One of my earliest memories is waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare when i was 4 years old and in order to comfort me my mother made me cereal and then stayed up playing vectrex with me until i was tired enough to fall back asleep. Ill never forget that.
Tetra Digm Movement on the Atari was nowhere near as smooth as on a Vectrex. As someone who owns one, I can tell you the movement is so smooth its almost like the graphics are floating on the screen.
Tetra Digm The CPU on the Vectrex is actually more powerful than its color raster based contempararies.It was monochrome due to Vector based screens coming in two varieties, Mono, and 5 color( 3 colors plus black and white.) 5 color vector screens were rare and cost prohibitive for a home system. Its sound capability is far more than the simple beeps and boops of the Atari. And your last line shows you should just not ever comment on any classic gaming system video at all. AND btw, it failed because of the Video Game crash of 1983, not because it was a shit system. And I don't have to justify anything to a sad little troll with no appreciation for classics. Go back to your failing next gen that can't even leave the shadow of its predecessor. You clearly don't belong here.
@110261677372936445654 PC gamers, lol! You know what I would spend the equivalent of a gaming rig on? A down payment for a car, and I don't even have problems with my current one! Gaming rigs are a waste of money. And don't think your a computer tech because you are a PC gamer. The IT field is a completely different ball game. Anything as strong as a gaming rig gets used for graphics design or auto-cad.And aside from their graphics, even most mid range servers would wipe the floor with a gaming rig in raw processing power. Now that you showed your true nature, again, why are you commenting on consoles, new or old? Scram! Go back to your overpriced gaming rig that most people would just shake their heads about and think your a fool for spending so much and then keep having to spend money for more ram or a new graphics card for every other game that comes out. PC gamers are a master race only in their own little minds, lol.
Back in 1982, this machine was a BEAST!, no color yes, the overlays help to cope with that but did you know that they eventually made some glasses that added COLOR to the vectrex? and 3D! yes, 3d in a videogame back in the 80s
In 1983, the Vectrex was released; a home console that allows you to use its own screen so you don't have to use the TV in your living room for it. In 2012, the Wii U was released; a home console that allows you to use its own screen so you don't have to use the TV in your living room for it. INNOVATION.
+Diamond Miner I'm glad to see the Internet so invested in a throwaway line about pink desk lamps. we've made some really great progress here these last few months.
There is a large and very polished homebrew scene for the Vectrex, even games with bit mapped graphics! One of the best home consoles ever and a near arcade perfect port of Star Castle, one of my favorite old games.
This machine had the original analog stick! 14 years before the Nintendo 64. But most people are absolutely clueless. Yes the Vectrex has an actual Variable Resistor Analog Stick. If you open it you'll see it really is in fact analog.
Thanks ashens, finally after almost a decade I managed to get my own Vectrex after learning about it here! It arrived today and I have been playing Scramble and Minestorm all evening. It also came with Blitz which seems pretty neat but I haven't a clue as to how American football works ahaha.
I was born in 1970 and thought I was familiar with all the game consoles. That being said, I've never heard of Vectrex. It actually looks pretty awesome. I do remember in the 90's when you could buy an Atari at almost any yard sale for like $10, because I bought MANY of them, lol. Ahh, the good old days.
if the screen that we're watching this on is bitmap, and the system is vector, then it is technically impossible to record the vectrex and have it show perfectly. it also couldn't be emulated perfectly. If you don't own one or have any friends that do, you are never going to truly experience it.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s, when life was still dangerous and children were more like accessories rather than the focus, parents would go shopping at Sears and drop the kids off in the unofficial daycare area, *the TOY AISLE.* Kids would amass there unwatched and unaccompanied by any adults while their parents went off to shop. In a sort of _Lord of the Flies_ type scenario, we would all turn feral and run amok between the shelves of toys. Once we got sick of tearing open Mr. Potato Head, playing Simon or throwing the KISS dolls around, we inevitably would end up at the Vectrex display. I played Vectrex for HOURS and hours without ever actually owning one. They were fucking expensive anyway, my parents wouldn't have sprung for that thing since I already had an Atari 2600. But yeah, the Vectrex made shopping with the 'rents tolerable, at least until your mom wanted you to come try on a pair of corduroy jeans & you'd lose your spot at one of the controllers.
