The Vectrex Mini just revealed almost all of its built-in games

The makers of the upcoming Vectrex Mini have revealed 13 of the 14 games built into the miniature console. The lineup includes arcade ports like Berzerk and system staples like Mine Storm, alongside a few modern additions. There is one unannounced surprise game left to reveal.

Please excuse if I got any of these wrong. The image they shared was very low res.

A monitor of its own

The original Vectrex hit store shelves in 1982 with a $199 price tag. General Consumer Electronics built something completely different from the Atari 2600 or Intellivision. Instead of hooking up to a family television, the console had its own integrated CRT monitor. It drew crisp, bright lines using vector graphics instead of pixels. It also came with colored plastic overlays that snapped over the screen to provide static backgrounds and UI elements. Milton Bradley eventually bought the company, but the video game crash of 1983 killed the system prematurely.

The original hardware used a cathode ray tube that steered an electron beam directly from point to point. This created intense lines with zero pixelation. Modern LCD screens cannot physically operate this way. The Vectrex Mini has to simulate that glowing vector look on a standard display.

The new device shrinks that massive 1982 hardware down to a desk-friendly size. It replicates the original all-in-one design with a built-in screen and a tiny analog control panel. The original controller had a self-centering analog joystick and four action buttons laid out in a row. The Mini copies this layout exactly. Playing these games with a standard modern D-pad never feels quite right. The analog stick is required for the precise aiming in games like Hyper Chase and Blitz. I have one on preorder.

The 13 confirmed titles

The confirmed game list covers the system's short but creative lifespan. Mine Storm is the Asteroids clone that came built into the original 1982 hardware. Berzerk is the arcade port famous for its robotic voice and relentless enemies. Blitz is a surprisingly deep American football game played with X's and O's.

Spike is historically notable because it gave the console a mascot with digitized speech. Clean Sweep is the system's take on Pac-Man, but you play as a bank robber vacuuming up money. Spinball is a pinball simulation that plays surprisingly well with the analog stick. Web Wars puts you in a 3D perspective capturing bugs on a wire grid. Narzod (officially Fortress of Narzod) is a frantic shooter where bullets bounce off the walls. Polar Rescue is a first-person submarine combat game that pushed the hardware's 3D capabilities.

Bedlam, Hyper Chase, and Heads Up round out the classic catalog. The device also includes Ultra Zombie Apocalypse. This is a modern homebrew title. The vector gaming community is still actively developing for the platform decades later, and it is nice to see that work recognized on official hardware.

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