INTV fans: Do you feel alone in public?

[DeputyMoniker]

As I've mentioned many times in the past; I grew up with the INTV. I didn't get a 2600 until three years ago. I have grown to love the 2600 but I would still rather play my INTV. When I discuss childhood gaming with people, they never know about the INTV. Best case scenario, they "think" they remember "something" about it. It's crazy. Nobody ever knows about it... Anybody else feel like they're the only gamer in the city who had one?

[Mianrtcv]

I was lucky. My friends had many different systems. I had intellivision, so did my best friend. Next best friend had atari 2600 and colecovision. Another pal had 2600 and 5200. One friend who lived far away had vectrex, that was a rare play but it had cool factor to it as not many of the crew had played one.
Intellivision was always our first bet at my house and my best friends. I got a colecovision, and then a 2600 (used, garage sales). The CV was played like twice, mom bought her son it and he didnt like it (ingrate!!!). She sold it to me a couple of weeks old $35, 7 games $5 each. I had to collect from paper route customers to make the full payment.

As consoles came out it was always a diversified sampling. That continued to early computer offerings. I was blessed. I was also partial to my Intellivision.

I was not alone in having one. For that matter, noone was alone in having their choice either (unless it was vectrex, O2, channel f or the like... they were the oddballs lucky in their own right). It was like a network. Everyone brought something to the table. They were many duplicates but there was always the standout Odyssey, vectrex, pong unit, etc. I enjoy those gaming times the most.

[Dreadstar]

I grew up with a Sears Inty (then NES, Genesis, and somewhere in there was a CoCo2 that was used just as much for gaming as programming), and one set of cousins had the Mattel one. But I can think of probably 4-6 friends/family that had 2600's around the same time, maybe more, so I'd definitely say the numbers were skewed in favor of Atari.

I don't know a lot of meatspace retrogamers though, so it's rare that either system comes up in conversation nowadays.

[scooterb23]

I remember Intellivision from back in the day, but only because my aunt's boyfriend at the time had one, and when we went to his place...I schooled him at Astrosmash and Baseball.

If I hadn't had that experience, I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn't have known of the system until I began collecting in the late 90s.

[miaandjohnrule]

As I've mentioned many times in the past; I grew up with the INTV. I didn't get a 2600 until three years ago. I have grown to love the 2600 but I would still rather play my INTV.
I'm definitely in the same boat as you. I love the Intellivsion more than any other system of the era and have only recently began getting into Atari at all. It was definitely way behind Atari, try and talk to anyone about the INTV and all you get is, "Is that for Atari?" No it's not.

[blue lander]

I grew up with the Intellivision too, and I don't think I've ever met anybody who remembers it.

Of course, most people have the same reaction if you try to talk to them about any old video game console, which is "why do you still care about video games released 20 years ago?"

[bangtango]

I'm an INTV fan and I don't feel alone in public. As long as I am carrying my INTV with me everywhere I go, I'm never alone.

[k8track]

When I was a kid, everyone had an Atari VCS. I was a year or two behind everyone--several people got theirs for Christmas 1980 but most everyone got 'em Christmas 1981. I didn't get mine until Christmas 1982, but when I did, I started building my collection and then trading with all the other kids who had them. That's why it was so great to have what everyone else did--you could trade games for a while.

A friend of mine had an Intellivision and I always thought it was so cool, even though he couldn't trade with anyone. Some of the games might have been a little complicated for me at the time--heck, they're still complicated to this day. A well-deserved name.

But what I really, really wanted back in the day was a Colecovision. I don't think anyone in our school had one of those, at least not in 6th or 7th grade.

[Pantechnicon]

I publicly wave the Intv flag, so to speak, in the form of an Intellivision-logo badge lanyard which I often wear to work. No one at work ever asks about it, though, and I think they might be afraid to. The first person who says to me, "Oh, yeah, I remember that..." will be in my good graces for a long time to come.

I also verbally invoke the Intv name on those occasions where I try to explain to people the specific nature of my hobby: "I collect old videogame systems, mostly the pre-Nintendo stuff like Atari and Intellivision". Very few people openly react to this. The look in their eyes ranges from confused indifference to genuine fear ("Omigod I'm talking to a seriously psychotic nerd!"). Every now and then somebody will recall Atari anecdotally but nobody has ever said "You have an Intellivision?! Wow!"

I should also note that I was not a fan of the Inty back in its day. I chose the Atari side in the Great Console War of 1982 and remained loyal. But the war is over, both systems live in peace in the land of Retrotopia and so I make it a point of order to mention the two together in one breath whenever possible.

So in short: I suppose I feel alone, but that's not the same thing as feeling lonely.

[MrSparkle]

funny i just hooked mine back up yesterday after a few years of it sitting in its box seems to need some work randomly resets and does wierd things.

[Gapporin]

As the odd man out in not only one, but two generations (had an INTV over 2600, and an SMS over NES), I can relate. Although I was too young to remember growing up with the INTV, I get the same feeling/reaction whenever I try to bring up the SMS in public. "Oh, you had a Sega? You mean a Genesis?" I don't think I've met anyone (outside of here, of course) that remembers what the SMS was. And the only time I've ever had someone recognize an INTV was is when I displayed my video game consoles in the library several months ago. It was pretty cool that someone actually knew what an INTV was.

Funny thing is, the SMS and INTV are now two of my favorite consoles. Go figure.

[ssjlance]

I got a bit of the outcast feeling by toting the Gamecube's flag. And the Dreamcast's. But I've never actually had an Intellivision. I mean, I've always kind of wanted one simply to add to my collection, but not enough to scour eBay for a good price on one. Hell, the only reason I have an Odyssey2 is because the local gamestore had one with 6 games for $10.

[ryborg]

I grew up with INTV and I still trumpet its excellence to friends who didn't play it much growing up. Mario Party? Meh, give me SNAFU.

[Steve W]

I find that people know the Intellivision slightly more than the Colecovision. I too say "I collect games for the older systems I grew up with, like Atari and Intellivision" and nobody ever says "What's an Intellivision?" I think it all comes down to the age of the people I'm talking to. Atari is still fairly well known, but Intellivision is one of those things that you really had to be around for to remember. It's like the Saturn will be in a few more years, pretty much overshadowed by the 'winner' of that console generation.

[jcalder8]

Intellivision fans? I normally feel alone when I talk about classic games in public.

On a funny note I got a call at work from someone looking for "NES games, you know the ones for the original Nintendo" I was able to let him know that we didn't have any in right then.

[diskoboy]

Shit.... You think Inty fans have it hard, how 'bout us people who got an Odyssey 2, back then??

When I moved to Tennessee, back in '82, I thought they'd be plentiful, since they were manufactured in Knoxville. I was the only person I knew that had one.

I actually knew alot of people with Intellivision's. I have fond memories of Astrosmash, Night Stalker, and B-17 Bomber.

[DefaultGen]

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[mercarian]

To be honest, your really lucky that you grew up with something different. Most "kids" have similar things and thus get caught in norms. O_o

[FrakAttack]

Thought about getting one instead of a VCS, but that goofy disc controller really turned me off of it. Then ColecoVision and the 5200 came out and I quickly forgot about Intellivision altogether.

[Red Warrior]

Count me in as a strange one who grew up with Intellivision instead of Atari. The first controller I ever held was an INTV controller. And at age 4, I was earning my Happy Trails Activision badge with one of those in my hand... seriously.

But it gets weirder. Later on in 1983, my dad purchased a 5200. I don't know a whole lotta kids who started with an Intellivision and then jumped to the 5200... all without ever owning a 2600. Dad always said he wanted my brother and I to play real games that took intelligence and skill to play... that's why he never bought us a 2600. Hey I didn't say it... he did. No offense to you VCS junkies out there.

I now own 61 VCS carts, and can certainly appreciate what the first Atari had to offer... but Intellivision will always have my heart. :) Too bad you guys are practically the only ones I can talk to about it.

[DeputyMoniker]

Some of you guys have mentioned having family members who played INTV. I had a similar experience with the Colecovision. My aunt had one and I wouldn't have played it otherwise. I know I had heard of it, and I think I would still have a decent memory of its existence, but I never would have played it much. I had one other fiend who had it, but we very rarely hung out.
Regarding my aunts Colecovision, she still has it with her games. She has promised it to me...but nobody knows when she'll come off it.

[DefaultGen]

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[DeputyMoniker]

It seems a lot of you who grew up on Intellivision have a special place in your heart despite a respect/love for the 2600. That didn't happen to me at all. It was all wrong for me growing up. I had Genesis over SNES, Game Gear over Game Boy, and now I dislike those things and i'm jealous of all the kids who got to grow up with Nintendo.

I never achieved a newfound respect for Game Gear either.

Lol. I was like that back in the day. I assumed people had to choose a side. It turned out to be a lot more fun if I just play whatever I wanna play. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened when I bought my 2600 a few years ago. I played Kaboom in a tournament, I had never played it before, and I had a great time. I thought "Well, shit. I need to give the 2600 another try." and I came out a better man for it. :P

[ghsqb]

I adore the INTV. Sure I know a lot more people that had 2600's than INTY's, but my two systems growing up were INTV and the Colecovision.

I had the system changers/expansion modules for both systems and had a bunch of Atari games, but until I started collecting I never owned an actual Atari system.

The greatest thing about collecting is now my son enjoys those same systems as I did when I was his age.
Sure he likes the Wii and the 360, but for me, the nice thing as a parent, is that with very few exceptions, I can pop anything into the INTV or CV and not worry about content.

All that said, to the OP's question, I used to feel kind of like an outcast for owning those systems, since I didn't know many people who also owned them...and then I found this place! :)

[icbrkr]

The INTV was my first console - my dad bought it for me back in 1983 when everything was becoming cheaper (ermm) and he had already had one for himself (which I still have). There were quite a few of us in the neighborhood who had one though not as much as a 2600. It was enough to swap games for the weekend to try out the latest title.

The Colecovision was a different story. The time it started getting popular, most of us started using computers. Only one friend had one and spent much of his time toting it around from house to house so we could play Donkey Kong or Venture on it.