Gamasutra’s History of Gaming Platforms Series Covers Mattel Intellivision
By Shawn on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 8:11 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Hardware
The latest article in Gamasutra’s History of Gaming Platforms series features the Mattel Intellivision. This classic console was one of the good things from the 80s. More sophisticated than the Atari 2600, this console featured 2 Kb of memory, a full 16 colors and quirky controllers that earned it a loyal following.
Believe it or not, Intellivision owners could actually download and play games on demand as early as 1981, with the PlayCable adapter. Given the growing popularity of digital dwnload, it’s ironic the service was discontinued in 1983 for being too far ahead of its time. Mattel also introduced another feature that is sadly still popular with some companies.
Another “feature” was a secret validation check in the hardware that made third-party software inoperable. This check affected Coleco’s 1982 arcade conversions — Donkey Kong, Mouse Trap, and Carnival — and inadvertently rendered Mattel’s own Electric Company Word Fun (1980) unplayable. Fortunately, internal and external development groups soon figured out how to bypass the check.
via Gamasutra
