1982 speccy gaming pioneers

Jumping Stack

The games that helped get the Spectrum noticed are about to be 25 years old. Which is the best game from 1982?
A list of the 30 with the highest ratings in the archive is here.

Vanamonde

Orbiter by Andrew Glaister

Although they were better Defender clones later in the Spectrum's life, this one impressed me at the time. In hindsight it is even more impressive when you realise he wrote the game before he got his hands on a Spectrum and relied on early sinclair documentation (if the story is to be believed).

Matt_B

I'll vote for Penetrator. It should have been in the list, but for some reason it's down as a 1983 game.

NickH

Tied between Horace Goes Skiing and Football Manager...

chop983

Horace goes Skiing is the most rose tinted Spectrum game there is incredibly it both blows and sucks

Derby Day, The Hobbit and 3dTanx

TechnicianSi

Matt_B wrote: »

I'll vote for Penetrator. It should have been in the list, but for some reason it's down as a 1983 game.

I'd go for Penetrator too. Didn't look up to much, and had its faults, but it was (and still is) hell of a Scramble clone.

Winston

I didn't realise "Great Britain Limited" was available for the Speccy - used to play that on the Beebs at school (circa 1988 or so).

Bad Horsey

Surely the Hobbit - that was one of the most defining games of the Spectrum.

But my own one would be Football Manager - which I still play today.

Vampyre

Probably The Hobbit for me, but I was also partial to a game of 4D Time Gate.

robert@fm

How on earth did Tobor, one of the most crap games of all time, manage to score 5.33??? :o Buffer Micro of Streatham used to stock just one copy, so that if anyone came in asking for it, they could load it up and demonstrate how crap it was... :D

def chris

Earth Defence

Zagreb

Of those games from 1982, I would say The Hobbit, Football Manager and Horace Goes Skiing would be the three that made the most lasting impact. Certainly, all were still well-known and widely-played around the time I got my speccy (1987).

CUCHULAINN

I never really played any of those games. Also, I never relised that Derby Day was made that early.

Jon Needle

The Hobbit, surely. An astonishing programming achievement for the time, and a great game to boot.

Jon.

Arjun

The Hobbit, hands down.

cichlasoma

TechnicianSi wrote: »

I'd go for Penetrator too. Didn't look up to much, and had its faults, but it was (and still is) hell of a Scramble clone.

of course, i join myself to "penetrator club".
but - i don't hold it to be a scramble clone, if you don't want to call so all the horizontal scrolling shmups, at least.
it's closer to cosmic avenger than to scramble (both 1981) btw, but above all, it's very original in its basic principles.
and what faults are you talking about?

(from the listed ones, i'd go for tanx 3d, probably)

zx1

Arjun wrote: »

The Hobbit, hands down.

Is it true it's full of bugs?

Arjun

zx1 wrote: »

Is it true it's full of bugs?

There are a few yes including one that doesn't allow you to finish the adventure, which was eventually patched in a later version.

But considering the complexity of the parser, the graphics, and everything, The Hobbit was an astonishingly good product in 1982 when the speccy gaming industry was still finding its feet.

rich_chandler

zx1 wrote: »

Is it true it's full of bugs?

The bugs are half the fun!!!

It was though a staggering programming achievement when most programmers were still struggling to get use to the BASIC.

1982?
Well for me The Hobbit and TimeGate.

WhizzBang

The Hobbit was the Spectrums 'killer app' so I have to go for that.

I Still play Football Manager though, so that one lasted for me.

cichlasoma

TechnicianSi wrote: »

I'd go for Penetrator too. Didn't look up to much, and had its faults, but it was (and still is) hell of a Scramble clone.

seriously - couldn't you specify, what faults do you mean? i'd just be interested...

Alessandro Grussu

Several simple, almost basic games, but nonetheless fun in my opinion:

• Horace Goes Skiing
• The Hobbit
• Planetoids
• Blockman
• Penetrator
• Galaxians
• Arcadia
• Spectral Invaders
• Slippery Sid
• Cosmos

rich_chandler

Alessandro Grussu wrote: »

Several simple, almost basic games, but nonetheless fun in my opinion:

• Horace Goes Skiing
• The Hobbit
• Planetoids
• Blockman
• Penetrator
• Galaxians
• Arcadia
• Spectral Invaders
• Slippery Sid
• Cosmos

Tsk, none of those were released 25 years ago, they're all 5 years older!!!

Alessandro Grussu

karingal wrote: »

Tsk, none of those were released 25 years ago, they're all 5 years older!!!

Your attention span is so short that you didn't even notice neither when this thread was started, nor the whole starting post:

Jumping Stack wrote: »

The games that helped get the Spectrum noticed are about to be 25 years old. Which is the best game from 1982?
A list of the 30 with the highest ratings in the archive is here.

but since you are WOS's very own Mr. Old Grumpy, I can understand it :razz:

Mark R. Jones

Calm down girls!

Alessandro Grussu

Mark R Jones wrote: »

Calm down girls!

Well Mark, if karingal is a 'girl' for you, I must assume you're much older than him :razz: :lol:

rich_chandler

Alessandro Grussu wrote: »

Your attention span is so short that you didn't even notice neither when this thread was started, nor the whole starting post.

I did, that was the whole point!!!










I even posted originally back in 2007...

zxbruno

chop983 wrote: »

Horace goes Skiing is the most rose tinted Spectrum game there is incredibly it both blows and sucks

:lol:..........

Alessandro Grussu

karingal wrote: »

I even posted originally back in 2007...

And you remembered that just now. Failing memory, anyone? :razz:

Graz

Well, for pioneering games I'd chose Cyber Rats from my 2 choices on the other thread. I saw it in WH Smith before we owned a Speccy and thought it looked amazing (from the cover!)

Not knowing what all these cassettes were was quite intriguing. I guessed that they were somehow interactive, like "Pong" but beyond that I hadn't a clue!

WISE OWL

Wow, Derby Day.

Got that on a Paxman Games compilation and spent hours on it.