+jgkspsx Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 There's also a lot more fun homebrew than there is fun retail library. Not that the retail library isn't mostly fun but Starhawk and Heads Up make up a significant percentage of the retail library 😅 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 On 1/14/2024 at 10:55 PM, jgkspsx said: There's also a lot more fun homebrew than there is fun retail library. Not that the retail library isn't mostly fun but Starhawk and Heads Up make up a significant percentage of the retail library 😅 Signed. The homebrew library is multiple times larger than the library of original Vectrex titles which consists of less than 30 games in total. And not all original titles are good and playable games. Some of the problems in the original games: Armor Attack: Cheating possible. Version provided by Malban solves this problem. Blitz!: Game is not very appealing. Once you know have learnt how to win playing is a chore. Berzerk: Bug leads to insane fast robots. Berzerk Debugged solves this problem. Clean Sweep: Difficulty doesn't increase but decrease at some level. Can be marathoned by good players Dark Tower: Once you know the solution next game is a child's play. Variant of Dark Tower sold by Sean Kelly solves this problem. Heads Up: Game is not very appealing. Once you have found out how to win playing is a chore. Flipper pinball: Random scores: A lot of luck and little skills are required MineStorm: Many versions around. Level 13 bug. Star Castle: Can be marathoned by good players Star Hawk: Can be played for hours by good players Note: This doesn't mean that above games must not be used in a high score club which basically should be fun - I just want to point out that there are known problems. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 I do like Flipper Pinball a lot despite the many playfield collision bugs. While it's not as skill based as Atari Video Pinball or Intellivision Pinball, skill and practice does make a difference across many games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Was playing Flipper last night, is there a bug with random scores? or did you just mean the ball is erratic. Is there a good list of the games that can be legitimately downloaded? We should mainly stick to these, but occasionally play a paid for homebrew also. Maybe with a vote, not much point picking it unless at least some of us have it. I'll draft up some rules and start a new thread this week 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) 8 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: Was playing Flipper last night, is there a bug with random scores? or did you just mean the ball is erratic. ... My above "Random scores" means that ball in Flipper pinball is erratic and controlling the ball is pretty difficult. 8 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: ... Is there a good list of the games that can be legitimately downloaded? We should mainly stick to these, but occasionally play a paid for homebrew also. Maybe with a vote, not much point picking it unless at least some of us have it. ... All original GCE/MB games can be legitimately downloaded. With homebrew binaries you have to double-check and ask experienced people or the author of the game. Some binaries like "Omega Chase" float around without legal permission of the appropriate author. 8 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: ... I'll draft up some rules and start a new thread this week Vectrex High Score Club is progressing and in sight. Great, @TheCurlyBard! PS: I'm tempted to suggest to use the Vectorgaming Forum for the new Vectrex High Score Club, but I guess you prefer to use this AtariAge board for various reasons (activity, familiarity, forum limitations, ...). Edited January 16 by hcmffm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 @hcmffm yeah it's great we have the retail library, and all the bios files free to copy, was hoping there a list of free homebrews though. I saw one the other day that noted downloads were available, but I'm not sure the author cared about consent or not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) 5 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: @hcmffm ... I saw one the other day that noted downloads were available, but I'm not sure the author cared about consent or not. Rule of thumb: If a retail version was or is available, the binary is illegal. Though, there are exceptions like some Fury Unlimited games or Scott Huggins 'Cavern Rescue' for example. In the past and recent past, there had been various attempts to create a Vectrex game list. Not sure whether there is an up-to-date game list with the required info. Perhaps anyone else in the Vectrex scene (e.g. @50TBRD) might know. Edited January 17 by hcmffm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamchevy Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) I've been a part of the Vectrex community for a few years, and I think if your going to do a HSC then you should allow some form of emulation. I think the Vectrex Online emulator is exceptional and feels just like the real hardware to me. There isn't a way to speed up the games as far as I know in the Vectrex Online Emulator. I have a real Vectrex, and I love playing on the real hardware. But for many that isn't an option, and some of the time the real hardware has issues working properly. There will come a time when most don't have the real hardware and rely solely on emulation. I really wanted to compete in the Vector war this year but my vectrex was on the blink and I was waiting for it to be repaired. I should have a backup I know, but its hard to afford 2 Vectrex consoles for most people. Edited January 18 by adamchevy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 On 1/16/2024 at 5:50 PM, hcmffm said: PS: I'm tempted to suggest to use the Vectorgaming Forum for the new Vectrex High Score Club, but I guess you prefer to use this AtariAge board for various reasons (activity, familiarity, forum limitations, ...). Having to host your own images on that board is such a huge pain. I am really glad that forum exists but the software is really bad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 On 1/16/2024 at 9:24 AM, TheCurlyBard said: Is there a good list of the games that can be legitimately downloaded? We should mainly stick to these, but occasionally play a paid for homebrew also. Maybe with a vote, not much point picking it unless at least some of us have it. There are also lots of games on the Vectrex Fans Unite Facebook group. There are more homebrew games available to download than there are those that are restricted to physical releases. However, I would recommend including some physical releases that are in print such as Vector Patrol and Vector Pilot. Those are really must-haves. To compensate for the fact that they're not available to people using emulators, I am moving to a "drop three worst scores" approach so people don't have to worry if they can't get a particular game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Snuggles Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Hi all, maybe a good moment for joining in. Thx @hcmffm for cross posting in Vectorgaming forum. I collected a lot of free roms for the jsVecx online emu and took care not to break any license. Most say for non commercial use only, for others i have permission by the author to host on github. Yes, i asked. I was lazy in updating the list for the last year(s) and it's still missing 2023 Academy roms for example. Also missed a lot of FB entries because i could not find the ID card of Doctor Snuggles Emu: https://drsnuggles.github.io/jsvecx/ Roms: https://github.com/DrSnuggles/jsvecx/tree/dev/src/roms Another list i found useful and sometimes contains license infos is Malbans list: https://github.com/malbanGit/Vide/blob/master/xml/CartridgeProperties.xml I'm not fully sure if emus are best for comparison but for fun i'm sure they are. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Oh that's awesome thanks for sharing those lists. I think emulators are fine, and even in Malbans easy to install pitrex image, I can slow it down or use save states, so unless we demand full video proof it's going to be hard prove any score is real. I drafted a first post, and I'll finish it this weekend. Was still thinking minestorm as it's so accessible. I'm assuming nobody minds if I submit scores? I don't consider myself the sole judge, I'd actually appreciate some help in spotting cheats 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) Great to see you here, @Doctor Snuggles. Actually, I wondered whether I should contact you because of your emulator and all the ROMs - very cool that you found here yourself. This massive number of ROMs is just great. It will take years till the Vectrex High Score Club has played all those titles. 5 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: ... I think emulators are fine, and even in Malbans easy to install pitrex image, I can slow it down or use save states, so unless we demand full video proof it's going to be hard prove any score is real. I drafted a first post, and I'll finish it this weekend. Was still thinking minestorm as it's so accessible. ... Several people voted to include emulation and for that's fine, too. It's a fun competition, so hey, let's celebrate each single new player joining and avoid any hurdles that may keep people from joining in. Having that said I think differences in game versions should be mentioned and a binary that is supposed to be used when playing should be made available. But people should also be allowed to use the game version they have at hand. And this gives way to playing Minestorm as a first game - I think Minestorm really deserves to be played first. 5 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: ...I'm assuming nobody minds if I submit scores? I don't consider myself the sole judge, I'd actually appreciate some help in spotting cheats I'm not sure about other potential participants but I don't mind at all if you're both organisator and player in the Vectrex HSC, @TheCurlyBard. From my point of view, spotting cheats is almost impossible with just a written score or a screenshot. But we don't want video proof - that's for sure. I guess only thing you can do is pointing out that this is a fun competition and ask players to be fair and not to cheat. Edited January 20 by hcmffm 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Hey everyone, I've got some rules together - and the first score thread! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/19/2024 at 1:58 PM, Doctor Snuggles said: Hi all, maybe a good moment for joining in. Thx @hcmffm for cross posting in Vectorgaming forum. I collected a lot of free roms for the jsVecx online emu and took care not to break any license. Most say for non commercial use only, for others i have permission by the author to host on github. Yes, i asked. I was lazy in updating the list for the last year(s) and it's still missing 2023 Academy roms for example. Also missed a lot of FB entries because i could not find the ID card of Doctor Snuggles Emu: https://drsnuggles.github.io/jsvecx/ Roms: https://github.com/DrSnuggles/jsvecx/tree/dev/src/roms Another list i found useful and sometimes contains license infos is Malbans BTW, this is awesome to me for different reasons, I've been looking an emulator that works on a pi, excellent stuff 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 (edited) Great to see that Vectrex HSC will start 1st of February. Minestorm as first game is definetely a good choice. Thank you very much for making the Vectrex HSC real, @TheCurlyBard. EDIT: A minor issue in the rule topic: The section "Emulation is will developed..." is displayed with a very tiny font: Emulation is well developed, and easy to access have a look at some of these resources Browser based emulator here: https://drsnuggles.github.io/jsvecx/? ParaJVE is a good choice for windows if you don't mind running Java https://www.dosgamers.com/vectrex/vectrex-emulator-parajve Many other options such as MAME, Retropie, PSP etc https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Vectrex_emulators Perhaps you can check. Edited January 22 by hcmffm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 (edited) @jgkspsx yeah it was small on purpose as I felt like it needed to be in an info box, but it does look odd, I'll move it to the section at the top I'm finding movement difficult after playing Solar Quest lately Edited January 22 by TheCurlyBard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: @jgkspsx yeah it was small on purpose as I felt like it needed to be in an info box, but it does look odd, I'll move it to the section at the top I think you confused me with my brother, @hcmffm. Or possibly with our other brother hfpspd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 9 hours ago, jgkspsx said: I think you confused me with my brother, @hcmffm. Or possibly with our other brother hfpspd. I did sorry, and I had no idea you were related! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 6 hours ago, TheCurlyBard said: I did sorry, and I had no idea you were related! We are only related alphabetically 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) 1 hour ago, jgkspsx said: We are only related alphabetically What?! I thought we were at least brothers in mind?! Pretty disappointing after all those years. Edited January 23 by hcmffm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Vectrex enthusiast and digital archaeologist Peer has posted interesting info about the various Minestorm revisions in the Vectorgaming forum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 15 minutes ago, hcmffm said: What?! I thought we were at least brothers in mind?! Pretty disappointing after all those years. Okay, okay, that too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcmffm Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 (edited) Not sure whether everyone has realized, already: First round of the Vectrex High Score Club has started, already. See Vectrex High Score Club Rules plus High Score Club - Feb 2023 Minestorm for more details. I'm looking forward to playing and competing comparing with other Vectrex players! 😀 Edited January 25 by hcmffm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCurlyBard Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 @Mikey50 which multicart do you have? I know some have a selection of homebrews on, and maybe we could use some of those from time to time? Same question to everyone else really? How many of use can load any rom, or own a shelf load of carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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