The Roms

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koopa42
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The Roms

Post by koopa42 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:18 am

Where are they.

The legal ones that is. Are there legal ones? or is it a matter of opinion? I know that there used to be freely available ones (albeit it rubbish/homebrew stuff) when I first got MAME running.
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psj3809
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:41 am

There are legal ones as you said regarding homebrew. But yeah often they're sometimes quite rubbish. You find an emulator and it has a list of roms and they're just free/homebrew type stuff.

Over at WOS lots of devs have given their permission for people to download the games (not sell them). I'm sure there was one dev who had a few games on MAME who gave permission for his to be free but again they werent good !
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Re: The Roms

Post by The Laird » Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:59 am

All Vectrex ROMs were released into the public domain, so they are legal.
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:05 am

Be interesting to check up on that. Rantmedia games did an official Vectrex app on iOS, they got 100% official rights for the app and games as i think they bought the copyright. Either way it was 100% genuine

They also did a kickstarter to get the rights to Intellisvision and its games (as they were going to do something similar) but that kickstarter failed miserably.
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Re: The Roms

Post by koopa42 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:07 am

The Laird wrote:All Vectrex ROMs were released into the public domain, so they are legal.
The Vectrex is overrated rubbish (IMO) so I don't really care. Very good info though, thanks.
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Re: The Roms

Post by The Laird » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:10 am

psj3809 wrote:Be interesting to check up on that. Rantmedia games did an official Vectrex app on iOS, they got 100% official rights for the app and games as i think they bought the copyright. Either way it was 100% genuine

They also did a kickstarter to get the rights to Intellisvision and its games (as they were going to do something similar) but that kickstarter failed miserably.
It's why people can sell Vectrex multi-carts with all the games pre-loaded. This was done by Vectrex creator/designer Jay Smith, who owned Smith Engineering.

IIRC the Emerson Arcadia library and RCA Studio II library are also public domain, again fairly obscure systems so most people probably won't care.
Last edited by The Laird on Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:11 am

The Laird wrote:
psj3809 wrote:Be interesting to check up on that. Rantmedia games did an official Vectrex app on iOS, they got 100% official rights for the app and games as i think they bought the copyright. Either way it was 100% genuine

They also did a kickstarter to get the rights to Intellisvision and its games (as they were going to do something similar) but that kickstarter failed miserably.
It's why people can sell Vectrex multi-carts with all the games pre-loaded. This was done by Vectrex creator/designer Jay Smith, who owned Smith Engineering.
Ahhh yeah good point, i do remember seeing those

That Vectrex app is superb, but their kickstarter for Colecovision (think they wanted 250k !) i never saw working (it failed really badly)
koopa42 wrote:
The Laird wrote:All Vectrex ROMs were released into the public domain, so they are legal.
The Vectrex is overrated rubbish (IMO) so I don't really care. Very good info though, thanks.
Each to their own ! Love the Vectrex, never had one as a kid, think only kids with rich parents had a Vectrex back in the early 80's
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Re: The Roms

Post by koopa42 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:16 am

No, it's definitely trash, and overpriced at that.

I must say that I had never even heard of one (or seen/played one) until I got into retro, the first I saw/played was at The Retro Ball (I think). Maybe if I'd had played one back in the day? It would have blown my balls off.
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:22 am

Back then they were so expensive. My rich cousins had one which i enjoyed playing on

I personally love vector graphics so i like most of these games. Playing the Vectrex app on my iCade is great
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Re: The Roms

Post by koopa42 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:28 am

psj3809 wrote:Back then they were so expensive. My rich cousins had one which i enjoyed playing on

I personally love vector graphics so i like most of these games. Playing the Vectrex app on my iCade is great
They were MORE expensive then? How much new?
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:31 am

koopa42 wrote:
psj3809 wrote:Back then they were so expensive. My rich cousins had one which i enjoyed playing on

I personally love vector graphics so i like most of these games. Playing the Vectrex app on my iCade is great
They were MORE expensive then? How much new?
Did a quick search, said £149 brand new in 1982. Must admit i thought it was more than that
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Re: The Roms

Post by The Laird » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:38 am

psj3809 wrote:
koopa42 wrote:
psj3809 wrote:Back then they were so expensive. My rich cousins had one which i enjoyed playing on

I personally love vector graphics so i like most of these games. Playing the Vectrex app on my iCade is great
They were MORE expensive then? How much new?
Did a quick search, said £149 brand new in 1982. Must admit i thought it was more than that
The Bank Of England inflation calculator tells me that is just over £500 in today's money :shock:
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:41 am

I feel old as anything knowing the Vectrex (and speccy) came out in 1982. 33 years ago now, seems like yesterday. But THIRTY THREE years ? Damn
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Re: The Roms

Post by koopa42 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:47 am

psj3809 wrote:I feel old as anything knowing the Vectrex (and speccy) came out in 1982. 33 years ago now, seems like yesterday. But THIRTY THREE years ? Damn
Old? Shmold. I feel both lucky and privileged to be part of the actual gaming revolution right through till now ..... currently the best time of gaming of all time (so far). I have thoroughly enjoyed (and continue to do so) my number one hobby which is gaming.
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Re: The Roms

Post by psj3809 » Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:52 am

Totally agree. Also knowing that i can play so many of the old classics on my PC (or my beloved iphone !) is great.

Still find MAME the best invention/emulator ever
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