Hi Everyone. This time Retro Relix reviews, fixes and tests some original and modern mods for the 1983 Aquarius. Although not the most capable computer of its time, it remains an important part of our retro history. Enjoy...
I somewhat recently found one of these at the local swap meet for $30! Unfortunately, I've also been homeless for the last 2yrs and haven't been able to explore any of the many gems I acquired. I'm really happy you made this video as it gives me a starting point and answers a lot of questions. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos and just subscribed.
Loved my Aquarius while it lasted. Had every add on you could get for it. Bought everything from Asda,of all places. The only place i saw it, where i lived.
I remember stacks of these sitting in a pile at my local department store while you couldn't buy a Sinclair, Commodore or even Dragon over the Christmas period. With it's poor specification it had no chance in the UK market.
Mattel had a really nice package there with lots of interesting peripherals. With a proper keyboard and a bit m more "oomph" it could really have been something.
@@RetroRelixRestorer I was 10 when I saw my cousin’s VIC20 and I wanted a computer so bad since that moment. My dad was a systems analyst and he saw no use for a computer (a serious piece of kit) in a household. So this Aquarius was by far the cheapest computer I could find but nope… Eventually I could borrow the VIC20 from my cousin later that year because he’d upgraded to the C64. My parents then bought the VIC20 from him as a birthday gift in 84 for me. But at the in 1985 my cousin’s C64 was being lended to me. And it too was eventually bought in 1986. And I had some much fun on both of them. I do a fair bit of programming on the C64 still (also on my channel). That feeling that you had with the Speccy (I recently had my first Speccy experience) I for sure had on the C64. Some of the best days of my life. Every thing was new and exciting, in those days.
I had one of these, 3 game cartridges, the expander, and 2 controllers. Wish I still had it. Got it in a trade or something. No documentation so I never knew its built-in BASIC had a POKE. Definitely an educational unit to perhaps teach something.
what an amazing little machine, i ekkked at the power cord till you modded it which is something i would of done, yup never seen this one before till now. thanks for sharing and have subbed.
Fantastic! I grew up watching my parents play AD&D and was terrified at the monsters. Would love to see more information on that joystick mod though, and how you got the capture so crisp. Aquarius was RF only and that picture looked way better than RF. Great video! Subbing now
Aqua Pad: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155671093189?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6VuiXbhURKS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=GI6Nq42JTW2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I miss my Aquarius. I had it in box with four programs included, also complete in their boxes (Biorhythms, Snafu, AD&D, and NightStalker.) It also came with the expansion unit. Sadly, it was lost in a fire along with many other valuable things. I know I'll never get one again because as soon as the fire happened, FOR SOME REASON, it was worth more. It has gotten too expensive to get back.
I had one of these a short while, came with burgertime I believe. Was a clearance price of $20 back in the 1983. I didn’t dig the predefined keys to type in syntax for basic. I also didn’t realize it had a 4mhz z80. The design was not well thought out IMO.
We ended up with one of these somehow but we didn't have any games so I never saw it function. I remember using the cassette player a bunch and saving the power supply for random projects
Great video! I'm new to your channel and just subbed - thanks for showing us the workings of these lesser-known early home machines. Has anyone mentioned that your voice is a dead ringer for David Mitchell's?
Nice review. I was going to wonder who on earth at Mattel approved this system, considering the other options already out at this time, but actually it does have certain charms.
Excellent! I thought about buying an Aquarius BITD, but didn't. IMO, It's a step up from Intellivision and 2600, but is lacking compared to other 8-bit offerings of the period. I did remember it's ultra-short lifespan on the market.
I guess that, in the UK at least, with reasonable pricing this could have taken off, had it not been for the incredible success of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum the year before. Although the lack of inbuilt RAM would have been an issue, it appears to have broadly similar capabilities and a better cartridge/peripheral interface. But in 1983, this couldn't compete against anything except the Atari 2600, Intellivision and the cheap as chips ZX81.
