Let's go back in time to the time of the 80s. The 80s "big hair", New Wave, punk rock, funk, breakdancing, some of the most memorable movies or just plainly awesome music. We were also introduced to 8-bit home computers. A time of discovery amazed a time of awesome colour palettes mesmerizing soundtracks and tantalizing sound effects our 8-bit wonders.
This is a battle of two crowd favourites the C64 vs ZX Spectrum (for the 8-bit nerds only). What was your favourite one or the one that you hard earned cashed purchased?
- C64 all the way
- ZX Spectrum man
- I was more of a businessman doing some fancy negotiating with the smaller folk in the school yard. You know your lunch money for your protection.
- My folks believe this will bring the end to the society as we know it, like smoke is better for your health than these darn contraptions (hell spawn)
I was just trying to remember the name of the C64 today as I explained the history of gaming consoles to a youngling.
But Spectrum, I am fonder of, just because my friend had one.
My bloomin' dad made us get rid of our Spectrum so we could get a BBC Mirco as it was more educational and we could learn progamming! I mean really.
ZX Spectrum
I had neither (also a BBC micro house); was exposed a bit to both at friends houses and the C64 involved more joystick and action type games and seemed a bit cooler; Spectrum seemed to have more puzzle solving games and was generally nerdier.
Strong vote for the Spectrum :)
spectrum
so nostalgic for the colour clash. and horace goes skiing.
Option 5 - I've never heard of any of these :D
I got bought one of these little bastards when I was young:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/ZX81_-_rampack_-_ZX_Printer.jpg)
The ZX81 was painful on many levels - it had a touch-pad keyboard, which sounds innovative, but in practice meant you had to press really hard to type anything. The thing at the pack was the 1KB RAM pack, which would joyfully wobble to a disconnected state as you hammered heavily on the unresponsive keyboard.
Several frustrating hours later, I remember having created a version of Space Invaders featuring an unmoving ship that could fire one bullet on screen at a time and destroy the one jiggling invader. I didn't try programming again for about two decades, and used the 81 as a doorstop. It may still live in a cupboard somewhere in the Highlands.
Underwhelming.
C64... for the tunes, Last Ninja, Ocean's arcade conversions/movie tie-ins, and Paradroid.
I even had the Dredd game for it!
We had a BBC micro.
I still fondly remember some of the games: Arcadians, Planetoid, Rocket Raid, Citadel, Castle Quest, Revs, Elite etc.
Quote from: Magnetica on 16 June, 2022, 09:10:12 AM
We had a BBC micro.
I still fondly remember some of the games: Arcadians, Planetoid, Rocket Raid, Citadel, Castle Quest, Revs, Elite etc.
Me, too. Very nearly failed my O-levels thanks to bloody Elite.
I started off with an Acorn Electron but soon gravitated to thes BEST 8-bit machine and that's C64 all the way. Last Ninja, Wizball, Aliens, Beach Head 2, Spy vs Spy, Operation Wolf, The Bards Tale...
I wasted spent so many happy hours on these and others. The music on some of these games was sooo good. Definitely got a lot to answer for.
Team C64, mostly because of the music and also because I had one. That said, I these days actually own a ZX Spectrum – which is basically an office ornament – because I love it as an object.
C64
As a mature man, I have to admit that my mate's C64 had far better music and graphics than my Spectrum 48k. The C64's version of the Rambo theme tune would stick in my head for days.
But fuck that. I'm a Spectrum man all the way. I loved it, right up till Castle Master, which was for me its last hurrah. Soon after I stopped playing I learned that my little brother did archery with Don Priestley, the man who programmed one of the Speccy's finest, the thoroughly ingenious Trapdoor. My dad knew him well and spoke to him regularly as if he was, y'know, a normal person, rather than the programming equivalent of Willy Wonka.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 16 June, 2022, 04:56:49 PM
Quote from: Magnetica on 16 June, 2022, 09:10:12 AM
We had a BBC micro.
I still fondly remember some of the games: Arcadians, Planetoid, Rocket Raid, Citadel, Castle Quest, Revs, Elite etc.
Me, too. Very nearly failed my O-levels thanks to bloody Elite.
We then moved onto an Acorn Archimedes and played Elite in colour. But really I preferred the wire frame graphics on the Beeb. I was always rubbish at docking though and the docking computer was rubbish. It crashed and killed you half the time.
Do you remember the side missions that triggered at certain points? To fight the Thargoids (no relation). Ok I say missions - there might have only been one. Not exactly GTA territory.
Much as I love the sound of the SID chip, the Spectrum has my heart
Quote from: Magnetica on 16 June, 2022, 09:11:54 PM
Do you remember the side missions that triggered at certain points? To fight the Thargoids (no relation). Ok I say missions - there might have only been one. Not exactly GTA territory.
I'm not sure — my memories of playing Elite are slightly muddled because a friend of mine had a 5.5" floppy drive for his BBC and the floppy version was notably expanded from the 'standard' cassette version that I was playing at home. I do recall the Thargoids but I can't remember if they were actually in the game I usually played!
(As I remember, the floppy version had an unusual copy protection system — it came with a novella in the box and the game would direct you to a specific page, paragraph and line in the book and ask you to enter word number X from that line before it would complete loading.)
I was computer-less for most of my university years until 1990, but then picked up again when I got an Atari STE with a
whole megabyte of RAM, on which I taught myself DTP using the remarkably capable (for its time) Calamus (unrelated to some application floating about now with the same name).
After that, I got my first Mac in '94, at the urging of Kev Walker, with whom I was writing at the time, mainly so we could stop exchanging hard copies in the post and re-typing
entire documents to accommodate a few basic changes... and it's been Macs all the way since.
You know, I really thought this question was going to be which 8-bit 2000AD game was best? Dredd (either), Rogue Trooper, Nemesis, Strontium Dog (either) with perhaps an allowance for the Dan Dare games or the Stainless Steel Rat game.
But, seeing what it is, it's got to be the C64.
Only one of my high school friends had a Spectrum (though pity the kid with the Tandy Coco). The colours seemed brighter than on the C64 but there was often this weird colour issue where an object would take on the colour of the background as it passed over them. It was a bit like the screen was made up of 'squares' of colour and if something extend partly into that 'square' it would do a bit of a chameleon act. It always reminded me of comics printed with the colour being a bit off, so they didn't sit correctly inside the outline .
That said, there are several C64 games that have a weird colour effect where white objects have a red and blue 'tinge' to them. It always reminds me of the Apple II.
Also too, although I have no nostalgia for the Speccy and would never get one, the Spectrum Next design is very tasty.
I'm sure there are people still coding games for the Speccy and it's also true for the C64.
Some 2000AD art done on the C64.
Urban and Stallone are done using PETSCII graphics, which is an alternative character set made up of shapes. The Dredd to the right of the Stallone version is also done using PETSCII.
STE '86 is the handle of one of the artists. It doesn't mean the picture was done in 1986. (I think the brilliant Johnny Alpha pic is from 2010.)
(https://i.imgur.com/izfKheP.jpg)
Great 256 color usage just shows how people "exploit" tech in great way.
Lovely bit of 8-bit artwork there. It kills me to say it, but my beloved Spectrum couldn't have done colours like that.
It can do colours, they're just very... idiosyncratic...
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/11011639_10153519198687792_172949036195799303_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=1j-9Xi35rWoAX9SajTg&tn=uSmEBMWygocUtTPU&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT8GcJe6gpZT7JtIRkk_0xWPZQDr4LG0c2PyvYLfteDKfA&oe=62D2ADB6)
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/15400489_10154851817897792_7330622286647575828_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=BtfhbFXWbxYAX-WxITG&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT8QEW1_lcuiNRV4_3FGFM4O51V2tH9WTwCQY78Ro-sHcw&oe=62D574AA)
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/25552031_10156107622152792_5692268734809835723_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=sxY6YNBnOgIAX_XuKFI&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT82m-GcfDZ1147HNdny1jm6TwJTPLWxi4Jg_RJf4Q4Gmg&oe=62D52EBF)
My vote's for the ZX Spectrum, obviously.
Aiiiiii! My eyes! When does the burning stop?
No, actually they're very good. Done as proper games for the Advent calendars I think?
Also, good to know Dredd likes the occasional jellied eel. Though how he got all that tomato sauce everywhere, I just don't know.
Wednesday is the last day to determine the type of 8-bit nerd you are.
I had a C64 and enjoyed it for a while - but playing out and holiday jobs had more appeal.
Quote from: Dash Decent on 18 June, 2022, 05:11:40 AMYou know, I really thought this question was going to be which 8-bit 2000AD game was best? Dredd (either), Rogue Trooper, Nemesis, Strontium Dog (either) with perhaps an allowance for the Dan Dare games or the Stainless Steel Rat game.
And then which Dan Dare game. If you look at the original, the C64 coder (Andy Wilson) went off and did his own thing, which was much more comic-like and interesting than the other versions. That said, I'd argue this was much more classic Dan Dare and not really a 2000 AD game.
