No, Atari didn’t make the Intellivision in the 80s. The original model was actually released by Mattel back in 1979. With the recent success Atari has found with retro consoles, though, the outfit has decided to put out a remake of their former rival game console in the form of the Atari Intellivision Sprint.
That’s right, Atari is bringing back the Intellivision, allowing retro gaming enthusiasts to relive one of the lesser-known consoles from the early days of video gaming. And yes, it’s just as weird as the original console from four and a half decades ago, complete with the same unusual controller, which looks more like a modern TV remote than a gamepad from home game consoles of yore.
The Atari Intellivision Sprint is a faithful recreation of the original console, with a styling that seems to more closely resemble a VHS player from the same era. It gets the same gold and black case, as well as wood grain paneling out front, giving it the kind of aesthetic that goes perfectly well with the cabinet-enclosed TVs of the time. Of course, this is a modern recreation, so it ditches the analog cables in favor of a single HDMI cable for plugging it in to modern TVs. It also throws out the wired controllers, opting for more contemporary Bluetooth controllers instead. Even better, the two bundled controllers are designed to dock horizontally on top of the console, where they automatically recharge whenever they’re mounted into place.
Speaking of controllers, it reprise the original Intellivision’s unusual gamepad, which comes in a form factor resembling a TV remote. Like the original, it comes with a round D-pad on the lower section and a numeric keypad at the top half, which is a huge departure from the joystick-based gaming systems of that period. It also includes swappable number pad overlays like the original, which made it easier to figure out which button to press for each type of in-game action. For this iteration, though, they use new designs and updated artwork, so everything looks just a little more modern despite its retro art style. Each overlay is double-sided, by the way, so you get a graphic for all the included games without having too many of them.
The Atari Intellivision Sprint also comes with a USB-C port for power, as well as two USB ports that can work with Intellivision’s original controllers if you use them with compatible adapters. As with Atari’s other releases, this doesn’t run the games natively. Instead, it’s likely running an emulator on a modern low-powered computer, similar to many other retro consoles in the market. That means, if you were hoping this can play your dusty game cartridges, there will be no such luck.
The console comes preloaded with 45 games from the original Intellivision. This includes a bunch of sports games, which were a particularly strong point for the platform, such as Spiker Super Pro Volleyball, Body Slam: Super Pro Wrestling, Chip Shot Super Pro Golf, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, Motocross, and more. It also includes classic titles like Boulder Dash, Astrosmash, Shark! Shark!, and a whole lot more.
The Atari Intellivision Sprint is now available for preorder, priced at $149.99. It ships December 5th, just in time for the holiday season.
