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The Intellivision Amico has certainly gained notoriety ever since its reveal, boldly claiming it would have more impressive 2D visuals than the current console generation. It's been almost a year since that initial tease, and at Gamescom 2019, we got a better look at what exactly the Amico will have to offer. In a new trailer, Tommy Tallarico talks about the goal of the Amico, and his desire to create family-friendly games that are simple and easy for people to play together. The new system, which looks like a 90's MP3 player crossed a wireless landline phone, will also come in five color variations: red, purple, gold, silver, and black. There will be 17 titles at launch, all of them exclusive to the Amico; in fact, every game on the console will be an exclusive. Some of the games received brief snippets of footage in the trailer, though there was no mention of the new Earthworm Jim game. The Intellivision Amico will launch on October 10, 2020 for $149, with each of its games costing $2.99 to $9.99.

 

[TheMrIron2]

I get it, people are giving this console flak because it's another micro console like the SNES Classic and Atari VCS.

However, honestly, I think this really took balls. Every other similar system played it safe and fell back on existing games, but every single game on this system is exclusive and they are making a really big push to make it accessible. A lot of people on this site, by virtue of finding a site like this, have been playing games quite a bit and as such they take for granted how complicated they can be for some people, especially older people. If done right, this could really open up games to people who wouldn't have played them before in a similar fashion to the Wii - which was really successful and widely praised, might I remind you.

Regardless of whether this takes off or not, I really applaud Intellivision for taking risks and trying something quite different rather than falling to the wayside as another re-release box.

 

[mightymuffy]

I love how tongue-in-cheek they are about their product.

Too right, from the start they've been deliberately taking the piss out of it, and I've constantly enjoyed it, including this quality vid! I think it's clever really, they'll reach out to us who appreciate it, and to the one's hating on it etc too - good publicity!

 

[StrayGuitarist]

"People used to play games in the same room together, that doesn't happen anymore!"

Bull. shit. That's just about the only way I play games with other people. Locally, through splitscreen/LAN/ad-hoc/whatever the situation calls for, and I know I'm not the only one.

And while I understand the ploy he's making for "Games are more complicated than they used to be, and there's no entry-level console for people who can't grasp that complexity yet", the way he phrases
it makes it seem like he's trying to define complex games as a negative thing, pairing it up with this whole "Hardcore gamer" title, and... Jeez, I'm talking in circles.

Aside from my gripes with the video, the gameplay doesn't actually look too bad. Sure, it doesn't look like it's $150 of good, but it doesn't look like a complete disaster. I'm curious where it'll lead to.

Edit: I had almost forgotten to mention, I think it's a really bold choice going with only exclusives for a brand-new console from a name that hasn't done anything since the 80s. And I ALWAYS appreciate it when new competition steps into the console hardware market. It gives people more options, people who make games have more audiences they can make games for, etc.

 

[wiewiec]

So I guess their whole strategy revolves around hoping that people forget the Nintendo Switch exists? They say they're really pushing the local multiplayer aspect, but can you even connect more than two controllers to this thing? Just seems like a really half-assed concept overall.

They talked about smartphone app to use it as controller.

 

[Xzi]

I get it, people are giving this console flak because it's another micro console like the SNES Classic and Atari VCS.

However, honestly, I think this really took balls. Every other similar system played it safe and fell back on existing games, but every single game on this system is exclusive and they are making a really big push to make it accessible. A lot of people on this site, by virtue of finding a site like this, have been playing games quite a bit and as such they take for granted how complicated they can be for some people, especially older people. If done right, this could really open up games to people who wouldn't have played them before in a similar fashion to the Wii - which was really successful and widely praised, might I remind you.

That's just it though: I'm not giving it flak for trying to be like other "classic" consoles, I'm giving it flak for trying to compete with Wii. Older people and casuals don't care about having the latest and greatest, so why would they buy this at $150 when a Wii is like $30 now? Both require buying individual games, and most of what they showed in this trailer looks like Wii shovelware. Not to mention there are plenty of simplistic, pick up and play games available for Switch too.

