Adan is responsible for some of the best music scores ever heard on the Intellivision, from Sydney Hunter soundtracks to multiple independent song releases. He uses custom tools to make the AY-3-8912 really "sing".
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Alan Smith was a programmer for Dracula.
Arnauld Chevallier was a programmer for Stonix, and Defender of the Crown. He has also developed a world-class music engine for the Intellivision, capable of pushing the PSG to its absolute limit to make great music and sound effects.
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Bill Fisher was a programmer for Space Hawk, Space Spartans, and B-17 Bomber.
Bob Newstadt was a programmer for Pinball (with Minh Chou Train)
Brett Stutz was a programmer for Star Strike (with Hal Finney), and Tron Deadly Discs (with Jeff Ronne)
Brian Dougherty was a programmer for Space Spartans, and Swords n Serpents.
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Brian creates Youtube content about the Intellivision and other systems. In Spring 2021, he began coding new games on his own..
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Carol Shaw was a programmer for Happy Trails.
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Chou Tran Minh was a programmer for Pinball (with Bob Newstadt).
Chris Hawley was a programmer for Horse Racing, and Space Armada (with John Brooks).
Chris Kingsley was a programmer for Armor Battle.
CMart is a co-host of The Intellivisionaries podcast, and also the #1 collector of Intellivision hardware and software and peripherals. He owns one of everything related to the Intellivision, and almost all of the variants of those things. If Las Vegas Poke & Blackjack was manufactured in 4 different countries, CMart has each one, shrinkwrapped, for example.
Connie Goldman was a graphic designer for Thunder Castlee. She had so much success there she consulted to other Blue Sky Rangers for their games. From Keith Robinson in 2013:
She started at Mattel Electronics in 1982. Although hired as a programmer, Connie's real talent was as an artist. She managed to get more personality out of an eight by sixteen pixel figure than anyone ever had before. Although she had created and was working on a game ("Mystic Castle, " later renamed "Thunder Castle") she was soon spending most of her time helping the other programmers, designing graphics and animations for their games. Programmer David Warho was assigned to help her finish Thunder Castle, starting a working relationship that lasted 30 years After Mattel, Dave hired Connie to create the graphics for most of the Intellivision games he produced for INTV Corp., including Diner, Commando and Body Slam! Super Pro Wrestling! After Intellivision, she continued to work at Dave's company Realtime Associates on newer platforms. As game graphics got more realistic and more complex to create, she was heard to lament once, "I want my pixels back!", yearning for those simpler days of the eight by sixteen pixel characters.
Daniel Bass was a programmer for Loco-Motion, and ADnD: Tower of Doom.
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Dave Durran was a programmer for Fathom.
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Dave Rolf was a programmer for Las Vegas Poker n Blackjack, Major League Baseball, Checkers, and Beamrider.
Dave Warhol was a programmer for Thunder Castle, and Mind Strike. In the Intv Corp. years, he was the producer for all of the games released.
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Dennis Clark was a rogrammer for Bump n Jump (with Joe Jacobs).
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Don Daglow was a programmer for Utopia, Sis veteran of companies as diverse as Mattel Electronics (where he worked on the Intellivision), Electronic Arts (where he worked as one of its first producers) and Broderbund (where he ran its entertainment software
He programmed Utopia, World Series Major League Baseball (with Eddie Dombrower).
Issue 215 (Jan-2021) of Retro Gamer Magazine has an interview where Don gives details on the making of Utopia, his iconic game.
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Douglas Fults was a programmer for White Water!
Eddie Dombrower was a programmer for World Series Major League Baseball (with Don Daglow).
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Eric Wells was the sound developer for Pac-Man.
Frank Evans was a programmer for Sharp Shot.
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Gary Kato was a programmer for Demon Attack.
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Gary Moskovitz was the former marketing director for Mattel Electronics hardware and was responsible for several new directions related to Teletext and PlayCable. He also, while often trapped on the 405 in bad traffic, came up with names for several games like Jetsons Way with Words and Mr. BASIC Meets Bits and Bytes.
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Gavin Claypool was a programmer for Tennis.
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Gene Smith was tahe programmer for Bomb Squad (with Shatao Lin).