Don't play for too long in moderate brightness? Only two colors? Take periodic breaks? Tiny selection of legitimately fun games? Comes with its own screen? Its the world's FIRST Virtual Boy!
+SilentMott You can play as long as you like in any brightness. You break when you feel like it, as in anything you do in life. A large selection of super fun games in 1982. There was no comparison back then.
That was a game machine I wanted back in the day but couldn't afford it. I always loved vector graphics, especially the original machines like that. They operated totally differently than today's graphics. They drew the lines on screen continuously updating them, no memory buffers, no pixels etc. My favourite was Battlezone at the arcade. They did not have pixelated lines at all, and are impossible to emulate perfectly (you can emulate them, but you will never get the same look as computers operate totally differently with pixels).
You know I kinda like the graphics on these games. They have sort of a crisp well engineered look to them. As well engineered as a high priced film camera. Its just so vibrant
1:02. Turns out the Atari Landfill myth proved to be at least partially true. They did bury a lot of game cartridges, but not quite as many as what was believed (at least 1,300 were found)
They only had a permit to excavate one small section where it was most probable the games would be. They can't excavate the entire landfill. 1,300 were found to sell off to raise money for the city of Alamogordo.
I'm still amazed this came out in 1982, the vector graphics are absolutely fantastic for the time and it had sampled speech as well! Imagine playing elite on this beast.
Ashens has a pretty unique sense of humor in his content (without getting off topic) and also makes some pretty interesting reviews and other such videos. I honestly need to watch this way more often!
This is a system that needs to be brought back, like they did with the Atari 2600 and Genesis. Perhaps with all the games built in. It could probably be done pretty inexpensively like the 2 aforementioned re-released systems. Even if you had to make the screen too
Well the Genesis, Intellivison and Colecovision consoles havent been made for decades, either. Yet I still see the retro consoles at my local Dollar Generals for $40 and under I dont see why they cant do the same with Vectrex
I played one of these at a comic-con because it was the only console of all consoles there with an empty seat, and I was seriously impressed with how good the visuals still looked to this day, and how genuinely fun the game was, it's making me consider recording Vectrex content for ASMR, either way, thanks for the video Ashens!
You know, if Atari wanted to make a shit ton of money, they could dig up all those E.T. cartridges, individually number them, and sell them. What nerd wouldn't want a piece of video game history?
I hear about this Minestorm bug often, but my Vectrex, bought off the shelf in a store as a kid doesn't seem to have it. I remember getting to level 130+ something. Everything was super fast. My brother and I would take turns after school each day and we'd easily get past level 40-50 each time. I'll have to dig it out of storage and check the model etc.
18:47 You're not supoosed to shoot the "Mushrrom" (LOL) You have to target the center of it with your "Square Shot" in order to refuel your ship (yes, it has fuel) ... And the thing when your crosshair "goes funny" is actually a shield that prevent enemy fire to kill you :) That game is really good and when you play it seriousely it can be very challenging !
I've really wanted one of these for a while. When I was in high school ('99-'03), we had a sub I'd talk video games with. She said she'd glance in her attic and if she found he old one, she'd sell it to me. She never did find it though and wasn't going to start going through everything just to find it for me, which I understand, but still...So close. I will get one of these one day. I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. I had a Virtual Boy at one point and I don't see how this thing could be worse. And Ashens is all "I don't have any of the good games, but there are some. I promise." while I'm watching him play like "Oh, man. This is badass...". Yeah. I dunno. Like I said, I don't know why, but I've just always really liked this thing and vector-based games. I'd have a lot of fun with it, even the games he was playing.
I'm pretty impressed with this system for how old it is and what it does. It's a really neat piece of vintage tech, you're lucky to have it in your collection.
I was actually blown away by how good Mine Storm was. I expected the teleport to just move the sprite from one spot to another but, I'll be damned, the ship made quite a spectacular exit through the worm hole it made.
