Does the world need another retro console? Probably not. However, we all know we’ll keep them getting them anyway, so might as well enjoy all the retro gaming goodness while it’s here. The Vectrex Mini is the latest to make its way back from the nascent days of video games.
To the unfamiliar, the Vectrex was a home video game console originally released in 1982. It was unique in that it came with an integrated CRT monitor, essentially making it a standalone gaming system, so you can enjoy your games while your mom watches The Price is Right or your Dad watches the football game. Unfortunately, it was one of the casualties of the fateful video game crash of 1983, ending up a commercial failure before being discontinued just one year later.
The Vectrex Mini is, basically, a miniature recreation of the vintage game console. Instead of a 9-inch CRT display like the original, the new one is fitted with a 5-inch AMOLED panel, making the whole thing a lot more portable. It retains the upright mini-cabinet design of the original, albeit with a case measuring about half the size. The styling is well-preserved, though, complete with the same textured plastic finish, so this looks like a mini-TV straight out of the 80s when you look at it from the side.
It also reprises the controller design from the original, which incorporates a mini-joystick and four action buttons. Instead of being wired to the console, though, the new one uses a Bluetooth controller, so you don’t have to be permanently tethered the whole time you’re playing. Like the original, the controller is designed to slot right into the case, allowing you to keep the whole thing in one place. It only comes with one Bluetooth controller, though, so you’ll have to buy a second one if you want to run two-player games on it.
The Vectrex Mini is powered by an ESP32 microcontroller, which features a 32-bit Xtensa dual-core CPU and 520kB of RAM. While that doesn’t sound much, it is enough for the kind of vector games that ran on the original Vectrix. Speaking of games, only 12 games will come preloaded in the console, each of which will come with their own physical overlay that you can put on top of the screen, similar to the 80s originals. It does, however, have a microSD card slot that you can use to sideload more games, in case you have them available. According to the outfit, they’re still finalizing the games lineup as of now, but the ability to sideload other games should make it a non-issue, regardless of which ones they end up preinstalling.
The machine comes with a DB9 port, in case you have an original Vectrex controller you want to use with it, as well as USB port for plugging in compatible USB gamepads. It also gets an HDMI port in the back, in case you want to see your games play out on the living room TV. They also threw in a Vector Clock app that, basically, lets you use the game console as a digital clock for when you’re not playing.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Vectrex Mini. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $173.
