ZX Spectrum | The Six Most Important Games 

Wow! I’m really flattered. Means a lot that it came personally from you 😊

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Thanks for your kind words. There were plenty of games on the C64 that impressed. I remember Green Beret and Wizball blew me away

Apparently they didn't finish programming the c64 version so made the last but one level impossible to complete. Upon hacking the game to allow access to the last level you discover it's only partially constructed and impossible to play

@@mr.y.mysterious.video1 that's astonishing. Amazing to think they could be that brazen and get away with it. It really was just the wild wild west back then 😂

I had the C64 version as a kid. I remember getting to that level and returning the game twice because I thought there was something wrong with the ones I brought. I gave up and accepted it was broken on my third copy. And to think this disaster was on the software charts for over a year!

My mate had Robocop on the speccy when we were kids, I always tried to engineer a visit to his house 😂

Great memories! Even though it loops, that would have been a great achievement 👌🏻

You missed a very special time in home gaming the spectrum was grounding i still play the games today 40 years later,

The creativity and innovation of the software in the early days was off the charts.

It was one of those things which actually put the UK on the modern day map It's only downfall was the 8x8 pixel two colours restriction but so many coders and splash screen artists found clever ways around that It's resolution, sprite animation and refresh rate were however FAR better than the C-64 or Amstrad could do It's sound chip was somewhat limited, only single channel but again clever coders and sound artists found a way around that, check out the opening music for Aliens (UK version, Publisher: Electric Dreams) for an amazing tune which to your ears sounds multi-channel

@@PFCHudson The 2 colors restriction made it very fast to draw to the screen though! Because the screen was just one bit plane with an attribute grid laid over. That's why Amstrad games are slower because it has more colors

@robertwilson3866 If the game is programmed with the Amstrad hardware in mind, there’s very little noticeable slowdown (we’re talking 8bit don’t forget). Only when shared code needs adapting, which back in the day was often rushed. It’s not so much the colours, it’s the 16K screen. But that can be reduced by turning interrupts off. Look at Pinball Dreams, it uses 128k whilst using every trick in the book, impossible on the ZX Spectrum. Plus there’s a game called Fres Attack and Mission Genocide that include hardware tricks that can be used to increase speed and smooth scroll. There’s also a game called Killer Cobra, I doubt there’s a faster game on the ZX Spectrum, it uses the Amstrad hardware scroll. If you look at games like the 5th axis, Boulder Dash, Eagles Nest and Monty Python, according Axelay (CPC Programming guru) all show examples of how simple coarse scrolls can work well. The 16k screen also comes with some really nice benefits that you can’t get on the ZX Spectrum.

I met the chap who programmed it. He shared some fabulous memories at Zzap64! Thanks for watching and kind words.

Thanks for your comments on this, definitely food for thought 💭 Way of the Tiger felt innovative for the time, but was like wading through treacle. Starglider was probably the best example of wireframe graphics on the ZX Spectrum. But massively inspired by Star Wars from Atari so hardly innovative. But I get you, these were special games.

Agree, never even saw anyone playing Chase HQ. Turbo Esprit was more open world, kept me entertained for hours

That was a beast of a computer back then, cassette player built in if memory serves. Bubble Bobble, Robocop, ChaseHQ, R-Type. There’s a list as long as your arm of great games. Thanks for the kind words and for leaving a comment 😊

@@ClassicReplay I was pretty lucky, that was my big present from my Dad that year. Yeah the +2 had the built in tape deck, it could play 48k games too. It was a great computer. Me and my friends would borrow games from the Library, copy them, and share them around. 3 lives, no continues, pixel perfect jumps...simpler times, but great gaming memories. Cheers.

I hear it mentioned all the time. Great game

Happy days!

I won Ghosts N Goblins game in a Crash magazine competition.

Just reading this has me reaching for Laser Squad. That’s my evening sorted. Thank you 😊

Don't forget rebelstar 1 and 2 too

@@paulhembury9505 Yup, Jullian Gollop was one of my heroes for writing all those games.

Also, just played Space Crusade. It’s a board game, converted to a Laser Squad type affair. Very good indeed 👌🏻

I always found if you did the high speed dubbing you would get errors in the copy. OK, for music copying, but seemed to come up short copying Spectrum games.