Interesting video thanks, not a computer I knew anything about, I look forward to watching more of your videos. The only slight criticism I would have is the overlong black screen in between scene transitions is a bit jarring. Cheers anyway.
I actually own a full system including the color plotter and the thermal printers. Why did it really fail? We wanted an Intellivision that was also a computer... What we got was neither. I dunno, I think it could easily have competed with the lower end market that was dominated by the ZX81 (Sinclair 1000 in the US). With the mom and pop that just needs something for balancing the budget, storing recipes and that sort of thing. They just didn't market it properly.
The Aquarius is interesting as a curiosity, but this was always going to be dead on arrival. Inferior as a micro (even the humble Vic-20 blows it away) and terrible as a game machine. Mattel's own Intellivision was far better, not to mention the Colecvision being on the market and the 2600's huge library.
I worked in a computer shop that sold these alongside Atari 8 bit, C64, and even Sord and Spectravideo machines, and it was obvious even then that the Aquarius was awful compared to the competition. The basic in particular was terrible. Everything had to be done by POKEs. It was the lack of any user definable graphics and the pitiful amount of memory that was the biggest issue. The machine was so bad a customer tried to trade one back in but was disgusted when the shop manager only offered £5 for it!
I think it was originally aimed at a similar market to the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32 and Oric computers... cheap and cheerful, but with expandability built in. But the lack of RAM really was a mistake, and totally inadequate in 1983. A lacklustre BASIC wasn't unique to the Aquarius... unbelievably the Commodore 64 also used an old version of MS BASIC, with no graphics and sound commands built in, despite having excellent hardware capabilities. Fortunately, after my ZX81, I got into Atari. Plenty of graphics and sound commands to play with. 😂
@@another3997 The C64 had a limited version of BASIC because Jack Tramiel didn't want to pay Bill Gates the licence fees to make an updated version. So they just used the same version they'd used on the PET and VIC20 which they had bought outright from Microsoft and didn't have to pay any extra fees for. The only good thing about C64 BASIC was that it was so limited it encouraged you to learn machine code to best use the advanced graphics and sound capabilities of the machine. Unfortunately the Aquarius didn't have any decent capabilities to program for given it was limited to character graphics only.
Mattel should have just ported their games (Astrosmash, Utopia, Night Stalker, etc...) to Tandy's MC10 or Coco and to Commodore's VIC-20 instead of releasing the Aquarius.
In some ways it was comparable to the Vic20. When the Vic20 was released it wasn't particularly cheap, and it didn't sell that well in many markets outside the USA. Radiofin and Mattel were probably aiming to compete in a niche like the one occupied by the likes of the ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32 and Oric. But with prices of superior machines dropping rapidly, that niche disappeared.
@another3997 the vic20 was released in 1980 with 5k of RAM. $300, prob $200 by the time this was released Maybe there was a niche , but a pretty small one
Like several manufacturers of the period, Mattel and Radiofin made the mistake of providing simple, cheap hardware at lowish prices. But the market wasn't static, and when finally released in 1983, computer prices had fallen to the point where you could get far better machines for the price Mattel needed to charge.
It was not that bad. But the Mattel Aquarius never had a good name, it was a toy, not a computer. It was designed for mass production and that did not come true. Maybe, very maybe if a computer enthousiast would have worked on it, things would be different. Silly sounds, silly keyboard, silly expansion port, while the processor was capable of running CP/M, it could have ben used for serious work, Mattel aimed at making a toy, and that was their mistake. 1983 was the year when MSX was on the horizon, they had exactly the right mix of games and serious work capabilities. A toy that could do word-processing. They lasted on the market a decade longer then the Mattel computer, while it had approximately the same number of chips, the same coasts to make. Mattel is a toy company not a computer company.
@@RetroRelixRestorer Wow such a limited system, especially for 1983. A computer beginner might have got a few months of enjoyment out of one before moving onto something more capable.
Do not use motorized screwdrivers to avoid damaging the plastics. The rust needs to be removed. Only an idiot would think of covering it with paint. Please do not damage the original cables. Please do not damage the original case. Why do you destroy history? THUMB DOWN.
