Mattel Intellivision

Before there was Xbox v PlayStation, even before there was Sega v Nintendo, there was Intellivision v Atari. Launched widely in 1980, the Intellivision was Mattel's bid to take the market leader. Mattel pitched it as the thinking person's console, even running cheeky advertisements that lined its richer graphics up directly against the Atari 2600's blockier efforts.

Its controllers were unlike anything else: a numeric keypad up top, a flat directional disc below, and slide-in overlays to label the buttons for each game. It was a love-it-or-hate-it design, but it suited the Intellivision's strengths, and the machine built a particular reputation for its sports titles, which felt a cut above the competition.

Selling several million units, the Intellivision more than held its own before the 1983 crash reshaped the whole industry. Its distinctive sound, look and controllers have kept it firmly in the affections of retro fans, and Atari v Intellivision remains the first and longest running console war in history - recently won by Atari in 2024 when they announced they'd acquired the Intellivision brand and games library!