This Vectrex does things I never thought possible | Tech Nibble

[@RMCRetro]

Thank you for watching! If you like this kind of content then why not subscribe and help the channel to grow. Thank you so much! Neil - RMC

[@brianm6337]

I used to own a Star Wars Cabinet. It died in the 90s. *sigh* I wish i still had it.

[@Thrakus]

I found one, it is the worst building in the whole city always bad stuff going on there., It was sitting on the sidewalk next to trash bags, works perfectly does not even have the sound bug. Best find ever. I always wanted one

[@90lancaster]

I'm puzzled that you say the Vectrex is light - the two I own are both several kilos and are not easy to lift with one hand due to the shape of the carry handle, they don't vibrate either - they might make noises as a natural consequence of the display but vibrate - nope - they feel weighted like a sowing machine to me. The only QC issue I can say they have is that sometimes they joystick un screws itself.

[@colin888robinson]

I dont comment often but this is an excellent video. For once I thank the algorithm. Quality stuff. Thanks for taking the time.

[@FightCollective]

@@brianm6337 Spent about 10 hours one day clocking that game. It got to a point the game didn't get harder... though it was hard at that point and you literally had to play with the reflexes of a Jedi

[@axelprino]

The Vectrex sometimes feels like a game console from another timeline where technology went on a different direction.

[@andrewnorris5415]

If you told me this was Russian....

[@R3TR0R4V3]

It definitely went a different direction.. It's the only vector-based console. 🙂

[@RetroJack]

Well said!

[@foogod4237]

It definitely makes you wonder, "what if the world had been different and vector displays became the default instead of raster?" Sorta like the whole steampunk idea, but, well, I guess maybe "vectorpunk"?

[@aegisraven1284]

No

[@Halfbrew]

Thank you for this wonderful tutorial. I am the son of the inventor of Vectrex and was the master toy tester for all games.

[@aeiouxs]

I nearly fell off my Zero-G seat when I saw that version of Elite running on a Vector display. DEAR GOD YES!

[@RobinDale50]

Pretty amazing. You have to love the idea of a game that was itself inspired by vector game graphics coming back to a true vector game console. It's a lot like coming home.

[@advil000]

So did I. I think I was actually shouting "hell yeah!" at my screen. Nostalgia doesn't fully explain how cool that was. You had to have lived it for it to punch you in the feels. That one was special. Thank you RMC for showing that on KZbin. That and I remember playing the crappy ports of Star Wars on my early PCs and wishing it could be like the arcade was. Seeing the Vectrex pull that off at full speed (or better) in one color also brought back some great memories. So glad to see it was actually possible on a console of the time, just never done.

[@corgibuttz2550]

This is going to be a painful one for me to watch. My grandparents had a vectrex when I was growing up, and I played it every time I visited. When they both passed away my mom asked me if I wanted anything from the estate. I said "that old TV video game thing in the basement." She told me she sold it at a garage sale the previous day for 5 bucks. In the box. I was crushed then because I wanted it for the memories. I'm crushed now because I still want it for the same reasons. =/

[@LEGOpachinko]

That sucks. On top of that, it is actually still quite fun to play.

[@tolkienfan1972]

Man that makes me sad. Sorry for you!

[@alext3811]

If it's any consolation, on US ebay (because that's where I live) Vectrexes aren't insanely expensive (cheaper then modern AAA games for whatever it's worth). I know it's not the same as your childhood console, but it's something at least?

[@LEGOpachinko]

@@alext3811 cheapest one i see is 350 USD for a broken one. Cheaper than modern AAA games is prolly a bit too enthusiastic :) For 99 USD you get the box only :)

[@corgibuttz2550]

@@alext3811 It's a really nice thought, at the prices they go for I'll just get my nostalgia bumps from the MiSTer. It has a fine vectrex core for it. I'm also into mountain biking at the moment and that is pretty much stolen all the video game funds lol.

[@johnrickard8512]

What is probably the most criminally under-appreciated console of all time

[@RedBricksTraffic]

A cottage we visited when I was maybe 10 years old (1995 or so) had one of these just laying around for guests to use. I played it so much while we stayed there!

[@mal2ksc]

That's probably the perfect use case a dozen years after it was built. You don't get to use it long enough to be frustrated by its limitations compared to, say, a PS2.

[@socaldrivin9590]

Complimentary cottage games are TIGHT!

[@pigknickers2975]

Little boy heaven that :)

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

When I did my military service one of the guys brought his Vectrex with, I think, 15 game cartridges. He bought it at a clearance sale and got a great price. That machine went through nine months of durability testing and came out swinging. Good times!

