Welcome to Classic Game Creations
Here's where it all started, way back in 1996. ! This site is dedicated to my console and arcade creations that I have produced over the past two decades. I have written many games for the Vectrex vector game system and I've even written a few games for the Colecovision as well as the Odyssey 2 game system. The Vectrex has always been my favorite though, and I'm proud to be part of a community that has produced more games for the system than its original commercial run ! I am no longer producing game cartridges for the Vectrex or the Colecovision. I was making cartridges for over 17 years and I just couldn't make the time anymore. You can click the links page above to see who is currently making cartridges. I will still be making Odyssey 2 games until the end of the year. Visit the about me page and learn a little about me including my arcade hobbies and some things that I do for a living. Click any of the links to learn more about the games I have created over the years. Earlier this year I had announced that I would be closing my site at the end of the year. I am retracting that announcement and I am going to keep CGC online for the forseable future. A few reasons why I chose to stay up, but mainly I didn't feel like changing all my E-Mail addresses.
About the Vectrex
Plain and simple - the classic video game system with the biggest cult following of all time ! The Vectrex had a self contained black and white monitor which displayed its graphics as detailed vector lines instead of the chunky graphics of the time. It included a detachable controller and was truly a portable gaming system. It was only produced roughly between 1982 and 1984 and had a very limited amount of games (around 2 dozen). Jay Smith, the founder of Smith Engineering who designed the Vectrex, released many of the games to the public in the mid 80's with the understanding they would not be sold for profit. Since 1985, hobbyists have been tinkering with their Vectrex systems figuring out the system works and how to write new programs for it. On March 8th, 1996 I released the first all NEW game for the Vectrex, coded by myself in about a week. This opened the door for all new possibilities, and to date the Vectrex has seen over a dozen new games and several impressive demos from independent developers ! Now almost 20 years later, the Vectrex still reigns supreme as the must have home game system ! Where do I get one ? If only I had money for everytime someone asked me this ! The best place I can tell you to check is EBAY.COM Depending on the condition, box, instructions, etc. you will usually pay $100 on up plus shipping, less if you're lucky. I found one at a garage sale a few years ago for only $3.00 (it was missing the controller though).
About the Colecovision
The first system to truly give Atari a run for their money,
the Colecovision boasted arcade quality graphics and sound.
Of all the classic systems out there, this system is probably
the best for home developers. While the initial shock of
programming the graphics chip is a bit overwhelming, once you
get the 3 graphics modes down pat, it becomes a breeze. You
simply feed the system the coordinates for your sprites and
other data, and the video chip handles the rest ! This frees
up the CPU for more important functions like game calculations.
Of course, there are still limitations, as the graphics data
must be fed through an I/O port only 1 byte wide ! Now, we're
slowing down if you transfer large amounts of data. This is why
so many games had such choppy scrolling (Zaxxon, Time Pilot,
Cosmic Avenger).
Still, it is as I said, an easy system for a beginner. Most of
the Coleco emulators for PC's will be compatible with the system,
so you can write 98% of a game on the emulator and do final
testing on the real system. A major problem with the Colecovision
was who manufactured it: COLECO. And anyone who remembers Coleco
remembers that they made the cheapest, junkiest toys on the planet.
Popular Colecovision problems include the power switch going bad,
the power supply going bad, the controller chips going bad
(controllers stop working) and video RAM chips going bad (garbage
displayed on screen).
Telegames USA sold a Colecovision clone which is smaller and much
more durable. The only incompatibilty is that it won't work with
Super Action Controllers. Sadly Telegames stopped selling this
system and other classic games in 2004.
Here are some pictures, so if you come across a system on Ebay,
snatch it up if you can !
The system box
The system itself
The Nintendo style controllers
About the Odyssey 2
It was loud, it was simple, and many of the games just plain
sucked, but this was one of my favorite systems way back then !
The O2 featured a very slow 8048 Microcontroller, blocky graphics
(4 programmable sprites, 12 non-programmable text style characters
and a very blocky background) and a very primitive single channel
sound generator.
Still, the unit had twice as much memory as an Atari 2600 (256 bytes
total !) and the cartridges could hold twice as much program (8K)
as an Atari 2600 (no extra bank switch hardware).
Despite the limitations, it is a relatively easy machine to program,
and with very little information on the systems internals, I was able
to bang out AMOK! in a reasonable short amount of time.