This was even worse than the Intellivision ECS computer, the graphics were far worse, not even real graphics, just ASCII charters and it was not even a real computer, far worse than any other computer out during it's time, the VIC 20 was better, the controllers were worse than the Intellivision 2 controllers because they had key pad with only 6 buttons and no action buttons.
Needless to say but i just don’t care about this machine, mattel should,ve to shame on their selfes because of coming with such cheap computer since their intelevision game console was much more powerful🥲
It’s fascinating to see all the add-ons I never had for mine.
Hi Everyone. This time Retro Relix reviews, fixes and tests some original and modern mods for the 1983 Aquarius. Although not the most capable computer of its time, it remains an important part of our retro history. Enjoy...
I somewhat recently found one of these at the local swap meet for $30! Unfortunately, I've also been homeless for the last 2yrs and haven't been able to explore any of the many gems I acquired. I'm really happy you made this video as it gives me a starting point and answers a lot of questions. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos and just subscribed.
I just got out of being homeless and started exploring my junk. Feels like home.
Excellent video. I really enjoyed this and it was good to see information on the memory map which I hadn't looked into myself . Thanks for sharing
Bought an Atari 800 in 1982. Still have it and it still works.
Loved my Aquarius while it lasted. Had every add on you could get for it. Bought everything from Asda,of all places. The only place i saw it, where i lived.
I remember stacks of these sitting in a pile at my local department store while you couldn't buy a Sinclair, Commodore or even Dragon over the Christmas period. With it's poor specification it had no chance in the UK market.
Mattel had a really nice package there with lots of interesting peripherals. With a proper keyboard and a bit m more "oomph" it could really have been something.
Great video, I'm off to watch your back catalogue.
I saw these in the 80s in magazines. I loved the colours of the keys. Luckily my parents held it very long until we had a C64
Yeah, my parents couldn’t decide between the Oric 1 and the ZX Spectrum 48K. Fortunately they made the right choice too 👍
@@RetroRelixRestorer I was 10 when I saw my cousin’s VIC20 and I wanted a computer so bad since that moment. My dad was a systems analyst and he saw no use for a computer (a serious piece of kit) in a household.
So this Aquarius was by far the cheapest computer I could find but nope…
Eventually I could borrow the VIC20 from my cousin later that year because he’d upgraded to the C64.
My parents then bought the VIC20 from him as a birthday gift in 84 for me. But at the in 1985 my cousin’s C64 was being lended to me. And it too was eventually bought in 1986. And I had some much fun on both of them. I do a fair bit of programming on the C64 still (also on my channel). That feeling that you had with the Speccy (I recently had my first Speccy experience) I for sure had on the C64. Some of the best days of my life. Every thing was new and exciting, in those days.
I had one of these, 3 game cartridges, the expander, and 2 controllers. Wish I still had it. Got it in a trade or something. No documentation so I never knew its built-in BASIC had a POKE. Definitely an educational unit to perhaps teach something.
Go on then, I’m not super familiar with it so it’s definitely worth a watch ❤
what an amazing little machine, i ekkked at the power cord till you modded it which is something i would of done, yup never seen this one before till now. thanks for sharing and have subbed.
Cool .. some of my devices there..
Yep, they’re retro game changers 👌
@@RetroRelixRestorer I see what you did there... ;)
The Korean chips in the cartridge are mask ROMs of 8kb each that contain the game program. Maybe something like 2364 type devices.
That makes perfect sense. Thank you 👍
Fantastic! I grew up watching my parents play AD&D and was terrified at the monsters.
Would love to see more information on that joystick mod though, and how you got the capture so crisp. Aquarius was RF only and that picture looked way better than RF.
Great video! Subbing now
Aqua Pad: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155671093189?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6VuiXbhURKS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=GI6Nq42JTW2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Re video, this was emulated using Aqualite, link in the description.
