Retro Gaming Hacks

Emulate the Intellivision

Turn your PC into an intelligent television.

If any golden-age hardware gave the Atari 2600 a run for its money, it was Mattel’s Intellivision console. The system’s higher-powered capabilities let it create what were at the time exceptionally detailed graphics, resulting in some very impressive sports games. Comparing Mattel’s baseball title to Atari’s was like comparing prime rib to roadkill meatloaf. But Atari still had the exclusive rights to hit arcade titles like Pac-Man and Space Invaders, which Mattel couldn’t match.

But the Intellivision was so appealing that Mattel had a major hit on their hands, and the in-house design teams cranked out titles by the dozen. The Intellivision was able to keep chugging along until 1990, but finally was not able to stand up against the onslaught of Nintendo. In 1997, original Intellivision game designers Keith Robinson and Steve Roney bought the rights to the system and game library and immediately set about repackaging the games for a new generation of players. They teamed up with other former Mattel employees, reviving the team name that they’d taken in 1981: the Blue Sky Rangers.

Intellivision Lives!

If you want to emulate Intellivision titles on your PC, there’s an easy and conscience-soothing solution. Head over to Robinson and co.’s web site, http://www.intellivisionlives.com. There, you can purchase Intellivision Lives! and Intellivision Rocks!, two collections of emulated games that run on the PC and Mac. The ...