The Vectrex is one of those systems that many people will never get the chance to see in the wild, with age these are becoming harder to find especially in full working order with all the screen overlays, add in an extra control pad and you are talking a crazy amount of money for a system that looks retro and probably looked amazingly futuristic at the time. (probably appearing on Tomorrows World in the UK which showed upcoming technology like CD players, Microwaves and more things that would revolutionise the world we live in.)
I had the chance to buy one with a stack of games and overlays at a car boot sale back in the mid-90s for around £30 but I decided on saving the money for beer, one thing that I am still kicking myself for to this day. It ranks right up there with other idiot moves such as passing up on a Sega Nomad at a different car boot that was on sale for £50 and many others besides where I passed up a gem or sold something only to regret it later on in life.
Thankfully we live in a time of emulation where we can play games and systems we wouldn’t have the chance to play unless we fork out a ridiculous amount of money. Despite some companies wanting to bury some games so that they can’t be enjoyed by anyone again, luckily others don’t mind or the former rights owners have been lost to the sands of time so everyone can still enjoy them. The Vectrex and its software library fall into the latter category which is great as with a quick search you can download an emulator and a few ROMs and see what the system offers. (Well as best as you can without actually playing on one, or owning an original machine, they do have a delightful hum like they will explode at any moment, at least the one I tried).
The Vectrex does have some amazing things about it though, instead of using pixels it uses vectors to display the graphics on the screen. These lines look amazing and when you see them in action have a certain charm about them. Some of the standout games for me are a version of Stern Electronic Berzerk, Spike and the unreleased prototype of Dark Tower. Unfortunately, the number of original games released was less than you would imagine. However, many homebrew titles have been developed since, with some looking quite impressive and putting the original releases to shame. It is not surprising though when you consider some of these games were made 30-40 years after the Vectrex was released as people have learned to push the systems to their limits.
Did you know that the Vectrex was one of the first to have a light pen, impressive? That however is not as impressive as the fact that it also had a 3D imaging headset. This was back in about 1983, unfortunately, I haven’t tried them, and from the reports I have read about them they worked pretty well since they were the first ones of their kind. Could this have inspired Sega to make their 3D glasses just a few years later for the Master System? Possibly, probably not though.
So what are you waiting for, take a look into the past of gaming and dip your toe into the world of the Vectrex. Start with a bit of Berzerk, then move on to Spike, and tackle the forest of the Dark Tower before then losing in the Tour de France game. If you find a game that you think I should try please feel free to comment below with the name of it. I have tried quite a few, but there are always a couple that we all miss. The Vectrex is 42 years old, but that doesn’t mean the adventure is over.
