The First ZX Spectrum Games Vs The Last | Which Were Better?

[@dennyhaynes3]

Great idea for a video and a very nostalgic look back to when i was starting my journey playing the very first titles the Spectrum was offering. I think you hit the nail on the head at the end when you said the last titles were an afterthought for the Speccy. Originality, fresh ideas and an industry blossoming with new ideas from the bedroom coders really did show the dedication they had at the start Some of the titles that blew me away back then were Gargoyle games which were based just down the road from me near Dudley namely, Tir na nog, Dun Darach and Marsport. All the games were graphically stunning. Mastertronic used to release some budget gems, well for me anyway, the one you named Nonterraqueous, it's follow up, Soul of a robot and my all time favourite from them, Specventure. Down the line i want to longplay all three of them. For me the best of days were at the start and in the middle of the machines life, a journey when i look back fills me with joy knowing i was there through those best of times. Do kids have that now?

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Hi Denny, yeah totally agree, great seeing how it all evolved. Some great shouts there with Gargoyle games, so many great publishers, probably took me the longest time making this video deciding who to include! Cheers mate as always!

[@brusselssprouts560]

Sega Megadrive and Sonic The Hedgehog - complete game changer, but Ghostbusters on Spectrum was addictive to me. I cannot believe the memories.

[@mortimore4030]

3D Deathchase, Manic Miner, Jetpac, Cookie, The Hobbit, The Pyramid etc. The early years of the Spectrum for me.

[@blazer666del]

3D Ant attack.. I was envious of this game being a c64 owner!

[@seraphinberktold7087]

​@@blazer666delIt was ported to the C64, wasn't it?

[@thedddemon]

Nothing beats JetPac imo. That game could have been put into the arcades AS IT WAS and be a smash hit worldwide. And it was a bloody 16K game too.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yep 100% so good!

[@snagultoof]

One game beats it. Lunar Jetman. Jetpac is too easy and it has at least one bug. Lunar Jetman is an original arcade game at home. It's challenging, bigger and better, with more better animated aliens, the rover, a bomb, a turret, teleports and more. It's my favourite Spectrum game so I am a tad biased. But Jetpac was great when it came out, just not as great as its sequel imho.

[@KeplersDream]

I got Jetpac for my birthday the year it came out. I was so hyped to play it, I couldn't wait for the day and I sneaked it to my room, loaded it up and then carefully put the tape back so my parents wouldn't know. And they never did find out.

[@arostwocents]

There is a modern GBC Jetpack with added power ups and it's BRILLIANT. Adds enough to Jetpack to be like a NES Vs a 2600 game and adds enough to make it stand as a true classic that even Americans would have loved, had it been an actual GBC release

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

As a bloody Yank barbarian, who didn't even know the Spectrum existed before Retro Gamer made introductions? I can't thank you enough for this. There's still so much to learn about my favorite 8-bit computer platform. First vs. Last title comparisons are one of my favorite ways to learn about the early potential that a new platform brings vs. the limitations that ended its reign on top. And you're one of only two channels I've seen actually do this. Going the extra mile and including magazine coverage was an unexpected bonus. Though now I'm curious how the big releases of the Spectrum's height would compare to modern homebrew? There's so much more to the Spectrum that wasn't explored.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you 😊 that's what makes looking a Spectrum games so interesting. So many to look at!

[@nimbler]

The modern homebrew games benefit from better tools and libraries (including multicolour, compression and audio engines). Some games by Zosya and Alonecoder don't even look like they're on the Spectrum.

[@arostwocents]

Modern homebrew is 100x better than anything from the time. Zosya Entertainment and Noentiendo titles are better than anything released during the Speccy's commercial life

[@arostwocents]

​@@nimblerNoentiendo has games like Gandalf and Manic Pietro that seem to break the colour rules. Gandalf is the best console style platform game with some incredible world 4 level design. Manic Pietro is obviously a Manic game, but the best one on the system and a tour through 8 bit gaming

[@arostwocents]

Get Out of Mars is excellent too (as long as you go left at the start, right you get stuck. There's no signposting to suggest going left and it's not clear if you are stuck or just can't figure out what to do Lol) Rubinho Curacho by Zosya is the best Speccy racing game IMO. Really, really fun with gameplay that would have been fun for a couple more generations as is. Back in the day programmers were literally learning the trade on the job but with modern standards a lot of premium releases look lazy with the colour bleed etc despite things that could have been fixed within Speccy rules

[@Rustem_A_]

I was so shocked when I first saw ZX game - that was almighty Saboteur at my mate's appartment😮 That happened in 1990 or so. That Russian made speccy clone came up with two cassettes: one with some utilities and editing software while the other was packed with hits! Besides Saboteur there were Stop the Express, Batty, After Burner, Exolon...Oh, what a day it was, hours and hours of playing😅 No manuals, no experience (none of us heard about zx spectrum before, our gaming experiece was limited to arcade halls with outdated soviet machines and "Game and Watch" clones), but still plenty of fun! The tragedy of Speccy in USSR and its glory at the same time originated in the reason that speccy and home gaming in general arrived to the country with 7-8 years delay if to compare with UK. So such games as Manic Miner or Invaders could not capture the attention for a long time as bigger, more advanced titles, like Rex or Exolon were there as well. There was no gradual reveal of the system capacity, no waiting for something superior to come. You just check the box "Fun, but lacks graphics, plot, sound" ad moved on to something major...Rebel Star, Quazatron, Star Raiders 2, Myth etc

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Great comment as always, thank you. Interesting what you say about being late to it meant early games were overlooked. Totally understandable!

