Intellivision FAQ Section 9.0 Modern Resources

Intellivision Master Component model 2609

The Classic Intellivision FAQ

Composed, arranged, and produced by Intv Prime, Artifact Productions Division
https://www.intvprime.com/intellivision-faq

Section 9.0: Modern: Resources

21st Century places, tools, and things for creating or consuming enjoyment of the classic Intellivision games.

  • 9.1 Emulation and tools for the 21st Century
  • 9.2 Retail operations
  • 9.3 Links to Everything Else

9.1: What are file formats used for Emulators?

Most people will encounter 3 formats for use with emulators. There are more but generally these have the most and modern support.

  • LUIGI: This format is parsed by a 16-bit microcontroller so it can be handled by an embedded device.
  • BIN CFG: CFG file resembles a "Windows INI" file, with instructions for the emulator to load the BIN file into the Intellivision memory locations. Some CFG are made by humans so can have hard-to-understand instructions. See the bincfg directory in the Jzintv source tree for the closest thing to a spec.
  • INT ITV: BIN CFG files renamed.
  • ROM: A self-contained package of cartridge code without a configuration file, requiring emulators to "guess" on how to load it. Mattel aka ECS-style bank switching is not supported with ROM because emulators won’t know how to handle the memory addressing without specific instructions.

9.1: What is the Ultimate Flashback?

Todd Holcomb developed a solution to the limited games on the Flashback by replacing the internals with a Raspberry Pi and accessible SDRAM slot. This change allowed the install of Emulation Station plus the jzIntv emulator to run any Intellivision game in the catalog, using the excellent Flashback controllers. Mr. Holcomb’s kit is the most faithful way to play Intellivision games on a television without resorting to original (aging) hardware.

9.1: How to add ROMs to an Ultimate Flashback?

Papa Pete has created a 2023 video guide on how to self service add games.

9.1: What is the Intellivision Flashback?

First available in Fall 2014 via Atgames, the Flashback is an all-in-one "plug and play" unit that resembles a minified version of the gold+woodgrain 2609 console. Unlike the previous handheld units, these are not ports but instead the actual Intellivision code running within a hardware emulator. Most of the games are very functional and playable, with a lot of care taken by Intellivision Productions CEO Keith Robinson to make sure the same level of play and fun are included.

A major standout for the system are the controllers, which very faithfully reproduce the look/feel/control of the original items. It does not have a cartridge slot, and does not carry 3rd party licensed games like Bump-n-Jump (Data East), but it does deliver the classic Intellivision IP in a fast-to-play format. Many people currently buy Flashbacks just for the controllers, which can have the end-cable pinouts modified to work on original hardware.

Atgames relationship with Intellivision Productions was not a good one, and a follow-on Flashback was not meant to be.

SKU 721737B2, UPC/EAN/ISBN 857847003271

Games list:

Game Game Game
01 Astrosmash 11 Body Slam: Super Pro Wrestling 21 Spiker: Super Pro Volleyball
02 Space Armada 12 Bowling 22 Stadium Mud Buggies
03 Space Battle 13 Boxing 23 Super Pro Decathlon (Decathlon)
04 Space Cadet 14 Deep Pockets: Super Pro Pool & Billiards 24 Tennis
05 Space Hawk 15 Football, Super Pro 25 Backgammon
06 Space Spartans 16 Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf 26 Bomb Squad
07 Star Strike 17 Golf 27 Checkers
08 Auto Racing 18 Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey 28 Chess
09 World Ch Bsbal 19 Motocross 29 Horse Racing
10 Slam Dunk 20 Soccer 30 Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack
31 Las Vegas Roulette 42 Brickout 52 Snafu
32 Royal Dealer 43 Blowout 53 Thin Ice
34 Armor Battle 44 Buzz Bombers 54 Thunder Castle
35 B-17 Bomber 45 Frog Bog 55 Triple Action
36 Crown of Kings 46 Hard Hat 56 Vectron
37 Minotaur 47 Hover Force 57 Learning Fun
38 Sea Battle 48 Night Stalker 58 Learning Fun II
39 Sub Hunt 49 Pinball 59 Math Fun
40 Tower of Doom 50 Shark! Shark! 60 Word Fun
41 Takeover 51 Sharp Shot

Overlays included in all editions:

  • Astrosmash
  • Buzz Bombers
  • Crown of Kings
  • Minotaur
  • Night Stalker
  • Space Hawk
  • Space Spartans
  • Utopia
  • World Championship Baseball
  • Word Fun

Overlays included if item was purchased from Sam’s Club:

  • Bowling
  • Chess
  • Sea Battle
  • Space Battle
  • Sub Hunt

A supplemental 60-overlay pack was sold by the Blue Sky Rangers company.

A special edition was made for the Dollar General retail stores, which included the original 2-player-only Major League Baseball game.

9.1: What is the Ultimate Flashback?

