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| VECTREX 2006 ROUNDUP (Part 1 of 2) by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2006, 11:50am PST | ||||
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| Ice Cream Jonsey: It's time to talk about the Vectrex.
Ice Cream Jonsey: Hello? Ice Cream Jonsey: There have been many exciting developments in the retro-gaming field of The Vectrex recently. I'd like to discuss them with you now. This discussion is, of course, made easier by the fact that *I* have a flash cart and that I can give *you* a really nice emulator. Souffle of Pain: Why aren't you at work? Souffle of Pain signed off at 9:48:35 AM. Parents liked the Vectrex mini-arcade because it meant their kids weren't hogging the TV with their goddamn video games. Junior could be off, alone, entertaining himself. Little has changed in 25 years -- even just talking about the Vectrex is a solitary experience! Richard's VecFlash Cart Link! I think we're all large enough dorks to get the gist of the flash cart, but it basically allows you to play (almost) any Vec game that has a publicly-released ROM dump. Jay Smith, the father of the Vectrex, gave his blessing for all the originally produced games to be freely copied and shared, so that's about 20 games right there. There's also a number of them that have been created by indie programmers, and most of those games have dumps available, too. The flash cart has the following features: 16 x 32K banks (inc Menu Bank) FLASH RAM - games are stored indefinitely without power Pressing reset brings the menu back up - no on/off between games Auto menu generation - PC loader updates Vec menu code But please note that you need a serial cable to go from your PC to the cart itself. Not a big deal unless you recently bought a laptop, like I did, without one. It also means that you may want your Vectrex near the PC you'll be doing the flashing from. The cart is $75 and it's worth it. You'd get about three 80s Vec games from eBay for that much when shipping is sorted out. I picked up some unused ratings from CGM on the cheap and would like to pull a few of them out, presently. REVIEWER'S TILT: 10/10! vectrexcarts.com Link! There are some games that do not have ROM files available. Usually this is due to non-volatile memory being used for saving high scores. One such game is "Protector," which is a professional-quality port of Defender. If you ignore the fact that the Vectrex can't do color, I think it's the most perfect port of the game ever made. Protector is brutally difficult and really pushes the hardware of the Vectrex in a way previously not thought possible. Mark Shaker will make you any game you'd like for the Vectrex, provided that the author has released his ROM to the public. And for cheap, too! $11.50 gets you Protector on a cartridge with a really nice port of Space Invaders included. There are three other exclusive games available on vectrexcarts as well -- Nebula Commander, Revector and Thrust. We'll investigate these games in the next installment. MULTIPLAYER: 10/10! Color Clash Link! Lastly, here is an example of the kinds of things people are making these days. The developer of this game apparently figured out a way to have the overlay "lit" only when there is light behind it. I have no idea how he did it, but the results are fantastic: 
The developer is currently taking pre-orders for 49 euros. GRAPHICS: 10/10! Next time: We take a closer look at the Logo product currently being sold, as well as Space Frenzy, Dark Tower, sports games and ICJ's own unwanted, unwelcome and wholly unfinished contribution to the Vectrex modern-day gaming library! Move over text games, it's time for something cheezier! the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey! |
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VECTREX 2006 ROUNDUP (Part 1 of 2) by 03/20/2006, 11:50am PST  Re: VECTREX 2006 ROUNDUP (Part 1.5 of 2) by 05/12/2006, 11:51pm PDT Re: VECTREX 2006 ROUNDUP (Part 1.5 of 2) by 05/22/2006, 4:28pm PDT |