[@seebarry4068]

I always wanted a vectrex. I used to hang around the toy shop for ages. My parents used to dump me there and go shopping. Loved it.

[@----.__]

Those were the days, it made shopping with the folks tolerable. I remember spending hours in the electronics section playing C64s and Amigas while my parents went off shopping, often to other stores, to come back and get me later on. There are many things today that are great, but nothing will ever compare to living back then. Nearly everything was better in general, and people were better for it.

[@AZOffRoadster]

I used to repair IBM vector systems back in the mid '90s. They were used by mil contractors for designing bombs and such. Peripherals included an 8 rotary encoder pod, a digitizing tablet, and one of those ball things where the ball doesn't move, it registers force in 3 axis.

[@mrspaceman2764]

When my grandfather retired from the USAF in 1986, he returned from the UK with a BBC Micro and Elite!!! I was only 5yo and it blew my mind! Been gaming on "PC" ever since. I took that thing to the library computer lab when I was 7 to impress (who my son today would call) "The Neck Beards" and impressed they were. I was the king of the second floor library computer lab in 1987 Torrance CA.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

In Lunar Lander, I remember you could crash the module, or damage it beyond repair, leaving the occupant stranded. The latter option gave ten-year-old me what we would now describe as "anxiety".

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

It also had a message that you wrecked a 6 megabuck lander sometimes when you crash it.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

@@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266 I remember, now.

[@robertellis6853]

Sounds like the feeling I get when I crash on the Mün in Kerbal Space Program

[@J.DeLaPoer]

Yes, I remember the existential comedy/horror of that particular game as a kid. The simple graphics only made that scenario all the more bleak too.

[@conflictmagazine]

I love how the demo scene can always show you what a machine is capable of...that demo was f***ing awesome! Thanks for the video.

[@fattomandeibu]

That demo was something else. Those guys have some pure skill.

[@Wyrdwad]

The title of this video was not clickbait. My mind is kind of blown by this. I would've never known such a thing existed -- that such a thing COULD exist! Absolutely remarkable. Also, I simply never get tired of watching content about the Vectrex in general, and wish I still owned one. My brother had one when I was a kid, and I played the crap out of it, even well into the 16-bit era. I have no idea what became of it -- it probably got sold at a yard sale or something after I went off to college and my parents moved house. I really miss it, though, as there is literally no other home console even remotely like it. The Vectrex is quite possibly the only retro gaming system that I feel holds nearly universal appeal nowadays -- no matter who you are, no matter how dismissive you may be of old and "outdated" technology, if you see a Vectrex in person, you WILL stop and stare, and you WILL be impressed. It's impossible not to be -- especially when you learn the thing originally debuted in 1982! "Ahead of its time" is seriously an understatement.

[@efromhb]

I haven't thought about the Vectrex for years. Stumbled across this and it brings back a lot of memories. What a time to be a kid during the late 70s and 80s. Great times.

[@craigreaper7295]

You know, I remember playing the cockpit Star Wars in the arcades BITD, and just hearing the music / samples etc lifts the hairs on the back of my neck still!

[@3vi1J]

I've got a Vectrex, with the original blue/grey carrying bag, sitting in my "to do" projects pile. A co-worker gave it to me 30 years back and I just never got around to turning it on. One day... That cart is brilliant! Amazing idea and execution. Thanks for sharing this!

[@----.__]

You're one of few people I've ever heard correctly call the 9 pin d-sub miniature port the DE-9 instead of the DB-9. I worked as lead designer at a robotics manufacturer some years ago and was lucky to have a German engineer on my team who also happened to be one of the original engineers from Bosch responsible for the CAN-bus. I'd always known the "DB-9" as a DB-9, and it was only once I met Hans that he corrected many years of ill teaching from university, books, lecturers, magazines, et al. It made total sense, in that the B referred to the shell size, and was more commonly known for the DB-25 which is where the error originated when the DE-9 came out and people incorrectly assumed it was a DB-9. I still switch between DE-9 and DB-9 depending on who I'm talking to just to sound less pedantic, but it's nice to hear someone actually use the correct nomenclature in the real world. Kudos.

[@MattPilz]

"To get the true impression of smoothness, brightness and the loveliness of the Vectrex you have to see it in person." That is the most accurate statement. It was similar to my first experience playing Asteroids in the arcade after years of emulation and raster remakes. The intensity and crispness of the beam on original vector CRTs for bullets, teleporting etc. is just unreal and very memorable. For anyone interested I did just put together the definitive calibration guide for the Vectrex system on my channel to get it running like new.

[@Topesio66]

What channel?

[@MattPilz]

@@Topesio66 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ip6ogJmEadqHfaM

[@GarryGri]

Unfortunately mine is broke just now ☹ I think it may just be the power switch, sometime I'll probably open it up and try wiring the power on to see 🤓

[@paul_k_7351]

This comment is so true. I remember playing Tempest for the first time and it blew my mind. There’s nothing that modern graphics can do to emulate just how crisp, smooth and high contrast a vector display is.

[@MattPilz]

@@paul_k_7351 There are so many other clever hardware tricks in arcade cabinets too. It gives me entirely new appreciation for the engineering of them. Also just played Asteroids Deluxe for first time this year and they use a mirror and holographic layer to effectively make it look like you're floating in the middle of an asteroid belt, something I never realized playing on a computer. And with Q-Bert they have a mechanical "thump" at the base timed with when Q-Bert falls of the edge, it is perfect.

[@BeholderThe1st]

The Vectrex was the first console my brother and I got as our shared Xmas gift in the early 80's. My parents got it because we were driving them nuts, and, because it had its own TV so they wouldn't have to share the single home TV with us. We would bring the vectrex with us when visiting relatives, play with it in our car port with all the neighbourhood kids. Loved that machine. I still kick myself for selling it (and my Commodore 64 a few years later.) This was an amazing machine.

[@adriansinclair5062]

Still get shivers down my spine seeing the original starwars arcade. Such a fantastic game. Almost got a vetrex for Christmas in 1983 but ended up with a dragon 32 instead (which I loved).

[@amniote69]

Also had a Dragon. I'll never forget the sound of that squeaky keyboard!

[@JasonKingKong]

A friend had Dark Tower. It was fun initially but because it used a stack of reels inside the tower to control the display, it didn't take long before we knew what it was going to display just by the sounds of various reels spinning up.

[@j.r.millstone]

That "eek help spike oh no molly" sound bite gave me such a nostalgia trip. I've had that burned into my brain for ages.

[@greatkingrat]

The Star Wars that we had at the local arcade was a full “sit down inside” cockpit game and boy was it loud! (Not as loud as Sinistar mind you). There was always a queue for Star Wars.

[@marcopederzoli4939]

Ah the memories! I still recall passing the 3 mln points 35 years later

[@DamienPaulLabonte]

" I LIVE!!!" cranked to 11

[@mal2ksc]

I remember when the local bowling alley had the full cockpit Star Wars console, but they also had a side-by-side auto racing game with seats and all that, which kind of stole the quarters. So they dropped the price of Star Wars from three quarters to one, and a bunch of people (like me) who couldn't afford to play it long enough to see all the goods (before it essentially just repeats only faster) were suddenly able to even though they hadn't gotten any better. 🤣 Initially it had been 50 cents a game, but with a line forming, the management raised it to 75 cents. The line mostly evaporated, but the machine was still occupied almost all the time, both of which are good in their eyes. Then they got the racing sim and suddenly nobody played Star Wars, because the two or three big addicts all moved over so they could play head to head, and the rest of us weren't interested in the higher price. So the machine sat for months and ultimately got moved to a lower traffic area before they had the brilliant idea to try cutting the price. And then the controls broke and they never bothered fixing it and it sat in a corner until one day it was gone. 😢 Hopefully it went somewhere to be restored, not stripped for parts or shredded. They never figured out that if they just charged 50 cents, it probably would have covered the breakage and we would have still played it.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

Sinistar dished out its fair share of PTSD in our local arcade back in the day....😅

[@viewtifuljon8105]

I was a kid with a ZX Spectrum and a BBCB micro computer. Had played various friends NES's and Master Systems etc. The first thing that blew my mind was seeing a Vetrex for the first time. It just felt two steps ahead. Looking back now I can see how it was also lacking in many ways compared to the others, but I think it must have been the perfectly smooth rotation that impressed me so much as a child.

[@darrenwells2277]

Thank you for posting that clip playing the old Star Wars arcade game... It sparks pure nostalgia for me. The amount of 10ps I put in that machine back in the 80s!

[@LeonardSamuels75]

I loved that game!

[@stephencoombes6496]

Thanks for this - I obtained my first Vectrex the day after you uploaded this video, and have now discovered a whole world of new stuff I didn't know I needed... 🙂

[@sirgallant5000]

There's something magical about these vector graphics. This technology is now ancient, yet somehow still feels almost futuristic.

