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A second joystick port was used for many bold add-ons. A light pen allowed you to move lines on the screen for your own vector graphics animations (!), or for educational purposes. Another add-on, a pair of 3-D goggles, worked astonishingly well given 3D technology available at the time. An interchangeable color disc that spun inside the goggles would even allow different colors for foreground, background, and characters. Here's foresight for you; power needed to spin the disc was provided via the game port; no batteries were required. With a port this versatile, it would have been intriguing to see add-ons in future years. Sadly, that wasn't to be...
Unfortunately, this system was one of many to suffer during the "crash" of the mid 80's. This is a shame; along with its numerous intriguing add-ons, a computer attachment was to be considered. Still, game buffs online have tried to keep the spirit alive, including one site that offers all Vectrex games on one cartridge, and even a few web sites that offer new games for the system from entrepreneur programmers. |
"Vectrex Games were cool if you loved vector graphics games (lets just say, Vectrex games were COOL)...Of the so-bad-it-was-great variety was a B-movie type interactive cartoon, Spike, which included digitized voices for the characters ("Eek... help... Spike"... "Oh no... molly...!")." |
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Vector
Graphics games are a thing of the past, though in the '80s, they
were HOT. Game systems to this very day try to remake these titles,
without a vector monitor...and it's just not the same. The
only exception was the Vectrex; a game unit about
the size of a classic Macintosh, with its own built-in
vector monitor. The game control would even fold under the screen
when not in use. Best of all, the monitor was "vertical";
it was at its longest up-to-down (not left-to-right), just like
arcade screens! Not only was an Asteroids clone free with system
purchase, it was built in, easily played whenever no cart was
inserted. Several nice touches for a cute little system. 
The
Vectrex's vector screen was black and white only (of course).
However, this limitation in video game color was reduced via
thin (though durable) sheets of colored, clear plastic, which
you would place on the slots in front of the monitor, "coloring"
the screen appropriately for that game. This may sound primitive
though the end result was often quite entertaining. Some games
even included labels for what information appeared on the screen
nearby (player 1 and 2's scores, for example), and many had different
shading for different screen areas.
Vectrex
Games were cool if you loved vector graphics games (lets just
say, Vectrex games were COOL). A Star Trek game
allowed you to fight klingons in a first-person space combat sim. Scramble
was one of my favorite arcade games of all time, and this system's
version is my fave at-home "port" of that title. Of
the so-bad-it-was-great variety was a B-movie type interactive
cartoon, Spike, which included digitized voices for
the characters ("Eek... help... Spike"... "Oh no...
molly...!"). Even classic pinball was made a brightly-lit
marvel, thanks to a vibrant, super-fast, vector "dot"
as the ball!