Released at the end of 1982 for $199, the Vectrex was an interesting console which was developed by Smith Engineering and sold by General Consumer Electric and then Milton Bradley. The console had a short life span and stopped being sold in 1984. During the last few months it was being sold for around $99.
Unlike most other consoles, which had to be connected to a television, the Vextrex was integrated with a Vector Monitor which displayed vector graphics (many arcades at the time used Vector Graphics). Just like the first video console ever released 10 years before, Vectrex games came with an overlay. The user had to place the overlay over the Vextrex monitor and change it according to the game they were playing.
The console came with a game built in called Minestorm, which was an Asteroids clone. It also included two controllers. The controllers were ahead of their time in many respects, similar in dimension to the controllers which the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System would use years late. Though instead of a D-pad, a joystick was attached.
There were two add ons available for the system: a light pen and 3D goggles called the 3D Imager. A few games were released for the 3D Imager including 3D Minestorm, 3D Crazy Coaster and 3D Narrow Escape.
Although the Vectrex had a relatively short lifespan, it has a cult following amongst retro gamers. And to this today many video games programmers write games for the system using homebew.
Specifications
The Samsung CRT television which was used in the Vectrex was displayed vertically and was 9 x 11 inches in size. The system used a Motorola 68A09 8-bit CPU, which was clocked at 1.5 MHz.
It had 8kb of ROM and 1kb of RAM and the sound was powered by a General Instrument AY-3-8912 audio chip.
Complete Game List
3D Crazy Coaster
3D MineStorm
3D Narrow Escape
AnimAction (requires light pen)
Armor Attack
Art Master (requires light pen)
Bedlam
Berzerk
Blitz!
Clean Sweep (aka Mr. Boston)
Cosmic Chasm
Spinball (aka Flipper Pinball)
Fortress of Narzod
Heads Up (aka Soccer Football)
Hyperchase
Melody Master (requires light pen)
Minestorm
Polar Rescue
Pole Position
Rip-Off
Scramble
Solar Quest
Space Wars
Spike
Star Castle
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (aka Star Ship)
Starhawk
Web Wars (aka Web Warp)
Over the last few years, many Homebrew games have been released for the system. Below is a list of some of the games:
3D Lord of the Robots
3D Scape cart
All Good Things
City bomber
Colorclash
Debris
Gravitrex
I, Cyborg
Logo
Moon Lander
Nebula Commander
Omega Chase Deluxe
Patriots
Protector
Revector
Royal 21
Space Frenzy
Spike Hoppin’
Spike’s Circus
Star Sling
Thrust
Tsunami/VIX
Vec Sports Boxing
Vecmania
Vectoblox
Vectopia
Vector 21
Vector Vaders
Vectrexians
War of the Robots
Yasi
