Protector: Vectrex Defender Clone

[Ze_ro]

Saw this on RetroGames, and thought I'd post it here...

 

Although I don't have any real information on this game, there's a very impressive video clip of it over here. It definitely blows the 2600 version away! Hooray for pixel-shatters! (Or I guess, vector shatters in this case )

 

... now if only I had a Vectrex ....

 

Anyone have any more information on this? Is it related in any way to the Jaguar home-brew of the same name?

 

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

That video cleep is SAH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.

I'm drooling now. I can't WAIT. My poor Vectrex is probably gonna burn out playing that thing. DAMN!

[Witchfynde]

That video cleep is SAH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.

I'm drooling now.  I can't WAIT.  My poor Vectrex is probably gonna burn out playing that thing.  DAMN!

 

Heh, nice to see other Vectrex fans/owners...

 

Even though I have an exact adaption of it for my Genesis (one of five games on Williams' Arcade's Greatest Hits), I'd still want to check it out. Too bad I don't have a file unzipper, or else I'd download that movie (yes, I've used free versions before, but the trial times have run out, although I should be ordering one soon once I get some money in). Sounds interesting!

[MegaManFan]

Heh, nice to see other Vectrex fans/owners...

 

Danke. It's nice to see other people who appreciate Vectrex. I think this system is highly underrated - I only got introduced to it a year ago but ever since I got one I've felt it was the Cadillac of classic consoles. I was as interested in Vectrex homebrews at the CGExpo as I was Atari.

 

Even though I have an exact adaption of it for my Genesis (one of five games on Williams' Arcade's Greatest Hits), I'd still want to check it out.  Too bad I don't have a file unzipper, or else I'd download that movie (yes, I've used free versions before, but the trial times have run out, although I should be ordering one soon once I get some money in).  Sounds interesting!

 

The video clip just blew me away. Some Vectrex homebrews display a lot of flicker, or don't try hard enough to draw lines other than point-to-point, but this isn't one of them. I'd rate this as good as Vectrexians (the Galaxians knockoff) if not better. I'm thinking the programmer spent a LONG time perfecting this, because if it was colorized it would be so close to the arcade Defender as to almost not be distinguishable! You certainly can't say that about Defender on the 2600 - BLEH!

[Ze_ro]

I've always wanted a Vectrex... unfortunately, they don't come up very often in Winnipeg Plus, they're mighty pricey over eBay, especially when you work in the shipping and handling fees (Yikes!). I'll probably find one eventually, but it'll probably be a while (It also doesn't help that I'm mostly broke at the moment...)

 

I'm not sure if that video clip was from an actual Vectrex or not... it could be from an emulator, in which case you wouldn't see most of the flicker....

 

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

I've always wanted a Vectrex... unfortunately, they don't come up very often in Winnipeg Plus, they're mighty pricey over eBay, especially when you work in the shipping and handling fees (Yikes!). I'll probably find one eventually, but it'll probably be a while (It also doesn't help that I'm mostly broke at the moment...)

 

I managed to snag my first one, on eBay, with shipping, for $85. I got another one later on, but that's a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG story.

 

I'm not sure if that video clip was from an actual Vectrex or not... it could be from an emulator, in which case you wouldn't see most of the flicker....  

 

--Zero

 

I was given to understand it didn't work with emulators on RGVC. Plus it seems pretty obvious this guy did a video cam capture, because you can hear him clicking the buttons on the controllers and moving the joystick when the action gets intense. Non-flicker games ARE possible on Vectrex, you just have to have the programming skill; just like with 2600 programming.

[Ze_ro]

I was given to understand it didn't work with emulators on RGVC.

 

Really? How do you manage to program for a system without an emulator? Or does this guy have a dev kit or something?

 

Plus it seems pretty obvious this guy did a video cam capture, because you can hear him clicking the buttons on the controllers and moving the joystick when the action gets intense.

 

Oh, I guess I didn't have the volume high enough for that before, but I can hear it now.

 

Non-flicker games ARE possible on Vectrex, you just have to have the programming skill; just like with 2600 programming.

 

I always figured that the flicker on vector games was because things couldn't really be redrawn fast enough. With the Atari, it's a (relatively) simply manner of repositioning sprites before the scanline hits them to avoid flicker, but when you have to draw so many vectors, I figured it was inevitable that you'd get flicker once you went past a certain number of them.

 

But then, I don't know much about Vectrex programming, so I should probably keep my fool mouth shut

 

--Zero

[Witchfynde]

Heh' date=' nice to see other Vectrex fans/owners...[/quote']

 

Danke. It's nice to see other people who appreciate Vectrex. I think this system is highly underrated -

 

 

Well, a lot of the games either weren't very good, or they didn't have much replay on them. Lets see, out of the (thinks about it)...seven games I have for my Vectrex, I want to ditch two of them; that's not good, and the others I really can't play any more at all, unlike something like my Atari 2600, which I can still play a couple of games years later. However, there are a few of the original games that I still want, as pretty much the best ones released were the last ones made: Spike (it talked and was an isometric version of Donkey Kong), Spinball (a pinball game...actually had a pause button!! [Remember back in the days when most games didn't have pause?!], Web Wars (sort of played like Tempest), and Fortress of Narzod was supposed to be a great shooter. (I DO have one of those last ones ever made, though: Bedlam, the "reverse Tempest", where you're in the middle and ships come toward you.)

