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RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Shaun.Bebbington — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:54:22 GMT

For those of you who are interested, the electro-zine ZXF (edited by Colin Wookcock) is available again and issue 11 celebrates the 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. A cracking read it is too. Get it from www.cwoodcock.co.uk and follow the relevant link :-D

Regards,

Shaun.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

leebee — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:33:07 GMT

My first computer was a Spectrum+, which I bought early in 1985. I thought it was the dog's do-dahs and never suffered from C64 envy at all. (Well, maybe a tiny bit when I first saw Uridium and Exploding Fist).

That particlar machine went the way of the Dodo many years ago, but I have managed to aquire several nice examples since then, (I currently have six).

My favourite games included:

Knight Lore (Ultimate)

Highway Encounter (Vortex)

Way Of The Exploding Fist (Melbourne House)

Fairlight (The Edge)

Exolon (Hewson)

It still surprises me how much programmers back then used to cram into just 48K - they've got it easy today...

Lee.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

bombus — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:52:49 GMT

I had my first speccy in March 1983 (or was it 1984?). It was a 48K mark 2. It was a belated Xmas pressy as they were totally sold out beforehand.

My sister had been with my Dad when he bought it and wisely she got him to buy a game - Jetpac, which we played for hours. Then my friend, who was still awaiting his speccy, rushed home at about midnight and came back with the Cascade Cassette 50! We played just about every crap game on it and loved it. We finally got to bed at about 3.00 am.

I eventually killed it playing Elite for about 3 days non-stop (literally) over the summer holidays. We went on to kill another two of my mates speccy's playing Elite.

Aaah them was the days!

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Mathusalah — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 01:25:20 GMT

[quote][b]shem (15/03/2007)[/b][hr]after that i moved on to the c64[/quote]

Gone over to the dark side, you have.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

shem — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:20:24 GMT

has it really been 25 years ??

remember these very well 16k later 48k good basic plenty of fun and head cleaning on the tape deck fixed plenty of these in my time old z80 and a custom ic ( ULA ) made by ferranti

i think i still have some basic roms for this machine somewhere

after that i moved on to the c64

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

moomesh — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:16:47 GMT

zxSPECTRUM - So many memories I think it was about 93/94 with me mate jay around may mate james' house playing supertest on a +3, I think it was bundled at some point along with other ocean games. Anyway, we had no joystick - so were button bashing to hell and beyond!. After this I really wanted a speccy, and I eventually bought a +2 with pocket money saved over about 10 weeks = £15. this came with a box of tapes (boxed and otherwise) including a few ((dizzy) games: fantasy world, spellbound, magicland dizzy), Nemesis, Some platforming scooby-doo game, Matchday, Gauntlet, Everyone's a wally (with that dodgy song on the b-side), Gunship? made by microprose (really hard controls if I remember), and a couple of 3D games that were very much like the 'StarWars') coin-ops of the time. And a few more I can't remember. - Actually: Sweevo's world, - To much to be able to write properly after a few beers!. A lot of memories, and a lot of cups of tea (while the games were loading!) Lyndon.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

turner74 — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:43:05 GMT

i had a zx81 to start with but at school we had a zx spectrum the games i used to love were jet set willy , jumping jack and my all time fav chuckie egg

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Grenville Grimace — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 03:38:21 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (09/03/2007)[/b][hr][quote]Still felt superior to the Commodore rabble, though...[/quote]Yes, all the Speccy owners felt like that. Whilst they were turning green with envy. :)[/quote]
Ha! I don't remember ever feeling envious of any Commode64 owner, because none of them had a tape deck that lasted more than 5 minutes before breaking down... :P:P:P
I did envy the very few whose parents were wealthy enough to afford a BBC Micro though...

My parents originally bought me a 16K Spectrum, which I kept switched on for so long that first week, the keyboard went kind of tacky and it expired...
It was replaced by a second 16K, later upgraded to 48K. A MK2 model in point of fact. Still got it complete with all packaging/manuals/etc, along with all of my cassettes, my Binatone tape deck (still works - suck on that Commode owners), Kempston joystick interface, one completely badgered QuickshotII joystick and a home built (thanks to Everyday Electronics Magazine, remember them) Speccy amp.

Oh, and a few select Speccy magazines of the day, including one special Sinclair User which published a (very first ever) letter from a very young yours truly...

Fave games? Well, top ten in no particular order:

Manic Miner
JetSet Willy
Jet Pac
Ms Pacman
Atic Atac
Gauntlet
Horace Goes Skiing
Dan Dare
Zzoom
16K SuperChess

Still occasionally fire up the emulator for a bit of Speccy action on the pc...

