mojofltr wrote:Does anyone here have a limited edition Protector cart with Spike Goes Down on it? I've searched many times, but never found/seen any screenshots or video of the game.

Ahh, I would love to have that. That 2003 homebrew by Alex Herber is supposed to be amazing. Here's a direct quote:

The hidden game on Protector. Excellent raster-like graphics, excellent background music, excellent playability and the smoothest scrolling on Vectrex. Simply excellent. And addictive!

Spike Goes Down

Oh, as far as my last two cartridges of Vaboom!/Vectrace and Vector Vaders, full reviews of them can be seen at this site.

I also got Royal 21 over the weekend, a bit of a sequel to Vector 21, which I did a 'mini-review' of when I started this thread. The basics are the same, where you must get stacks of cards to equal 21 or less; a stack will be removed if the total of five cards is equal to or less than 21. A 'bust' of over 21 will also remove the stack, but it'll count against you. There's also various bonuses and all.

However, the stakes are higher this time around, as well as a different gameplay environment. First off, and like the original, this is a combination of Solitaire and Blackjack...along with Tetris this time around?! Yep, cards don't drop from the sky like with Tetris, but they start at the bottom of the screen and scroll up. You must place them in appropriate areas before they reach the top.

And busts count against you big time now, you only have five busts before the game is over. However, there's various 'anti-bust' bonuses you can acquire, like getting a 'royal' 21 stack, consisting of three 7 cards, which nets a lot of points and one anti-bust. You will also acquire an anti-bust for every time you clear a deck and score 500 points, along with possibly one or two other ways (I don't have the instructions with me and don't have it all memorized).

Again like Vector 21, this is very addicting, which I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Pics can be seen here.

Well, I got one of the last of the mandatory masterpieces of Vectrex homebrews that I needed--Protector/Y. A. S. I. and Vecmania are the others, along with Gravitrex, but I don't have that one yet--which is Thrust.

For those who know even just a little about the 2600 homebrew scene, you probably know about Thrust then (and/or Thrust + and Thrust Platinum, I think they're called). If not, it's like Gravitar, where you navigate planet landscapes, shooting bunkers (hopefully before they shoot YOU) and beaming up fuel tankers. However, this time around you have to collect pods via tractor beams that the enemy is using as power sources for their diabolical plans and fly off the planet with them. Unfortunately once you latch onto the pods, they make you swing around like a damn pendulum, so, in other words, it's like taking the easy mode out of Gravitar (yeah, like it was easy anyway!); the game's a bit of a nightmare, to say the least...not something to ease yourself down to after a hard day at work to relax, unless you're a sadomasicist (sp?).

Just don't ask me how the Vectrex version compares to the Commodore 64 original or the 2600 homebrews, I haven't played them. This is pretty good though, although you need nerves of steel, as this is one of THE hardest games I've ever played...perhaps even the hardest, I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm fairly sure actually, now that I think about it.

Oh, and check out the very clever box cover to it, I love that Photoshop

I've been playing this a bit since this afternoon, which I give it an 8 out of 10; not really for everybody, due to the difficulty level, but a damn fine piece of frustrating art, I'd dare say.

Comes complete with demos for the first few levels, the ability to remap controls and choose from three difficulty levels, which there's bonuses and/or additional levels for the harder settings, I think. (Don't think I'll try any of those soon though!)

Well, I've gotten several more since my last post on here

V-Frogger is one. Even though quite the classic, I got sick of the original Frogger years ago, but upon playing V-Frogger at a gaming expo I played a couple of games' worth of it. The levels are different so I enjoyed it all over again once I got a copy of it.

Nebula Commander is tied with Royal 21 for my all-time favorite homebrew, and for the same reason: replayability. It's your starbase against an opponent's; energy crystals float around the screen. You must tractor beam them in to gain more energy to build missiles to launch at your enemy, as well as Space Destroyers, which slowly, atonumously (sp) fly over to your enemy and starts hitting it with destructive force once it gets close enough. They take five missiles to bring down, so if you hear the sound effect of one of them being launched and you hardly have any energy at all in order to build missiles then you're in big trouble.

Darryl B. wrote:along with Gravitrex,

Yep, got that one Very cool, to say the least, and the hidden bonus game (clone of Paratroopers from many 80s computer platforms) is simple and addicting.

And Big Blue is one of THE most different games for the system, as you must guide your diver into ocean depths to find treasure and bring it back up to your boat. It has some of THE best graphics for the Vectrex ever, as you can tell what all the fish are and all, which is quite cool.

Have you ever made a YouTube on your collection Darryl? Would love to see it.

Not of my collection, some a couple of slideshows. I *should* be getting a video camera in 2022. The very first thing I'm doing is getting a video of the end of Vectrexians, the Galaxian clone, because the guy who made it offered a one-off special edition of the game to the first person who beat it and posted evidence of it. He did a video of part of the end of the game but took it down many years ago, and upon finally getting the game just in the last month (after over 10 years of it being out!) there appears to be no video on YouTube of the end. I started beating it in the last week and took several photos of the end of it and sent it into VectrexMad! for his site. I assume he's holding onto the photos to put them up as a Christmas present. The pics could be something very few Vectrex fans have seen since there's no other video and a special onscreen message came up as a surprise that I didn't even know about when entering the last level. I got a shot of that too.

Anyway, another game I got since is Stramash Zone, the Battlezone clone every Vectrex owner has wanted since the 1980s! It runs a bit slow but once you get used to it it's still a good, fun game with two variations added to it.

I vaguely remember you having your own YouTube Channel. Yes, by all means get that camera and make a video. Then make sure you post the link here, I'd love to see it.

Definitely. Don't know when it'll be though.