I'm just not sure where they thought this would fit in to the market, but then again they're not selling at a loss, so they'll likely consider even 100,000 units sold a success and leave it at that.

 

[JavaScribe]

someone wasn't told this dude would be spliced talking in the middle of the console sizzle reel.
"we want to bring back family gaming"
"DUMDUMDUMDUM"
"we're going to fill that local player need we think is missing"
"ZZWWWWAAAAAHHHH"

Are we all sure that this isn't some kind of elaborate joke? Because that's the most satire-looking reel I've ever seen without a "this is satire" disclaimer.

 

[frostii]

I had an Intellivision - Lock n Chase FTW!!!

 

[wiewiec]

That's just it though: I'm not giving it flak for trying to be like other "classic" consoles, I'm giving it flak for trying to compete with Wii. Older people and casuals don't care about having the latest and greatest, so why would they buy this at $150 when a Wii is like $30 now? Both require buying individual games, and most of what they showed in this trailer looks like Wii shovelware. Not to mention there are plenty of simplistic, pick up and play games available for Switch too.

I'm just not sure where they thought this would fit in to the market, but then again they're not selling at a loss, so they'll likely consider even 100,000 units sold a success and leave it at that.

Yes you’re right, Switch is very good platform for Indie games, but also new tittles. They tell us that they wanna do same as Wii did, but their goal is only 2D so it is only for people that love this genre - I like it, but Atari ega is to ancient to me... and as always all of this guys wanna only jump to retro hype train.

 

[raxadian]

Does the controller still suck?

 

[DANTENDO]

Does the controller still suck?

Pointless comment of the day

 

[wiewiec]

Does the controller still suck?

It is shame that they tried to mimic original controller too seriously - that times lot of controllers designs sucks - like Atar 5200 design. They could make modern controller with only little of old design accents. Only thing that is good is touch screen LCD, but if they wanna use it only as original it will suck hard.

 

[raxadian]

Pointless comment of the day

It is shame that they tried to mimic original controller too seriously - that times lot of controllers designs sucks - like Atar 5200 design. They could make modern controller with only little of old design accents. Only thing that is good is touch screen LCD, but if they wanna use it only as original it will suck hard.

A controller is something very important in a videogame console. For example Sega Genesis had to make a controller with more buttons due to fighting games, the GBA ports of many games sucked or weren't made due to lack of enough buttons and "certain" console was infamous for having a controller that only worked well if you had big hands, thankfully they later released a second controller that worked much better.

 

[wiewiec]

A controller is something very important in a videogame console. For example Sega Genesis had to make a controller with more buttons due to fighting games, the GBA ports of many games sucked or weren't made due to lack of enough buttons and "certain" console was infamous for having a controller that only worked well if you had big hands, thankfully they later released a second controller that worked much better.

Yes, but this kind of design like Amico have was known as horrible design, so shame that they copy pasted it not giving it only retro accents.

 

[raxadian]

Yes, but this kind of design like Amico have was known as horrible design, so shame that they copy pasted it not giving it only retro accents.

Yeah they could have made a snes or sega genesis controller clone like everyone else.

Since and Sega Nintendo lost the rights to the super nintendo and sega genesis hardware because it expired, and that includes the controllers.

 

[wiewiec]

Yeah they could have made a snes or sega genesis controller clone like everyone else.

Since and Sega Nintendo lost the rights to the super nintendo and sega genesis hardware because it expired, and that includes the controllers.

They also could make micro switches joystick similar to Neo Geo Pocket it will have more sense that this crappy disk thing.

 

[raxadian]

They also could make micro switches joystick similar to Neo Geo Pocket it will have more sense that this crappy disk thing.

Is like they forgot the golden age of 2D games was with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, why the fudge use a controller that looks ripped off an 8 bit console?

 

[wiewiec]

Is like they forgot the golden age of 2D games was with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, why the fudge use a controller that looks ripped off an 8 bit console?

