The Pioneer Era · 1972â1984
Mattel Intellivision
Sought After?
Moderately. Complete sets are popular with collectors who appreciate its more sophisticated (for the time) sports and strategy titles; not as valuable as Atari rarities.
Downsides
The numeric keypad/overlay controller was widely disliked â mushy, awkward for action games, and easy to lose the plastic overlays.
Why It Faded
Lost the console war to Atari early on despite technically superior graphics, then got caught in the 1983 crash. Mattel sold the division in 1984.
Trivia
Intellivision ran a famous ad campaign showing side-by-side comparisons mocking the Atari 2600's graphics â one of the first console "spec war" ad campaigns.