All Good Things

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1996

All Good Things was the fourth release from Classic Game Creations. It is a compilation cartridge, comprised of clones of four earlier games and a bonus hidden fifth game. Contains: Space Invaders Part 2 Rockaroids Spike's Water Balloons Vectris (aka Vectrex Blocks) 23 Matches At the time of its release, All Good Things was the very first 16K cartridge for the Vectrex.

AMOK!

Magnavox Odyssey 2 - Homebrew - 1998

AMOK! was the first Odyssey² new release about 15 years after the console was discontinued. It is inspired by the Stern arcade classic, Berzerk. The player is trapped in a spaceship and is armed with a laser pistol, which can fire in all 8 directions. Each stage is a maze with one or more exits, and the player has to try to exit them while avoiding to touch its walls and get killed. Besides the danger of the walls, the player will face the berzerk robot sentinels, which can move about and shoot, but that can also be killed if they touch the walls. After a while, the Smileybot will appear and try to kill the player. The Smileybot can pass through walls and cannot be killed by the player. The game features 12 stages of increasing difficulty. The player has 3 lives; dying will make the player restart the current level, with all berzerk robot sentinels being replaced. The game was developed by John Donzila who is well-known in the Vectrex homebrew community.

Birds of Prey

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Birds of Prey is a Vectrex game similar to the Galaxian series, some might call it a homebrew port of Phoenix. The gameplay is similar to Galaga and consists of five waves that simply loop with increasing difficulty. Instead of using the analog stick you press buttons 1-2 to move left and right, while button 4 fires. It takes a few minutes to adjust but once you do you'll find the control scheme works fine. By pressing button 3 you can activate a shield once per wave (or re-use it if you lose a life) and this protects you from incoming fire and enemies. It's very handy and you'll want to use it when you're surrounded. The first wave sees you trying to blast down small birds but you can only fire one bullet at a time. The birds can spray multiple bullets at once and they often swoop in on you. The difficulty is high so don't expect to be eased in! The second wave is more of the same but this time you can fire two shots simultaneously which makes things more manageable. The third and fourth waves are the weakest as they feature large, flapping birds that take forever to shoot as their hit box is small (you need to hit them dead-centre). While they occasionally fly towards your ship they tend to only move from side-to-side making these waves easier than the preceding ones. The last wave is interesting as it features a boss battle, seldom seen on the system. You face a giant mother ship with a gaping hole in the centre; you instinctively know where to shoot but it's protected by swarms of birds that try to attack you. If you manage to beat the boss it explodes in a satisfying manner! As this is a high score game it's tempting to continually fire your weapon at will. However, I found it's better to be strategic and follow attack patterns as enemies will frequently line themselves up for a perfect shot.

Galactic Food Fight

Commodore Amiga - Homebrew - 1990

Gravitrex Plus

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2002

Based off the classic Atari arcade game Gravitar - but with many enhancements. This outstanding 64K game has all the excitement of a true arcade game. Gravitrex Plus is a game any Vectrex fan will enjoy! Gravitrex Plus has the following features: - 3 levels with 6 worlds. - Many worlds contain extra sections for more frantic button pressing. - 2 Game Modes: Standard and Arcade (the later which is faster and more intense for the expert gamers)! Your main mission is to travel to these six worlds, rescue the human captives, eliminate enemy bunkers, and finally destroy the enemy planets themselves!

Patriots

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - April 21, 1996

Patriots is a clone of a popular arcade game from the 80's. Patriots is faster and more challenging than other missile games. It is visually exciting, with many special effects, including fades, scaling and rotation. Game control is solid with additional options for those who need them. Patriots code is optimized to make the game run very, very smooth. Vectrex "flicker" is almost nonexistent, except for higher levels with tons of missiles, patriots and explosions all happening at once." Supports trackball input.

Patriots III

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2002

Patriots III: Ballistics Busters is a completely rewritten version of the original game with three cannons and unlimited ammo. In this version, the player's cannons will require time to reload but never run out of missiles like in the previous versions. In addition, this version also has an option to control the player sites or cross hairs through analog controls, rather that with only digital controls. These controls more closely resemble the controls used in the arcade version which were that of a trackball.

