Top 25 Vectors

[VectorCollector]

This thread piqued my interest. Evaluate the vectors and rank them. I took the challenge but only with the games that I own or have owned. This was harder than I thought. It was the middle that stumped me.
The few at the bottom were no brainers.
Top 10 took some thought. Still not 100% happy.

That darn middle. Those 15 or so I would lump together as decent but not great. (* = color)

1 Rip Off
2 Asteroids
3 Tempest*
4 Quantum*
5 Battlezone
6 Star Wars*
7 Major Havoc*
8 Demon
9 Cosmic Chasm*
10 Aztarac*
11 Star Trek
12 Omega Race
13 Eliminator 4P*
14 Red Baron
15 Star Castle
16 Zektor*
17 Armor... Attack!
18 Asteroids Deluxe
19 Black Widow*
20 Eliminator
21 Gravitar*
22 Tac/Scan*
23 Space Duel*
24 Space Fury*
25 Boxing Bugs*
26 Lunar Lander
27 Speed Freak
28 Tailgunner
29 Warrior
30 War of the Worlds

The rest. I've played most but not enough to track one down
Barrier - BAD
Empire Strikes Back, The* - DECENT
Scramble (Vectorbeam) NEVER SEEN ONE
Solar Quest - BAD
Space War(s) - OK
Star Hawk - BAD
Sundance - BAD

You forgot the * on
11 Star Trek
20 Eliminator

In your top 5, I was surprised to see Rip Off and Quantum.
Not that I disagree.

 

[jehuie]

You forgot the * on
11 Star Trek
20 Eliminator

In your top 5, I was surprised to see Rip Off and Quantum.
Not that I disagree.

I was surprised by Rip Off being in the #1 spot.....and as someone who owned it as well...I totally disagree.

It was a fun game to own for a while. But it was only fun for two players. And it wasn't THAT fun. I did like it....but not anywhere close to #1. But to each his own.

Also...I am baffled at how Black Widow can be so far down on his list.

I am also impressed at the caliber of games that he has owned.....

 

[p1001]

I was freshman at Michigan Tech in 1980. I watch the operator wheel a brand new Rip Off in to the student union. While I was not the first to play, I played it the first day. I became obsessed with the head to head play. Since you have unlimited lives we jammed the forward button with a wad of paper and ride the waves. Faster and faster. So yes, it's my favorite.

 

[bobbyb13]

Nostalgia trumps anything in this hobby.

Possibly the only way to remove that bias would be to have a pack of total noobs play them all in order of release date and see what they thought.

Obviously need to cast a net outside this loop for those people.

 

[VectorCollector]

I was freshman at Michigan Tech in 1980. I watch the operator wheel a brand new Rip Off in to the student union. While I was not the first to play, I played it the first day. I became obsessed with the head to head play. Since you have unlimited lives we jammed the forward button with a wad of paper and ride the waves. Faster and faster. So yes, it's my favorite.

Fascinating. For you it's RIP OFF, and for me it's ARMOR ATTACK. Cinematronics vectors don't get the appreciation they deserve compared to Atari.

AA is in my "Top 5 vector games I play the most". The two person play with my old buddy at the bowling alley brings back good memories.
We had a dual-player system worked out so we could last forever on that game. Those quarter were well played.
My only regret is that we used to play the Rock-ola version and I now own the Cinematronics one. Not really the same to keep the memories alive.

 

[Hookindafoot]

Interesting list.

How could AD possibly be #24? That's the definition of insanity in my world.

My top 5 would be :

1) Gravitar
2) Asteroids Deluxe
3) Black Widow
4) Space Duel
5) tie between Armor Attack and Rip Off (see how I snuck a 6th pick in there. )

I know, I know ... no Tempest in my list .... it's because I suck at it.

What's your top 5 list look like?

I didn't ralize there were so many.

This thread piqued my interest. Evaluate the vectors and rank them. I took the challenge but only with the games that I own or have owned. This was harder than I thought. It was the middle that stumped me.
The few at the bottom were no brainers.
Top 10 took some thought. Still not 100% happy.

That darn middle. Those 15 or so I would lump together as decent but not great. (* = color)

1 Rip Off
2 Asteroids
3 Tempest*
4 Quantum*
5 Battlezone
6 Star Wars*
7 Major Havoc*
8 Demon
9 Cosmic Chasm*
10 Aztarac*
11 Star Trek*
12 Omega Race
13 Eliminator 4P*
14 Red Baron
15 Star Castle
16 Zektor*
17 Armor... Attack!
18 Asteroids Deluxe
19 Black Widow*
20 Eliminator*
21 Gravitar*
22 Tac/Scan*
23 Space Duel*
24 Space Fury*
25 Boxing Bugs*
26 Lunar Lander
27 Speed Freak
28 Tailgunner
29 Warrior
30 War of the Worlds

The rest. I've played most but not enough to track one down
Barrier - BAD
Empire Strikes Back, The* - DECENT
Scramble (Vectorbeam) NEVER SEEN ONE
Solar Quest - BAD
Space War(s) - OK
Star Hawk - BAD
Sundance - BAD

I didn't realize there were that many.
Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe was huge
Tempest would probably be up there
Star Castle was highly underrated, my main jam for awhile
The Star Wars Games/Empire Strikes back probably up there
Battlezone was always fun.
Believe it or not Moon Lander was pretty popular in arcades back in the day.
Star Trek, Red Barron, Tailgunner
Actually kind of a tough ranking, my memory aint what it once was.

 

[gwarble]

i'm surprised gravitar and lunar lander were as high up in the video as they were, even though i love them (i mostly glossed through the list but interesting reminder of some great games), and Tac/Scan should have been represented

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet, after a great example got a lot of views at CAX this year, but QB-3 is higher on my list now than a lot of the vectors i'm familiar with... of course i didn't expect it represented in this video for obvious reasons, I think a lot of people enjoyed it at CAX and if you have a cinevectron board and a couple 8-ways I would highly recommend making a setup for it, I had a lot of fun playing it (as a robotron fan its what you'd want from a twin stick vector, more fun than black widow in my opinion)

 

[VectorCollector]

 

[Olexo2424]

I love twin stick shooters. Robotron, Nex Machina and of course:

1. Black Widow

No question on the above

2. Tempest
3. Star Wars
4. Battlezone
5. Asteroids Deluxe

 

[gwarble]

I love twin stick shooters. Robotron, Nex Machina and of course:

1. Black Widow

No question on the above

2. Tempest
3. Star Wars
4. Battlezone
5. Asteroids Deluxe

then you should find a way to try QB-3, terrible name but fun game

after one weekend of playing it at cax:
> Black Widow, < Robotron

edit: I'll have to try Nex Machina, I assume you're familiar with Geometry Wars as well, very fun (especially the PGR2 "secret" minigame, always dreamt to make a dedicated for that simplistic version)