[@TE5LA-GAMING]

One advantage being there was absolutely no stair stepping in the graphics, something regular monitors can't do.

[@timmadone8930]

Vector graphics were magical. Especially the color Vector graphics. It was like a neon sign that came to life. Bright & colorful & mesmerizing. Some of my favorites are "TEMPEST" "STAR CASTLE" "ELIMINATOR" "COSMIC CHASM" "ASTEROIDS" "ZEKTOR" "STAR WARS" "STAR TREK" "SPACE FURY" "LUNAR LANDER" "GRAVITAR" "SPACE DUEL" "TAC/SCAN" "OMEGA RACE" "QIX". There are plenty of Raster games I like too, but nothing quite compares to the Vector games.

[@EndymionMkII]

Never thought I'd see Bad Apple playing in a Vectrex but here we are. The Vectrex has always been one of the most unique Retro consoles ever and its great to see it covered and loved over the Cave.

[@darkwinter6028]

Well… if they can squeeze it into a Compaq luggable… why not? 😉

[@CommodoreFan64]

Agreed, I just wish when they designed the Vectrex they had gone with a better sound chip than the AY, and found someway to get rid of the buzz, thankfully these days there are things like the Buzzoff kits for it.

[@prgnify]

Internet tip: if you ever think "I'll never see Bad Apple playing in a [word]" you are wrong.

[@stamfordly6463]

@@CommodoreFan64 Have a look at Techmoan's Vectrex video, from memory (which mean I could be wrong) I think he found a way to reduce the buzz a bit.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@stamfordly6463 As I said in my comment there is the Buzzoff kit that gets rid of it that was produced in recent years, I was talking about when the system originally released, they should have noticed that design flaw, and fixed it before full production.

[@daniellmarcussen2599]

I stole money from my parents to play Star Wars back in the 80's ...and I would do it again.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

I remember the advert for Dark Tower as a kid, but only vaguely... and then whenever I saw bottles of Black Tower in the shop I remembered it. I think there were some legal issues so Dark Tower wasn't around for long. Good Lord! What an AMAZING bit of kit! For just homebrew dev that's fantastic... and then running arcade ROMs too! Wow!

[@jimsmart2522]

Dark Tower! - I'd totally forgotten about that until you showed it... I used to have it!

[@Del-Canada]

I was hooked on Star Wars and that stereo sound. My dentist had a Vectrex in his office for the patients the year it came out.

[@thedysk1]

Excellent video. I've always loved the Vectrex ever since seeing one in the local toy shop windows back in 1982. I was one of those kids with their nose pressed up against the glass marveling at the Vectrex technology. I've never owned one but maybe one day, however looking at the prices I would have to sell a kidney. And absolutely wonderful to see Star Wars and Elite being played. Wonderful stuff.

[@GarryGri]

I got mine for around £40 years ago when they were much cheaper. When we were much younger my brother swapped , I think a spectrum+, for one. Then he sold it on again for a few pounds! Changed days! Vectrex prices are just silly money nowadays. If I can't fix mine I won't be replacing it... Which is a pity as I was just about to release a game on cartridge.

[@absalomdraconis]

@@GarryGri : I haven't tried yet (if ever...), but it should be possible to reproduce the display using piezo elements for the x-y scan, some lenses + led for on/off, and a piece of "frosted" glass + a cardboard shade for the screen. Might be worth playing around with if the display goes out on you.

[@kevintjeuh8888]

Got mine at a dump few years ago, mint condition

[@GarryGri]

@@absalomdraconis Not sure what you mean here? I think it's just my power switch that's on the fritz. It's a common issue

[@ScavengerFX]

This is the first video of yours I have seen and I have always loved the Vectrex. Thank you for demonstrating just some of the amazing things this old machine can do!

[@RMCRetro]

My please and welcome Mark, thanks for watching

[@electronicecstasy]

Golly, I think that's the smoothest I've ever seen Elite run! All of this is honestly mind-blowing. And you're right, the sheer brightness of vector elements on a CRT simply can't be matched by emulation.

[@aaronjennings8385]

The vetrex should be mandatory prepper kit. To combat post apocalyptic boredom.

[@presterjohn71]

I bought mine when they were being heavily discounted at Woolies. Sold it in working order with a few games for £360 on eBay last year.

[@JamesHanniganComposer]

What a fantastic and interesting machine this is (and it runs Tempest beautifully!)

