[AQUARIUS] Aquarius Collecting List

[mvdsteenoven]

On 3/7/2021 at 2:33 AM, EdgeOfPortal said:

Interestingly enough, my Postman Pot tape is branded on the art by Add-On, yet the tape itself is CCI. Now, on any other system I would say, oh well the seller must've combined a loose tape and a loose case, but Aquarius Cassettes aren't exactly common. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has a Postman Pot like this?

I have three of these tapes;Mower Man, Disco Fever and also Postman Pot. All with inlays and art by Add-On, but CCI tapes

 

Regs

Martin

[Intymike]

1 hour ago, mvdsteenoven said:

I have three of these tapes;Mower Man, Disco Fever and also Postman Pot. All with inlays and art by Add-On, but CCI tapes

 

Regs

Martin

 

 

 

I never have looked that closely.  

 

Ok, I checked it out.

 

I have

10 Add-on cases / Add-on cassettes

2 CCI cases / CCI cassettes (Games Pack 3, Mower Man)

2 Add-on cases / CCI cassettes (Postman Pot, Disco Fever)

1 Add-on case / cassette with non branded sticker (N-Vaders)

 

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Intymike

[Aquaman]

At the website from Martin he has scanned in a copy of the Dutch user magazine. It mentions 2 unknown tape games which could be ordered: The Bridge and UFO. A real pity there is not more info on these  https://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/pfvbalen8603.php.  

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by Aquaman

[EdgeOfPortal]

12 hours ago, Aquaman said:

At the website from Martin he has scanned in a copy of the Dutch user magazine. It mentions 2 unknown tape games which could be ordered: The Bridge and UFO. A real pity there is not more info on these  https://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/pfvbalen8603.php.  

 

Thanks for letting me know, I'll add them when I get a chance. It's a shame these tapes have been practically lost to time.

[+sixersfan105]

14 hours ago, Aquaman said:

At the website from Martin he has scanned in a copy of the Dutch user magazine. It mentions 2 unknown tape games which could be ordered: The Bridge and UFO. A real pity there is not more info on these  https://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/pfvbalen8603.php.  

 

Do we have any proof that they actually exist, though? Because we've seen ads before (and catalog inclusions for actual ordering) for Aquarius games that never saw an actual release, including Lock 'n' Chase, Sea Battle and Reversi (Montgomery Ward catalog (US) with catalog number, pricing, and ordering details) as well as Sea Battle and Lock 'n' Chase in the Dutch user club in 1986. 

[EdgeOfPortal]

2 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

Do we have any proof that they actually exist, though? Because we've seen ads before (and catalog inclusions for actual ordering) for Aquarius games that never saw an actual release, including Lock 'n' Chase, Sea Battle and Reversi (Montgomery Ward catalog (US) with catalog number, pricing, and ordering details) as well as Sea Battle and Lock 'n' Chase in the Dutch user club in 1986. 

No, we don't actually. Well, now that I think about it, perhaps a column that states whether or not a particular cassette has been seen before could be a good addition? What do you think? A large majority of the cassettes on the list haven't been seen, but were still included in case.

[+sixersfan105]

1 hour ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

No, we don't actually. Well, now that I think about it, perhaps a column that states whether or not a particular cassette has been seen before could be a good addition? What do you think? A large majority of the cassettes on the list haven't been seen, but were still included in case.

Yes that's a good idea. Or maybe just putting an asterisk next to unconfirmed releases. 

[+sixersfan105]

Here's a new one for you, @EdgeOfPortal. There was much chatter over the past 24 hours on the Aquarius Facebook group about a previously unknown Aquarius cassette game: House of Terrors. It's quite advanced and appears to have been a homebrew of sorts from 1986 and requires 16K and a hand controller. The creator, Tjerk André, joined the Facebook group today after someone contacted him privately to let him know that his game was recently discovered. Apparently he wrote several games for the Aquarius. Here's the link to the most recent post about it (I believe it's a public group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/aquariuscomputer/permalink/2775282722802067/

 

Pretty amazing stuff!