I really wish this console had survived the games crash of the '80s. Vector-based games have a style and playability that raster displays couldn't match, and so many of the best games used vectors (Gravitar, Space Fury, Tempest, and many others). The two-player arcade Space War game (Cinematronics) was slick as hot butter to play. It was so gratifying to hit glancing shots that'd kill your opponent's thrusters, then fly circles around his stranded helm portion. Better than Halo teabagging, trust me.
This still looked impressive for the mid-90s compared to non-vector based attempts at emulating early vector arcade games, which are still some of my favorites. The screen reminds me of some of the dedicated text-use CRT displays designed for CCTV magnifiers for visually impaired people I used in elementary school.
As soon as you introduced the third game, "Spike", I cheered out loud. Full on punch the air cheer. Spike is my fondest memory of childhoold gaming. It's that one game why I want a Vectrex.
Back in the day Sears all had a Vectrex display system set up in the toys section. My parents (and many others) would drop their kids off in the Sears toys section & tell their kids to just stay there while they shopped. A handful of us would gather round the display and play all the games set up to choose from and play for a couple hours. I had no chance of owning one of these since I already had an Atari 2600 and there was _no way_ my parents would have spent more money on this expensive new system, but I sure got in a lot of hours of play at Sears. Sometimes even fights broke out when someone wouldn't let someone else have a turn. Good times :)
We still have a Vectrex. My mother got one when she was young, and today it still working but missing all the games. Only the inbuild game is still running, that's nice. If you missing all your games for it, you still have one game left.
Fun Fact: In North America, Starship WAS Star Trek licensed. Replace that generic musical cue with the Star Trek the Motion Picture theme and you've got it.
No... It's an amazing bit of hardware. I always wanted one. There was nothing that came close to the quality of it. Smooth animations, highres look, 4 fire buttons. It was like having a bonafide arcade vapourware in your possession. If I ever see one go cheap, I'll probably nab it. Classic piece of nostalgia.
i owned a vectrex back in the day.. it was a pretty fun system.. I had spike, spike was a great game. Eek help spike! .. such memories.. I even owned the the 3d headset. with minefield 3d which was nice
I remember my dad had this console for a while. He gave it to me to play, and it was really fun. I don’t remember what happened to it, I was pretty young. The weird thing was this probably in the late 2000s, and my dad is barely older than the vectrex itself. As he lived in poverty, and inflation in another country it might have been impossible for him to have purchased it. It’s been discontinued for years since I was born, so I’m left with a lot of questions on how he managed to acquire it.
Always loved the way vector graphics looked; like the targeting systems on nearly every sci-fi fighter craft of the time (Star Wars, Galactica, Buck Rogers, etc), and, of course the display of the wholly remarkable Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All of which were produced using cell animation without a computer in sight.
One of my earliest memories is waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare when i was 4 years old and in order to comfort me my mother made me cereal and then stayed up playing vectrex with me until i was tired enough to fall back asleep.
Ill never forget that.
That's a really sweet memory
Awesome memory
A good mother
Nice memory.
What a mother, excellent mum!
Wow this blows my mind, a console in 1982 that has games with 3d graphics and smooth, responsive controls? Simply amazing.
Will Zhao Uh, what 3D graphics?
Twisted Chikon 14:00
That's 2D with perspective, there are no 3D models, but I have to say, it does look very convincing. Vector graphics really are amazing.
Twisted Chikon Really? Good to know that! But as you said it's very convincing so it doesn't really matter right?
+Will Zhao Imagine. For all that the price tag needed to be raised. The only thing missing was actual colour.
The graphics are really nice actually
Tetra Digm Looks are subjective.
Tetra Digm Lolwut? This looks miles better than the atari.
Tetra Digm
Movement on the Atari was nowhere near as smooth as on a Vectrex. As someone who owns one, I can tell you the movement is so smooth its almost like the graphics are floating on the screen.
Tetra Digm
The CPU on the Vectrex is actually more powerful than its color raster based contempararies.It was monochrome due to Vector based screens coming in two varieties, Mono, and 5 color( 3 colors plus black and white.) 5 color vector screens were rare and cost prohibitive for a home system. Its sound capability is far more than the simple beeps and boops of the Atari. And your last line shows you should just not ever comment on any classic gaming system video at all. AND btw, it failed because of the Video Game crash of 1983, not because it was a shit system. And I don't have to justify anything to a sad little troll with no appreciation for classics. Go back to your failing next gen that can't even leave the shadow of its predecessor. You clearly don't belong here.
