History of video games/Platforms/Mattel Aquarius
History
[edit | edit source]RadioFin Electronics Far East developed and manufactured the Aquarius, with Mattel spearheading mass marketing and sales the system.[1]
Mattel launched the Aquarius on June 1st of 1983[2][3] The system was later handled by Radiofin after Mattel abandoned.[1]
Legacy
[edit | edit source]The system was discontinued by Mattel in October of 1983,[2] a notably short time on the market. Notably this coincided with the peak of sales of the system on one chart.[4] Radiofin continued the line for a short time afterwords.[1] Followup systems saw a December 1983 roadmap announcement in the Aquarius II and Aquarius III.[4] The Aquarius II had a roadmap release date of January 1984 which was later pushed back to a release target of September 1984.[4] Some Aquarius II units were actually made and sold sold by Radiofin.[4][5] The Aquarius III was initially planned for a July 1984 release, and is said to have not been released at all.[5][6]
1985 is the latest date that any of the Aquarius line is suspected to have been marketed.[4] Of course, secondhand sales would continue for some time. There was notable homebrew interest in the system as late as 2014.[7]
Technology
[edit | edit source]Original Model
[edit | edit source]Aquarius - System for the Seventies!—Unofficial slogan used by Aquarius developers, PC Gamer[8]
Compute
[edit | edit source]The system was powered by a Zilog Z80A clocked at 3.5 megahertz.[9]
Hardware
[edit | edit source]The system is noted for using a chicklet keyboard,[1] with an unorthodox design including a reset button next to the 1 key.[8]
Gallery
[edit | edit source]Computer
[edit | edit source]-
The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the front left. -
The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the front right. -
The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the back left. -
The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the back right. -
Mattel Aquarius with accessories attached.
Internals
[edit | edit source]-
Partly disassembled. -
Partly disassembled. -
Partly disassembled. -
Motherboard top from bottom left. -
Motherboard top from bottom right. -
Motherboard top from front left. -
Motherboard top from front right. -
Motherboard bottom.
External Resources
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References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ a b c d "Mattel Aquarius Homecomputer system". www.vdsteenoven.com. https://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/.
- ↑ a b "Mattel Aquarius computer". oldcomputers.net. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ↑ "Mattel Aquarius - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ↑ a b c d e Smith, Tony (June 10, 2013). "The toy of tech: The Mattel Aquarius 30 years on" (in en). www.theregister.com. https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/10/feature_30_years_old_the_mattel_aquarius?page=4.
- ↑ a b "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ↑ "Mattel Aquarius - home computer with the shortest career". History of Home and Game Computers. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ↑ "[AQUARIUS] Dusting off the old Aquarius ..." AtariAge Forums. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ↑ a b Loguidice, Bill (2 January 2018). "A look back at the weird, terrible keyboards of '70s and '80s PCs" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/a-look-back-at-the-weird-terrible-keyboards-of-70s-and-80s-pcs/.
- ↑ "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 16 September 2021.