Hosted by the University of Plymouth

When considering the video game consoles of the late 1970s, the Intellivision (a name derived from Intelligent television) was arguably the Rolls-Royce to Atari's Ford, with technically superior graphics and sound capabilities. As can be seen here, the system had a notably different style of controller, offering a 16-position directional pad rather than the 8-way joystick of Atari, accompanied by a full numeric keypad (over which plastic overlays were used to present the controls for each game). However, technical superiority did not equate to market share, and while it still did a very respectable job (selling over 3m units), the Atari easily beat it in terms of sales (30+ million), the cartridge catalogue, and overall longevity. 1982 saw the release of a lesser-known Intellivision II, and an Intellivision III was planned but abandoned before launch.
Mattel, 1979

Donated/on loan from: Centre for Security, Communications and Network Research (CSCAN), Plymouth University

Mattel Intellivision

Mattel Intellivision

Mattel Aquarius

Coming from the same stable of one of the more deluxe video game consoles of the era (the Intellivision), there may have been some expectation of a similar high-end performance from the Aquarius. However, the system targeted the budget-conscious end of the market, with the 4K RAM and rubber keyb... (read more)
Mattel, 1983