They also try do worse thing to release app for this thing to use smartphone as additional controller (BT). Seriously it will fail hard, mainly target hardcore retro freaks, almost all "reviews" on YT comes only from most hardcore retro channels.

 

[raxadian]

They also try do worse thing to release app for this thing to use smartphone as additional controller (BT). Seriously it will fail hard, mainly target hardcore retro freaks, almost all "reviews" on YT comes only from most hardcore retro channels.

Any true hardcore retro freak would point out the controller issue.

 

[TheMrIron2]

That's just it though: I'm not giving it flak for trying to be like other "classic" consoles, I'm giving it flak for trying to compete with Wii. Older people and casuals don't care about having the latest and greatest, so why would they buy this at $150 when a Wii is like $30 now? Both require buying individual games, and most of what they showed in this trailer looks like Wii shovelware. Not to mention there are plenty of simplistic, pick up and play games available for Switch too.

I'm just not sure where they thought this would fit in to the market, but then again they're not selling at a loss, so they'll likely consider even 100,000 units sold a success and leave it at that.

The Wii has not received any meaningful new titles in years. (I am not counting Just Dance.)
A lot of casuals who bought the Wii years ago, when it was relevant (and many did - it's pretty much the same audience) have already thoroughly exhausted its library.
The prospect of new games coming out is one thing it holds over the Wii, as well as being able to buy brand new more easily and having presumably less draconian storage. To give you an idea, the limit for WiiWare games was roughly 40MB, and the Wii had 512MB of NAND storage. So it's going to be a far more potent platform for digital distribution combined with the fact that games will be $2.99-$8.99 without needing to buy used games with varying degrees of wear usually for a higher price (Mario Kart Wii still sells for at least twice the max Amico game price). Semi-related, better hardware too.

Besides, a lot of casuals are not interested in buying old consoles that are bordering on "retro" now - the Wii is 13 this year, which is older than many kids who would be playing this if this is billed as a family console. The Switch is the closest current competitor but currently costs twice as much as the Amico, and while it's accessible enough, the Amico is even easier for millions of older people who would never touch a game controller. Also, some parents are concerned about giving their kids a device with too much functionality, even having internet connectivity. This negates the need for parental controls outright since as far as I can tell the only connectivity will be with a games store - I can't see intellivision hopping into online gaming.
Game pricing isn't even comparable even if you were to buy used Switch games. Amico is far cheaper overall.

So yeah I'd stand to reason, as someone who has a Wii, that I'm not the only one who's interested in the system for various reasons.

 

[wiewiec]

The Wii has not received any meaningful new titles in years. (I am not counting Just Dance.)
A lot of casuals who bought the Wii years ago, when it was relevant (and many did - it's pretty much the same audience) have already thoroughly exhausted its library.
The prospect of new games coming out is one thing it holds over the Wii, as well as being able to buy brand new more easily and having presumably less draconian storage. To give you an idea, the limit for WiiWare games was roughly 40MB, and the Wii had 512MB of NAND storage. So it's going to be a far more potent platform for digital distribution combined with the fact that games will be $2.99-$8.99 without needing to buy used games with varying degrees of wear usually for a higher price (Mario Kart Wii still sells for at least twice the max Amico game price). Semi-related, better hardware too.

Besides, a lot of casuals are not interested in buying old consoles that are bordering on "retro" now - the Wii is 13 this year, which is older than many kids who would be playing this if this is billed as a family console. The Switch is the closest current competitor but currently costs twice as much as the Amico, and while it's accessible enough, the Amico is even easier for millions of older people who would never touch a game controller. Also, some parents are concerned about giving their kids a device with too much functionality, even having internet connectivity. This negates the need for parental controls outright since as far as I can tell the only connectivity will be with a games store - I can't see intellivision hopping into online gaming.
Game pricing isn't even comparable even if you were to buy used Switch games. Amico is far cheaper overall.

So yeah I'd stand to reason, as someone who has a Wii, that I'm not the only one who's interested in the system for various reasons.

I do not think so that they get lots of Indie developers compared to Nintendo and others...