100% every word. I was lucky enough to purchase a Next, very good computer and some great games released for it. Thanks for your kind words and thanks for watching. If you could share with other like minded people and spread the word I’d be eternally grateful 😊

Loading times for 48K non-multiload games were under 5 minutes, so even better.

Ratty hardware crashed win 95. On decent kit it was reliable.

That’s amazing to hear, I’m Switch, PS3, PS4 and PC gaming ready these days, with access to loads of retro including the ZX Next. VR as well, but only through PS4, I need to take the leap with VR on PC and play the new Half Life. Long live gaming 🤣👍🏻😉

I feel exactly the same way about R-Type.

Sorry my friend, sometimes I forget 😅

@@ClassicReplay haha. Good stuff. Thanks for the reply. Keep up the hard work. Cheers

Jet Pac will never forget you ;-)

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A visual treat, what a great game for the time

and 16k

It left a similar impression on me 👍

Believe it or not, I used an azimuth tape head align kit, but if that didn’t work I’d put a thin cloth over the tape area I thought creased and iron the tape. That somehow worked 🤣 loved Airwolf

Very difficult game, even when you know what you’re doing 👍🏻

You were lucky, it was water only in our house 🤣

Thank you. Really appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave a comment. It’s always nice to read a pleasant and thoughtful comment. Way too many trolls on RU-vid 👍

Yes, we all have that special moment. Mine was probably Deathchase on the ZX Spectrum, despite owning an Amstrad CPC. It was the game I loved above all else, I’d go away from it left in a daze. I think it definitely had the biggest impact on me. But yes, Micronaut One would have probably blown me away as well at the time, but we didn’t have it until much later. I think the Light Corridor borrows heavily from it. I wonder if kids today have a similar experience or moment with new games? I think the likes of Super Mario Odyssey would have given me a sensory overload 😅

Yeah man ! I remake on a PS1 or Dreamcast hardware ( or PC ) would be awesome ! I really loved that game, it seemed to belong to another generation of hardware, smooth and immersive, surely a precursor to modern day FPS games 👍👍

I’m the same, all these memories have never left me

Also, hardly any slowdown

Better on Amstrad, but still one of the best

​@@ClassicReplayIt's not better on Amstrad. I also played it, it's more colorful, true, but graphics are better on the Speccy version. The c64 version is similar if not identical to the Speccy version, except that it's slower.

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Great trivia, keep it up 👍🏻

Every word 👍🏻

Bless you back 😊

@@ClassicReplay thank you Keep up the great work. ✨⭐🤗⭐✨

Cheers 🍻 There's some absolute belters there. I wonder if you mean 'The Ice Temple' by Bubble Bus. Have a great weekend.

I gave my reasoning and I’m sticking by it 😊

I met Steve Turner the chap that wrote both games. He gave me an amazing insight into both creations. I must have stood there listening to him for an hour.

Yes, agree! Good games. Definitely would make it into my top ten

You might like this ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7EH3K7TCNus.html or this ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VpgYln5dbpE.html top ten 👍🏻

Ah yes, Rebel star was fantastic, I took that game apart and changed the graphics!

Chaos..👍 40 yrs layer many of us still play chaos , although its the pc version called Chaos groove with great samples. Jullian Gollop is a brilliant programmer ( sad he doesnt get a mention for the pc version though.)

Can’t really include a game that was developed on the Amstrad CPC, that’s heresy 🤣

Very true! Today we have a brute force approach to programming. Vast amounts of memory, CPU and storage the likes we never thought possible in the 80s. Watch my 'Man vs Machine' video below, I think it will be right up your street, as it covers the reality and truth about AI ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Wo7-ShQJmfw.html

I only learned during lockdown why LET A = PI - PI used less memory than LET A = 0 ZxBASIC stores numbers twice, once in ASCII just for displaying, and then in floating point which is actually used. In hex these examples would be F1 41 3D A7 2D A7 and F1 41 3D 30 0E 00 00 00 00 00, so the long winded way of typing saved 4 bytes. Lockdown was an opportunity to disassemble a few speccy games and to finally answer questions from 40 years ago that 12 year old me couldn't figure out.

