New UV Blacklighter Overlays for the Vectrex
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มี.ค. 2020
- A look at the Blacklighter ultraviolet screen overlays for the Vectrex games console.
LINKS BELOW....
UV overlays: www.blacklighter.co.uk
You can see other overlays being demonstrated on the Blacklighter TH-cam channel: / @blacklighter
UV frame: www.clockworkrobot.com/shop/#U...
UK AFFILIATED AMAZON Links for other things you might need
12v power supply
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Dimmer switch
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Right-angled cable
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Financial Disclosure.
I have not been paid to make this video and I paid for my overlay kit.
Technical Issues
There are technical issues with the video frame rate - There's a long boring story about flicker, 50Hz and 60fps, shutter modes and editing packages etc etc, but no point crying over spilt vectors. You get the idea of what the overlays look like - so the video worked despite the issues.
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Man, these vector graphics are to this day simply mesmerizing. You've got to see this in person, a video doesn't do this justice.
indeed. luckily had a chance to play one at a game expo and was blown away how crisp and smoother it looks in person, especially considering when it came out.
Yes I love seeing vector graphics on old arcade machines
I've tried replicating the effect in 3D software. So far, my results aren't ideal.
That Star Wars overlay is awesome!
Agreed..! Shame the Vectrex version of _Star Wars_ doesn't seem to have the voice samples that were present in the original arcade and "Classic" Macintosh versions of that game
Maybe it supports AtariVox
Legit question, could they have made something like this when they sold the Vectrex in the 80's?
mrbisshie I looked into that game and I’m pretty sure it’s actually a MAME emulator for Vectrex and that’s the actual Star Wars arcade game running on it.
There is a horizontal version as well which is even better.
The UV overlays really up the arcade feel of the Vectrex. I was glad to see an overlay for Warrior in set shown briefly in the video. I'm pretty sure Warrior used a UV sensitive background and projected the XY display onto glass over it, so having a similar UV overlay would really get close to the original experience. Very cool!
My father was a photographer back from 70's to 2K, I remember him taking pictures of one of the first prototype in Europe. This was an incredible thing. I was around 8 yo. Very happy to see one in good condition! Thanks a lot.
My jaw dropped when you made Asteroids look cooler than it ever has.
@John Dough Uhhh... Wut?
@John Dough Ahhh.. gotcha!
still look incredible even after all these years and those overlays really add to it
Wow... that is a very nice addition to the Vectrex! I remember these were in stores in 80ties. The store owner kept a list on which you could add your name so every kid could play it for ten minutes or so. It was way too expensive i would never get one at the time. For example: a small handheld one screen game could cost as much as 40 pounds back then while these simple games these go four, i guess, 5 pounds maximum today. Lovely to see that there is still a Vectrex community.
That bloom looks great, I can totally imagine a modern game with graphics of that style.
Man, if there's one retro console that I want, it's the Vectrex. The overlay looks so cool!
Wow... what absolute delightful 80s neon retro goodness!
This took me right back to standing in Woolworths lusting after one of these as a kid. Its been a tough week, thanks for this.
Same here. They put it away from all the computer stuff on the end of one of the aisles.
The same! Used to be on the top shelf and I would gaze at it with awe.
Thats exactly what I did that one year they were available and wanted one ever since. I finally got mine nearly 30 years later, as a 40th birthday present from my best mate, who'd found it at a car boot sale some 9 months previously.
A fantastic machine and having seen the UV kit at an event a few weeks ago, can say it really adds something to an already amazing system.
@@Tecstar70 In our woolies it was on display and working. I got mine about 5 years ago from ebay in a semi-working state. One fiddly clean of the power switch and it worked fine. I recapped it but that wasn't the problem.
Was a Toys R Us for me.
Always wanted a Vectrex and these overlays are great. I love the moon one!
More than the color, which is nice, I like the perspective "background" graphics. Amd oh my god, the star wars game looks just like one I played on an arcade machine!
Can I just pause for a moment and say, I LOVE TECHMOAN! Best TH-cam channel hands down.
Awesome!!! I loved the simple Vectrex graphics back in the day, but this adds a real retro boost to it!
The ones that are made with one specific game in mind are absolutely awesome - especially since I believe that a lot of Vectrex games in circulation have been separated from their overlay.
Thanks Laurence and James for getting these to Vectrex fans before Techmoan posted on TH-cam. Thanks you Techmoan for letting everyone know about the new products for the Vectrex!!!!
