Popular games for platform Vectrex
The very first racing game with the rear perspective camera and track based on real life.
The player controls an aircraft, referred to in the game as a "Jet," and has to guide it across a scrolling terrain, battling obstacles along the way. The ship is armed with a forward-firing weapon and bombs; each weapon has its own button. The player must avoid colliding with the terrain and other enemies, while simultaneously maintaining its limited fuel supply which diminishes over time. More fuel can be acquired by destroying fuel tanks in the game. The game is divided into six sections, each with a different style of terrain and different obstacles. There is no intermission between each section; the game simply scrolls into the new terrain. Points are awarded based upon the number of seconds of being alive, and on destroying enemies and fuel tanks. In the final section, the player must destroy a "base". Once this has been accomplished, a flag denoting a completed mission is posted at the bottom right of the screen. The game then continues by returning to the first section once more, with a slight increase in difficulty.
The player controls a jeep and must destroy the many tanks and helicopters that attack them in a maze-like cityscape. The jeep is armed with a rocket launcher that fires straight forward; the player can have two rockets on-screen at the time. The driving is generally similar to the well-known Combat for the Atari 2600. Tanks periodically spawn from different locations on the edge of the screen and drive towards the player. The tanks always travel along horizontal or vertical lines, unlike the freely moving jeep. Tank turrets move to track the player, allowing them to shoot in any direction. Tanks normally take two hits to kill, and the player can have only two rockets on the screen at a time. The helicopter spawns from any point, and approaches the player in looping paths flying over the jeep and periodically firing. If hit, the helicopter spirals in.
Rockaroids is back, with with enhanced rocks and rotation, more speed and a faster, challenging game!
Pitcher's Duel was sold both as cart only and cartridge with manual and full color printed GCE Style cardboard box. Approximately, 250-300 are believed to exist, of which somewhere around 200 were sold complete. Those sold complete with box at the 2007 Classic Gaming Expo had a PCB contained in a green transluscent reproduction shell while those sold after were contained in the standard black shell. There was no overlay included however an overlay design is depicted on the box. In addition, the was one Pitcher's Duel Collectors Set auctioned at CGE2K7 which included both the green translucent and black standard versions of Pitcher's Duel as well as exclusive red translucent and blue translucent version of the cart.
Aside from having vector graphics and running a bit slow (although the game does speed up as more and more invaders are shot), this is a pretty standard Space Invaders-type game for the most part. A formation of invaders (25 total) march from side to side while dropping bombs and they will drop down a notch once the formation reaches the edge of the screen. The player’s laser base can take cover behind one of four bunkers on the screen, which the bunkers can withstand 16 shots from enemy and/or player fire before disappearing. A flying saucer will also pass overhead during a level and is worth big points if shot. The player starts off with three laser bases and the game will end once all bases are destroyed or if the player is “invaded” by the aliens reaching the bottom of the screen. However, an extra base is earned if over 3000 points are scored. The level number that the player is currently on is displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen.
Star Castle is a 1980 vector arcade game by Cinematronics. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The game was designed by Tim Skelly and programmed by Scott Boden. Tim Skelly also created a number of other Cinematronics titles, including Starhawk, Armor Attack and Rip-Off. As with many other titles by the company, Star Castle was ported to the Vectrex video game console in 1983.
Rockaroids is the name for this Asteroids clone. This is the feature game in the release and sports all the features of the "Asteroids" type games.
Clone of the arcade game Lunar Lander, where the player must land their ship on a series of several moons while dealing with gravity, wind, diminishing fuel and enemy satellites.
The goal in Narrow Escape is to successfully navigate a ship through the narrow, fast-moving passages of the warlord's fortress, destroy the defense forces and avoid space debris. The player's ship must also be maneuvered through small holes in a series of walls where fuel cells can be picked up to restore the ship's constantly decreasing fuel supply. If the player pilots their ship successfully, they will be faced with the warlord's own escape ship which must be hit several times to be destroyed, liberating the star system from the warlord's tyranny. Each level becomes more difficult as everything will move faster, fuel will be consumed more quickly, the holes in the walls will become smaller, and more menacing defense forces will appear. Each level of game play consists of two phases: 1. Passages: During the first phase of each level, the player must maneuver their ship through the narrow, moving passages with the joystick while shooting six of the warlord's defense forces with button 4. If any of the six are missed, they will go off-screen and be recycled to give the player another chance, but more fuel will be used. In addition to various defense forces which must be destroyed, there are extra targets that can be shot for additional points. Unlike the regular defense forces, the extra targets are non-threatening in that they will not shoot or crash into the player's ship. During this phase, space debris will also be shooting up through the play field. Space debris cannot be shot and can only be avoided by dodging it by moving from side to side. The walls of the narrow passage are also a danger to the player. If the player's ship crashes into a wall, a life will be lost. There are gaps between the moving walls which the player can maneuver quickly into and out of so as to avoid approaching enemies or space debris, however as game play becomes faster this will present a higher risk to crashing into oncoming walls. 2. Walls: If the passages are successfully navigated and the the required six defense forces are destroyed, the player will enter the second phase. This is a series of walls with holes. In the first level of the game, there are five successive walls, each with one hole through which the player must maneuver their ship. In the second level of play, there will be six successive walls, in the third level, seven walls, etc. Also the size of the holes will become smaller in each new level. The hole will be in a different location on each wall. After passing through the hole in each wall (but prior to entering the hole in the next wall) there will be a fuel cell which must be passed to pick up. If the fuel cells are missed, the game will continue, but the fuel gauge will be continuously depleting. Note: in early levels of the game, all of the fuel cells will not need to be captured. However as the game progresses and fuel is consumed faster, all of the fuel cells will need to be captured in order to make it through the next level. After successfully completing three levels of play, the player will come face-to-face with the warlord's escape ship in open space. The warlord's ship must be shot five times to be destroyed during the first encounter, seven times on the next encounter, nine times the next, etc. The warlord's ship will shoot torpedoes at the player's ship, which can be either avoided or shot at to be destroyed. If the warlord's escape ship is destroyed, the player will enter the next level of play and the game will continue.
Climb It is a Side-Scroller where you face difficult obstacles to get to the finish line.
Doodle Jump clone
As of early 2015, Nebula Commander is still the only real time strategy game for the Vectrex. One or two players must gather up resources and create and launch weapons to destroy the other’s space station while defending their own in turn. Two players can face off with each other or one player can go against the computer.
Dodge the walls to fly as high as possible!
The player controls a hovercraft on its ascent up a mountain range with the goal of reaching the fortress at its summit. Each screen is part of a roadway, which is defended by three waves of guardians. These waves of guardians consist first of the Doomgrabbers, then the Tarantulas and finally the Ghouls. Each wave makes its descent down the roadway and towards the player, which all of one wave needs to be destroyed before the next wave begins its descent. Contact with enemies or the Spikers which are randomly released from the Doomgrabbers will result in the loss of a life. The player's own fire has the ability to ricochet off the walls of the roadway. This not only has the benefit of creating angles, which the player may destroy the enemies without them being able to return fire, but can also be a disadvantage due to the ability for the shot to return and destroy the player's ship. After three waves, the player is allowed to move up the screen and to the next roadway. Each roadway has the same enemies, although in increasing numbers. With the second roadway comes the addition of the Warbirds, who fly over the entire mountain and are able to fire at the player in the third roadway. Once three roadways have been
Blitz! is a simulation of American football. Each player (which the game supports a simultaneous two player mode) controls one member of their team on offense and defense and the basic objective is to move the ball up the field to reach the opposition end zone. This is done using a series of "downs", there being four downs available to move the ball ten yards forward. If a player fails to achieve that then the ball turns over to the opposition offense. The player can also score by opting to attempt to kick the ball between the opponent's goal (called a field goal and worth fewer points than a touchdown). When on offense, the player controls the snapping of the ball (which must be done within 30 seconds of the formations being set) and then the quarterback, who can either run with the ball himself, or pass it to a team mate by "pointing" the joystick towards that receiving player, which the player will then assume control of to run with the ball. On defense, the player controls a single defender who runs faster than any of his teammates and is thus most able to tackle the opposition's ball carrier. Players can be penalised and be moved back five yards by either delaying the game (not snapping within 30 seconds), or moving offside (crossing the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped). After each game, a statistics screen is shown, listing items such as number of first downs and total rushing and passing yards for each team.
Spike's Water Balloons. Spike returns in this Vectrex version of popular "Kaboom" and "Mad Bomber" style games of the early eighties !
The first ever 16K Vectrex game, written by John Donzila! Originally planned to be a smaller game included in "More Good Things", John later decided to make it a seperate entity. Spike Hoppin' is a game where you make Spike hop on blocks, and change all their "colors". Spud returns and will try to stop Spike, as well as other enemies and a few friends too. Spike Hoppin' includes digitized speech (Spike talks again!), as well as a bonus hidden game and a few other surprises !
The game begins with a large enemy ship dropping mines onto the field as an ominous jingle plays, and moves from the top to the bottom of the screen, where it disappears. The player's ship starts in the middle of the field with 5 lives. Numerous mines then start popping up. The player must destroy all of the mines in order to progress to the next minefield. All of the mines can be destroyed with one shot, or hit with the player's ship, costing the player a life. There are 4 types of mines.
This is Vector Vaders as it was meant to be, with simpler graphics for faster and flicker free action, along with some bug fixes and multi-channel sound effects!