I remember playing Aliens with the lights off, I snuck down stairs to play it whilst everyone was asleep, about 15 minutes in and I felt a hand touch me on my shoulder, I nearly wet myself with fear, I jumped in the air. It was my dad, he then said “get back to bed you little idiot, otherwise you’ll never see that computer again”. 😅 great memories

Spread the word 👍 true story

Try R-Type, Robocop, Target Renegade and you’ll be hooked

Good game, including the original :-)

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We will have to agree to disagree. But Myth came out on 8bit first, later on Amiga and NES, but these are different to the ZX Spectrum version. In fact the ZX Spectrum version was voted number 12 in the Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time. It also won ‘Winner Best 8-Bit Graphics’ EMAP Golden Joystick Awards 1990 (published by ACE #33, 1990/6) 👍

@@ClassicReplay Ah, I stand corrected on Myth - thanks :) I played it on the Amiga and wasn't really keeping track of Speccy releases anymore after I got an Amiga in 1988 so didn't realise the 8-bit versions pre-dated the Amiga version by 3 years. That's basically a "next-gen remaster" by modern standards :)

My pleasure. Hopefully I’ve earned a much needed sub from you ☺️

I know, great games. Loved Sabre Wulf as well.

Great list, hours of fun right there 👍🏻

Every word 😉

Deathchase 100% never heard of the other game 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@ClassicReplay I meant to say JETPAC. Damn this auto correctors. Hahaha.

It’s this simple. They were geniuses 😉 plus the firmware guide helps

It must have been an amazing experience to be part of such creatively back then. Those early days fascinate me so much. I’ve read so much about how the games were put together and the sweat and toil that went into such games. Unpopular opinion, but GunFright is still one of my favourite games ever from an impact on a young kid point of view. I was lost in that game for days, weeks, months.

That’s the one that looked like a Commodore +4 🤷🏻‍♂️ Plus I just read that the cassette interface ran at a faster speed 🧐

Thank you 😊

I can't believe Elite wasn't number 1 either ;-)

Some good memories there. Heavy on the Magick was so difficult. Danger Mouse, I think they released two or three different games. But had fun all the same.

10:18 top left hand corner 😉

@@ClassicReplay Sorry if this seemed a rant. It wasn't supposed to be.

Couldn’t agree more! The first game I ever played on the Speccy was Deathchase. Happy memories 😍

Thanks for watching my friend 👍

On reflection, I think I agree. You give a good point. I should have made this a top ten and included skool Daze 👍

Did you ever make it out?

@@ClassicReplay 10 year old me never did (actually had more fun just running around killing everything trying to conquer my own high scores). Forty five year old me did escape, after playing for a rather long time soaking up the nostalgic memories, then really wanting to escape the mansion!, and not cheating at all watching a You Tube video on how to complete the game (ok so some video viewing was involved lol).

Well done! That’s what you call dedication

Yes, it’s called skipping 🤣 watch again. But seriously, that was an awesome game. But hardly anyone knew how to play it.

+Chesso C there’s a new Dracula text adventure for the ZX spectrum, it’s really good.

Sounds like you have many wonderful memories of early gaming. Did you ever play a game called ‘GunFright?’ I loved that game

@@ClassicReplay I don't recall GunFright. I had most of the Ultimate games, though the 3D effect in later ones became a little repetitive after a while.

It won't impress in 2022, but back then it was special. It was a search and destroy type of game.

@@ClassicReplay loved Gunfright, best of their isometric output. Yes, even better than Knight Lore.

Bashing the rubber keys? What no Kempton Joystick?

That joke didn’t go down well, I received quite a few complaints 🤷🏻‍♂️ level five was good going, I think the original just looped as there was a mastering error where the last level was missed off. They later fixed it on the budget re-release. It’s such a great game. I played it quite a bit not long ago and couldn’t put it down. Thanks for watching 👍

Let’s agree to disagree. Just my personal opinion. Elite was a great game, I still play it on and on off. I also play Elite Dangerous on PC.

Most important ☺️ not sure how you’d convince me Batman the movie would be instrumental. A great game for the time, but not convinced 😉

Okay, 2/6, not close, with 2 in honourable mentions. I did the ones I knew people were talking about when I was a kid. The list seems like the some of the best Spectrum games though, not sure if people realised that at the time though, well not in my part of merry 'ol England. I had forgotten about Turbo Esprit, I did enjoy a bit of that, despite crashing so quickly.