George Plimpton, a famous sports writer/personality was hired to advertise Intellivision on television. Side by side comparisons of Atari sports games were made, with enough energy that a new generation came to know him as "Mr. Intellivision". Atari versus Mattel became just as common as Coke versus Pepsi, and Plimpton led the first real game platform rivalry in the industry. Mattel became famous for their Sports conversions.
By 1982, George Plimpton was featuring Space games in his commercials. No doubt these commercials ate into profits quite substantially. During 1982, Mattel spent in excess of $50 million so that Mr. Plimpton could lampoon the "unrealistic" features of the Atari 2600.However, on a positive note, Intellivision became a household word in the early 1980's.
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Glenn is a top-tier game retro game player.
He was most recently seen playing live in the November-2020 edition of the Intellivision Virtual Expo Game Room.
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Glenn Hightower created APh to fit the game design from Richard Chan's research. Their research pointed them to the General Instruments Gimini 6900 prototype, built from off-the-shelf chips.
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Greg Favor was a programmer for Reversi.
Hal Finney was a programmer for Space Battle, Star Strike (with Brett Stutz), Conversational French, and Jack LaLanne Physical Conditioning as an employee of APh, which took CalTech graduates and paid them very little to create million dollars of revenue content.
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James, also known as "DZ-Jay" (as in parachute drop-zone), created the legenday game "Christmas Carol vs the Ghost of Christmas Presents", a maze style game that makes total use of the Intellivision hardware and software in a fun, pac-maze style of game with high replay value. In 2020, he released a children's book about the protagonist of the game, Carol Greenleaf, in her quest to help Santa save Christmas.
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As an on-staff employee at Mattel Toys, Jerr created the distinctive box art brand/style with oil paint for games released by Mattel and APh through approximately 1983. His art also covered Barbie and other children�s toys throughout the 1970's. Little more is known about Jerr at present other than he was born in 1928 and died in 1991 aged 6
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Ji-Wen Tsao was a programmer for Shark! Shark!
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Joe Jacobs was a programmer for Bump n Jump (with Dennis Clark).
Joe King was a programmer for Hover Force.
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DP co-founder Joe Santulli has been playing video games since the original retail version of Ralph Baer's Odyssey appeared under his Christmas tree in the early 70's. Since that time he's been hopelessly addicted. He claims to own just about every system - domestic and import - that there is, and well over 10,000 unique games. Time NOT spent playing video games is dedicated to writing about playing video games. When he's not doing that, he's thinking about writing about video games.
Joe is also the director of the National Video Game Museum (403c) in Frisco, TX with partners of the Classic Gaming Expo in 2011.
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Joe Z. is the modern "godfather" of the classic Intellivison console, with numerous innovations on the platform that push the hardware and programming to the maximum limits. He can be found online in forums with the name "Intv Nut".
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Joey Silvian was a voice developer for Bomb Squad.
John Brooks was a programmer for Vegas Roulette, Space Armada (with Chris Hawley), and the prototype Vegas II (with Walter Bright).
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John Sohl was a programmer for Astrosmash, and B-17 Bomber.
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John Tomlinson was the programmer for Mission-X.
Julian Chappell was a programmer for Beamrider.
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Julie Hoshizaki was a programmer for Lock n Chase, and Thin Ice.
Karen Nugent was the graphic artist for Burgertime and Mystic Castle.
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Many will recognize Robinson as one of those of saved the Intellivision brand during the '90s, when he obtained the rights to the console and its games with fellow programmer Stephen Roney. His long-running affiliation with the retro console began in 1981, when Mattel Electronics brought in Robinson to program and design a number of Intellivision titles, including TRON Solar Sailer. He shifted to developer management until Mattel closed its doors, and after INTV Corp ceased to support the Intellivisoin in the 1990s, Robinson bought the original IP and began to introduce the console/platform to new generations of players.
Robinson made headway with the idea that keeping graphics and gameplay simple and pick-up-and-play fun would resonate with people in an era when most game publishers focused on 3D "eye candy graphics".Intellivision Lives, Intellipacks, ROM preservation, and ports emulation to modern consoles/devices are all the legacy of Keith Robinson. He curated the Intellivision brand of fun and preserved it before the concept of "game preservation" became popular.
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Ken Smith was a programmer for NHL Hockey, NBA Basketball, Sea Battle, and NFL Football (with Kevin Miller).
