Released in November 1982 and discontinued in 1984, Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console. The system was developed by Smith Engineering and manufactured and sold by General Consumer Electronics. Later, it was licensed to Milton Bradley.
- Initially sold for $199 in the US
- It is estimated that about 500,000-600,000 units were ever manufactured
THE VECTREX AT A GLANCE
- The system and its vector generator were both designed by Gerry Karr
- Every official game included a translucent screen overlay
- The console incorporates a built-in game called "Mine Storm" which is an "Asteroids" clone
- Came along with a nice 4-button joystick
Hardware Specs
- Motorola 68A09 CPU running at 1.5 MHz
- 1 KB RAM (two 4-bit chips)
- 8 KB ROM (one 8-bit chip)
- Uses 32KB cartridges -Up to 64K
Colors & Graphic Modes
- 9-inch cathode ray tube (CRT) Samsung model 240RB40
- Vector-based graphics
- 2-colors on screen
- 256 x 256 vector start/stop points
Sound Capabilities
- General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip
- Built-in 3-inch paper-cone speaker
- MCU controlled sound
Expansions
- 2 x ports for joysticks on the front
- A cartridge port on the right
Add-ons
- Light Pen
- 3D Imager (the first console to offer a 3D peripheral)
Game Titles
According to Wikipedia, these are some official titles for the system:
- 3D Crazy Coaster
- 3D MineStorm
- 3D Narrow Escape
- AnimAction
- Armor Attack
- Art Master
- Bedlam
- Berzerk
- Blitz!
- Clean Sweep
- Cosmic Chasm
- Fortress of Narzod
- Heads Up
- Hyperchase
- Melody Master
- Mine Storm
- Polar Rescue
- Pole Position
- Rip-Off
- Scramble
- Solar Quest
- Space Wars
- Spike
- Spinball
- Star Castle
- Star Hawk
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Web Wars
New games for the console are still released today, by homebrew game creators.
■ Vectrex Games Console
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