[EdgeOfPortal]

On 4/7/2021 at 1:31 AM, sixersfan105 said:

Here's a new one for you, @EdgeOfPortal. There was much chatter over the past 24 hours on the Aquarius Facebook group about a previously unknown Aquarius cassette game: House of Terrors. It's quite advanced and appears to have been a homebrew of sorts from 1986 and requires 16K and a hand controller. The creator, Tjerk André, joined the Facebook group today after someone contacted him privately to let him know that his game was recently discovered. Apparently he wrote several games for the Aquarius. Here's the link to the most recent post about it (I believe it's a public group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/aquariuscomputer/permalink/2775282722802067/

 

Pretty amazing stuff!

Thanks! It looks very interesting, I’ll have to give it a download. I need to figure out what to do with this tape, I suppose I can put it in there as a Homebrew, but my bet is this is the only copy of the tape remaining.

 

Also, I took a look at some info posted in the comments. I gathered some info about dumping Aquarius tapes, so with that I should be able to finally dump the Diamond Mine cassette! I’ll try to do that this weekend.

[+sixersfan105]

I agree that there's a good chance this tape is the last remaining House of Terrors, and there likely were only a few to begin with. Thank goodness the community was able to digitize it for preservation and enjoyment for all!

 

Oh wow, that would be amazing if you could dump Diamond Mine! Definitely keep us posted on your progress. I know we could also use a better dump of Disco Fever, something I've been meaning to try to do. 

[EdgeOfPortal]

7 minutes ago, sixersfan105 said:

I agree that there's a good chance this tape is the last remaining House of Terrors, and there likely were only a few to begin with. Thank goodness the community was able to digitize it for preservation and enjoyment for all!

 

Oh wow, that would be amazing if you could dump Diamond Mine! Definitely keep us posted on your progress. I know we could also use a better dump of Disco Fever, something I've been meaning to try to do. 

I'll make a thread here with the dump once it's made. I'd love to see a better dump of Disco Fever. That tape has managed to evade my collecting for the past few years unfortunately. I believe it's one of 4(?) Add-On releases I'm missing at this point.

[mvdsteenoven]

Missing in the literature section.

Book: Thinking about [TLC] Logo for Mattel Aquarius

Writers: John R. Allen, Michael E. Burke and John F. Johnson

Published by: CBS College Publishing

ISBN: 0-03-064114-4

 

Regs

Martin

[+sixersfan105]

That cover illustration of that book is fantastic! Thanks for sharing. 

[Intelligentleman]

43 minutes ago, mvdsteenoven said:

Missing in the literature section.

Book: Thinking about [TLC] Logo for Mattel Aquarius

Writers: John R. Allen, Michael E. Burke and John F. Johnson

Published by: CBS College Publishing

ISBN: 0-03-064114-4

 

Regs

Martin

WHAT IS THIS. Logo is one of my favorite Mattel Electronics items and I've barely even used it. 

[mvdsteenoven]

40 minutes ago, Intelligentleman said:

WHAT IS THIS. Logo is one of my favorite Mattel Electronics items and I've barely even used it. 

TLC is The Lisp Company, the Logo variant used on Aquarius. This book is about learning Logo, but much more technical. 

 

Regs,

Martin

[Intelligentleman]

19 minutes ago, mvdsteenoven said:

TLC is The Lisp Company, the Logo variant used on Aquarius. This book is about learning Logo, but much more technical. 

 

Regs,

Martin

Incredible. Just when I think I'm out, the collecting bug pulls me back.

[EdgeOfPortal]

3 hours ago, mvdsteenoven said:

TLC is The Lisp Company, the Logo variant used on Aquarius. This book is about learning Logo, but much more technical. 

 

Regs,

Martin

Thanks for letting me know about this book. Will add it in the next version. Some of these books are just incredibly difficult to find! Never seen this one for sale in particular.

