New Vectrex homebrew shmup, vecZ, out on 11/05/2016

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I was browsing on the http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/board/20/vectrex and saw that a brand new Vectrex homebrew shmup by the name of "vecZ" will make it's grand debut on November 5th, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland.

http://www.la1n.ch/vecz/

There's even a cool Youtube vid of vecZ in action to view as well in the above link.

There are plans to release vecZ on emulator and as an actual binary d/l (free of charge) to run on a real Vectrex flash cart setup (like Richard H.'s VecMulti flash cart setup) or you can buy a soon-to-be-released cart from madtronix himself (without the need to get a flash cart). A few homebrew carts of vecZ were produced by madtronix for testing purposes as the picture shows -- how cool is that?

It'd be nice to get some cool official vecZ color screen overlays printed out for completeness, hmmm?

Control scheme is your basic 8-way joystick + button 1 used for firing -- can't get any simpler than that, folks.

As it stands, there are more homebrew Vectrex gaming titles available out there in the wilds than there are officially released gaming titles from GCE themselves.

Still no word when the cool Vectrex homebrew title, Robot Arena (Robotron 2084 vector game), will officially be released for sale -- it runs on a modified Protector code engine with absolutely no slowdown, no sprite flickering whatsoever & framerate is silky-smooth/insane.

Makes me wonder if a 3D Imager version of vecZ will be in the works or not. That'd be gravy and not to mention, a Vectrex homebrew 3D shmup first/milestone, indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[gatsu25]

This looks decent. Maybe I'll jump on it when some carts are released.

That being said, I'm reaaaally looking forward to Robot Arena. I wish I knew a release date, as I feel like that one will sell out fast.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yes, Robot Arena will sell like hotcakes -- I like how it has built-in support for two Vectrex control panels if so desired. Of course, it can still be played with a single panel if that's all you have at hand. What's sad is trying to get a brand new unopened & factory boxed GCE Vectrex control panel nowadays will set one back in the three figure range easily these days (but there are cheaper alternatives besides this particular route anyways).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[gatsu25]

I have an extra control panel all ready for it!

[Pixel_Outlaw]

This reminds me I need to see if I can padhack a Sega controller to make a Vectrex joystick...
I was lucky enough to find my Vectrex for $50.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

As promised, la1n, uploaded the cool vecZ binary file (bin) as a zipfile -- it's a mere 8kb file in it's entirety unzipped. It's available to d/l and peruse on a VecMulti flash cart setup without any problems. Shall see how it plays. Plus, the vecZ color screen overlay is available to d/l as well -- does anyone know whom can make such a professional reproduction vecZ screen overlay for use on a real Vectrex console? That'd be extra frosting on a very generous slice of cake, indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

This reminds me I need to see if I can padhack a Sega controller to make a Vectrex joystick...
I was lucky enough to find my Vectrex for $50.

That's quite a steal at that super low pricepoint. I've got two myself with one as a backup if it needed be (if the first one decides to "bite the dust"). My primary Vectrex console has been tuned to look at it's best and is super-razor sharp in overall presentation -- playing Protector on it is simply breathtaking/gorgeous. I sent it off to Dan Kramer (father & creator of the 5200 & 2600 TrakBall controllers) to be cleaned up/professionally tuned to look at it's best -- whatever "voodoo magic" he did, it truly shows off what it can do (whereas with the backup Vectrex console, if the brightness knob is cranked up but not to the point of overblooming with the vectors, this one isn't as razor-sharp & focused as the primary one). Unfortunately, both of them buzz when powered up but it's a small quibble/quirk at best.

Here's a cool Genesis controller to Vectrex adapter: http://www.computernerdkev.heliohost.or ... cadapt.htm

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VecAdapt-Vectre ... SwU-pXs7n-

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I seem to recall being able to hook up a Genesis controller to it without modification.
Huh maybe my memory is wrong.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Initial impression/review of Vectrex "vecZ" homebrew shmup:

Upon booting up vecZ for the first time, it has a static title screen with a bit of some abstract artwork to admire at. I think a semi-animated title screen would be cool to add in to draw in the player. And a helpful suggestion to add a stage demo that cycles/alternates between the title screen would be ace in my book for that unmistakable arcade shmup overall presentation.

There isn't a high score screen nor are high score initials even possible as well (should be implemented to give it that classic shmup vibe & feel -- the score shown at the end of your last life lost is the only proof -- simply take a snapshot of it with your cell phone's camera or dedicated digital camera for posterity, safe keeping & bragging rights).

Any of the four buttons will start a shmup game session so it's not regulated to any single button. Again, any button can be used as the main fire button during an actual shmup session -- nice little touch here.

There isn't a pause button available, so if you mess up/screw up, it does pay tribute to those arcade-inspired shmup titles that didn't have a pause feature/functionality to begin in the first place -- this shmup got this "key" aspect/issue addressed right the first time.

At certain portions of a given stage, some witty shmup-themed captions are displayed for your perusal & enjoyment.

It's a single player shmup at best -- you're given three lives (with no options to adjust it whatsover). In fact, there's not even an option screen to adjust game setting parameters at all.

The hitbox of the player's abstract fightercraft seems to be just a tad bit to the left or right edge of the player's sprite that'll result in death (if not hit directly from the front onwards). Try to avoid that big hitbox area & you're good to go in that particular department. Could this "key" aspect/issue be addressed/fixed as well or not?

Scoring is 1 point for each small fry enemy destroyed.

There's one "tanker" enemy that takes it's cue from the classic 2600 shmup known as River Raid (by Carol Shaw) -- it's rendered as a simple presentation but effective nevertheless. However, it's takes some punishment to bring it down once & for all.

Another certain enemy that appears to be a tower or citadel (taken from the classic Namco shmup, Xevious) appears for the player to shoot down -- nice little tribute/nod there.

I've noticed that the longer you play for survival, your bullets will change. How cool is that?

Nice little touch with the right side of the background scenery with a second layer of parallax depth (albeit dimmed a tad bit, of course).

Am not sure what the requirements/obligations are to earn an extra 1up. Perhaps vecZ creator, la1n, can reveal some more information/hints on as to what that'd be. Could it be triggered by a reaching a certain targeted score milestone? Hmmm...

All in all, given that the entire vecZ binary is an impressive 8kb file, it harkens back to the early 1980s Vectrex game titles with it's simplistic & timeless visual style & gameplay. Of course, none of the official GCE game titles released in those days of lore were of a tate shmup.

I've noticed that if there are too many enemies on-screen, the framerate tends to slow down/bog down (this doesn't detract from the gameplay though). Is it possible to remedy that particular issue or not? When enough enemies are taken out, then the framerate does go back up. Hmmm...perhaps a bit of more optimization wizardry is necessary so that this doesn't happen during a shmup session?

There's always more room to improve vecZ to become an awesome tate shmup indeed (unless the creator, la1n, has deemed it finished for now). As it stands now, it's at version 0.84 as shown momentarily when booted up for the 1st time on a real Vectrex gaming console.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Madtronix is currently selling vecZ cartridges for use on the cool Vectrex gaming console: http://www.madtronix.com/en/

Just ordered one for a mere $21.68 USD with shipping to the USA -- should be ace on the ol' Vectrex. The actual vecZ cart does come with an official vecZ screen overlay included for completeness. I'm stoked. All that's needed is a repro vecZ factory shipping box in the classic GCE Vectrex aesthetic design from the 1982-1983 era and it'd be all gravy from there.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~