Yeah, I get that nostalgia is a big part of all this, but I wanted to do something different. The majority of ZX Spectrum vids on RU-vid are massively predictable and pander to nostalgia. This list was never going to win a popularity contest 🤣

@@ClassicReplay very true. Before my family, the cousins, and other kids I knew bought the consoles in the early 90s, the Batman game was the last game I remember other people were chatting about, though for me, I was longing for Golden Axe for my Amstrad CPC. Most other kids I knew had the Spectrum, I was an Amstrad kid, we'd argue about what was better, the ones I listed were the ones I heard about and played around their houses the most. I was smug as a kid as most kids I knew were jealous of the colours of my Amstrad, thing is, playing the games now feel better on the Spectrum, the Amstrad versions were often much slower.

Sadly the AMSTRAD played second fiddle to the ZX Spectrum with most devs. But there’s a handful of games that really shine. The games I preferred to play on the AMSTRAD were mostly static screen affairs, but I definitely feel your pain. Luckily I personally had near enough access to everything, even the MSX. For me the AMSTRAD had a brilliant port of North & South, Spindizzy showed CPC could compete with all other 8bits. Prince of Persia we got on the CPC is impossible on the ZX Spectrum. Head Over Heels is best played on CPC. Get Dexter = Speccy who? The Guild of Thieves made every other 8bit owner jelly 😎 so not all bad.

Thank you! Trust me, really painful having to choose and whittle them down. Thanks for leaving a comment and please share 👍

I think “hated” is a bit strong 🤣 for me personally I loved it, also loved Manic Miner. Starquake, Stormbringer, Knight Tyme, loved all those as well.

What!?!

@@ClassicReplay I know!!!!!

Playability, yes of course. But which came first 😉 Jet Set Willy is a Mathew Smith game 😵‍💫 thanks for watching, I think 👍

It was fixed early on with the Software Projects version.

The time and energy that must have gone into Atic Attack is simply mind bending.

Cheers David, really appreciate the feedback 👍

@@ClassicReplay Subbed to your channel

Highly subjective 😉

There were few games that had a bigger impact than 3D Deathchase if you experienced it in the context of what else was available when it was released. Seeing it a few years down the line alongside later 48k titles makes it difficult to really understand I guess. It was a 16k game, so the whole thing was squeezed into less then 9k... pretty amazing really. Jetpac was another that was just astounding when it was released, seeing that for the first time at the time, that really elevated the speccy. And yes, it was also squeezed into less then 9kb!. When Jetpac hit the shelves, unheralded, the title folk were looking forward to was - Horace And The Spiders - that should give some context ;). I took a chance buying Jetpac, from this new unknown developer because my brother had already bought the Horace game, and jetpac was the cheapest alternative in John Menzies that day... we loaded up Jetpac first because we weren't expecting much and suffice to say it was a while before anyone played HATS. My first experience of 3D Deathchase was similar round at a friends house. Just unexpected brilliance, and it got played solidly until everyone had mastered it. It then became the yardstick for perspective style 3D action games - is it as good as Deathchase... is it as good as jetpac... is it as good as JSW... These were the questions, and that's why it was an important game. There were many better games released over the years, but very few that were more important!

@@oldmossystone I love Jet Pack! No matter it was 16k. Smooth, simple but addictive. Too bad there was no 48k follow up with more items to do. Then again, it could have been Cyber Run? Yes games should be taken into context of which year it was released. Heck had some fun with Maziacs but it did not age well. But Ant Attack and Match Point held up well. In the end it is all about personal opinions. Cheers!

@@frankj5947 Maziacs was a great game - it's amazing to me that it doesn't get talked about more. There are some games that don't fit easily into a category, so get forgotten about. Maziacs had replayability due to the maze generation. It also had some style, and forced you into strategic decisions... good balance. But it's not in a genre... so... Another for me was Splat! - I still find that as good as it ever was - it just got some criticism for the main character graphic at a time when so many games had large well animated sprites.... It was still a great game with a great and unique concept. And again the replayability, this time due to a different generated route through the environment on each playthough. It's a clever game. There was an amiga game that rehashed the same basic concept, but it was not good, because they underestimated how important the level design was for that concept to work.

Size matters ☺️

You don't like it?

Rick Dangerous is a 16bit game, helped put the Amiga and ST on the map. I don’t think it had the same impact on the Speccy, but definitely much love for old Rick on 8bits

I remember buying a game and looking forward to games loading, just to hear the music.

Scuba Dive all day

I think you might need therapy 😔 Whatever you do, never play Outrun.

It looks awful, but I agree. It plays a blinder