What was the best 16K Spectrum Game
OK, I'm putting up a poll, but its not really about the poll, but a chance to focus on the 16K gems. (The poll, taking those with the best WoS ratings) is more a reminder of the good games. You can vote for multiple games on the poll.
Post edited by Jumping Stack on
Comments
Obviously the Ultimate games are going to have to be there or thereabouts. Jetpac is the pick of them for me, but all the others ought to be top ten material.
Some of the Imagine (Mk1) games were pretty good for their time too; Arcadia is an old favourite and Jumping Jack is simple and playable, if rather frustrating.
3D Deathchase is a game that's difficult to evaluate; yeah it was a big hit and the graphical effect is great, but there's not really much to the gameplay. Still, for 16K perhaps that's more excusable?
For the most original, I'd go with Microsphere's The Train Game; a very weird multitasking puzzler that's definitely not just for train spotters. It takes a bit of practice to master but I'd think it holds its own against most 48K puzzlers, except perhaps in terms of the graphics.
Another oddball game is Thrusta from Software Projects. I rather liked it, but it doesn't get much of a mention.
For strategy games, there's Reversi and the 16K version of Cyrus Chess.
For adventures, there's not a lot. Planet of Death, perhaps?
Same here, I assumed the multiple choice thing was a mistake and so only voted for Jetpac.
No, on reflection I don't think it can be. It came up on the 16K list when I searched using Infoseek.
Can't edit the poll to replace The Pyramid with Space Raiders though, but the thread premise should still work.
No, it's a 48K game. I think the WOS database mistakenly has it as 16K.
but my answer is 3D Tanx.
Great Poll by the way, the 16k was more suited to arcade games than the arcade adventures that frequented the 48k.
Yep. Arcade-adventures tend to be quite memory intensive and there's just not the space for as much room and graphics data. Mind you, the 16K machine isn't particularly suited to arcade games either, as you can't use mode 2 interrupts properly and memory contention slows code down by around 20%.
Edit: Harrier Attack is definitely a 16K game; a look at the advertisements in the archive confirms this and I got the TAP file to load into an emulator in 16K mode. The TZX file does appear to have some issues though.
But above all (for me) is Galaxians. Mostly because it was the very first Spectrum game I ever saw or played! Still a little fun for a short while.
Even I enjoy Jetpac, 3D Tanx is a game I still go back to from time to time.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
I still enjoy splatting the rat.
So many great games in that list.
And then there is Fun Park (2004 or so). I think Jonathan captured something of the 16K special with that one.
I think the list shows how much padding you get in games for machines with more memory. Very few single screen arcade games were actually better in 48/128K. A game like Kwik Snax has a nice intro, but the game itself would struggle to compete aginst the very best in 16K, even thugh it received a Megagame from YS near the end of the Speccy's commercial run. Bobs' recent success with Farmer Jack shows how rare the really playable single screen games were after the 48K arcade adventures got going.
Yes a 16K thread should always spare an honourable mention to the scoffing fat sauna-sweaty hero of Apple Jam and his rodent adversary.
My playing tip: Never underestimate the hornet who will "sting you dead".
There are a whole bunch of other entries for the minigame competition that will run in 16K too. Big Baps, Area 51, Anno Domini all spring to mind. The latter is basically Civilization in 4K which is, if anything, even more impressive than Fun Park.
However, most of my minigames are 48K-only though, as they relocate into the upper memory for extra speed.
My MiniGames (useally) don't relocate, they mostly run in lower 32K.
However during development I have the code in upper memory and the variabels also. When the game is finished I relocate the code to lower memory, but the variablestorage is kept in upper memory.
Therefore it will only run in 48K.
"Grand Pr1X" relocates to upper memory for timing.
I didn't know that Harrier Attack was 16k though.
As for that list, I'd go for Deathchase.
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
Proportional representation :-? !
No, I was also interested in the broader picture and the number of voters vs number of games wouldn't have offered much depth.
Anyway the poll has worked inasmuch as the two most popular 16K games are clearly Deathchase and Jet Pac.
But which of the two would be best in a head to head - the decisive crown of best game on the 16K Spectrum? That would require another poll.
You might not like the dismissive one line review of it I put up on user reviews just yesterday then :smile: