Mattel Aquarius Rally Driver...

[mvdsteenoven]

Actually... there WAS one third party cartridge That ever elusive pain in our butts, impossible to find a manual for, Zero In! It was released by ECICO Electronics for Radofin.

 

I wonder if it really was a 3rd party...

The object of the game Zero-In is to do some basic Maths in a Maze. Wasn't there an unreleased cart by Mattel called Maths 'n' Mazes? And who would have access to the source of the protypes?

 

And why does the name Ecico sounds so familiar? Right; http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_info.html?ECICO_Aquarius.html

 

I suspect that Ecico was a brand name by Radofin to target the Middle East area, but I could not find any sources to back me up.

[jaybird3rd]

I wonder if it really was a 3rd party...

The object of the game Zero-In is to do some basic Maths in a Maze. Wasn't there an unreleased cart by Mattel called Maths 'n' Mazes? And who would have access to the source of the protypes?

 

And why does the name Ecico sounds so familiar? Right; http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_info.html?ECICO_Aquarius.html

 

I suspect that Ecico was a brand name by Radofin to target the Middle East area, but I could not find any sources to back me up.

The Blue Sky Rangers' Aquarius page does mention "Math & Mazes" as one of the "edutainment" titles, and I'm almost positive that this was the working title for Zero In; Space Speller is also listed as "Spelling in Space". But whether that's true or not, Zero In was definitely developed at Mattel (their name is on the title screen), so I wouldn't consider it a "third party" release, either; it was merely branded differently on the only scan of the manual that we have.

 

I thought the Ecico name rang a bell, although I couldn't find a picture of their Arabic version of the Aquarius earlier. That machine looks fascinating to me, and I wonder if the built-in character set was any different.

[the-topdog]

I wonder if it really was a 3rd party...

The object of the game Zero-In is to do some basic Maths in a Maze. Wasn't there an unreleased cart by Mattel called Maths 'n' Mazes? And who would have access to the source of the protypes?

 

And why does the name Ecico sounds so familiar? Right; http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_info.html?ECICO_Aquarius.html

 

I suspect that Ecico was a brand name by Radofin to target the Middle East area, but I could not find any sources to back me up.

 

The Blue Sky Rangers' Aquarius page does mention "Math & Mazes" as one of the "edutainment" titles, and I'm almost positive that this was the working title for Zero In; Space Speller is also listed as "Spelling in Space". But whether that's true or not, Zero In was definitely developed at Mattel (their name is on the title screen), so I wouldn't consider it a "third party" release, either; it was merely branded differently on the only scan of the manual that we have.

 

Martin, I had seen that picture of the Aquarius with the Arabic keys once but couldn't find it again when Jay mentioned it.

 

I would lay money on the assumptions that Maths 'n' Mazes is Zero In as you surmise and Spelling in Space is Space Speller as Jay surmises.

[jaybird3rd]

It's such a pity that so many of the titles listed on the BSR's Aquarius page didn't make it out. I would have loved to see Bump 'n' Jump, Lock 'n' Chase, and Sea Battle on the Aquarius, or even some more of the "edutainment" titles. Educational technology is an interesting area to me, and it looks like Mattel was doing a lot of work in it when the Aquarius was axed.

 

Lock 'n' Chase and Sea Battle are actually listed as "Coming Soon!" in the Aquarius catalogs that I've seen (complete with faux screenshots, apparently modeled after the Intellivision versions), which seems to suggest that they were at least in development at the time. Does anyone know if any prototypes of these games have ever surfaced?

[the-topdog]

It's such a pity that so many of the titles listed on the BSR's Aquarius page didn't make it out. I would have loved to see Bump 'n' Jump, Lock 'n' Chase, or Sea Battle on the Aquarius, or even some more of the "edutainment" titles. Educational technology is an interesting area to me, and it looks like Mattel was doing a lot of work in that area.

 

Lock 'n' Chase and Sea Battle are actually listed as "Coming Soon!" in the Aquarius catalogs that I've seen (with faux screenshots, apparently modeled after the Intellivision versions), which seems to suggest that they were at least in development at the time. Does anyone know if any prototypes of these games have ever surfaced?

 

I myself have never even heard rumors that cartridges ever existed for these, so I would hazard a guess that they were never developed and were just vaporware from their catalogs and promotional materials. Bump 'n' Jump would have been awesome for the Aquarius.

 

I have heard of a rumored Reversi cartridge, which is probably just a proto.

[+MattelAquarius]

It's such a pity that so many of the titles listed on the BSR's Aquarius page didn't make it out. I would have loved to see Bump 'n' Jump, Lock 'n' Chase, or Sea Battle on the Aquarius, or even some more of the "edutainment" titles. Educational technology is an interesting area to me, and it looks like Mattel was doing a lot of work in that area.

 

Lock 'n' Chase and Sea Battle are actually listed as "Coming Soon!" in the Aquarius catalogs that I've seen (with faux screenshots, apparently modeled after the Intellivision versions), which seems to suggest that they were at least in development at the time. Does anyone know if any prototypes of these games have ever surfaced?

 

I myself have never even heard rumors that cartridges ever existed for these, so I would hazard a guess that they were never developed and were just vaporware from their catalogs and promotional materials. Bump 'n' Jump would have been awesome for the Aquarius.

 

I have heard of a rumored Reversi cartridge, which is probably just a proto.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if protos exist or existed at one time. My Shark! proto appeared out of no where. I have never seen any mention of Shark! Shark! being planned for the Aquarius in any of the literature. I suspect that the proto was a proof-in-concept that proved it was not a very viable title for the Aq's limited character graphics, but that is just a guess.

[oky2000]

Possibly the last ever copy of that game around, possibly now lost forever after the death of some old man who bought it passed away.