Cartridge Case Variations

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  1983
INTV Corporation
Imagic
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Atarisoft
Dextell, Ltd.
Interphase
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Test
Demo
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Intellivision, Inc.
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Odyssey2
ColecoVision
NES
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INTV Corporation
Sears
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Independent

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Imagic
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Dextell, Ltd.
Interphase
Intellivision, Inc.

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Over time, subtle changes were made to the packaging used by Mattel (and later INTV Corporation) to deliver Intellivision (and eventually M-Network games). Once Mattel started making the M-Network games for the Atari VCS (a.k.a. Atari 2600), the cartridge case was modified to have a couple of slots in one end. The M-Network "adaptor" could then be snapped onto the end. The following images chronicle the evolution of the primary Intellivision cartridge case.

I will not attempt to chronicle here all the various ways, fonts, and locations that the Mattel copyright was put on the cartridges. Suffice to say, there are many.

Case without INSERT TO THIS LINE text

Note the lack of the "insertion line"

Case with INSERT TO THIS LINE text

All but the oldest carts have the "insertion line"

Case with Philips screws

Older cases used Philips screws

Case with triangle head screws

Later, triangle-headed screws appeared

Case with snap-in door, no screws

In late 1982 and in 1983, no screws were used

Case without door

Finally, the "door" disappeared altogether