Page 27 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #6

collides with it. Birds of Prey will satisfy any Galaxian/
Vecmania
Vecmania
by John Dondzila
by John Dondzila
Platform: Vectrex
Genre: Arcade Action Multicart
Released: 1999
Eight brand-new Vectrex games on one cart. Can life get much
better than this?
For the benefit of the three readers who are unfamiliar with
the programmer's prior efforts, John Dondzila has been creating
arcade-quality games for a variety of systems - especially the
Vectrex - for many years now. As we go to press, his latest effort
is Vecmania - a new multi-cart for the Vectrex videogame sys-
tem.
Rather than attempt to summarize the offerings on this cart, I
thought I'd judge each game on its own merits:
• First up is Star Fire Spirits, a first-person space shooter.
Your mission, Eager Young Space Cadet, is to approach
the mysterious Dark Planet, blasting the Planet's fighters as
you approach. Upon defeating wave upon wave of fighters,
you'll find yourself skimming along the Planet's surface, de-
stroying bunkers and laser towers all the way. Finally, you'll
dive into a long trench, dodging catwalks while attempting to
drop a torpedo into the central core! OK, if the storyline
sounds familiar, it should. John has done a remarkable job
at adapting the Star Wars vector arcade game for the Vec- Patriots Remix
trex. It's as fast and furious as its grown-up cousin and twice
as heart-racing. For those who still feel the force within,
you'll love this game.
• The next game, Repulse, is taking on quite a following
amongst the Vectrex fans. It’s quite difficult and quite addic-
tive, all at once. Your ship must destroy the Mother Fortress
by shooting a single pulse bolt down the thin shaft and into
the core. However, the Fortress is constantly rotating and
bouncing off the screen's walls, making a well-placed shot a
stroke of luck and/or skill. As you try to set up this miracle,
the Fortress' sentry ships come after you, firing their own
pulse bolts. If they hit you, you won't blow up. You'll bounce!
That's right, your bolts will cause the sentries to go ricochet-
ing as well. Collision with the Fortress, however, is deadly!
And eventually, the Fortress' Mother Ship may come out
hunting! This game is the hardest of the games on the cart,
but has exciting action that
hardcore arcaders will eat up.
Me? I can't get past Level 4. Abyss
Great action and sound
makes Repulse a winner!
• Birds of Prey brings the
arcade game Phoenix to the
Vectrex. This game has you
destroying wave after wave of
attacking bird-like aliens. Sur-
vive enough waves and you'll
go up against the Mother Ship
where you must shoot away
the rotating band to get a
clear shot at the Mother Bird.
The game is straight-forward
with you moving back and
forth and firing upon the diving
enemy. Pressing button 3
activates a temporary shield
that will protect you from la-
sers and destroy any bird that Starfire
Classic Gamer Magazine Spring 2001 27
Pleaides/Phoenix cravings you may have.
• The next three games are re-worked versions of games
John has released in the past: Vector Vaders Remix;
Patriots Remix; and Rockaroids Remix, 3rd Rock. Per-
sonally, I find Rockaroids most refreshing. This Aster-
oids clone is the best home version of the space-rock
game I've ever seen. The rocks tumble through space,
and the UFOs always seem to appear just in time to
screw everything up. Even the THOOM-THOOM-
THOOM backbeat of the game is a spot-on reproduction
of the classic vector game. Great fun.
• Patriots Remix brings the excitement of defending your
planet's cities from wave after wave of enemy missiles.
Using the two gunnery bases on either side of the
Disk Duel screen, you must send up your own missiles to deflect
the incoming ICBMs. Occasionally, planes and saucers
will drift through, dropping more Atomic Death From the
Skies. And beware the missile-dodging Smart Bomb!
This game is great fun...until the upper levels. When
there's a great many missiles on-screen, the gameplay
slows up considerably. When you start clearing out the
missiles, the game speeds back up to normal. The sud-
den change in speed has caused me to miss a few sud-
denly-speedy missiles. From what I understand, John
has already optimized this game's graphics to correct
this problem. Sadly, it stills exists. Still, a very fun adap-
tation.
• What game system doesn't have its own "destroy wave
after wave of space invaders" game? Well, John cor-
rected the Vectrex slight by programming Vector
Vaders. As you destroy the invaders, they move faster
and faster - first across, then down, then across, then...
you get the picture. Fortunately, you have four bunkers
to hide under - until you or they shoot them into oblivion.
My only gripe (and it's a minor one) is that I wish the
invaders could've looked like...well, invaders. As it is
now, the invaders look like little V's. I felt like I was
shooting down distant birds.
• The last two items on the cart are two unfinished games
that John wished to share with fans. These games may
or may not ever see the light of day, but it was nice of
John to let us see what he's been toying with. The first
demo is called Abyss. John says that to finish the game,
he'd have to completely re-write the code. You control a
claw-like creature as it shoots at invaders coming up
from a long tube. Right now, all you can do in this Tem-
pest clone is spin about and shoot down the tunnel. You
can't die, so it's just here as a curiosity. I'd be curious to
see it finished. (I'm a Tempest hound.)
• Last up is Disc Duel and this demo has great, great
promise to be another great Dondzila offering. Taking its
cue from Discs of Tron, you and a friend fire discs at
each other in a futuristic stadium as you leap from float-
ing platform to floating platform. Since this game lets
you duel versus another person, it's great fun with two
joysticks. A great sign of Things To Come!
Every game on this cart would be recommended - some
very highly - if it came just by itself. Since you get all of this
on one cart for one small price, it's a great way to get the
arcade experience at home all at once! (One other nice
touch: John programs your name into the title screen making
every cart a very personal collectible.)
John has ordering instructions at his website
www.classicgamecreations.com
where he also has homebrews for the
ColecoVision and Odyssey2
systems as well.