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The Vectrex is one of the strangest and most beloved consoles ever made. It launched in 1982 with its own built-in vector monitor, which drew sharp glowing lines instead of pixels. Nothing else in the home looked like it. It even used plastic screen overlays to add color to the black-and-white display. The library is small, since the system was short-lived, but it is packed with arcade-style classics. On a handheld, emulation recreates those crisp vector lines beautifully on a modern screen.
The Vectrex library is tiny, so this is a short and curated list. That small size is part of its charm. You can play through most of the good ones in a weekend.
We frame all of this around games you already own and want to preserve.
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The Essentials
Mine Storm (Vectrex) — The pack-in game and the system's Asteroids. Sharp, fast, and endlessly replayable. Built into every Vectrex, and still the best place to start.
Star Castle (Vectrex) — A brilliant port of the arcade classic. You chip away at rotating rings to reach the core. Tense and satisfying.
Web Wars (Vectrex) — A colorful, freewheeling space shooter with a unique look. One of the system's most distinctive games.
Scramble (Vectrex) — A strong home version of the side-scrolling arcade shooter. Fast and demanding.
Arcade Ports
Berzerk (Vectrex) — The maze shooter suits vector graphics perfectly. Escape the robots room by room. A great fit for the hardware.
Armor Attack (Vectrex) — A tank combat game with an overlay that adds a city map. Tactical and tense.
Rip-Off (Vectrex) — A co-op arcade shooter where you defend fuel canisters. One of the earliest great two-player games.
Space Wars (Vectrex) — A duel between two ships around a star's gravity. A pure, classic vector experience.
Deep Cuts and Homebrew
Bedlam (Vectrex) — A frantic tube shooter with waves closing in from all sides. Intense and hypnotic.
Spike (Vectrex) — A rare platformer for the system, and one with actual speech. Charming and surprisingly ambitious for the hardware.
Fortress of Narzod (Vectrex) — An action-adventure shooter with a fantasy theme. A memorable deep cut.
Vector Pilot (Vectrex homebrew) — A modern homebrew shooter from Tutstronix that pushes the hardware further than the original library ever did. A brilliant showcase of the still-active Vectrex scene.
Best Handhelds for Vectrex Games
The Vectrex is trivial to emulate, so any modern handheld runs it perfectly. The real question is the screen. Vector graphics look their best on a bright, high-contrast display where those glowing lines can shine.
The vecx core makes Vectrex emulation simple, and it runs on essentially every handheld. For crisp vector visuals on a budget, the
has more than enough power and a comfortable screen. For the best-looking lines on an OLED panel, a device like the makes those glowing vectors pop.Related Guides
- Best Atari 2600 Games for Handhelds — the Vectrex's early-80s rivals
- Best Arcade Games for Handhelds — the coin-op classics these ports came from
- Best Hidden Gem Games for Handhelds — more oddball discoveries
- Best Pick-Up-and-Play Games for Handhelds — quick-session favorites
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