10 Amazing MB Vectrex Exclusives

[@HiNRGboy]

Favorite game on the Vectrex is Spike, it's one of the few Vector based games that isn't a shooter or racing game. It actually has some depth to it. Milton Bradley's games of that era don't end with the Vectrex either, they also made an add on module for the TI-99/4a computer called the MB-X system I believe, that had several more great games on it, all on cartridge.. like Bigfoot, kind of like a Lode Runner meets Donkey Kong.. :)

[@grinbrothers]

I've plenty of fond childhood memories of the once-a-year trip to visit my cousins... which would always end up with me and my brothers fighting to play on the Vectrex. A wonderful console that I'd love to own one day. 0:37 - I do have fond memories of Asteroids, an unsurprisingly, plenty of fond memories of the Vectrex's own take on said game; 4:34's Mine Storm. 3:24 - The twitchy controls were certainly well demonstrated by the drivers frequent flinging to the sides and subsequent explosion. 7:40 - Spike looks lovely even today but is even more impressive when you compare it to what it's competing second generation consoles were doing. Spike just feels leaps and bounds ahead. He also has a really cool design; that is certainly influenced by the vector system he's made for. Would be nice to imagine a more successful Vectrex and Spike going on to being a platformer icon. 11:52 - It lived only a short time and whilst a good chunk of it's library is dominated by shoot em' ups, it is terrific knowing the system has the likes of platformers and pinball games as well. This one looks fun; certainly one I'd try to obtain and I really liked the sounds that played. 19:13 - The Vacuum cleaner I could easily expect from a game called Clean Sweep but hoovering up coins to stop banks robbers is an interesting direction to take. It's actually a pretty clever premise and certainly an inspired take on the Pac-Man formula. Fantastic video; always nice to see the Vectrex get the praise it deserves. Your comment regarding the Tour De France game certainly has me curious about what other unfinished/unreleased Vectrex games both exist or were planned.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

I have always loved obscure/less popular and/or quirky arcade & console games. The Vectrex would have so been my thing in the day! I never heard of them til like 10 years ago (around 2012 maybe?) But it fascinated me like no other system. I was born in 1974. I turned 10 in the summer of 1984...20 in 1994. So my prime video game years were from about 1984 to 1994 & we all know the games of that era! But vector games of the 70s & 80s are especially fascinating to me.

[@ichemnutcracker]

When I was a kid, I had a friend down the block who had one of these, and I thought it was absolutely the coolest thing I had ever seen. But by then you already couldn't get any games for it and my father hated when he brought it over because he said it messed up the interference with his AM radio.

[@Paul-qg3iw]

So I was given a vectrex in Xmas 84 when I was 12 and I loved it.... and still have it;-). Agree with most of your list but strangely I always enjoyed Blitz which was the American Football game and more recently I think Time Pilot (homebrew) is quite possibly the best title ever produced for the machines. Still I agree with the all the love for the Vectrex which I think is the most special of all Second Generation Consoles and still to this day a joy to play.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I have Blitz, but really not a fan!!!

[@QuesadillaPadilla]

You should definitely give Vector Patrol & Vectrexians (both made by Kristof Tuts who made Vector Pilot), also give Vectorblade & Vyrzon a try

[@ITGuyinaction]

💥💪🕹😎🤘 Vectrex! Wow! Its history shows that sometimes you can use very limited resources but when having a good idea, you can do really a lot! I'm wondering why it was not popular in my country... I wouldn't mind to have one and to use it on my small channel.

[@mikebell2112]

Sad that in the official commercial they couldn't get the camera shutter adjusted to eliminate things flickering and blinking on and off. Then again, it kind of makes things look even more action packed.

[@kidguzzi_chrisgalardi]

I still break out my Vectrex occasionally from hibernation. This video has inspired me to do so again this weekend 👍

[@TheLairdsLair]

Same! I am going to crank it up this weekend!

