Vectrex

The Vectrex is unique among home videogame consoles, in that it is the only system which uses vector graphics for its display. While other systems either manipulate scan lines on a standard television (as with the Atari VCS) or have fully pixel addressable raster graphics, the Vectrex utilized a vector monitor (similar to a X-Y addressable oscilloscope) where an electron gun traces arbitrary lines across the screen to produce the system's graphics. The same display system was popular with some arcade games of the late 70s and early 80s, such as Asteroids, Battlezone and Star Wars. While this limited the Vectrex to a black and white display on its built in 9" monitor, it gave the system and its games a unique visual style often utilizing scaling and rotation effects, which are much easier to achieve in a true vector system.

Original design work on what became started at Western Technologies/Smith Engineering, a small videogame company who had produced games for other systems and would later work on a development kit for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Toy company Kenner originally expressed interest in manufacturing the so called "Mini Arcade" system from WT/SE but the deal was never completed. General Consumer Electronics stepped in and financed the design of what would become the Vectrex. In addition to its most visible hardware, the vector display, the system was built around a 8-bit Motorola 69A09, and has a built in mono speaker driven by a chip capable of three channel sound. Vectrex systems shipped with Mine Storm (an Asteroids clone) built-in to the system. Additional games were available on cartridges.

The Vectrex utilized translucent overlays which were placed directly on the screen to provide additional static borders for the game, as well as some limited color capabilities. In addition to the base system, both a lightpen and a "3-D Imager" were also sold as accessories. The latter was a set of goggles which allowed for color 3-D images by spinning a color disk inside the goggles which caused the stereo images on the screen to alternate for each eye creating a 3-D effect. Only three games were produced for the 3-D mode, and due to the expense of the system it did not sell well, and remains a rare collector item as the first home console accessory to offer 3-D graphics.

Originally introduced in the North American market in November 1983, by March of the next year, GCE and rights to the Vectrex had been sold to Milton Bradley Company who would also release the system in Europe. It was also licensed to Bandai for sale in Japan where it was known as the Kousokusen ("light-speed ship"). Ultimately, the system was not overly successful, perhaps in part due to the limits of the vector system itself as well as the North American video game crash of 1983. By the end of 1984, plans for a full color vector system has been scrapped, and the Vectrex itself had been discontinued. Rights to the system reverted back to Smith Engineering who ultimately released all designs for the system into the public domain, making the Vectrex one of the few retro systems for which the entire original library of games are legally available for play on emulators.