Vectrex
Developer: Smith Engineering
Year Released: 1982
Generation: 2nd
Unlike most other consoles, which had to be connected to a television, the Vectrex was integrated with a Vecotr Monitor which displayed Vector Graphics (many arcades at the time used vector graphics). Just like the first video game console released 10 years earlier- The Magnavox Odyssey- Vectrex games came with overlays. The user could place the overlay over the monitor and change it according to the game they were playing.
The Vectrex was the first and only home based system to every use a vector based screen.
It was not a commercial success, due in part to its release just prior to the North American video game crash of 1983. However, it retains a small, devoted fan base. Critics praised the system’s durability and the design of its controllers, which were ahead of its time in many respects, similar in dimensions to the controllers which the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System would use in later years.