Intellivision questions

[Jake]

 During my child/toddler years my older friends or siblings would often play video games like Odyssey 2 , or Colecovision... etc. Two people had Colecovision on my street. I mostly played Commodore/Odyssey 2 growing up. Then moved onto NES when I was 10 years old. Never even seen an Intellivision in person. Though my curiousness has been growing a lot more lately and considering to buy one. At first I didn't want to, because of the Controllers seemed strange/awkward. Also heard many games were two player only. However reading the reviews on this site and seeing the graphics pictures has leaned me into wanting to try one. It's taken a while to come around to this, as I was busy collecting for other systems and playing those.

Now for my questions on, the Intellivision... 

1. how does one use these controllers?
does it work like an Atari 2600 paddle? Is it easy to figure out?
 
2. does every game need the keypad to play it properly?? Or could you buy a loose cart and still play it okay with no keypad? I seen some keypads for the controllers, how do they work? 
 
3. in comparision to other systems, which is the intellivision most like? 
 

I'm not interested in Colecovision, because the library is mostly arcade titles that I don't wanna bother with, as I have Atari 7800 2600 5200-(broken controllers) which have plenty of arcade titles on them already. Plus I read the Colecovision "system/controllers" are prone to breakage and the games and system (in general) seem much more expensive on eBay. I also like the look of Intellivision more and the games seem more original or strategic which I like.  

Any help or opinions would be great,
reply soon. Guy, u there? *hint hint*

[Jake]

Sorry, on question 2 I was refering more to Keypad (overlays)
not the keypad itself.

Like, from a distance I cannot tell how the controllers are even held or used.
Even with reading the Console review.

Maybe a decent live youtube vid' of the controllers? 

[Jake]

 Hello?? Anybody out there?!

**Silent wind howls, a tumbleweed blows on by**

[VideoGameCritic]

1. The controllers are easy to figure out, but they will cramp your hands during extended play sessions.
2. The overlays slip into the controller, but you don't need them as long as you know what the buttons do (just read the instructions).  There are also sites out there that will let you print out your own overlays.
3. I can't really think of any other console to compare this one to.  It's a true original.

[Jake]

Okay thanks Dave. That's good help, I get it now. I will try to snatch one on eBay. Look forward to obtaining one.

[VideoGameCritic]

[QUOTE=Jake]Okay thanks Dave. That's good help, I get it now. I will try to snatch one on eBay. Look forward to obtaining one.


[/QUOTE]

I would recommend getting the original version over Intellivision II.  The original has hard-wired controllers, but they are more comfortable and fairly durable.

[Jake]

Yep! I read about that in the console review. That the Intell I. has the better or more comfortable controllers. So, I'll be checking out the first version console.

Hopefully I can get one soon, but may have to wait a few weeks, for better funds to spend. I think getting one with a good selection of games would be the wise way to go.

Thanks again for the info Dave. It has helped a lot.