[@JamesHanniganComposer]

@@dentonkent3563 Thank you. No, I'm not working on Hogwarts Legacy. I think I've done quite enough music on the franchise (for now, at least!)

[@perihelion7445]

Had an Hanimex Pong System, CBS Colecovision, Atari 2600, C64 and Amiga's. The Vectrex though was and is still in a league of it's own, I would put it up there as being one of the greatest systems of all time, and yes, it was MADE for Elite, that would be the best version of it. That glow as if Magnesium was being burnt is phenomenal.

[@zakuguriin4521]

That anime one at the end blew my mind. That looks bonkers! And that console is from 1982 🤯

[@MikePerigo]

Apart from being an amazing Vectrex review, this brought back many great memories of vector graphic arcade machines. Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Battlezone, etc; were all cutting-edge games when released and blew their competition out of the water. Not just because they were vector based but for the whole gameplay experience.

[@scottbreon9448]

Really surprised that BattleZone never got an official port to the Vectrex to be honest. Would have been the ideal machine to port the game to

[@ThaVoodoo1]

Great video. The 80's MB Vectrex was every boy's dream. I can remember playing vector graphics games on my Amstrad CPC 464 back in the day. Star Wars 2, Starglider & Elite are good examples.

[@londongaz2]

This was my favourite in The Cave! That display is like nothing I've seen before. So crisp!

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Watching The Cave while in my little retro alcove setup in a cornor of our unfinshed basement can't get more retro than that lol

[@synaesthesia2010]

i've seen Bad Apple running on so many consoles, and the fact that it can run on the Vectrex shows that all consoles were capable of running FMV, the only thing stopping them was the amount of available storage space on the cartridges at the time

[@eMorphized]

And the memory limitations. And the line limitations on vector screens.

[@Stoney3K]

The advantage of vector graphics is that the CPU has to push a lot less numbers around than when you are running a raster display, where the CPU has to keep every pixel in memory and on some machines even scan that memory to output the video. On the Vectrex, each point is basically just a couple of 8-bit numbers which are fed into a DAC and directly into the CRT deflection circuit, and there's only a few hundred points in each scene, as opposed to having to push hundreds or even thousands of pixels around just to move a sprite across the screen.

[@robertwilson3866]

I'm no expert but I think that Vec demo cart has a powerful CPU in it, so it may just be using the Vetcrex screen.

[@domfjbrown75]

I wish I could get my mitts on a Vecctrex... Managed to get to level 43 of Minestorm in the late 80s at the blind visiting) boarding school I attended. That level was HARSH!!!!

[@lunchrevisited]

I played Dark Tower as a kid, (1981?) and I remember it being a lot of fun the first time, but not many re-plays. The tower "computer" was effectively the dungeon master, serving as a memory for each player's game progress. It handled "battles" that happened against monsters and such, and provided sound effects. I'm sure some of the fun came from the novelty of having an electronic component to the game, back in a time before home computers and Atari were common.

[@salty6pence672]

My brother got one for Christmas, We played it often but we couldn't afford the batteries back then so it was a when we have batteries thing.

[@Mark-hr9dy]

There was a knock off version of that Star Wars game called 'Star Fire’ using vector graphics. It was a sit in and I loved it to bits. Another bunch of games I would head too at the arcade were 'Lunar Lander’ 'Asteroids’ and 'BattleZone’ or 'Tankzone'? a stand up arcade game using those crisp vector graphics, so futuristic to a 70s 80s kid.

[@haydengittins2836]

Those vector graphics still look great, and seem to have a nice 3d quality to them. Dark Tower has recently been remade (I think there's a kickstarter on for an expansion currently) and it's great fun having the tower rotating and sending skulls your way while laughing maniacally.

[@Evercade_Effect]

My mind is totally blown. This thing is awesome and I love old Retro doing things no one could ever dream of.

[@richardwall5678]

I loved playing Dark Tower!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 🙂

[@pon2oon]

Thanks!

[@ExplosiveAction]

I just wanted to say that I get so much enjoyment out of the quartet of RMC, LGR, 8-Bit Guy and Techmoan (and other YT'ers of course - like Nostalgia Nerd, Retro Recipes and Mr Lurch, Aussie represent!) that I get all the retro gaming and tech goodness that I need. I don't have the space or time to dedicate to upkeep of retro hardware or even play many games anymore, so watching these bursts from youtube creators really scratches the itch for me. In the same way that Retro Gamer magazine did when I collected. So thanks collectively chaps for doing what you do.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Just to plug a couple smaller channels I follow: you'd probably enjoy The Random DOS Game Show, which is exactly what it sounds like. Also Ancient DOS Games / Pixelmusement. Or if you're into 8-bit video games too, Jeremy Parish / Video Works.

