A look at a Vectrex (1982 video game console)

hello well now that I'm making videos weekly I suppose I have to fiddle with the format a bit to keep things interesting now am i killing up some the sticks dining on the sofa and talk about it as usual and this week it's going to be a vaguely obscure video games console from many moons ago which I imagine most of you once have seen or possibly even heard of this was voted for by the people on Twitter so if you want some of that vague future video influence in action follow me on Twitter information there oh don't I don't care I don't get any money for it right this is what this is well actually this is the box of the Vectrex which is a mighty built-in screened video game system from 1982 well released in America in 1982 near the end of the year I think came out over here in 1983 sometime and was off the market by early 1984 you can partially thank Atari and their fantastic video game collapse for that you know where they buried all those et cartridges in the desert like bloody lunatics anyway Vectrex yes it is an old games console you've probably worked that bit out what you probably haven't worked out is that is very very odd for starters the screen that's built in you'll notice is in portrait rather than landscape format which is all a bit strange what you can't notice from it either you could possibly get an idea from that screenshot is that all the graphics are displayed as vectors rather than bitmaps which basically means instead of being made up of little pixels they're all made up of lines one of the main results of this was that the Vectrex had bloody astonishing looking visuals for the time everything was super smooth and silky and really impressive also it's really bloody expensive I remember I've only ever seen one back in the day one of my friends had one and we used to play games on it like you will see later but anyway I'm supposed to be talking about the Box sorry let's see what they've written on its unique built-in screen no TV needed man as a big box I'd actually have to put the camcorder through the ball to show the whole thing I think right bit blow up quickly the Vectrex computer game system is an astounding breakthrough an entirely new home enter system is independent of the home TV blah blah blah is that a major selling point for dad you're not going to take over the telly will you play with it and I'll keep you quiet upstairs hmm I imagine that was something behind it Vectrex comes with its own fast-paced game Mindstorm Wow yes it literally has a built-in game very rarely do consoles do that I think there was a Sega Master System released with Alex Kidd in it as you know what I can think of off the top of my head anyway let's have a look at some games look at this the fast expanding vetrix sorry you can't see this bit you'll have to believe me it's there honest the fast expanding vetrix game library comprises a range of arcade favorites such as scramble berserk and armor attack which is really strangely punctuated with lots of ellipses in as well as brand new games are sure to become great in their own right and more to come yeah if you're using advertising don't put inverted commas around greats that does not make things sound good go on what games we got then blitz some sort of American football thing going on version of berserk classic arcade game where's that armor attack that's an old arcade game clean sweet but is that an old arcade game I assume it is looks like one and Starhawk nifty spaceships starship oh you have to fly your own spaceship look amazing space wars can't see what's going on there at all I do know is I played two years ago cosmic chasm Wow not just any old chasm hyper chase R this was excellent really good car racing game I think that's my friend's favorite back in the day you can't remember Solar quest can you find the Sun probably quite an easy quest as it goes scramble that was a really good version of scramble I think I don't have it so you can't see it up yours ripoff mmm got a copy right here now this is an old arcade game ripoff whereby you're trying to protect some sort of triangles in the middle of the screen that nasty alien types that come to steal for some reason and you know with my psychology hat on I do question the intelligence of releasing something called ripoff next to a very expensive games console you're trying to convince people to buy for their children not something you want to plant in their minds not a good phrase bedlam and no ideal that is loads of weird flowing about it's called bedlam would you expect Fortress of NAS or a new one of me flip out themself pinball action Webb warp also known as Webb walls I believe and again don't have a copy of this one who vaguely remembrance for yard you sort of flew down into the screen shooting at things and had to like capture birds or something bizarre like that and spike will come under spike and can't read that heads-up is that yeah I think heads up some sort of soccer game not entirely sure also don't entirely care let's have a look at the unit itself what sudden jump cutter fit the whole thing in frame well nearly the whole thing it's old and it's scuffed and it cost me way too much it's the Vectrex you can tell by