@110261677372936445654
PC gamers, lol! You know what I would spend the equivalent of a gaming rig on? A down payment for a car, and I don't even have problems with my current one! Gaming rigs are a waste of money. And don't think your a computer tech because you are a PC gamer. The IT field is a completely different ball game. Anything as strong as a gaming rig gets used for graphics design or auto-cad.And aside from their graphics, even most mid range servers would wipe the floor with a gaming rig in raw processing power. Now that you showed your true nature, again, why are you commenting on consoles, new or old? Scram! Go back to your overpriced gaming rig that most people would just shake their heads about and think your a fool for spending so much and then keep having to spend money for more ram or a new graphics card for every other game that comes out. PC gamers are a master race only in their own little minds, lol.
I'm loving the fact that these videos about vintage systems are slowly becoming antiques in their own right.
"antiques"
Just like ur comment
@@cruzlightt just like my life
I really like the graphics it looks so retro in all the right ways.
+Vinnie J Very clean, high framerate, perfect input and gameplay - I want one.
agreeing with joey on that one
+Joey Greathouse no lag to
Back in 1982, this machine was a BEAST!, no color yes, the overlays help to cope with that but did you know that they eventually made some glasses that added COLOR to the vectrex? and 3D! yes, 3d in a videogame back in the 80s
and that 3D expansion is so rare, there are copies in museums.
He mentions it at the end
I love the way Spike just shouts " *DARNIT* " when he falls XD
Mikey C. Its like they ripped off homer simpons catchphrase when he does something stupid
@@connormills5785 Except it came out years earlier, but yea.
I was expecting some poorly made tat, but it's actually quite a charming unit, and even looks a bit fun.
For 82 that must have been like living in 2033
@Comrade Urod given all the shit 2020 has brought, maybe 1982 was a better time to be alive lol
Tat
@@flyingfireballmaster1816 the cold war wasn't fun either
@@Roboshi2007 Yeah, but at least then we were gonna die from a foreign power as opposed to humanities collective stupidity through chemical pollution.
In 1983, the Vectrex was released; a home console that allows you to use its own screen so you don't have to use the TV in your living room for it.
In 2012, the Wii U was released; a home console that allows you to use its own screen so you don't have to use the TV in your living room for it.
INNOVATION.
Amin Khajehnassiri Cool, I guess.
I thought you couldn't use the in-built screen on the Wii U alone to play games. It needs both that and a TV, right?
That's bullshit! PS3 already had remote play WAYY before WIIU.
***** No, That wasn't remote play, that was connecting a PSP.
the dream cast, like the wii u, had a screen on the controller.
What a delightful pink desk lamp you have. that was the main focus here for me.
+null wtf is wrong with you u might wanna a look up humor on google
Good work everyone.
+null And how is this autism?
+Lone Wanderer It's clearly autism, don't defend a mental disease
+Diamond Miner I'm glad to see the Internet so invested in a throwaway line about pink desk lamps. we've made some really great progress here these last few months.
"Unidentified Flying Bastard" is the best line.
IllNotBeLegit thosd abhorrence, unidentified flying petulant bastards
Still smoother than most Ubisoft games
And they are actually finished and not just a buggy mess! Unbelievable, I know.
tjhill0110 It's not that hard to do when they only have 3 lines of code
+Cecil Holstein Ubisoft has actually been worse than EA over the last few years.
+Cecil Holstein Didn't they kill Bullfrog as well?
+George Pollitt Yeah they did eventually.
This is really fucking good for 1982, jesus.
IKR
Just sad that it was at the time that video game industry crashed
RIP
feeling kinda old after watching this, i was born that year.
Ephebo Phil MMXVII I was born in '76 and Remember this console. It looks crap now, but it was state of the art graphics in '82-83
holy crap that console is impressive , smooth as f and the graphics look so cool compared to big ass pixels
There is a large and very polished homebrew scene for the Vectrex, even games with bit mapped graphics! One of the best home consoles ever and a near arcade perfect port of Star Castle, one of my favorite old games.
