page_title: Intellivision
section_title: Intellivision II
hierarchical_section_title: Intellivision / History and development / Intellivision II
caption_attribution_description: The Intellivision II video game console. This scaled-down redesign of the Intellivision was released in 1983.
context_page_description: The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name Intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development of the console began in 1977, the same year as the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984 Mattel sold their video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors that would become INTV Corporation. Games development started in 1978 and continued until 1990 when the Intellivision was discontinued. From 1980 to 1983 over 3 million Intellivision units were sold.
  In 2009, video game website IGN named the Intellivision the No. 14 greatest video game console of all time. It remained Mattel's only video game console until the release of the HyperScan in 2006.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1983, Mattel introduced the Intellivision II. It was not the technology upgrade that was expected, but a cheaper, compact replacement to the original. The Intellivision II was designed to be inexpensive to manufacture and service, with updated styling. It also had longer controller cords. The Intellivision II was initially released without a pack-in game but was later packaged with BurgerTime in the United States and Lock'N'Chase in Canada.  In 1984 the Digiplay Intellivision II was introduced in Brazil.  Brazil was the only country outside North America to have the redesigned Intellivision II.
  Using an external AC Adapter (16.2VAC), consolidating some ICs, and taking advantage of relaxed FCC emission standards, the Intellivision II has a significantly smaller footprint than the original. The controllers, now detachable, have a different feel, with plastic rather than rubber side buttons and a flat membrane keypad.  Users of the original Intellivision missed the ability to find keypad buttons by the tactile feel of the original controller bubble keypad.
  One functional difference was the addition of a video input to the cartridge port, added specifically to support the System Changer.  The System Changer, also released in 1983 by Mattel, is an Intellivision peripheral that plays Atari 2600 cartridges through the Intellivision.  The Intellivision hand controllers can be used to play Atari 2600 games.  The System Changer also has two controller ports compatible with Atari joysticks.  The original Intellivision requires a hardware modification in order to work with the System Changer; a service provided by Mattel.  Otherwise the Intellivision II was promoted to be compatible with the original.
  It was discovered that a few Coleco Intellivision games did not work on the Intellivision II.  Mattel secretly changed the Intellivision's internal ROM program (Exec) in an attempt to lock out 3rd party titles.  A few of Coleco's early games were affected but the 3rd party developers quickly figured out how to get around it.  Mattel's own Electric Company Word Fun, however, will not run on the Intellivision II due to this change.  In an unrelated issue but also due to Exec changes, Super Pro Football experiences a minor glitch where the quarterback does not appear until after the ball is hiked. There were also some minor changes to the sound chip (AY-3-8914A/AY-3-8916) affecting sound effects in some games.  Programmers at Mattel discovered the audio differences and avoided the problem in future games.
caption: The Intellivision II redesign was much smaller and cheaper to manufacture than the original.
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