Matthew Smith Interview Manic Miner ZX Spectrum

[@slimboats]

This guy is a legend. If you were a teenager in the 80s you would know what I mean.

[@BertGrink]

Age has nothing to do with it: i was thirty'ish when these games came out, and to this day i still think they are some of the best games i've ever played.

[@billybong7394]

4:05 What a stoner!

[@3dlabs99]

Those games were dope back in the day. Back then I had no idea who wrote them.

[@mikeywong5749]

Am proud to say that Matthew 'From Earth' Smith is my half-brother :) Legend.

[@WillScarlet1991]

Yeah ok 🙄

[@MOSMASTERING]

If true... Matthew changed my life. I was 5 years old and used to set my alarm and wake up at 5am to play JSW before I had to go to school. It got me into computing, ZX Spectrum > Atari ST > Packard Bell 66Mhz PC > PC's from then onwards... Miss the good old days of gaming. I had nearly every Atari ST game ever made from hundreds and hundreds of menu disks.. my dad had a friend at work, we used to go to round his house with a box of blank disks once a month and spend 20 minutes per disk copying all the latest pirate game compilations. I had HUNDREDS and loved everything about those early computers and the community of nerds around it all. People were bullied at school for being a nerd for even having a computer.. now you're bullied if you don't have the latest Apple smart phone.. How times have changed. Now the internet is full of 'the general public' its a horrible place. Also - the only reason I took notice of the name Matthew Smith when I was younger was because my next door neighbour's name was Matthew Smith (no relation whatsoever, just coincidence) Nerd4Life

[@kristianTV1974]

​@WillScarlet1991 this is similar to me meeting Hugh Jackman's sister at a new years eve party about 20 years ago in a council house in north London. Someone didn't believe me, but like Mikey - WHY THE FCK WOULD I MAKE UP SOMETHING SO UTTERLY BANAL?

[@snotnosedlilkid]

Matthew Smith was a legend 20 years ago in my eyes and always will be.

[@mickeyscratcher]

Much respect to this guy. Strange how such bright and talented people like Matthew can find themselves struggling while others with no talents other than scheming and f**king other people over seem to get ahead in life. I often think of that quote from Bladerunner, said to Roy by his creator: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

[@martinsorenson3087]

Awesome analogy there brother...He was certainly gifted and a huge part of my childhood

[@martinsorenson3087]

Very good observations, it makes you think... That's why some of the best business colaborations need partners to get the job done... take 2 amazing actors, rutger hauer and mickey rourke for example. . Rourke is all heart while hauer is the brain. Imo

[@BertGrink]

I have heard that highly intelligent people often have a real struggle with the more mundane sides of life.

[@brucetungsten5714]

Because the system works against you if you do not function as expected. Add to this a general contrarian attitude of some brighter folks and you have a bad combo.

[@psycronizer]

When I was 16 , I got mine for xmas, and we were poor, so it was a fucking big deal for me. A 16 year old kid from New Zealand in love with this thing, I learnt BASIC pretty quick, and realized it didn't have the speed and power for writing decent games. My only source on machine code information was the manual appendix, and a beginners book a friend brought me about the general features of the Z80A. I was hooked.I had no assembler program, no compiler or anything like that, it was all written on paper and later poked in byte by byte and then saved to cassette.I managed to get the beginning's of a Defender type game up and running, the ship, the back ground all scrolling left and right and just started putting in the aliens then it all came to a sudden stop due to family issues. But let me tell you guys, writing this stuff is a coffee an hour and concentration and memory sharp as a fucking razor, it takes so much mathematical transferring of values to other variables (registers) just to get something to move on screen. I'm guessing here, but I suspect Matt Smith must have had access to lots more info than I did, I'm guessing he made use of a lot of ROM routines because,well, even writing routines to handle sprites was a head ache. It must have been easier for C64 programmers because the hardware could generate up to 8 sprites for you, with special ROM routines that handles their movement nice and smooth like on screen. I gave up after this, and I wholeheartedly agree with that prediction that Tim made...in the future games won't be written by one person..there's just way way too much going on. Mind you other than a core programming team, we still see a whole load of other so called talent listed as part of the process in the rolling credits, these guys don't do SHIT compared to the guys who actually do the programming, and it kinda pisses me off.

