Love the design, looks brilliant 

I was able to get one so I'm eagerly waiting for it! 

The artwork looks great, but I don't see how the button layout can be comfortable for gameplay. Why doesn't it just have the left/right rotation buttons on the left half of the controller and thrust/fire buttons on the right? Like a compressed Asteroids control panel.

Also... why not use old stock Wico arcade buttons for all four? Even if it was one of the Wico mini-button styles that were on some 80s arcade games it would be more 'authentic' than using Happ or Japanese buttons.

And... why is he building these when I'm still waiting for my Warrior cart!

The artwork looks great, but I don't see how the button layout can be comfortable for gameplay. Why doesn't it just have the left/right rotation buttons on the left half of the controller and thrust/fire buttons on the right? Like a compressed Asteroids control panel.

Also... why not use old stock Wico arcade buttons for all four? Even if it was one of the Wico mini-button styles that were on some 80s arcade games it would be more 'authentic' than using Happ or Japanese buttons.

And... why is he building these when I'm still waiting for my Warrior cart!

He says it works just fine for the games.  I guess I'll find out when I test it out.  Oh, and you're not the only one waiting on Warrior!  LOL

Re-reading my post, I didn't mean to sound so negative. Just my first impression that it could have been much better...

Re-reading my post, I didn't mean to sound so negative. Just my first impression that it could have been much better...

Other folks at the Vectrex Game Forums are also making comments they don't feel the button arrangement works well but Fury says they do.  Like I said, I'll be able to tell you once I get it.  It is compatible with several games, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Remembering that several games have the ability to map the buttons, here is a way you can hold the controller to play:

Very Nice looking controller!

Does look awesome and looking forward to your review Trek.

Thought I'd chime in here quickly regarding the Starblast Controller. Just wanted to point out that it is a handheld controller, and I think from the photos that maybe it's hard to tell how small it actually is. The black buttons closest to the red button are both easily accessible to either thumb. The way that I have it setup, you can easily use your left OR right thumb for right turns. You can also use either thumb for thrusting. Left turns are done with the left thumb, and firing is done with the right thumb. Hopefully that answers Tom's question regarding the button placement. The layout that Tom describes already exists in the Vectrex Control Panel, and isn't necessarily "better" for a thumb controller.

Regarding the buttons, again in response to Tom's comment... availabilty/compatibility. The Wico buttons are not readily available and are not necessarily compatible. The buttons that I'm using here do work great though!

The controller is compatible with 9 games, possibly more. That doesn't mean that every person will find every single one of those games better with this controller. TrekMD mentioned a discussion at the Vector Proboard, but the person said that he really likes using Starblast with Birds of Prey, Rip-Off, and Y*A*S*I. He only said that he didn't like it with Star Castle. Here's the link to the thread:

http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/index ... thread=430

Hope this post helps! 

Thanks for the info, Fury!  And thanks for joining us here on RVG!

My Starblast has arrived!  I will definitely be testing it this week and will be writing a review.  The size is smaller than you expect, btw, and it is quite comfortable to handle. 

Great! Have fun and enjoy!!!