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Happy 30th Birthday, ZX Spectrum!

Started by Mike Carroll, 23 April, 2012, 02:37:03 PM

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Mike Carroll

Yes, the humble Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched in the UK thirty years ago on this very day...

Click here to read the first part of my Speccy article on The Sociable!

-- Mike


TordelBack

Great article, Mike.  It all comes flooding back... 

Spaceghost

SPECTRUMS ARE FOR WANKERZ! COMMODORE 64 ROOLZ!

Ha ha! Look at those rubbish graphics! Look at the pitiful amount of colours! Listen to the garbled music!

GET A DECENT COMPUTER! Peasants...
Raised in the wild by sarcastic wolves.

Previously known as L*e B*tes. Sshhh, going undercover...

Pyroxian

Quote from: Lee Bates on 23 April, 2012, 02:58:23 PM
Ha ha! Look at those rubbish graphics! Look at the pitiful amount of colours! Listen to the garbled music!

Yep, C64 did suck didn't it? Blocky gfx, horrible pastelly colors, and.. yeah OK, the sound chip was good, I'll give you that...

Professor Bear

C64 was kind of like the Xbox of its day, in that it wasn't actually any better, it was just a different system that for some baffling reason had a loud fanbase that was fun to poke to see what would happen.  See also: NES vs Master System, Megadrive/Genesis vs SNES, N64 vs A Freshly Painted Wall, Saturn vs PSX, Xbox vs PS2, PS3 vs 360, Mac vs PC, and there's probably even some argument over tablet PCs or MP3 players that has thankfully passed me by.

I think I know why Mac users are such smug cunts, though, as I've had a Vista computer for years now.  Keep on trucking, lads: you are absolutely right.

Mike Carroll

I bought a second-hand C64 in about 1985 and discovered that - unlike the Spectrum - it was a right bugger to program. Never got it to do anything interesting, whereas I knew my Spectrum inside-out by that stage. What I really hated most about the C64 was the dedicated cassette recorder, the single most unreliable piece of computer kit I've ever owned. I went through five of them in eighteen months, then just gave up.

But the C64 did have one thing that the Speccy couldn't match: Dropzone - a classic cross between Jetpac and Defender - shame that it was never ported to anything other than the Atari 400/800 series.

That and Iridium were my two favourite C64 games!

-- Mike

vzzbux

Drokking since 1972

Peace is a lie, there's only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.

JOE SOAP

Quote from: Lee Bates on 23 April, 2012, 02:58:23 PM
SPECTRUMS ARE FOR WANKERZ! COMMODORE 64 ROOLZ!

Ha ha! Look at those rubbish graphics! Look at the pitiful amount of colours! Listen to the garbled music!

GET A DECENT COMPUTER! Peasants...


At least Speccys looked like the future whereas Commodores looked like they were 60's beige left-overs. I was 8 when I got a 16k Spectrum so there was no fear of me learning machine code or basic no matter what programs the mags at the time printed -Input, Basic etc.- especially with a pirated C-60 tape of Jet Set Willy and about a dozen other games were asking to be played.

M.I.K.

Quote from: Mike Carroll on 23 April, 2012, 05:20:43 PM
But the C64 did have one thing that the Speccy couldn't match: Dropzone - a classic cross between Jetpac and Defender - shame that it was never ported to anything other than the Atari 400/800 series.

Ah, but it did have the plagiaristically similar Hyper Active.

Incidentally, I did this for the Speccy's birthday : Crap Games Corner

Mike Carroll

Part two of my Speccy article is now up on The Sociable..

Quote from: M.I.K. on 23 April, 2012, 11:35:54 PM

Ah, but it did have the plagiaristically similar Hyper Active.

Ooh! I've never seen this before - I would have loved that on the Speccy!

Quote from: M.I.K. on 23 April, 2012, 11:35:54 PM

Incidentally, I did this for the Speccy's birthday : Crap Games Corner

Cool! I have no idea what happened to the source code for any of the Spectrum games or programs I wrote - though I never really finished any of the games. Once I'd worked out the hardest part - usually the graphics - I tended to give up and move on to something else.

-- Mike

SpetsnaZ99

I still own a 16k speccy, still boxed and everything. weirdly the only thing i don't have is a tape deck and tapes for it.
You ever notice that everyone who believes in creationism looks really unevolved? Eyes real close together, big furry hands and feet. "I believe God created me in one day." Yeah, looks like he rushed it.

Emperor

My ZX Spectrum still works after all these years, the tricky thing is finding a working tape recorder.
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+

Satanist

Quote from: Professah Byah on 23 April, 2012, 04:53:30 PM
C64 was kind of like the Xbox of its day, in that it wasn't actually any better, it was just a different system that for some baffling reason had a loud fanbase that was fun to poke to see what would happen.

I realise you don't like Xbox but that's no reason to make shit up about the C64.

It had better graphics AND better sound. Theres no arguing that. Speccy had more games and a bigger fanbase because it was cheaper.

Compare The Eidolon to 3d Monster Maze for instance.

Saying that I'm currently playing the spectrums classic isometric Head over Heels & Batman games on my phone. They're still great.

Oh and theres a cracking update of Jetpac on Xboxlive which is quite cheap. All should buy it and weep at my Hi-score!
Hmm, just pretend I wrote something witty eh?

Pyroxian

Quote from: Emperor on 24 April, 2012, 08:58:59 PM
My ZX Spectrum still works after all these years, the tricky thing is finding a working tape recorder.

Grab a copy of TZX2Wav and then grab the TZX file of the game you want. (Should be able to get all this from World of Spectrum). then make the wav and stick it on your mp3 player - plug it into your Speccy and it should just work (tm).

Then experience the joy of being on the train and realising that your mp3 player has added the game to your music playlist...

Pyroxian

Quote from: Satanist on 25 April, 2012, 11:06:54 AM
Quote from: Professah Byah on 23 April, 2012, 04:53:30 PM
C64 was kind of like the Xbox of its day, in that it wasn't actually any better, it was just a different system that for some baffling reason had a loud fanbase that was fun to poke to see what would happen.

I realise you don't like Xbox but that's no reason to make shit up about the C64.

It had better graphics AND better sound. Theres no arguing that. Speccy had more games and a bigger fanbase because it was cheaper.

No, they were just different systems, both had advantages and disadvantages. Yes, the C64 had nice colours, but had a really blocky resolution in order to display them. Spectrum had a much faster processor which made doing 3D games a lot better.

Oh and 3D monster maze was released on the ZX81, not on the Spectrum, which is why it doesn't look as good as the Eidolon. Eidolon on the speccy looked very nice (if a bit monochromey...)

Xbox360 and PS3 are pretty much the same system nowadays - they've both got the same hardware, just the processors are a smidge different, and one has Halo.