Doom on the Vectrex turns the classic shooter into Tron-like vector art
Modder Jason Kopp has shown the 1993 game Doom running on the 1982 Vectrex console through a special cartridge. The game appears on screen as clean vector lines.
The Vectrex is the only vector-based home console ever released. A small group of enthusiasts still keeps the platform alive, and it now has an unusual showpiece: the classic shooter Doom.
Doom has previously been ported to a wide range of devices, including iPods, graphing calculators and toasters. The Vectrex version stands out for its look. The console does not draw a grid of pixels. Instead, it steers an electron beam to trace lines directly on the screen. That gives the game a Tron-like appearance, and the clean lines feel closer to an artistic statement than another novelty port.
How it works
The Vectrex predates Doom by 11 years, so technically the game does not run on the console itself. Modder Jason Kopp, known as ArcadeJason, built the demo around his Ultimate Vectrex Multicart 2 (UVMC2), a cartridge that essentially works as a small plug-in PC.
The UVMC2 handles the processing, while the console's built-in CRT provides the display. Audio is delivered through a separate 3.5mm output on the cartridge. The project also relies on an SDK created by modder Daniel Ferrer Guerrero.
Because this is not a native Vectrex port, that caveat applies. Even so, the result remains one of the more notable visual presentations of Doom. Kopp's work can be viewed in a video published on the ArcadeJason YouTube channel.
