Engineering:Mattel Aquarius

Short description: 1983 home computer

Mattel Aquarius

Manufacturer	Mattel Electronics
Type	Home computer
Release date	June 1983 (1983-06)
Introductory price	160 United States dollar (today $410)
Discontinued	October 1983 (1983-10)
Media	Cassette tape, ROM Cartridge
Operating system	Microsoft BASIC
CPU	Zilog Z80A @ 3.5 MHz
Memory	4KB RAM (expandable to 36KB), 8KB ROM
Display	80x72 semigraphics in 16 colors (40x24 character text, 8x8 pixel font)
Graphics	TEA1002
Sound	One voice
Input	Keyboard
Predecessor	Intellivision
Successor	Aquarius II, Aquarius+

Aquarius is a home computer designed by Radofin and released by Mattel Electronics in 1983. Based on the Zilog Z80 microprocessor, the system has a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4K of RAM, and a subset of Microsoft BASIC in ROM. It connects to a television set for audiovisual output, and uses a cassette tape recorder for secondary data storage. A limited number of peripherals, such as a 40-column thermal printer, a 4-color printer/plotter, and a 300 baud modem, were released. The Aquarius was discontinued in October 1983, only a few months after it was launched.

Development

The Aquarius with attached expansion block including 4KB RAM expansion and game cartridge inserted, controllers, and tape Data Recorder

Looking to compete in the home computer market, Mattel Electronics turned to Radofin, the Hong Kong based manufacturer of their Intellivision consoles. Radofin had designed two computer systems. Internally they were known as "Checkers" and the more sophisticated "Chess". Mattel contracted for these to become the Aquarius and Aquarius II, respectively.

Aquarius was announced in 1982 and finally released in June 1983, at a price of $160. Production ceased four months later because of poor sales. Mattel paid Radofin to take back the marketing rights. Four other companies: CEZAR Industries, CRIMAC, New Era Incentives, and Bentley Industries also marketed the unit and accessories.

The Aquarius was often bundled with the Mini-Expander peripheral, which added game pads, an additional cartridge port for memory expansion, and the General Instrument AY-3-8910 sound chip. Other peripherals were the Data recorder, 40 column thermal printer, 4K and 16K RAM carts. Less common first party peripherals include a 300 baud cartridge modem, 32k RAM cart, 4 color plotter, and Quick Disk drive.

Reception

The back of the Aquarius, showing connectors for TV out, an external cassette drive and printer

Although less expensive than the TI-99/4A and VIC-20, the Aquarius had comparatively weak graphics and limited memory. Internally, Mattel programmers adopted Bob Del Principe's mock slogan, "Aquarius -a system for the seventies". Of the 32 software titles Mattel announced for the unit, only 21 were released, most of which were ports of Intellivision games. Because of the hardware limitations of the Aquarius, the quality of many games suffered. There was such a lack of programmable graphics that Mattel added a special character set (see Character set section), so the games could at least use semigraphics.

As a magazine of the time put it, "The Aquarius suffered one of the shortest lifespans of any computer—it was discontinued by Mattel almost as soon as it hit store shelves, a victim of the 1983 home computer price wars." Just after the release of the Aquarius, Mattel announced plans for the Aquarius II, and there is evidence that the Aquarius II reached the market in small numbers, but was also not a commercial success.

Technical specifications

Motherboard

• CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 3.5 MHz
• Memory: 4K RAM, expandable to 36K RAM; 8K ROM
• Keyboard: 48-key rubber chiclet keyboard
• Display: 80x72 semigraphics in 16 colors (TEA1002 chip, 40x24 text characters - with a 25th "zero" row at top - with a size of 8x8 pixels, equivalent to 320 x 192 pixels)
• Sound: One voice, expandable to four voices
• Ports: Television, cartridge/expansion, tape recorder, printer
• PSU: Non-removable external power supply hard-wired into case providing 8.8 / 16 / -19 VDC

Peripherals

Despite its relatively short time on the market, Mattel Electronics and Radofin managed to have most of the announced peripherals available within a month or so of the release of the system. Some products never materialized beyond prototype phase, and some were available only in specific markets. Beginning in 2016, new user-designed peripherals began to show up, mostly on eBay or on vintage computer forums such as AtariAge.

Name	Product Type	Year	Creator	Notes
Mini Expander	System expander	1983	Mattel/Radofin	Included two Hand Controllers, with slots for RAM and ROM cartridges. Difficult to find outside of North America
Data Recorder	Serial storage device	1983	Mattel/Radofin	Included data cable and sample software cassette
Thermal Printer	Serial printer	1983	Mattel/Radofin	Included printer cable and roll of thermal paper
Color Printer	Serial plotter	1984	Mattel/Radofin	Included printer cable, roll of paper, and spare pens. Unit was a rebrand of a similar Tandy/RS printer
Modem	Cartridge-based 300 Baud Modem	1984	Mattel/Radofin	Included phone cables and software on cassette
4k RAM	RAM cartridge	1983	Mattel/Radofin	Expanded available RAM to about 6k
Quick Disk	Disk-based storage	1984?	Mattel/Radofin?	Released only as a prototype unit
32k RAM	RAM cartridge	2015	Jay Snellen, III	Expanded available RAM to about 34k
Micro Expander	System Expander	2016	Bruce Abbot	Included 32k RAM, custom ROM with USB BASIC, USB interface, AY-3-8910 PSG, and 3.5mm audio out
Aquarius MX	System Expander	2022	Harrington, Mack, Kaylor, et al.	Included 32k RAM, custom ROM with MX BASIC 2.0, USB interface, AY-3-8910 PSG, and DB9 hand controller ports

Interfacing

The Aquarius manual did not contain details of any of the ports available. The cassette port, although using the same 5-Pin DIN 41524 connector as the TRS-80, did not have the same pin out and thus was incompatible with readily available cables for the TRS-80, even though they physically fit the sockets on both the computer and cassette player. The Aquarius branded cassette deck came with the appropriate cable.

The cassette port a 5-pin female DIN 41524 connector

Pin	Function Aquarius	Function TRS-80
1	MIC	REMote
2	Common Ground	Common Ground
3	EAR	REMote
4	Not used	EAR
5	Not used	MIC

The MIC and EAR connections from the Aquarius each go to the tip/center of one of the two mini-plugs being attached to the recorder; Ground goes to the base/outside of both mini-plugs.

The printer interface is a mini-stereo socket with 3 lines, the same as on the Mattel Entertainment Computer System. The Aquarius printers came with their own cables. The interface conforms to RS-232 serial signal standards (+12VDC/-12VDC), with the knowledge of the pinout it is possible to interface printers with a corresponding RS-232 interface. The serial is fixed to 1200 baud 8N2 and provided both carriage return and line feed commands to the printer, thus the printer needed to be set to not auto feed with carriage return.

Pin out for the connector on the Aquarius:

Aquarius	Function
Tip	Data Out (TxD)
Ring	Printer Busy/Ready (DSR)
Sleeve	Ground (GND)

Typical serial printers had DB-25 interfaces; some had DE-9 interfaces; and, some Radio Shack (RS) printers had round 4-pin female DIN connector serial interfaces (with the pin sockets numbered left-to-right: 4, 3, 2, 1). The proper cable for connecting such a printer is as follows:

MINI-STEREO PLUG      DB-25    DE-9     RS       FUNCTION

Tip/Center of Plug    Pin 3    Pin 2    Pin 4    Data to Printer
Middle of Plug        Pin 20   Pin 4    Pin 2    Printer Busy/Ready 
Base/Outside          Pin 7    Pin 5    Pin 3    Signal Ground

Character set

The following table shows the Mattel Aquarius character set. Each character is shown with a potential Unicode equivalent if available.

Mattel Aquarius

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

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,

-

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1

2

3

4

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7

8

9

:

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<

=

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?

@

A

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F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

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W

X

Y

Z

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^

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a

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f

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u

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List of games

Around 75 games were published for this system.