the way it says vector X on it twice mmm subtle right you've also got the NBA logo for Milton Bradley who distributed this in the UK and I believe mostly in America different company distributed it first can remember who might have been I think was GCE actually who cares that's not fun let's look at the monitor instead as we said it's a CRT geared up for Victor graphics it's black and white and about two nine by 11 inches yeah black and white I said don't you remember the screenshots on the side of the box which were in color how can they possibly be advertising games in color with a black and white monitor here's a hint color plastic overlays we'll come back to those shortly YUM right the unit itself has all its controls hidden away under this little panel which is probably gonna be very difficult to get out no no that's easy enough plop it's the controller and the horrible wire that connects it to the unit and also some buttons in there as well looking at these first you've got a hole to stick in the second controller for 2-player frolics a reset button and a combination on/off switch and volume control the excitement here is the controller itself it's a little nubby joystick which this feels a bit stiff and odd you've got four buttons in a really uncomfortable setting that means you will have quite large hands to play with it properly not good when it's aimed at children silly silly and is made in Hong Kong thanks for that one of the problems with the Vectrex actually is it the joystick on it doesn't tend to last too long so if you are a think of peeing one of these up second hand check the controller because I have no new ones of the controller to go for more than the whole unit mm also if you're wondering where the cartridges go in they slot in at the side here dink dink standard ROM cartridge type thing even though irritatingly it says on the Vectrex box Vectrex has a wide variety of challenging and exciting game cassettes even though this is clearly a ROM cartridge not a cassette a cassette by definition has a spool of magnetic tape or photographic film in or why do these all things annoy me so much oh yeah because I'm an idiot right I think we're gonna have to show this running really hungry bear with me while I fly me home how to show a vetrix display a modern camcorder what could possibly go right right I'm going to dim the lights and spend a lot of time playing with manual focus see you in a minute Oh spooky it's all gone dark yep lights are off the curtains are closed the roof is on fire should probably saw that out but hey let's get this thing filmed first the exposure of the camera is at the absolute end of its spectrum so this doesn't look good there's nothing else I can do sorry use your imagination as you may have noticed I'm stalling for time because I can't find bloody on switch this is the problem with it being dark Oh got it ready go vector X as how the text is made of lines because of course Specter Monza only does lines ominous player one who informed zoom in a bit I actually let's diligently know right this bastard goes down laying all these mines our job is to rip off asteroids I mean our job is to destroy them all notice how incredibly smooth movement is this was so impressive for 1982 you couldn't believe it bang bang shootings eat my small dots evil mind things as with all the early levels of asteroid games you generally just sit in the middle to shoot a single in barracks you had the panicked teleport is that correct nope now here we are that's often I'll land on one then I won't look so clever right let's do some new things quickly oh it's an unidentified flying bastard they're trying to lay new mines a day right continue rotating shoot it yes brilliant now I'm exploding hmm that'll teach me to win and every time mr. swine like some crazy local council official goes and drops mines everywhere and you have to shoot them the ex mines homed in on you they are magnetic or so evil anyway I'm sure you get the idea and once the points pay the graphics look and now time for colour as we put on the clear plastic overlay okay so would if I could see what I was doing here we are wow that's amazing it doesn't look anything like it does on the video camera in real life actually it does just look blue in real life the end of this weird halo effect going on hmm obviously they didn't have futuristic camcorders in mind when they made the Vectrex who would have thought mustn't obscure the screen that's just confusing anyway mindstorm is actually a really good game massively hampered by the fact there's a bloody bug in it which means it's impossible to get past level 13 very very irritating apparently if you wrote off to Milton Bradley and said oh I can't get up level 13 or Mindstorm you swine's they were then send you a cartridge marked mindstorm - which was a fixed version of the game hmm however they didn't advertise they were doing that so very few people actually did and as a result mindstorm 2 is probably the rarest came for the system the cheeky blighters right I put another game in quickly because it's just dark and spooky for anybody watching ooh maybe I'll splice in a picture of a kitten there we are now everybody feels better right what games will we go