Playable Vectrex game
About Birds of Prey
Fight formation waves in John Dondzila’s 1999 Vectrex shooter Birds of Prey, inspired by Galaxian, Galaga, and Phoenix-style arcade play.
- Collection
- Games
- Classification
- Independent / homebrew
- Catalog year
- 1999
- Programmed by
- John Dondzila
- Designed by
- John Dondzila
- Publisher
- Classic Game Creations
- Genre
- Fixed shooter
- Players
- 1 player
- Research confidence
- verified
- ROM editions
- 1
- Browser controls
- Keyboard, joystick, or gamepad
Development and history
Birds of Prey was released by John Dondzila through Classic Game Creations in 1999. Contemporary databases describe it as a formation shooter with clear influence from Galaxian, Galaga, and Phoenix.
The title belongs to the period when modern Vectrex programming had moved beyond proving that new cartridges were possible. By 1999, developers were building faster, more polished games and compilations specifically for an active collector community.
This page uses one stable canonical URL for the title and loads its embedded ROM directly into the emulator after the Vectrex BIOS is ready.
Gameplay and background
Move and fire against repeating enemy formations whose waves grow more difficult. The game emphasizes reading formation patterns, timing shots, and surviving faster attacks rather than exploring a scrolling world.
How to play in Vectrexia
- Move with the Arrow keys or WASD. Compatible controllers can use the left analog stick or D-pad.
- Vectrex buttons 1–4 map to Z, X, C, and V, and to the standard face buttons on most gamepads.
- Press a controller button after connecting it so the browser can expose the gamepad to the page.
Audio may begin after the first click, key press, or controller input because browsers can restrict autoplay.
Research sources
Available editions
Alternate dumps and revisions share this canonical page to avoid duplicate search pages. Choose a specific edition from the in-app Library.