Retroist Mattel Aquarius Podcast
On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I dive into an often overlooked computer from the eighties, The Mattel Aquarius. It is amazing how few of these machines were sold initially, but also how long the Aquarius computer line managed to hold on. While it is easy to poke fun at this computer, it is good to remember that this was someone’s first computer.
After discussing how I interacted with the Aquarius at an early age, I move onto the machine itself. I discuss the companies behind it and how they built it, Mattel and Radofin. Then I talk about the tech, the sales strategy, peripherals, games and much more.
I have wanted to talk about the Aquarius for a long time. I can still remember sitting in my friend’s family room, watching him playing Treasure of Tarmin for hours while drinking Shasta soda. It was a great couple of months and I owe it all this nearly forgotten bit of technology.
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Production Notes
What a fascinating system. So much speculation online on games and peripherals. Oh, what this could have been.
I cut out a bunch of me talking about games, especially Dungeons & Dragons. Fun for me, but not so much for you.
I was only able to find one commercial about the Aquarius. That made me sad.
I did find a lot of media coverage around the Aquarius. The tone went from neutral to negative very quickly. I decided to cut out most of it.
I recorded some of myself trying to emulate Treasure of Tarmin. It didn’t sound like much.
I tried to get a top 5 list going for this one, but was not able to get it recorded with metagirl in time for the show.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great week.