I miss my Aquarius. I had it in box with four programs included, also complete in their boxes (Biorhythms, Snafu, AD&D, and NightStalker.) It also came with the expansion unit. Sadly, it was lost in a fire along with many other valuable things. I know I'll never get one again because as soon as the fire happened, FOR SOME REASON, it was worth more. It has gotten too expensive to get back.
I had one of these a short while, came with burgertime I believe. Was a clearance price of $20 back in the 1983. I didn’t dig the predefined keys to type in syntax for basic. I also didn’t realize it had a 4mhz z80. The design was not well thought out IMO.
I hope you’ll do a video about the new Aquarius+ computer, which is seriously interesting and as good as the original wasn’t! ;-)
Always wanted one of these. However, happy with the speccy.
We ended up with one of these somehow but we didn't have any games so I never saw it function. I remember using the cassette player a bunch and saving the power supply for random projects
4k in 1983 - no wonder it failed.
It’s Mattel. Barbie sized memory.
I just picked one of these up the other day. I may have to do the power cord mos, that would make it a lot nicer
This is a link to the sockets I used. amzn.eu/d/dlikieH
Great video! I'm new to your channel and just subbed - thanks for showing us the workings of these lesser-known early home machines.
Has anyone mentioned that your voice is a dead ringer for David Mitchell's?
Lol - No 🤣
Nice review. I was going to wonder who on earth at Mattel approved this system, considering the other options already out at this time, but actually it does have certain charms.
Aquarius let the sun shine in...... remember that song if your a retro game, well way retro
🤣
Excellent! I thought about buying an Aquarius BITD, but didn't. IMO, It's a step up from Intellivision and 2600, but is lacking compared to other 8-bit offerings of the period. I did remember it's ultra-short lifespan on the market.
I guess that, in the UK at least, with reasonable pricing this could have taken off, had it not been for the incredible success of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum the year before. Although the lack of inbuilt RAM would have been an issue, it appears to have broadly similar capabilities and a better cartridge/peripheral interface. But in 1983, this couldn't compete against anything except the Atari 2600, Intellivision and the cheap as chips ZX81.
Nice vid. Obscure!
Interesting video thanks, not a computer I knew anything about, I look forward to watching more of your videos. The only slight criticism I would have is the overlong black screen in between scene transitions is a bit jarring. Cheers anyway.
Do games load faster with the loader or is it real time more convenience of storage
It loads the sound file at the same speed.
I actually own a full system including the color plotter and the thermal printers.
Why did it really fail?
We wanted an Intellivision that was also a computer...
What we got was neither.
I dunno, I think it could easily have competed with the lower end market that was dominated by the ZX81 (Sinclair 1000 in the US). With the mom and pop that just needs something for balancing the budget, storing recipes and that sort of thing.
They just didn't market it properly.
The little computer that couldn't.
Certainly wasn't the age of Aquarius.
😂
My first computer! Mine had the dodgy rom which meant it wouldn't load anything from the cassette.
Did you get it replaced ?
I used to play Jupiter Lander on my Commodore64. I was super good at it.
So it seems to me like it's just a TRS-80 with some color video and decent sound.
"'Thee Camp-town Lay-dees?'"
-- Bart, "Blazing Saddles"
Melody Chase -Inspiration for Guitar Hero?
👍🏻
The Aquarius is interesting as a curiosity, but this was always going to be dead on arrival. Inferior as a micro (even the humble Vic-20 blows it away) and terrible as a game machine. Mattel's own Intellivision was far better, not to mention the Colecvision being on the market and the 2600's huge library.
Very similar to the TI-99/4A in some respects.
I worked in a computer shop that sold these alongside Atari 8 bit, C64, and even Sord and Spectravideo machines, and it was obvious even then that the Aquarius was awful compared to the competition.
The basic in particular was terrible. Everything had to be done by POKEs.
It was the lack of any user definable graphics and the pitiful amount of memory that was the biggest issue.
The machine was so bad a customer tried to trade one back in but was disgusted when the shop manager only offered £5 for it!
