Should I buy this Mattel Aquarius bundle?

[+sixersfan105]

I'm thinking of dipping into the Aquarius scene (cue "don't do it!" and "it sucks!" comments) and was curious what you guys think of the pictured bundle. Guy wants $500 OBO and I have a feeling that the $500 is too steep, but it does come with a couple of the harder to find games, Tron Deadly Discs and BurgerTime, along with the more common Utopia and NightStalker. I like collecting CIB games so these boxed games attracted me to this particular bundle. Curious as to everyone's thoughts on what a fair price might be. Thanks!

[+cmart604]

That seems way too high to me, especially if the system and controllers aren't boxed. 

[+sixersfan105]

6 minutes ago, cmart604 said:

That seems way too high to me, especially if the system and controllers aren't boxed. 

Agreed. What do you think would be a fair price? $200? I don't want to offend the guy in negotiations but also don't want to pay more than I should.

[EdgeOfPortal]

$500 is far too steep. I’m not sure if I would even do $200 for that, seeing as the system and mini-expander are not boxed. Still, burgertime would be very good. I would aim for $175 maybe? That’s probably max I would do. I also could be wrong, but it would appear to me that the burgertime is missing some overlays, and isn’t complete. If you’re alright with that... then $175-$200 is probably ok, but it’s a bit hard placing a price on Aquarius items.

[+sixersfan105]

5 minutes ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

$500 is far too steep. I’m not sure if I would even do $200 for that, seeing as the system and mini-expander are not boxed. Still, burgertime would be very good. I would aim for $175 maybe? That’s probably max I would do. I also could be wrong, but it would appear to me that the burgertime is missing some overlays, and isn’t complete. If you’re alright with that... then $175-$200 is probably ok, but it’s a bit hard placing a price on Aquarius items.

Thanks for the advice. Ah good catch on BurgerTime, I hadn't noticed that.

[Intymike]

Looks like a big box bundle, just without the box.

 

[+sixersfan105]

7 minutes ago, Intymike said:

Looks like a big box bundle, just without the box.

 

That was my thought, too. The "Computer and Game System" 4-game bundle. Think that was the only way to get BurgerTime, based on my research.

[+MattelAquarius]

5 hours ago, sixersfan105 said:

That was my thought, too. The "Computer and Game System" 4-game bundle. Think that was the only way to get BurgerTime, based on my research.

BurgerTime was also available via several mail-order Aquarius distributors in the U.S. and Europe, after Mattel paid Radofin to take back the Aquarius rights and remaining inventory.  New Aquarius carts and hardware manufactured post-Mattel do not have the Mattel Electronics logo on the boxes and manuals.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Did Burgertime come both as a Mattel release and Radofin release?

[+sixersfan105]

11 minutes ago, JasonlikesINTV said:

Did Burgertime come both as a Mattel release and Radofin release?

@MattelAquarius says yes above

 

EDIT: but he was more specific via PM...apparently the Mattel-branded BurgerTime is actually a little harder to find than the Radofin BurgerTime release. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by sixersfan105

[EdgeOfPortal]

12 minutes ago, sixersfan105 said:

says yes above

 

EDIT: but he was more specific via PM...apparently the Mattel-branded BurgerTime is actually a little harder to find than the Radofin BurgerTime release. 

With the Aquarius, it can be tough to determine what is rarer than what, but from what I’ve seen, at least in the US, Radofin variants are very tough to find. All of my Radofin variants have come from overseas, except for one. The Radofin variants seem to be somewhat common overseas, but I’d say it’s the opposite in the US. Mattel releases of burgertime are much more common in my experience here in the states.

[Intymike]

1 hour ago, JasonlikesINTV said:

Did Burgertime come both as a Mattel release and Radofin release?

Yes, I have both.

I would say, there are all Mattel releases as Radofin versions available + the super rare stuff that doesn’t got a Mattel release.

 

[Intymike]

1 hour ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

With the Aquarius, it can be tough to determine what is rarer than what, but from what I’ve seen, at least in the US, Radofin variants are very tough to find. All of my Radofin variants have come from overseas, except for one. The Radofin variants seem to be somewhat common overseas, but I’d say it’s the opposite in the US. Mattel releases of burgertime are much more common in my experience here in the states.

Because in most countries the Radofin Aquarius was the only one that was released. The only Mattel PAL Aquarius that I know was released in UK.

 

[Aquaman]

9 hours ago, Intymike said:

Because in most countries the Radofin Aquarius was the only one that was released. The only Mattel PAL Aquarius that I know was released in UK.

 

In the Netherlands it was also the Mattel Aquarius

 

[Intymike]

3 minutes ago, Aquaman said:

In the Netherlands it was also the Mattel Aquarius

 

Are you sure it was a dedicated Mattel Aquarius or were the imported from the UK? My Mattel Aquarius was from the Netherlands, but it has a replaced power plug and the tv channels from UK. It’s clearly of UK origin.

[+sixersfan105]

Btw I decided to pass on this bundle because the seller wasn't really budging off of his $500 asking price, despite saying it was "$500 OBO."

 

I'm looking into a couple of other options now. 

[Aquaman]

5 hours ago, Intymike said:

Are you sure it was a dedicated Mattel Aquarius or were the imported from the UK? My Mattel Aquarius was from the Netherlands, but it has a replaced power plug and the tv channels from UK. It’s clearly of UK origin.

I bought it in 1983 within the Netherlands. No signs of any replacement power plug or other strange things which would suggest it is of UK origin. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Aquaman

[EdgeOfPortal]

1 hour ago, Aquaman said:

I bought it in 1983 within the Netherlands. No signs of any replacement power plug or other strange things which would suggest it is of UK origin. 

I’m not surprised really, it seems the Netherlands had a strong Aquarius market. The hotspots in my opinion for Aquarius were the UK, Italy, Australia, and the Netherlands.

[Intymike]

13 hours ago, Aquaman said:

I bought it in 1983 within the Netherlands. No signs of any replacement power plug or other strange things which would suggest it is of UK origin. 

 

My only PAL Mattel Aquarius has this replaced power plug. That implies that it had before that the British plug. 

The handbook is even the US one and doesn't fit the TV channels and other stuff of the computer.

And I got it from the Netherlands.

Maybe the shipped overstock to the Netherlands because the market there was much bigger (after all my first Intellivision was from the UK too).

 

My 2 German Aquarius are both by Radofin.

 

A former German Mattel employee told me that Mattel was close to introducing the Aquarius to the market in late '83, but it didn't happened anymore. The already had Aquarius stuff at the in house sale for employees.