Commercial games	Publisher	Release date
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin	Mattel	1982
Aliens	Add On Electronics	1983
Aquapack 1 (Snake, Breakout, Moon Shuttle)	Apocalypse Software	????
Astrosmash	Mattel	1983
Battle Zone	Add On Electronics	1984
Bounder	Add On Electronics	1984
Breakout	Add On Electronics	1984
Burger Time	Data East	1982
Chess (Dick Smith Electronics)	Dick Smith Electronics	1983
Chess (Mattel)	Mattel	1983
Chuckman	Add On Electronics	1983
D-Fenders	Add On Electronics	1983
Deathrace	Apocalypse Software	????
Demo Cassette (Stalactites, Macho-Man, Torment, Cute Cubes, Alien Quest, Mad Mould)	Radofin Electronics	1983
Diamond Mine	Add On Electronics	1984
Disco Fever	Add On Electronics	1984
Ed-On	Add On Electronics	1983
First Adventure	Digital Output	1984
Games Pack 1 (Stalactites, Macho-Man, Othello, Mutants)	Add On Electronics	1983
Games Pack 2 (Bounder, Local Bomber, Breakout, Night Driver)	Custom Cables International	1984
Games Pack 3 (Metior, Sheepdog, Mastermind, Depthcharge)	Custom Cables International	1984
Games Pack 4 (Painter, Pontoon, Grand Prix, Alien Storm)	Custom Cables International	1984
GamesTape (Dodge It, Trojan Dragon, Death Trap, Tablets of Hippocrates)	Fawkes Computing	1984
Gamespack 1 (Snake, Masterguess, Symon, Bomber, Hi-Lo)	Processor Software	1984
Gamespack 2 (Collector, Blocked!, Rocket Run, Minefield, Air-Defence)	Processor Software	1984
Ghost Hunter	Dick Smith Electronics	????
Grid Bug	Add On Electronics	1983
Hopper	Microdeal	1984
Invaders	Dick Smith Electronics	1984
Kronos Europea Cassette (Gamble, Gunfight, Mad Mould, Outline)	Radofin Electronics	1984
Maths Armada	Dick Smith Electronics	1984
Mazantics	Add On Electronics	1983
Melody Chase	Mattel	1983
Millypede	Add On Electronics	1983
Mower Man	Add On Electronics	1984
N-Vaders	Add On Electronics	1983
Night Stalker	Mattel	1982
Outpack 1 (Snake, Masterguess, Symon, Bomber, Hi-Lo)	Digital Output	1984
Outpack 2 (Collector, Blocked, Rocket Run, Minefield, Air-Defence)	Digital Output	1984
Outpack 3 (Gunfight, Gambler, Moonlander, Tracker, Nim)	Digital Output	1984
Outpack 4 (Super Slot, Golf, Invasion, Killer Sub, Survival)	Digital Output	1984
Outpack 5 (Timetrap, Gro-Worm, Wampus Gold, Bumpers, Space Shoot)	Digital Output	1984
Pac Mr	Add On Electronics	1983
Pack 1 (Bombardier, Fruit Machine, Hang Man, Alien Descent, Escape)	Mercury House	????
Pack 2 (Dungeon Adventure, U-Boat, Golf, Star Catcher, Moonraker)	Mercury House	????
Phrogger	Add On Electronics	1984
Postman Pot	Add On Electronics	1984
Rally Driver	Micro Mart Software	1984
Scramble	Micro Mart Software	1984
Shark!	Mattel	1983
Snafu	Mattel	1982
Space Ram	Dick Smith Electronics	1984
Space Speller	Mattel	1983
Tracker	Digital Output	????
Tron: Deadly Discs	Mattel	1982
Utopia	Mattel	1982
Zero In	Mattel	1983
Zorgon's Kingdom	Romik Software	1984

Homebrew games	Publisher	Release date
AlphaMix	Oasis
Aquariworm	Cronosoft	2020
Bomb Catcher II	Cronosoft	2021
Bustout	Cronosoft	2022
Crossword Computer	Oasis
Doomsday Defender	Cronosoft	2022
Electric Organ	Oasis
Fall of the Eastern Blocks	Leinen, Jason J.	1999
Flying	Oasis
Football	D.A. Spencer
Fruit Machine	D.A. Spencer
Gunnery	Oasis
Mastercode	Oasis
Pontoon	D.A. Spencer
Rollerball	D.A. Spencer
Sketch	Oasis
Ski	D.A. Spencer
Solitaire	Oasis
Space Collision	D.A. Spencer
Spacepits	D.A. Spencer
Strikeforce	D.A. Spencer
Symmetry	Oasis
Turmoil 2022	8-Bit Milli Games	2022

External links

• http://www.vdSteenoven.com/aquarius/
• http://oldcomputers.net/aquarius.html
• http://www.zophar.net/aquarius/
• The Dot Eaters entry on Aquarius and the Intellivision
• Sample videos of most Mattel Aquarius programs
• The Mattel Aquarius at The Centre for Computing History
• Mattel Aquarius Software Collection playable for free in the browser at the Internet Archive