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The strange 1982 console with a built-in vector-graphics CRT monitor, preserving the arcade-style line-drawn aesthetic at home.
Most consoles plug into your TV. The Vectrex did not — it had its own 9-inch vector monitor built in. That let it render the crisp glowing line-art of arcade hits like Asteroids and Battlezone, which raster TVs simply could not do justice. It was a beautiful, dead-end idea: vector graphics lost the war almost immediately, but Vectrex fans still cherish it as one of the most distinctive consoles ever made.
Example
Minestorm (the pack-in game), Scramble, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture were standout titles. A 3D imager accessory used shutter-glasses for stereoscopic depth, decades before VR mainstreamed. Retrocomputing projects have built modern homebrew Vectrex games as recently as 2024.
Why it matters
Vectrex is a beloved example of a console willing to bet on a weird technical direction. Its cultural afterlife also foreshadowed the retro-hardware collector economy now worth millions.
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