More information can be found on the Facebook group. Vectrex fans unite! Always makes me think of football.
I still have my Vectrex which I received as a Christmas present in 1983. In my opinion one of the best consoles of that era ever made.
That’s badass. Look out, the Vectrex has has joined the next generation of gaming.
and die super fast.
I'm surprised at how much atmosphere this adds to the games. It's like a Gameboy Colour for the Vectrex!
I bought a Vectrex in a closing down sale from Woolco in the 80s with a load of cartridges at a really good price and played it for years. It went into the attic for a few decades after a house move. A few years ago I sold it on eBay for an absolutely massive profit.
I kind of regret selling it though ....
I think my Dad found mine and a bunch of carts at Odd Lot in NYC way back then. I couldn't even think of selling mine though.
it's one of those tough things...
they should be held onto, but then they don't enter circulation for people to enjoy.
I've gotten to play with one a teacher had, and kind of want one just cause it's so unique
I got one for $3 at a Goodwill and a second for a similar price at a yard sale that had a cracked controller. They thought it was broken because it had no picture, but just turning the contrast knob fixed it. I still have them, but no games.
@@MM007 You have Mine storm twice.
@@brorianszk Ah, I meant to say I have no additional games. The built-in ones do indeed work. Sorry for being unclear.
Those are some awesome overlays! And I must say, pretty good games too... I did not know much about the Vectrex game library, but now I am intrigued.
Always had a soft spot for the Vectrex. A buddy of mine found one at the dump in the late 90's along with a bunch of games. We had a great time playing with that thing. We knew about the overlays but never had any of them. Wish he still had it because this looks kinda awesome.
I owned a vectrex in the '80s.. i literally gave it away to a nephew when i got my megadrive (genesis) as I already had a mastersystem too... I still regret that I did that because after about 9 months he was tired of the thing and he didn't find anything better than to use his baseball bat on the thing.. I never gave anything away for free since then... I had two controllers and about 15 games...
I feel your pain! I held onto my Vectrex, but my old Timex SInclair 1000 suffered a similar fate at the hands of my cousins. I guess they needed to know what it was inside, piece by piece..
Should have beat them in the head for that.
Wtf? Your cousin is an assho.
Does he realise how rare they are?!
@@naxzed_it They were both kids, and it was the 90's,so I'd hazard a guess the answer is no.
@@SkigBiggler Also isn't it extremely dangerous to break a CRT
I honestly can't say how happy it made me seeing that Star Wars game. I cannot begin to tell you how many quarters and tokens I put in the arcade version when I was a kid. All that allowance I gave to the arcades in my town.... Thanks.
Very cool (and surprising). These overlays look much cooler than the ones that came with most of the individual games.
I remember a friend back in the 80's had a Vectrex and being amazed by it. His mother worked in MB in Waterford Ireland and the factory is still there today. In these current times games consoles could be life savers , stay safe everyone.
If you see one live, it really is a spectacular looking machine, especially compared to its contemporaries. The vector graphics are clear, crisp and you could smoothly rotate and scale shapes around in ways other consoles could only do much much later. If the product line had survived to iterate on the basic design, we might have gotten some fantastic home ports of early vector graphics arcade games like Star Wars and I, Robot
@@Agamemnon2 It's definitely a very interesting and unique design.
Though I wonder how long it would have survived, given it's a concept that is very hard to replicate without a CRT.
All our replacement display technologies pre-suppose that an image is composed of pixels.
Granted, at high enough resolutions you could probably fake it without this being immediately obvious. (I'd say an 8k display, especially if it's physically fairly small, like 20 inches or less, would look almost convincing. But at the end of the day you're still faking actual vectors)
I mean, OK, sure, a laser projector can mimic vector displays quite directly, but laser projectors are hardly going to ever be regular household items given how dangerous the high-powered lasers involved can be...
They look amazing! I’d definitely get them if I had a Vectrex
Vectrex takes on a cool vaporwave aesthetic with these overlays.
Refined Retro Reviews retro wave. Vaporwave is more 90th
@@CyrilViXP it's not the law
Vectrex already looked cool back in the 80s.
It's really nice to see these projects get supported! the Star Wars game and Asteroids looks incredible!
I had never heard of the Vectrex but the overlays make it look like a totally awesome arcade game.
I love the grid that goes into the center, it looks so good!
Amazing difference, those overlays makes to that console.
