The Story and Games of Joffa Smith, ZX Spectrum Genius | Kim Justice

A celebration of the life and games of Joffa Smith, the brilliant programmer/artist who during his time at Ocean and Special FX created the likes of Green Beret, Hyper Sports, Cobra, Mikie and Firefly. A gifted man, and a master of his craft.
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The Rise and Fall of the Commodore Amiga: • The Rise and Fall of t...
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#retrogaming #zxspectrum #joffa #oceansoftware #documentary

[@Kim_Justice]

If you liked this then think about having a gander through my social media, and get yourself on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/KimbleJustice

[@ModernVintageGamer]

this is a wonderful story and tribute to the man. 10/10 would watch again - and probably will

[@jimthompson939]

second time for me

[@reggaetonjones1988]

@@jimthompson939 me too 🙂

[@SweetStevieAaron]

Mikie on the Speccy was superb. Got me into the arcade and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear Konami had some involvement.

[@Dmrdecs]

It’s outrageous how much work goes into these videos. I, for one, am extremely grateful. 👍🏻

[@darrenleddy]

I remember being blown away playing Green Beret having a speccy game scrolling so well. Joffa was an absolute genius. Thanks Kim for such a heart felt video.

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Making a zx spectrum game scroll smoothly is NOT a mark of genius.

[@tehf00n]

Everytime you say "people won't remember this these days", I remember, then I feel old. Thanks Kim. Thanks a lot !

[@nodarkthings]

These videos from Kim always give me a warm, nostalgic glow.

[@Kim_Justice]

If you're wondering why you're seeing this again it's because it had to be re-edited due to privacy reasons.

[@markh5364]

hey Kim, what was wrong with it?

[@waltherstolzing9719]

Oh no... I was so fond of my comment that got an acknowledgement from you. (You know, the one about Arnold saying KOKAINUM ... I'm *100% certain* you remember.)

[@zachreddy]

Love your videos. I’m kinda surprised you went to the trouble of re-editing but left in the minor VO repetition at 47:02... great stuff regardless, a lovely tribute to a fascinating individual.

[@Kim_Justice]

KOKAINUM.

[@davidspencer7254]

Didn't think Lee Fogarty was mentioned

[@huntert7650]

Oof, re-uploads can be rough on channel monetization. I don't usually leave comments but I wanna help this video how I can! You did the right thing protecting privacy. This is a wonderful tribute to a talented soul who left his mark on so many people. It's clear how much love and respect you have for him. As someone from the states who only had Nintendo consoles and IBM PCs, your videos are still incredible to watch and I love learning about the computer and game culture over there. Seriously, even as someone who has no connection to the vast majority of your videos' subject matters, the still suck me in. Happy holidays, hopefully my financial situation will clear up soon so I can be a patron again.

[@glennmain]

Nearly an hour about Joffa? This is a good thing.

[@nicholasjralph]

These videos are amazing, THANK YOU! So touching to learn about this modest man that significantly touched my childhood.

[@pmacuk67]

Green Beret was one of the best spectrum games EVER ... I did not know this guy's name til seeing this video... He seemed a troubled soul... Very sad how this story ended :(

[@scottbreon9448]

I don't care if this is a re-upload. I still smashed that like button. Wish I could have done it over and over again. I grew up in North America, so the Speccy wasn't really a thing here. We did have the Timex Sinclair TS2068 and the Timex Sinclair TC2048 Spectrum "compatible" computers, but sadly, they had compatibility issues with the vast majority of Spectrum titles. Thank The tech Gods for emulation

[@Sr19769p]

Incredible research. Thanks for the nostalgia. 👍

[@TheBroz]

With the Spectrum Next finally arriving now it's still heartbreaking that he never had the opportunity to get involved with something that would have been right up his alley.

[@LautaroArino]

You are among the best history tellers on the web imo. This was lovely.

[@davedogge2280]

Paco Menéndez was an extremely talented developer from Spain. It is said that he didn't get on with management very well (understandable). He ended up working in an IT department (government I think) doing very mundane work, a complete waste of talent in that situation. He died too soon, some say he took his own life in 1999.