[@shifty2755]

You should have kept making games. You know what you're talking about. 👍

[@carllingard4987]

He started out programming when he received a TRS-80[2] for Christmas in 1979.[1] His first commercial game was a Galaxian clone for the TRS-80 called Delta Tau One.[3] He then went on to produce Monster Muncher on the VIC-20. Smith has said that he wrote Monster Muncher in 3 hours.[4] He obtained a ZX Spectrum on loan from Bug-Byte Software Ltd. in return for a freelance contract for three games.[1] The first of these was Styx in 1983 for which Matthew received £3,000.[5] He wrote Manic Miner in eight weeks[6] using a Model III Tandy.[1]

[@spartan.falbion2761]

One of the biggest games, Stardew Valley, was developed by one person.

[@simonperry8569]

"I applied to work in a fish gutting factory; but it was the wrong time of year..." Classic.

[@paulclarke8184]

Matthew - you inspired me and now I have published games and provide a resource called YOUSRC that more than ten thousand UK students have used in past year to take first steps in programming! You are my inspiration and I wish you all the best.

[@louiscartman4811]

Always be a legend Matty. Take care and enjoy life.

[@05Rudey]

Matthew Smith is the man, its a shame he didn't carry on and make his own development company, manic miner was fantastic, easily one of the top 10 games ever produced for the speccy. And he done that with continuous music (which was thought to be impossible on the spectrum) All at 17.... Amazing.

[@RufianEmbozado]

I don't understand so much mockery about Matthew Smith. I've spent a load of happy hours with Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. No doubt wealth and fame may be a burden for too young people, but I don't mind what Mr. Smith did with his life (I wish he and everybody else were "realistically" happy, anyway). He was a huge inspiration for a lot of boys back in the day. I remember the first time I saw Manic Miner running on a strange box with strange sticky keys. My jaws went to the floor and I knew for sure: "That's what I want to do". Things didn't ran that way, sure. But I learnt Z80 assembler while striving to get my own "masterpiece". Spectrum was a pretty limited machine, but this implied it was a tricky thing when you tried to get it to do what you envisioned. I had to learn a good lot about electronics, video signals, interrupts, cycles, ports, chips and tracks and all that stuff. You had to stump upon things like that book from David Webb (Starion) to discover how big your ignorance was and how fascinating details were on such a little, simple, machine. Obviusly I didn't succeed, but my mind was never the same. I thank for all those guys who gave that kick to many of us. Life is strange, but it's kind of nice just because of this strange people. I wish him the best.

[@ZZKJ396]

As a games programmer from that period, its sad to say that most talented coders were preyed upon by unscrupulous business types that gave 2.5% royalties, for limited period. Swindled by contracts of legal speak that went on for 10s of pages. Some of said companies, are now the biggest corporate games companies in the world... mainly talented kids, 15-18...

[@Zingo33]

Remember playing Manic Miner and Jetset Willy for hours until I nearly passed out from exhaustion. I was definetly a Teenage Manic Miner. The teenage nerd generation from the early 80s are indebted to Matthew Smith for giving them many hours of entertainment.

[@markosimic74]

Thank you Matthew for creating first computer game I loved. Salute.

[@RainGodRecordsInc]

Legend. Been playing Manic Miner last few days and it's brilliant still. Amazing that he was only seventeen.

[@Danbotology]

I wasn't there at the beginning (I was born in 1985), but I was raised on the ZX/MM/JSW and have a lot of respect for this guy. Legend.

[@sveinnarn]

Wow, 17 years old KZbin video! That's impressive. And about Manic Miner as well 😊

[@PaulDavies4]

My favorite game back in the day, I used to love it. I loved the sun that went up and down! :D

[@Retrogamer71]

Love it. So great to have the name behind the game. These games were created by engineers and artists. Very talented people when you think about it. I enjoyed this posting and Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy were two games I remember very well. Now the name Mathew Smith will be remembered too.

[@malad1]

Something that impressed me when playing jet set willy was going up and down the slopes/stairs. The platforming was very well realised.