Did not know, you could buy overlays, always assumed, that the vectrex, was a mono only thing. Those overlays, really add something to it.
Apart from a couple Game & Watch, the Vectrex was my first gaming machine :) It's amazing to see that yours is still working after all these years.
I'm amazed at how smooth the vectrex is running those games, many are far busier than anything on the 8-bit computers of my childhood in the 80s!
Damn, that looks really cool! It's so nice seeing such an obscure console get so much love.
I bought my Vectrex from Woolworths in '82/83 in sale, I got £40 off. Now I play Spike et el on my Rasp pi. Still a great experience.
Thank for the memories.
It's 40 years old and the graphics are still mind blowing.
Mine shattered in a move 6 years ago. I miss having it every day. It was my center piece of obscure gaming consoles.
The Vectrex was like a device straight out of Star Wars.
It's awesome that the vectrex still gets love! Haven't let go of mine.
These overlays look so great! It would have been nice to show some regular overlays as a comparison. At least one original vs. it's new custom overlay would have been a must...
Great video as always! Greetings from Germany!
I owned a Vectex as a teenager and later "loaned" it to my niece. Although she always speaks fondly of the game, and grateful for my sharing it, sadly, it was lost in a flood in her first apartment.
A small part of me died that day. And when, years later, I became aware of the cult following, I was saddened even more.
And the icing on the cake, she still had all the overlays from my games. Of course, they were junked as well. *sigh*
Also, I read a comment below how watching the graphics as recorded for sharing truly don't do the effect justice. I totally agree. The screen was small, but the effect was big!
This is what I found at the local arcade, next to pinball machines, as a child circa 1980-81. Awesome walk down the lane.
Vectrex was ahead of its time i believe as a system back in the day,the way that used that vector graphics technique giving the idea of a 3D space with those lines & boxes was overwhelming to say the least.I would love to have one in my shelve as a retro collector i am also.Worth mention that it is amazing in its unique vintage design also! Awesome review for those overlays my friend,if i owned a vectrex i would have surely try some out!
I used to play that Star Wars game in the arcades back in the 70's. Geez, I'm old.
I just want to thank you for the all the vids you post. Entertaining and informative to the max. Really nice during these hard times. Thank you so much!
Wow those overlays are very impressive, especially the one with the Moon graphic; i almost wish i had a Vectrex myself, now.
Keep em coming Mat, we need your videos in our days of isolation.
Always pleasing to see the old vectrex getting some love👍
The Vectrex ages so gracefully from a graphics perspective. It's one of those things that is interesting to me...when you emphasize the best of an existing technology, it ages much better than when you use the cutting edge for the time. It also helps that the monochrome screen is ridiculously vibrant and smooth. The Vectrex was really the first system to offer truly arcade-perfect graphics at home.
Once again: Thanks for the great content and hard work. You can't imagine how seeing the footage of ''SW Vertical'' touched me and brought back sweet memories from spending time playing, and watching others (older kids!) play the stand-up arcade version.
Please do take care. Cheers, MC
This man is good in many areas: Engineering, Making professional videos, good skills making mupets, and detailed analysis, good i hope why industry are he working?
Man, I wish I had one of these, they always look so fun to play....
That iteration of Star Wars is astonishing. Not hard to imagine the Vectrex would have had a real life in homes if that game had existed at that quality back then and been advertised a bit.
That really does add a lot, the first one I thought was the best
Someone clearly put a lot of thought into this. Ridiculously simple yet it actually works....
I'd spotted these around but it's good to finally see a decent video demo. Loving the concept, they look great!
I don't have one of these systems but damn those overlays really boost the enjoyment so much.
whats cool is i didnt immediately notice what the overlays were doing besides a bit of coloring. then when i noticed i was floored by how awesome they are.
*I LOVE the sounds* of old game consoles: they are so funny and cute.
Looks better than I expected! Great job whoever made these!
That was a definite flashback to the 70's for me. They gobbled lots of my coins back then.
I would love to see this in person. It comes across the screen pretty well. It’s got to be incredible live!
I've been waiting for you to get that Vectrex off the shelf since I first noticed it in the background! That was my first game system, and it still holds a very special place in my heart.
CptJistuce You lucky bastard.
You had a fantastic childhood m8.
Aw man! There goes the price of Vectrexs again! All joking aside, it looks stellar- glad to see this oddball console is getting plenty of love even today! I hope I can get my hands on one someday! Great video as always sir!
