Playable Vectrex game
About Space Wars
Duel another ship around a central star in Larry Rosenthal’s Vectrex version of the vector-combat design that grew from Spacewar!.
- Collection
- Games
- Classification
- Official library
- Catalog year
- 1982
- Programmed by
- Larry Rosenthal
- Designed by
- Larry Rosenthal
- Publisher
- GCE / Milton Bradley
- Genre
- Space combat, Multidirectional shooter
- Players
- 1–2 players; simultaneous
- Research confidence
- verified
- ROM editions
- 1
- Browser controls
- Keyboard, joystick, or gamepad
Development and history
Larry Rosenthal created the original Vectorbeam/Cinematronics Space Wars arcade game from the lineage of the pioneering computer game Spacewar!. The Vectrex Game Database credits Rosenthal for the Vectrex release as well.
The game is built for human competition: two ships share the same gravity field, and the central star changes movement and firing geometry. Its rules are simple, but the interaction between thrust, rotation, torpedoes, shields, and gravity creates lasting depth.
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
Use two controllers for the intended simultaneous duel. Rotate and thrust around the star, fire at the opponent, and manage defensive options according to the selected game variation. Solo experimentation is possible, but the title is fundamentally a two-player contest.
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.