Information about Vectrex

Vectrex
Manufacturer	Smith Engineering
Type	Video game console
Generation	Second generation
First available	NA November 1982 EU May 1983 JP June 1983
Controller input	Two

Vectrex was an 8-bit video game console developed by General Consumer Electric (GCE) and later bought by Milton Bradley Company. The Vectrex was, and still is, unique in that it utilized vector graphics drawn on a monitor that was integrated in the console. It was released in November 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 communities.

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

• Even today there are new games in development by homebrew video game programmers. Also new hardware (for example VecVox, a speech synthesizer) is available.
• The built in CRT feature of the Vectrex is shared by the 1983 Philips Videopac G7200 non-portable console, though in raster scan technology.
• 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 what 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.
• The game built into the Vectrex, Minestorm, would crash at level 13. However, on some machines the game would continue much farther, with levels containing very unusual characteristics. The game would come to an ultimate end at its highest level, in which more mines were layed than would hatch.
• Consumers who complained to the company about the crash at the 13th level received a replacement cartridge in the mail. Entitled "MineStorm II", it was the fixed version of the Vectrex's built in game. However, not many wrote to the company about it, making MineStorm II one of the rarest cartridges for the Vectrex system.
• Was the first system to offer a 3D peripheral (the Vectrex 3D Imager), predating the Sega Master System's SegaScope 3D by about six years.
• Cosmic Chasm has the distinction of being the first arcade video game based on a home console video game.
• Early units had a very audible "buzzing" from the built-in speaker, that would change as graphics were generated on screen. This was due to a lack of shielding between the built-in CRT and speaker wiring and was eventually resolved in later production models. This idiosyncrasy had become a familiar characteristic of the machine, especially among owners.

Technical Specifications

Circuit Board

• CPU  : Motorola 68A09 @ 1.6 MHz
• RAM: 1 KiB (two 4-bit 2114 chips)
• ROM: 8 KiB (one 8-bit 2363 chip)

Sound

• Sound: General Instruments AY-3-8912
• 3" magnet-driven speaker

Display

The cathode ray tube was a Samsung model 240RB40 monochrome unit measuring 9 x 11 inches, displaying a picture of 240mm diagonal. A vector display such as the Vectrex does not require a special tube, and differs only in the control circuits. Rather than use sawtooth waves to divert the internal electron beam in a raster pattern, digital-to-analog converters drove the horizontal and vertical deflection magnets. The high-voltage transformers and tube remained the same as a television. Such technology was already established by arcade games such as Asteroids.

The Vectrex did not have any luminance control, but rather brightness was adjusted by drawing some lines more frequently than others.

Screen upgrades were hindered by the cost of redesigning the analog circuits. Likewise it was impossible to connect the Vectrex to a home television.

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 the viewer's eyes and the vectrex screen. 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 the viewer's eyes/brain into thinking that the multiple images it is seeing are two different views of the same object. This creates the impression of 3-D and color.

Supported Games

• 3D Minestorm
• 3D Crazy Coaster
• 3D Narrow Escape
• 3D Pole Position (not released)
• 3D Lord of the Robots (homebrew)

Screenshot/overlay gallery

Below are an artist's impression of some of the overlays that shipped with Vectrex games. Overlays were thin films of acetate which were inserted in front of the Vectrex screen to color the screen. These images were produced by an emulator; it is impossible to recreate the quality of a vector display on a web page. Actual displays have very bright, fine lines without jagged edges. Overlays, although static, can be more vivid than a comparable computer display because of the wider available gamut of colors in the printing process as compared to those available .

Armor Attack	Berzerk	Blitz! Action Football	Spinball
Fortress of Narzod	Hyperchase Auto Race	Pole Position

List of game titles

Original

• Armor Attack
• Bedlam
• Berzerk
• Blitz!
• Clean Sweep (aka Mr. Boston)
• Cosmic Chasm
• Spinball (aka Flipper Pinball)
• Fortress of Narzod
• Heads Up (aka Soccer Football)
• Hyperchase
• Minestorm
• Polar Rescue
• Pole Position
• Rip Off
• Scramble
• Solar Quest
• Space Wars
• Spike
• Star Castle
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a tie-in to the
• Starhawk
• Web Wars (aka Web Warp)

Required add-on accessory hardware:

• 3D Crazy Coaster
• 3D MineStorm
• 3D Narrow Escape
• AnimAction (requires light pen)
• Art Master (requires light pen)
• Melody Master (requires light pen)

Unreleased Prototypes

• Berzerk II
• Cube Quest
• Dark Tower
• Engine Analyzer (requires light pen)
• Mail Plane (requires light pen)
• Melody Master II
• Pitcher's Duel
• Tour De France
• 3D Pole Position

Home Brew

1996

• Vector Vaders (1996)
• Patriots (1996)
• All Good Things (1996)
• Spike Hoppin' (1996)

1998

• Omega Chase Deluxe (new title developed in 1998, based on Omega Race)
• Vecmania (1998)

2000

• Moon Lander (new title developed in 2000, based on Lunar Lander)

2001

• Vectopia

2002

• Gravitrex (new title developed in 2002, based on Gravitar)
• Tsunami/VIX (new title (two games) developed in 2002, based on Tempest and QIX)
• Vec Sports Boxing

2003

• Protector (new title developed in 2003)
• War of the Robots (new title developed in 2003)
• Yasi (new title developed in 2003)

2004

• I, Cyborg (new title developed in 2004)
• Revector (new title developed in 2004)
• Thrust (new title developed in 2004)

2005

• Debris (new title developed in 2005)
• Nebula Commander (new title developed in 2005)

2006

• Logo (New Title Released February 2006)
• Space Frenzy (New Title Released March 2006)
• Colorclash (New Title Released May 2006)
• Star Sling (New Title Released May 2006)
• Vector 21 (New Title Released April 2006)
• Spike's Circus (New Title Released August 2006)
• 3D Lord of the Robots (New Title Released October 2006)

•  • [ e] Selected home game consoles
First generation
Magnavox Odyssey • Pong • Coleco Telstar
Second generation
Fairchild Channel F • Atari 2600 • Interton VC 4000 • Odyssey • Intellivision • Arcadia 2001 • Atari 5200 • ColecoVision • Vectrex • SG-1000
Third generation
NES • Master System • Atari 7800
Fourth Generation
TurboGrafx-16 • Mega Drive/Genesis • Neo Geo • SNES
Fifth generation
3DO • Amiga CD32 • Jaguar • Saturn • PlayStation • Nintendo 64 • Virtual Boy
Sixth generation
Dreamcast • PlayStation 2 • GameCube • Xbox
Seventh generation
Xbox 360 • PlayStation 3 • Wii

References

• Vectrex Faq 6.0
• Vectrex rarity guide

External links

• Vectrex Resource Center
• Vectrex News
• Vectrex Portal
• Classic Game Creations - New Vectrex Games
• Vectorzoa - New Vectrex Games
• Spike's Big Vectrex Page Vectrex portal, recent games/projects/news, information archive
• Vectrex infosite News, manuals, reviews, screenshots, faqs, scanned manuals, scanned boxes and more.
• Vectrex Game Database great source of games and screenshots
• ParaJVE: Vectrex Emulator for Windows / Linux / Mac written in Java5
• Vecx: Vectrex Emulator for Windows by Valavan Manohararajah
• Port of Vecx to Xbox
• The Dot Eaters article featuring a history of the Vectrex