I think it was originally aimed at a similar market to the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32 and Oric computers... cheap and cheerful, but with expandability built in. But the lack of RAM really was a mistake, and totally inadequate in 1983. A lacklustre BASIC wasn't unique to the Aquarius... unbelievably the Commodore 64 also used an old version of MS BASIC, with no graphics and sound commands built in, despite having excellent hardware capabilities. Fortunately, after my ZX81, I got into Atari. Plenty of graphics and sound commands to play with. 😂
@@another3997 The C64 had a limited version of BASIC because Jack Tramiel didn't want to pay Bill Gates the licence fees to make an updated version. So they just used the same version they'd used on the PET and VIC20 which they had bought outright from Microsoft and didn't have to pay any extra fees for. The only good thing about C64 BASIC was that it was so limited it encouraged you to learn machine code to best use the advanced graphics and sound capabilities of the machine. Unfortunately the Aquarius didn't have any decent capabilities to program for given it was limited to character graphics only.
Mattel should have just ported their games (Astrosmash, Utopia, Night Stalker, etc...) to Tandy's MC10 or Coco and to Commodore's VIC-20 instead of releasing the Aquarius.
Makes better sense 👍
If you can't play on it, just oveclock it 😊
👏👍
I remember seeing these in Boots and Menzies and not being impressed!
How could they not make it even compete with the vic20
In some ways it was comparable to the Vic20. When the Vic20 was released it wasn't particularly cheap, and it didn't sell that well in many markets outside the USA. Radiofin and Mattel were probably aiming to compete in a niche like the one occupied by the likes of the ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32 and Oric. But with prices of superior machines dropping rapidly, that niche disappeared.
@another3997 the vic20 was released in 1980 with 5k of RAM. $300, prob $200 by the time this was released
Maybe there was a niche , but a pretty small one
I remember seeing one of these in a story and laughing at how terrible it was.
Yeah, it’s not the best - but still part of our retro history 😂
Yeah, only time I ever saw these was sometime in the late 1980s in a closeout store.
Like several manufacturers of the period, Mattel and Radiofin made the mistake of providing simple, cheap hardware at lowish prices. But the market wasn't static, and when finally released in 1983, computer prices had fallen to the point where you could get far better machines for the price Mattel needed to charge.
It was not that bad. But the Mattel Aquarius never had a good name, it was a toy, not a computer. It was designed for mass production and that did not come true. Maybe, very maybe if a computer enthousiast would have worked on it, things would be different. Silly sounds, silly keyboard, silly expansion port, while the processor was capable of running CP/M, it could have ben used for serious work, Mattel aimed at making a toy, and that was their mistake.
1983 was the year when MSX was on the horizon, they had exactly the right mix of games and serious work capabilities. A toy that could do word-processing. They lasted on the market a decade longer then the Mattel computer, while it had approximately the same number of chips, the same coasts to make. Mattel is a toy company not a computer company.
You make some fair points.
Was the Aquarius capable of doing software sprites?
No sprites, in fact; no customisable graphics at all 😳
@@RetroRelixRestorer Wow such a limited system, especially for 1983. A computer beginner might have got a few months of enjoyment out of one before moving onto something more capable.
I bet it could run minecraft.... :D
Do not use motorized screwdrivers to avoid damaging the plastics. The rust needs to be removed. Only an idiot would think of covering it with paint.
Please do not damage the original cables.
Please do not damage the original case.
Why do you destroy history?
THUMB DOWN.
By 1983 standards this is poor graphics, no wonder it flopped.
This was even worse than the Intellivision ECS computer, the graphics were far worse, not even real graphics, just ASCII charters and it was not even a real computer, far worse than any other computer out during it's time, the VIC 20 was better, the controllers were worse than the Intellivision 2 controllers because they had key pad with only 6 buttons and no action buttons.
Well done! 💾
can you combine mods?
If you mean the Mini expander and Aqua Max - yeah !
@@RetroRelixRestorer then do a video on that.
Needless to say but i just don’t care about this machine, mattel should,ve to shame on their selfes because of coming with such cheap computer since their intelevision game console was much more powerful🥲