What are the definitive wireframe graphic games?

November 17, 2007 7:58 AM

I'm doing a mini-research project on wireframe graphics in gaming. What are the definitive wireframe games? I know about Tempest, I know about Battlezone, and I know about the Star Wars Cockpit Arcade game. What other titles should I add to my list?
posted by serial_consign to media & arts (35 comments total)

Battlezone
Tailgunner
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:01 AM on November 17, 2007

Tailgunner, anyway, wasn't listed before.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:01 AM on November 17, 2007

Red Alarm for Nintendo's forgotten Virtual Boy.

I happen to think it was one of the best games for the system. Ok, so it was the best out of the 16 games for it.
posted by ALongDecember at 8:02 AM on November 17, 2007

Asteroids?
posted by wanderingmind at 8:05 AM on November 17, 2007

Oh, and isn't the entire system Vectrex wireframe-based?
posted by ALongDecember at 8:07 AM on November 17, 2007

Elite.

- Wireframe, or more specifically vector display?

There was the whole "Vetrex" platform or whatever it was called, that was awesome too.
posted by TravellingDen at 8:09 AM on November 17, 2007

Rez.

(Also, it might be mentioning the many games that feature cheatcodes for wireframe mode--for whatever reason, this is especially identified in my mind with Acclaim's N64 games, but it was definitely more widespread.)
posted by box at 8:12 AM on November 17, 2007

Starglider for Atari ST - awsome game.
posted by Rabarberofficer at 8:16 AM on November 17, 2007

OBWikipedia
posted by rhizome at 8:38 AM on November 17, 2007

Vib-ribbon
Some people call it singing crack rabbit.
posted by SageLeVoid at 8:52 AM on November 17, 2007

I did love me some Space Duel back in the day.
posted by j-dawg at 8:58 AM on November 17, 2007

As further proof of just how long ago this was, I realize now I was thinking of Space Fury.
posted by j-dawg at 9:06 AM on November 17, 2007

Spacewar
posted by donpardo at 9:11 AM on November 17, 2007

And of course, the original Lunar Lander was vector-based.
posted by j-dawg at 9:12 AM on November 17, 2007

Mercenary
posted by gusvaldo at 9:31 AM on November 17, 2007

If you want a definitive list of vector arcade games, take a look at all the vector games that MAME supports.

A personal favourite for me is Red Baron.

The question gets more interesting when you look beyond games that are wireframe because of vector display hardware. Because then you're looking at the development of early 3d graphics. On home PC hardware there's Elite, Wizardry, Akalabeth and the dungeons in the early Ultimas, ... Lots of options.

Of course, SpaceWars is also a vector graphics game. As are all the early oscilliscope games.
posted by Nelson at 9:34 AM on November 17, 2007

I loved Tempest, butGravitar was my favourite of the lot.
posted by Bearman at 9:44 AM on November 17, 2007

Arctic Fox (wiki).
posted by Wolfdog at 9:52 AM on November 17, 2007

Here's a list of list of 81 vector graphics games that MAME supports, sorted by year. Seeing how short the list is makes me back off a bit on this being "authoritative". There may well be some games MAME hasn't bothered to emulate because they were obscure or the hardware was too difficult.

Another good search resource is the Killer List of Video Games (KLOV). Their advanced search lets you choose "Monitor Type: Vector". The search is limited to 50 results, but by using date ranges I found 54 games listed there. Vector games were mostly done by 1982/1983. The last game they list is Vertigo, in 1985.
posted by Nelson at 9:52 AM on November 17, 2007

(Admittedly, a battlezone descendent)
posted by Wolfdog at 9:53 AM on November 17, 2007

Elite for C64. Wireframe 3d allowed it to contain a huge game world and with 64kb of memory that was amazing.
posted by Free word order! at 10:05 AM on November 17, 2007

I would add Major Havoc to your list. Was my favorite quarter-eating game in 1984. A combination of Lunar Lander, Star Wars and Lode Runner.
posted by grabbingsand at 10:21 AM on November 17, 2007

I'd say:

Spacewar!
Red Baron
Elite
Battlezone
Tempest
Asteroids
posted by nthdegx at 10:27 AM on November 17, 2007

The light cycles part of tron.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:15 AM on November 17, 2007

what was the game where you had to try to shoot away all the segments of counter rotating concentric circles? You had to be careful that the gaps didn't line up, because whatever was in the center of the circle could get a shot at you. There may have been gravity too. That was probably my most played vector game after space duel, tempest and battlezone.
posted by Good Brain at 11:39 AM on November 17, 2007

dont forget Lunar Lander too
posted by Good Brain at 11:40 AM on November 17, 2007

I can think of one I played a lot that hasn't been mentioned yet: Star Trek (1982).
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:12 PM on November 17, 2007

Good Brain: that was Star Castle.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:13 PM on November 17, 2007

Polybius
posted by joelf at 1:45 PM on November 17, 2007

Strong Bad Zone!
posted by ignignokt at 3:26 PM on November 17, 2007

Star Trek was literally my favorite vector based game. I think there was a second one made as well.

I, Robot was also excellent.

I was going to throw this link in to show how cool I was (because I thought it was a vector game as well). It isn't, but I am doing it anyway: The Last Starfighter game:

http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php
posted by gnash at 3:50 PM on November 17, 2007

"Wireframe" is a rendering technique. Vector graphics do not use wireframe rendering. Not the same technology. Not the same concept.
posted by lothar at 4:21 PM on November 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

As mentioned above, Star Castle was very good, from a "historical" perspective it was unique in that it was a black and white monitor with a translucent color overlay. So it was kinda sorta the first color vector arcade game.

It might be linked up above, but does anyone remember the vector game that featured two knights in armor fighting, there might have been a pit or something involved . . .
posted by jeremias at 6:31 PM on November 17, 2007

One of the best not mentioned yet was: Rip Off

coop play was a total blast..
posted by jockc at 7:27 PM on November 17, 2007

Dungeons of Daggorath on the TRS-80 in 1982. In retrospect, it seems like it was at least three years ahead of it's time. The programmer got very good sound effects out of a machine that most games were getting beeps and bloops out of at best.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:30 AM on November 18, 2007