[@solidsneakie]

I'm still playing your games. thanks Matthew.

[@tomtitt2786]

Good video! The biggest legacy of Sinclair's Spectrum series is a little game you may have heard about called Grand Theft Auto, which was created by DMA Design..a company in Dundee in Scotland who produced software for the Spectrum. They became inspired by a Spectrum driving game called Turbo Esprit, changed their name to RockStar, and went on to produce the most successful and longest running video game in history. (And yes, I had a ZX Spectrum;-)

[@tehf00n]

they never produced software for the spectrum. They released games for the Amiga and the name DMA came from the amiga driven term Direct Memory Access.

[@straighteight9154]

tehf00n He never said they did. Although they did write Lemmings which was released on the spectrum so um....

[@tehf00n]

Straight Eight yeah it was a port tho.

[@stephengibbons7282]

Manic Miner was the best game ever made for the ZX Spectrum. It was an absolute classic . Matthew Smith was a genius !

[@rotorportor3119]

I love You Matthew and I still play Your games! Thank You.

[@bighill8272]

Legend!

[@stupiddrivers]

The greatest music, poetry and even it seems, computer games are all written by people who are completely wasted! lol. I can still remember going up the escalator at a computer fair held at the Barbican in 1983 and the first thing I saw to my amazement was a Speccy running Manic Miner. Matthew Smith, is indeed a legend.

[@stephaz1971]

I love those games more than the ones produced today!

[@vapourmile]

"5 years after I did I was a washout, 10 years I was history, it's coming up to 20 years and now I'm a legend".

[@Mystscot]

Excellent clip..a legend of the gaming world and his game still is a classic..glad I can now play this game on my PC...best wishes to Matthew.

[@gregmartin8996]

A legend then and a legend now. Pure genius.

[@maxim54321]

this was the first video game i ever saw and it blew me away way back then . still a brilliant game . much respect.

[@Oblivion8393]

He'll always be a legend of Sinclair Spectrum gaming. Manic Miner was the first game I ever bought. It cost £5.95. Thanks, Matthew, all the best!

[@AlfieMaxMiMi]

Very old post I know. I've been curious about the price of old Spectrum games compared to modern ones - £5.95 blimey! Resident Evil Village just cost me £45 (still gaming at nearly 50yrs old). Anyway, as others have said, Matt Smith is, and always will be, a legend.

[@Vargon7]

@@AlfieMaxMiMi Another 2 years on.... In 1984 Speccy games typically cost £5.95 or £5.99. The first budget games that year (by Mastertronic) were £1.99. Early Ultimate games were £5.50, then they shot up to £9.95 for Sabre Wulf onwards. You also had supposedly top games like The Hobbit (I thought it was really crap!) at £14.95.

[@AMR-bf8nx]

Complete genius. Thanks Matthew.

[@Camelsarse]

Like alot of people, he is the reason I'm playing games. Thanks Matthew!

[@moffstarrTV]

Was my fav game Jet Set Willy, and part 2. Loved it and played it to death

[@Scripture-Man]

Great interview! Good questions and answers :-)

[@burnsyboy2007]

Manic Miner is one of my favourite games of all time!! I played it the other day believe it or not on my Spectrum 48K.

[@shauntbarry]

I met him a good few years ago as I work for LJMU.. He was there for some reason.. Great guy

[@kakabixlis]

Agreed he reminds of Jack Sparrow but thanks to him i learned to play games when i was teenager hehe!We owe him many stuff !he is a silent legend!god bless you matthew!

[@moffstarrTV]

yeah same as man, this guy is a king in my world

[@HellNight7]

Whatever you say about matthew smith you can't take away the fact that Jet Set Willy is a classic retro game.

He is the guy! That's it! He created Manic Miner, a ZX Spectrum's reference all over the world! What he is, what he looks like, if he looks like messed up or not, that is not concern of ours. He is not Justin Bieber, for God sake!

[@meman887]

He's still a legend and his games have been ported to numrious platforms and still fun to play.