[@human.earthling]

And the cathode ray dude and technology connections

[@AnotherBuddha]

I saved all my paper route money to get one. I was 14 years old when it came out. Have many fond memories of it. I got most of the games. It was so nice to be able to play it without tieing up our living room TV.

[@johnchase7667]

We had Dark Tower when I was a kid. It was a lot of fun. Also had the Dungeon and Dragon electronic game they made - it was very fun too.

[@timjforsyth]

Wow, I was always jealous of a friend who has a Vectrex while I had a zx81 but looking back, those fine lines and phosphor burnt warm vectors look fabulous. Imagine If there was a colour version. It’s a little sad that this tech is now in the past. Great video Neil!

[@vectrexer]

Very nice video presentation! A suggestion, review Thomas Sontowski's very own titles on the VecFever cart. An impressive title of his is Robot Arena, a Robotron: 2084 like game. Robot Arena shows off both the number of vectors, and the number of active game object that can be achieved. And it's a fun game as well. The appearance of Thomas' game titles on VecFever, as well as the MAME arcade ROM capabilities of the VecFever also contribute significantly to current price of the VecFever cartridge. There are so many more features not covered in this video that may also be of interest in a future video about VecFever.

[@videogameobsession]

What is the "current price of the VecFever"and where can you buy one?

[@marcfruchtman9473]

The Vectrex was one of my favorite games for about 2 or 3 years. But the lack of multiple colors eventually led me to other computer gaming systems.

[@AFourEyedGeek]

I own two non-working Vectrex units. Got one to produce a vaded image with no sound. I put it away to fix other units, this video has put them back to the top of my repair pile.

[@fluxrez]

WOW. Yeah, I had Dark Tower as a kid. That board game was amazing. They recently did a kickstarter for a new version... but I gotta say nothing beats the original. Really expensive though.

[@wrongtown]

Yeah I picked up the Kickstarter version and was REALLY impressed with the overall quality. They clearly put a lot of thought & care into it.

[@BeefJerkey]

Dark Tower was being developed as a game for the Vectrex (though I'm pretty sure it's quite different from the board game). It was mostly complete, it was all playable, it just needed to be optimized and all. It wasn't properly released because GCE (the company that designed the Vectrex) went out of business and the game was cancelled. The ROM file is floating around out there, though.

[@uploadJ]

One of our engineers on the MRCA project at TI had one of these back in the day ... VERY cool ...

[@crabcrabhathat]

even though this was well before my time, every time i have seen it in motion i have wanted to own my own. it moves at such a great frame rate and theres quite a lot of charm in the vector line graphics, also those custom controllers are awesome.

[@GarryGri]

You know it doesn't really have a 'frame rate' or 'refresh rate' as such, that's more something that comes with raster-scan TV. There is a screen redraw timing but it's not exactly the same thing as you are probably thinking about. A true vector display works very differently from a 'normal' CRT.

[@deasename5839]

Star wars looks so good👀👅🕹🎮.Tempest with that controller... am i dreaming? That multi cart rocks.. just like the Vectrex!!

[@jayc2469]

Simply breath-taking! I wish I'd kept One of the several I had back in the day. The same applies to the TRS80, TB303, TR808 etc (diverse!).. Vector looking clones _should_ be *Extremely* manageable on modern Pentium i7 based systems, even if it meant drawing pixels very quickly instead of driving the electron beam directly using Vectors. What always staggered me was the sheer waste of cpu/memory/storage that flooded the market, while only a handful of programmers that were able to truly exploit the electronics. The same trend followed through to this generation, when we have Hulkingly Cumbersome OS's such as Windoms 11, overdriving the hardware so unnecessarily!

[@jayc2469]

That was the Vectrex I owned several of in it's day, not the Rocking horse shiz, the VecFever! Demoscene programmers ought to be paid hansomely to exploit modern hardware for Gaming!

[@povilasstaniulis9484]

A really unique console released at the worst possible time, during the US video game crash. Thanks for the video. That fever cartridge is something else...

[@vectrex28]

Elite is the one game I've always wanted to see on the Vectrex! So happy to finally see it. Another homebrew I'd absolutely recommend it Vectrexagon. I'd even go as far as to say it's one of the best gaming experiences I've had, especially when played in the dark on that humble vector display. Absolutely psychedelic and a big recommend from me

[@sarabihyena]

If they'd managed to squeeze elite onto the origional hardware it might have been the killer app to bring the system out of obscurity.

