That takes me back! I received a vectrex as a small child, as a discarded toy from my (richer) cousins.
The graphics were pretty different to anything I'd seen before, being vector based, but it was a nice device because it meant I didn't need to hog the family TV.
Their approach for improving the graphics, by providing colour via a transparent overlay was inspired, and lots of fun. My overriding memories of the device are the long-thin controller, which used to be clipped beneath the screen when not in use, tethered by a curly-cable, and the overlay system.
Pretty cool. I had one of these growing up. It's a bit before my time but I remember getting one with a bunch of games at a garage sale like 10 years past its prime.
Just a heads up, I nearly had a heart attack loading your page. That sound you auto-play is out of control loud.
Sweet. I wish there was a way to force a keyboard up in iOS however..
I had an intellivision growing up but the vertex always was interesting because I saw one in a store and the graphics were so clean. (Consoles of the last century had very very blocky graphics)
Normally an Apple ][ would use IJKM for movement and space for fire (rarely did games need more than one action button, but control and return were also used for those) On the IIe/IIc which had apple keys, those were also used.
Cool! I can't wait to show a colleague at work - he worked at Smith Engineering back in the day for Jay and Ed Smith. He worked on a few games for the Vectrex.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 45.5 ms ] threadThe graphics were pretty different to anything I'd seen before, being vector based, but it was a nice device because it meant I didn't need to hog the family TV.
Their approach for improving the graphics, by providing colour via a transparent overlay was inspired, and lots of fun. My overriding memories of the device are the long-thin controller, which used to be clipped beneath the screen when not in use, tethered by a curly-cable, and the overlay system.
Just a heads up, I nearly had a heart attack loading your page. That sound you auto-play is out of control loud.
I had an intellivision growing up but the vertex always was interesting because I saw one in a store and the graphics were so clean. (Consoles of the last century had very very blocky graphics)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
Vector displays always fascinated me (drawing the screen by moving around rather than scanning each line)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_monitor