Ah yes, back when computers were actually fun... ~sigh~
Can it really be that long ago...

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Mathusalah — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:28:26 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (09/03/2007)[/b][hr]Yes, all the Speccy owners felt like that. Whilst they were turning green with envy. :)[/quote]

Sad, but true :D

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Jason — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 22:42:34 GMT

[quote]Still felt superior to the Commodore rabble, though...[/quote]

Yes, all the Speccy owners felt like that. Whilst they were turning green with envy. :)

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Mathusalah — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 22:40:16 GMT

Bought a 16K Speccy with the Christmas tips from 2 paper rounds, plus saved up pocket money. Had it upgraded to 48K the same week Sinclair dropped the prices. Felt a bit hard done to at the time. Still felt superior to the Commodore rabble, though...

Favourite games - Ant Attack, Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Elite, most of the Ultimate series.

Ultimate were based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, not far from me. Had a mate who swore one of the programmers there was a relative, but he never proved it, and always seemed to have to buy his games, so...

Still got the Speccy, original casing, rubber keys and dodgy joystick interface. Give it an outing once in a while, just for old times' sake.

Feel all nostalgic now...

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Jason — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:47:21 GMT

Ultimate became Rare (big Nintendo player (GoldenEye etc.)), now owned by Microsoft.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Slipstreem — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:28:56 GMT

I was there too! :D

Does anyone remember any of the great software houses of the day?

The one that always sticks in my mind is 'Ultimate - Play The Game'.

Link: [url]http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/articles/ultimatethecollectedworks.htm[/url]

My favourite game for years was 'Sabre Wulf'. Me and my brother affectionately called it 'Sabre Mule' due to the strange stylistic font used for the game title. ROFL. :P

I had every 'Dizzy' game I could get my hands on too.

Happy memories indeed! :D

Cheers, Slipstreem. :cool:

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Just Jon — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 02:19:06 GMT

My first memory was playing 'Oh Mummy' on my best mates scream machine (as we coined it!) when he first got one, it was an Amstrad version, so not quite vintage stuff.

The first bit of entertainment was watching it load, a flippin assault on the eyes and ears, but intriguing all the same! 'Oh Mummy' was a simple affair (and didn't scream for long!), but kept us entertained till we got a good collection built up, and over the years we did!

My final brush with the machine was while playing Gunfighter, (one of my favourites), you were a sheriff looking to kill outlaws for 15 (I think) deeds to the city. Here's a little piccy of it:

[img]http://www.catharton.net/electronica/sinclairzxspectrum/gamescreenshots/sinclairzxspectrumgunfighter.gif[/img]

I got pretty far one day while round there, then all went black :angry:. It never lived again, and I don't think it was replaced.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Va Va Voom — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:25:04 GMT

Ahh the memories:)
My first encounter was, I think, in 1982 when I got a 48k spectrum. Rubber keys and all. It was cutting edge computing for the home user and for me it was the greatest christmas present ever.:D
My neighbour had a ZX81 with the flat plastic keyboard, so the rubber keys were upmarket compared to that.
Yes manic miner was one of my favourites, along with combat linx, attic attac, lunar jetman, automania, and the adventure game eureka with it's money prize for whoever completed the 5 parts and solved the clues. Not forgetting jet set willy which wouldn't run for me.
Loading games from cassette :hehe: now that was a chore. It would wait till the last bit of code and hang/stop/crash.
I've still got the original 48k and a 128k and another one. (amstrad?) And all the games.:)
Some day they will all come out, and I'll have a good old gaming session 48k style:P:P

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Shaun.Bebbington — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:06:01 GMT

I seem to remember games either at random or when playing something else... "This reminds me of ........" that sort of thing.

Anyway, things are really good in the Speccy "scene" at the mo, apart from the fact that they're generally a more friendly bunch, there's also some great stuff being developed for the aged rubber-sporting technology :-)

Regards,

Shaun.

RE: 25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Subby — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:43:52 GMT

I can remember when i got my first ZX Spectrum. It was the one with the rubber keys. Not sure of the model number but i wish i still had it now.

Might be in mum and dads loft, will have to go and have a dig around sometime.

Ahh, the memories. Cant remember many of the games apart from Manic Miner.

Cheers

Phil

25 years of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...

Shaun.Bebbington — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:26:33 GMT

In April (I don't have an exact date to hand), Sinclair Research launched the ZX Spectrum (which was known as the ZX82 until launch), so let's celebrate it's 25th year. If you ever owned one of these quirky machines (and even if you didn't), share your memories here.

Many thanks,

Shaun.