Intellivision Brasil

Connie Goldman


07/30

Connie Goldman started at Mattel Electronics in 1982. Although she was hired as a programmer, her real talent was as an artist. She proved to have more personality to create 8-by-16-dot images than anyone had before.
Although she created and was working on a game (Mystic Castle, later renamed Thunder Castle), she was soon spending more time helping other programmers by designing graphics and animations for their games.
Programmer David Warhol was assigned to help her finish Thunder Castle, starting a 30-year working relationship - after Mattel, Dave hired Connie to create the graphics for most of the Intellivision games he produced at INTV Corp., including Diner, Commando and Body Slam! Super Pro Wrestling!.
After Intellivision, she continued to work with Dave Realtime Associates on new platforms. As the game graphics got more realistic and more complex to create, Connie was once regretted: "I want my pixels back!", Longing for those simpler 8-by-16 character days.

David Akers


04/01

Dave Akers was not technically an Intellivision programmer. He was part of the M Network team, which brought original titles to other platforms, initially Atari 2600.
Probably your most respected and commented work is the translation of Star Strike for the Atari system.
About the game, a reviewer wrote: "Why did Mattel save his best work for the Atari console?". Apparently, Atari heard about this news, and as soon as Mattel Electronics closed, Dave was hired by Atari to work in its arcade machine division.
After leaving Atari, he moved to Japan, where he teaches english language.
In 2012, he returned to the Intellivision universe by programming 2 games for Elektronite: Match 5 and Paddle Party.

Dave Chandler


08/08/1923	03/23/2011

One of the most important personalities in the history of Intellivision, Dave "Papa Intellivision" Chandler was the chief engineer at Mattel Electronics.
In 1978, Dave and his team designed the well-known brown and gold console with their famous controls, breaking the standards of the era's joysticks. The digital directional dial was the precursor to today's digital controls.
Shortly before his passing, Dave said he was grateful for so many loyal followers on the island. A official website was created by family members.

David Stifel


10/09

He started at Mattel Electronics programming demos for Intellivision, until he developed his own project Game Factory. This cartridge for the Entertainment Computer System module allowed users to create their own games for Intellivision using many of the tools used by programmers. It was the last project for Intellivision completed at Mattel, a day or two before the industry closed. Mattel did not release it, but it is in the Intellivision Rocks collection for Windows.
David is also a movie and theater actor - you can recognize him as the one-eyed drunk in a scene with Tom Cruise in Minority Report. His voice and face were also used on an audio-animatronic pirate on Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland.

David Warhol


07/15

David joined Mattel in 1982.
Initially, he collaborated with Connie Goldman on the game Thunder Castle. He then created his own Mind Strike game for Entertainment Computer System.
He also demonstrated his management potential by overseeing the development of Bump 'n' Jump.
After leaving Mattel Electronics, Dave's company (Realtime Associates) developed about 20 new games for INTV Corp. until 1989.
In 2015, Realtime Associates worked, among other projects, on Intellivision games, such as the new generation (Gen2) of the classic Astrosmash, Shark! Shark! and Night Stalker for Sony's Playstation Home and PS Vita. Unfortunately, the project's crowdfunding project did not get the necessary resources.

Don Daglow


09/10

Programming simulation games on the university's computers while in high school, Don wanted to try to bring a simulation-style game to Intellivision, which led to his reference point, Utopia.
Shortly after the release of Utopia, Don was promoted to manager, and then Director of Application Software (also known as Programming for Intellivision) responsible for driving dozens of popular titles to development.
Don currently leads a social game creation studio and gives talks on game development.

Eric Del Sesto


06/12/1965

Eric Del Sesto was a programmer at Mattel Electronics between June 1983 and January 1984, when the company closed.
Hired at 18, he worked on adapting BurgerTime for the Apple II, as well as converting other games for the Apple II, Atari 2600 and ColecoVision.

Gabriel Baum


12/02

THE HEAD of the Blue Sky Rangers.
Gabriel was Vice President of Application Software (video games) at Mattel Electronics between 1980 and 1984, and although he was technically "the guy", he led with humor, creativity and was open to alternative (silly, ok) ideas that inspired programmers and resulted in great games that are still fun today!

Gene Smith


1950	07/2002

Gene Smith started his career in 1982 at Mattel Electronics. Programmed the game for Intellivoice Bomb Squad, in addition to participating in the game development team Tron Solar Sailer.
After leaving Mattel, he continued to write games for Amiga and PC for 19 years until his death in 2002.

George Plimpton


03/18/1927	09/25/2003

American journalist and writer George Ames Plimpton was the poster boy for Intellivision during the 1980s. Building on his experience in sports journalism, Mattel Electronics hired him for print ads and TV commercials. In them, Plimpton almost always appeared comparing the graphics of the Intellivision with those of the Atari 2600, usually with sporting titles. He earned the nickname "Mr. Intellivision".
Plimpton died at his home in New York, victim of a heart attack.

