LinuxWiiSega Mega Drive/GenesisPC (Microsoft Windows)Mac1995

VectorMan

By the year 2049, Earth has been turned into a toxic waste dump. Humankind has fled into space leaving behind an army of mechanized “Orbots” to clean up the mess. But when the Orbot leader “WarHead” goes haywire and starts a global revolt against the humans, it falls on the shoulders of the last Orbot loyal to its human masters to save the planet.

Community

Storyline

In 2049, the human population of Earth embarks on a migratory voyage to try to colonize other planets. They leave mechanical "orbots" to clean up the mess they made on Earth through littering and pollution. Raster, a high-level orbot who watches Earth through a planetwide computer network, is accidentally attached to a working nuclear missile by a lesser orbot and goes insane, becoming an evil dictator named Warhead. He declares himself ruler of Earth, and begins preparing to execute any humans who dare return to their planet. Enter VectorMan, a humble orbot in charge of cleaning up toxic sludge by simply discharging it into the sun. As he lands on Earth after his last trip, he finds chaos and confusion. Because all the other Orbots are controlled by Warhead (VectorMan having not been affected because he was away), VectorMan takes it upon himself to destroy the errant orbot and restore peace to Earth.

Trailers

Screenshots

Review History

Reviews

12 total

≥h

Steam User 9775STEAMRecommended

Pretty good game. Level design is good and the music/SFX are so damn cheesy with that YM2612; I love it. It can actually get quite hard later on, so be prepared and get comfortable with the mechanics and controls.

Classic Genesis platformer. Not much else to say about it, it's pretty much what meets the eye. Since it's delisted here, you'll have to go try it some other way, but definitely recommended.

May 23, 2025·2·Verified

Steam User 4830STEAMNot recommended

NOTA: 7 de 10

Acción en plataformas 2D, se maneja a un robot que es capaz de transformarse de diferentes maneras para entrar en zonas inaccesibles o potenciar sus ataques.

Modo individual únicamente, no hay cooperativo ni nada adicional.

Audio, animaciones y banda sonora de aceptable calidad, sin destacar.

Gráficos en 3D con aspecto similar a la saga Donkey Kong de la Nintendo Super NES. Sin embargo los sprites son tan grandes que apenas se ve a 5 metros alrededor.

Físicas mediocres en el movimiento y salto, similar a las sagas de [u][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/gequi_/recommended/71113/]Sonic[/url][/u] y Super Mario Bros, con poca precisión.

Opciones de configuración limitadas. Obliga a machacar excesivamente el botón de disparo, ya que no permite mantenerlo.

Historia simple con poco texto y sin traducir. Coherencia escasa. Motivación de personajes superficial. Cinemáticas en decente calidad y formato de imágenes pixeladas.

Tiempo de poco más de 4 o 5 minutos por mapa, fuerza a jugar agobiado. Limita demasiado la exploración, a pesar de que hay bastantes detalles y secretos. También aparecen pequeños mapas intercalados con mecánicas independientes y que son demasiado tediosos.

Tutoriales internos sí dispone, pero muy breves. Interfaz espartana. Manual externo en español ubicado en la carpeta "manuals"

Duración de 2 horas mínimo.

Dificultad separada en 3 niveles. IA equilibrada en general, aunque algunos jefes son excesivamente complicados.

Secuelas hay solo una: [u][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/gequi_/recommended/211208]Vectorman 2[/url][/u]

Conclusión: No me arrepiento de haberlo jugado, pero tampoco repetiría. No recomendable en Steam ya que [u][url=https://steamcommunity.com/games/34270/announcements/detail/4450213135292301382]Sega lo va a eliminar[/url][/u] junto con su [u][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/gequi_/recommended/34270/]emulador[/url][/u]

Dec 2, 2024·Verified

Steam User 1877STEAMRecommended

VectorMan was one of my favorite genesis games, and IP as a whole. This is likely one of my most played SEGA genesis/megadrive titles outside of the main hitters like Sonic, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, ect.

Mar 14, 2024·1h·9·Verified

Steam User 5631STEAMRecommended

Really amazing to see such piece of history.
A game that works as a DLC for this bundle:
The SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics.
Which is basically a legal emulation bundle.
This game is originally from 1995. Very old.
And: I'm happy to see it included on Steam.
I have two main positives to say about that:
The first cool positive: The ROM is included.
Which is fantastic for the fans of emulation.
We can boot it up for example in RetroArch.
Or pretty much any other software for emu.
I can't stress enough: How awesome that is.
An actual ROM legally obtainable on Steam.
It's perfect, but let's get to the 2nd positive:
Steam Workshop is supported and It's dope.
Who would've guessed we'll get retro mods.
It's a lovely addition to the retro experience.
A really cheap way to obtain ROM's legally.
I gotta give this release my positive review.

Jul 3, 2022·2·Verified

Steam User 5816STEAMNot recommended

In 1995, against a glossy backdrop of techno, then-cutting-edge technology brought to life a shapeshifting character who fights using energy blasts from his palms and weaponized double-jump recoil. To use the academic term, it was [i]pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rad[/i], and at the time, that was enough rack up significant accolades. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually play that well. It seems to take after the 8-bit [i]Sonic[/i] titles on the Master System/Game Gear. Thus, while the environments are surprisingly open-ended for a 2D platformer, the camera is zoomed in so drastically and the protagonist’s movement is so unwieldy that even basic platforming and combat become nauseating and dangerous. To make matters worse, the technically impressive visuals are often undisciplined and confusing, and the sound effects bury the music in endless noise.

[b]Score: 4.5/10[/b]

https://www.imlgames.com/vectorman/

Jul 5, 2021·2·Verified

Steam User 5536STEAMRecommended

Jun 2, 2020·36·Verified

Steam User 2587STEAMRecommended

VectorMan is a single-player action/platforming/shoot-em-up sorta thing that came out in 1995 and was developed by BlueSky Software, published by Sega. It was seen by gamers as an answer to Donkey Kong Country but only in a sense that it tries to graphically awe the players of the platform. There are actually no vectors used in graphics but I think that name is a reference to “Vector Piece” animation method that programmer used to set multi-sprite characters into motion. The game was also part of “Play to Win” (P2W, ha!) promotion where some carts had version of a game that gives “You win” screen and then you could claim a prize. Game was released only in the West. 16 Megabit goodness.

The game that you have here is nothing more than emulation of Sega Genesis version. And no, you no win, please try again.

Now, technical part about Sega's emulation here:
The Sega Classic games that you purchase on Steam count as DLCs for "Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" game that should appear in your library.
It has Bedroom HUB which is the one with many features yet lags for many and Simply Launcher which lacks Workshop and Online but at least it works just fine for everybody.
However, Simple Launcher has it's fair share of glitches as well. It can crash. And it does the second time you go to main menu, so always quit after saving there so it doesn't crash when you want to save next time!
Emulation itself, mostly sound, isn't that good but it does it's job. Also, yes, emulator supports quick saves.
As alternative, you can use external emulator to run games that you purchased. Sega kindly placed in all games that you purchased in "uncompressed ROMs" folder that program itself doesn't use, just change file extension to ".bin" or so. The file for this one being "VECTMAN_UE.68K".
I also demand you to read digital manual of this game first. You can find it here on store page or go to "manuals" folder of game root and open "VM_PC_MG_EFIGS_US.pdf".

It's 2049 and all of Earth population went off to colonize other planets while leaving Orbots behind the clean up all the mess. And it all would have went according to plan until until Raster, high-level Orbot who oversees the works, had a nuclear warhead accidently attached instead of a proper head.
And that's how we are all going to die.

Comes VectorMan. Having just discharged a toxic sludge at the sun he was out of TV reach at a time to fall under dictator Warhead infulence. It's time for him to clean up THIS mess and face Warhead at World Link Center.

And if you wonder, nope, it doesn't feel like game has environmental message going. You don't travel toxic sewers not live forests. It's all clean. Sterile. Grey.

VectorMan is a sort of shoot-em-up game because you do have to shoot a lot in all direction, enemies take multiple hits. Too bad you can't hold fire button for rapid fire, it tires finger, so you better have a contoller with turbo/rapid mode. But it's also a platformer, making you explore the levels, doing double jumps as well. And talking of double jumping, it's pretty great as boosters does damage to enemies. Not just underneath but all around VectorMan. Fine alternative to shooting upward.
Protip: Shoot down to descent slowly.

And you did have some stuff to explore. The game has various powerups to collect, mostly coming from destroyed TVs. Some fancy weapons with limited ammunition, health, lives. Orb in an upside-down pyramid is a checkpoint. The game is filled with photons that you can collect for scores. You get extra life every few ten thousands of them, depending on difficulty, so they aren't pointless. There are 7 special health balls to find that increase your max heath in the game, players who know those will have a huge advantage. But the best are multipliers. Two, three, five, TEN times. Not only they increase the amount of score you get but the health pickups and even lives, making the player take on riskier playstyle for there are great rewards to reap. What doesn't make sense is why there are short time limit for levels, seeing how they already put initiative for player to get going, for the game seems to reward exploration. And who knows in which TV there are powerups to increase your time limit.

Oh, and there are powerups that morph VectorMan into some weird shape. Maybe a drill or a bomb. They last a very short amount of time and are placed right next to needed obstacle, they are just a little variety gimmick. You can't do much either, but at least you are invincible in all of them.

Levels in this game are pretty varied. They are fun, at least in the first half of the game, that is 16 levels long. Water and arctic settings are awesome. But in the second half they have reused the setting of the very first level with different palette too much. Makes the game feel slightly unfinished. A single screen of congratulation for ending doesn't help either. There are few bland stages and there is not enough variety in enemies. Or at least insects are annoying, their swarm respawn too much.
Bosses are fancy as well. There are few stages when Warhead comes to kick your orbutt, these play like minigames. You get a special exclusive morph. Too bad that time limits are too tight at times.
Protip: To pass the jumping shield guy, bait and run under.

You can also bonus stages to find. Find and destroy shield generator that looks like a coal heater and then find and destroy satellite dish. It will end level immediately, which I like more than actual bonus stage itself. It just feels cheap, with title screen used for background. Be a sphere in the center, use D-Pad to shoot in directions from which projectiles come. Survive for a minute to get 25k points, losers get only 5k. Eh.

Now, options. Sound test. Controls. You can turn off sound or music. You can choose difficulty that impact how much score you need for extra life (according to manual: 10k on Lame, 20k on Wicked, 50k on Insane), from 3 to 5 starting health, bosses take more hits. Oh, and you get four lives instead of two on Lame.
And there is Information where you can find out about some pickups. A rare feature for 16-bit.

Ah, and visuals. And audio. Pretty much selling points of the game. But not something too groundbreaking. It puts focus on two things. Characters are made of multiple separately moving sprites. Frankly, Treasure already did an even more amazing job with these but in this game your main character is animated this way too, giving him one of the smoothest animations in a while. Goes great with controls that give VectorMan weighty yet responsible feel. And second is all the little tricks to give game some lighting and shadowing. Sega Genesis actually can use Shadowing that divides pixel's color value by two. Most games used it for fancy pause or to get additional colors. VectorMan makes actual use it for shadowed areas and not just in a single stage. And then VectorMan's spheres and pieces have different animation frames depending on where light comes from and are programmed to react accordingly. It's really cool. Oh, lens flares!
I also like that devs used mainly vertical lines pattern of pixels for dithering. Because on old TVs two nearby pixels would mix into one color so you can create transperency, for example. Vertical lines pattern makes it look stylish on more modern displays while chessboard patterns are fairly ugly.

As for audio. Electronica! It's pretty low-key but great. And you can't complain that they "don't sound like real instruments".

In the end, while the game pushes Genesis I don't think it reaches the level of Treasure games. It's pretty good but bland at times. It does have a nice take on more platformy shooting and art style is incredibly quirky.

Feb 20, 2018·41·Verified

Steam User 4131STEAMRecommended

TOASTY

Jan 1, 2013·54·Verified

Steam User 1901STEAMRecommended

1995.
OMMIODDIO.
Questo forse ce l'ho ancora *_*

Dec 4, 2012·1·Verified

Steam User 6538STEAMRecommended

One of my favourite childhood games. If you've never played this before, get it right now!

Jul 2, 2012·85·Verified

Steam User 0965STEAMRecommended

Вспомним сегу и ее графику в играх. Эта игра сделала прорыв! 3D вырывалось в голову и взрывало мозг! Сейчас не удивить людей такой игрой, но буквально 20 лет назад...она была в дамках.

Feb 13, 2012·51·Verified

Steam User 3316STEAMRecommended

Vectorman is one of the best Platformers on any Sega system. It was also my second favorite platformer growing up, first being the Kirby series. Hard, challenging, and so many transformations this orbot will keep surprising you.

Dec 5, 2010·67·Verified