[@Frankbrodie2009]

Bow to the man who started it all in my opinion. We are most definitely not worthy. You are a true ledge Matthew. A true ledge ^^

[@jusele-ox9rc]

After school in the comp shop Wallasey, that fucking game sent me nuts(teenage years on the Wirral was different,so the majority of us were already half way there). Distant memory Still nuts 🏴‍☠️👌

[@richawdon3856]

Matthew Smith is a wonderful genius.

[@MikeDent]

Creative genius. Reminds me in some small ways of Douglas Adams. He could rarely produce a book anywhere near on time despite the publishers trying to rush him along.

[@vladabuba]

Matthew Smith is a living legend, I would like to know him C++ x86 assembler

[@TheStevenWhiting]

3:53 was that him essentially saying "Yeah I stole the idea and just made it better"

[@chriswyatt]

I think in the RetroGamer article it mentioned his use of mushrooms, that doesn't surprise me from the games, there was some crazy imagery and ideas.

[@jamiemgreerjourno]

Does anyone know which show this interview is from?

[@elfboy29]

Such legendary games and it's hard not see it was a bright creative kid being honest and using his humour at the time in making it, like the python foot. Make him a knight!

[@TonyHorgan]

Good work Iain, and Matthew: your games were inspirational! They inspired me to not settle for a job that didn't involve playing computer games :-)

[@ironmonger27]

mathew smith = legend

[@05Rudey]

I still play Manic Minor now, its just soo playable.

[@Daiabolical]

Things have gone full circle a bit. You can still make a decent living from a back bedroom operation thanks to mobile phone games and Microsoft Indie Games, although it still usually takes a small team. Nobody wants crappy graphics or bells and whistles anymore, so either you're a programmer who's a wizard at graphics and audio or you're part of a small amateur team. But it can still be done.

[@greenhowie]

As a boi more than a decade in the future I gotta say I'm gonna enjoy finding a good quality version of his.

[@gusbun]

This guy is a legend. I wonder what happened to Chris Lancaster who did the Speccie conversion to the C64

[@paulndor848]

I remember all the talk around the computer scene at the time, what will Matthew Smith do next?. He had the world at his feet, why did he stop?

[@WillScarlet1991]

This programme is from 2000 (12 years ago).

[@TheStevenWhiting]

19 now :)

[@weewhiskydram]

22 now 😂

[@WillScarlet1991]

@@weewhiskydram 24 now 😱😁

[@KevinColt]

Drugs are bad mmkay

[@thestoowarren]

The program it came from is called Thumb Candy lasting 48.35

[@JAMMAJUP01]

Both Manic Miner and JSW are good and were slightly ahead of most other games at that time (Except maybe early Ultimate),Matthews inspiration lives on in other games that arrived after and the many JSW/MM editor games that appear today on the Spectrum home-brew scene. I would rather play them than the pretty looking shallow tosh that is released on the so called next gen consoles,glad i sold my 360 and ps3 a couple of years ago and became a retro gamer.

[@rudeydudey05]

2003ish (As he said its 20 years since he wrote manic miner) Making him about 37.

[@DamianSix66]

Hope Matt is well , today is the Speccys 30th Anniversary and Matt along with Sir Clive and Ultimate are freaking legends .

[@kristianTV1974]

Around last week (April 2022) marks its 40th. Can someone comment directly below on the next 'big one'?

[@LunaSeaSane]

Brilliant.

[@MrKoksuka]

10 print "off his trolly on crack" 20 goto 10

[@charliea697]

🤣

[@taxalot]

Looks like I could have a beer with that guy.

[@theshamanarchist5441]

and a spliff! ha ha

[@CornishCreamtea07]

2:56 yes how very true now it takes many people working in many different departments 2 or 3 years to make ONE game costing millions. how simple it was back then.

[@cloerenjackson3699]

There's little snatches of him as a boy at 2:20 and 2:55. It says the clips are from Bits and Pieces on Grampian tv, 1983. Does anybody know where to find the full interview? I've Googled and can't find it.

[@feraljim]

It's not just eccentricity that makes him weird. I remember seeing footage of Smith at home in Amsterdam asking if he could "have some more Charlie" from his mum! I was sure that it was this documentary. It doesn't mention drugs on Wikipedia but it does say he was deported from Holland.

[@StopFear]

He looks healthier now even though he's much older. Its like he didn't age. What year is this tv special from?

[@RPKGameVids]

Still got this full show. :)

[@Firelance31]

he is a legend

[@Labruskie]

Just had a look at Miner 2049er. It's more reminiscent of Booty rather then Manic Miner. Matthew Smith's game is a vast improvement on the concept! What show is this clip from?

[@TheFesta01]

hes seems nice - a bit eccentric, but thats to be expected ; )

[@WillScarlet1991]

Mark Richardson Lol ! :D

[@thestoowarren]

the name of the program is thumb candy - total time 48.35

[@Realmasterorder]

True pioneers !

[@8824snipe]

True and without the wright brothers we wouldn't have the Boeing 747.

[@zyrgle]

@ 4:20 Perhaps the boot is a Monty Python reference?

[@CoolDudeClem]

I still play Manic Miner and Jetset Willy, I think jetset willy 2 is the best out of the JSW trilogy.

[@iberdeev]

What kind of the TV set (or TV monitor) in room of Matthew Smith ?

[@sprattusmaximus]

What song is it playing at 1:20? Its on Vice City isnt it?

[@bojan34]

memories :)!

[@thestoowarren]

this is a clip from a program called thumb candy-a brief history of video games, try e-mule

[@4096x]

legend

[@WillScarlet1991]

Does anyone know where that coloured listing is from @ 1:08?

[@mrz8017]

+Will Scarlett Hum... looks like 6502/6510 disassembly, may be a program for Commodore 64 (seen @ 1:04) Difficult to say with only 23 instructions

[@WillScarlet1991]

MrZ80 I remember seeing such listings as a kid in school (obviously in the 80s, lol), and I always thought they were from the BBC Micro. In fact, if you pause the vid @ 1:05, you can see it.

[@mrz8017]

+Will Scarlett You're right ! It's looks furiously furiously like a BBC Micro. So it is 6502/6512 code. Your memories are long-lived

[@pigknickers2975]

It's 6502 code shown in an assembler on the BBC.

[@WillScarlet1991]

+pigknickers Thanks all :)

[@deedeedaydee]

Government, here is your anti drugs campaign.

[@tehf00n]

or pro drugs with education so this doesnt happen.

[@LOTPOR0402]

Alcohol addiction probably would of finished him off years ago

[@BeyElder]

ahtung!!! on 1:07 is enemy's asm detected! all weapons armed!!

[@distantj]

Iain Lee!! What docu is this from? I wouldn't mind watching the whole thing.

[@PoGGiE06]

awesome! I loved these games. He seems like quite a character ... good guy. I don't understand why he didn't keep coding or couldn't get a job as a programmer ... with his credentials surely the world would have been at his feet? and thats probably almost more true today?! and programming pays relatively well, especially if you are any good/in the right career track, and its not a particularly ageist field, they just show you to the basement ...

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Cause he was to much of a druggy

[@Nautilus1972]

Genius.

[@markdoherty152]

He’s on the sniff

[@bencheshire]

I saw the host on Come Dine With Me, whats his name again?

[@Aalborg42]

One of the first game I ever played.. on the c64... don't think I ever managed to complete it

[@MrJumper68]

I was programming on the Spectrum back then. Belive me 48K is not a lot of memmory, and 3,5 Mhz is not fast (I think it was 3,5 Mhz). I still think it was an amzing machine, you had to save space, when you was writing your program, if you wanted the most of it. Not like programmers to day, I think there are sloppy, and they use a lot program pieces wich not is necessary. It only make the program slow.

[@peternewell7695]

This guy is a legend and was responsible for a lot of my teenage memories. I respect him a lot. But fuck me he's absolutely wasted during the last interview. I guess going to Holland paid its price. I refer to the question "You worked as a fish seller" and his answer said it all to me. Every credit to him

[@vladabuba]

man is a legend

[@Pixiez]

His a bit strange but funny :) I love the games. Check Andy Noble port to PC. He did Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy

[@rudeydudey05]

The Master.

[@adroharv9213]

definitely got a good sense of humour