"We Brought The Rivalry To An End" - Atari Reveals The Intellivision Sprint

Well, I certainly am going to need this.

"USB-A port can connect original Intellivision II and II controllers (with adapter). Can also be used to play additional games (sold separately)."

I wonder how this works? The games, I mean. Will there be a cartridge reader attachment or something?

Putting aside how hilarious it is that Wade and Embracer's D Team were able to put together a better send up to Intellivision legacy in less than 2 years than Tommy ever did in 10 (by the way, this isn't the first use of Intellivision by Wade. Atari 50 got the M Network DLC, and there were shirts and hoodies immediately. There will always be shirts and hoodies.)

THE REAL QUESTION IS, did they manage to get Astrosmash, Boulderdash, and Shark Shark back from BBG, or is it a sub-liscenig deal like they had to do with Songbird for most of the Lynx and Jaguar games in 50?

Ugh, no cartridge slot..

@Zeebor15 have to keep a close eye on that Atari IP list, if they were updated it already..

I misread “brought that rivalry to an end” in the trailer for “bought that rivalry to an end” which is actually more fitting.

One point of note, and this is from someone who has no nostalgia glasses for the Intellivision, is that the controller overlays are going to be a huge nuisance. Perhaps it would be better to have a cheap e-ink screen behind the inputs that could change to the appropriate game overlay. Something like that would probably raise the costs and thus price of the console quite a bit though, making it potentially infeasible.

Lastly, this is an unholy union. It would be like if Nintendo released a new Genesis console.

@breach187 1) That's what Amiico was going to do, but it's one of the main things that kept breaking

2) Nintendo did make a Gensis controller.

$150 seems about double what a plug and play system like this should cost. The 2600+ and 7800+ have never been more than $130 and can play actual cartridges.

This is an interesting idea, and I kind of want one, but yeah, it's a bit overpriced.

$100 really seems like the maximum price point it should have been.

£99.99, I'm in. Still got my original hooked up to the CRT, but the power socket is getting a little loose.

There are 3 arcade ports for the Intellivision that I think look (and sound) really cool; 'Lady Bug' by Universal Ltd., 'Turbo' by Sega and 'Lock 'N' Chase' by Data East. Those I'd love to play (although I'm not really getting my hopes up - because licensing and stuff).

Wade is a genius just for being able to pick up everything about the Intellivision except the amico. How the heck was he able to separate that still-born turd from the brand?!

No cartridge slot, no purchase. Without that, it's just another - albeit much higher quality - plug and play machine that Atari has been mass producing for like 20 years.

I remember the RetroPals tried to stream BEE SEVENTEEN BOMMMBER! with original hardware and they struggled to get even one of the voice expansion modules to function properly (I recall they had a few).
Kind of a problem as after seeing the actual gameplay (from what I recall, when the AVGN created that meme, I don't think he demonstrated the actual game), the voices were a necessary thing, to my memory. Having the original device malfunction to just a few clicking sounds, to my memory, was a detriment.

@MasterZeta I was hoping for an Intellivision+ as well.

@cdog555 Well to be fair, it does come with 2 controllers instead of one like the Atari 2600+ and 7800+ so does justify a higher price. I would have preferred an Intellivision+ instead of this, but it is still good.

@cdog555 Presumably some of the cost is to offset their spending on acquiring the IP in the first place.

I'm not saying it's a good price, but I can understand why they would choose a different pricing scheme.

It's also not unusual or unexpected if the costs in general have gone up (such as those pesky US tariffs) and they've chosen to absorb them on the current product and price them into the next one.

I never owned an Intellivision system myself (got a Philips G7000 in 1982 which was kinda dumb, but my dad was a Philips "fan"). But I must say I'm quite intrigued with this 'Sprint' "edition.

I like that it's got wireless controllers (+HDMI etc.). My main concerns are if the voice module is "build in" (emulated), and how much an option for playing actual cartridges will be extra.

I'm also sceptical whether the controllers "d-pad" is any real good (I do like that it doubles as paddle/twister though). It's good they redesigned the inlays for the numeric keyboard as I heard that some of the originals weren't "optimal".

But pretty hyped right now (wasn't there supposed to some news at 7pm BST/8 (20) CEST? Or did they "spill the beans" early?)

Yes!! Exactly what I wanted. A new Intellivision.

Edit: Though disappointing, that it doesn't have a cartridge port...