Patriots Remix

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

PATRIOTS THE SPECIAL EDITION–I’ve only played the original Patriots in emulation a few times, and this seems like it has only minor changes (the bonus hidden game is even the same as on the original Patriots as well), just a slightly different pace and better sound. Here you must protect several cities from missiles raining down on them; maybe the missiles are in regards to the invaders wising up from V. Vaders TDC and realizing they should stop wasting manpower on you, and use machines and missiles instead to wreck havoc? Aircraft and smart missiles also add to this fun “remix” clone of Missile Command. Released as part of the Vecmania game pak.

Purple Dinosaur Massacre

ColecoVision - Homebrew - 1997

John Dondzila wrote a homebrew game for the ColecoVision in 1996 which involved killing Barney. Called Purple Dinosaur Massacre, it was originally written for gaining sprite programming experience on the ColecoVision, but was released to the web via ClassicGaming.com in 1997 and gained some popularity among the readers of the website. It is a crosshairs shooter and all your targets are Barney.

Repulse

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

REPULSE–clone of the rare Eliminator vector game. I don’t know how it compares, since I never played the original (saw it, but never played it), but it’s addicting and can take a while, due to starting with five ships and then earning a new one with every successful elimination (sorry!) of the mother ship. Unfortunately firing a shot up the mother ship’s slim shaft is difficult, especially with sentry ships thrown in the mix, which a hit from them can send you careening across the screen. A fun, differently-paced challenge than the other games on here, but you need some pretty decent nerves to make it through this one though. Released as part of the VecMania game pak.

Rockaroids Remix

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Let's blow-up some stuff! This is the second of John Dondzila's three versions of Rockaroids. Rockaroids Remix features more intense game play than the original Rockaroids and does not have the game slowing rotating rocks of Rockaroids: 3'rd Rock.

Rockaroids Remix: Third Rock

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Rockaroids Remix: 3rd Rock: In this third version of the game, Rockaroids is back, with with enhanced rocks and rotation, more speed and a faster, challenging game! Released as part of the Vecmania game pak. The title screen still shows the original 1996 release date, but the 3rd rock version was released in 1999.

Space Frenzy

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2006

John Dondzila's last game for the Vectrex, in all its 64K glory! Intense Arcade Style Gameplay, as you fight off wave after wave of ship fragments, that will form into cruisers to attack and destroy your ship. Doc with other ships after each wave to increase your firepower. - Features Vectors Plus Digitized Sound * - Combined Joystick Plus LRTF Button Support - VecVox (AtariVox+) Support - In-game Instructions Contains a playable demo of the never completed SUPER SPIKE WORLD! * Digitized speech and vectors may not work on all Vectrex systems due to the age of the system. An option to play without this feature is available.

Space Invasion

ColecoVision - Homebrew - 1998

After many frustrating years, scientists have finally made contact with biengs from another planet. That's the good news. The bad news is that these aliens are bent on conquering the galaxy one planet at a time. After discorering the existence of the Earth, the aliens send troops to our world in the hope of enslaving it. These soldiers are determined to reach the surface of our planet, and if they succeed, the human race is doomed. Fortunately, the people of Earth are prepared for this assault, building protective barriers over key military outposts and manufacturing powerful mobile cannons known as "bases". The bases are our best defense against the invaders, -but beware... The enemy won't quit until they've won, and they'll destroy everything that stands in their way... - And that's also including you !. The Rainbow effect... If the final aliens you kill are in the bottom 2 rows, you get a fireworks display and 500 bonus points. If it happens to be the bottom, left-most alien, you get fireworks and a 1,000 point bonus.

Spike Hoppin’

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1996

Spike Hoppin' is a game where you make Spike hop on blocks, and change all their "colors". Spud returns and will try to stop Spike, as well as other enemies and a few friends too. Spike Hoppin' includes digitized speech (Spike talks again!), as well as a bonus hidden game and a few other surprises !

Spike's Water Balloons

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2001

Help out hero, Spike, win Molly's affections by winning a wet and wild game of water balloon catch. Play with a standard Vectrex controller or a modified Atari 2600 Paddle controller.