[@jimdigriz2923]

Love this channel, brings back so many memories of fun (and crap) games of my childhood. Thanks a lot KJ, this is better by far than most of whats classed as entertainment these days.

[@steveparkes]

A late comment to put the "Is it finished?" type posts on WoS and other forums in context. From about 2002(ish) it was just something that got frequently added as a meme. Generally on the very first post saying you're working on something new. Some of these came from WoS, some from C.S.S and others from the RetroRemakes and TigSource forums and might look impolite in the current climate. It was a way of giving a thumbs up on systems that didn't have one :) Joffa helped me with a few assembly questions during development of a game I was writing just over 10 years ago. A top bloke.

[@moagnor]

Is it finished?

[@chumpyman]

Under appreciated, under ratted and under valued video. Amazing and well done. Love you Kim.

[@Asobitech]

Rewatching this video, and it really is one of my favourites., What an absolute legend he was. Thank you for doing the research and going into so much detail over Joffa's body of work.

[@indahpratiwi4308]

Great video, thank you for making this

[@tomkrawec]

I watched this before it was re-edited. It was great, and I am sure it still is. Top work.

[@aeneas237]

I’m sure the connection has been made before, but these devs remind me of all the British synth pop pioneers who were making music in their bedsits at the same time. Also, I’ve been watching your content all day and I’m not a gamer in any way. Your work as a historian of culture is top tier.

[@Inksmudger]

And then you have geniuses like Tim Follin who are somehow both!

[@RUOK2000]

As a Master System lad in the 80s and 90s I only started collecting 8 bits in my 20s. These docs are great for me to see what I should be picking up and for learning more about the history. Good shit!

[@McAlby]

Great video, thanks. I learned many things about his late works that I didn't know. I still remember the time when he was ill and all the comments in the forums. But I really didn't expect to hear my Light Corridor track at the end of the video! Always remembered, RIP Joffa.

[@stockicide]

Wonderful video, as always.

[@richardgray2453]

this video made me laugh, smile and cry.beautiful work.

[@gavinrothery8825]

Beautiful work

[@rinner2801]

I worked for a few years in an underground game development dungeon. Even at the worst of times it still smelled far better than a D&D convention ;)

[@BuzzaB77]

Can't remember my comment but I'll hit like again don't worry

[@mrtiff99]

Thanks Kim. Great video as per usual. 3:05 "Learning Box" god that rings a bell, can't think where or how. Off to google to find out

[@starwars9191]

Brilliant insight, I had no idea and very sad RIP

[@derekchapman5167]

Great video/film!

[@xenomorphman3380]

Definitely an amazing tribute to an awesome guy

[@davedogge2280]

I saw a photo of this legend once. I was C64 but respect where respect is due

[@Mark-pr7ug]

Cool documentary 👍 Have you done a vid covering the guy who coded Chase HQ for the ZX & CPC?

[@zenksren8206]

An Xbox prototype build of Momma Can I Mow the Lawn was recently dumped and posted on Hidden Palace

[@stewsretroreviews]

Great tribute to a speccy legend here and gone way to soon. Remember loving Ping Pong, and the music was amazing for a speccy game, also remember Cobra and thought, no other micro will beat them detailed and colourful graphics , a classic and is one of my favourite games on the Spectrum. Lastly Fire fly was also something special, and another great tune too. Quality games thats all I can say. Nice one Joffa🕹

[@guerrillagames7279]

I used to get a lift to work with him now again! Such a sad loss

[@Bannerman1903]

Quality documentary

[@nickcartwright7567]

love your videos . would love to see one on the whole uk gaming scene upto the ps1.

[@3rdman216]

great video

[@sircliff323]

your videos are 10/10

[@PooperScooperTrooper]

That was...quite moving.

