Mattel HyperScan

HyperScan is a home console released by Mattel in 2006. HyperScan however was discontinued in 2007 due to pure sales. The games of the console were CD-ROMs. The console had also the ability to scan Cards. These Cards were actually the characters of each game. For example, in the packed game, X-Men, in order to play a character of the X-Men universe, like Wolverine for example, you had to scan his Card first. Some of the Cards were also extra abilities that could be combined with these characters as enhanced abilities. Scanning the character Card could save the progress the player made with this character. The whole scanning system was possible using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

HyperScan could be found in two packages. The common package had only one controller, the X-Men CD-ROM and 6 Cards of the X-Men game. The 2 player value pack edition had two controllers, the X-Men CD-ROM and 12 Cards. The console's initial price was $69.99, however the price dropped to $9.99 due to pure sales. The games of the console, each of them containing 6 Cards (7 for Spider-Man) had a price of $20 each, while additional game packs were sold for $10 dollars with 6 Cards as "Booster Packs. The booster packs had randomized Cards, so trading them with friends was a common option. However, the price dropped also to $1.99 for the games and $0.99 for the booster packs.

Only 5 games released for HyperScan. X-Men, which was the packed-in game, Ben 10, Interstellar Wrestling League, Marvel Heroes and Spider-Man. All of them were rated as "E10+", meaning that were not suitable for children under 10, with X-Men being the only exception since it was rated as "T", from the word teen, meaning that it was not suitable for children under 13. Because the console was cancelled, some of the games could not be completed with the cards available in the market. For example, X-Men was supposed to have 102 Cards released, but half of the game remained unlocked due to the cancelation. Two game titles were also cancelled, Avatar: The Last Air Bender and Nick Extreme Sports.

In general, HyperScan is considered a commercial failure and received a lot of bad criticism.