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Vectrex Mini interview - David Oghia talks up the nostalgic vector powerhouse

Having been wowed by the news of the Vectrex Mini at Gamescom , I rushed off some questions to VectrexOn's main man  David Oghia . After a post-event, well earned, break, he's kindly given us a lot of detail about the project and some new images of the unit to share.  His story mirrors mine somewhat, Vectrex represents a glowing, unaffordable, obelisk of gaming power from our youth! But he's had the energy and drive to do something about it, and met the right people to get the job done!  What first got you interested in Vectrex and what spawned the idea of a Mini version? I’ve always been passionate about retro-gaming, but my first love was computers rather than consoles — the ZX81, then the Commodore 128. I only really discovered the console world in the late 90s, which is when I got my very first Vectrex. Of course, I had seen it in stores back in 1983, but at that time it was far too expensive for me.  Today, I own five Vectrex systems at home. Vector-based games ...

PSP's Super Stardust Portable gets trophies via PS+

Apparently, the PlayStation Portable was supposed to get trophy support at some point during the system's lifespan. Wouldn't that have been cool! But, iirc, rumours said that due to the massive PSN hack, Sony got cold feet, or had other priorities fixing its network, so trophy support first landed on the PS3 and then the Vita. 

Now we're all used to earning trophies and seeing those little windows of joy pop, it makes playing the early PlayStation games on PlayStation Plus a little less thrilling when there isn't that dopamine reward (for some). 

Super Stardust Portable

But Sony has an answer with trophies retrospectively added to the likes of Syphon Filter (PS1) and some other games in the PS+ Classics section. Presumably that's to get more people playing them and using the higher tiers of the subscription services. 

That bonus has now expanded to include PSP titles, with trophies just added to 2007's corking Super Stardust Portable (PSP). There's a platinum too and they do add to the challenge, along with Housemarque's signature weapons upgrades and clever scoring mechanics. 

The one question (I'm currently checking) is, if you had the PSP version originally and you download it to the Vita, are the trophies active on that version too? Probably not, but I'll give it a try. (UPDATE: guessing not, presumably different files are involved!) 

Of course, you can download SSP to a PS4 and remote play it, if you want to go the other way and play the game the way Stardust was meant to be enjoyed.  


I suspect this is more for "fans of the series" as Vita owners enjoyed Super Stardust Delta and PS4 players got to battle on in Super Stardust Ultra. Not forgetting the VR version - must be quite a trip! But, if you want to go back and enjoy the hardcore arcade challenge with a little extra reward, then go for it.

Hopefully this means Ridge Racer 2 will pick up trophies eventually. But given that it is on the developers to generate the feature, and Super Stardust Portable was added to PS+ in summer last year, don't get too excited or eager. 


Hopefully newer fans of Housemarque through Returnal and Resogun, will enjoy a dive into the original to see how their particular legendry brand of twitch shooting and multipliers was born. 

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Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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