Which Vectrex games are fun to play?

[JB]

I can't afford it, but every time I see an insanely limited-run game I get this urge to buy a copy and pirate the heck out of it.

...

Or at least dump it and release the ROM image so others can enjoy it.

[Crazy Climber]

I wonder why nobody has done that with some games?

[ManShowBoy]

I wonder why nobody has done that with some games?

 

Because all the buyers are greedy collectors who don't care about the little people like you and me who just want to play the game. They get off playing something everyone else wishes they could play. They also want it to go up in value so they can resell iti on ebay to make a few bucks because thier too lazy to work for extra money.

[Crazy Climber]

That sucks, some collectors are messed up.

[JB]

There's also the possibility of some form of reprisal.

 

I know some betas on various platforms haven't been dumped and released because the copyright holders know who has the games and WILL sue if the ROM images ever show up online.

With a small run of carts, it greatly narrows the number of potential leaks(especially if an individual identifier is imbedded in the game). Though after a few eBay shufflings there's really no good trace.

 

I know of at least one shareware author that posted people's name, e-mail, and even physical address as reprisal for leaked keys.

[Jess Ragan]

Well, in the case of Debris, I don't think we're missing out on much. All the footage I've seen leads me to believe that it's a very bland shooter, with all the effort put into the graphics and absolutely none invested in the gameplay. Who cares if the characters are rendered if the game itself is no fun?

 

Also, I kind of resent the use of raster scan graphics on the Vectrex. It was a really cool novelty in YASI, and actually made the gameplay more accurate than in other Space Invaders clones on the Vectrex. However, I think that in most cases, designers should celebrate the Vectrex's unique style of visual presentation, rather than treating it as a limitation.

 

Sure, the pretty ships in Debris are kind of impressive, but can you imagine how much more spectacular they'd be if they'd been drawn with the vectors the Vectrex was designed to display? I'm far more impressed with the sweeping formations of enemy ships in John Dondzila's Wormhole as I am the sharply drawn but largely inert graphics in Debris.

 

JR

[Jacob Rose]

Let's see... Rip-Off, Berzerk, and that Pheonix clone that John Dondzila made. That's about it for the duds.

 

JR

 

Rip Off is fun with two players.

[Jacob Rose]

Well, in the case of Debris, I don't think we're missing out on much. All the footage I've seen leads me to believe that it's a very bland shooter, with all the effort put into the graphics and absolutely none invested in the gameplay. Who cares if the characters are rendered if the game itself is no fun?

 

As someone who has a copy (and who isn't "hoarding it to make a profit" but "encouraging homebrew development by putting his wallet where his mouth is...wait, yuck!"), I have to agree. The game is not so fun, and the graphics aren't even what I expected.

 

For instance, when the large, attractive, but completely non-interactive(!!!) graphics appear between what I'll loosely call "stages," and smoothly scroll down the screen, rather than rolling smoothly off the bottom, they vanish all at once when the bottom of the graphic touches the bottom of the screen. The game is also not "100% bitmap" as advertised; the missiles are vertical vector lines.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think it's an impressive technical feat to make the machine do what Martijn did, but I don't think the attention to detail was there. He could have made the game so much better had he been willing to release the binary, get feedback, and refine it before selling it. I think that's what makes AtariAge games so great; the community involvement and the time the authors take to do it right. I could name half a dozen programmers on AA who I am confident would never have let Debris out the door in this condition, but I expect this blunt post will make at least one person very angry with me already, and I don't want to send any of that negativity in anyone else's direction.

[mos6507]

I think the Vectrex has the best hit-to-miss ratio of all the classic game consoles. It's not hot just because of the novelty of vectors.

[Jess Ragan]

It's up there, but I think the Neo-Geo Pocket and possibly the Dreamcast has it beat in that department.

 

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about Debris, Jake. I had a feeling the game was all graphics, no glory.

 

So, did anyone order Space Frenzy from John Dondzila? I'm dyin' to know if it's worth the price.

 

JR

[Bill Brasky]

I think the Vectrex has the best hit-to-miss ratio of all the classic game consoles. It's not hot just because of the novelty of vectors.

 

Considering it has the smallest library by far, that's not saying much. IMHO the Vectrex only has a few games that are fun. I have zero interest in playing vector versions of raster games like Defender, Space invaders, frogger, galaxian, berzerk, pole position etc. There are better, color raster versions on so many other systems. It's such a waste of potential that Atari didn't bring this system out or MB never got the rights to Atari's vector games since Atari made just about all the good vector games.

[Crazy Climber]

Tempest on the Vectrex would be sweet.

[JB]

It's such a waste of potential that Atari didn't bring this system out or MB never got the rights to Atari's vector games since Atari made just about all the good vector games.

GCE would've been better suited to attaining the rights. I don't think MB did any software development for it.

And GCE was probably working on it. They got Pole Position, which was licensed through Atari. I strongly suspect that had they had more time, they would've gotten more licenses out of them.

Edited April 21, 2006 by JB

[killersquirel]

It's such a waste of potential that Atari didn't bring this system out or MB never got the rights to Atari's vector games since Atari made just about all the good vector games.

GCE would've been better suited to attaining the rights. I don't think MB did any software development for it.

And GCE was probably working on it. They got Pole Position, which was licensed through Atari. I strongly suspect that had they had more time, they would've gotten more licenses out of them.

 

 

I picked up a copy of Space Fever (space fury clone) and it plays great. The graphics are cool and the gameplay is challenging. If you have a vecvoice or vecvoxx you can hear speach in the game. It also has an option for the vectrex to make the speech without the additional hardware although that sometimes doesn't work on some vectrexes. On mine it was really quiet. One of John's best works on the vectrex in my opinion.

 

I also have Debris and while I agree that it was really flashy with the graphics, the game is challenging. I enjoyed the game and look forward to the next game called color quest that Martijn will be making.

 

-mike

[Rob Mitchell]

Repulse on John's Vecmania cart is probably the most addictive Vectrex game ever!

 

John's Gravitrex is his version of Gravitar. Chris Tumber's Tsunami is his version of Tempest which supports the Atari driving control spinner.

 

I just got the Vectrex LOGO programming cart for the Vectrex. It comes with box and overlay. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

Edited April 21, 2006 by Rob Mitchell

[Crazy Climber]

Just picked up the following....

Armor Attack

Bezerk

Blitz!

Clean Sweep

Rip-Off

Star Trek

It was kind of an all or nothing deal, Ended up around five bucks a piece. I've only played Bezerk, Armor Attack and Blitz!, so far they are cool but I might have to track down some instructions for Blitz! its kind of hard to figure out. I shoul have waited and bought complete versions but I wanted to play now and five bucks seemed fair so I can always get complete versions down the road. Cant wait to put my orders in with Dondzila. Hes got some really cool stuff on his Web site.