for um go or then berserk into the cartridge slot up a slide on it goes and wait for the little music marvelous what happened to branding when you turn on consoles I oh yeah they all have it mapped right Wow why is it with weird BP dramatic music on these things right go on then let's run around and shoot to the monsters mmm animation not fantastic and a little chat there but it plays quite nicely don't touch the balls I can't remember that was the trick in berserk oh that's evil Otto isn't he comes on after a while and kills you because you spent too long on the same screen he's like a really over agitated cleaner right shoot shoot all the buttons sheet is very good if you like pressing different but to shoot who made these robots they've walked into walls all the time bloody idiots oh dear this is this is problematic I wanted to go through the top but Otto wouldn't let me rule slightly flickery aliens robot things probably can't see it flickering on the camera take my word for it do you know I can't act remember the point of the Zerg was it just to a mass school were you going somewhere specific we don't a shock to get teabags I've got no idea this is a bit sort of pedestrian and dull by today's standards really wonderful I've got this acetate thing for it's hard to tell in the dark tell you what I'll use the torch yes I have how incredibly exciting Wow so he's really throwing a straw but I don't believe it's just blue again what is this thing with the different colored things just being plain blue that's just boring never game up yours okay let's fiddle with the cartridges and there we are that's in the side this is the game I have the best memories of I used to play when the Fred had one it is called spike and features The Adventures of spike presumably but don't you know the story I've got the manual maybe I should have a look mmm we do that while we're playing right turner on i-43 notes of ultimate joy don't done turn it takes me back well weird if my memory isn't short anyway well that was a bit jolly than usual spike now if there's something very interesting about spunk it has speech there we are that's what cutscene was in HP - I think I like them more than modern ones right spike has to progress up the screen and Riverdance okay spike up we go there's a sunny Bazaar gameplay mechanic where by pressing one of the buttons makes the bloody ladder teleport enabling you to then climb up it very strange won't go and get the key hey now you have to jump into the cage which is presumably where molly is kept and everybody super excited damn you evil spud man I think that's where the villain is called evil spud man that rings a bell right now there's some weird box thing going on that's just annoying I can actually control that's what was as a bow get that time stops for the interns oh he has fallen and will never be the same again except he immediately is right up here come on they're going to do this get the key do you remember a cheat for this hang on I think yeah if you put the cage in the far left position by repeatedly pressing the relocate button no that isn't how you do it there was a way he would die and you'd also go on to the next level somehow and you might get loads of score and gob like 15 difficulty levels at once I can't for the life Mirren but it was it's just isn't Dancing my main memory of this game was my friend mucking around at the back of the unit and somehow shorting out like the controls for the controller and as a result spike would just leap about in flames limbs and then fall to his death and it sounded exactly like this do do do to do to do do darn it repeatedly and it was the funniest thing in the world when we were eight whereas now we're old it would only be the second funniest thing in the world well this is spike okay what lovely voices they don't have what is the color overlay' I hope isn't just bloody blue one again now it's a purple one but probably looks blue on the camcorder yes it does very blue console the Vectrex apparently right let's turn this off a second I'm going to turn on the torch and I'm going to read from the book of spike and see what the plot of this game was sorry it's going to be dark for this I'm splicing in a picture of a dog in a hat there we go right our lovely and innocent heroine Molly has been kidnapped by the evils spud oh I thought was the evil spud man a childhood ruined anyway you will hear her cry eek help spike as he drags her away only spike can save her from this awful fate as soon as spike kicks open the door to the villains spuds hide away shouting oh no Molly the game field appears spike enters on the bottom catwalk and then you have control of him you in bold just to show how excited you should be after your first round you will face spuds evil bounces spikes worst enemies hang on I thought the evil spud was his worst enemy he keeps stealing his girlfriend and running through weird doors with it that's a pretty evil thing to be doing oh well who are we to gaze into the mind of spike anyway they'll do anything to keep spike away from Molly's secret prison cell right two problems here again Molly's prison cell isn't secret it's at the top of the bloody screen and spike himself can make it appear and disappear