Did You Have a ZX Spectrum?

The ZX Spectrum is 30 years old today. That makes me feel old.

When you were a kid did you have a ZX Spectrum? I got one when I was about 7 or 8 and I was never off it. Seem to remember playing a game called 'Chequered Flag'.

Nope my first computer was the commodore 64.

You posh bastard

The ZX Spectrum was one I didn't have. You couldn't even get a clear TV picture, they were garbage, and the keyboard was horrible. There was a persistent rumour going round the geeks at school that if you held down the M key and turned it upside down, all the keys would fall out, but everyone who had one was too chicken to try it with their own Speccy. To this day I don't know for sure it wasn't true.

My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20, then an Acorn Electron, then a Spectrum +2 for a short time, the one with the integrated tape deck, then a Commodore 64 then a Commodore Amiga 500+.

The best game on the Speccy was called The Wild Bunch. It was a text based game set in the old west, where you had to go from town to town finding and duelling with members of a gang of rustlers. Some of the text games were too difficult for kids, when I think back. There was another one called Hampstead which was impossibly esoteric. I remember the Adrian Mole game as well, that was easier because it was multiple choice.

largehat wrote:The ZX Spectrum was one I didn't have. You couldn't even get a clear TV picture, they were garbage, and the keyboard was horrible.

My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20, then an Acorn Electron, then a Spectrum +2 for a short time, the one with the integrated tape deck, then a Commodore 64 then a Commodore Amiga 500+.

I loved that little keyboard with the rubber keys. I wish you could buy rubber keys for your PC.

I started with a Spectrum 48k, then 128k, then Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga.

I had some kind of spectrum when I was a kid (not sure if it was a zx), used to play Bombjack, Daley Thompsons decathlon,Gauntlet, Highlander, Frankie goes to Hollywood and Horace goes skiing.

Then I got and Atari ST.

OneOinCoyle wrote:I had some kind of spectrum when I was a kid (not sure if it was a zx), used to play Bombjack, Daley Thompsons decathlon,Gauntlet, Highlander, Frankie goes to Hollywood and Horace goes skiing.

Then I got and Atari ST.

I used to love Daley Thompson's Decathlon, what a game! And just reading the words 'Horace Goes Skiing' makes me laugh at how often i used to play that rubbish!

I hope you agree the best game ever invented was Kick Off 2 on the Atari ST.

Gauntlet was cool, but it was ported from an arcade game and it always crashed eventually on the Commodore 64.

Bombjack was cracking.

Horace Goes Ski-ing looked awful on the ZX because of the white static problem with the TV interface.... trying to render white graphics on a system with that problem was hard work but it was very playable game. As was Jet Set Willy.

Daley Thompson's Decathlon, well, a pioneer in the waggle and tap genre!

When the first generation of consoles, like the Sega Master System and the NES came out, it took me a long time to adapt to using a directional thumb pad and A and B buttons.

It actually took me years to become comfortable with PS2/PS3 controllers, with 8+buttons and 2 thumb controlled joysticks.

I cut my teeth in game with a Quickshot II



And found 'unlearning' that to be very difficult. It's a bit like that test they do where they have a driving simulator, with the steering wheel function reversed. Non-drivers actually adapt better to turning the wheel left to go right and right to go left because their brain doesn't have to unlearn how to drive.

largehat wrote:It actually took me years to become comfortable with PS2/PS3 controllers, with 8+buttons and 2 thumb controlled joysticks.

I cut my teeth in game with a Quickshot II

Ha ha, agree 100%. Although I progressed to the Kempston Pro which was the best joystick for Kick Off 2.

Did you find that eventually the front left 'fire' button on your Kempston Pro became shagged and you eventually had to adapt your grip to use the right one? Assuming you are right handed.

largehat wrote:Did you find that eventually the front left 'fire' button on your Kempston Pro became shagged and you eventually had to adapt your grip to use the right one? Assuming you are right handed.

Definitely, but I couldn't adapt my grip and had to buy another - I went through at least three Kempston Pro's a year.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

OneOinCoyle wrote:I had some kind of spectrum when I was a kid (not sure if it was a zx), used to play Bombjack, Daley Thompsons decathlon,Gauntlet, Highlander, Frankie goes to Hollywood and Horace goes skiing.