This machine had the original analog stick! 14 years before the Nintendo 64. But most people are absolutely clueless. Yes the Vectrex has an actual Variable Resistor Analog Stick. If you open it you'll see it really is in fact analog.
The VecTrex was awesome , i have one lying around in my house
I am 44 years old and am virtually blind from "floaters"
Unfair
The INTELLIVISION had a sweet 32 direction controller.. I think
@@JETJOOBOY Youre old , but i respect you alot
Thanks ashens, finally after almost a decade I managed to get my own Vectrex after learning about it here! It arrived today and I have been playing Scramble and Minestorm all evening. It also came with Blitz which seems pretty neat but I haven't a clue as to how American football works ahaha.
This was so ahead of it's time. Such faster and more engaging gameplay than anything else at the time
I was born in 1970 and thought I was familiar with all the game consoles. That being said, I've never heard of Vectrex. It actually looks pretty awesome. I do remember in the 90's when you could buy an Atari at almost any yard sale for like $10, because I bought MANY of them, lol. Ahh, the good old days.
if the screen that we're watching this on is bitmap, and the system is vector, then it is technically impossible to record the vectrex and have it show perfectly. it also couldn't be emulated perfectly. If you don't own one or have any friends that do, you are never going to truly experience it.
You can sort of see what you mean with how the dots “trail” a bit. I bet this was pretty wild back in 1982.
Unfortunately, his head isn't in frame, so we don't get to see his Psychology Hat. ;_;
Spoiler: it's an Invisible Psychology Hat.
ChickenPika does it help him cleave the earth In twain?
You can see it through the reflection of the Vectrex. It's very mesmerizing.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s, when life was still dangerous and children were more like accessories rather than the focus, parents would go shopping at Sears and drop the kids off in the unofficial daycare area, *the TOY AISLE.* Kids would amass there unwatched and unaccompanied by any adults while their parents went off to shop. In a sort of _Lord of the Flies_ type scenario, we would all turn feral and run amok between the shelves of toys. Once we got sick of tearing open Mr. Potato Head, playing Simon or throwing the KISS dolls around, we inevitably would end up at the Vectrex display. I played Vectrex for HOURS and hours without ever actually owning one. They were fucking expensive anyway, my parents wouldn't have sprung for that thing since I already had an Atari 2600. But yeah, the Vectrex made shopping with the 'rents tolerable, at least until your mom wanted you to come try on a pair of corduroy jeans & you'd lose your spot at one of the controllers.
+Loomi It's all true ;)
Don't play for too long in moderate brightness? Only two colors? Take periodic breaks? Tiny selection of legitimately fun games? Comes with its own screen? Its the world's FIRST Virtual Boy!
+SilentMott You can play as long as you like in any brightness. You break when you feel like it, as in anything you do in life. A large selection of super fun games in 1982. There was no comparison back then.
+Mr.Scruffy the great No, the Castlevania game was pretty good. If it wasn't all red.
+scapegoht There wasn't a Castlevania game on Virtual Boy, I'm not sure what game you mean otherwise.
LyingSecret No, there is most certainly a Castlevania game on the virtual boy.
scapegoht
Do you have any links to a video of it or something? I looked on the Virtual Boy games list on wiki at least and I couldn't see one.
That was a game machine I wanted back in the day but couldn't afford it. I always loved vector graphics, especially the original machines like that. They operated totally differently than today's graphics. They drew the lines on screen continuously updating them, no memory buffers, no pixels etc. My favourite was Battlezone at the arcade. They did not have pixelated lines at all, and are impossible to emulate perfectly (you can emulate them, but you will never get the same look as computers operate totally differently with pixels).
You know I kinda like the graphics on these games. They have sort of a crisp well engineered look to them. As well engineered as a high priced film camera. Its just so vibrant
1:02. Turns out the Atari Landfill myth proved to be at least partially true. They did bury a lot of game cartridges, but not quite as many as what was believed (at least 1,300 were found)
They only had a permit to excavate one small section where it was most probable the games would be. They can't excavate the entire landfill. 1,300 were found to sell off to raise money for the city of Alamogordo.