[@antonnym214]

Fantastic video, good Sir! Very nice reporting on your part. I was unaware of this cartridge. Wow, man. The Tempest and Battlezone were epic! So much fun in the arcade versions and this really does them justice. By the way, I wasn't the king on Tempest, I was the EMPEROR! Great stuff.

[@ianbuxton525]

You can also hook up the VecFever to a version of Mame with a serial port adaptor and use the PC to emulate vector games and send the video output to the Vectrex Monitor. Then you can play StarWars with the samples and full music.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

I thought that _was_ how this was working. What, does the Vecfever contain a computer powerful enough to do its own emulation?

[@cbdougla]

I have a Vectrex somewhere in my garage. I purchased it on ebay years ago but it never worked right. It's really pretty heartbreaking! Thanks for showing this system off. Really love these things!

[@captain_zed]

Dark Tower is a crazy cool game, even today. It's almost a video game on its own.

[@bbb462cid]

Brigands attack.....

[@kennethfharkin]

Every time I see a Vectrex video I cry that my mom put my old unit to the curb about 15 years ago. I cannot count how many hours I played on this system.

[@GeorgesChannel]

What a wonderful episode! I really love Vector Graphics on the 8 bits. But the Vectrex is the King! The brightness as you mentioned is needed because tHe games are designed to be played with the overlays. I also own a vectrex with amost all original games. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us :)

[@ForViewingOnly]

I... had... no idea!! The VecFever is incredible. I guess that it's only using the video side of the Vectrex if it's running ROMs from arcade machines, but, still, to see these games running on the Vectrex is a very beautiful thing indeed. Thanks RMC.

[@timmers5095]

We had Dark Tower when I was little. It seemed amazing at the time, and now I want to go digging into that little bit of gaming history. The Vectrex sadly was too expensive for us, but I think it went on the Christmas list more in hope than expectation.

[@CantankerousDave]

I remember getting it for Christmas one year.

[@lbjon8469]

Dark Tower has been reimagined with a full modern update. If you played it as a kid, check out the new version.

[@scoobylol1987]

There's a great playable console display on at the Museum of Science and Industry at the moment in Manchester. Everything from a Pong clone, to 8-bit micro, 16 and 32 bit stuff, all the way through to modern consoles and VR headsets... but despite all that the thing that had me hooked for about an hour was the little Vectrex. It's the most charming, fun little thing. I'd love to own one!

[@bjy128]

Great video, thanks for making it. It's interesting seeing the closeup of the Atari Star Wars Color XY CRT, the addition of color is cool but the vectors do become jagged due to the shadow mask (I think). Most of the VecFevers also allow for a serial connection to a computer. The computer can run VecMAME and use the vectrex as a display. This can allow for a larger library of games to play and better sound and speech.

[@johnrehwinkel7241]

The Vectrex 3D imager offers color without the jaggies as well as 3D with rotating shutters in the goggles. It worked, but just barely.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

I had a dark tower. It had a two-digit 7-segment display, a beeper speaker, a membrane keypad, and a motorized cylinder of color slides surrounding four incandescent light bulbs. The later parts worked together to illuminate one color slide at a time out of a total of perhaps twelve or sixteen, as the beeper played a square-wave tune.

[@ThisSteveGuy]

1:38 - My Vectrex doesn't have the Milton Bradley branding, instead it's from GCE (General Consumer Electronics) and has it own distinctive logo. I believe that the MB Vectrexes (Vectri?) were a later version.

[@RMCRetro]

That's right (there's a caption in the video about this) - very early models were GCE and it was quickly bought out by MB

[@FluffyTheGryphon]

They were a licensed distributor in different countries. Nintendo used Mattel for the same sort of thing in places like Canada. I have a Mattel distro NES and some games.

[@CptJistuce]

@@FluffyTheGryphon My understanding is that they weren't a licensed distributor in this case, they literally bought GCE. There was a sublicensed distributor in Japan, however. The Bandai Vectrex is highly coveted by Vectrex collectors.

[@TheAlStewartArchives]

My friend owns one of these and you really have to see them working in person to see how unique the vector display is. Nothing else like it really.

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Oi!!!! That's MY VECTREX!!!!!!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Oi!!!! That's MY SCRAMBLE CART!!!!!!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Oi!!!! That's MY REGULAR MULTICART!!!!!!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

Unfortunately that's NOT my VecFever hahah!

