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''Vectorman'' is a 2D action platformer developed by
BlueSky Software BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Intera ...
and published by
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. The game was released for the
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
in late 1995 in North America and Europe. It was considered a critical and commercial success, achieving its dual goal of retaining interest in the aging Sega Genesis platform in face of the increasingly popular new technology of the next generation of video game consoles and providing competition to industry competitor
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
's popular ''
Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and foll ...
'' video game. In subsequent decades, the game was re-released across many Sega-themed video game compilations, and on its own across the
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,
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, and the
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line of mobile game releases. A sequel, '' Vectorman 2'', was released in 1996, but despite several abandoned attempts at a third entry, no further games have been released.


Gameplay

The game plays as a 2D action platformer. The player maneuvers the main character, Vectorman through levels by running and jumping, and attacking enemies through projectile attacks, similar to games such as ''
Gunstar Heroes ''Gunstar Heroes'' is a run-and-gun shooter video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega. It was Treasure's debut game, originally released on the Sega Genesis in 1993. The game's premise is centered around a pair of characters, the ...
'', ''
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'', and ''
Mega Man ''Mega Man'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man (character), Mega Man". Mega Man (video game), The original game w ...
''. The game consists of 16 levels. The goal is generally to traverse from point A to point B in a level within the time limit, though levels are large and open-ended, offering multiple different paths to be taken to complete it. By default, Vectorman is equipped with the ability to shoot out "laser pulses" in eight main directions. A large emphasis is put on item collection. Collecting powerups throughout levels allow him to change weapons, such as drills or bombs that can attack enemies or alter terrain. Collecting "multipliers" may also be collected to increase damage dealt by attacks; for example, collecting a 2X multiplier leads attacks to cause double the damage. Other powerups allow Vectorman to change forms and alter his means of maneuvering through levels; a helicopter form allows him to fly, while a vehicular-shaped transformation give him extra speed. A life bar of four orbs monitors Vectorman's health; taking damage from enemies or harmful terrains lowers health, while collecting "health orbs" restore it. If all health is lost, a
life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
is lost and progress through the level is reset, causing the player to start over. The game allows for the switching to an easier difficulty level upon the failure of a level, at no cost to the player other than berating them with a message calling them "lame".


Plot

The game takes place in a future where the Earth has been largely destroyed by humans through
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. Humanity temporarily migrates to distant
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while they leave "orbots" - a
portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words - to clean up the planet while they're away. Raster, one of the higher-level supervisory robots, is accidentally connected to a nuclear warhead missile, which radically alters his behavior, transforming him into a tyrannical overlord. Now known by the name "WarHead", he gains control of all robots and plans to declare war on humanity upon their return. One robot, Vectorman, had been off on a mission in outerspace, does not fall under his control, and upon seeing what is happening, decides to put a stop to Warhead's plans.


Development and release

BlueSky Software BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Intera ...
's development relationship with
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began in the early 1990s. After successfully developing and releasing '' Starflight'' and ''
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'' in 1991, BlueSky Software signed an exclusivity contract to develop video games for their
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
platform. Sega won the bid for the rights to develop the official video game adaption of the film ''
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'', and chose BlueSky Software as the primary developer. Sega published two of their ''Jurassic Park'' games; a video game adaption of the original ''Jurassic Park'' film released in 1993, and a sequel game, '' Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition'', the following year, both for the Sega Genesis. After completion of the two games, Sega turned to them to create a game centered around
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3D models in its levels and character designs, as an answer to
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
's popular 1994 release ''
Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and foll ...
''. While Sega had been finding success with the Genesis platform in the early 1990s, by 1995, they had lost momentum; ''Donkey Kong Country'' was a huge hit, while the launches of the
Sega 32x The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X us ...
and the
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the su ...
had not gone well. Different branches of Sega had different views of how to proceed; Sega of Japan preferred to emphasize development on the Saturn, while
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, who had seen far more success with the Genesis, desired to focus on developing for the large Genesis userbase, with ''Vectorman'' scheduled to be one of its major titles for 1995. The game featured a relatively smooth and quick development cycle because of their extensive experience of developing games for the Genesis. ''Vectorman'' introduced the Genesis programming technique referred to by Sega as "Vector Piece Animation". It was used to blend animations smoothly together, and also enabled the game to run at 60
frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...
. Rather than the typical singular character sprite, Vectorman's body consists of 23 individual sprites programmed to move in unison. According to designer Rich Karpp, Sega had very little involvement with the game until the end of development. Many ideas were tweaked and changed over the course of development. Initially all characters were composed entirely of spheres, but as development progressed, the designers ended up using other shapes for the characters as well, feeling the characters were too abstract, and lacked recognizable forms without it. The "sphere-only" character approach characters would have allowed for more varied perspectives and scaling, including the changing of viewpoints, but this was eliminated upon the creation of more detailed character models. With the emphasis on smooth animations, the team had worked on the idea of having more "windup" and "aiming" type animations while shooting, but the added delay in action from the extra animations hampered the game's playability, and the idea was scrapped. Vectorman's character model went through many changes as well, and was not finalized until late into development. The game's villain, Warhead, was originally named Raster; the dynamic of Vectorman versus Raster would have mirrored how
vector graphics Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...
are the opposite of
raster graphics upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
. At least one stage was cut during development, in which Vectorman rode a horizontally aligned wicker rocket on a track, with scrolling columns used to make the rocket rotate rather than simply follow a straight path. Karpp said that the level had a unique look but was not fun to play because Vectorman could not freely explore and the lack of room to maneuver made it difficult to line up shots at flying enemies. The game's music was composed by Jon Holland, a musician and filmmaker who was relatively new to video game soundtrack composing. Holland attempted to create a "rhythmic" and almost "danceable" electronic sound to the music, though he lamented that it was difficult to achieve the sound he was aiming for with the Genesis sound chip. The resulting soundtrack was described as "slower and moodier" than most platformer games from the 16-bit era. A year after the game's release, the game's soundtrack was released under the name ''Sega Tunes: Vectorman CD'', featuring higher sound quality arrangements of the songs originally aimed for by Holland. The game was released on the Sega Genesis on October 24, 1995 in North America and on November 30, 1995 in
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, with a marketing budget of $12 million. The game did not release on the Genesis in Japan, and wasn't released at all until over five years later, when it was included on the PC
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release of the ''
Sega Smash Pack ''Sega Smash Pack'' (''Sega Archives from USA'' in Japan) is a series of game compilations featuring mostly Sega Genesis games. Pack 1 (Windows) The first pack titled ''Sega Smash Pack'' (''Sega Archives from USA Vol. 1'' in Japan) featured eigh ...
''. The game wasn't released further until the mid-2000s, after Sega became a third-party video game developer, and the game appeared on a number of Sega-themed game compilations. It appeared on ''
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'' (2005), '' Sega Genesis Collection'' (2006), and '' Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection'' (2009). The game was also re-released on various digital download services, including the
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in 2008, on
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
in 2010, and as part of the ''
Sega Forever Sega Forever is a service from the Japanese video game developer Sega for re-releasing past games from the company on modern platforms. The service was launched for Android and iOS devices on June 22, 2017. By 2020, the service included over 30 ...
'' service in 2018. In 2019, the game was included on the Sega Genesis Mini console.


