New Vectrex owner, looking for basic information about the system & library

[Austin]

Hey all,

 

As of two days ago, I am now the proud owner of a Vectrex! (Thanks, Lentzquest!). So far I am really enjoying it--a good bit more than I expected to, honestly. Minestorm especially is quite addictive, and I've been having fun with Cosmic Chasm. With that, I am interesting in finding some more information about the system. I'll just list the things I'm curious about below:

• What are the absolute best games for the system (totally subjective, I know)?
• Every game I check out in screenshots looks great (thanks to the vector graphics, naturally). However, looks can be deceiving sometimes. Are there any true "duds" on the system? Anything I should completely avoid? Flipper Pinball/Spinball is the only one of the four carts I have (alongside Clean Sweep, Berserk, Cosmic Chasm) that is rather wonky, the others I have seem pretty solid (even if Berserk is rather slow).
• What are the rarest games for the system? I am certain Minestorm II is one, and I can completely understand why, but what are some other rare titles? What is the absolute hardest to get ahold of, and what is expensive (that's still fairly easily attainable via places like eBay)? Also, what are the going rates for some of the rarer titles (from cart-only to CIB with overlay)?
• Is it possible to get carts somewhat cheap, loose? On eBay, it seems I will be paying $15 at a minimum after shipping for what appear to be some commons. Am I likely to find some better deals through forums, or am I stuck paying that and up for loose carts?
• What multi carts exist for the platform? Are they still in production? If so, who makes them, and where can they be purchased at (or slapped on a waiting list at least)?

Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to checking out more games and either fleshing out my library, or snagging a multi cart if it's possible. So far this thing is great! I think I waited far to long to invest in one.

[boxpressed]

I wrote an article on buying a Vectrex for my blog. Link in signature below. Welcome to the club!

[fiddlepaddle]

The common cart-only seems to tend to go for $8 to $15 at game shows, though I've seen a batch remain unsold during the whole show even though the guy was asking $5ea (the overlays, however, have really become the valuable component). My guess is there may be more common carts around than working machines, or maybe lots of people who have a vectrex don't persue all the common games (or maybe lots have multicarts).

[relo999]

-Personally Y.A.S.I./Protector

-Spinball most others I can think of are more depended on taste.

-Mr. Boston and the 3D games are rare.

-From my experience, rarely.

-I don't know about multicarts but there is a flashcart (http://www.vectrex.biz/)

[Necron99]

1. My favorite games are both homebrew games. Vectrexians and Vector Pilot. I also enjoy Berzerk a lot. Clean Sweep is pretty good if you enjoy Pac-Man.

 

2. Personally, Fortress of Narzod never seemed to be enjoyable, maybe I need to read up on it more and give it a chance though.

 

3. here's a =3635&section[]=1&mode=Search&title=&Mfr=&Released=&Developer=&Designer=&Scarcity=&Dollars=&PartNo=]LINK to a DP price/rarity guide. I assume Polar Rescue and Pole Position are likely candidates for most rare (besides Minestorm II)

 

4. Generally, loose carts are $15 and up. loose carts are fine but IMO they lose appeal without an Overlay. I know someone was making reproduction overlays but I don't have any info on that.

 

5. I own this one and it works fine, though mine doesn't have a cart shell. I bet there is others but i'm not sure.

[Tickled_Pink]

I've owned mine since '84 (although it stopped working 18 months ago ). For me, it is the 80's console with the biggest WOW! factor - a portable console ahead of its time.

 

I haven't played a truly bad game on it. They all seem to be of decent enough quality. It's a little ironic that possibly the best game on it is the one that came with it. I sold 2 or 3 of my original '84 collection a couple of years ago (knew I'd regret it but thought I'd rebuild the collection again once I have more money).

 

My personal favourites are probably Bedlam and Webwarp. For some reason, Clean Sweep gets a bit of bad press but I always thought it was a fresh take on Pac-Man. Solar Quest is just hard - maybe a bit too hard.