Todd Holcomb developed a solution to the limited games on the Flashback by replacing the internals with a Raspberry Pi and accessible SDRAM slot. This change allowed the install of Emulation Station plus the jzIntv emulator to run any Intellivision game in the catalog, using the excellent Flashback controllers. Mr. Holcomb’s kit is the most faithful way to play Intellivision games on a television without resorting to original (aging) hardware.

9.1: What is the Intellivision Flashback?

First available in Fall 2014 via Atgames, the Flashback is an all-in-one "plug and play" unit that resembles a minified version of the gold+woodgrain 2609 console. Unlike the previous handheld units, these are not ports but instead the actual Intellivision code running within a hardware emulator. Most of the games are very functional and playable, with a lot of care taken by Intellivision Productions CEO Keith Robinson to make sure the same level of play and fun are included.

A major standout for the system are the controllers, which very faithfully reproduce the look/feel/control of the original items. It does not have a cartridge slot, and does not carry 3rd party licensed games like Bump-n-Jump (Data East), but it does deliver the classic Intellivision IP in a fast-to-play format. Many people currently buy Flashbacks just for the controllers, which can have the end-cable pinouts modified to work on original hardware.

Atgames relationship with Intellivision Productions was not a good one, and a follow-on Flashback was not meant to be.

SKU 721737B2, UPC/EAN/ISBN 857847003271

Games list:

Game Game Game
01 Astrosmash 11 Body Slam: Super Pro Wrestling 21 Spiker: Super Pro Volleyball
02 Space Armada 12 Bowling 22 Stadium Mud Buggies
03 Space Battle 13 Boxing 23 Super Pro Decathlon (Decathlon)
04 Space Cadet 14 Deep Pockets: Super Pro Pool & Billiards 24 Tennis
05 Space Hawk 15 Football, Super Pro 25 Backgammon
06 Space Spartans 16 Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf 26 Bomb Squad
07 Star Strike 17 Golf 27 Checkers
08 Auto Racing 18 Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey 28 Chess
09 World Ch Bsbal 19 Motocross 29 Horse Racing
10 Slam Dunk 20 Soccer 30 Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack
31 Las Vegas Roulette 42 Brickout 52 Snafu
32 Royal Dealer 43 Blowout 53 Thin Ice
34 Armor Battle 44 Buzz Bombers 54 Thunder Castle
35 B-17 Bomber 45 Frog Bog 55 Triple Action
36 Crown of Kings 46 Hard Hat 56 Vectron
37 Minotaur 47 Hover Force 57 Learning Fun
38 Sea Battle 48 Night Stalker 58 Learning Fun II
39 Sub Hunt 49 Pinball 59 Math Fun
40 Tower of Doom 50 Shark! Shark! 60 Word Fun
41 Takeover 51 Sharp Shot

Overlays included in all editions:

  • Astrosmash
  • Buzz Bombers
  • Crown of Kings
  • Minotaur
  • Night Stalker
  • Space Hawk
  • Space Spartans
  • Utopia
  • World Championship Baseball
  • Word Fun

Overlays included if item was purchased from Sam’s Club:

  • Bowling
  • Chess
  • Sea Battle
  • Space Battle
  • Sub Hunt

A supplemental 60-overlay pack was sold by the Blue Sky Rangers company.

A special edition was made for the Dollar General retail stores, which included the original 2-player-only Major League Baseball game.

9.1: What is the Argon?

Argon is a turnkey emulation package for running Intellivision games (as well as other 1980s classic consoles).

9.1: What is the MiSTer for Intellivision?

Intellivision MiSTer adapts the base FPGA board "DE10-Nano" to use emulate original hardware while supporting 21st Century HDMI-out.

9.1: Can I play Intellivision on Evercade?

The hardware console/portable system has two collections for Intellivision games.

  • Set 1 (2021)
    — Astrosmash
    — Buzz Bombers
    — Frog Bog
    — Night Stalker
    — Pinball
    — Princess Quest
    — Shark! Shark!
    — Slap Shot Super Pro Hockey
    — Snafu
    — Thin Ice
    — Thunder Castle
    — Word Rockets

  • Set 2 (2022)
    — Cloudy Mountain
    — Tower of Doom
    — Hover Force
    — Star Strike
    — Vectron
    — Auto Racing
    — Sharp Shot
    — Stadium Mud Buggies
    — Super Pro Decathalon
    — Motocross
    — Mountain Madness Super Pro Skiing
    — Reversi

9.1: How can I emulate Intellivision?

There are many ways to emulate a classic Intellivision on other platforms. In 2022, jzIntv is simply the best way to do it. When in doubt, start with jzIntv.

jzIntv is so complete, it even has an Easter Egg embedded: keep "resetting" the game by holding down the key mapped to it in jzIntv config, and a screen with static noise will show on Channel 03, and simulate a person hitting the mute button. 🙂

9.1: Where can I download legitimate Intellivision ROMs?

Aside from lawful sellers, there are many places on the internet to grab homebrew and independent-publisher 21st Century games, for free.
A sample of the overall items are included here.