George Sanger


12/14

The Intellivision game Thin Ice contained music by an unknown artist named George Sanger. From that simple beginning, George became a fertile composer of video games and computers, famous in the industry as "The Fat Man".
In 2002, to celebrate the release of the music CD Intellivision in Hi-Fi, George and his band Team Fat went to Las Vegas to present a surf-rock arrangement of the Thin Ice theme at the Classic Gaming Expo.

Joe Ferreira King


04/01

Joe King was hired by Mattel Electronics in 1982 to make graphics for Intellivision games, but soon showed interest in creating graphics for all platforms Mattel Electronics worked with - Atari 2600, ColecoVision, IBM PC, Apple II, Aquarius Computer (from Mattel itself) and systems in development that have never been released Intellivision III and IV.
Joe created art and animation for all of them and, in partnership with Steve Ettinger, assisted in the design of the unreleased games Magic Carousel and Hover Force 3-D (later released by INTV Corp. as Hover Force).
After Mattel Electronics closed in 1984, Joe became a cartoonist and illustrator, whose works appeared in several American newspapers and galleries.

Julie Hoshizaki


07/15

The Blue Sky Ranger Julie Hoshizaki programmed the Thin Ice game for Mattel Electronics in 1983. Due to the breakdown of the games industry in 1983 , the cartridge was only launched in 1985 by INTV Corp.
Julie currently teaches game design at a college in Texas. Her class was one of the 5 finalists in the 2013 E3 Expo College Student Game Award.

Karen Nugent


07/31

Karen made the graphics and animations for several Intellivision games, including Mission X and the classic Burgertime.

Karen Tanouye


11/10

Karen McConathy (Karen Tanouye, when she worked at Mattel Electronics) programmed a Woody Woodpecker game with a voice for Intellivision.
The soundtrack, with the original voice of Woody Grace Lantz, was recorded, but in August 1983, Mattel unplugged the games for Intellivoice and fired most of the programmers who worked on games for the accessory, including Karen.
Woody Woodpecker for Intellivision has not been finalized or released, but Karen is still part of Intellivision's history.

Keith Robinson


09/09/1955	06/13/2017

At Mattel Electronics, Norman Keith Robinson was a programmer for TRON Solar Sailer and game supervisor of Shark! Shark!, Thin Ice (the box illustration is also yours), Hover Force among other Intellivision titles.
Keith also participated in comic fairs and events to demonstrate his work in the field. He was the founder and president of Intellivision Productions, Inc. until his death in 2017, due to a heart attack.

Mark Urbaniec


05/15

Blue Sky Rangers member Mark Urbaniec designed and programmed the Intellivision classic Vectron. Later, as a manager at Mattel Electronics, he oversaw the programming of several other titles.
After Mattel ended production of games and consoles in 1984, Mark left the game industry, except for a brief return to program the Intellivision version of Pole Position for INTV Corp. in 1988.

Michael Breen


12/15

Mattel Electronics programmer.
Creator of the game Buzz Bombers.

Mike Minkoff


05/30

Mike Minkoff was the designer and programmer of the classic for Intellivision Snafu.
One of the first Blue Sky Rangers, he soon became one of the two directors of the games department at Mattel Electronics, alongside Don Daglow.
Mike oversaw the development of Space Spartans, B-17 Bomber and many other titles.

Pat Dulong


12/02

She worked at Mattel Electronics in the early 1980s.
Many people relate Mattel Electronics to Intellivision programmers, but there was also a subsidiary called M Network that produced games for other platforms, including Atari 2600. Most of the games on M Network were conversions of Intellivision titles, but some were original. And what was common to most M Network games was Pat's music and sound effects!

Ray Kaestner


06/27

Ray Kaestner was also one of the Blue Sky Rangers.
Ray programmed several handheld games in the early 1980s. At the same time, he programmed classic Intellivision games for Mattel Electronics, such as BurgerTime and Masters of the Universe, in addition to games for INTV Corp. at the end of the decade, as Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing and Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey.
He is considered one of Intellivision's most talented programmers.

Richard S. Levine


10/28

He started his video game career at Mattel Electronics with handheld games.
He has programmed PBA Bowling (with Mike Minkoff) for Intellivision.
Later, at Imagic, he developed the innovative Microsurgeon and Truckin', also for Intellivision.
He recently wrote science fiction stories, available in electronic and print versions.

To learn more about Rick's projects, visit the official website http://www.rickslevine.com.

Ronald Surratt


09/15

He programmed the software that makes the Intellivoice module speak. Later, he was promoted to manager of M Network Programming, in charge of the local team that produced versions of the Intellivision games for the Atari 2600.
The best version he personally programmed for the Atari 2600 was BurgerTime. It is noteworthy that he did it under protest; he repeatedly told Mattel Electronics marketing that BurgerTime could not run on Atari hardware. Marketing insisted and Ron managed to make a translation that overcame many of the limitations and became a surprisingly faithful - and fun - version of the game.

Stephen Roney


11/04

Stephen and his companion Bill Fisher developed the first voice game for Intellivision, Space Spartans, in 1981. Many of the basic voice routines that Stephen wrote for Space Spartans were used in all subsequent games for Intellivoice. After completing Space Spartans, Stephen and Bill were placed on the B-17 Bomber to assist programmer John Sohl in defining and finalizing the game. He also developed the unreleased Space Shuttle.
Stephen has worked on several other Mattel Electronics projects, including translating Utopia to Aquarius Computer. In 1997, he founded, with the Blue Sky Ranger Keith Robinson, Intellivision Productions, Inc. to keep classic Intellivision games available to old fans and introduce them to new generations.
As Senior Vice President of Software Development, Stephen created the Intellivision emulator for Mac, which became the basis for most of Intellivision's next releases, including PlayStation 2, Xbox, DS and iPhone.
In July 2017, he assumed the presidency of Intellivision Productions after the death of Keith Robinson.

Steve Ettinger


11/05

At Mattel, Steve demonstrated a talent for working with new technology as soon as it became available. His first project was the game Magic Carousel for Intellivoice. Unfortunately, Mattel did not think that an Intellivoice game aimed at children would be profitable, so the game was shelved and seen only after its inclusion in the Intellivision Rocks for Windows, launched by Intellivision Productions 20 years later.
He later developed Hover Force 3D, using a new three-dimensional graphics technology. The game had a positive impact on the January 1984 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but Mattel Electronics closed three weeks later. Redone simply as Hover Force, it was launched by INTV Corp. a few years later.
Steve continued to create games for INTV during the 1980s, including Slam Dunk: Super Pro Basketball, Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf, Body Slam: Super Pro Wrestling and Spiker : Super Pro Volleyball.
Nobody programmed more games for Intellivision than he did. Most games had a great deal of humor, like the names of the fighters (Baron von Baque, Sr. Dor) or the animation of a golfer passing out when he hit a long shot.

Steve Tatsumi


11/25

In the early 1980s, Steve mainly worked on creating versions of the Intellivision games for the Atari 2600, although he did develop some original new titles.
When Mattel Electronics fired the last programmers in January 1984, it gave them three months of severance pay. Instead of standing still, Steve got a job almost immediately at Sega, which almost immediately afterwards fired his team of programmers. So Steve stood out for receiving severance payments from TWO gaming companies at the same time.

Tom Priestley


01/26

This is the photo of programmer Tom Preistley, in 1983.
He created an educational game for the ECS module called Number Jumble. Unfortunately, Mattel closed the Intellivision division shortly after the game was finished.
The game was only released 20 years later when it was included in the Intellivision Rocks collection for Windows.

Tommy Tallarico


02/16/1968

Born in Springfield, Thomas Andrew Tallarico started working on games at age 21, creating soundtracks for Virgin Games games. He wrote, performed, and co-produced TV shows until he left to focus on his Video Games Live project, an orchestral tour that features game soundtracks with his band.
Tommy created tracks for classic games like Prince of Persia, Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and more. In 2018, after the death of Intellivision Productions President Keith Robinson, Tommy took over the frontline of Intellivision. Collector and console player since childhood, he created Intellivision Entertainment and started the ambitious console project Intellivision Amico, a new video game with modern hardware and with the proposal to rescue the union of people in the same environment to play and have fun.

Traci Roux


11/23

In 1983, Traci was the most powerful woman at Mattel Electronics.
After a series of Intellivision games launched on the market with major bugs (B-17 Bomber, Royal Dealer), the order was that no game would be released until the Quality Department issued the certificate that the game was error free. For most Intellivision games, this was Traci.
Traci could work diligently (some would happily say) trying to destroy the game, sending the programmer back to the keyboard to fix it. When Traci authorized a programmer's game, it was a cause for celebration!
Still at Mattel Electronics, Traci married his co-worker Ray Roux, who kept the programmers' computers running. We hope that whatever way Ray congratulates Traci on his birthday, he will pass the Quality Department inspection!

William Fisher


05/16

Bill, as he is known, left UCLA in 1981 and joined the video game business at Mattel Electronics.
His first project for Intellivision was the classic Space Hawk. Then, games for Intellivoice Space Spartans and B-17 Bomber.
Promoted to management, he oversaw the conversion of Intellivision games to Apple II and IBM PC computers.
When Mattel left the gaming market in 1984, Bill founded his own company, Quicksilver Software Inc. in Orange County. In addition to creating games for other companies, Quicksilver developed the Windows version of Intellivision Lives! and the Intellivision apps for iPhone and iPad.
Outside the gaming area, the company also developed interactive displays for the space shuttle pavilion at the California Science Center.

PERSONALITIES