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Kevin Miller was the programmer for APBA Backgammon, NFL Football (with Ken Smith), and NASL Soccer.
Kimo Yap was a programmer for Math Fun, Word Fun, Learning Fun I, and Learning Fun II.
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Larry was the programmer for Auto Racing, while employed at APh.
Mack Morris was the president of Mattel Electronics in 1983, at the time responsible for terminating the Intellivision IV project plus all hardware efforts, and moving the company to software-only.
Manuel Rodriguez was the winner of the Astrosmash Shootoff competition in Houston, TX in 1982.
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Mark Kennedy was a programmer for Kool-Aid Man (with Vladimir Hrycenko), Scooby-Do's Maze Chase, Centipede, and Dig Dug.
Mark creates non-game media like new overlays and new manuals. His overlay making techniques were licensed by Intellivision Productions, because his manufacturing technique is the closest to the original Mattel method.
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Mark Urbaniec was the programmer for Vectron.
Marvin Mednick was a programmer for Safecracker.
Michael Breen was a programmer for Buzz Bombers.
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Michael is a leading independent Intellivision developer.
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Mike Minkoff was a programmer for PBA Bowling (with Rick Leving), and Snafu.
Mike Winans was a programmer for Lock n Chase (with Julie Hoshizaki), and Pac-Man.
Oscar created the IntyBASIC language and compiler, used by developers of all levels making new games for the Intellivision. He has also written two books on IntyBASIC programming, and several games (including the Sydney Hunter series and Princess Quest). �scar has won awards for the tiniest chess programs ever written (x5 IOCCC winner), and DOS boot sector games. He also has one of the larges Spanish-language, Mexican national variants of Intellivision games and is collecting the printed media.
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Patrick Aubry was a programmer for Spina the Bee ("Maya l'Abeille" in France and "La Abeja Maya" in Latin America), co-founding Nice Ideas at the end of the Intellivision's heyday in France. He co-authored the very popular
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Patrick Jost was a programmer for Space Spartans, previously working for Pacific Telephone.
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Patrick Ransil was a programmer for Atlantis and Dragonfire.
Patrick Schmitz was a programmer for Ice Trek.
Paul is the creator and lead of The Intellivisionaries Podcast. This podcast showcases extremely deep dives into knowledge and details and play of each Intellivision game in the classic catalog (30+ and counting), including original programmer interviews. Each episode is extremely long and extremely well produced. As someone who had a relationship with Keith Robinson, his insight into what makes the games fun is top-notch. He reportedly can even beat Tommy Tallarico in Intellivision Hockey!
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Peter Farson was a programmer for Defender
Peter Kaminski was a programmer for Frog Bog (with Tom Soulanille), Frogger (with Tom Soulanille), and River Raid.
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Ray Kaestner was a programmer of Burgertime, Masters of the Universe (with Rick Koenig), Diner, Super Pro Hockey, and Super Pro Football., previously working on Mattel's original handheld games (Computer Gin, World Champ Football, Computer Chess).
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Rich O'Keefe was a programmer for Triple Action, and Royal Dealer.
Richard Chang was the head of Mattel Toys Design and Development Department. He hired Glenn Hightower to define the system that would later become the Mattel Intellivision.
Rick Koenig was the programmer for Motocross (with Rick Levine), and Power of He-Man (with Ray Kaestner).
Rick Levine was the programmer for Microsurgeon, Motocross (with Rick Koenig), Truckin', PBA Bowling (with Mike Minkoff), and Mattel Handheld Bowling.
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Rick is the co-host of The Intellivisionaries Podcast, along with Paul Nurminen. Rick goes deep on gameplay and quality analysis of the games he covers in the podcast (including his favorite, "Sharp Shot"). Rick also plays for the Extra Life organization each year in a charity pledge, and of course Intellivision games make his circuit!
Russ Haft was a programmer for Tron Maze-a-Tron.
Russ Lieblich was the sound developer for Bomb Squad.
Ryan is known as "Winslator" and holds multiple Intellivision game high scores on Twin Galaxies. He played live during the 2020 Intellivision Virtual Expo.
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Scott Bishop was a programmer for PGA Golf.
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Scott Reynolds was the programmer for US Ski Team Skiing.
Shatao Lin was the programmer for Bomb Squad (with Gene Smith).
Stephen Montero was the programmer for Night Stalker.
Stephen Wiley was a programmer for Blockade Runner, and Sewer Sam. Stephen was also the owner/founder of Interphase.
Steve DiFrisco was a programmer for Tropical Trouble and Wing War.
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Steve Ettinger was a programmer for Hover Force.
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Steve Roney was the programmer for Space Spartans, B-17 Bomber, and also Aquarius titles.
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Steve Sents was the programmer for Tron Deadly Discs.
Terry Valeski was the head of Marketing at Mattel Electronics in 1983. By summer 1983, Mattel had laid off all employees involved in hardware development and then programmers, so by 1984 the Intellivision division was "gone". Valeski and a group of investors bought all the remaining stock and the rights to all the Intellivision product line. Known as Intellivision Incorporated, they began to sell off the remaining stock of Intellivision games, and to sell games which had been ready for release right before Mattel Electronics demise and sold the catalog through the INTV Corporation.
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Tom Loughry was the programmer for Boxing, Sub Hunt, Advanced Dungeons n Dragons, Treasure of Tarmin, Dreadnaught Factor, and Worm Whomper.
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Tom Soulanille was a programmer for Frog Bog (with Peter Kaminski) and Frogger (with Tom Kaminski).
Tommy Tallarico is an American musician, video game music composer, host/producer of Video Games Live, and founder of Intellivision Entertainment, the IP holder for all classic Intellivision content. Rumors abound that he is the best Intellivision NHL Hockey game player on 3 continents.
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Vladimir Hrycenko was a programmer for Kool-Aid Man (with Mark Kennedy).
Walter Bright was a APh employee that programmed the prototype Vegas II.
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Wendel Brown was a programmer for Beauty n the Beast, and Nova Blast.
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William Olds was an original host of The Intellivisionaries Podcast.
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Intellivision Productions, under Keith Robinson, made "The Running Man" an official mascot in the early 2000s. There were other personality tie-ins during the 1980s, but Mattel Electronics never tied the console to a dedicated personality.
Fun characters:
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APh Technological Consulting was an engineering firm based in Pasadena, California. It was formed in 1974 as a limited partnership by two California Institute of Technology (Caltech) students, Glenn Hightower and John Denker. APh is an abbreviation for "applied physics". In 1976, APh was hired by Mattel to help design the Intellivision system. They also developed the operating system and the first games. College students wrote the code for the early games, and received very low pay, not equivalent to the hundreds of thousands of games that were sold.
Several members of APh left in 1982 and started Cheshire Engineering after a dispute over profits from developing Mattel's "M Network" line of Atari 2600 games.
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In 1979, Mattel Electronics decided that programmers should not get credit for their work, or be mentioned in documentation; the idea was secrecy would maximize profits and keep future competitors from trying to hire them away. TV Guide magazine produced an article calling these anonymous people "Blue Sky Rangers" based on their staff sessions called "Blue Sky Meetings", and the dev group decided to just keep the name afterwards.
Bill Fisher
Connie Goldman
David Akers
David Stifel
David Warhol
Don Daglow
Eddie Dumbrower
Eric Del Sesto
Ji-Wen Tsao
Joe Ferreira King
Juli Hoshizaki
Karen Nugent
Karen Tanouye
Keith Robinson
Mark Urbaniec
Michael Breen
Mike Minkoff
Pat Dulong
Ray Kaestner
Rick Levine
Ronald Surratt
Steve Ettinger
Steve Roney
Steve Tatsumi
Tom Priestley
Traci Roux
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By 1983, headhunters had learned the identities of every formerly-anonymous Blue Sky Ranger (often bribing employees hundreds of dollars for copies of internal phone lists). Sure that everyone knew their identities but the public, and rankled by Activision's publicizing of their designers, the Blue Sky Rangers started pushing for names on cartridges. VP Gabriel Baum later sent a memo "The names of our key personnel are available to any investigative headhunter and I believe that we are more likely to retain employees than to lose them by publicly recognizing their connection with a cartridge. I also believe that our Marketing group could use programmer/designer recognition to their advantage." On May 27, Mattel Electronics announced credits would appear on future game packages.
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