The Pixter is a discontinued handheld game console series designed by Rehco, LLC and marketed by Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price. It was among the first manufactured portable handheld touchscreen drawing toys designed for children. Marketed from 2000 to 2007, the device combined digital drawing, educational activities, and simple gaming into a stylus-controlled handheld system.

Pixter came preloaded with built-in activities and also supported cartridge-based games and creative software. Early models featured a monochrome black-and-white LCD display, which helped make the product commercially successful during its initial release. Later versions, such as the Pixter Color, upgraded the hardware with color screens, improved graphics, and expanded multimedia capabilities.

The Pixter line included licensed content from major entertainment companies such as Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network, featuring franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The series remains notable as Fisher-Price’s only handheld gaming platform and one of the last console-style products released by Mattel.

Inspired by the Apple Newton, the Pixter line has become something of an obscurity, with little information left on the internet about the history of it, sales records, original pricing, release dates, etc. It also included licensed content from Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, BBC, etc.

The Pixter remains, as of 2017, the second to last console Mattel has released, after the HyperScan, but the Pixter is Fisher Price's first and only handheld game system.

Gameplay

The original Pixter had a 80x80 black and white LCD. Its touch-sensitive LCD was activated by a drawing stylus. It used 4 AA batteries and was based around a Sunplus SoC based on a 6502 core.

Models

Games/media released

Pixter, 2.0, Plus

Color

Multimedia system

References

External links