[@MarkFixesStuff]

This video was excellent!

[@andycraig7734]

Careful. When he puts on the black gloves, anything could happen!

[@scottmcgraw3749]

Pure nostalgia! I never had a Vectrex, but a friend did, and it was a real novelty coming from my Atari 2600. We'd play it all night long while overdosing on pizza and Coke. The console always reminded me of what we saw in the cockpit of a Colonial Viper on 1978s Battlestar Galactica, so it added to the feeling of immersion. Great video!

[@sarahorton9223]

When I was little the arcade near me had the sit in version. I imagine I spent like $40 of my dads money on that game over the few times we went.

[@PikaStu666]

Awesome bit of kit. I played a Vectrex at Play Expo Glasgow 2019. My daughter ended up having to drag me off it, it was a beautiful machine to play!

[@carriersignal]

Would be nice to see a modern day version of this complete with the vector scan display.

[@bobcarn]

I've got a Dark Tower game. It's great! Computerized and mechanical, it uses an early computer chip in lieu of dice-rolling and keeps track of resources. Great fun and very innovative at the time!

[@AtheistOrphan]

I used to love Dark Tower! Does yours often award you a ‘Beast’ as mine used to do?

[@bobcarn]

@@AtheistOrphan It's been so long since I played I can't remember. :( My current friends aren't ones who like to play games like that. I know you can play it single, but it's not the same.

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@bobcarn - Thanks for the reply. True, there are lots of activities in life that are more fun when more than one person is involved! 😉

[@jessragan6714]

My understanding is that the Pitrex does indeed override the Vectrex's internal processor and uses it as a display for the Raspberry Pi inside. Not only can it run arcade vector games, it emulates Vectrex games... on a Vectrex. Excuse me, I think I need to sit down for a second. My Vectrex is stranded on the other side of the country, regrettably. Videos like this make me want it back even more, because I sure as heck can't afford to buy another one at current market value.

[@scottbreon9448]

The Vectrex core on the mister is pretty decent as well TBH

[@michaelmitchell8218]

Remember all these back in the day of my childhood. Loved it all. Miss them days because they was just better days of gaming fun with friends.

[@licensetodrive9930]

I would walk all the way to The Cave to play that Star Wars game! The whole 3 miles! :D

[@tesseracht]

A neighbor of mine had a Vectrex when we were kids and it was pretty fun. The acetate overlays did a surprisingly good job of making the games more colorful.

[@GrantMeStrength]

I've had a Vectrex for a while, and it was amazing to see the original game ROMs of Star Wars and Battlezone running.. "There's no way the 6809 could do that!", I thought. And I was right: The VecFever has its own CPU. I think you might imply in the video that the VecFever uses the 6809 but the PiTrex uses the Pi's CPU. That's not the case - both the VecFever and PiTrex sidestep the 6809 and use their own CPUs, but interface with the display, sound and joysticks.

[@ironhead2008]

That makes more sense. The VecFever is a ARM based system as well, I take it (likely in a FPGA form)?

[@eelliott74]

The National Video Game Museum in Frisco, Texas has one that you can play. They rotate out the games every month.

[@fridofridolin]

"I've seen things you wouldn't believe..." - You're just missing "humans" but else than that, nice reference ;) Loved your video, make more of those please. Also bring back amiga games too........

[@retrosim4197]

Still have my Dark Tower. Was only on the market for one year in 1981 and then MB had to pull it due to a lawsuit against them. You can still find it on eBay from time to time but they sell for around £300 now.

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

When I was young, and a student at Northwestern University, I was lucky enough to be playing the Star Wars cockpit cabinet at the student union. My goodness that was a lot of fun.

[@onthetubecdoerr]

Wow! I am blown away that I have never heard of this technology from back in the day. Amazing.

[@Strateggo]

I got this as a kid for Xmas. I couldn’t believe what it could do and what it did. Especially when I turned on Spike and Spike talked. Just crazy. And ROTJ was just a year or two old. This was the future in the present.

[@sailordude2094]

Rip Off was a favorite of mine, I could play a long time on one quarter! Fun co op game, one of the first. The Star Wars, Battlezone and Red Baron games were all so much fun! Thanks for the video game history!

[@nchiley]

I had a dark tower, I was not much older than 12, I couldn't figure it out, thought it was broken, then a few years later I tried again, and figured out what I thought was broken, was how it actually worked. I don't remember much, but I think I enjoyed it a lot, but that may have been the satisfaction of finally getting to play it.