[@visual_Memories]

Vectrex is easily my favorite among the second-generation consoles. Absolutely nothing like it before or since.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

Spike looks both fascinating and annoying (never clicked with platformers). Also like the like of the look of the Star Trek and Narzod. Back in the day there was this computer shop in a nearby shopping arcade. I remember seeing a Vectrex there, along with Atari 800, Dragon 32, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, Colecovision and Intellevison along with the usual 82/83 usual suspects. I remember the wow factor of the Vectrex, but the Intellivision game Cloudy Mountain and Star Raiders on the Atari 800 are the games I remember fondly still.

[@CreepyMagician]

I'm surprised that you didn't include Cosmic Chasm, a really innovative game that was so popular for the Vectrex, that it was subsequently released as an arcade version.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I didn't include it because, as you pointed out, it's not a system exclusive!

[@danielespeziari5545]

This is such a cool system. Too bad there aren't many on the market, and they are so expensive

[@williamcrowe2576]

I think there was also a Vectrex variation of MB's Dark Tower game.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yep, there was.

[@cheddarfish225]

Truly an amazing system.

[@captaincorleone7088]

The 3D graphics of Spike are amazing for its time: it was years before anything like this appeared elsewhere and the sampled speech is the most I've heard on any home machine for that era. Such a shame that the Vectrex only had a monochrome monitor and required overlays but I suppose that would've seen the price soar. Maybe a successor would've featured this had the crash not destroyed the US market...

[@TheLairdsLair]

There was a prototype of a colour Vectrex that was supposed to follow this but got killed by the crash, I've covered it in another video that is linked in the description.

[@captaincorleone7088]

@@TheLairdsLair Thanks! 🙂

[@bruhbruhbruh645]

10:09 Who the hell gets a game over before reaching the extremely easy-to-reach 500 point mark?! The most points I ever got was about 20,000! Or more, probably, but that doesn't matter, because who the hell cares about getting a game over when you can just repeatedly spam 3 and 4?!

[@bit-ishbulldog2089]

Wanted to mention the Vectrex was very expensive when on sale in the early 80's. Likely the reason it didn't sell as well as Atari 2600. It was a toy for rich kids. The American game crash was not the reason it only lasted for a couple of years. Just expensive, a bit like the NEO GEO many years later. A rich kid toy.

[@mattelder1971]

I just noticed the similarities between the Vectrex and the original Macintosh. The size and shape are very similar. I have to wonder if Apple's design team were influenced by the Vectrex.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Apple copied a lot of stuff from other people, so it wouldn't surprise me!

[@neilthomas8070]

An interesting video; I knew of the console's existence, mainly through adverts in comic books but never came across one. The graphics look OK and the games are varied. It's a shame it didn't last long; you could an amazing facts video, I think it would be very interesting.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I already have! It's linked in the description! ;-)

[@retrojoe85]

Over ten years ago I found a working one from a flea market at only 50€: the seller had no idea of what he was selling, so it was just the time to take the money from my car and the Vectrex got purchased from another guy...I still curse myself for not bringin' so much money with me that morning! 😵

[@TheLairdsLair]

Damn, that's a bit like the time I saw a Sega Nomad in a shop for £50 but it was closed and I didn't go back until a few days later and it was gone :-(

[@retrojoe85]

@@TheLairdsLair yeah, it's the same kind of situation! :-(

[@mattelder1971]

NEVER walk into a flea market without your money with you!! LOL I've had something similar happen before.

[@MotownBatman]

I Love the Look & Different Idea of this System; Always Have I remember as a Kid I got to touch one once lol. I was pissed, I believe it was My Cousins Neighbor who had it; Everyone got to Play, but of course, when it was it was the tag-along Youngest Cousins Turn we had to leave.... I got MineStorm to boot and slap the Fire button Once before I had to Switch it Off & Catch up with the Crew

[@cantcit]

Hyperchase requires an analog joystick otherwise the digital controllers slam you into the wall. Even with an analog controller it is quite twitchy so you have to slowly move the stick

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yep, as the video here demonstrates perfectly!!!!

