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35th anniversary of the ZX Spectrum

P

Phediuk

Member
Yep, on April 23, 1982, the system that basically kickstarted the British video game industry was released. Over 24,000 pieces of software have been made for it (and counting), most of them games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum


Here's a selection of some of the most significant and/or popular games for the Speccy.

1024px-ZXSpectrum48k.jpg
Click to expand...

Manic Miner
Manic_Miner_Screenshot.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUzteADsRI

Skool Daze
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULCjgUNz6bQ

Elite
Elite_1985_Firebird_Software_ZX_Spectrum_screenshot.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=batwiJmqZoE

Robocop
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD8SyQ_rQKQ

Jetpac
jetpac.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hy29KoBnGY

Atic Atac
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkESIpUfjVk

Knight Lore
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n7qtErhF-A

Head Over Heels
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJYhckbQmg4

Xeno
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBldiH7GnEc

Jet Set Willy
JetSetWilly-ColdStore.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Ywx6uVn9E

Chuckie Egg
97754-chuckie-egg-zx-spectrum-screenshot-use-ladders-to-going-up.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hphc1XV10Hc

Football Manager
football-manager.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSdj6Pbt2Oc

Sabre Wulf
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ_0KixP1ds

Underwurlde
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA-80m_qsoE

Lords of Midnight
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n251r73JIxY

Dizzy
Dizzy.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlMZsTlOYuE

Myth
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evi2-Ew-SFg

Horace Goes Skiing
HoraceSki2.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS-HWZPn-LI

How to Be a Complete Bastard
89456-how-to-be-a-complete-bastard-zx-spectrum-screenshot-opening.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5njVM6LFZ0

Stonkers
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-TkuFVj48E

Ant Attack
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkCLit8Hs9A

Trap Door
TrapDoor_05.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4WOBFy1Gqo

Laser Squad
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TepYbyVLSMg

Rex
Rex+Speccy+screen.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB7aB3ywu1w

Deathchase
3D_Deathchase_screen.gif


Bugaboo the Flea
bug11.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Mrtxr8PlE

Exolon
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IaMnl3q75A

Saboteur
hqdefault.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Mq2TMkm8o

Amaurote
Mj88fCD.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-M_a4VbuWk
Click to expand...

In other news, we're getting old.
 
stuminus3

stuminus3

Banned
Grant Middleton, if you're reading this, it was me that broke your 48K. I pulled the Kempston interface out when it was still on and it fried. Sorry it took me over 3 decades to tell you.

Phediuk said:
In other news, we're getting old.
Click to expand...
No kidding, the Speccy wasn't even my first home computer. :O

EDIT: this launched on Kickstarter today! The ZX Spectrum Next.
 
B

bjork

Member
I always wanted to try this, but in the US we got the Timex Sinclair and I knew exactly zero people who owned one. The closest experience I have is some of the games in the OP which came to the C64, like Jet Set Willy and Saboteur, and they were pretty fun.

I rarely feel bad about missing out on an era, but the "buy a magazine with a cassette" time is something that seemed so cool. If you were there, I'm slightly jealous.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
My uncle had this when I was a kid, I used to love going to his to play Harrier Attack. Played that game for hours!

He later gifted it to me, when I was around 5-6 I think. I had a suitcase full of tapes. I think half my time was spent loading games and getting errors and restarting. Ha.

Collecting Crash magazine with cassettes with all the demos/games was one of my favourite hobbies.

I loved that thing.
 
D

danowat

Banned
Damn, that makes me feel old.

My nan brought me a 48k Spectrum for my 8th birthday in 1982, fond memories of playing Chequered Flag, but never could figure out why there was glass on a Grand Prix track!
 
P

Phediuk

Member
bjork said:
I always wanted to try this, but in the US we got the Timex Sinclair and I knew exactly zero people who owned one. The closest experience I have is some of the games in the OP which came to the C64, like Jet Set Willy and Saboteur, and they were pretty fun.

I rarely feel bad about missing out on an era, but the "buy a magazine with a cassette" time is something that seemed so cool. If you were there, I'm slightly jealous.
Click to expand...

This was also the "hook up your computer to the radio at this time and it'll transmit a bunch of weird noises that'll load a complete Speccy game" era.
 
H

Huddy

Member
No Spectrum thread is complete without mentioning The Great Escape.

greatscape_zxspectrum.jpg


I never did manage to dig my way out.
 
T

ThePeoplesBureau

Member
Not my first (that would be the Atari 400), but the Spectrum was most definitely my formative gaming system as a very young kid. Came a little late to the party with the 128k +2, but boy was that a great Christmas. All the bundled Sinclair games, plus this compilation:

DSCF4301.jpg


Even then, the games were really diverse, and offered new graphics and experiences with every one. I adored The Great Escape, and to this day it remains one of my favourite games ever. I grew up on Your Sinclair and Sinclair User, and I strongly attribute my hunger for getting info on all the newest games as a big help in my reading ability being so good at such a young age. A lot of speccy games have since shown their age and although they are now primitive compared to what we have now, that era of gaming will forever have a fond place in my heart.
 
S

Suzzopher

Member
Happy birthday little buddy, thanks for getting me games!

I've been super nostalgic for the Speccy recently. So I've been playing a lot of Ultimate Play the Game games.

Jet Pac, Jetman and Knight Lore still hold up for me.
 
T

Toad.T

Banned
I envy this era. I understand that on a whole, the JPN/US side of the industry has been more influential, but theres a charm about having coding experience from trying out magazine demos that I would've loved.
 
stuminus3

stuminus3

Banned
Toad.T said:
I envy this era. I understand that on a whole, the JPN/US side of the industry has been more influential, but theres a charm about having coding experience from trying out magazine demos that I would've loved.
Click to expand...
I think you massively underestimate the games coming out of the UK (and Europe) to this day, much of it rooted in the halcyon days of 1980s home computers. Where do you think Grand Theft Auto comes from?
 
P

ps3ud0

Member
I wouldn't be the gamer I'd be today without the Speccy, some great memories of my 48k then +2A

But fuck you multi-load games that stopped mid-level...

ps3ud0 8)
 
Mihos

Mihos

Gold Member
Now only if retro computers would only cut the crap and ship the Vega+ portable from indigogo. What a mess
 
S

SatoAilDarko

Member
Where there any collections of these games for consoles from the 32-bit Era onward?

I only know and number of Rare ones are in Rare Replay.
 
E

EGM1966

Member
Loved my Spectrum ZX. Man though I'm definitely an Older Gamer!

Terrific fun back in the day: and those first 3D isometric titles were something else.
 
C

Corleth the Fey

Member
Happy Birthday Speccy, my first computer love.

No mention of Lords of Midnight in this thread yet! Until now.

My top five games -

Lords of Midnight
Academy - Tau Ceti 2
Starquake
Skool Daze
Everyone's a Wally.
 
T

ThePeoplesBureau

Member
Random nostalgia: Of the almost 200-odd games I went through during the spectrum era, this was the only one that would stubbornly refuse to load 9 times out of 10:

BionicCommando.jpg


Which was a nightmare, as I loved playing it, and the music was incredible for its time!
 
Outrun

Outrun

Member
Any body remember Krakatoa, where you controlled a helicopter rescuing people on a tanker?

Oh... And Clumsy Collin.
 
S

SirMossyBloke

Member
Rocky Horror Picture Show was also great. There was also a game based on a song by a pretty famous 80s group, but I can never remember the name of it.
 
P

pulsemyne

Member
God I ,loved my 128k +2. I still have a load of speccy games in a cupboard. And a SAM coupe as well. Oh and a ZX81 that works!
Getting a magazine with a tape on it was monsterously exciting for young me. A game and a playable demo or two. What a time. Also the mags used to have well over 100 pages with a shitload of reviews etc.
Americans will never really know how big the speccy and c64 wars were in the UK. Dodgy tapes being shared. People swapping games etc. Going into a papershop and seeing the latest budget releases or re-releases. Great times.
 
P

Phediuk

Member
Toad.T said:
I envy this era. I understand that on a whole, the JPN/US side of the industry has been more influential, but theres a charm about having coding experience from trying out magazine demos that I would've loved.
Click to expand...

Pretty much everything we associate with "open world" games is descended directly from the British home computer scene.
 
M

mokeyjoe

Member
Corleth the Fey said:
Happy Birthday Speccy, my first computer love.

No mention of Lords of Midnight in this thread yet! Until now.

My top five games -

Lords of Midnight
Academy - Tau Ceti 2
Starquake
Skool Daze
Everyone's a Wally.
Click to expand...

I remember getting Lords of Midnight on a covertape. Loaded it up and had no clue what to do...

It sounded awesome though.
 
I

ichtyander

Member
Missed this thread somehow, so happy anniversary to the Speccy, may we remember it for decades to come.

I guess the two games that often come to mind are Jetpac:
mJuOfds.gif


and Nodes of Yesod:
QYvbSud.gif
 
L

Loona

Member
Loading times of about half and hour, or at least that felt that long... after that and the color limitations of the system, I could never quite bring myself to be all that harsh with the graphics and loading times of more modern games.
 
K

Krakatoa

Member
Outrun said:
Any body remember Krakatoa, where you controlled a helicopter rescuing people on a tanker?

Oh... And Clumsy Collin.
Click to expand...

I remember harrier attack, and Monty mole. Loved the spectrum. It was my first introduction into gaming.

Also I remember the game called karnov (spelling) it was one of the few games that had lots of colors.
 
P

pswii60

Member
Huddy said:
No Spectrum thread is complete without mentioning The Great Escape.

greatscape_zxspectrum.jpg


I never did manage to dig my way out.
Click to expand...
Such a cool game, and the inspiration for The Escapists.

I just loved the amount of imagination that went in to the Brit-games of the 80s. So much quirky stuff, lots of humour and endless fun. We weren't playing Mario in the 80s, we were playing Dizzy, Jet Set Willy, Chuckie Egg and Monty on the Run. Games made in Britain, for gamers in Britain. We haven't seen anything like that since.

As a graphics and audio whore at an early age, I preferred the C64 to the Speccy, but they were both fantastic and each had strengths which lent themselves to different genres (e.g. Speccy could utilise higher resolution).

What an era.
 
T

ThePeoplesBureau

Member
Probably my first open-world game.

JetSetWillyCover2.jpg


2a32c07f99979c6955139699b3c15564.jpg
Click to expand...

Jet_Set_Willy_128.png
Click to expand...

I remember that I was so transfixed by Jet Set Willy, I would set my pocket alarm to wake me up at some ungodly hour of the morning in order to have time to load and play it before having to get ready for junior school. As a result, I have very hazy, warm nostalgic feelings for the game as I mostly recall playing it as dawn broke!

f2a6ef80fd5e91cf691b6rkugz.jpg
Click to expand...

Matthew Smith deserved so much better, if only his potential had been expanded on as games evolved, we'd probably be talking about him as one of gaming's greats rather than a quietly respected historical footnote.
 
M

mclem

Member
Loona said:
Loading times of about half and hour, or at least that felt that long...
Click to expand...

It's interesting how memory cheats - I recall similarly, but it's really not anything like that long. Filling 48k over 30 minutes would have been around 220 bits per second, which is shockingly slow!

The actual rate is about 1500bps; filling the Spectrum's RAM takes about 4 mins. It's actually variable, because the way it's encoded takes twice as long to encode a 1 than a zero.

(The 128k Spectrum is around ten minutes, IIRC. And this is ignoring various custom loaders that are potentially faster. Speedlock, anyone?)


Given the nature of this thread, it's probably time to regurgitate a certain classic from MJ Hibbett and the Validators. Heck, I knew it before the animation shown here, too!
 
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