The starship game actually was labeled Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the beginning but the label was dropped.
Presumably for the obvious reason that no-one in their right mind would be associated with that turd of a film. If it'd been Wrath of Khan...
This thing was ahead of its time. It looks pretty good even by today's standards.
i know this comment is 6 years old but cmon mate that’s such a lie 💀
I'm still amazed this came out in 1982, the vector graphics are absolutely fantastic for the time and it had sampled speech as well! Imagine playing elite on this beast.
A video with passion, made 12 years ago. It is impossible not to feel pity for that wonderful console that has already turned more than 40 years old.
Even though he bashes the vectrex pretty hardly, it's worth the money if you have that money to spend.
Ashens has a pretty unique sense of humor in his content (without getting off topic) and also makes some pretty interesting reviews and other such videos. I honestly need to watch this way more often!
This is a system that needs to be brought back, like they did with the Atari 2600 and Genesis. Perhaps with all the games built in.
It could probably be done pretty inexpensively like the 2 aforementioned re-released systems. Even if you had to make the screen too
Personally I think it would actually be too expensive.
I dunno. We are talking about 35 year old technology here
Well the Genesis, Intellivison and Colecovision consoles havent been made for decades, either. Yet I still see the retro consoles at my local Dollar Generals for $40 and under
I dont see why they cant do the same with Vectrex
On the AppStore you can play most of the library along with some new games. Just search Vectrex.
Play em on my phone at the buss stop sometimes
with today's high resolutions and antialiasing I bet you can reproduce vector graphics with a raster screen pretty accurately.
I played one of these at a comic-con because it was the only console of all consoles there with an empty seat, and I was seriously impressed with how good the visuals still looked to this day, and how genuinely fun the game was, it's making me consider recording Vectrex content for ASMR, either way, thanks for the video Ashens!
im am now going record my sightings on UFBs, Unidentified Flying Bastards lol
lol :P
Joshua Clark lol
I'd really like to get my hands on one of these.
eggsamillion
Me too. They cost a fucking fortune though.
Yeah at my local store they have 1 for 300 dollars
300 isn't a fortune take it easy
@@snowyicicle1335 300 for something like this isn't expensive at all
I have one.
All hail lord Karnage!
anyone else get that reference? No... ok :(
i raise my mug of beer to lord Karnage before playing some Space Gar
I'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in my ear! What a shit load of fuck!
bitch, lord karnage will run you over in his 1970 el camino next time you visit new jersy to play some truxton.
I was hoping I wasn't the only CGR fan here! Best video game reviews on youtube.
Period.
You know, if Atari wanted to make a shit ton of money, they could dig up all those E.T. cartridges, individually number them, and sell them. What nerd wouldn't want a piece of video game history?
I think they were crushed before burial, not to mention, the years would have degraded the cartridges beyond use, so they'd have no value.
You read the future :o
I hear about this Minestorm bug often, but my Vectrex, bought off the shelf in a store as a kid doesn't seem to have it. I remember getting to level 130+ something. Everything was super fast. My brother and I would take turns after school each day and we'd easily get past level 40-50 each time. I'll have to dig it out of storage and check the model etc.
+Roger Murphy probably MB had the fixed version of Minestorm rom chip installed on the very last production batches ....
18:47 You're not supoosed to shoot the "Mushrrom" (LOL) You have to target the center of it with your "Square Shot" in order to refuel your ship (yes, it has fuel) ... And the thing when your crosshair "goes funny" is actually a shield that prevent enemy fire to kill you :) That game is really good and when you play it seriousely it can be very challenging !
pretty sure they did a HD of Rip Off last year, but they re-named it to No Mans Sky.
Lol
I've really wanted one of these for a while. When I was in high school ('99-'03), we had a sub I'd talk video games with. She said she'd glance in her attic and if she found he old one, she'd sell it to me. She never did find it though and wasn't going to start going through everything just to find it for me, which I understand, but still...So close. I will get one of these one day. I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. I had a Virtual Boy at one point and I don't see how this thing could be worse.
And Ashens is all "I don't have any of the good games, but there are some. I promise." while I'm watching him play like "Oh, man. This is badass...". Yeah. I dunno. Like I said, I don't know why, but I've just always really liked this thing and vector-based games. I'd have a lot of fun with it, even the games he was playing.