in two different locations at will and secondly they've bolded the word anything which is a bit creepy they'll do anything to keep spike away yeah even that anyway other than as anything else exciting in here nope let's stop reading that now it was frankly disappointing go on one more game why not I choose starship which is a game I can't really remember I must have played it when I was testing the vectric so well nothing's going to stop us now sorry right hats giving the cartridge slot I haven't got the instructions or the overlay for this one so I hope I remember how to play it on it goes up just not the camcorder that's not going to help come on where's the power cords life-affirming was the intro ditty like like a keyboard falling down stairs apparently alright play one game one that sounds good to me let's see what happens ready oh I like it when it calls me captain don't get when he calls me sector right what's going on but it listen ships that look a bit Klingon in that probably aren't for copyright reasons shoot and they explode there's a mushroom that explodes as well rights getting a sort of Star Wars the arcade game rip off a vibe here just with nucleons sorry not Klingons we haven't even fire the same shots as the Star Wars arcade game unfortunately joystick got stuck there and I couldn't move down to shooting out of the air providing you can actually shoot out here right why the buttons have we got right on earth does that do makes you crosshair go funny and makes a horrible blue pig noise that's just confusing well there's the Weebly square back on earth is that which is it summon that house this Oh was that your thing how about one am I the master of the universe nope oh dear different sure what is that multiple thing is it a boss I'm very confused by all this ready captain I don't think I'll ever be ready I didn't know what's going on right shoot the things that missile what but what do these buttons do oh that one's pause that's something I'm very confused but uh replay any key this is a games console it doesn't have any bloody keys right that's enough of that as it turns out I don't have any of the good games how incredibly irritating I seem to recall actually the best games were the ones where you were shooting into the screen of the background was flying past and I don't have any of those humph but there are some good games out there honest and that is why I have ordered from France of all places a magic newfangled Super cartridge that you plug into the side of the old vetrix and it contains all the games ever released and including some unreleased prototypes and even including some homebrew stuff so I'm quite looking forward to that arriving actually when it does I'll make a bonus midweek video thing because there'll be other off when it yeah something else you've got to mention by law when you talk about the Vectrex so the two bizarre add-ons it had I don't know if either of these were ever released in the UK I don't think they were massively successful due to their absolutely terrifying price tags but there's a light pen which enables you to draw on the screen and some software it enabled you to do that massive excitement but far more excitingly is the ultra rare and massively expensive now 3d headset thing here's a photo I took of it in a museum yes that's how rare it is I had to get a photo in a bloody museum Science Museum in London on the touring game or exhibition if you care trivia fans anyway what it did was span a disc in front of your eyes really quickly that doesn't sound great but it was synched into the screen which not only gave it a completely 3d effect which was mighty impressive in the early 80s but also could make the games look as if they were in color fairly impressive I do wonder actually if the sort of color and 3d effects were actually just brought on by having a spinning disc in front of your eyes that vaguely hypnotized you and gave you neck ache until you were hallucinating but I don't have one to try that theory out with so there you have it that'd be the Vectrex one of the most interesting consoles released in the early 80s and I believe the only console ever released which can cause permanent retina damage if played on even a moderate brightness setting for too long yep somebody told me that and I looked into it and it's true apparently that's a really horrifying thought I don't know how you would get around that make sure you plant a well-lit room on a relatively low brightness don't play very long periods wear dark glasses how about you get a friend to look at the screen while you look the other way and then you react based on what he tells you yeah that sounds great but hey at least it doesn't make you vomit your guts up like the Virtual Boy

Channel: ashens

Views: 1,067,887

Rating: 4.9226117 out of 5

Keywords: Vectrex, Ashens, Review, Commentary, Video Games, Console, Entertainment System, MB, Milton Bradley, Video Screen, Monitor, MineStorm, Graphics, Sega Master System, Starship, Space Wars, Hyper Chase, hyperchase, Rip off, Darkness, Asteroid, Space ships, Dog in a hat, Light pen, 3D, Retina Damage, Safety, Vector

Id: 9wkEL3RcW8s

Length: 22min 45sec (1365 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 08 2011