did he look like Billy Connelly?
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:47 (sixteen years ago) link
out of interest when did people give up on their spectrums? mine lasted till 1992 when we got a megadrive :)
i got a 48k in 1983, aged eight -- my parents were suckered (like everyone else's at my typically wanky m/c school) into thinking that my entire education would be fucked if i didn't get learn to do 10 PRINT "SIMON IS ACE"; 20 GOTO 10.
in 1986 we got a 128k (the original black one that looked like a plus with a heat-sink tacked on) but kept the wee rubber-keyed one 'cos a couple of games didn't work on the 128.
in 1989 we got -- heh -- an amstrad PC2286 and i flogged the 128 to my mate luke for 50 quid (which felt like a fortune; i was allowed to keep the cash). the 48 had completely given up the ghost by this point. ISTR it had two replacement keyboard membranes but then something melted :/
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:48 (sixteen years ago) link
I imagine Norman Phay playing Tir Na Nog. I could never get to grips with it, or Dun Darach.
Playing lots of these games on an emulator a while ago, the most entertaining remained Quzatron. I spent a whole evening (OK, that's not really that long) playing that again.
Revisiting Match Day was not fun, even upping the clock speed.
The Sentinel is the most extraordinary game.
― Alba, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:48 (sixteen years ago) link
like a squashed, sweaty version ... a little.
The Sentinel is the most extraordinary game
we had that on the PC. i remember playing it for hours on end. i should download it again.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:49 (sixteen years ago) link
http://spectrummagic.emuunlim.com/Pics/footman.gif
^^^^^^ Here's a v exciting pic of it.
I used to be too lazy to save and reload my part finished games of it to cassette so I would just leave my Spectrum turned on for a week. The external power pack would get hot enough to fry an egg on and smell odd.
(x-post)
― Raw Patrick, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:50 (sixteen years ago) link
An exciting pic of that doesn't work.
― Raw Patrick, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:51 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.exotica.org.uk/gallery/games/images/f/FootballManager90.jpg
Football Managers 3 and World Cup Edition were horrid, 1 and 2 are legit 80s bangers though.
― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:52 (sixteen years ago) link
I had one of these: http://www.vintage-computer.com/images/plus4.jpg It was shit because you couldn't get any games for it. The BASIC was better than the C64 though. Whoopee.
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:53 (sixteen years ago) link
The orginal Football Manager was written in BASIC, so you could change "THE ROAD TO WEMBLEY" on the winning screen to say "YOUR MUM" or whatever.
― Alba, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm trying to narrow this down from:
Batty Rescue (Mastertronic version) Wizards Warriors R-Type Who Dares Wins 2 Spindizzy Rockman Chuckman
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:55 (sixteen years ago) link
my best mate had a plus 4, and black&white telly. we used to play treasure island on it all the time. it was pretty good.
Yeah it came with Treasure Island, that wasn't too bad. I think I completed that. Fire Ant was good too. And I had Jet Set Willy.
The big problem was that most of the games for plus 4 were written for the C16 so they were pretty basic and didn't use the whopping great 64k capability.
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:57 (sixteen years ago) link
Flying Shark was pretty amazing on the speccy too
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:57 (sixteen years ago) link
i regret never getting an amiga :(
i also regret not being able to get excited about games made after about 1995 :(
actually that's a bit of a lie, i just don't get all this halo bollocks :)
― DG, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:58 (sixteen years ago) link
the only other plus game i remember him having was some maze game where you had to paint the walls of the maze, but with a black&white telly some of the levels were invisible.
and manic miner
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah no, it wasn't Football Manager that I had. I've just tracked it down--it was called 'Cup Football'.
― aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Fruit Machine Simulator, by codemasters. spent hours on that one.
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Thrust II Jasons GEM
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:02 (sixteen years ago) link
The Plot
god so many to choose from
boulderdash
― ledge, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:04 (sixteen years ago) link
of course
http://members.lycos.co.uk/dizzytheegg/images/screenshots/dizzy1start.png
― DG, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:04 (sixteen years ago) link
Of the rly old-skool: HALLS OF THE THINGS!
― anatol_merklich, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:08 (sixteen years ago) link
"Deathchase"
Was that the one where you rode a motorbike at insanely fast speed through a thick forest. That was MENTAL. I remember both me and my brother would crack up laughing while we played it.
Also, what was that diving game where you had to get stuff out of clams without banging your head? Durrell were the publishers, iirc.
― PhilK, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Zorro
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:09 (sixteen years ago) link
PhilK - Scuba Diver? I only remember the advert
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link
i certainly regret getting an amstrad PC instead of one. but my dad didn't think the amiga was "serious" enough.
he might have been right, but that's not the point.
still: i do have a frightening knowledge of DOS arcana, so hey. it wasn't all wasted.
oh, hang on.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Ste - yeah Scuba Diver - really very good.
I don't recognise any of the names on your list above. Are they "late" spectrum games?
― PhilK, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:12 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.appn72.dsl.pipex.com/wally/img/grab01.gif
i LOVED this. and completed it, i think.
this too, which i definitely completed:
http://remakeszone.com/juegos/42_2.gif
(colour clash in action!)
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:12 (sixteen years ago) link
actually, woah, those mikro-gen games were FUCKIN' ACE.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
where you rode a motorbike at insanely fast speed through a thick forest
Forest, that reminds me of "The Forest" -- someone actually had the crazy idea of making an ORIENTEERING SIMULATOR for the Speccy! With enclosed paper maps and whatnot.
Someone mentioned "Deus Ex Machina", that was one ambitious project yeah.
― anatol_merklich, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:14 (sixteen years ago) link
grimly That's part of the Automania series isn't it? I liked it enough, but at the time it was kind of state-of-the-art rather than breaking new ground.
The level of creativity of spectrum games makers was incredible, really.
― PhilK, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Philk, not sure i think it's a mixed bag. Not very old tho, definitely not past 88 as i had my amiga then.
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:16 (sixteen years ago) link
oh god i would thrash about on those mikrogen games and get absoloutely nowhere. i don't believe i ever completed a single puzzle.
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Guilty as charged, "Dun Darach" is one of my favourite games ever. Wd pay $$ for a prerelease version w/the missing centre of the map intact. Otherwise, I liked Knight Lore (I never finished it though), Fairlight, that stealth fighter flight sim one, 3d ant attack. My favourite was highway encounter:
http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/h/highway_encounter.png
A weirdly abstract game which drew you into its odd little world quite effectively. What was that one with the wizard floating around & travelling along ley lines? That one was pretty great, and quite creepy in places.
― Pashmina, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:17 (sixteen years ago) link
i think a lot of my suggestions are small time budget games
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link
deathchase was famous for being the #1 spectrum game in your sinclair's best games ever list which filled their letters bag with complaints
lucasarts before they made star wars games:
http://www.zxscreens.i12.com/zxscreens/night_shift.gif
― DG, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Pashmina - I finished Dun Darach, but there was one door I could never get in - it was labelled "Ladyo's" or something. That drove me mad for years!
Fairlight was stunningly attractive if I can remember (or describe a game in such terms).
― PhilK, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Did anyone play Explorer? Or understand it? Or get anywhere?
― Ste, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:22 (sixteen years ago) link
In the 16K category: The Train Game! I think you either became totally addicted, or loathed it from the very start and continued loathing. Rather original, using all the letter keys on the keyboard to control those rail switch things, whatever they're called in English. Come to think of it, might work well as a mobile phone game even today!
― anatol_merklich, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:22 (sixteen years ago) link
too awesome
― DG, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
The door in whicheverroom it was that said "forbidden!" when you tried to open it was the door to the missing bit! If you mapped the game out (which you had to) there was a big gap in the middle - the missing bit was Dun Darcach's red light district, inhabited by courtesans - they pulled it because of fear of bad publicity. I liked the game so much I wanted more of it, so I was totally bummed out when I found out about the cut bit.
― Pashmina, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Dun Darach probably the forerunner of the GTA 3D games, har.
― Pashmina, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah right. Well I never saw a door called "Forbidden", so I suspect that must have been inside "Laydo's" or "Loyd's" or whatever.
A really intriguing game though. Loved the atmosphere. Especially the "Thieves' Guild".
― PhilK, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link
You know about the annual comp.sys.sinclair Crap Game Competition, right? Every year, the finest Spectrum programmers, or rather the other ones, compete for the title of crappiest game of the year. Some examples of previous years' winners:
Anthea Turner's National Lottery Simulator http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/csscgc/image.php?file=ALS.SNA&year=1996
Sheepdog http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/csscgc/image.php?file=sheepdog.tap&year=1999
Celebrity Arses http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/csscgc/image.php?file=cel.tap&year=2006
― anatol_merklich, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link
grimly That's part of the Automania series isn't it?
yeh. IIRC: automania, pyjamarama, everyone's a wally, herbert's dummy run, three weeks in paradise. the last two being way too hard for their own good.
once you figured out how to get the proper coin to open the bog door in pyjamarama, the rest was pretty straightforward.
ANOTHER ACE SERIES OF ACENESS:
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/6/6d/Spellbound_screen.GIF
finders keepers/spellbound/the one in space/the other one. don't have time to google ... first one to fill in the blanks wins a blank C15 cassette from boots ;)
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:39 (sixteen years ago) link
hang on, celebrity arses actually looks grate.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
er, ahem:
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Wizball or Jetset Willy
― Iain Macdonald, Thursday, 27 September 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
the old rubber spectrum keyboard eventually stopped working on some keys, the contacts on the sheet underneath must have worn out
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
luckily this happened just as i was getting old enough to buy booze
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
'play the big fist' lol
― a dramatic lemon curd experience (snoball), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
IIRC the +2/+3 keyboard held up better especially to the rigours of Hypersports.
― a dramatic lemon curd experience (snoball), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 23:38 (twelve years ago) link
i spent some of my student grant on a Spectrum 128K, obviously they were right to abolish the grant system
― Kony Montana: "Say hello to my invisible friend" (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 23:41 (twelve years ago) link