Mattel Intellivision

Created by Mattel Electronics a division of Mattel ion 1979 the Intellivision was a main competitor for the well placed Atari 2600. The Intellivision boasted better sound, graphics and game play against the Atari 2600 and actually came out less than a year later then the 2600.

Intellivision meaning intelligent television was a second genearation video game console that sold 3 million consoles and Astrosmash the consoles best seller sold 1 million. The console did not sell as well as the Atari 2600 but the Intellivision did make a huge impact in the video game market.

Upon its release it had a higher store price then it’s competitor, the Intellivision being sold for $299 in stores across North America. The Intellivision was not the first competitor against Atari as Magnavos, Bally and Fairchild Semiconductor already had consoles currently on the market.

Intellivision marketed their consoles like many other systems of the day under other names such as Radio Shack Tandyvisiion and the Sears Super Video Arcade. The Intellivision under the M Network name released games for the Atari 2600.

The Intellivoice was a neat accessory for the Intellivision that only worked with very few games. With the games it worked on it would add voice to the game that actually was very helpful during game play. The lack of speech was limited to 4K and the unit was not a huge hit.

The video game crash of 1983 brought and end to not only the Intellivision but many other consoles that were currently on the market.