[@mickyjgreen]

The gambit levels of spiderman & xmen are an incredible memory for me. So tough though

[@dogbadger]

9:12 - This is what gets missed in the Spectrum/Commodore thing - the C64 was almost like a games console with a keyboard added - a great advantage in creating typical arcade style games, however this could limit variety and inventiveness of the system's library. The spectrum on the other had was a pure computer - difficult to program - particularly arcade style games - but attracting the most skilled programmers and also almost forcing creativity and diversity which is reflected in it's library of games.

[@nickmalcom6360]

corection: the game boy doesn't have an ay sound chip. the sound chip on the game boy was custom made by sharp and is part of the z80. eddit: easter egg discovered and revelled by Jaupha confirms it has scream of death.

[@jamesbrough3464]

Your videos are really really fab. Thank you

[@Imgema]

Can i make a request? A video about Traveller's Tale's Jon Burton would be nice. He also shares some info of his games in the channel "Game Hut".

[@leontrotzky778]

Um... He might have invented something sound related, but it certainly wasn't multichannel music. Even Wham The Music Box! from 1985 had that feature, not to mention some other games. Odin games, for example, like Robin of the Wood and Nodes of Yesod, had digitized music, multichannel and all.

[@JohnEpi]

i guess you really did him Justice !

[@BananaTV1978]

Yeah, what an absolute shame he didn't get to see the Next! He'd have been in his element!

[@qwerty260000]

When are you going to do the story of Yar's Revenge?

[@antster1983]

Anyone find it funny that a lot of people you would associate with Ocean, a Manchester-based studio, are actually from Merseyside? Both David Ward and Jon Woods were from the Wirral, while Paul Finnegan and Gary Bracey were from Liverpool itself.

[@lucasoheyze4597]

No.

[@antster1983]

@@lucasoheyze4597 Well, maybe funny was the wrong word. They chose to make Manchester their home because there were enough publishers based in Liverpool, like Bug Byte, Imagine and Software Projects.

[@nickgodfrey1148]

@@lucasoheyze4597 😆

[@medes5597]

​@@antster1983and because real estate for a company was way cheaper in Manchester than Liverpool at the time. Definitely not the case now but Liverpool had a bit of a resurgence at the time.

[@kee1haul]

Does anyone have links to his website or KZbin?

[@shaunharvey6333]

The post about Mikie is true, you do get a Goblin or something..

[@user-vg5rv5xf4u]

Joffa 🙌

[@karlwalker1771]

This video still makes me laugh as they are all Cagers and not one RIDES A MOTORCYCLE LOL Love you videos but just wanted to point out THE FACT LOL:)

[@CondemnedToBeMe]

👍👍👍

[@hairychris444]

12:05 - Sinclairs & the Square Albert.... Early 90s student life for me! EDIT: plus I remember Green Beret at the time. Awesome game.

[@jpnz0000]

Hey, starting at 50:33 in this playback, segments of my video [kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZ29d4V3d8Smd7M] are being used without credit - props to Jof

[@slyfrailzz]

Noice

[@chriscraven9335]

I know a challenger to the boring vanilla ass name Johnathan Smith: an old boss of mine named David Jones

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Which is David Bowie's real name, and also the shit one out of The Monkees

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Looked at dispassionately, this Joffa guy's work was absolutely mid.

[@the__GOON]

if this genius was involved with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega, shame on him.

[@bootmii98]

he died in 2010

[@medes5597]

He'd been dead six years when it was announced, so...

[@ZZKJ396]

Sorry cant agree with the basic premis of this, he was responsible for a tonne of mediocre boring licensed shovelware IMHO. A thoroughly nice guy though, which is more important.

[@kailomonkey]

Oh this is a re-edit of an old video? No wonder I both clicked on it and watched it to the end... No offence intended but I just don't enjoy your more recent videos.

[@Kim_Justice]

The original vid came out 2 weeks ago...

[@waltherstolzing9719]

@@Kim_Justice Yeah but that's an eternity in the world of tech, you know.

[@weavehole]

.... lol

[@emilyz4104]

@@Kim_Justice Flawless Victory.

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Genius? These games were all okay, but nothing special really.