 

Actually, thinking about it, the 'worst' games are the driving games. Never owned Hyperchase but a friend had it back in the day. It was okay but I remember the controls being a bit of a pain. I also had Pole Position (sold it to a guy who has one of the better known Vectrex sites, who lived somewhere in the Cardiff area - I think it might be the same guy who was doing the reproduction overlays) which was never released in the UK - the Vectrex is region free. Again, the Vectrex' analogue joystick control isn't great for driving games.

 

Oh - Fortress of Narzod is a challenge. At first you'll be blowing yourself up a lot but once you get into it, you'll realise it's one of the better Vectrex games. There is a bug at the boss level. Can't remember the details but I remember it came up quite often and it either gave you extra lives or, more likely, allowed you to rack up the points.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Tickled_Pink

[Mayhem]

As someone who owns just about everything heh...

 

- From the released titles, Minestorm (built in), Star Castle, Fortress of Narzod, Scramble (only licensed conversion of the arcade), and Armor Attack. Homebrew wise, YASI/Protector, Vector Pilot, Thrust, Space Frenzy and Spike's Circus.

- Spinball isn't great, Heads Up Action Soccer either, or Blitz. So sports games heh.

- Mr Boston, Minestorm II. Of the released games, Polar Rescue, Star Castle and Pole Position as they were only released in the US.

- While the hardware has decreased in price, the price of games has slowly gone up a bit. Although some people take the total mickey with some listings on eBay. See below

- Best suggestion? Buy the VecMulti when you can from Richard Hutchinson, and load up a mini SD card with all your ROMs.

[Reaperman]

Actually, thinking about it, the 'worst' games are the driving games. Never owned Hyperchase but a friend had it back in the day. It was okay but I remember the controls being a bit of a pain.

 

A lot of people don't hyper chase, but it's easily got to be my favorite vectrex game since I'm a big fan of the dodge-racing genre (enduro/turbo).

 

Putting the shift up and accelerator buttons so far apart, makes me work a lot harder than I think I should have to. I do think that's quite a pain. But I've found that the steering is actually the most common complaint, and that one I do not agree with. I actually really like the analog control combined with absolute positioning. It allows for a high level of finesse not often found in retro games. Players don't even have to look at their car to play this one.

 

I think all they would have had to do to turn this one into a 'classic' is swap its two game modes. They put practice mode/time attack first, when the game really comes alive in score attack.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Reaperman

[VectorGamer]

Vector Pilot is the best game ever released for the system. Other games that I like are Star Castle, Solar Quest, Rip Off and Scramble. Pole Position is pricey (and I don't have a copy myself), but I hear from those that have it that it's really good.

 

One game you should avoid is Web Wars. I figured out that staying at the slowest speed possible would never progress me in the game and that just totally killed it for me.

[boxpressed]

Also, I just had a Neo Geo X stick modded by Recycled Gamer for the Vectrex. It works great for all digital games (only Starhawk and one of Hyperchase's games need analog), and it matches perfectly.

[akator]

 

A lot of people don't hyper chase, but it's easily got to be my favorite vectrex game since I'm a big fan of the dodge-racing genre (enduro/turbo).

 

 

Agreed, I think it is much better than most opinions online. Although I wasn't impressed the first time I played it, that was because I didn't know the controls. Next time I took more than 2 minutes with the game, got comfortable with the controls, and had a blast. As a Turbo-like-racer, it is fun and has a good sense of speed.

 

To a lesser extent, I also enjoy Heads Up Soccer -- although I have yet to hear of anyone else sharing my opinion. It's a pretty amazing soccer game by early 80s standards. I wouldn't want to play it every day, but it's good for a few hours of play each year.

[50TBRD]

My favorite original games are Web Wars, Armor Attack, Fortress of Narzod and Scramble but everyone seems to differ. Favorite homebrew games are Vectrexians, Vector Pilot, Protector/YASI, Gravitrex, Thrust, Patriots and Tsunami.