This just makes me want this machine even more.
I love the Vectrex. Played the built in game last year and it's still a great system!
I have an FPGA rig to play these now. They were amazing for their day, very hard and very like arcade games.
I always wanted but never got a Vectrex in "the day" Most of my favorite coin-ops were vector displays: Red Baron, Asteroids, Battlezone, Tempest, and the one that usually didn't have a huge line: Star Castle. Star castle really made good use of a color overlay -- of course I didn't realize at the time that's how they did it!
As much as I absolutely love this channel, I'm surprised there are so many Patrons interested in the same thing. While much of this is in thanks to the content you provide, most of it is in support of how it is presented. I think that's amazing. :)
I don't think the two can be entirely separated. The way he presents it makes you interested in the topics, just like how a good documentary film makes you interested in a topic you might have never heard of before.
I was lucky enough to try this system out at Revival in March this year, and I agree it's bloody lovely.
5:45 - the last time I played THIS game, was in 1994 in a real arcade with the cab you are seated in fully closed off to everything, was very immersive!
I love the colors. That 1980s look to it is great.
I can't believe how much of a difference they seem to make.
This brought fond memories to mind. We had a Vectrex when we were little in the 80’s.
It looks fun, and if I had a Vectrex, I'd be shouting "Shut Up and Take My Money" to some chap.
Oh that is really cool! It kinda adds a whole new dimension to it.
Great video. My late cousin had a Vectrex but he didn't have any overlays. Such a brilliant and powerful console for its day and if memory servers the only console that could do true vector graphics with a smooth framerate. I played many Star Wars games on various systems but that Death Star trench run was the fastest I saw outside of arcades. Good memories.
Never heard of the Vectrex, thanks for sharing! The vector games were always my favorites, especially Tempest and the sit-down version of Tailgunner.
The fact you have so many of us patreons now that you can't scroll them at the end anymore and have to show loads all at once makes me really really happy for you. You're doing this as your full time job, you now have the money and the good excuse of things being business purchases meaning you can get your hands on very rare and amazing technology you've wanted for decades like the great hi-fis and turntables and things like this vectrex, and that's great. You're living the dream man. And you're still the best channel on TH-cam. Your success is only going to increase. One day you'll have enough patreons to be able to afford to review stuff like the Devialet Gold Phantom, the most expensive and ludicrous Bluetooth speaker in the world. It's completely ridiculous, if you're gonna spend £2500 on hi-fi equipment, you'd get something with actual cables, not use Bluetooth. But the thing does sound incredible supposedly. Maybe with enough millions of subscribers, Devialet would send you one for free
Techmoan doing a retro "Let's Play" Yay!!!!
These are so much cooler than I imagined
My local independent toy shop had one at the time. I was amazed by it. I eventually got a Spectrum.But it was quite unique being an all in one system
I always love seeing that Techmoan posted a video. Even more now during these times. Thanks!
When I was a kid, my friend had a vectrex, he even had all the overlays too. I put a lot of hours into that thing hahaa. It sounded exactly like yours too, and that was back in the late 80's.
These new screen covers are genius though. What an effect!
I use Blue-Tak to hold my frame in place and make it really easy to remove. Works a treat. Great vid as always. 👍
I'd never seen one of these before but just looking at it for the first time with the overlay gave me a grin on my face. Pretty cool stuff.
Thanks for helping us through the quarantine!
Nice to see some Vectrex love. Thank you.
Now if only my dad remembered where he put mine.
My cousin STILL has one of these from our childhood... Fun times!
I got here because of TM's video of the BuzzOff kit video.
I'm going to mod the eff out of my Vectrex. Just fixed the dot-problem, next up is probably going to be the sound issue.
Such a great machine, glad I have one.
Those sounds brought back memories of games I played way back when. Very cool.
Had the fortune of seeing a vectrex in person, and the lines are so amazing crisp. It really is something different for sure.
Amazing...[as I now look for UV overlays for other vintage systems.]
This is just great! I was done with my online tech spending, now there is this thing stuck in my mind now. it looks pretty awesome actually. Great vid.
The Vectrex is my pride and joy in my collection!
Games are getting insanely pricey, so this might be a way to get some more Vectrex fun!
I always wanted to get one of these systems back in the day 😎
I have never been aware of this game system. It looks really cool.
Looks futuristic, man i wish i had a vectrex.