9.1: Can I play Intellivision on a PC?

Intellivision Productions created floppy disks with a combined INTVPC emulator and a few games in a ready-to-play format. These executable bundles evolved into the game packs distributed in the Intellivsion Lives! and Intellivision Rocks CDs. Starting around the year 2012, these releases no longer reliably play on Windows or Mac operating systems, as the INTVPC emulation code was developed in Borland Pascal for MSDOS/Windows 3.1. The game ROMs can be extracted from the CDROM and played on modern (2020 as of this writing) emulation like jzIntv.
Intellivision Lives/Rocks was produced for other platforms as well in the early 2000s for what were popular game systems of that time.

  • Microsoft Xbox (UPC 650008499070), 2004
  • Sony Playstation 2 (UPC 650008399189/5060057021774/5060057021798), 2003
  • Nintendo Game Cube (UPC 650008599077), 2004
  • Nintendo DS (UPS 609722301626), 2010
    The emulation is really, really good! Keith Robinson’s team put the quality control into making the games run well on the more modern platforms.

Note: World Series Major League Baseball (WSMLB) ROM does not work outside of this collection, was modified for 1990s emulator shortcomings, it is not 49152 bytes as needed by modern emulators.

9.1: What is an Aquarius?

The Aquarius is a computer platform with some similar-looking software, but is not compatible with to the Intellivision family (except an Aquarius Printer can connect to an ECS). It is included here because it was a Mattel Electronics product, and can be fun in its own way.

An emulator does exist for current systems:Aqualite

9.1: How can ECS cassette data from tapes be emulated with waveforms?

  • bin2wav and wav2bin: Windows tools for converting waveform audio to ECS-ready data for use in emulators. (LTO)

9.1: What is the Portable Intellivision Development Environment?

If you have ever wanted to try writing games for the Intellivision but you don’t have hours of free time to just sit down in front of a computer, then use this document to create a full development environment right on your Android phone or tablet.

You do not need to root your device, and you do not need advanced technical skill. First, buy the books Programming Games For Intellivision and Advanced Game Programming for Intellivision and learn to write simple Intellivision programs. Then set up a full development environment to write games using only your device and a keyboard.

9.2: Who sells Intellivision games at retail?

Aside from eBay and Facebook Marketplace, there are several places to buy games and consoles and parts at retail.

Like it or not, eBay is generally the go-to for people selling hardware, games, and accessories. The Blue Sky Rangers maintain an official eBay storefront as of Spring, 2021.

The Atari Age forum maintains a vibrant buy/sell/trade/swap space.

Between 2010 and 2021, scalpers and speculators have generally driven prices up, so eBay has been a great place to learn about what is available, but not necessarily the place to buy (except for the BSR store).

Organizations like Goodwill, Mission Thrift, and other national groups have online sales areas.

Protecting physical game boxes is possible at "Retro Protect", and they will even do custom boxes if asked.

Check the sources here for alternative places to shop.

9.3: What is the price of an Intellivision today?

Average value for a Mattel gold 2609 Master Component is $70 used, $110 in box, $300+ new and unused (very hard to come by after 40 years).

9.3: What was the price of an Intellivision?

At launch, the Intellivision retailed for $299 USD. $299 in 1980 is worth $1,114.09 in 2023.
In 1981, Mattel was paying $27.25 for the first 100K units, with the price declining to $23.50 once they crossed 300K units.

9.3: How much is a homebrew game?

Most releases (homebrew: typically no license or IP agreement made in limited batches, independent: typically with legal agreements/licensing and larger production runs) are approx $75 USD.

Intellivision games require a relatively rare plastic shape housing, custom chips, and unique production process. Producers tend to replicate the Intellivison comercial treatment of the early 1980s when it was a boutique system, so quality boxes and overlays and printed manuals are also included, which drives up the price.

ROMs tend to be in the $15 USD range, sometimes depending on LTO Flash ID locking.

9.3: How much is an Intellivision collection worth?

According to the PriceCharting website, a collection of known original and major Independent cartridge games and hardware has a value of $4,406.60 and if all items are new-shrinkwrapped it is $18,408.14.

PriceCharting tends to be less than accurate and undervalued for all systems older than the NES, so Intellivision values are likely slightly higher for many items. YMMV!

9.3: How do I socialize with other Intellivision enthusiasts?

You found this FAQ, so that is a good start. 🙂

Aside from the implied connections elsewhere in this FAQ, try these direct places:

  • Twitter: Search for "#Intellivision"
  • Facebook: Intellivision Retro Gamers www.facebook.com/groups/1631170557158100/
  • Discord: Intellivision Fan Group disboard.org/server/682739902504632320
  • Atari Age web forum for Intellivision: atariage.com/forums/forum/125-intellivision-aquarius/
  • Intellivision online web forum: intellivisiononline.forumotion.com/

Stamp: 2023-11-26T03:29:17

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