Is Tommy's mother still very proud?

Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf...is an amazing game. Better than it has any right to be.

It influenced my way of making games a lot, from its procedurally generated holes, to drawing everything with circles/shapes. A really brilliant piece of programming.

I used both of those techniques in YOYOZO my "Best Games of 2023" and "Game of the Year" accolade winner, my Atari-award-winning game HERD NERD, and many more. Good ideas last forever.

Let Digital Eclipse put the library on Switch 2 with all that wonderful documentary stuff and I'll buy it and enjoy it.

But I'm a 1 console under the TV kind of guy.

i have a strange soft spot for the Intellivision. i don't own any mini consoles so i think this will be the one.

also how did they not get the BurgerTime license??

I'm a sucker for mini consoles, so I'll probably pick this up at some point. Recreating the Intellivision with wireless numberpads AND physical recreations of the overlays? That's my jam, and my first console was an N64. In related news, I'm looking forward to the Vectrex Mini.

As someone who was born after all these things I'm glad atari is reviving then for me to enjoy

This is a Intellivision Flashback guys. 🤔

@Lowdefal Yeah, tariffs could definitely be a factor impacting the price on a new product like this.

I want this, but it's missing Minotaur, Tron Deadly Discs, Burgertime, Bump-n-Jump, Cloudy Mountain, and the Imagic games that made the system so much better. I get that licensing is at play, but I thought neo-Atari purchased both Intellivision and Imagic.

The sports games are nice, but let's be honest they have aged about as well as the 20+ Atari 2600 sports games on their collections.

@slider1983

A) The Inty Flashback is expensive to get hold of these days, with some poorly emulated aspects.

B) And? They've already made better use of the brand than the previous owners ever did.

@mjparker77 The original owners wanted to do something more than just repackage the old games.

@slider1983
And instead did......
Nothing. At all.

@mjparker77 I mean they tried. To say they did nothing at all is wrong.

@slider1983 Not aware of the original owners after the console's original Mattel/INTV Corp run, Keith Robinson and Stephen Roney, ever having any grand plans there.

The plan under them always seemed to keep the brand alive through Intellivision Lives/Rocks style compilations, licensing games out to plug & play manufacturers and Microsoft (Game Room for the 360), etc. Modest goals aimed at keeping the legacy alive.

Plans to release unreleased Intellivison games on cartridge and develop a homebrew programming scene with development software and such never came to fruition. But the main focus was always on stuff like Intellivision Lives.

Then Keith, one of the original "Blue Sky Rangers", passed away in 2017 and then the Tommy Tallarico/Amico trainwreck started the next year when he bought the rights.

I don't have the space or the money for physical collecting at the moment, but this is certainly interesting. You can still have some fun with Snafu and Shark! Shark! today.

@Atariboy I do get the impression they weren't going to do much with it and I know people wanted something that allowed physical media to be used. The Amico anyway was trying to be an evolution of that. In hindsight it would have been better to merge both ideas.

@Zeebor15 “Nintendo didn’t make a Genesis controller.”

Check again?
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/sega-genesis-control-pad-114295/

(Pedantic, I know.)

@Darknyht BurgerTime and Bump 'n Jump (other names Burnin' Rubber and Buggy Popper) were Data East IP so who knows who those have been shuffled to these days.

@breach187 I said DID. They DID make a genesis controller

@KingMike Marvelous. Specifically their mobile division G-Mode. They've been slinging Data East ports to every retro console they can. They even made an all new BurgerTime for consoles.

@KingMike I don't know who owns the IP, but it appears that AtGames! currently holds the right to produce products with it. Bump-N-Jump is available in a Coleco Vision Collection sold by AtGames, and Burgertime is all over their other products.

I have a lot of fond memories of playing both on intellivision, but it is those specific quirky versions I prefer over the actual arcade games. I forgot Lock-N-Chase, but it probably has just as messy rights behind it.

I was the odd kid that grew up in a house that owned both the Odyssey II (with Voice Module) and the Intellivision II (with Voice Module) before I got my first NES system. There wasn't a lot of the Odyssey II that I remember outside of Monkey Shines, Pickaxe Pete, and KC Munchkin; but I played a lot of Intellivision even after I had an NES.

@Zeebor15 Then I am dumb and misread. My bad.

BEEEE SEVEANN TEEEEEN BAWMBUUUR