[+sixersfan105]

@EdgeOfPortal any luck with digitizing Diamond Mine just yet? 

[mvdsteenoven]

Hi,

 

I found some casettes in my collection which are not in the list.

Ghost Hunter by Dick Smith Electronics. Unfortunattely, my copy does not have an inlay so I do not have a catalog number.
Games Pack 3 and 4 by Processor Software.
Games included on Games Pack 3; Gunfight, Gambles, Moonlander, Tracker and Nim
Games included on Games Pack 4; Super Slot, Golf, Invasion, Killer Sub and Survival

 

Regs,
Martin

[ssj]

@mvdsteenoven Any chance you could share CAQ/WAV files for Gamespack 2, 4 and Ghost Hunter? It seems you already have them digitized looking at your website. Would be great if you could make them public.

 

Those Games Pack by Processor seem to simply be re-releases of the Outpacks from Digital Output (or the other way around) right? They contain the exact same games.

 

[+swlovinist]

Thank you for making this extensive list.   I am pursing a Mattel electronics Aquarius set and this has helped.    Just trying to locate a boxed logo cart and recently came across some uncommon accessories.   

[First Spear]

OT: FAQ

 

Hey all, pardon me for jumping into this thread. I am working on an update to the Intellivision FAQ, and would love to have a pointer to the equivalent one for our Aquarius cousins. Please let me know if there is a URI that I can point-to. 

 

Thanks! 

[jaybird3rd]

On 6/19/2021 at 3:19 PM, First Spear said:

OT: FAQ

 

Hey all, pardon me for jumping into this thread. I am working on an update to the Intellivision FAQ, and would love to have a pointer to the equivalent one for our Aquarius cousins. Please let me know if there is a URI that I can point-to. 

 

Thanks! 

There is an Aquarius FAQ, originally written by Fred Horvat and updated by Sylvain De Chantal.  The most recent version that I know of is this one, hosted by Digital Press:

 

https://www.digitpress.com/faq/aquarius.htm

[EdgeOfPortal]

Hello everyone! It’s been quite some time since I’ve published a new revision of the spreadsheet, but unfortunately it’s not quite ready. In the meantime, I have some interesting, and possibly unfortunate to some, new additions.

https://imgur.com/a/o91ajuf

 

First, the 4-Color Printer. In an incredible turn of events I’ve acquired two of these units. The unexpected part however, is that I’ve uncovered a new variant. This makes me wonder just how many of these units were produced and what Radofin’s stance on the Aquarius was. Notice the difference in plugs. The two units have completely different power sources, and were clearly manufactured for seperate regions. One has a standard US plug, the other has a European plug. The US plug unit was acquired from a US auction, the European plug was acquired from a UK auction. These aren’t adaptors, they’re built into the unit. So, two 4-Color Printer variants are now known. There are no noticeable differences between the two other than power.

 

https://imgur.com/a/uxQ9MNh

 

Secondly, two new variants for software. A Radofin variant of Biorythms, which I don’t believe has been seen before (let me know if it has). Additionally a new Zero-In variant. A blank box variant, and a variant with a front label.

 

https://imgur.com/a/1mDAuf0
 

Lastly, I wanted to give a new look at the Aquarius Store Demonstration Cart. The box matches that of what Radofin used for later releases, such as Chess and Zero-In, suggesting this cart may have been made by Radofin. However, the cart shell used was branded Mattel Electronics, so it’s anyone’s guess who actually produced this. I’m guessing Mattel also used similar boxes to Radofin’s, and that they produced it. Thanks for reading. As always if anyone has new info to share please post! A new revision of the spreadsheet will be released soon.

[+Lathe26]

Regarding the 4-color printers:

1. Have you considered opening up the printers to take photos of the circuitry inside?  I'd be curious if any particular company is listed on the circuit board.
2. Have you thought about photographing or scanning in the manual?  There is already a PDF available but some of the pages are in the wrong order and half of the pages don't have visible page numbers to (i.e. it's hard to figure out the correct order of pages).