What is it exactly about that Spectrum that you like so much?
I'm sure that most people here will agree that there's something very special about the Speccy, thats why we visit WOS afterall... But what why has it got a place in your heart?
For a lot of people here it's probably because it's their first system. For me it was the second system I owned (I had my Atari 2600 a few years before mine) and yet it's still the system I have most fond memories of. Is it because it was the underdog? Is it because of the games? Is it because of it's unique graphics set up? I really don't know.
What is it exactly about that Spectrum that you like so much?
For a lot of people here it's probably because it's their first system. For me it was the second system I owned (I had my Atari 2600 a few years before mine) and yet it's still the system I have most fond memories of. Is it because it was the underdog? Is it because of the games? Is it because of it's unique graphics set up? I really don't know.
What is it exactly about that Spectrum that you like so much?
Post edited by Swainy on
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:)
same situation here, got a 2600 in 1984, speccy in 1986, then amiga in 1988. i didn't actually ditch the speccy until around 1992 though, when i sold it to put some cash towards a megadrive.
the amiga was obviously a "better" machine than the speccy, but the speccy was still fun to play around on. also, the games were cheep on the speccy, so i could actually afford to buy them with my pocket money back then.
if i'd had a c64 instead of a speccy though, i'd be on c64world.com now or whatever they have :razz: i'm not sure why i actually went for the speccy instead of the c64 back then. (edit: actually, i think it was cos my mates had speccies, not c64s ;)
It is very good for diverse hardware upgrades - self made.
Good for learning about computers and programming.
Some games are still 'playable' :D
Nowadays i dont have so much time so i cant easily play some huge PC epic. I normally play Speccy games on a Pocket PC so i can have a quick blast now and then and come back to it later if i have some free time.
Speccy games are quick and easy to play on the whole and its from a time when gameplay was king and not fancy graphics or huge soundtracks or cut scenes etc.
Had a grandstand Pongy type game system thing prior to the Speccy but I was mesmerised by things like Lunar Lander in the arcades and wanted to play it without putting 10ps into something. I always had an interest in technology so I used to pester for a home computer when they first came out (I think I liked the Ti-99 but my brother in law told my mum and dad to get a Speccy instead).
The whole thing about the Speccy was great - watching it gradually get more popular, denoted by the very thin mags that were first on the scene getting thicker and better, the games, the arguments on the school bus with Oric and C64 owners, the games, frustration in learning to program it, frustration when Coke was spilt into it and it had to go to Speccy hospital, the games, Crash, swapping tapes, etc etc.
Life didn't entirely revolve around the speccy but it wasn't far off ;) And the Speccy was always a good friend of mine during the early 80s.
I can't really be arsed with Amiga emulators although I have played Indy 500 a few times on one. The Speccy still holds the fondest memories.
In the words of a master 'fuckin' classic'...
thousands of games and everybody had one
easy to copy games :)
easy to use / code......ish :P
the shape, colour, size, feel of the buttons
the price
the smell :)
Quality time see, you just can't beat it.
But really, I'm a convert to the famous Speccy because of the generally good quality home brew software. The fact that people care enough to develop such good and original games when the technology is nearly 25 years old is amazing, especially as the Speccy lacks support hardware such as a graphics chip.
Regards,
Shaun.
When the speccy came out they brought me one also, and I properly took to programming it and had the time of my life! So I love it because it was the first computer I really managed to program things for myself, and the games were so much more interesting than the Philips VideoPac system we had before (which was better in turn than the Binatone Pong system before that)
And now, over 20 years later, I code PCs for a living, and speccys for fun, and I love it! (and my parent's are happy their investment paid off!)
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is there any pics of the boxes on here?
I agree with you! The spectrum games are really a challenge, and when you finish one you feel like If you had accomplished something.
The only thing I dont agree is that now, for me after year playing some other platforms (like Super Nintendo, Play Station) the speccy games are easier, but not easy.
Bye
I know a few people could easily complete Atic Atac but this was another one i never could. However the weird thing is back in the day i could complete Airwolf quite easily as i used to play that tons.
At the end of the day practice makes perfect etc, Knight Lore / Batman / Head over Heels i did really want to complete but with so many different games to play i couldnt keep playing these so much i could complete them.
Did complete The Fury a few weeks ago on an emulator, very boring final screen saying 'well done...' etc.
It was easy enough to program that i could do it after a couple of years.
I always loved the type-ins, wading through them with my dad reading the commands and hex codes to me out loud. Some of them we never got to work. :-)
I can particularly remember the Aliquid Simplex type-in. Anybody remember in which magazine that was published back then?
They stopped putting type-ins into computer magazines during the GW-Basic time, early nineties (HCC Magazine had them, if anyone remembers that).
Computing has never been the same afterwards.
As for what made it the killer games machine of its day, I'd say that there was a combination of factors. It had the basic capabilities of colour graphics and sound that set it apart from earlier machines - like the ZX81 - and came in at a much lower price than the BBC, Dragon 32, Ti99, etc. that were offering the same features. It also beat the two machines - The Commodore 64 and the Amstrad CPC series - that were going to be its main rivals in the years to come to the marketplace by a year or two, by which time it had become firmly entrenched with a core of programming talent and a large user base.
Still, it wasn't just a case of being the earliest/cheapest colour computer as throughout the mid-80s the Spectrum continued to excel. I'd think the large amount of RAM - 48K in 1982 was huge and only a small chunk got taken away by system - did a lot to help. You could get much bigger games on a Spectrum than you could on a BBC or a Dragon, let alone a VIC20 or a ZX81. Also, the processor power to screen memory ratio was very favourable. Games tended to fly along on the Spectrum, and the only way that other computers could compete was by relying on the specialist tricks of their video hardware to do things like sprites and scrolling which tended to constrain games to particular formats that suited it. Just look at the number of great 3D games on the Spectrum as opposed to the C64, for instance.
i could never be bothered with type in's, but my dad bought one from a car boot sale, for 5p or something and spent all night typing it in. He asked me for help, but i was a bad son and refused.
i dont think he managed it.
was type in that pyramind/spider prog from the 48K+ manual.
After that, I was hooked on the various games and loved
farting around with BASIC.
I was so gutted when my last speccy died around 95/96 but
was overjoyed to come across emulation about 2001 and
of course WoS a few months or so later.
The speccy is a great computer even though I just use
it emulator form and if it wasn't for this grand old computer
I doubt I'd be so heavily in to games and such these days.
But in short, I love the speccy because that's where it
all started for me.
Great nostalgia trip though after so many years away from the ole Speccy.
Had one of them, got bored very quickly, got a ZX81, then a RAMpack, then an Atari VCS2600 system, then my Spectrum. I've now got several Amigas, I've owned a C64 and an old C16, I even scrapped an old Commode +4 a month or so ago for it's RAM chips.
None of them comes close to the satisfaction of using my Spectrums, be it a 48K or a +3. I don't know if it's a "retro" thing, I think it's more like like "It's a Spectrum", simple as that.
Over time i got fed up with the front covers of games which didnt have screenshots as often you were totally lied to and the older i got my imagination wasnt quite the same, specially when i had spent ages saving up 8 quid for a game only for it to be dire despite the advert looking so great.
....oh and not forgetting Sam Fox Strip Poker.
The Spectrum was unique because it was only major gaming platform in history that was not designed to play games. It was in about 1984 that a few people, by accident as much as by design, started making Spectrum games that turned its so-called weaknesses (neon-colour schemes, attribute problems, minimal sound) into strengths. One of the best examples was Jet Set Willy, set in a dark, creepy mansion with highly-detailed, surreal sprites. People are still trying to bottle what Matt Smith captured in that game. More than any other release, it defined the Spectrum. If this game had been made in C64 hi-colour mode with scrolling and SID music, it would not have worked. Ultimate tapped into the same power with their isometric games. And don't forget Avalon as well, an excellent arcade adventure. In fact, there are loads of examples from 1984 onwards. While every other machine up to that point was trying to bring the arcade into the home, the Spectrum's top drawer programmers were creating something else- a longer, slower, more atmospheric and (arguably) deeper gaming experience. This is what makes the Spectrum my all-time favourite machine.
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good stuff
Above all, it had the jazzy rainbow/spectrum logo on it. Heh.
The Speccy was and still is a great machine that I still play all the time (under emulation now though). It also still amazes me with what it is capable of (check out the Mortal Kombat demo or the pre-release of Doom, or the Wolfenstein demo that works with a mouse!!!)
I will always look back at my Speccy gaming days with a great deal of pleasure 9and remember the frustrating times when the games refused to load :lol: ) :)