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Contents
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In
late 1982, General Consumer Electric (GCE) released the Vectrex for $199. The
Vectrex wasn't just your average game console, however, and even to this day
there has never been a videogame system quite like it.
The
Vectrex was a completely vector graphics based system, hence its name. Vector
graphics are the kind of graphics used in such popular games as Asteroids,
Battlezone, Space Wars, and Tempest. At that time, most videogames used raster
graphics, which utilized pixels. Vector graphics, on the other hand, are
basically lines. The Vectrex also had its own nine by eleven-inch monochrome
monitor. The system looks a little like a black Macintosh.
To
compensate for lack of color and to cut down on flicker, plastic overlays were
provided with each game to create some illusion of color (or at least put a
pretty little border around the game). The Vectrex shipped with a built-in
game, Minesweeper, an Asteroids clone, and one four-button joystick.
In
early 1983, Milton-Bradley acquired GCE (and thus, the Vectrex). Milton-Bradley
immediately expanded the Vectrex's distribution overseas. By summer,
distribution had begun in Europe, but by March '84, sales were cut off.
From
there, the downward spiral continued and the Vectrex was gradually phased out
as the videogame market collapsed. Eventually, it was discontinued and all
rights to the Vectrex and its related materials were returned to the original
developers, Smith Engineering. Today, Smith Engineering has graciously condoned
the not-for-profit distribution of any of the Vectrex's duplicable materials,
including games, overlays and manuals.
Interesting
sidenote: Abel & Associates converted the Vectrex into an
"entertainment device" for use in malls or pizza parlors. For a
quarter, you could have the machine perform the "Luscher Color Test"
(yeah, that's a great application for a monochrome machine), in which you would
pick colors in the order that they appealed to you. Then the machine would tell
you about your personality. Wah hoo.
The
Vectrex came close to coming back from the dead in 1988, when Smith Engineering
thought about resurrecting the Vectrex as a handheld unit. Unfortunately,
Nintendo's Game Boy was released the following year, and the idea was scrapped.
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GCE
VECREX + Controller, Released 1982. SN: 0034335 |
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Modified
Sega Genesis controller, Thanks to Rob Mitchell. |
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Auto Fire
box, Thanks to Rob Mitchell. |
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Modified
Vectrex Light Pen (MVLP) S/N# 0001 Thanks to Brett Walach and Rob Mitchell. |
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Started
June 2000 Introduction |
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Rounders
is a game based on an original idea. This is basically a pong game where the
center of the screen is the barier, which the ball bounces back from.
It
may sound easy but as you get to play near the top of the screen the more
challenging the game becomes …
- As of today, 2/24/2001 the game is the first
Vectrex game (as far as I know) that supports the Atari Driving Controller.
To play, simply plug the Driving controller into controller port 1, the Vectrex
controller into controller port 2 and start the game using the Vectrex
controller. Please note that at this time, the button on the Driving controller
is not in use.
Credits
Rob
Mitchell for the
original idea.
Instructions
Your
goal is to get the higher possible score with 9 balls. To start your turn,
press button 4.
There
are 4 levels in this game:
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Score/Hit |
Player mode |
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Novice |
1 |
Visible |
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Intermediate |
2 |
Visible |
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Expert |
3 |
Visible |
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Super! |
3 |
Invisible |
Sounds
easy? – Give it a shot!
Cheats
Not
available in that game!
Source code
Click
here to get
the latest source code.
Bin file
Click
here to get the latest (demo only)
version of Rounders (Updated 2/24/2001).
Overlay
Click
here to get DVE emulator – Yet to be
completed….
Screenshots
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Intro. Screen |
Actual Game |
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Click on the picture for
a larger image.
Cartridge
Not available at this point.
At
the collectors meeting that was held in "Videogame Connections" on
November 6th, 1999, I was one of the lucky guys who had a chance to
see and play John Dondzila's VECMANIA. I was fascinated and decided to write my
on games on this amazing machine. VECTRACE is my first game.
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January 2000 Introduction |
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VECRACE
is my first Vectrex game. I developed it in order to learn and understand this
fascinating machine. The game now supports both the original controller and the
modified Atari 2600 paddle.
Credits
Brett
Walach for the
great assistance, ideas and comments.
Stacy
Davidson for the
great overlay done for the DVE emulator.
Instructions
Your
goal is to complete, level 3 with maximum points. In each level, within a
different given time, you must pass a given amount of cars as follows:
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Time |
Min. cars to pass |
SHAPE* |
Max. possible points |
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Level 1 |
45 Sec |
35 |
10 |
540 |
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Level 2 |
35 Sec |
65 |
20 |
1470 |
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Level 3 |
25 Sec |
40 |
40 |
3120 |
For each car pass you score 10
point. However, in level3, passing the different looking car adds 30 points to
your score, BUT, if that car passes you, you loose 40 points!!!
In
case that the "min. cars to pass" number has not been reached and the
time ends up, you loose one of your cars and have to restart the level again.