I had one of these! I got it for my birthday in '82 and all my friends were so jealous.
I'm pretty impressed with this system for how old it is and what it does. It's a really neat piece of vintage tech, you're lucky to have it in your collection.
I was actually blown away by how good Mine Storm was. I expected the teleport to just move the sprite from one spot to another but, I'll be damned, the ship made quite a spectacular exit through the worm hole it made.
I kinda want one of those
The graphics seem fairly decent for a console released in 1983.
I really wish this console had survived the games crash of the '80s. Vector-based games have a style and playability that raster displays couldn't match, and so many of the best games used vectors (Gravitar, Space Fury, Tempest, and many others).
The two-player arcade Space War game (Cinematronics) was slick as hot butter to play. It was so gratifying to hit glancing shots that'd kill your opponent's thrusters, then fly circles around his stranded helm portion. Better than Halo teabagging, trust me.
I got to play a Vectrex in person before, definitely a unique experience. Thanks, Stone Age Gamer
This still looked impressive for the mid-90s compared to non-vector based attempts at emulating early vector arcade games, which are still some of my favorites. The screen reminds me of some of the dedicated text-use CRT displays designed for CCTV magnifiers for visually impaired people I used in elementary school.
boxed vectrex, jesus christ.
Why u racist ?
Yes these were released during the time of Jesus.
Bugger..
I bought one for a tenner and gave it to my ungrateful brat offspring
@@JETJOOBOY I'll have it if he/she doesn't want it 😁
there is an urban legend about otto from the game bezerk that 2 men died from heart attack because of him
Evil otto
Epic Gameplay yes
yeah, both were around the age of 19, and both died shortly after posting their high scores.
13:55 the intellivision needed a voice module to play the voice
while the vectrex needs nothing to play voice!!!
-i still love the intellivision...-
BEEEE SHEVUNTEEEHN BAAAAAAUUUUMUUURRR
u dont like intellivision?
brick brainiac no i do
well, i did.
Wow my mind is blown at how beautiful it is and how nice the screen movement is ... just amazed to be honest for the time with different colors.
As soon as you introduced the third game, "Spike", I cheered out loud. Full on punch the air cheer. Spike is my fondest memory of childhoold gaming. It's that one game why I want a Vectrex.
This thing looks amazing for the time!
this is amazing i played this at my grandparents house
(when everyone else was playing on a PlayStation)
3D in the early 80s sure was ahead of it's time. Impressive.
Back in the day Sears all had a Vectrex display system set up in the toys section. My parents (and many others) would drop their kids off in the Sears toys section & tell their kids to just stay there while they shopped. A handful of us would gather round the display and play all the games set up to choose from and play for a couple hours. I had no chance of owning one of these since I already had an Atari 2600 and there was _no way_ my parents would have spent more money on this expensive new system, but I sure got in a lot of hours of play at Sears. Sometimes even fights broke out when someone wouldn't let someone else have a turn. Good times :)
We still have a Vectrex. My mother got one when she was young, and today it still working but missing all the games. Only the inbuild game is still running, that's nice. If you missing all your games for it, you still have one game left.
My neighbour had one, it was a cool console.
as soon as I heard "Berserk" my first thought was "SCREW YOU OTTO"
Berserk: "hopefully you don't die while playing" (TM)
"Unidentified Flying Bastard" That cracked me up. I think there may be something wrong with me
Omg. I use to have one of these as a kid. Loved it. Totally forgot about it.
I am interested in knowing how they managed to get those game "screen shots" and massively colorprinted them on those cartboxes.
14:20 wow those graphics are f***ing insane!!
remember this thing was going against the Atari 2600!
That video game book brought me here
this is surprisingly fresh compared to atari games and such
Great, what a trip down memory lane! We had one of these when I was young. we played minestorm and Starship for hours on end :))
Oh my gawd! It's so cool! The lamp on the side is so cool!!!
I've chatted with the designer of Berzerk. Pretty cool guy.
Evil Otto was actually based on a real person, David Otto.