 

Even though I have an exact adaption of it for my Genesis (one of five games on Williams' Arcade's Greatest Hits)' date=' I'd still want to check it out. Too bad I don't have a file unzipper, or else I'd download that movie (yes, I've used free versions before, but the trial times have run out, although I should be ordering one soon once I get some money in). Sounds interesting![/quote']

 

I'm thinking the programmer spent a LONG time perfecting this, because if it was colorized it would be so close to the arcade Defender as to almost not be distinguishable! You certainly can't say that about Defender on the 2600 - BLEH!

 

Hee hee, amen to that. At least they improved a crapload when they made the Stargate version, though.

[Witchfynde]

I've always wanted a Vectrex... unfortunately, they don't come up very often in Winnipeg Plus, they're mighty pricey over eBay, especially when you work in the shipping and handling fees (Yikes!). I'll probably find one eventually, but it'll probably be a while (It also doesn't help that I'm mostly broke at the moment...)

 

I feel your pain, man: I currently haven't worked in over six months myself, and as I dusted off my Atari 7800 a few months ago and started playing again, I'm itching to hit resale shops for new old games!! Oh well, at least I downloaded and used a couple of unzip programs in the last several weeks and played several games on an emulator (until the free time ran out on the unzip trial programs), but my birthday's coming up, so I'll probably get some money and just buy an unzip program (what the hey, they're less than $30) and hit a few resale places. Might not find anything, but it beats whining that I don't have money and can't do anything about it...and I'll eventually get work again anyway...

 

Anyway, good luck to finding a Vectrex, they are cool!

[MegaManFan]

Well, a lot of the games either weren't very good, or they didn't have much replay on them.  Lets see, out of the (thinks about it)...seven games I have for my Vectrex, I want to ditch two of them; that's not good, and the others I really can't play any more at all, unlike something like my Atari 2600, which I can still play a couple of games years later.  However, there are a few of the original games that I still want, as pretty much the best ones released were the last ones made: Spike (it talked and was an isometric version of Donkey Kong), Spinball (a pinball game...actually had a pause button!!  [Remember back in the days when most games didn't have pause?!], Web Wars (sort of played like Tempest), and Fortress of Narzod was supposed to be a great shooter.  (I DO have one of those last ones ever made, though: Bedlam, the "reverse Tempest", where you're in the middle and ships come toward you.)

 

It probably helps if you have Sean Kelly's multi-cart. Even though I own about 20 games with cart, instructions and overlay (everything but the boxes) I didn't really appreciate which games took advantage of Vectrex the best until I saw some things I hadn't before like Vectrexians. It seems inevitable that it's always years after a vintage console comes out that people figure out the ways to maximize it's potential; things the programmers didn't know back when it first came out and some (though not all) of the games were crappy.

 

And yes, Fortress of Narzod does rock. It's got an interesting twist - shots can rebound off the canyon walls, so if you're lazy or not paying attention you can fire a bad shot and shoot yourself! Not as bad as it sounds, but it does make for really intense gameplay.

[Witchfynde]

Well, a lot of the games either weren't very good, or they didn't have much replay on them.  Lets see, out of the (thinks about it)...seven games I have for my Vectrex, I want to ditch two of them; that's not good, and the others I really can't play any more at all, unlike something like my Atari 2600, which I can still play a couple of games years later.  However, there are a few of the original games that I still want, as pretty much the best ones released were the last ones made: Spike (it talked and was an isometric version of Donkey Kong), Spinball (a pinball game...actually had a pause button!!  [Remember back in the days when most games didn't have pause?!], Web Wars (sort of played like Tempest), and Fortress of Narzod was supposed to be a great shooter.  (I DO have one of those last ones ever made, though: Bedlam, the "reverse Tempest", where you're in the middle and ships come toward you.)

 

It seems inevitable that it's always years after a vintage console comes out that people figure out the ways to maximize it's potential; things the programmers didn't know back when it first came out and some (though not all) of the games were crappy.

 

 

Yeah, even the wimpy 4K of the Atari 2600 can be bypassed: last I heard, with some of the final games that companies were releasing for it (i. e. before homebrewing), they were up to 64K games for the 2600...

 

And yes, Fortress of Narzod does rock.  It's got an interesting twist - shots can rebound off the canyon walls, so if you're lazy or not paying attention you can fire a bad shot and shoot yourself!  Not as bad as it sounds, but it does make for really intense gameplay.

 

Wow! (laughs) Sounds pretty good indeed...

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I was lucky enough to get a chance to play this briefly in Cincinnati at Cinciclassic last month. All I can say is this game is incredible! I only played it for 5 minutes and you can just tell when you see something this well done and go, 'Man, Damn!'

kudos,

MattG.

[Rob Mitchell]

I was lucky enough to get a chance to play this briefly in Cincinnati at Cinciclassic last month.  All I can say is this game is incredible!  I only played it for 5 minutes and you can just tell when you see something this well done and go, 'Man, Damn!'

 

I am the current holder of the Protector Demo cart (Defender) for the Vectrex! It is way cool and no flicker .. which is something that Alex Herbert has worked hard to perfect .. The game is due to be released in about one month .. It also has the ability to record the top five scores as well as the initials of those players. this is something new for a Vectrex cart.

 

There is a new cart called the VecRAM cart that allows for game development without using the emulator. I use my HP200LX palmtop to write code, compile it and transfer it to the VecRAM cart! My development system!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA