Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Neo-Geo, Arcade, Portable, & Every Other Platform
Post Reply
User avatar
Yancakes
64-bit
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:04 am
Location: Victoria, BC

Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by Yancakes »

I live on the West Coast of Canada and have been eyeballing a Vectrex in France (I have family in France, so I could probably buy the system and then they would ship it to me, and cover the cost of shipping as a Christmas present...)

It comes with a few games, but I was wondering on the compatability of North American Vectrex games with European models? From what I can tell there's not a huge hell of a lot of difference between North American and European models, aside, obviously, from the fact that I'd need to get a converter for the power plug.
User avatar
CRTGAMER
Next-Gen
Posts: 11933
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:59 am
Location: Southern California

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by CRTGAMER »

Yancakes wrote:I live on the West Coast of Canada and have been eyeballing a Vectrex in France (I have family in France, so I could probably buy the system and then they would ship it to me, and cover the cost of shipping as a Christmas present...)

It comes with a few games, but I was wondering on the compatability of North American Vectrex games with European models? From what I can tell there's not a huge hell of a lot of difference between North American and European models, aside, obviously, from the fact that I'd need to get a converter for the power plug.
The Vectrex has its own built in Vector Monitor, it should work on any region game. There is no PAL or NTSC concerns, just the input voltage.
Image
CRT vs LCD - Hardware Mods - HDAdvance - Custom Controllers - Game Storage - Wii Gamecube and other Guides:
CRTGAMER Guides in Board Guides Index: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p1109425

Image
Image
User avatar
Yancakes
64-bit
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:04 am
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by Yancakes »

CRTGAMER wrote:
Yancakes wrote:I live on the West Coast of Canada and have been eyeballing a Vectrex in France (I have family in France, so I could probably buy the system and then they would ship it to me, and cover the cost of shipping as a Christmas present...)

It comes with a few games, but I was wondering on the compatability of North American Vectrex games with European models? From what I can tell there's not a huge hell of a lot of difference between North American and European models, aside, obviously, from the fact that I'd need to get a converter for the power plug.
The Vectrex has its own built in Vector Monitor, it should work on any region game. There is no PAL or NTSC concerns, just the input voltage.
K, wasn't sure if there were any concerns other than the display. Thanks :)
gtmtnbiker
Next-Gen
Posts: 4320
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:14 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by gtmtnbiker »

You might want to pose your question over at the atariage.com forums as there are some Vectrex enthusiasts over there. CRT is probably right that there's no region locking but that would be by design, not because of the built-in monitor. 3DS has a built-in monitor but still has region locking.
User avatar
Yancakes
64-bit
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:04 am
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by Yancakes »

gtmtnbiker wrote:You might want to pose your question over at the atariage.com forums as there are some Vectrex enthusiasts over there. CRT is probably right that there's no region locking but that would be by design, not because of the built-in monitor. 3DS has a built-in monitor but still has region locking.
I will head over there, then...honestly the system I'm looking at (which has now been announced that I'm getting for Christmas, so it won't cost me a thing :D) has a good enough spread of games that I don't mind only importing from europe for the maybe half-dozen other games I'm interested in, if there IS region locking.

The only other thing that would concern region locking is controllers- the system only comes with one and I'll be looking for another...hopefully there is no difference region to region for controllers.
User avatar
Hobie-wan
Next-Gen
Posts: 21705
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:28 pm
Location: Under a pile of retro stuff in H-town
Contact:

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by Hobie-wan »

I'd be rather concerned about shipping a Vectrex that far. Packing it safely enough to make the trip safely is going to cost a lot. But controller wise, have a gander at this alternative.
User avatar
Yancakes
64-bit
Posts: 468
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:04 am
Location: Victoria, BC

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by Yancakes »

I'm a little worried about the long shipping, but I'm not paying for it so...:V

The fellow who is selling it to the family seems like he knows what he's doing, even though my family is driving to pick it up, he was prepared to ship it overseas.

I am at work now but will definitely check out that video when I get home.

Also, I asked on atariage and there are no regional issues whatsoever (aside from the plug) for Vectrex :)
User avatar
CRTGAMER
Next-Gen
Posts: 11933
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:59 am
Location: Southern California

Re: Will North American Vectrex games work on a European system

Post by CRTGAMER »

Hobie-wan wrote:I'd be rather concerned about shipping a Vectrex that far. Packing it safely enough to make the trip safely is going to cost a lot. But controller wise, have a gander at this alternative.
I should really attempt modding a couple Genesis controllers. I modded two Apple II controllers, luckily the analog stick works.
Image
CRT vs LCD - Hardware Mods - HDAdvance - Custom Controllers - Game Storage - Wii Gamecube and other Guides:
CRTGAMER Guides in Board Guides Index: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p1109425

Image
Image
Post Reply