Avery Miller ay I watched you a lot
WOAH NICE GRAPHICS I'D LIKE TO GET MY HANDS ON THAT GAME
- Kid in Zelda Commercial, 1987
This actually is really cool. I am impressed for 1982.
Well you turn the brightness down until you have nice thin lines and i mean thin :). It's so crisp and responsive, a great device!
Played one of these at a retro gaming convention, couldn't believe how good the graphics looked for its time.
7:54 "The lights are off, the curtains are closed, the roof's on fire"
9:06 any one notice the "plane thing" looks like a magnum dong
All it needs is a monster condom
Fun Fact: In North America, Starship WAS Star Trek licensed. Replace that generic musical cue with the Star Trek the Motion Picture theme and you've got it.
There is something in the too left corner of the screen on the sofa, it looks like it is watching ashens play the vertex.
menacingly
It's fun looking in the reflection and seeing Stuart behind the camcorder.
Is it bad that I still have one?
I'll give ya tree fiddy
No... It's an amazing bit of hardware. I always wanted one. There was nothing that came close to the quality of it. Smooth animations, highres look, 4 fire buttons. It was like having a bonafide arcade vapourware in your possession. If I ever see one go cheap, I'll probably nab it. Classic piece of nostalgia.
Seeing this now, they are worth a shit ton in 2019.
Yes. It’s terrible. What a fucking stupid question
DARNIT
I remember they this in a video rental store when I was a kid
"I don't get any money from it"
You've come a long way Stuart 😁
That ... actually looks amazing!! Nothing beats frame rate when it comes to gaming experiences - and this is smooooooth :0
Unidentified Flying Bastard. UFB, seems legit enough.
this thing is a beauty
i owned a vectrex back in the day.. it was a pretty fun system.. I had spike, spike was a great game. Eek help spike! .. such memories.. I even owned the the 3d headset. with minefield 3d which was nice
I could not stop lmao at that cat and the way he stuck his legs out 🤣🤣🤣
Omg we had one of these this has given me chills watching as we thought we were the dogs gonads having this as kids thanks for the memories
There should be a Vectrex flashback!
That would be expensive. There's an emulator on iOS I believe, it's the next best thing.
***** oh! Sadly on IOS... i don't own an iPad.
+Cody The fox It's all public domain anyway. That's why there are so many home brew games. Also there might be a PC emulator.
i may look for that. If there is one, awesome!*****
They should make that
Ashens : Starships
Me : Nicki minaj
Same
got it
i love this console. too bad there's no Vectrex 2 out there anywhere.
*****
that was my first Vectrex game (unless you count the built-in Minestorm).
*****
i know. i read the Wikipedia article.
*****
did you smash your head on the keyboard? damn.
*****
noob? or newb? there's a difference.
*****
someone who's new at something, but thinks he knows what he's doing, and will rage if you give him tips and/or teaches him how to do something?
Oh man, I'm seriously flashing back. I went to a sleepaway camp that had one of these. The beepiness brought back memories repressed for decades.
And we never bothered with the overlays. What's the point?
I had this game as a child. I was obsessed with it!
Banished from Earth!!
+Dirtynicker911 The international space arcade.
Classic Game Room!
reshiram202 opening song plays.
+Soler “Stafru” Star Intergalactic Space Arcade.
Openfacefont on it’s never ending mission to review, EVERYTHING
I googled "dog in a hat", and c'mon man, we could have been looking at much better pictures of a dog in a hat.
That was his own dog (or the girlfriend of the time's at least)
Damn, some of these games even had voice acting in it?
I remember my dad had this console for a while. He gave it to me to play, and it was really fun. I don’t remember what happened to it, I was pretty young. The weird thing was this probably in the late 2000s, and my dad is barely older than the vectrex itself. As he lived in poverty, and inflation in another country it might have been impossible for him to have purchased it. It’s been discontinued for years since I was born, so I’m left with a lot of questions on how he managed to acquire it.
Always loved the way vector graphics looked; like the targeting systems on nearly every sci-fi fighter craft of the time (Star Wars, Galactica, Buck Rogers, etc), and, of course the display of the wholly remarkable Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
All of which were produced using cell animation without a computer in sight.