Vectrex Reboot?

[vladius71]

Has anyone ever considered making a Rebooted version that played the original cartridges? One that has a LCD/LED screen and touch capable? Every time I think I can get my hands on a Vectrex something happens. Would thing kind of thing get community support? Thanks

[+ArcadeJunkie]

As much as this could be a very intriguing project, I personally think that one of the highlights of the Vectrex is the true vector-based graphics.  Using LCD/LED would take away most of the magic and turn it into a basic "emulation" type of unit.  However... I wouldn't mind seeing a modernized version with color vector graphics and a larger display.  That could open a whole plethora of options for the homebrew community.  I also love the 3D imager, so utilizing that in a modernized way would be a bonus.

 

But don't give up the search.  It took me almost 20 years to get mine and its one of the highlights of my game collection!

[Vectrexer]

On 1/10/2021 at 2:59 PM, ArcadeJunkie said:

As much as this could be a very intriguing project, I personally think that one of the highlights of the Vectrex is the true vector-based graphics.  Using LCD/LED would take away most of the magic and turn it into a basic "emulation" type of unit.  

 

 

Exactly.

[+ls650]

On 1/10/2021 at 1:32 PM, vladius71 said:

One that has a LCD/LED screen and touch capable? 

Without a CRT display, I just don't see this working.  Even a very high resolution LCD screen won't look quite the same.

 

[+jgkspsx]

I mean, I love my Vectrex, and I love how it looks, but if somebody made a dedicated LCD-based clone that took original carts and SD cards alike, I would absolutely buy one. Most of the games are very enjoyable as games even without the beautiful display.

[Keatah]

7 hours ago, ls650 said:

Without a CRT display, I just don't see this working.  Even a very high resolution LCD screen won't look quite the same.

 

And yet when you watch a vectrex in a YouTube video on LCD it has the bright shimmering vectors. So clearly even the most pedestrian display and graphics chip can easily handle it.

[+ls650]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

And yet when you watch a vectrex in a YouTube video on LCD it has the bright shimmering vectors. So clearly even the most pedestrian display and graphics chip can easily handle it.

Pffft.  I own a Vectrex, and I've played Vectrex emulators on a quality LCD screen.  No.  It doesn't look the same.

[Keatah]

Correct. It doesn’t. But when a camera records a real vectrex it replicates the bloom and glow gradients in the correct proportions. And those are played back on LCD in the correct proportions.

 

The emulator isn’t aware of how to draw good saturation and bloom and glow.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Keatah

[ledzep]

3 hours ago, ls650 said:

Pffft.  I own a Vectrex, and I've played Vectrex emulators on a quality LCD screen.  No.  It doesn't look the same.

 

Agreed, even if you could get good saturation and glow, it ain't vectors.  That's the whole point of a Vectrex, the little b&w screen, the overlays, and the true vector graphics (and the analog stick).  The LCD version would be the Beyond Meat fake beef burger of the vector video game world.  Good day, sir, take your fraudulent "vector" console and be gone.  I said good day!!

[+jgkspsx]

12 hours ago, Keatah said:

Correct. It doesn’t. But when a camera records a real vectrex it replicates the bloom and glow gradients in the correct proportions. And those are played back on LCD in the correct proportions.

I've never seen a video that looked like a real Vectrex. But I would still buy one. Then again I like Beyond Burgers.

[8bitAndy]

There is the Vectrex IOS app that does all this except take physical carts.

[leech]

I would rather a Vector display be built for FPGA cores so we could recreate the Vectrex, plus use all the Vector arcade games. A MiSTer with a vector display would be amazing!

[+ls650]

On 1/15/2021 at 2:45 PM, 8bitAndy said:

There is the Vectrex IOS app that does all this except take physical carts.

Vectrex Regeneration?  I own it.  IMHO it really doesn't compare visually....

[+bhall408]

Here is our take/mockup...

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9QBt7PnGKE/

 

It runs Argon, so the library is dynamic (can be updated server side) and it (could) run the full suite of other systems we support. Has a 4 button + 1 joystick layout, and you can add additional controllers via bluetooth or USB for additional players.

 

While the mockup used an off the shelf SOM that runs Android (the same one Arcade1Up uses), we're currently inclined to go with a Pi4 and our custom boot SD instead, to give people more flexibility down the line. Additionally, we'd go with a larger screen than Arcade1Up had used (on the smaller unit were the 8" screen is just odd looking with all that bezel, we have done more recent mockups with a 10" screen and it is sweet. The size screen Arcade1Up uses on the larger units is fine)

 

We'd also done a 2 player mockup

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-dX2JH5_z/

 

Don't hold me to it, but our current guess at pricing for a small kickstarter sized run, these would be approx. $199-$249 + s/h for the 1 player, $299-$349 + s/h for the 2 player.

 

We'd need to be able to sell 500-1000 to make it worth the effort.

 

[+lawdawg710]

Is there a way to look at an FPGA option?