 

I'd recommend either waiting until Richard Hutchinson offers his Vec-Multi again (SD powered downloadable multicart) or purchase Andrew Coleman's 72in1 Multicart. Sean Kelly's Multicart 2.0 is also a good option but is very expensive though it does include Vectrexians. I don't think that the Vectrom is a good value personally.

 

Of original games, only the 3D Imager stuff is particularly rare. Pole Position, Star Castle and Polar Rescue are considered rare but they're more uncommon and just demand a high price. $100-150 CIB. Cart only games run around 10 bucks but I've seen cart and overlay games go for as much or only 5 bucks more. Not really a good investment to purchase cart only especially when its worth it to get the overlays for the gaming experience. Most of the original games can be purchased CIB for between $30-40 except for the 3D Imager games, the Ligh Pen games and the 3 I already mentioned.

 

Homebrew games are the ones that have some of the truly rare ones. Vectrexians and Vector Pilot are still available from Kristoff Tuts site, Fury Unlimited still has War of the Worlds (a very nice game) and both Good Deal Games as well as Revival Studio both offer a number of games written by Martijin Wenting. You came through a few weeks too late as John Donzilla has just stopped offering his games for sale this week from Classic Game Creations but may have a successor lined-up. He has some of the best games for the Vectrex. However, there are a number of Limited Edition games and games no longer produced. Alex Hubert's Protector LE is limited to 100 and highly sought after, Alex Nicholson's games are no longer produced (Spike's Circus, Logo, and Star Sling) plus all of Christopher Tumbler's games (Tsunami/Vix, Omega Chase and Spinnerama) and George Pelonis has limited all his games between 100 and 300 each. Prices for these range between 40 or 50 to 100 to 200 or even as high as 400-700. The rarest games of all are Mr Boston, Minestorm II and VeCaves/Spike's Spree though there have been a number of very special editions which have been produced as one of a kind, or only 10-20 such as I, Cyborg OMEGA (1), Debris Exclusive Edition (20) or Vectrexians Deluxe (1).

[Austin]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! It seems like I won't have to do a whole lot of work in order to track down games for this system, although it does look like I will need money, haha. That, or invest in a multi-cart, but the ones I looked into were all sold out (or not satisfactory enough, such as one of the 32 game ones on eBay right now). There doesn't seem to be any indication as to when more will be made.

[50TBRD]

http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com/shop.html

 

Andrew Coleman's is available. Don't expect an sort of email confirmation but it will arrive on your doorstep in about a month.

 

Sean Kelly's carts are list all the time on ebay. Going rate is $120-180. If you see someone list one for 120, might as well buy it thats about as cheap as they get and since they include Vectrexians its not bad (It'd cost you 60 alone through Kristoff).

 

Richard H on this forum says he has UNCASED VecMultis for $80 shipped ready now.

 

I won't say that most of the games are readily available. Protector LE, Chistopher Tumbler's, and Alex Nicholson's aren't listed often and usually there's a fight.

[Reaperman]

http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com/shop.html

 

I'll second this one. I ordered one within the last couple months and it arrived fairly quickly (for overseas shipping). There was no confirmation, but the cart arrived about 3 days after I started worrying about that. He also takes bitcoin, which is an option I was tempted by but decided not to go for. I had the coin, and was thrilled about finding something to actually use it on, but it's still a huge pain in the rear compared to paypal.

 

The thing is, I don't like to play games without overlays, so while the multicart lets me try things out a bit, there's still more to buy. I also notice no price difference between buying a vextrex overlay and buying a vectrex cart w/ overlay, so I've got a stack of carts that I don't use around too.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Reaperman

[Austin]

 

The thing is, I don't like to play games without overlays, so while the multicart lets me try things out a bit, there's still more to buy. I also notice no price difference between buying a vextrex overlay and buying a vectrex cart w/ overlay, so I've got a stack of carts that I don't use around too.

Yeah, at first I just played the games in black and white, but after playing Minestorm in particular with the overlay, I am finding it is hard to go back. For that reason alone I may just build a CIB w/overlay collection. The four carts I have all came with such, so I may as well continue in that direction.