The Vectrex was one of those ‘love to have’ gaming machines which only rich kids had back in the 1980s. The machine was ahead of its time. Fast forward 30 years and the machine remains a ‘love to have’ for many a retro gamer.
If you are one of those lucky enough to have a Vectrex, you would be well aware that games are hard to come by, and usually quite expensive when you do stumble across them.
If you don’t care for having each individual Vectrex game (or the overlays), there is another option – the Vectrom 32 game multi-cassette (cart). This ‘homebrew’ cart gives you the best bang for your buck. The more popular ‘Sean Kelly’ cart may have more games (72 in fact!), but they are almost impossible to source and very expensive.
The Vectrom cart costs about $45, that is about $1.40 for each game – what a bargain! For that price, you get the cart hinged inside a VHS style case. To keep the authentic retro feel, the game selection is done manually via the mini dip-switch selector on the cart – no software menu selection system here folks! The stuffing around with the dip-switch selection takes some getting used to, but the feature adds to the charm. Don’t stress though, the back of the VHS case has the dip-switch combinations for each of the 32 games.
Before you scream “this isn’t legit!”, let me assure you, it is. The original makers of the Vectrex have given open permission to continue development and have put the entire system into the public domain. Unlike other old consoles, it is perfectly legal to emulate all original Vectrex games.
For those itching to know what games are on the cartridge, here is the complete list. The games on the cartridge are some of the all-time best games for the Vectrex.
Verdict: If you have a Vectrex and you are sick of playing MineStorm, then you need the Vectrom 32-in-1 multi-cassette!