Vactrex Downloads & RevenueVactrex · App Store
Vactrex is #11 in Entertainment Paid in France and charting in 2 of 30 countries we track.
Updated 11 Nov 2026 · rankings refresh through the day
DeveloperJavier Sandoval
CategoryEntertainment
Price2.99 USD
Released
Rating★ 0.0 (0)
Version1.5
Age rating4+
First seen by us
25 Sep 2026
25 Sep 2026📈Entered the top 10📈Entered the top 100📦Updated to version 1.5📦Updated to version 1.4🆕First spotted by AppInsider🆕Released on the App Store
Full timeline · 24 events
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 10Top Paid · Entertainment · FR
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · FR
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryFrance
- 📦Vactrex updated to version 1.5• A third arcade machine: the 1985 sequel to the cockpit game now runs too, with the same yoke, tilt and controller support. Add its romset the same way as the others and it appears in your games list.
• Fixed some audio issues in the cockpit games: the music and speech no longer cut out when a new stage begins, so every warning near the end of a run plays.
• Minor bug fixes.
As always: no accounts, no ads, nothing collected.… more - 📈Vactrex entered the top 10Top Paid · Entertainment · IT
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryItaly
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · JP
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryJapan
- 📦Vactrex updated to version 1.4High scores now stay. The arcade machines remember their tables between sessions, the way the cabinets did.
Game controllers play the arcade games: face buttons fire and thrust, Menu starts a game, Options drops a coin.
TILT now steers on both axes — lean to bank, tip to climb or dive — and works in the rock game too, where leaning turns the ship. CENTER sets a new centre whenever you change how you're holding the device, and the on-screen stick steps aside while you tilt.
The yoke now reads like the cabinet's own: the crosshair starts dead centre and reaches as far left as right, with tilt, stick or controller.
Fixed: a phone call or Siri no longer leaves a game silent. Plus minor bug fixes.… more - 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · US
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · ES
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countrySpain
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · GB
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryUnited Kingdom
- ✏️Vactrex: app got bigger1 MB → 2 MB (+75%)
- 📦Vactrex updated to version 1.3The 1983 cockpit arcade game — the yoke, the 3D trench and the speech chip — now runs from your own romset, drawn with the same beam and phosphor as the console.
Coin and Start buttons on the arcade screen, tilt-to-steer, and a switch to invert up and down.
Cartridge overlays are now included, so games look right out of the box.
Fixes: correct sound on the arcade machines, a Settings screen that scrolls, and overlays that appear the moment a game starts.… more - 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryUnited States
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 100Top Paid · Entertainment · CA
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryCanada
- 📈Vactrex entered the top 10Top Paid · Entertainment · NL
- 📈Vactrex charting in a new countryNetherlands
- 🆕Vactrex first spotted by AppInsider#75 in Top Paid · Entertainment · Germany
- 📦Vactrex version 1.1Maintenance release. The emulator itself is unchanged from version 1.0.
- 🆕Vactrex released on the App Store
Collected from the stores by AppInsider since we first spotted the app. Dates are when we saw each change.
Rating
0.0 ★
0 ratings
Measured
Best rank now
#11
Entertainment PaidMeasured
Vactrex on the App Store
App details
App ID
6805203911
Publisher
Javier Sandoval
On the store since
Sep 2026
Under a year
Minimum OS
iOS 16.0+
iPhone 8 and later
Devices
iPhone · iPad
Universal purchase
Content rating
4+
Languages
1
EN
Size
2 MB
Also listed in
Simulation, Games
Where Vactrex's downloads come from Modelled
Last 30 days: organic search, browsing the store, features and paid ads.
Where it ranks now
Every top chart it appears in across 30 countries.
| Country | Charts | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| France | EntertainmentPaid | #11 |
| Germany | EntertainmentPaid | #59 |
Apps near Vactrex on the chart
Entertainment Paid, around #11.
Ratings
App Store, worldwide.
Rating
0.0 ★
0 ratings
Measured
Ratings
0
Measured
Review momentum
ⓘ How we measure thisNew ratings a week
under 1
4-week average
Lifetime rating
5.0★
recent stars not readable yet: new ratings are a tiny share of the total
Review momentum
45/100
faster than 41% of Entertainment apps
Review momentum (0-100) blends how fast the app collects ratings compared with other apps in its category (60%), whether that pace is speeding up (25%) and what recent raters give it (15%; recent stars well below lifetime pull it down). Ratings counts are read daily. A jump usually means a launch, a feature, ads or a new review prompt.
What users say about Vactrex
From recent reviews.
About Vactrex
Vactrex is an emulator for the 1982 vectrex vector-graphics console — the one with a real CRT that drew lines directly with an electron beam instead of pixels.
It comes with Star Stomper, an original vector game written for it, so there is something to play the moment you open the app.
THE DISPLAY IS THE POINT
Most emulators of this machine draw approximations. Vactrex models the analog hardware: the digital-to-analog converter, the sample-and-hold channels, the X and Y integrators, and the beam-blanking signal. Every line you see was traced by a simulated beam, the same way the original did it — including the dots that make up bullets, mines and explosions, which are drawn by parking the beam and lighting it in place.
Phosphor persistence and glow are rendered on the GPU, so bright objects bloom and fading trails linger, the way they do on the real tube.
ACCURATE UNDERNEATH
- Cycle-accurate MC6809 processor
- 6522 VIA timers, shift register and port emulation
- AY-3-8912 sound with correct tone, noise and envelope generation
- Emulated time paced against the real clock, so games run at their true speed, including slowing down exactly where the original did when a scene has more to draw
BRING YOUR OWN CARTRIDGES
Star Stomper is included and needs nothing. To play the rest of the library you supply your own, legally obtained: an 8 KB system ROM, and any cartridge files you own.
Connect your device and open it in Finder, or use the Files app. Drop cartridge files into the Vactrex folder and they appear in your library — no import step, no hidden storage, your own filenames kept. Organise them into subfolders if you like. Delete a file and the game disappears. ZIP archives work too, so files from an existing collection can go straight in without unpacking.
Identical files are recognised as one game, however they are named. The app validates what you give it and tells you plainly if a file will not work, rather than failing later.
CONTROLS
On-screen controls sit over the game, with adjustable size and opacity. Volume and mute are in settings.
Game controllers are supported. MFi, Xbox and PlayStation pads pair through iOS Bluetooth settings and are picked up automatically — and because the original console had an analog stick, an analog pad maps straight onto it.
PRIVACY
No accounts, no analytics, no network access, no data collected. Nothing leaves your device.
It comes with Star Stomper, an original vector game written for it, so there is something to play the moment you open the app.
THE DISPLAY IS THE POINT
Most emulators of this machine draw approximations. Vactrex models the analog hardware: the digital-to-analog converter, the sample-and-hold channels, the X and Y integrators, and the beam-blanking signal. Every line you see was traced by a simulated beam, the same way the original did it — including the dots that make up bullets, mines and explosions, which are drawn by parking the beam and lighting it in place.
Phosphor persistence and glow are rendered on the GPU, so bright objects bloom and fading trails linger, the way they do on the real tube.
ACCURATE UNDERNEATH
- Cycle-accurate MC6809 processor
- 6522 VIA timers, shift register and port emulation
- AY-3-8912 sound with correct tone, noise and envelope generation
- Emulated time paced against the real clock, so games run at their true speed, including slowing down exactly where the original did when a scene has more to draw
BRING YOUR OWN CARTRIDGES
Star Stomper is included and needs nothing. To play the rest of the library you supply your own, legally obtained: an 8 KB system ROM, and any cartridge files you own.
Connect your device and open it in Finder, or use the Files app. Drop cartridge files into the Vactrex folder and they appear in your library — no import step, no hidden storage, your own filenames kept. Organise them into subfolders if you like. Delete a file and the game disappears. ZIP archives work too, so files from an existing collection can go straight in without unpacking.
Identical files are recognised as one game, however they are named. The app validates what you give it and tells you plainly if a file will not work, rather than failing later.
CONTROLS
On-screen controls sit over the game, with adjustable size and opacity. Volume and mute are in settings.
Game controllers are supported. MFi, Xbox and PlayStation pads pair through iOS Bluetooth settings and are picked up automatically — and because the original console had an analog stick, an analog pad maps straight onto it.
PRIVACY
No accounts, no analytics, no network access, no data collected. Nothing leaves your device.
Latest updates
1.5
• A third arcade machine: the 1985 sequel to the cockpit game now runs too, with the same yoke, tilt and controller support. Add its romset the same way as the others and it appears in your games list.
• Fixed some audio issues in the cockpit games: the music and speech no longer cut out when a new stage begins, so every warning near the end of a run plays.
• Minor bug fixes.
As always: no accounts, no ads, nothing collected.
1.4
High scores now stay. The arcade machines remember their tables between sessions, the way the cabinets did.
Game controllers play the arcade games: face buttons fire and thrust, Menu starts a game, Options drops a coin.
TILT now steers on both axes — lean to bank, tip to climb or dive — and works in the rock game too, where leaning turns the ship. CENTER sets a new centre whenever you change how you're holding the device, and the on-screen stick steps aside while you tilt.
The yoke now reads like the cabinet's own: the crosshair starts dead centre and reaches as far left as right, with tilt, stick or controller.
Fixed: a phone call or Siri no longer leaves a game silent. Plus minor bug fixes.
1.3
The 1983 cockpit arcade game — the yoke, the 3D trench and the speech chip — now runs from your own romset, drawn with the same beam and phosphor as the console.
Coin and Start buttons on the arcade screen, tilt-to-steer, and a switch to invert up and down.
Cartridge overlays are now included, so games look right out of the box.
Fixes: correct sound on the arcade machines, a Settings screen that scrolls, and overlays that appear the moment a game starts.
Store changes
What Vactrex changed on its store page: name, icon, screenshots, price, size, languages, requirements.
App got bigger
1 MB → 2 MB (+75%)