• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

35th anniversary of the ZX Spectrum

C

coljae

Member
My first love. Memories memories memories:

48k and +3.
Kempston and Sinclair Joysticks

Q = up
A = down
O = left
P = right
M = action

multiface
Promising not to tape games I'd lent.
Poke
Load""
Chequered Flag
Music from Robocop game
The last ninja
Starting a game loading a going to make a sandwich and a drink

Ah so many more memories.
 
D

Dipswitch

Member
Oh the memories with my Speccy 128K. Some of the highlights include....


  • Playing co-op with my brother in Forgotten Worlds with us hunched over the keyboard using it to control BOTH of our characters.
  • Waiting 15+ minutes for a game to load, before realizing in horror that the screen border was flashing instead of showing a stripey pattern, indicating that the load process had gone pear shaped.
  • Realizing that the 128K version of Renegade had music PLUS an extra level.
  • Putting the Spectrum 128K into our fridge overnight (on a regular basis) to cool it down so we could play the 128K version of Bionic Commando for an extra 10-15 minutes before my machine would overheat and the game would crash :D
  • Convincing my folks to let me "test" the games they bought us for Christmas ahead of time and then my brother and I furtively copying them onto blank cassettes and beating them all before Christmas. Blew up in our faces because we were bored stiff on Christmas day and had to act excited :(.
  • Plowing your ship into the revolving dock in Elite for the 3000th time.
  • My brother getting so mad at Gradius (Edit: Salamander.) that he used to sink his teeth into the Atari 2600 joystick we had hooked up to it. I'd come home to find a fresh pair of teeth imprints in the vinyl handle every day :D
  • Entering "pokes" to cheat at various games
 
ResidentDante

ResidentDante

Member
Dipswitch said:
Oh the memories with my Speccy 128K. Some of the highlights include....


  • Playing co-op with my brother in Forgotten Worlds with us hunched over the keyboard using it to control BOTH of our characters.
  • Waiting 15+ minutes for a game to load, before realizing in horror that the screen border was flashing instead of showing a stripey pattern, indicating that the load process had gone pear shaped.
  • Realizing that the 128K version of Renegade had music PLUS an extra level.
  • Putting the Spectrum 128K into our fridge overnight (on a regular basis) to cool it down so we could play the 128K version of Bionic Commando for an extra 10-15 minutes before my machine would overheat and the game would crash :D
  • Convincing my folks to let me "test" the games they bought us for Christmas ahead of time and then my brother and I furtively copying them onto blank cassettes and beating them all before Christmas. Blew up in our faces because we were bored stiff on Christmas day and had to act excited :(.
  • Plowing your ship into the revolving dock in Elite for the 3000th time.
  • My brother getting so mad at Gradius (Edit: Salamander.) that he used to sink his teeth into the Atari 2600 hundred joystick we had hooked up to it. I'd come home to find a fresh pair of teeth imprints in the vinyl handle every day :D
  • Entering "pokes" to cheat at various games
Click to expand...

In tears here. Fantastic memories!
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
mclem said:
There's three distinct stages in it, but one stage - the one that's basically a version of Space Panic - is the most memorable by far.
Click to expand...

It was the Space Panic bit I had no memory of haha

My memory was the sideways scrolling part, I think because I was really impressed with it at the time.

Screw Crash Bandicoot, Horace needs to make a grand return at E3.
 
EdwardTivrusky

EdwardTivrusky

Member
LordRaptor said:
This is one of the reasons I don't understand contemporary complaints about things like Steam being filled with marginal titles from unknown indies for about that same price - I grew up on buying Mastertronic stuff for a couple of quid based mostly on its box art.
Click to expand...

Yup mainly because most of the screenshots were from the Arcade, Amiga or C64 versions lol and rarely had any resemblance to the speccy graphics. Mastertronic started with some ropey games but i'll admit they also released some belters for £1.99 or £2.99 for their premium range. CodeMasters also started out as a budget publisher didn't they?

Then there was Firebird from BT and their infamous "Don't Buy This!" compilation which was awful but great for learning how to mod stuff as you could easily access their loader and poke changes into memory. Damn, time flies.
 
3

31GhostsIV

Banned
coljae said:
My first love. Memories memories memories:

48k and +3.
Kempston and Sinclair Joysticks

Q = up
A = down
O = left
P = right
M = action

multiface
Promising not to tape games I'd lent.
Poke
Load""
Chequered Flag
Music from Robocop game
The last ninja
Starting a game loading a going to make a sandwich and a drink

Ah so many more memories.
Click to expand...

My memories are identical, only I remember Last Ninja 2 and never owned the original. Robocop soundtrack was god tier.

I got through so many spectrum joysticks. Remember the Cheetah brand?
 
T

Thanati

Member
It's so great to see the wonderful memories shared on this thread. I remember experiencing them all! :) it's amazing how much of an impact one little machine could have on a generation.

I fired up an emulator last night and just felt so nostalgic. Playing games like Dan Dare, Dynamite Dan and Uridium again brought back the sheer joy I experienced as a kid.

What's also important to remember is that the Speccy played a pivotal role in developing the U.K. Games industry. Rare, for example, came from Ultimate.

So many good times!
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
They've probably been mentioned already (edit: above me haha) but I thought Ultimate's (Rare) games were quite a watershed moment.

There was a tiny computer games shop down the road from me with everything on the wall, and just picked up Psssst! one day because it looked interesting. Blew me away. Just graphically and gameplay-wise there was something that put it above the other things I'd seen.

Got Jet-Pac next, and Jesus.

By the time of Knight Lore I had a C64, but remember seeing that and thinking holy fuck.
 
W

WITHE1982

Member
You guys are seriously killing me with this stuff. My mind is opening up pathways that haven't been used in decades.

OK quick one. Best speccy magazine? I fall firmly into the Crash camp:

jpg
Click to expand...
Although we often bought Your Sinclair when their free tape was better.

Boy how I wish we'd kept all our old copies. The cover artwork is superb and would look great on my wall.
 
EdwardTivrusky

EdwardTivrusky

Member
I'll never forget the Your Sinclair "The Young Ones" cover art and their "Lawnmower Simulator" cover tape. Loved the early speccy mags but then the first Your Sinclair turned up like a bunch of teens and *pow* i was a subscriber for life, their life was shortish but hey it counts :D
 
T

ThePeoplesBureau

Member
DECK'ARD said:
They've probably been mentioned already (edit: above me haha) but I thought Ultimate's (Rare) games were quite a watershed moment.
Click to expand...

48knightlore.jpg


Saw Knight Lore for the first time round at my twin cousins' house across town when I used to be dumped there during the half-term holidays (both my parents worked, too young to be left home alone with my sister). It was stunning and felt like an amazing adventure to experience. I hated leaving their house at the end of the day when my Dad would pick me up, but each morning I was dropped off, I would insist to my cousins that we play it again to try and get deeper in the castle and see how big it was.
 
M

mokeyjoe

Member
Occam said:
[insert meme image of someone reacting to crazy-talk]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jiQxq98OYfA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bft5BhWIzTU
Click to expand...

Sure it looks and sounds nicer initially, but you don't need to watch this for long to see the Spectrum version is more accurate to the arcade original. The big headed enemies just bob around and don't come at the player, the snake thing half way through the first level is static etc. The C64 version had development issues and ended up getting rushed to market, it should have been much better.

In any case this is totally worth a read as a pretty cool insight into 8-bit computer game development in the 80s.

http://bizzley.com
 
I

inpHilltr8r

Member
It's hard to overstate just how cheap the Spectrum (and ZX80 / ZX81) were, and how much that contributed to their ubiquity with fledgling British tech nerds. Yes there was better hardware available, but only if you had wealthy parents, which most of us did not. Bought mine with my paper-round money. God I hated that job, but the long term payoff, wow!
 
M

Meneses

Member
I read all of those in Portugal (imported versions). My cousin, who got me into Speccy games, used to buy them regularly.

A few years later I started buying them from flea markets, really enjoyed reading them and they did help improve my english a bit.

Unfortunately, most of them got lost in a flood / move.

I think I remember enjoying Crash a bit more than the others, I think it felt more irreverent or something like that?
 
T

Thanati

Member
Meneses said:
I read all of those in Portugal (imported versions). My cousin, who got me into Speccy games, used to buy them regularly.

A few years later I started buying them from flea markets, really enjoyed reading them and they did help improve my english a bit.

Unfortunately, most of them got lost in a flood / move.

I think I remember enjoying Crash a bit more than the others, I think it felt more irreverent or something like that?
Click to expand...

Crash was great. It had awesome humor and of course, the Jetman comic strip.

The artwork was also done by Oliver Frey, who also did Terminal Man in Zzap. He had a really distinct style, really cool.
 
A

andylsun

Member
Just gathered this from a box in the basement

Not my original spectrum which was a + but a second one. Joystick was modified to drive a PC through a PC keyboard.

Elite is the non-lenslock version

fTPb6ZUl.jpg


I have Olly Frey's autographed copy of Crash in another box, will see if I can find it.
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Boy Wander said:
Providing you were 12 at the time, yes. Read the reviews today and you can tell they were written by 14 year olds after school.
Click to expand...

Don't ruin things!

And very fond of Zzap! Telling me who Rob Hubbard was because the music in Monty On The Run was just that good, Andrew Braybrook's developer diary for Paradroid and then being blown away by the finished game, looks into the demo scene. It just had a genuine raw enthusiasm for computer games that can't really be recaptured. It didn't just make me want to play games, it became my dream to get one published.

It was the birth of an industry, and those magazines were just as much a part of it as the games and developers themselves. God bless em.
 
B

basic_text

Member
I absolutely adored my 128k, possibly the most used thing I've ever owned.

The first game I played on it?

Batman_ZX_31.png

Jon Ritman & Bernie Drummond's Batman
 
S

Steph_E.

Member
I think the most important thing for the Spectrum was when Ultimate started releasing 3D games - it seemed to spur on all the other companies to up their game. Having said that my favourite Ultimate game was one of their earlier games - TransAm.

Some of my other favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet include:
Knot in 3D (New Generation)
Black Hole (Quest)
Penetrator (Melbourne House)
Match Point (Sinclair Research)
Jumping Jack (Imagine Software)
Turbo Esprit (Durell Software)
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Steph_E. said:
I think the most important thing for the Spectrum was when Ultimate started releasing 3D games - it seemed to spur on all the other companies to up their game. Having said that my favourite Ultimate game was one of their earlier games - TransAm.

Some of my other favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet include:
Knot in 3D (New Generation)
Black Hole (Quest)
Penetrator (Melbourne House)
Match Point (Sinclair Research)
Jumping Jack (Imagine Software)
Turbo Esprit (Durell Software)
Click to expand...

Was Jumping Jack the one where you had to jump upwards through the moving holes?

I thought that was absolutely brilliant.
 
M

MadmanUK

Member
WITHE1982 said:
You guys are seriously killing me with this stuff. My mind is opening up pathways that haven't been used in decades.

OK quick one. Best speccy magazine? I fall firmly into the Crash camp:


Although we often bought Your Sinclair when their free tape was better.

Boy how I wish we'd kept all our old copies. The cover artwork is superb and would look great on my wall.
Click to expand...

I was a Your Sinclair reader. Only because I think they were the first to have a cover tape (Rasputin iirc).

I also was a a bad boy and "tested" my games I was getting for Crimbo only to copy and rinse them weeks before I could officially have them.

Starquake was amazing, the game never seemed to end.
 
T

Thanati

Member
Steph_E. said:
I think the most important thing for the Spectrum was when Ultimate started releasing 3D games - it seemed to spur on all the other companies to up their game. Having said that my favourite Ultimate game was one of their earlier games - TransAm.

Some of my other favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet include:
Knot in 3D (New Generation)
Black Hole (Quest)
Penetrator (Melbourne House)
Match Point (Sinclair Research)
Jumping Jack (Imagine Software)
Turbo Esprit (Durell Software)
Click to expand...

Turbo Esprit was actually pretty special. When you look at the map size and realize that all had to fit into 48k, then it's incredibly impressive. It was somewhat open world too where you could just drive around. Pretty amazing.
 
M

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
Steph_E. said:
I think the most important thing for the Spectrum was when Ultimate started releasing 3D games - it seemed to spur on all the other companies to up their game. Having said that my favourite Ultimate game was one of their earlier games - TransAm.

Some of my other favourites I don't think have been mentioned yet include:
Knot in 3D (New Generation)
Black Hole (Quest)
Penetrator (Melbourne House)
Match Point (Sinclair Research)
Jumping Jack (Imagine Software)
Turbo Esprit (Durell Software)
Click to expand...

Penetrator was fucking awesome but I always got to this bit where the cave walls pushed together into a tunnel too small for the ship, never figured out how to get past that point.

Edit: just watched a youtube longplay and saw what you had to do... man, fuck that game XD
 
T

ThePeoplesBureau

Member
MadmanUK said:
I also was a a bad boy and "tested" my games I was getting for Crimbo only to copy and rinse them weeks before I could officially have them.
Click to expand...

What is it with us speccy folk and going to such devious methods to play those games so desperately? To this day, my parents love to remind me and my sister of the Christmas when we used pins on the corners of wrapped presents to try and discover exactly which games we were getting with the 128k +2. We knew we were getting the computer thanks to Dad accidentally leaving it in open display after bringing it home from the shop (I think it was my sister that saw it and clued me in). We thought we'd been really sneaky and clever, until my hawk-eyed Mother told us on Christmas morning "We know you've already peeked at your presents, so do you think you still deserve them?". I'll never forget that stark wave of fear rushing over me, thinking that Christmas was cancelled... until my dear old Dad - who, mercifully, saw the funny side - laughed, and said "Just put them out of their misery!" and presents were allowed to be opened under a promise that we'd never do that again :D
 
B

Bydobob

Member
Boy Wander said:
Providing you were 12 at the time, yes. Read the reviews today and you can tell they were written by 14 year olds after school.
Click to expand...

Or indeed that some of the staff, like Paul Sumner and Lloyd Mangram were not actually real people!

Still love those mags though. Their reviews were generally on point.
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Bydobob said:
Or indeed that some of the staff, like Paul Sumner and Lloyd Mangram were not actually real people!

Still love those mags though. Their reviews were generally on point.
Click to expand...

I can't remember them being off with their reviews either, and they weren't afraid to give Jeff Minter a good telling off if he'd been spending too much time with the animals.

I liked how they scored them on intangible things like 'hookability', made me think different about games.
 
A

andylsun

Member
danowat said:
I remember having a lot of games, but never really getting very far into them......

Driller, blew my mind, although I can't remember getting very far, I'll be honest, I can't even remember what the game was about.

driller_spec_1.png
Click to expand...

Loved Driller. I was playing it along with a friend and we were discussing the locations of all the rigs in each of the levels (areas). There was one we couldn't solve, and I pulled out the manual from my bag, and one of the screenshots in the user manual gave the answer for that area of where to position the drilling rig.
 
B

Bydobob

Member
DECK'ARD said:
I can't remember them being off with their reviews either, and they weren't afraid to give Jeff Minter a good telling off if he'd been spending too much time with the animals.

I liked how they scored them on intangible things like 'hookability', made me think different about games.
Click to expand...

Indeed. They had a healthy cynicism of the industry too that was beyond their years. Lazy cash-grab movie tie-ins and arcade conversions usually got roasted. Only a few times did I suspect their reviews were bought.

I used the term "lastability" to describe BOTW to a young colleague the other week. Suffice to say I received a quizzical look...
 
D

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Bydobob said:
Indeed. They had a healthy cynicism of the industry too that was beyond their years. Lazy cash-grab movie tie-ins and arcade conversions usually got roasted. Only a few times did I suspect their reviews were bought.

I used the term "lastability" to describe BOTW to a young colleague the other week. Suffice to say I received a quizzical look...
Click to expand...

BOTW would have broken the lastability rating system.
 
J

JackAubrey

Member
POKE 35899,0

Used it so often it's stuck in my head ever since. I'm sure many of you know what it did and the game it did it to?
 
M

mclem

Member
I don't think any POKEs have stuck in my head - although I do have to mention 16384 (being the start memory location of screenspace, IIRC)

A few cheat codes have sprung to mind, though:

SOMANYWOMEN
PBRAIN and (related) MAAAAH
GBIO RGS (with the space)
WRITETYPER
EBORP
ORGY

And one somewhat unusually implemented:

LOAD "": REM MONTY
 
S

Steph_E.

Member
DECK'ARD said:
Was Jumping Jack the one where you had to jump upwards through the moving holes?

I thought that was absolutely brilliant.
Click to expand...

That is the one.

Thanati said:
Turbo Esprit was actually pretty special. When you look at the map size and realize that all had to fit into 48k, then it's incredibly impressive. It was somewhat open world too where you could just drive around. Pretty amazing.
Click to expand...

Impressive and amazing just about sums it up.

McBradders said:
Penetrator was fucking awesome but I always got to this bit where the cave walls pushed together into a tunnel too small for the ship, never figured out how to get past that point.

Edit: just watched a youtube longplay and saw what you had to do... man, fuck that game XD
Click to expand...

Once you did get to the end and got past the firework display the action started again but this time going backwards through the levels, and when you finished that it started again going forward through the levels again. I don't think I ever completed the third run-though.
 
m.i.s.

m.i.s.

Banned
Even though I was a C64 man, this thing was way ahead of it's time; just slightly larger than a PS2 slim - in 1982!!

And it all started here with all-time favourites like Jet Set W, Manic Miner and pre-Rare Ultimate.

400px-ZXSpectrum48k.jpg
 
M

Mascot

Member
One of these days I will venture into my parent's attic and find that letter from Ultimate Play The Game congratulating me for being the first person to finish Sabre Wulf.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom