ZX Spectrum - Thread

Neil79 · 10 July 2017, 14:42

Seeing as the C64 has its very own thread, I think it's befitting the ZX Spectrum does as well, especially when the homebrew scene is so massive!

First up is..

Crash 2018 Annual - An upcoming Kickstarter revival of the classic ZX Spectrum Crash magazine

Quote:

You've probably heard the name many times ' Chris Wilkins ' , a highly respected retro head who has launched countless retro gaming books such as The History of Ocean Software, The Story of the Commodore 64 in Pixels, The Story of the Oliver Twins and The Story of the ZX Spectrum in Pixels. But now after many Kickstarter successes, he is about to launch possibly the greatest of them all, The Crash 2018 Annual; A revival of the classic ZX Spectrum Crash magazine, wrapped up in the guise of a Christmas annual, with a brand new Oliver Frey Christmas cover. To coincide with this amazing news, we have an exclusive first look at the upcoming Kickstarter, with a video to show you before anyone else by Jeremy Wood and music by Allister Brimble

http://www.indieretronews.com/2017/0...ckstarter.html

BarryB · 10 July 2017, 22:15

Don't forget that Psytronik Software have recently published their very first Spectrum Game: Robot 1 in ... THE SHIP OF DOOM

Neil79 · 11 July 2017, 01:10

Nice! That's a great design too

Shatterhand · 11 July 2017, 02:53

I hate the Spectrum because I had an MSX and we got lots of shoddy lazy Spectrum ports.

Then I got an Amiga and we got lots of shoddy lazy Atari ST ports.

That's the history of my life

Actually I find amazing that for such a limited hardware, the Spectrum has a huge array of awesome games. It's really amazing how much developers could push the machine and actually create incredible games for a machine that basically shouldn't have been used for gaming at all

And what find to be the most amazing Spectrum game I ever played:

[ Show youtube player ]

On Amiga it's a nice game.

On Spectrum it's like OH MY GOD HOW THE HELL THE PULLED THIS FROM A SPECTRUM? Parallax Scroll with two playfields, big sprites moving at a fast speed, no color clash, a *killer* soundtrack, great gameplay (imo its the version that plays the best, it's better even than the 16 bits version... alas, the soundtrack is also better on Spectrum - and it does have music+sfx

).. of course, everything moves at full characters jumps (8 pixels at once), but its still amazing and I don't remember any other Spectrum game running so fast with so many stuff at screen even while doing this trick.

I remember I first played the MSX version of it and I thought "Finally, those lazy spanish guys made a proper MSX version of a game instead of one more lazy Spectrum port". Then when I saw the Spectrum version not only was the same game, but with more musics, I was just like "HOLY CRAP".

Even for an MSX 1 game its freaking impressive, but for a Spectrum game its just out of this world.

PortuguesePilot · 11 July 2017, 03:17

I love the Spectrum. It was my first computer. At the time, I was a bit disappointed with it because I got it in 1988, in the verge of the 16bit revolution, and most games magazines already featured many 16bit games and screenshots, which made me realize just how limited my 128K +2 was. I already had a PC at home too (albeit an i8088@10MHz and CGA), so the Spectrum sort-of paled in comparison. The Amiga was my first passion and still remains my first and truest love.

BUT I still love the Spectrum. Loads and loads of great games, that despite the obvious technical limitations of the machine, are extremely playable and engaging. The current Spectrum community is what I'd like the Amiga community to be: active, engaged, productive, prolific and very passionate, pouring out quality games in copious amounts.

I look forward for the development of this thread. Given the activity levels of the Spectrum community, there should be a fair share of news around this place.

utri007 · 11 July 2017, 13:03

I bought Smart Card interface for a Spectrum some time ago. I can recomend it. It is very economy masstroage solution and kempstone interface. I has also a diagnostig rom wich is selectable with jumpers.