Star Castle PC

MS-DOS - Unlicensed - 1994

Star Castle PC is a freeware remake of Star Castle. John Dondzila created this game in memory of his favourite arcade game. Gameplay is simple: Controlling a small space fighter you have to destroy a mighty battleship to get into the next level. Surrounded by three energy walls it fires permanently torpedo that lock onto your ship and pursue you. To destroy your enemy you have to shoot a path through the barriers and fire at the ship, but once there is a path it fires a fast and deadly plasma cannon at you that can't be destroyed contrary to the torpedo. You get points for destroying elements of the barriers and the ship itself. After achieving 10000 points an extra ship is added to your account (you start with three ships i.e. three lives).

Star Fire

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Star Fire Spirits: Incredible 3D space fighter were you have to destroy waves of enemy fighters, skim the surface of an alien planet, and navigate narrow chasms to destroy the planet´s core! Released as part of the Vecmania game pak.

Star Fortress

ColecoVision - Homebrew - 1997

Star Fortress is based on the early 80's style space shooter games, where you (or a second player) attempt to penetrate the shields of a heavily armored space ship. You can manuever your ship around the fortress and shoot at the 3 revolving energy shields. As you weaken pieces of the shields, these pieces will break off. Once having cleared a path to the center, you can attempt to land a shot at the mother ship and destroy it. But watch out ! Also revolving around the shields are energy balls which will break loose and try to home in on your ship. You can attempt to out manuever the energy balls or shoot them down. Once you break through the inner shields, the mother ship will fire huge energy balls which you can only outrun, but not destroy. When you destroy the mother ship, a new level will begin and increase in skill difficulty.

Star Seige

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

John Dondzila's attempt to recreate the Star Wars game for the GCE Vectrex.

Vecmania

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Vecmania has the largest amount of games for a homebrew compilation for the Vectrex, with a full seven games (one hidden) and two unfinished demos, being clones of the arcade games of Tempest, Star Wars, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Eliminator, Breakout, Discs Of Tron, Asteroids and Phoenix. The games can be scrolled through at the main menu by moving the joystick or D-pad left and right and then chosen by pressing up on the joystick or D-pad. The main menu can be returned to by pressing three on the controller when the player is on an individual game's title screen (except for the demos). The games are: Birds of Prey Breakout Patriots Remix Repulse Rockaroids Remix: Third Rock Star Fire Spirits Vector Vaders The Director's Cut

Vectopia

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2001

Vectopia is John Dondzila´s 2nd 64K Vectrex game cartridge, featuring a compilation of 2 new games, a playable game demo, an updated game, controller test, and 4 early draft games. Vectopia includes: • Wormhole: Move your ship in a circular pattern to destroy aliens emerging from the Wormhole ahead of you. Watch out for scout ships, while picking up Power-Ups. The game gets progressively harder as each level passes. • Trakkers: Fly through the grids while destroying enemy Trakkers. Eliminate enemy Trakkers to complete each level. The Trakkers becomes smarter as you progress through each level. Watch out for the Hunter Killer Trakker! • VECTROPOLIS 500 (demo): Functional but minimal game with no AI at all. Up to four players sharing two controller can play this rough but playable game. • Spike's Water Balloons (Analog Controller version): Designed specifically for the Vectrex analog controller. • 2 Port Vectrex Controller Tester: No-Frills program that will let you test all of your controller functions for controller ports 1 and 2. And more!

Vector Vaders Remix

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 1999

Vector Vaders Remix: This is Vector Vaders as it was meant to be, with simpler graphics for faster and flicker free action, along with some bug fixes and multi-channel sound effects! Released as part of the Vecmania game pak.

Wormhole

GCE Vectrex - Homebrew - 2001

WORMHOLE – clone of the very classic arcade game Gyruss, where your ship spins around the screen in a giant circle to destroy as many enemy ships as possible. It’s amazing how far Dondzila came with the slow moving early releases of Vector Vaders and More Invaders! (from the All Good Things cartridge) to how incredibly fast the enemy ships swarm in and out of the center of the screen (the “wormhole”). At first this seems like Dondzila’s easiest game to date, since the ships can pass through you without harm and they don’t shoot back, but that won’t last for long (isn’t that always the way?). Making up for not having any of the cool music and the bonus stages, you’re granted three power-ups (rather than the arcade’s one) upon shooting special ships: double shots, destroying everything onscreen, and slowing down the action for several seconds. Pretty intense stuff…