Vectrex memories

[Brad2600]

I remember that the semi-private school that I went to had a Vectrex in one of it's dorms.

 

I used to sit down almost every day after school and play a game of Berzerk, since it was the only game they had I believe.

 

It was interesting and I never understood the point of Berzerk until now.

 

It's an interesting little system that I will never be able to afford. I will however cherish the memories of playing Berzerk on the Vectrex.

 

Any thoughts?

[Witchfynde]

Too bad you didn't know that the school didn't have Berzerk as their "only" game: if you took it out and turned the power on, you got Mine Storm, an excellent Asteroids clone. You woulda had fun with that! (Don't feel TOO bad, though, I never knew until the last year that the Sega Master System had one, or maybe it was THREE built-in games until last year, which sucked, since *I* had one and no one told me that [plus it didn't come with instructions, so that didn't help] I'll see about eventually getting a Power Base Converter though, or maybe an SMS sometime in the future.)

 

But yeah, me and a couple of buddies of mine snagged ours when the video game crash hit, and they had slashed the price down at our local Toys 'r Us to $50, or maybe even $40. One of my friends had called Toys, and the person on the phone said they had sold three of them on that day, so we figured that, even if things weren't going well, finances-wise (I was in junior high at the time), we'd better get ours NOW. So we did. I borrowed his Cosmic Chasm, that's a really cool game. But I might save that memory for some other time...

[Rob Mitchell]

eBay prices of Vectrex consoles are falling .. I saw one go for $25 this past week. Plus there is a very healthy homebrew community that is churning out very cool NEW Vectrex games.

 

www.classicgamecreations.com

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Mindfield]

First time I touched a Vectrex was back around 1981 or so. It was shortly before I got my first video game system (Coleco Gemini), and my friend and I played with that a bit. It was cool -- hey, it was a video game system and I longed for one, so I would've enjoyed playing anything -- but all he had for it was the built-in game, Minestorm. We had some fun, but I think I'd been spoiled by the local arcades. I didn't really get the significance of a vector graphic home console back then -- to me, graphics were graphics, and the arcades held sway there compared to the Vectrex and its simulated colour via overlays. (Yeah, I liked Asteroids, but when Black Widow, Tac Scan and Major Havoc introduced me to the merits of real colour vector graphics, I was sold. :-)

 

I ended up forgetting all about that Vectrex when my Gemini arrived. :-)

[Witchfynde]

Another memory:

 

Another buddy of mine had (maybe still does) a Vectrex too, and when I was looking at his games, several of them had a label that said "no not remove from store". I asked him what that was about, and he said he stole them from Foleys.

 

Dumbass...if he had gotten caught...

[holygrailvideogames.com]

I have some sad memories of my original Vectrex. I had a boxed Vectrex, every single released game boxed including the 3-d games, all the screens, and the 3-d goggles boxed all destroyed in a flood. I was storing them at my grandma's house and the basement flooded and all the items were destroyed. This happened about 12 years ago. I have since bought a Vectrex with a multicart, but it just isn't the same. Maybe one day I will buy the goggles again.

[Inky]

'twould have been nice to see Atari put out a vector console instead of mucking about with the Mindlink and Cosmos...

 

Asteroids, Space Duel, Gravitar, Star-Wars, Empire, Black Widow, Quantum would have all been great on a vector console.

[Rob Mitchell]

'twould have been nice to see Atari put out a vector console instead of mucking about with the Mindlink and Cosmos...

 

Asteroids, Space Duel, Gravitar, Star-Wars, Empire, Black Widow, Quantum would have all been great on a vector console.

 

Yeah .. I bet Atari was kicking itself for making a home vector graphics console before the Vectrex was introduced.

 

Imagine a progression .. 2600, Atari home vector console, 7800 and continued 8-bit support. Atari would have dominated the market and possibly survived 1984.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA