Remember the Spectrum?

[James]

Ah, memories. Most here are a) too young or b) too American to remember the Spectrum, a machine more akin to the Commodore 64 (its rival).

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42822000/jpg/_42822721_spectrum203.jpg

For those who want a more topical trip down memory lane, the BBC website have a nice short clip about the Spectrum.

I thought it would be rather nice to have a thread about the old Speccy which IMO was often far more playable in gameplay than it's evil 16k larger brother, the C64.

Those who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about should click the link. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6580000/newsid_6582200?redirect=6582255.stm&news=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1)

There is a supporting text article here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6572711.stm).

Ah, the Spectrum.. for more info.. www.worldofspectrum.org (http://www.worldofspectrum.org) - great site.

[Lord Dalek]

/Smacks James with a copy of Jet Set Willy.

[Juu-kuchi]

Oh. For a moment i thought you were talking about the game company Spectrum Holobyte.

That said, I've never heard of this little thing really. They actually were able to encode games into cassette tapes?

[Chad Bonin]

James, you crazy brit. Playing the Sega Master System well into the nineties, covering your french fries with mayonnaise, and having a Queen...

... but you got an english Shenmue II on the Dreamcast, didn't you?

... you had to program games back then? Plug and play, man.

[Juu-kuchi]

Programming allows though a bit of creative freedom in regards to the way you want to play the game and how it will play itself, making its world at your command.

Mayonnaise? Come now. Brown sauce is where it's at.

[Bat Bruce]

Awesome machine, I can't count how many hours of my childhood were spent on Dizzy

[Chad Bonin]

Mayonnaise? Come now. Brown sauce is where it's at.
... gravy?

[James]

James, you crazy brit. Playing the Sega Master System well into the nineties, covering your french fries with mayonnaise, and having a Queen...

... but you got an english Shenmue II on the Dreamcast, didn't you?

... you had to program games back then? Plug and play, man.

Yes.

10 PRINT "Sod off Chad you smug git"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

Or something like that. You get the message. And yes, I did have a SEGA Master System, which fell by the wayside as soon as I got an Amiga 500 (which was just, well, awesome - just like the Spectrum). I think the Master System suffered "Afterburner" and "Operation Wolf" before it's $100 game tag meant it was shelved.

Awesome machine, I can't count how many hours of my childhood were spent on Dizzy

Ah, never got into the Dizzy craze. I remember enjoying "Finders Keeper" and "Stormbringer" from the White Knight collection.

I also loved the Hobbit (as featured in the BBC video on the first post). You could actually pick Elrond up, which was wonderful for an adventure game. Meant you could get all the way through the Misty Mountains, type "INVENTORY" and see it list:
You are carrying..
Some food
A Knife
A bag
Some Water
Elrond
A book.

Programming allows though a bit of creative freedom in regards to the way you want to play the game and how it will play itself, making its world at your command.


If you are adept at coding, have an idea which will fit into 48k and have limited expectations, then yes. :)


That said, I've never heard of this little thing really. They actually were able to encode games into cassette tapes?

Crazy as it sounds these days, yes. Meant that you had to keep cassettes nice and clean, a smidge of dirt and that 10 minute load time (yes, Target Renegade was a 10 minute load as I recall for the Spectrum 128) could be for nothing.. just a blank screen at the end of the load time.

I guess the beauty of the Speccy, was that there was such little expectations, you were never THAT disappointed. It had such a cult following too. That said, how they fitted the 360 degree puzzle game of The Sentinel and it's 1000 worlds into a 48k game is beyond me.

/Smacks James with a copy of Jet Set Willy.

\returns the favour with a smack from a rare copy of Head Over Heels.

And Chaos - ah the original turn based RPG game took it's first step on the Speccy. Look it up, it's STILL awesome.

[Juu-kuchi]

... gravy? Naive fool, you know NOTHING!

[James]

... gravy?

Brown Sauce is a fruity type of sauce akin to tomato sauce. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Sauce)

Back to Chaos.. given there are so many Final Fantasy fans, you need to be educated in the first real turn based fantasy game:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w243/kasarbi/Chaoscomputergame.jpg

And it's amazing graphics:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w243/kasarbi/3413-chaos1.jpg

Information on the game can be found here! (http://www.answers.com/topic/chaos-video-game)

And www.worldofspectrum.org (http://www.worldofspectrum.org), I believe has legal emulators and roms for the machine, including Chaos.

[.bg]

Oh yes, good ole Speccy. I had the really old one with the rubber keys. I remember the "bounce" of my fingers as I typed. I remember the very first time I played Manic Miner. I even remember the countless playground arguments about which was better - Amstrad, C64 or Spectrum. (Everyone knew it was Spectrum, but most refused to admit.)

The nostalgia is the thing I like best about the Speccy. The loving memories are something you don't get from later consoles.