[@Wyrdwad]

I find it odd how every single video that shows Clean Sweep footage shows it with the messed-up walls (which only happens in emulation; in the actual game on actual hardware, they're perfectly lined up like on the box!), yet not a soul ever seems to mention this. It's like an unspoken rule -- the first rule of Clean Sweep emulation glitches is, don't talk about Clean Sweep emulation glitches. ;)

[@TheLairdsLair]

Hahaha, I actually recorded all the audio before I recorded the game footage, because I did the reviews based on playing real hardware. So at least I have an excuse :P

[@Wyrdwad]

@@TheLairdsLair Duly noted! ;) I do have to wonder why that particular glitch has never been fixed, though. I mean, I emulated Clean Sweep over 20 years ago and it glitched out in exactly the same way back then. You'd think with 20 years and as small (yet fantastic) a game library as the Vectrex has, issues like this would've been ironed out by now. Either way, thanks for a great video! Brought me back to when I was a kid. Wish I still had this thing, as it truly is an incredible experience. Probably the only retro gaming console from that long ago that still universally impresses EVERYONE who sees it to this day. I mean, how can you see a Vectrex in action and NOT be impressed, honestly?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Totally, from the moment I first played on a Vectrex I wanted one so badly, then my wife bought me one for my birthday complete with the rare carry case and loads of games!

[@demonsty]

it was like the neo geo of the 2nd gen video games?

[@SegaTron64]

The Vectrex was before my time but of that generation of consoles it is by far WAY better than Atari 2600 and the others. I only wish someone would make a working replica of the 3D Imager because those few games are the only ones I cannot play on my Sean Kelly MultiCart. The Lightpen is available so I'm not sure why no one makes the 3D imager. COME ON SEAN KELLY.. DO IT!

[@QuesadillaPadilla]

An aftermarket 3d headset is made, google Madtronix Vectrex, he's based in the UK.

[@IsaacKuo]

It's a pity we never got a 16 bit wireframe graphics machine. A 68000 CPU would be able to handle a lot more rotation/scaling/3D calculations. We never got to see what wireframe vector graphics could really accomplish.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Totally agree!

[@mattelder1971]

I know for a fact that a 68000 can do some really impressive wireframe graphics. When I was in the Navy in the mid 1990s, I worked on a radar system that had a 68000 as the main processor for the displays. I recognized the processor immediately because I had an Amiga 500 for a while before that.

[@TheSulross]

bet there's a 68000 instruction sequence that can do any operation that is possible on the 6809 - IOW, transcompile existing Vetrex games to 68000 instructions (which is how Visacalc was ported in its hey day). And then need to devise 68000 that can drive the CRT intended video output to do equivalent in a VGA screen buffer - VGA easy to take to DVI or HDMI. Would probably need to be an FPGA implementation as don't think there is any 68000 equivalent being manufactured these days.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Lookingg forward to 'moar' vectrex content

[@TheLairdsLair]

Check the links in the description if you want to see my other Vectrex videos!

[@neophytealpha]

In the US GCE made the Vectrex before MB made it.

[@TheLairdsLair]

GCE were bought out by Milton Bradley.

[@hanniballector196]

Pretty cool !

[@50TBRD]

I read the title wrong. Thought it was going to be about European exclusives. I thought ok how are they going to do that? Nice video though.

[@joejacobsonwales]

Very cool console!

[@vectrexer]

Better on a #real #Vectrex instead of an emulator.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yep, you can see me playing on my own Vectrex in one of the videos linked in the description!

[@skywarp727]

This console is so cool. There's just something about vector graphics that is timeless and intriguing. Great video showcasing some of the games. Btw, lols at the rider on Tour De France that immediately derps and falls over. Maybe one day I can find one that works for a reasonable price. Also Bedlam looks awesome.