Vectrex in a Browser | Hacker News Reader

Vectrex in a Browser

twitchasylum.com

65 pointserickhill12 comments

That takes me back! I received a vectrex as a small child, as a discarded toy from my (richer) cousins.

The graphics were pretty different to anything I'd seen before, being vector based, but it was a nice device because it meant I didn't need to hog the family TV.

Their approach for improving the graphics, by providing colour via a transparent overlay was inspired, and lots of fun. My overriding memories of the device are the long-thin controller, which used to be clipped beneath the screen when not in use, tethered by a curly-cable, and the overlay system.

Sweet. I wish there was a way to force a keyboard up in iOS however..

I had an intellivision growing up but the vertex always was interesting because I saw one in a store and the graphics were so clean. (Consoles of the last century had very very blocky graphics)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

Vector displays always fascinated me (drawing the screen by moving around rather than scanning each line)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_monitor

Pretty cool. I had one of these growing up. It's a bit before my time but I remember getting one with a bunch of games at a garage sale like 10 years past its prime.

Just a heads up, I nearly had a heart attack loading your page. That sound you auto-play is out of control loud.

I got a console and a bunch of games when the toy stores started closing them out. Still have them all in the basement.

Cool! I can't wait to show a colleague at work - he worked at Smith Engineering back in the day for Jay and Ed Smith. He worked on a few games for the Vectrex.

This looks legit. I picked one up at a yard sale complete with games and overlays a while back. So impressive with 1 KB RAM and no frame buffer.

Great work, just didn't like the key bindings. W-A-S-D is a better choice than A-S-D-F.

...if you were born after 1976

An Apple II reference, I believe. But didn't only the Apple IIe have those arrow keys? http://www.apple2online.com/web_images/RFP%20Apple%20IIe.jpg

Normally an Apple ][ would use IJKM for movement and space for fire (rarely did games need more than one action button, but control and return were also used for those) On the IIe/IIc which had apple keys, those were also used.

Some Apple ][ games used A,Z for up down and left, right arrows for left and right.

A-S-D-F was probably chosen because the Vectrex has the four buttons 1-4 in a row.

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