Michael Towns
“The reality is, that all you’re doing is pushing buttons.”
Tommy Tallarico, describing a videogame.
There’s a good chance that at least once in your life you’ve heard the word “Intellivision“. And, if you’re reading this, there’s also a good chance you have an idea of the history behind the company and the retro console. But if not; the Intellivision was released by Mattel way back in 1979. Physically, it was a big woodgrain and gold-coloured rectangle with rectangular controllers attached to it via a twirly cord, along with small rectangle-shaped buttons, both rigid ones on the unit itself as well as squishy ones the controllers. The controllers also had rectangle overlays you could place over them. Along with a voice attachment (also made up of multiple rectangles) the Intellivision was a console that could speak to you (both literally and spiritually).
The Intellivision looked like this, almost like an angry crab (image via techspot)
Fast forward to recent times and the original Intellivison console and its library have been revived a few times over the last couple of decades, from best-of style game compilation releases to various pack-in plug’n’play style devices. But along with those there was also…a modern Intellivision console? With touch screen controllers? And NFTs? Whaaaaaaaaa?!?!?!
This is far less crab like (image via Best Buy Canada)
We’ve mentioned the Amico before in the past but you can learn about the lengthy and storied history of this (so far) unreleased and failed console in the article linked here. And along with that, why not check out this documentary deep-dive into the subject by Dan of Slopes Game Room at the bottom of this very write-up.
There he is. The floating noggin’ himself.
Running at just shy of four hours in runtime and having been in the works since October last year, this epic YouTube documentary will get you up to speed with a lot of what’s happened (and not happened) over the last few years. And, if you’ve followed the promise of the Amico over the years, you’ll still likely learn somethin’ new. From classics (un)revived like Earthworm Jim to (not) playing Cornhole with your friends.
*Amazing subject to change.
Along with the history of the Amico hardware and games, the video delves a lot into this fellow right here; first name Tommy, surname; Tallarico. A lot of the history of the Amico is deeply intertwined with Tommy and his disposition to spout out anything that comes to his mind…did I say that I mean a LOT?! There was another Robolox-related video by the Youtuber hbomberguy which also delves into the past of Tallarico, and it’s also very much worth a watch after the checking out the Amico at the very tail end of the article. Not long now, I promise.
Things like this will make sense after watching the video. I promise.
There’s even some unexpected and bamboozling family connections within this tale, so I think you could say that you, ah…don’t wanna miss a thang.
Oh hey it’s Iggy Pop.
There’s quite a few Internet and gaming creative folks that lend their voices to the video as well, and a fair chunk of the people reading this will likely recognise at least a few of them. From passing by various YouTube channels, or our own long-running “Video Game Haiku” video series hosted by yours truly on the website you happen to reading this very moment…almost like magic!
That happy looking Game Boy chap? That’s me. ‘Ello.
Where’s that video you keep mentioning??? With no more delays (unlike the Amico itself, hiyoooo!), here’s the previously and constantly mentioned video. Enjoy, and kudos to Dan from Slopes Games Room for the great reception to its release thus far, both for the crazy amount of detail he’s uncovered as well as for the monumental effort put in. It’s well-worth setting aside four hours to jump into the deep end of this unsuc-cesspool.
We hope your are simultaneously educated and enthralled. Have a great day, and ’till next time; remember Tommy when you boot up the Metroid Prime remaster and listen to that amazing soundtrack. It’s made Tommy’s mother proud. 😀