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Blacklighter - has anyone seen this?

RenegadeRenegade
edited July 2020 in Chit chat
As advertised in Retrogamer magazine these are "UV overlays for vectrex" which add an holographic depth to the game screen.

www.blacklighter.co.uk

It looks cool, but I was wondering if the same principle could be applied to some specific spectrum games..


Post edited by Renegade on

Comments

  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    Nice idea, just wish I could get a vectrex to use em' on :(
    Every night is curry night!
  • RenegadeRenegade
    After watching some videos and doing some reading I simply have to admit that the Vectrex is super cool!
  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    Mrs Ant bought me one for Christmas just before they started to rocket in price a few years ago. I acquired a multicart with all the official games too (though it's a slightly fiddly switched one). Not seen these overlays, they might be neat, they might be annoying. I rarely ever bother with the overlays usually, but the effect of these could be good.
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    Yeah they seem to be going for close to $700, so that’s me not getting one anytime soon...and that’s with no games as well.

    Pity none of these retro type companies have never rereleased or cloned them :(
    Every night is curry night!
  • GreenCardGreenCard
    dm_boozefreek wrote: »
    Yeah they seem to be going for close to $700, so that’s me not getting one anytime soon...and that’s with no games as well.

    If you ever do decide to take the plunge, I'm pretty sure you can buy a multicart these days that has every commercially released game on it.
  • i love the z80si love the z80s
    I guess you'd need them in a bunch of different sizes for different TVs.
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    The Vectrex comes with the screen as part of the base unit, so it should be one size fits all.
    Every night is curry night!
  • Antiriad2097Antiriad2097
    i love the z80s wrote: »
    I guess you'd need them in a bunch of different sizes for different TVs.

    You must look up what a Vectrex is.

    Not only does it have its own screen, but it's a vector screen. You just can't replicate that accurately any other way. Modern high resolution displays can come close to the look, but nothing quite has the glow of a vector screen.
  • i love the z80si love the z80s
    I know what a Vectrex is. I was replying to
    Renegade wrote: »
    It looks cool, but I was wondering if the same principle could be applied to some specific spectrum games..

  • ÆlitaÆlita
    I've never actually seen a vectrex in the flesh...but glowy vector graphics are sooo fffing cool. Who didn't love the arcade games like Red Baron..imagine this overlay would be very cool..if it's not some daft gimmick. I assume it's not.
    I stole it off a space ship.
  • dm_boozefreekdm_boozefreek
    It's kind of like a lot of the the older Vector based arcades used overlays for the screens, ( Projected the vectors onto a static image in some cases, kind of like the original Space invaders did) there's one that's set on a single screen from about 1979. Where it's just you and 1 other person with a sword fighting each other in a top down view, and trying to play it without the overlay is literally impossible, as the overlay contains pits and traps, which without the original screen makes the game impossible to play.

    The Vectrex overlays really was just a way of adding a little colour to the games, but some of them look pretty funky when they're on there. I personally used to prefer playing without them, but my mate who actually owned the Vectrex liked using them. I always played Minestorm, Clean Sweep, and definitely Scramble without them...
    Every night is curry night!
  • GreenCardGreenCard
    Ælita wrote: »
    I've never actually seen a vectrex in the flesh...but glowy vector graphics are sooo fffing cool. Who didn't love the arcade games like Red Baron..imagine this overlay would be very cool..if it's not some daft gimmick. I assume it's not.

    I've never actually seen a Vectrex in person either. The closest I've come to seeing something similar is playing the original Asteroids arcade.
  • RenegadeRenegade
    Ælita wrote: »
    ...but glowy vector graphics are sooo fffing cool. Who didn't love the arcade games like Red Baron..

    Exactly.

    One of the things that got lost and really attracted people to videogames.
  • RenegadeRenegade
    i love the z80s wrote: »
    I know what a Vectrex is. I was replying to
    Renegade wrote: »
    It looks cool, but I was wondering if the same principle could be applied to some specific spectrum games..


    I think I'm going to buy some colored cellophane sheets and place them directly on the tv CRT screen just to see how it looks... :)
  • i love the z80si love the z80s
    I love the idea of the 3d imager attachment for the Vectrex, ( https://vectrex.fandom.com/wiki/3D_Imager )
    it gives you colour and stereoscopic 3d at the same time! I've never seen one n real life though
  • moggymoggy
    One of the members on the ZX81 forum has just bought one of these and is awaiting some kind of kit to get rid of the speaker buzz these things apparently had. he does up ZX81's and other retro kit then sells it on I could ask if this will be up for sale if anyone has an interest.?
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