Aquarius Mini Expander.. Wtf?

[psquare75]

Are there any cartridge games that USE this, in any way?

[jaybird3rd]

Yes, most of them do. It adds an extra sound chip--the same one used in the Intellivision--and two hand controllers, and most of the cartridge games that were released for the system support one or the other, or both. The sound built in to the Aquarius is very limited (only one voice, good for simple speaker beeps but not much else), so having the extra sound is a definite improvement.

[psquare75]

I meant more in terms of sound. I guess I should try every game with and without it and see what the sound differences are.

[jaybird3rd]

I meant more in terms of sound. I guess I should try every game with and without it and see what the sound differences are.

I believe the games that used the Mini-Expander's sound chip are: Astrosmash, Snafu, BurgerTime, Melody Chase, and TRON Deadly Discs. I might be missing one or two. They all have pretty much the same sound as the Intellivision versions when used with the Mini-Expander (with the exception of Melody Chase, which is unique to the Aquarius).

[psquare75]

Huh... I had AstroSmash going just now and I said to myself it actually sounds decent. Too bad AD&D didn't do anything more with it.

[jaybird3rd]

Astrosmash is one of my favorites. I wish I knew who programmed the Aquarius version because they did a great job with it; they really made the most of what the Aquarius could do graphically. I've always played it with the Mini-Expander, so I don't happen to know what it sounds like without it.

[the-topdog]

Also, some of the cartridges require you to have an additional 4k or 16k ram cartridge, and the mini-expander has a second slot for the memory expansion. I would recommend a mini-expander to any Aquarius owner as the benefits are well worth it for this limited computer system.

 

The other Aquarius accessory that I would recommend that is indispensable, is the data recorder. There were far more games and other programs released on tape than were ever released on cartridge for the Aquarius.

Edited June 1, 2010 by the-topdog

[marcfrick2112]

Also, some of the cartridges require you to have an additional 4k or 16k ram cartridge, and the mini-expander has a second slot for the memory expansion. I would recommend a mini-expander to any Aquarius owner as the benefits are well worth it for this limited computer system.

 

The other Aquarius accessory that I would recommend that is indispensable, is the data recorder. There were far more games and other programs released on tape than were ever released on cartridge for the Aquarius.

 

 

I also recommend getting the mini-expander. I was lucky, a KB toys store had Aquarius systems with the expander, and 4 'random' cartridges. I wanted one, my dad bought one system for each of us Good thing too, as I actually programmed on my Aquarius, and rapidly ran out of RAM... We mail-ordered 16K and 32K RAM carts. for our machines. (8K, Bah! ) LOL! So, I would have wanted the RAM slot on the expander anyway.

For some reason (dirt, bad luck) my mini-exp. didn't work at first... so I played Snafu first without it. Without the mini-exp. there's no 'victory' music to speak of, only the 'white noise' sound effects. Never tried with other games, the mini-expander is now permanently attached to our 2 Aquariuses (Aquarii ??)

 

@jaybird3rd: Yup, Aquarius Astrosmash is great!