Price is less than 30 euros.

http://blog.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/
http://store.retroleum.co.uk/spectrum-peripherals

Old_Bob · 11 July 2017, 13:13

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is the single greatest home computer in the known universe*.

There, i've said it.

All those days and nights in my bedroom in front of my little B&W portable telly playing Sabre Wulf and the like. Even if it did crash if somebody closed the room door with a percentage point of too much force. It was and still is great!! In the days of 8 bit, my school pals may have been sold on the glitz and glamour of the C64 with its colours and decent sound. Or perhaps the CPC, which I would also later own. The BBC model B was decent, if you came from a well off family and could afford the asking price.

But we now know, deep down, that the Speccy is, if fact, better than all of them.

All hail, the might Speccy...

B

*this statement may not actually be true. We have the Amiga, after all!

Allen1 · 11 July 2017, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by utri007

I bought Smart Card interface for a Spectrum some time ago. I can recomend it. It is very economy masstroage solution and kempstone interface. I has also a diagnostig rom wich is selectable with jumpers.

Price is less than 30 euros.

http://blog.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/
http://store.retroleum.co.uk/spectrum-peripherals

Thanks for the information and the links, I just bought one and it will do 99% of what I want plus its a very good price

Wow the interface has already arrived today 13th July, now that was VERY fast indeed. It looks like I will have to get my finger out and set up the olde speccy thingymibob

Gaula92 · 11 July 2017, 18:44

There's a spanish ZX Spectrum clone in FPGA you can build yourself:

http://zxuno.speccy.org/index_e.shtml

Schematics and parts list are freely available and it's also available in ready-to-use form.
It's a hardware implementation using FPGAs, not an emulator.
The same board also supports C64 (including SID+filters!!), MSX1 and Atari 800XL.
Most sellers have a ~60Euros price.

I have mine and it's an awesome machine for the price

UberFreak · 12 July 2017, 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

And what find to be the most amazing Spectrum game I ever played:

[ Show youtube player ]

On Amiga it's a nice game.

On Spectrum it's like OH MY GOD HOW THE HELL THE PULLED THIS FROM A SPECTRUM? Parallax Scroll with two playfields, big sprites moving at a fast speed, no color clash, a *killer* soundtrack, great gameplay (imo its the version that plays the best, it's better even than the 16 bits version...

I wouldn't call that scrolling, but since you're used to MSX and Atari ST, I understand why you do

Back in 1985, a family member lent me a Spectrum.
Didnt like it at all. All I remember is taking forever to load games (I only used an Atari 2600 before) and during hot summer days, I had to put a fan above the Spectrum or I'd get random graphics junk on the screen...
Oh, and "resetting" the machine by having to disconnect the power cord...

Less than a year later I got a Commodore 128 and never touched a Spectrum again

saimon69 · 12 July 2017, 00:26

@UberFreak
The real charm of the ZX spectrum was the creative side: BASIC and memory handling was pretty simple and more powerful of the one in the C-64 and Vic-20 (and i did code in BASIC in all machines); if we take out of the question the turbo tape and disc, tape routines of the speccy were faster (five minutes to load a game in average); the technical limitations fostered a lot of workarounds and the Assembly in the Z-80 was a bit simpler than the 6502 one; plus there was the interesting feature of including assembly code in REM comments to save space ^^

Shatterhand · 12 July 2017, 03:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by UberFreak

I wouldn't call that scrolling, but since you're used to MSX and Atari ST, I understand why you do

I actually never owned an ST, but if you are a C64 fanboy I'll show you a dozen of MSX games to shut you up.

(8 bits wars rules

)

Neil79 · 17 July 2017, 20:17

Quote:

Putting aside the Atari games it's time to mention Blerk's ZX Spectrum game ' Break/Space '; a procedurally-generated space strategy game for the 48K ZX Spectrum that has recently been compiled under Boriel's ZX Basic. This game was originally written for the 2017 Spectrum BASIC Jam, but the recent version been compiled into 100% machine code for a slicker gameplay experience, that is also much nicer to play.

http://www.indieretronews.com/2017/0...ted-space.html

Zarchos · 17 July 2017, 21:11

The very light video mode of the Speccy was in fact a blessing.
Spain was a Speccy country, as was Portugal.
IIRC it is a Spanish company working under licence for Sir I have a hard on Clive who gave birth to the 128 K Speccy with its AY chip.

Zarchos · 17 July 2017, 21:18

Don t miss The Micro Men on YT ... pure delight.

Zarchos · 17 July 2017, 21:20

And yes the Speccy wasn t intended to be a great gaming machine, but still had plenty of hits.

Dunny · 17 July 2017, 23:19

Yes, Sirclive basically intended it to be a business machine - thus demonstrating his depth of ignorance in understanding his market

Zarchos · 17 July 2017, 23:59

And he insisted with the QL ... amazing how stubborn the guy was.
Good taste with women, though ;-)

idrougge · 18 July 2017, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by saimon69

Assembly in the Z-80 was a bit simpler than the 6502 one

That's an absurd statement.

Higgy · 18 July 2017, 13:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen1

Thanks for the information and the links, I just bought one and it will do 99% of what I want plus its a very good price

Wow the interface has already arrived today 13th July, now that was VERY fast indeed. It looks like I will have to get my finger out and set up the olde speccy thingymibob

The diagnostic ROM feature is really useful. I used it fix a couple of Spectrums after it told me which RAM chips had died.

Don't forget to patch the Sinclair ROM so you can load (I think) .tap files.
It is all in the instructions.
http://blog.retroleum.co.uk/smart.zip
176

17 July 2017, 21:20	#16
Zarchos Banned Join Date: May 2017 Location: Paris Posts: 39	And yes the Speccy wasn t intended to be a great gaming machine, but still had plenty of hits. Last edited by Zarchos; 17 July 2017 at 21:35.

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10 July 2017, 22:15	#2
BarryB Amigaholic Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: UK Posts: 4,676	Don't forget that Psytronik Software have recently published their very first Spectrum Game: Robot 1 in ... THE SHIP OF DOOM

11 July 2017, 01:10	#3
Neil79 Autistic 'n IRN! Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: - Posts: 2,978	Nice! That's a great design too

11 July 2017, 02:53	#4
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	I hate the Spectrum because I had an MSX and we got lots of shoddy lazy Spectrum ports. Then I got an Amiga and we got lots of shoddy lazy Atari ST ports. That's the history of my life Actually I find amazing that for such a limited hardware, the Spectrum has a huge array of awesome games. It's really amazing how much developers could push the machine and actually create incredible games for a machine that basically shouldn't have been used for gaming at all And what find to be the most amazing Spectrum game I ever played: [ Show youtube player ] On Amiga it's a nice game. On Spectrum it's like OH MY GOD HOW THE HELL THE PULLED THIS FROM A SPECTRUM? Parallax Scroll with two playfields, big sprites moving at a fast speed, no color clash, a killer soundtrack, great gameplay (imo its the version that plays the best, it's better even than the 16 bits version... alas, the soundtrack is also better on Spectrum - and it does have music+sfx ).. of course, everything moves at full characters jumps (8 pixels at once), but its still amazing and I don't remember any other Spectrum game running so fast with so many stuff at screen even while doing this trick. I remember I first played the MSX version of it and I thought "Finally, those lazy spanish guys made a proper MSX version of a game instead of one more lazy Spectrum port". Then when I saw the Spectrum version not only was the same game, but with more musics, I was just like "HOLY CRAP". Even for an MSX 1 game its freaking impressive, but for a Spectrum game its just out of this world.

