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History
Radica Games Limited was founded 1983 and was mainly known for producing g electronic souvenir games for casinos. In the late 1990s, the company added more electronic games to its portfolio and by 2005, they decided to release Cube World, a series of handheld games that could interact with one another.
Release
The first series of 4 Cube World games were released in 2005. Each cube is a small handheld video game with very basic game play, reminiscent of the Nintendo’s Game & Watch. The main selling point for these games was their ability to interact with each other. All cubes had magnetic contact on all four sides which allow them to be connected to up to four other cubes. The stick figures inside the cube would then interact with each other.
October 3, 2006, Mattel acquired Radica Games Limited. But due to the relatively good success of the Cube World franchise, Mattel would continue the production of new series of Cube World under the Radica brand.
Demise
Against all odds, the Cube World survived 3 years and spanned 22 different cubes. Although Mattel tried to reignite the novelty factor by introducing the Mod series (Series 5) and the Jumbo Cube Series, the crude game play and the relatively high asking price ended seriously affect the sales of the Cube World series. After 2008, no other series were produced.
Games
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| Series 1 Dodger (Red), Whip (Yellow) Slim (Purple), Scoop (Orange) |
Series 2 Handy (Dark Blue), Mic (Pink) Dusty (Light Green), Hans (Light Blue) |
Series 3 Chief (Blue), Sparky (Brown) Toner (Gray), Dash (Green) |
Series 4 Slugger (Light Red), Slam (Orange) Kicks (Green), Grinder (Tan) |
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| Series 5 – Dart | Series 5 -Hip Hop | Series 5 – Splash | Series 5 – Sci-Fi | ||||
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| Series Jumbo – Block Bash |
Series Jumbo – Global Gateway | ||||||
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| Special Edition * |
Japanese Release ** |
Special Edition *
Some Cube World Series were also released in as translucent Special Edition. We have confirmed that Series 2, 3, 4 and Jumbo all add a Special Edition release. It’s unclear at the moment if the Series 1 and the Series 5 got a similar release. The Special Edition is virtually the same as the regular edition, but the opaque plastic of the cube is replaced by translucent plastic of the same color. There is no information on how limited were the Special Editions compared to the regular edition.
Japanese Release **
In Japan, Cube World was distributed by Bandai and although they share the same games and names, the color of the cubes are different. It’s also unknown if Bandai released Special Edition of the Japanese version of the games.
Video
Here’s the North American commercial for Cube World
Here’s the Japanese commercial for Cube World (In English)