I always wanted a Vectrex.

Released in November 1982 at a price of $199 (200 quid!); as far as I was concerned, this was as space aged as things got.

Unlike other video game consoles, which connected to televisions and rendered raster graphics, the Vectrex dan integrated vector monitor which displayed vector graphics. The monochrome Vectrex used screen overlays to give the illusion of colour. I can remember playing monochrome raster games in the arcade that used the same style gels.  At the time, many of the most popular arcade games used vector displays, and GCE was looking to set themselves apart from the pack by selling high-quality versions of games such as Space Wars and Armor Attack.

There was no way that I was ever going to be able to afford one on my pocket money and paper round pay. I’ve only ever seen one once, and it didn’t work.

Move on over a quarter of a century, and I think I could build something similar using an old Sega Dreamcast, a couple of DC Arcade Sticks (I only have one at present), and a Dell 19” CRT monitor. If the monitor was rotated (“Tate”, as it’s known as), it would be able to handle the dozen or so DC games (mainly vertical shooters, e.g. Ikaruga, Under Defeat), that support tate vertical output. Add an RGB cable and the picture looks fantastic.

Why not use an LCD panel? The Dreamcast will output VGA (640x480), but getting hold of a monitor with VGA resolution is pretty difficult and the interpolation on a 1024 or 1280 resolution screen would look awful.

MAME is also available for the Dreamcast. I last tried it out years ago, and can’t remember if it too allows a rotated mode. It would be great if it does. Donkey kong and Xevious anyone?

Or maybe I should encase the monitor and console so that it could be easily rotated to allow for both vertical and horizontal gameplay?