*You
can hit other cars, but only for a short while - The shape statistics shows
what is how damaged is your car. When this number gets to 0 you actually loose
that car. The "SHAPE" value varies from level to level to
improve your chances to complete it.
Cheats
Source code
Click
here to get the latest source code.
(Will
be activated when the development is done).
Bin file
Click
here to get the latest version of
VECTRACE (Updated 4/10/2000).
Overlay
Click
here to get DVE emulator overlays -
courtesy of Stacy Davidson.
The
zip file contains overlays for all screen resolutions. To play without the
original (on screen) labels press 2 (instead of 1) at the beginning of the
game.
Screenshots
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Intro. Screen |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
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Click on the picture for
a larger image.
Cartridge
Can be obtained from Mark Shaker through his web site
Winners
Yes!
This also happens!
The following section lists the people that completed all the game's missions
and provided me with a photo of the end screen.
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# |
Name |
e-mail address |
Date |
Picture |
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1 |
Al Backiel |
June 10, 2000 |
Congratulations !!!
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March 2000 Introduction |
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VABOOM!
is a modified clone of one of ATARI 2600's best games - KABOOM!
In
order to provide the player with the same feel of the original game, it
supports the modified Atari 2600 paddle controller
Credits
Brett
Walach for the
great ideas and comments.
Chris
Salomon for the great
programming assistance, introduction music support and text print routines.
Rob
Mitchell for the
modified ATARI 2600 controller. This really adds to the fun of the game.
Mark
Shaker for the
comments and support during the development of this game.
Instructions
Your
goal is to catch as many bombs as you can. If you miss a bomb, you loose one of
the 3 paddles you start with. Along the gameplay, the following shapes will
fall down:
Heart
- Catching it will add a paddle in case you have less than 3 of them.
X
shape - Catching it will take away one of your paddles.
Diamond
- Catching it will add 100 points to your score.
Once
in a while a caught bomb will bounce back at the man at the top. In case it
hits the man, two bricks that support the bar that the man is moving along
would explode. In case you hit the man 10 times, all the bricks holding the bar
are gone and the bar holding the man will fall to the bottom. At this stage,
you start a bonus round! During the bonus round, missing a bomb won't remove
any of your paddles, however, catching a bomb will add 30 points to your score.
Scores:
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Regular bomb |
- 10 points |
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Bomb @ bonus round |
- 30 points |
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Heart |
- 50 points |
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Diamond |
- 100 points |
Source code
Here it is… But, use
at your own risk! I definitely can tell that this code is non-optimized,
un-commented well and, sometimes - inefficient… (Updated 3/14/2000)
Bin file
Click
here to obtain the latest version of VABOOM! BIN file (Updated
3/14/2000).
Overlay
Not
available yet.
Screenshots
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Intro. Screen |
Game start |
Level 1 |
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Click on the picture for
a larger image.
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My Vectrex Games MultiCart 1.0 May 2000 Introduction |
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In
an effort to save cost and storage place for vectrex fans, I decided to have both
of my games incorporated into a single cartridge. The game selection is done
through an on screen menu. Every program in this cartridge supports both the
original vectrex controller and the modified Atari 2600 paddle - including the menu game selection.
Bin file
Click
here to obtain the latest version of Ronen's Games Cart BIN file.
Cartridge
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Cartridge Label |
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Click on the picture for a 300 dpi, real
size image (when printed).
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June 2000 Introduction |
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I
always had an idea how it should work. I think that I completely understand the
way the old version (with the dip-switches works), and since I don't have (at
this time) the currently sold multicart, I started looking into how can I build
my own. I've never seen a working vectrex multicart in action, never opened one
or played it. All what I did is implemented my own ideas in the best way I
could think of.
Features
Prototype
A
picture of the first working prototype is shown below:
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Prototype picture |
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Click on the picture for
a larger image.
Click
here to obtain a version of the
documentation.
As
I stated in the document itself: My intentions are to explain the concept and
nothing more. Under any circumstances, nobody should use this information to
(mass) produce and/or sell multicarts based on this idea, using the exact same
concept and/or code presented in this document.
The
document can be best viewed with "Adobe Acrobat 4.0", click here to get it for free.
This
short program demonstrates the usage of line patterns supported by the BIOS
procedures in the Vectrex. I wrote this program when I developed VECRACE to
learn the process. This program polls buttons 1 & 2 (controller 1) - for
the movement speed.
In
two words: the basic idea is to change the patterns of an existing line
according to the "movement" speed.
This program dumps the EXEC ROM of the Vectrex onto the screen. The starting address is 0xF000 and the end address is 0xFFFF. Use Controller1 buttons 1 and 2 to jump in 0x10 addresses steps or 3 and 4 to jump in 0x100 addresses. The BIN file is available here.
This
is the first step in the effort to dump the EXEC ROMs into a flash…
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For everything related to Vectrex and more… |
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The one who inspired me to write my own games… |
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All what you'll need to make your own cartridges… |
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Everything related to the best home video game ever made… |
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Comprehensive site for video game related topics. |
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Last Revised:
February 24, 2001
This page
had been reviewed 
times since Dec. 22,
1999
