Hah I never knew about the Shin Megami Tensei spin off, that's pretty cool.
It has been a long time since the Vectrex and Virtual Boy have had threads here. I was thinking of how they parallel in many ways so I decided to lump them together. I'm also curious how many people here have owned them given their obscurity.
Some similarities between the two:
- They both came with their own monitors as opposed to connecting to a TV.
- They were both monochrome.
- The Vectrex introduced 3d imaging to consoles and the Virtual Boy was the first solely 3d image console.
- They were both commercial failures.
- They both have great arcade-style games that just aren't the same experience when played on emulators nor do screenshots do justice to seeing them in motion.
The Vectrex is almost at its 25 year anniversary. Unlike the other more traditional consoles released in 1982 (ColecoVision, Atari 5200), it came with a monitor which displayed vector (line) graphics as opposed to raster graphics of TVs. The downside was that it was the only black and white console still on the market and games included screen overlays to give the appearance of colour, a throwback to many games of the '70s. Still, it was a very impressive piece of hardware. The graphics were sharp and animated extremely smooth.
It was also the first console to have 3d glasses/visor predating SegaScope by several years. I haven't tried the Vectrex 3D Imager, myself. It's a collector's item today and sells for very high prices.
Anyway, here are some of good games available for the Vectrex:
Armor Attack
An impressive port of the Cinematronics arcade game where you move your jeep around a maze shooting tanks and helicopters.
Cosmic Chasm
An interesting note about this game - it was probably the first console game to be ported to the arcades.
Fortress of Narzod
An intense shooter, one of the best on the system.
Hyperchase Auto Race
This racing game has a nice sense of speed.
Mine Storm
This was an excellent Asteroids clone built into the system, and superior to any actual ports of Asteroids available back then.
Pole Position
Scramble
A port of the Konami arcade game filling the side-scrolling shooter void on the system.
Solar Quest
Another somewhat Asteroids-like shooter.
Star Castle
[b]Web Wars[b]
Not the greatest gameplay-wise but the special effects are amazing.
The system took on sort of a second life with the homebrew scene of the 1990s and 2000s. Here are some nice ones by John Dondzila. These are based on of Gravitron, Missile Command, Asteroids, Star Wars, and Gyruss.
Gravitrex Plus
Patriots
Rockaroids
Star Fire
Wormhole
On to the Virtual Boy.
Nintendo released this "portable" in 1995. Virtual Reality was a hot topic and this was considered a stepping stone in that direction. It gave the illusion of 3d depth similar to Master System and Famicom 3d glasses except without the flicker. It was headache-inducing after a while but the effect was pretty cool.
Unfortunately, its failure caused Nintendo to shame Gunpei Yokoi out of the company. He was later taken out by Yamauchi's hitmen.
Here are some good games for the VB:
Galactic Pinball
Samus has a cameo in this game.
Golf
I'm not usually into golf games but T&E made quality ones and the 3d effect made this stand out for me.
Jack Bros.
A maze action spin-off to the Megami Tensei series.
Mario Clash
A multi-plane sequel to the original Mario Bros.. I don't think it's as addictive as the 1983 game but it's still good stuff.
Mario's Tennis
This was the pack-in game, a simple and addictive tennis game with awesome atmosphere.
Panic Bomber
It's like the Neo Geo puzzle game of the same name except with 3d effects.
Red Alarm
This was very Vectrex-like, an impressive vector graphics rail shooter from T&E Soft.
Space Invaders Virtual Collection
I haven't played this one but it looks awesome. Some day when I'm rich I'll buy it. It's pretty pricey right now.
Space Squash
Like Space Invaders, this was a Japan exclusive.
Teleroboxer
Space Punch Out!! essentially. It didn't quite capture the magic of the best Punch Out!! games but it was a solid quick fix game.
Vertical Force
A Hudson shooter.
Virtual Boy Wario Land
Arguably the VB's best game, this platformer is still one of the top games in the Wario franchise.
So, what are your thoughts on these systems?
Last edited by NeoZeedeater; 04 Oct 2007 at 11:49 AM.
Hah I never knew about the Shin Megami Tensei spin off, that's pretty cool.
Vectrex is awesome. Some of the games are great and the analog control can be nice (although some games are abit hard to control).
VBoy is just plain bad, maybe a few good games but I just hate the red.
I've played both: the Vectrex briefly in a retail setting and the Virtual Boy when I rented it from Blockbuster. We couldn't afford many games or game systems back then, so you can imagine these were definitely low on the list.
Virtual Boy only for me. I was too young to make purchasing decisions when the Vectrex was around, and I'm not a big one for going back and tracking down old technology (except the Wii ).
I've been a fan of the Vectrex ever since I first saw it in a department store in 1983. I never played or owned one until I was in college, when I bought one from a guy off of USENET.
Out of the six games I own for it, I still play Minestorm the most.
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is always right. -Learned Hand
"Jesus christ you are still THE WORST." -FirstBlood
Ive played both as well, the Vectrex is the only one of the two worthy of any attention.
The Virtual Boy to me was a preview of Nintendo today, unable or not ready to counter the new high-tech Playstation or Saturn, came up with a half-assed gimmick.
They only difference this time around, is people have bought into the new gimmick, which granted works a heck of a lot better than the neck-cramping headache machine.
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