Vectrex: a Wondrously Unique Retro Game Experience

Before the days of Mario and the NES, there was a phenomenon in this country. Outside of schools, next to Laundromats, on street corners, in every mall in America existed a world - now nearly extinct - called video arcades.

These so-called video arcades featured new and exciting video games. These games represented the cutting edge of videogame technology. Even all of the way through the 1990's, video arcade games were always years beyond what home consoles were ever capable of.

In the 70's and 80's this was ever more apparent. A new technology called vector graphics.

"Vector graphics or geometric modeling is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons, which are all based upon mathematical equations to represent images in computer graphics."

In other words, vector graphics where polygonal models, or wire frames which could be made to look like true 3D.

One of the earliest popular vector games ever released was Atari's Asteroids, which featured stunning glowing vector lines drawn on a black background. Released in 1979, the world had hardly seen anything like it. It was much more crisp and futuristic looking than common pixilated raster games of its era.

The unavoidable port to the 2600 proved the limitations of home console. Without a special screen, vector graphics are impossible. Many Asteroids fans revolted at what is commonly accepted to be the worst version of Asteroids to have ever been produced.

The next year, in 1980, Atari continued their success with vectors and developed Battlezone, a 3D tank warfare simulator. Unlike Asteroids, Battlezone featured 3D and color. This game proved to be so popular that the US Army commissioned a version known as The Bradley Trainer, to train new recruits on their Bradley combat vehicles.

Despite the success of Battlezone, Atari was not in a position to port this game in its true form. The Atari 2600 and other game consoles of the time were woefully outdated technologically, and relied on tech from the mid 1970's. This would prove to be a key factor in the pending Video Game Crash.

The problem in the home market was that there was a demand for the wildly popular vector arcade games, but no one was poised to step up. That is, not until 1982.

In November of 1982 a little known videogame company entered the market with a new console. The company was Santa Monica, California based General Consumer Electronics, Inc. (GCE) and the console was the Vectrex.

The Vectrex was designed to be the console of choice for the serious gamer, and also to compete head-on with Atari and Mattel, and Coleco, the "big three" console developers of the day.

The GCE Vectrex featured a 9-inch monochrome built in monitor, specially designed to be able to display vector graphics. The world's first ever controller that featured an analog joy stick - with four buttons. It also had another secret weapon, Minestorm. Minestorm was not just a pack-in, but a built in game, commonly referred to as the "Asteroids killer" by Vectrex fans of then and now.

Because the monitor was only able to display black and white, GCE used a trick that arcade developers used at the time. With each game came packed a screen overlay, to simulate color.

In 1983 Milton Bradley, a consistent force in videogames, was so impressed with the Vectrex, that they bought GCE outright, and began marketing the console in other markets.

With the support of MB, GCE developed several innovative add-ons: The light pen, which allows one to draw with vectors on the screen, and a 3D headset, which was required for certain cartridges. Both features were revolutionary at the time.

Plans were immediately laid out to replace the Vectrex with a console that contains a larger, color screen, and one that is powerful enough to wow audiences with games on the par of Atari's Battlezone.

Unfortunately, the game market was destined to crash. With the crash, Milton Bradley abandoned the Vectrex in 1984 and closed down GCE forever. The planed sequel never surfaced, and no prototypes are known to have survived.

Fortunately, several prototypes of incomplete games did survive, however, and have since been released by the very much active Vectrex homebrew scene. In addition, several original works and ports of other arcade classics such as Missile Command and Space Invaders have also been released for the Vectrex in recent years by the homebrew community who continues to support their beloved console.

In 1988 Smith Engineering attempted to secure the rights to the Vectrex name, technology, and game library from Hasbro, (a company that MB merged with years prior). Smith Engineering intended to release a new handheld Vectrex. This deal almost happened, but Hasbro felt that there was still no home market for consoles, especially handhelds. They also felt that consumers would not go for the $100 price tag. One year later Nintendo launched its Game Boy for $109.99, and the rest is history.

The Vectrex can commonly be found on eBay and other auction sites. Be prepared to spend over $100 for the system and a few games. Though the system is "easy" to find online, it is highly desired, and can commands a high price, especially a complete system with documentation and packaging.