Mattel Electronics (designed by Radofin) · 1983–1983 · Not reliably recorded
Mattel's 1983 home computer was so underpowered that its own programmers called it "a system for the seventies". It lasted about four months on the market.
The Aquarius was designed by the Hong Kong manufacturer Radofin and released by Mattel Electronics in June 1983 for $160. It was a low-cost machine in every respect: a Zilog Z80 running at about 3.5 MHz, 4 KB of RAM (expandable to 36 KB), 8 KB of ROM and a 48-key rubber chiclet keyboard. Graphics were limited to an 80 by 72 block-graphics mode in 16 colours alongside a 40-column text screen. Those specifications were already dated in the year of the Commodore 64, and Mattel's own staff knew it. Programmers inside the company adopted a mock slogan for it — "Aquarius: a system for the seventies." The timing was also disastrous. 1983 was the year the North American games market collapsed and a price war among home computer makers drove margins to nothing, and Mattel Electronics was losing heavily on its Intellivision business. The Aquarius was discontinued in October 1983, only months after launch. Mattel paid Radofin to take back the marketing rights, and Radofin released an improved Aquarius II — with 16 KB of RAM, a mechanical keyboard and Extended BASIC — in small numbers under its own name. It failed too.