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History of video games/Platforms/Mattel Aquarius

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History

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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

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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

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Original Model

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Aquarius - System for the Seventies!
—Unofficial slogan used by Aquarius developers, PC Gamer[8]

Compute

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The system was powered by a Zilog Z80A clocked at 3.5 megahertz.[9]

Hardware

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The system is noted for using a chicklet keyboard,[1] with an unorthodox design including a reset button next to the 1 key.[8]

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Computer

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  •  
    The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the front left.
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    The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the front right.
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    The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the back left.
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    The Mattel Aquarius Computer from the back right.
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    Mattel Aquarius with accessories attached.

Internals

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  •  
    Partly disassembled.
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    Partly disassembled.
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    Partly disassembled.
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    Motherboard top from bottom left.
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    Motherboard top from bottom right.
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    Motherboard top from front left.
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    Motherboard top from front right.
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    Motherboard bottom.

External Resources

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Wikipedia has related information at Mattel Aquarius

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mattel Aquarius

References

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  1. ↑ a b c d "Mattel Aquarius Homecomputer system". www.vdsteenoven.com. https://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/. 
  2. ↑ a b "Mattel Aquarius computer". oldcomputers.net. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Mattel Aquarius - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  4. ↑ 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. 
  5. ↑ a b "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Mattel Aquarius - home computer with the shortest career". History of Home and Game Computers. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "[AQUARIUS] Dusting off the old Aquarius ..." AtariAge Forums. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ↑ 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/. 
  9. ↑ "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 16 September 2021.


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