Who said an arcade adaptation has to be vector-based to work on Vectrex? The arcade counterparts of Berzerk, Scramble, and Pole Position were not originally vector, but perhaps two of those three adaptations worked anyway. (I'll take the argument against Berzerk, which is much simpler than the original, runs slowly, loses a bit of translation due to no robot color change and no voice, plus the unforgivable problem of detecting collisions of robots walking halfway through a wall before it finally trampled, bogged down in it too much for it to become a good port, which I don’t think.)
Of course, Spike Hoppin's QBert clone isn't a port anyway, and QBert wasn't originally a vector. But it does not matter. Heck, in this case the color value doesn't matter either!
Q * Bert has activated an orange creature with a big nose, which must change the color of the giant pyramid on the screen in order to advance to the next level. Obstacles fell from the top of the screen and various humorous creatures pursued him ad infinitum.
Spike Hoppin follows the same formula though who knows why Spike is hopping around. Maybe he's gone mad in a black and white world of only vectors (that's why he's trying to change the color [from light to dark]... I guess?) and having to constantly save his stupid girlfriend Molly from his game of heyday, so how she could never hint at taking any self-defense lessons and letting herself be constantly taken over by Spike's enemy Slump.
Whatever the deal, yes, Spike should change the color of all the triangles in the level. Balls fall from the top of the screen and one hit will result in the loss of a life. Spud arrives through some sort of diamond-shaped capsule (or maybe it's curled up), then grows to its full size when it reaches the bottom row of triangles, and then starts making a beeline for Spike.
Luckily, there are magical platforms that Spike can jump onto to knock Spud off the screen. As usual, creator John Dondzila has made this game more difficult, so we can keep coming back for something more, which Spike manages to get pretty good at every once in a while. However, unlike QBert, where Coily (that's what Spud is in this game, basically) has to be just a few steps away from QBert for the discs to work, Spud can be anywhere on the screen to be knocked down. You will also be assisted by a magical hourglass that starts appearing in several levels to delay everyone in their path for a few seconds when you are caught and you will also earn an extra life worth 5000 points.
However, later upside down monsters appear at the bottom of the playing field, the triangles can start doing two jumps to change color and some pathetic grunt will appear and change the triangles back to their original color (named Log... for some reason) .
The game is slower than QBert, but it can be just as hectic at later levels. The graphics aren't great, although I believe it's a nod to the original Spike, as he looked more like a legged star than the hedgehog he supposedly is. Doesn't sound much better though, as the bouncing of many balls can get on your nerves, but there's a charming voice synthesis thrown in on the title screen, "Go for it!" with each new level and life, and the usual "gift!" (Even though Spike's voice is much higher this time around, for some reason... did someone hurt themselves in the wrong place [if you get my drift] by landing incorrectly on the platform from the original Spike game?) I don't know of ANY ports of QBert. which have played nice with the controls over the years, but I haven't played them yet, but there are two different settings for this. I suggest rotating the controller about 45 degrees to the left (to mimic a joystick only diagonally) and maybe even placing it on a flat surface (I just use the S. Hoppin' box). And the collision detection problem with Log making it hard to erase that little vomit isn't great either (sometimes you can jump right through it!). Most of these quibbles are minor.
Rounding out the package is a hidden Vectrepede bonus game, although I think Dondzila figured out that he bit off a bit more than he could chew (speaking of original bitmapped graphic arcade games…), due to the high amount of flickering with only mushrooms, vectrepede, you and a spider, and that's it. No scorpions or fleas with the original centipede, and a bug (pardon the pun) that sometimes causes the vectrepede to stay in one line without going down to the bottom of the screen. Doesn't sound all that great on this one - most of them sound like a lame choo-choo train when you shoot the vectrepede - but it's good for an explosion here and there.