Intellivision

The first console released by Mattel; production actually began before that of the Atari 2600. Despite what most people think, Mattel's aim was not to compete with Atari, but once Atari entered the spectrum, Mattel became more reluctant to enter the market. But they finally did and the Intellivision was test marketd in California in 1979.

The system would drop in 1980 with a price tag of $299 and a pack-in game: Los Vegas Blackjack. Sales would grow through the first half of 1982 before the Intellivision II took its place. The Video Game Crash of 1983 would take out the Intellivision (along wiht all of the other consoles) and put an end to Mattel Electronics Inc. Actually, this wasn't quite the end; a former VP of Mattel Electronics would recover the company and sell both master components and games through mail order till 1990.

The Intellivision was the first 16-bit console (yep, many people don't know that).

Specs:

CPU: General Instruments 1610 @ 3.58 Mhz Video Processor: Standard Television Interface Chip (STIC), 160x96 resolution, 16 colors, 8 sprites Audio Processor: General Instruments AY-3-8914, three channels RAM: Approx. 4K Storage: Cartridge