Banished from Earth, Classic Game Room broadcasts from the Intergalactic Space Arcade on its never‑ending mission to review everything.

There are few things that could make the Vectrex even better than it already is, and this may be one of them. I’m trying to think of what else would make the Vectrex better. Flamethrowers. Chainsaws. Those would make the Vectrex better. But self‑awareness, which would be dangerous if combined with flamethrowers and chainsaws. Never mind, scrap that idea. How about the Vectrex 3D Imager.

Real 3D gameplay in color. It plugs into the Vectrex console to give you gameplay in 3D. The 3D Imager. Basically this thing could suck you into the R‑Zone, except the Vectrex R‑Zone sounds like a far more awesome R‑Zone if you ask me. There’s a bunch of 3D games, including 3D Pole Position. Plugs into the Vectrex. This is amazing and extremely rare.

A huge thanks to my friend Mark in Wixom, Michigan for loaning this to the show. Everyone’s talking about VR these days, but the Vectrex 3D Imager is the high‑performance accessory that transports gameplay into the third dimension. Screw VR. Inside the box is the mighty Vectrex headset and Mindstorm 3D, or 3D Mindstorm. This shoots laser beams into your eyeballs.

Let’s fire this up and see if I can’t hurt myself. Mark also sent two games to play: 3D Narrow Escape and 3D Crazy Coaster. And another one actually. Hold on, let me grab it. We’ve also got 3D Lord of the Robots. Love the packaging. This is remarkable. Let’s check the instructions. It also comes with a 90‑day limited warranty, which is probably out of date.

So that’s how you insert the color wheel into the death viewer. It’s normal that some brain damage may occur while operating. Apparently Mark, the other Mark, not this Mark, is the world’s best Vectrex collector. So once again, thank you Mark. I’m thanking you now. I may not be thanking you after using this thing for a while. We’ll see if I can still speak afterwards.

Can you see that in there That’s the 3D Mindstorm on the inside. I’m going to put this thing on, which looks really inviting from the other side by the way. Oh yeah, that just screams wear me right there. I’m not sure I want to put this on, but for science and sheer entertainment value, I’m going to. I’m fairly certain this is going to send me into the R‑Zone. Caution. Do not wear under any circumstances lest you have your brain melted and sent into the R‑Zone. Or perhaps it’s the Vectrex Zone. Maybe it’ll be great. Let’s find out what kind of brain damage I’m about to endure.

I love this because the regular 2D Mindstorm is built into the Vectrex, but 3D Mindstorm comes on its own cartridge, which is super cool. So let’s plug this into the Vectrex and get started with my lobotomization process. As you may or may not be able to tell, the Vectrex 3D Imager works with the Vectrex. You don’t view the game inside of it so much as you view the Vectrex through it, which basically tears a hole in the space‑time continuum. And we’re going to turn this on and watch what happens.

Prepare for assimilation. Alright. Now if we take a look at this thing… hold it steady, hold it steady. There you go. Woo. Your brain is being melted. You are now in possibly the R‑Zone or the Vectrex Zone. One of the two. Hopefully you’re having fun.

Okay, the game is running and I’m about to put on the Vectrex 3D Imager. If I start to slur, don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s normal. Alright. That’s interesting. Hey. I just got destroyed in three dimensions.

So in 2D this probably just looks kind of blurry. But in 3D you can see that there are things in the foreground and the background. It actually works pretty well. This is one of those reviews where I’m not really going to be able to show you what it looks like, but I can describe the euphoric sensation as being interesting. These things come into the foreground and it’s actually pretty easy to tell which ones are in the foreground and which ones are in the background.

For what it’s worth, this thing does work. I already feel smarter. And it plays a lot like Mindstorm, which is a good thing because Mindstorm is a great game. Woo, that’s fun. I’m going to plaid and I like it. That looks very cool.

So the question is: should you run out and buy a Vectrex 3D Imager Good luck finding one. If you stumble across one, buy it no matter what. Especially if the person selling it doesn’t know what they have. Tell them it’s useless and buy it from me.

What I like about this is that it’s simple enough to actually get the job done but still looks pretty cool. Sometimes in a lot of these old‑school games when they tried to get too complicated they ruined it. But it’s just Mindstorm. These things just come into the foreground. They’re a little brighter when they’re in the foreground.

Trying to figure out if it looks good if I’m leaning in closer or further back. I like the Vectrex 3D Imager so much I’m wearing it on the cover of my next book. This thing’s wild. It’s hard to believe this stuff is more than 30 years old.

I’m not sure I’d want to wear this all day, but it’s good in small doses. Ow. Game over. This is so cool. How did this not catch on Why would anybody buy a PlayStation VR when you could have this Be the only kid in your neighborhood with a Vectrex 3D. Be the only kid in your state or country with a Vectrex 3D Imager. How many of these did they make Can’t be very many.

Alright, 3D Mindstorm is fun, but I gotta go 3D War of the Robots. I’ll review the games independently somehow. But now it’s time for 3D Lord of the Robots for the Vectrex. Love that music.

Yes. Alright, I was wondering how this would work without its own wheel. The instruction manual says that 3D Lord of the Robots works with the 3D Mindstorm wheel, button one. Button two works with 3D Narrow Escape and Crazy Coaster. And button three brings up the 2D version of the game, Hyperlord of the Robots. Does it get much better than this now

It was nice knowing all of you. I love this thing. This is great. Mark, I don’t want to send this back. I suppose I’m going to, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to.

I don’t know how to play this game yet, but there are little AT‑STs running across the screen in the background with mountains. Whoa. Something was just flashing there. What do you do in this game I am just wiping out these AT‑STs. Why don’t you give me something bigger, like an AT‑AT. Better yet, send Jar Jar this way so I can shoot him with lasers. Oh. Whoa. I think that was a Death Star. I don’t know what that was.

So kids, my recommendation is that if you find one of these in the wild, you buy it. Unless it costs like a thousand dollars. But if they’re selling it for less than that, pick one up. I don’t know how many of them they made, but probably not very many, and it’s just so fascinating. The Vectrex 3D Imager. Experience the power of reality in four dimensions.

Where am I.