Intellivision Amico teardown exposes early abandonment and production issues
Kevin 'Kevtris' Horton, an electrical engineer and long-time collaborator with Analogue, published a detailed teardown of an Intellivision Amico prototype on the Atari Age forums that sheds new light on the console’s hardware and development status.
Horton examined both the console shell and its controller, documenting build choices, component placement, and operational behavior.
His notes highlight a number of technical and manufacturing concerns for the Amico project, which was publicly promoted by Tommy Tallarico and later rebranded under Amico Entertainment after Atari purchased the Intellivision brand in 2024 (the Amico itself was not part of that deal).
Teardown findings: chassis, PCB, and chipset
Horton reported the prototype felt unusually light and suggested the enclosure appeared designed before the internal electronics were finalized.
He found a printed circuit board (PCB) that was larger than necessary and described the layout as sparse, wasting costly PCB area.
Horton identified the console’s processor as resembling a 2016-era smartphone chipset, a detail that echoes earlier community concerns about the Amico’s performance targets.
Horton also criticized the internal assembly and wiring.
He observed multiple circuit boards linked by old-school ribbon cables and recommended a simpler two-board approach with flat-flex connections and better component integration.
In his words, the shell and internal design revealed a lack of experience in design for manufacture.
Controller and user-facing issues
The teardown called out the controller’s ergonomics and input design.
Horton described the four side buttons as ‘‘very, very mushy’’ with poor tactile feedback, making precise action inputs difficult.
He also noted a small battery and awkward finger positioning, and criticized the decision to omit traditional face buttons for primary actions.
Boot time and software state
Horton attempted to boot the prototype and reported a startup time exceeding two minutes.
He noted the unit he tested was a pre-production variant and wrote that a planned ‘‘fast boot’’ option in the system menu did not complete the boot process on that sample.
Context and current status
As of Horton’s post, Amico Entertainment continues to list the Amico on its website but the pre-order link no longer functions.
The company has also released some Amico titles on other platforms, including the Nintendo Switch and the eShop.
Horton’s teardown provides a snapshot of the hardware state and development choices for the Amico prototype and will be of interest to collectors and hardware historians tracking the console’s troubled rollout.
Kevin 'Kevtris' Horton, an electrical engineer and long-time collaborator with Analogue, published a detailed teardown of an Intellivision Amico prototype on the Atari Age forums that sheds new light on the console’s hardware and development status.
Horton examined both the console shell and its controller, documenting build choices, component placement, and operational behavior.
His notes highlight a number of technical and manufacturing concerns for the Amico project, which was publicly promoted by Tommy Tallarico and later rebranded under Amico Entertainment after Atari purchased the Intellivision brand in 2024 (the Amico itself was not part of that deal).
Teardown findings: chassis, PCB, and chipset
Horton reported the prototype felt unusually light and suggested the enclosure appeared designed before the internal electronics were finalized.
He found a printed circuit board (PCB) that was larger than necessary and described the layout as sparse, wasting costly PCB area.
Horton identified the console’s processor as resembling a 2016-era smartphone chipset, a detail that echoes earlier community concerns about the Amico’s performance targets.
Horton also criticized the internal assembly and wiring.
He observed multiple circuit boards linked by old-school ribbon cables and recommended a simpler two-board approach with flat-flex connections and better component integration.
In his words, the shell and internal design revealed a lack of experience in design for manufacture.
Controller and user-facing issues
The teardown called out the controller’s ergonomics and input design.
Horton described the four side buttons as ‘‘very, very mushy’’ with poor tactile feedback, making precise action inputs difficult.
He also noted a small battery and awkward finger positioning, and criticized the decision to omit traditional face buttons for primary actions.
Boot time and software state
Horton attempted to boot the prototype and reported a startup time exceeding two minutes.
He noted the unit he tested was a pre-production variant and wrote that a planned ‘‘fast boot’’ option in the system menu did not complete the boot process on that sample.
Context and current status
As of Horton’s post, Amico Entertainment continues to list the Amico on its website but the pre-order link no longer functions.
The company has also released some Amico titles on other platforms, including the Nintendo Switch and the eShop.
Horton’s teardown provides a snapshot of the hardware state and development choices for the Amico prototype and will be of interest to collectors and hardware historians tracking the console’s troubled rollout.
