Background[]
3D Pole Position is an unreleased game planned for the Vectrex. This was to be the fourth game available for use with the 3D Imager. As of yet, there has not been a prototype of the ROM either found or mentioned as having been owned by anyone.
It's unsure for what reason the game was never released, but it's most likely due to the fact that the Vectrex had not garnered the support that it had hoped and sales of the console, although initially brisk, ended up being lackluster overall. It's also unsure how far into development that the game got. With the limited number of original games which were available for use with the 3D Imager, it could be that at some time a playable ROM will surface, just as Mail Plane did after almost 30 years.
Gameplay (speculative)[]
A simulated picture of its gameplay can be seen on the box for the 3D Imager. This picture depicts a red race car, blue GCE advertisement sign and green mountain range, so the pallet of the Color Wheel is the same as the other 3D games, and its possible that it was planned to use the same Color Wheel as 3D Mine Storm or 3D Crazy Coaster/3D Narrow Escape.
Presumably, gameplay, controls, and scoring would have been almost identical to that of the standard version of Pole Position, just as they were similar with the released game of 3D Mine Storm with its standard counter-part, Mine Storm. Only the execution of the graphics would vary.
As in Pole Position, the player races their car around a course before the timer runs out. The first run is the qualifying lap and their starting position is determined by their completion time. The player must avoid road hazards (such as precariously placed billboards on the side of the road) and other cars as they drive, earning extra time for each completed lap. If the player collides with a hazard, there is a delay of several seconds before their next car appears on the track, wasting time.
3D Pole Position (Hack)[]
A game entitled "3D Pole Position" is included on the Sean Kelly Multicart version 2.0, however, this is unrelated to the game intended for the 3D Imager. This game is a hack of the original GCE Pole Position, which does not work with the 3D Imager. It only has the text on the introductory screen changed to read "3D Pole Position", rather than just "Pole Position" and plays exactly the same. The author of the hack is unknown.