During the early days of home video game consoles, Atari was the reigning champion of the living room. There were many who schemed to storm its throne, but none were so bold as toy company Mattel and their Intellivision. The Intellivision was an odd console with a keypad controller and a rotating disc in lieu of a joystick, but it did well enough for itself to give Atari some healthy competition. Now, years later and despite Mattel moving on to greener pastures, the Intellivision is plotting its glorious return with a fresh coat of paint.
The Intellivision Amico is designed to be a simple, affordable console with games that can satisfy the fickle whims of a hardcore player while maintaining a family-friendly library. Conceptual designs show two Bluetooth controllers made in the original keypad controller’s image, albeit with the keypad switched out for a light-up touch screen and the disc thing swapped for a disc-shaped directional pad. The controllers also feature accelerometers and gyroscopes for motion controls, and other players can even connect and use a smart phone as a controller. The library will consist, at least at first, of reimagined games from the Intellivision’s library, such as Tron: Deadly Discs, Astrosmash, and SNAFU, with no games rated above E for Everyone.
The console is expected to cost somewhere between $149 and $179, with games ranging from $2.99-$7.99, on October 10th, 2020.
