The very first video games system I was exposed to that did not connect directly into the TV's aeriel socket was Milton Bradley's Vectrex System which was released in 1983 in Australia. The system was powered by a Motorola 68A09 chip running at 1.6Mhz. Inside there was also 1KB of RAM (that is no typo, 1 kilobyte) and a 8KB ROM (4KB of the ROM was taken up by the built-in game Mine Storm). All software was 8KB cartridge based and had a 9"x11" black and white monitor and inputs for two analog self-centering joysticks with 4-buttons or a light pen. All of the games are vector graphics based and to achieve colours, you place a coloured overlay in front of the monitor. The nice thing about the overlays is that it tells you also what action each of the four buttons performs. Now taking these specs into consideration, the programming feats to make these games is quite amazing.
The 4 Vectrex Cartridge Games I loved playing
Cosmic Chasm
You need to control a special craft that has a laser, a drill and a defense shield inside a space station. You need to follow the map and choose a path from one room to the next to progress towards the central chasm of the station. In each room you must destroy the enemy while avoiding the core of the room that throbs and expands. Once you have destroyed all of the enemy ships in that room you will need to choose an exit and carefully drill through a force shield to continue on. Once you reach the central chasm containing the space stations power source, you must plant a bomb to destroy it and escape quickly, by retracing your path back to where you started and escape the explosion. You then progress into harder levels each time you complete a level. I had a lot of fun with this game.
Solar Quest
Solar Quest is a game based on the Asteroids genre, where you control a space ship and you must shoot as many alien ships as possible. The twist to this game is you get bonus points rescuing any survivors before they are pulled into the sun in the centre of the screen by it's gravity. You can spin your ship in a circle as well as using thrust and hyperspace exactly like in Asteroids. There is the addition of a Nuke, where you have the opportunity to destroy everything on screen in it's path - which at times is handy. There are various types of enemy ships to destroy and some do not fly in a standard flight pattern which is also another difference to Asteroids. This was my favourite Vectrex game.
Armor Attack
Armor Attack is a birds eye view game in a town in the midst of war where you control a jeep doing the best you can to defend what is left of the city. Your jeep must stop tanks and helicopters that fly overhead. The chopper can enter and exit the screen at any point, and this keeps you guessing. If you are cornered, you can try to use the buildings to assist your cover and with both the tanks and helicopter firing at your jeep, you must evade their fire to survive and then destroy them to progress to the next level. Tanks require 2 direct hits to destroy them, as the first hit will only immobilise them but they can still shoot at you.
Hyperchase
Hyperchase is an extremely quick time trial style racing game which is fun to play. Considering the processor speed of the Vectrex, this is brilliant programming and the way the scenery moves as you speed along is quite masterful. You control an F1 style racing car with 4 gears and you need to be able to control the car and effectively change the gears to do well at this game. You will need to avoid traffic with careful steering and as the perspective of the road changes, you must also adjust your centre of steering which adds to the challenge. Failure to do so will see you slam into the trees on the side of the road, hit the side walls inside the tunnel, take out a telephone pole or be cleaned up by another vehicle. The challenge of beating your previous time keeps you going back to try to better your current best time. Great fun.
The color overlays for the above 4 mentioned games
Vectrex Review - Classic Game Room via YouTube
Vectrex Today
Today you will find working units and cartridges on ebay and other retro gaming goldmines if you are keen to experience this device first hand. There is also a fairly active homebrew game community and you can get these games on cartridges via various enthusiast groups. If you prefer to check this out via emulation, your best bet is to try it via MESS for a Windows based PC. There are also other emulation options available for Mac, XBox or PSP.
