of the Xped verticals are a wee bit too thick. Then again, that could be artifacts from scanning and cleaning it up, I suppose.

 

Here's a graphic showing the text in both regular and light weights next to the original. It's hard to tell which is the perfect match for all of the characters. The scan is a bit rough, but it's the best I could find on the web today. I don't think you can really go wrong with either of these, but the kerning is a pain, and different between the two weights.

 

post-39531-0-99261300-1426961319_thumb.png

It looks like I misspoke. The first package I posted did not include the light version of Xped. This one does.

Intv Font Package v2.zip

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BTW... The font Peignot Bold is similar, but not identical to the Intellivision logo font. It has several differences, which I think SF Intellivised addresses. The hand controller digits are most likely Microgramma D Bold Extended (although Eurostile LT Pro Bold Extended #2 works). I think the 'enter' and 'clear' legends are just plain ol' Helvetica.

 

 

And wow: Xped looks spot on for the Mattel Electronics logo. (My eye leans towards Xped Regular in the screen shot above.)

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I'm leaning towards Exped Light based on the size of the openings in the A, R, and O. Those openings in the regular weight look too small, but there's no question that we've identified correct typeface.

i think they used both. Some fonts match one, some match the other.
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Here's a graphic showing the text in both regular and light weights next to the original. It's hard to tell which is the perfect match for all of the characters. The scan is a bit rough, but it's the best I could find on the web today. I don't think you can really go wrong with either of these, but the kerning is a pain, and different between the two weights.

 

attachicon.gifMattel-Electronics-logo-font-in-Xped.png

It looks like I misspoke. The first package I posted did not include the light version of Xped. This one does.

 

I think you forgot to include the SF Intellivised files into your zip package.

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I'm leaning towards Exped Light based on the size of the openings in the A, R, and O. Those openings in the regular weight look too small, but there's no question that we've identified correct typeface.

 

It's closer to the Light version I think. Maybe somewhere in-between. But both are very close.

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Wow, I sure did, and that's the easiest one. Here's an updated package.

 

 

You still forgot all the different variations of SF Intellivised and a few others as well. I've added them all to the following package:

 

EDIT: v4 File deleted. See the more complete v5 file located further down.

Edited by BillyHW
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