Intellivision Amico

Today, Intellivision CEO and President Tommy Tallarico held an Intellivision Amico special live event. Today’s event had a much different focus than the last event in August. That event focused on developers, relationships, distribution and showed a few new games and licenses. However, today’s event focused on giving those interested in Amico an update on the games coming to Amico and the hardware itself.

New partnerships announced

Games on Amico fall under one of five different categories: Retro reimagined, Sports and Recreation, Original IPs, Casual, and Edutainment. And, today, Tommy announced that Intellivision is partnering with PlayDate Digital. This publisher’s main focus is on educational software for children. Tommy explained that Intellivision is working with PlayDate Digital to create many exciting games for Amico with a focus around children, emerging literacy, and creative skills. The first title to come to Amico from PlayDate Digital is Care Bears.

The second announcement comes in the form of a partnership to bring Lode Runner to Amico. Finally, a partnership with Data East is set to bring Bump ‘n’ Jump, Lock ‘n’ Chase along with BurgerTime to Amico.

Intellivision Amico

Amico hardware design

As part of the Amico special live event, we got a behind the scenes look at the hardware design of Amico. After watching the video, it is apparent that a lot of thought went into every aspect of designing the hardware. Fun, exciting, different, friendly, and approachable are just some of the philosophies the team at Intellivision thought about when designing the hardware.

We learned that Intellivision partnered with Qualcomm to use their family of snapdragon chips to power Amico. Additionally, we saw that the back of the Amico includes an HDMI out, power connection, microSD card expansion slot for more memory and a USB C port for future accessories and expansion. Also, players can rest easy, as the internal storage on the Amico can hold about 40 to 50 games.

Intellivision Amico

Radio Frequency Identification

Additionally, Amico has built in RFID, which stands for Radio Frequency Identification. That means you can take an object and tap it on your Amico to unlock new games and content. Tommy mentioned that RFID will play a big role in the physical media that is coming to Amico. More information about this is coming towards the end of the year.

64 independent LEDs

Over the past 20 years, Tommy has been involved with his video game concert called Video Games Live. During this time, Tommy learned many things. In particular, he learned how important lighting is to the overall experience. As a result, the Amico includes 40 independent LEDs on the console base and 12 LEDs in each controller. This opens the door for unique game experiences including things like LED light shows, flashing police lights, a fireworks show and more.

Take a look at the video below for even more details on everything that went into designing the Amico and its controller.

Work in progress early gameplay demos

Next, a series of work in progress early gameplay demos were shown for Amico. A wide variety of genres were shown that really showcase Amico’s commitment to family fun gaming.

Some of the games shown include DynaBlaster, which looks to be similar to that of Bomberman. Rigid Force Redux Enhanced is a side scrolling shooter in the vein of R-Type. A new updated version of Pong was shown and Emoji Charades where you take a saying and recreate it with emojis was showcased.

These are just but a few of the games shown. Take a look at the video below, I’m sure you will agree that Amico has something for everybody.

Intellivision Amico launches April 15, 2021 

It’s clear to see, Amico is a gaming system that is fun for the whole family. Its games will be fun and easy to pick up and play for everyone, regardless of their skill level. I can’t wait to use the Amico controller and see all the innovative ways that developers will use it.

Amico, the modern reboot of the iconic Intellivision video game console, is scheduled to launch April 15, 2021. Stay tuned to the Best Buy blog for the latest information on Amico and be the first to know when you can pre-order Amico.

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Jon Scarr
Jon is the Gaming Editor and is based in Toronto. He is a proud Canadian who has a serious passion for gaming. He is a veteran of the video game and tech industry with over 20 years experience. You can often find Jon streaming the latest games on his YouTube channel. Jon loves to talk about gaming and tech, come say hi and join the conversation with Jon on Threads @4ScarrsGaming and @4Scarrsgaming on Instagram.

3 COMMENTS

  1. This whole Amico launch has been a s**t show. They tell us we can pre order from GameStop. In Canada GameStop is EB Games. EB knows nothing about Amico. So, you go to the US GameStop site and they won’t allow payment methods with Canadian addresses. They also don’t have a phone number for support. I despise Best Buy but, if they get to a pre order stage I will order from them.

  2. Awesome hopefully we can preorder soon anyway to get an email or alert to know when we can pre order? 🙂

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