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Post by kokovec on Nov 22, 2013 13:25:28 GMT -5
I've noticed that many of the retro game stores around Los Angeles and San Jose don't really know what the Vectrex is although some have heard of it. There's a mall near my place that has four (yes four) retro game stores and one of them had 3 or four of the most common carts (loose). The guy had no clue what a Vectrex was and was selling each cart for a buck. You'd think that a tech savvy town (Silicon Valley) would have heard of the Vectrex but it's not common knowledge. So I do believe that most of the Vectrex units out there are in landfills which of course is a shame but not surprising giving it's obscure nature. I also doubt there were anywhere near a million units sold as economies of scale and production capabilities were much lower in the 80's.
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Post by VectorX on Nov 22, 2013 14:13:47 GMT -5
^Plus it wasn't around for long either, unfortunately (of course)
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Post by xefned on Nov 22, 2013 20:52:28 GMT -5
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Post by akator on Nov 23, 2013 0:16:08 GMT -5
Yeah, but the Jaguar is a lot newer than the Vectrex. We're talking nearly a a 10 year head start in the Vectrex getting thrown away before the Jaguar went into production. Agreed. But because systems the same age as the Vectrex like the ColecoVision and Atari 5200 still outnumber the Atari Jaguar, and those consoles were known to be produced in higher numbers, and even thrown away because they are 10 years older than the Jaguar... That still means it safe to conclude Vectrex production was less than the Jaguar. No?
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Post by VectorX on Nov 23, 2013 0:39:43 GMT -5
It could be. I don't know much about the Jaguar. Still sad no matter how you look at it though, especially if Mr. Smith didn't know either!
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Post by hcmffm on Nov 23, 2013 9:11:40 GMT -5
Very hard to say how many Vectrexes had been produced. Google Trends can show graphs of the searches made during the past years. It gives an indication how "hot" a console is.
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Post by gtoal on Sept 17, 2018 16:44:23 GMT -5
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Post by pcenginefanx on Sept 18, 2018 19:00:46 GMT -5
What was interesting about the Vectrex console being sold in the USA back in 1982 through 1984, I recall that it was carried by Sears, Musicland, The Wherehouse, am not sure if JCPennys sold it back in those days (they did have a dedicated video game department though), the local toy store by the name of The Toy & Hobby Co. and the regional toy retailer known as King Norman's (an American toy retailer that had stores in the states of California, Oregon & Washington back in the early 1980s). Heck, even Toys R Us sold the Vectrex console in it's stores as well. It was interesting to learn that the Vectrex had the widest retailer distribution during the early 1980s when it came to video game systems.
Even though the Vectrex standalone console came with an MSRP of $199.99 USD back in November of 1982, eventually during the Great Video Game Crash of '83-'84, it would be marked down to a mere $49.99 USD at the local King Norman's store in September of 1984 -- that was the perfect time to get a brand new Vectrex if you wanted one on the cheap (not to mention that it was $29.99 USD per Vecterx game but eventually was priced to move at a mere $5.00 per game during the "Great Video Game Crash of '83-'84).
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Post by VectorX on Sept 18, 2018 19:23:55 GMT -5
What was interesting about the Vectrex console being sold in the USA back in 1982 through 1984, I recall that it was carried by Sears, That's where I first played Web Wars, as an employee had a box of demo cartridges under the register and took them out for me. I picked that one. I didn't know what the hell was going on but it was unique! I got Solar Quest or Clean Sweep at a local music store, forget the name/it's long gone now (maybe Sam Goody's?). Heck, even Toys R Us sold the Vectrex console in it's stores as well. Of course they would! They were huge! That's where I got mine, along with two of my friends It was interesting to learn that the Vectrex had the widest retailer distribution during the early 1980s when it came to video game systems. It sold well initially too, as it was pretty appealing to parents since it had its own screen and would free up the tv.
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