Most of the C64 2000 AD games were, to put it bluntly, bloody awful. Even those that weren't had major shortcomings. Nemesis had little to do with the comic and was repetitive. Rogue aligned quite well with the comic but was short. Those are the best of the crop on that system, which otherwise had two dire Dredd titles, a bafflingly weird Sláine effort where you grabbed 'thoughts', and a Strontium Dog game that appeared to have been written by someone who'd never read Strontium Dog. Am I missing any? (The Speccy's Stronty Dog game, based on The Killing, was a lot better, if still somewhat limited. And both Judge Death and Halo Jones got swallowed up when Piranha folded, although a playable demo of the former exists.)
Quote from: Dash Decent on 18 June, 2022, 06:21:29 AMSome 2000AD art done on the C64.
Given the limitations of the system, that first PETSCII Dredd is superb.
There's also this text adventure...
(https://i.imgur.com/NKC9eAj.jpg)
...which was supposedly also released for the ZX Spectrum, but no trace of that version exists online.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 19 June, 2022, 01:09:51 AM
It can do colours, they're just very... idiosyncratic...
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/11011639_10153519198687792_172949036195799303_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=1j-9Xi35rWoAX9SajTg&tn=uSmEBMWygocUtTPU&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT8GcJe6gpZT7JtIRkk_0xWPZQDr4LG0c2PyvYLfteDKfA&oe=62D2ADB6)
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/15400489_10154851817897792_7330622286647575828_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=BtfhbFXWbxYAX-WxITG&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT8QEW1_lcuiNRV4_3FGFM4O51V2tH9WTwCQY78Ro-sHcw&oe=62D574AA)
(https://scontent.flhr4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/25552031_10156107622152792_5692268734809835723_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=cdbe9c&_nc_ohc=sxY6YNBnOgIAX_XuKFI&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-3.fna&oh=00_AT82m-GcfDZ1147HNdny1jm6TwJTPLWxi4Jg_RJf4Q4Gmg&oe=62D52EBF)
My vote's for the ZX Spectrum, obviously.
Hats off. That's amazing work.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 19 June, 2022, 11:56:00 AM
There's also this text adventure...
Yep, that was the one I meant. I've seen it on the C64.
Quote from: Dash Decent on 18 June, 2022, 05:11:40 AM
with perhaps an allowance for the Dan Dare games or the Stainless Steel Rat game.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 19 June, 2022, 10:16:24 AM
And then which Dan Dare game. If you look at the original, the C64 coder (Andy Wilson) went off and did his own thing, which was much more comic-like and interesting than the other versions. That said, I'd argue this was much more classic Dan Dare and not really a 2000 AD game.
Oh yes, it's definitely 50s Dan Dare, which is why I said perhaps an allowance. On reflection it's probably as silly as if I'd said let's include the Scott Adams Incredible Hulk game.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 19 June, 2022, 10:16:24 AM
Most of the C64 2000 AD games were, to put it bluntly, bloody awful. Even those that weren't had major shortcomings. Nemesis had little to do with the comic and was repetitive. Rogue aligned quite well with the comic but was short. Those are the best of the crop on that system, which otherwise had two dire Dredd titles, a bafflingly weird Sláine effort where you grabbed 'thoughts', and a Strontium Dog game that appeared to have been written by someone who'd never read Strontium Dog. Am I missing any? (The Speccy's Stronty Dog game, based on The Killing, was a lot better, if still somewhat limited. And both Judge Death and Halo Jones got swallowed up when Piranha folded, although a playable demo of the former exists.)
(Slaine! That was the one I was trying to think of.)
I agree. It's so disappointing! There are talented people going back and reworking (e.g.) Commando and Ghosts & Goblins to improve the graphics and add missing levels and things. I wish I had the talent, I'd have a tinker with some of these. I know you know all about it IP, but some of the things being done now are so clever. This presentation by Antonio Savona on game in progress Pig Quest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8CTKeh8N0Q) is excellent. It looks a little busy to me, but the idea of speculative rendering, and the amount of animation in the puff of cauldron smoke is great.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 19 June, 2022, 10:16:24 AM
Given the limitations of the system, that first PETSCII Dredd is superb.
People love the challenge of trying to create something within the limitations and there are some brilliant pieces of art out there. There's no way for me to remember all the best ones but a few:
Ego (https://csdb.dk/release/?id=218683)
Gary (https://csdb.dk/release/?id=121498)
Sgt PETSCII (https://csdb.dk/release/?id=203347)
Lion (https://csdb.dk/release/?id=179228)
So this round the Yankee doodle could not be played it was more a song for the Queen, so:
Voting Closed
ZX Spectrum is the 8-bit darling
See Dad, see!
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 22 June, 2022, 05:40:26 AM
See Dad, see!
Should very British to me we people in the colonies struggle to understand :)
Quote from: broodblik on 22 June, 2022, 04:13:11 AMZX Spectrum is the 8-bit darling
I mean, that's probably what the Darlings would have written in the dodgy 'reviews' on the back of the Codemasters tapes, so...