11 July 2017, 03:17	#5
PortuguesePilot Global Moderator Join Date: May 2013 Location: Setúbal, Portugal Posts: 609	I love the Spectrum. It was my first computer. At the time, I was a bit disappointed with it because I got it in 1988, in the verge of the 16bit revolution, and most games magazines already featured many 16bit games and screenshots, which made me realize just how limited my 128K +2 was. I already had a PC at home too (albeit an i8088@10MHz and CGA), so the Spectrum sort-of paled in comparison. The Amiga was my first passion and still remains my first and truest love. BUT I still love the Spectrum. Loads and loads of great games, that despite the obvious technical limitations of the machine, are extremely playable and engaging. The current Spectrum community is what I'd like the Amiga community to be: active, engaged, productive, prolific and very passionate, pouring out quality games in copious amounts. I look forward for the development of this thread. Given the activity levels of the Spectrum community, there should be a fair share of news around this place.

11 July 2017, 13:03	#6
utri007 mä vaan Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Finland Posts: 1,653	I bought Smart Card interface for a Spectrum some time ago. I can recomend it. It is very economy masstroage solution and kempstone interface. I has also a diagnostig rom wich is selectable with jumpers. Price is less than 30 euros. http://blog.retroleum.co.uk/smart-card-for-zx-spectrum/ http://store.retroleum.co.uk/spectrum-peripherals

11 July 2017, 13:13	#7
Old_Bob BiO-sanitation Battalion Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Scotland Posts: 151	The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is the single greatest home computer in the known universe. There, i've said it. All those days and nights in my bedroom in front of my little B&W portable telly playing Sabre Wulf and the like. Even if it did crash if somebody closed the room door with a percentage point of too much force. It was and still is great!! In the days of 8 bit, my school pals may have been sold on the glitz and glamour of the C64 with its colours and decent sound. Or perhaps the CPC, which I would also later own. The BBC model B was decent, if you came from a well off family and could afford the asking price. But we now know, deep down, that the Speccy is, if fact, better* than all of them. All hail, the might Speccy... B *this statement may not actually be true. We have the Amiga, after all!

11 July 2017, 18:44	#9
Gaula92 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Spain Posts: 527	There's a spanish ZX Spectrum clone in FPGA you can build yourself: http://zxuno.speccy.org/index_e.shtml Schematics and parts list are freely available and it's also available in ready-to-use form. It's a hardware implementation using FPGAs, not an emulator. The same board also supports C64 (including SID+filters!!), MSX1 and Atari 800XL. Most sellers have a ~60Euros price. I have mine and it's an awesome machine for the price

12 July 2017, 00:26	#11
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,516	@UberFreak The real charm of the ZX spectrum was the creative side: BASIC and memory handling was pretty simple and more powerful of the one in the C-64 and Vic-20 (and i did code in BASIC in all machines); if we take out of the question the turbo tape and disc, tape routines of the speccy were faster (five minutes to load a game in average); the technical limitations fostered a lot of workarounds and the Assembly in the Z-80 was a bit simpler than the 6502 one; plus there was the interesting feature of including assembly code in REM comments to save space ^^

17 July 2017, 21:11	#14
Zarchos Banned Join Date: May 2017 Location: Paris Posts: 39	The very light video mode of the Speccy was in fact a blessing. Spain was a Speccy country, as was Portugal. IIRC it is a Spanish company working under licence for Sir I have a hard on Clive who gave birth to the 128 K Speccy with its AY chip.

17 July 2017, 21:18	#15
Zarchos Banned Join Date: May 2017 Location: Paris Posts: 39	Don t miss The Micro Men on YT ... pure delight.

17 July 2017, 23:19	#17
Dunny Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Scunthorpe/United Kingdom Posts: 1,976	Yes, Sirclive basically intended it to be a business machine - thus demonstrating his depth of ignorance in understanding his market

17 July 2017, 23:59	#18
Zarchos Banned Join Date: May 2017 Location: Paris Posts: 39	And he insisted with the QL ... amazing how stubborn the guy was. Good taste with women, though ;-)

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