Vectrex
The Vectrex is an 8-bit video game console developed by General Consumer Electric (GCE) and later bought by M
ilton Bradley Company . It was released in late 1982 at a retail price of $199. As the video game market declined and then crashed , the Vectrex exited the market in early 1984.
Smith Engineering briefly considered designing a handheld version of the device in 1988, though the success of the Nintendo Game Boy made such a project too risky. In the mid-1990s, Smith Engineering condoned the duplication of the Vectrex system image and cartridges for non-commercial uses and has expressed joy to see that it has still-thriving developer and user community.
Unlike other video game consoles which connected to TVs to display raster graphics , the Vectrex included its own monitor which displayed vector graphics . The monochrome Vectrex used screen overlays to give the illusion of color, and also to reduce the severity of the inherent flickering caused by the vector monitor. At the time many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games like Space Wars and Armor Attack . The system even contained a built in game, the Asteroids -like Minestorm .
The two peripherals for the Vectrex were a light pen and 3D imager .
Trivia
It is widely believed that the Nintendo 64 was the first home console to include an analog controller. However the Vectrex (and Atari 5200 ) preceded the N64 by over a decade.
Even today there are new games in development by hobby programmers. Also new hardware (for example VecVox – speech synthesizer) is available.
Newport Cigarettes at one point commissioned a customized version of Web Wars. It just featured “Newport Cigarettes Presents” on the title screen and trophy room screen. Bill Hawkins finished the coding which was sent to Newport, but it isn’t known whatever happened with that, if anything.
The liquor company, Mr. Boston, gave out a limited number of customized cartridges of Clean Sweep. The box had a Mr. Boston sticker on it. The overlay was basically the regular Clean Sweep overlay with the Mr. Boston name, logo, and % proof/copyright info running up either side. The game itself had custom text, and the player controlled a top hat rather than a vacuum .
Technical Specifications
Circuit Board
- CPU : Motorola 68A09 @ 1.6 MHz
- RAM: 1 KB (two 4-bit 2114 chips)
- ROM : 8 KB (one 8-bit 2363 chip)
Sound
- Sound : General Instruments AY-3-8912
- 3″ magnet-driven speaker
Display
- CRT : Samsung 240RB40 B&W Vector (9 x 11 inches)
- No external TV receiver hookup is needed or provided for.
3D Imager
The 3-D imager spins a disk which is 1/2 black and 1/2 colored bands that radiate from the centre (Usually red, green and blue) between your eyes and the vectrex screen. The Vectrex 3D Imager The Vectrex is synchronized to the rotation of the disk (or vice versa) and draws vectors corresponding to a particular color and/or a particular eye. Therefore only one eye will see the vectrex screen and its associated images (or color) at any one time while the other will see nothing.
A single object that does not lie on the plane of the monitor (i.e. in front of or into the monitor) is drawn at least twice to provide information for each eye. The distance between the duplicate images and whether the right eye image or the left eye image is drawn first will determine where the object will appear to “be” in 3-D space. The 3-D illusion is also enhanced by adjusting the brightness of the object (dimming objects in the background). Spinning the disk at a high enough speed will fool your eyes/brain into thinking that the multiple images it’s seeing are two different views of the same object. This creates the impression of 3-D and color.
Supported Games
- 3D Pole Position
- 3D Crazy Coaster
- 3D Minestorm
- 3D Narrow Escape
List of game titles
- 3D Crazy Coaster
- 3D MineStorm
- 3D Narrow Escape
- AnimAction (requires light pen)
- Armor Attack
- Art Master (requires light pen)
- Bedlam
- Berzerk
- Berzerk II
- Blitz! Action Football
- Clean Sweep (aka Mr. Boston )
- Cosmic Chasm
- Cube Quest
- Debris (new title developed in 2005)
- Dark Tower
- Engine Analyzer (requires light pen)
- Flipper Pinball (aka Spinball )
- Fortress of Narzod
- Gravitrex (new title developed in 2002, based on Gravitar )
- Heads Up Action Soccer
- Hyperchase Auto Race
- I, Cyborg (new title developed in 2004)
- Mail Plane (requires light pen)
- Melody Master (requires light pen)
- Melody Master II
- Mine Storm
- Moon Lander (new title developed in 2000, based on Lunar Lander )
- Nebula Commander (new title developed in 2005)
- Polar Rescue
- Pole Position
- Protector (new title developed in 2003)
- Revector (new title developed in 2004)
- Rip Off
- Scramble
- Soccer Football
- Solar Quest
- Space Wars (adaptation of Computer Space )
- Spike
- Star Castle
- Star Ship
- Starhawk
- Thrust (new title developed in 2004)
- Tour De France
- Vec Sports Boxing
- Vecmania
- War of the Robots (new title developed in 2003)
- Web Warp (aka Web Wars )
- Yasi (new title developed in 2003)
References
External links
- Vectrex News
- Vectrex Portal
- Spike’s Big Vectrex Page Vectrex portal, recent games/projects/news, information archive
- Vectrex fansite Many screenshots, faqs, scanned manuals, scanned boxes and more.
- Sean Kelly’s Vectrex multi-cart website (archive.org mirror) — Contains a near-complete list of Vectrex game titles
- Vectrex Game Database great source of games and screenshots
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