Then I got and Atari ST.

I used to love Daley Thompson's Decathlon, what a game! And just reading the words 'Horace Goes Skiing' makes me laugh at how often i used to play that rubbish!

I hope you agree the best game ever invented was Kick Off 2 on the Atari ST.

Kick off 2 was brilliant, always used to be able to score from the half way line by pulling down when you shoot. Who can forget the classic Manic miner and Chucky Egg. Kids today with there Call of Duty's and football games were the footballers look realistic don't know what they are missing.

Kick Off 2 was great, but there was a later game, I think it was called Player Manager, which had the same engine as Kick Off 2 but was also a football manager game, which I preferred.

The problem was your 'player manager' started off as a 17 year old, and got older as you progressed, so after about 15 seasons, if you wanted to play the games, your own player was really slow. You were supposed to retire at some point but that took away most of the game.

I was more of a Sensible Soccer on Amiga person than Kick Off 2, I used to play as Italy with Vialli and Baggio up front. Again, I preferred Sensible World of Soccer which was also a management game.

largehat wrote:Kick Off 2 was great, but there was a later game, I think it was called Player Manager, which had the same engine as Kick Off 2 but was also a football manager game, which I preferred.

The problem was your 'player manager' started off as a 17 year old, and got older as you progressed, so after about 15 seasons, if you wanted to play the games, your own player was really slow. You were supposed to retire at some point but that took away most of the game.

I was more of a Sensible Soccer on Amiga person than Kick Off 2, I used to play as Italy with Vialli and Baggio up front. Again, I preferred Sensible World of Soccer which was also a management game.

I was addicted to the first ever Championship Manager game, used to stay up till about 4 in the morning playing it then sleep for two hours and play a bit more before going to school. If I wanted a break from it would play Monkey Island or Simon the Sorcerer type games.

largehat wrote:Kick Off 2 was great, but there was a later game, I think it was called Player Manager, which had the same engine as Kick Off 2 but was also a football manager game, which I preferred.

The problem was your 'player manager' started off as a 17 year old, and got older as you progressed, so after about 15 seasons, if you wanted to play the games, your own player was really slow. You were supposed to retire at some point but that took away most of the game.

Yeah, I was also addicted to Player Manager. I remember being a 44 year old centre forward and could hardly move. I waited years for Player Manager 2 which always seemed to be "in production" but never came out.

Are you really a woman Nat? You are surely like every man's dream woman loving football and computer games.
I had a Spectrum +3 which was the disc drive version. God I loved it. I don't know if anyone else had this game but I had Emlyn Hughes International Soccer which at the time was the best game ever. But looking back on youtube it is a bit embarrassing. I also loved Outrun and Renegade. Those two games were superb. I also had pacmania. But I think that was all the games I ever had for it.

Michael Bolton wrote:Are you really a woman Nat? You are surely like every man's dream woman loving football and computer games.
I had a Spectrum +3 which was the disc drive version. God I loved it. I don't know if anyone else had this game but I had Emlyn Hughes International Soccer which at the time was the best game ever. But looking back on youtube it is a bit embarrassing. I also loved Outrun and Renegade. Those two games were superb. I also had pacmania. But I think that was all the games I ever had for it.

I used to play Emlyn Hughes as well, but I preferred Match Day!

Tandy TRS-80 - a massive 4Kb of RAM in '78 to rival the Commodore Pet. What a pile of shite! Atari was good a few years later though as it could handle Cubase - my first home studio.
Borrowed a Spectrum for a few weeks in the early 80s as Pete Shelley released tracks for Spectrum and basically you listened to the tunes whilst some dodgy disco lights flashed around the screen. I have plenty of time fo BIT's finest homegrown band but this wasn't their finest moment.
Incidentally, anyone on here used to go to BIT (for the gigs, not to study)?

Play ZX Spectrum games online

I never had the pleasure of playing these games, but apparently I now can.

Now that is a top link, my evening is now planned!