Reception

The game was a commercial success in the US, with it being one of the best-selling video games of the 1995 holiday season. ''Vectorman'' sold 500,000 copies in the US by the end of the year, making it among Sega's top selling games of the year, though short of Nintendo's concurrent holiday, ''
Donkey Kong Country 2 ''Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest'' is a 1995 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released on 21 November 1995 in Japan, and on December 14 in North Amer ...
'', which moved 900,000 copies. Much like ''Donkey Kong Country'' series of games on the SNES, ''Vectorman'' on the Genesis was seen as a successful effort to retain interest in aging 16-bit consoles at a time when consumer interest was increasingly moving towards more advanced technology. Publications noted that the game's graphic's were comparable to early-generation PlayStation 1 games being released around the same time period. ''Video Games: The Ultimate Gaming Magazine'' gave the game a score of 9 out of 10, praising the graphics, describing the game variety and ingenuity as "nothing short of breathtaking", and concluding that "if developers keep on pumping stuff like this out, then it'll be a cold day in hell before 16-bit is dead and buried." ''
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'' gave it a rave review, stating that "your jaw will hang open in amazement at what Vectorman does with the 16-bit Genesis engine. This platform game comes on with great guns, a morphing hero, and diverse, well-detailed levels." They also praised the simple controls, advanced graphics, and sound effects, and scored it a 5/5 in graphics, control, and FunFactor and a 4.5/5 in sound. Both ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' and ''GamePro'' awarded it Best Genesis Game of 1995. The four reviewers of ''
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'' gave the first ''Vectorman'' a score of 8.25 out of 10, unanimously praising the advanced graphics and animation, large levels with numerous hidden areas, strong audio, and ability to change into different forms. In a retrospective by ''Hardcore Gaming 101'', it was concluded that ''Vectorman'' was "...one of the Genesis' best hidden gems, a great platformer that, while having a few faults of its own, manages to aurally out-do ''Donkey Kong Country'' in almost everyway while staying unique and memorable to this day, with the titles commercial and critical success gracefully backing up such claims."


Legacy

In 1996, a sequel, '' Vectorman 2'' was released for the Sega Genesis. During the same year, Sega of America entered into a deal with Los Angeles-based Ideal Entertainment for the motion picture, television and merchandising rights to the first game, though no television or film ever entered development. A design document was completed for a third ''Vectorman'' title to be developed for the Sega Saturn, but BlueSky Software's relationship with Sega ended before the proposal could be reviewed or green-lit. In 2000, six former BlueSky employees formed a new company called VBlank Software to create original titles for the PlayStation 2. They created a demo for a new 3D ''Vectorman'' game which would have featured the character on an alien planet with new transformations. However, Sega had already established a relationship with Canadian developer Pseudo Interactive to create a ''Vectorman'' title that was based around a more traditional combat model and had a more serious tone. VBlank Software never got to present its demo and Sega canceled Pseudo Interactive's Vectorman title after it was briefly shown at the 2003 E3.


References


External links


Vectorman
at Mobygames {{Authority control 1995 video games BlueSky Software games Mobile games Platform games Science fiction video games Sega Games franchises Sega Genesis games Single-player video games Video game franchises introduced in 1995 Video games about robots Video games about nuclear war and weapons Works about nuclear technology Video games about shapeshifting Video games developed in the United States Video games with pre-rendered 3D graphics Video games scored by Jon Holland Virtual Console games for Wii