[@Rustem_A_]

@@SebsPlaceYT you're welcome)). Not sure that the word "overlooked" is right (or maybe its just me not catching the meaning due to not being a native speaker). Those games were spotted, played from time to time, but the perseption of such titles was indulgent. They were treated as fillers (as in boardgames terms) to play while waiting for really important games. Like Bruce Lee was played for 10 min prior to switching to Target Renegade that was played for hours)))

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@SebsPlaceYT Same thing happened with consoles, didn't it? 2600 Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros, and Sonic 1 were all mid-generation stand-outs that blew everyone away and rewrote their console's destiny, only to be retroactively remembered as games KZbin mostly plays for early historical context.

[@stevesas632]

Nice video. Manic Miner, Ant Attack & Cyclone were my memorable favourites.

[@thesimpsoid]

I didn’t think anyone else would likely remember Cyclone but I played that and Tornado Low Level also by Vortex Software loads.

[@SmashCatRandom]

It is sad how the Spectrum fizzled out with garbage being pushed out for bargain buckets, but the modern homebrew scene has put out some amazing games in the last few years that would have blown people away back at the time. Especially the multicolour ones like El-Stompo. Obviously having easy access to emulators and modern IDEs and over 40 years of shared experience helps a lot!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

100% agree!

[@shoutingstone]

Splitting hairs but technically the first Oliver Twins game was one of those 'type it in yourself' games that the then unknown schoolboy twins sent in to C&VG and had published in the Jan 84 issue. When I discovered this a couple of years ago I went digging through my loft and found I had that issue. Dropped them a mail asking if they'd sign it which they did, and even sent a few photos of themselves singing it. Really nice pair of guys

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah they are proper lovely! I've got a signed copy of their book. Really interesting read.

[@merlin5476]

Chaos... without a doubt. Pc version is now called Chaos groove. Still play it now. Crash magazine was great for spending most of a Sunday typing in the codes, only to be faced with a rather disappointing result especially if it crashed before saving it. Nodes of yesod was odd but pretty good, amazing that the only sound from the speaker was " beebs" the writers actually got it to speak !!

[@user-yi3ox8wy4k]

So much time spent on this.

[@charliesayno1115]

There is another side to all this nostalgia for ‘the good old days’ and that is how it genuinely changed lives. I was doing *nothing* academically (C+ “could-do-better” could have been laminated on all my school reports) until my Dad buys a ZX81 in November 1981. There were precious few games available to buy so the only option is typing in from magazines… but they never work so you have to learn how to debug. Debugging naturally develops into coding which naturally develops into 35+ year career in IT. Thanks Dad 👍

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah that is a lovely side to it. I too work in IT and have my Dad to thank for it. I had a spectrum and even a zx81 but had no desire to code really. It wasn't until my dad bought home a 286 PC to learn on as he was a typewriter engineer which was a dying trade. The only space for the 286 to live in the house? Was a desk in my room. I was obsessed from that moment on. Wish I had coded a bit more now, though, as my job in platform engineering is becoming more about writing code.

[@richardtherrien4696]

I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your vids. Keep up the great work.👍🏻

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you, very kind 😊

[@TrevorHickman]

What a great channel and a great idea for a video. I think I remembered almost all of the games you talk about on here (new and old) and the glitch on Monty Mole really took me back. There was actually another 'first' Crash magazine that was a pre-release edition published at a ZX Spectrum show and only printed in black and white. It came out before the actual Edition 1 (it was probably only about 8 pages long) and given out free at the show. I kept it for many years, imagining that it would be worth millions one day, but as mine (and the world's) interest about the ZX Spectrum waned I think I eventually chucked it out. I've subscribed and will await your videos with a nostalgic joy!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you, very kind!!! I bet that crash magazine would be worth a few quid now 😭😭

[@Etcher]

Really really enjoyed this video. Had a right laugh at your description of Ocean's original name.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha 😊 Glad you enjoyed it!

[@trouty2115]

I grew with the Speccy!! My faves were the Microprose games, Gunship, Airborne Ranger and the ultimate test Project Stealth Fighter. Great times.

[@arostwocents]

The GBC Jetpack with varied levels and powerups is like a NES vs 2600 game. One being fun with a view to the time and one being genuinely fun and excellent to pick up due to its own merits even now. EVERY Jetpac fan NEEDS to play the GBC DX release.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Will do 😁

[@JamesD8888]

Enjoyed this and a number of your videos lately...will definitely watch more 🙂👍🏻

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you! Bit dodgy in the beginning but finding my feet!

[@JamesD8888]

@@SebsPlaceYT I've subscribed now, so that I remember to check out your previous vids 👍🏻 I'm mainly into ZX Spectrum and other 80s stuff.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you!

[@davidretrogamesplayedbadly3533]

Worth playing indiana Jones just to hear that incredible tune 🥰. I'm beginning to think nobody ever liked the isometric games? Great video mate.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you! It's a great soundtrack!

[@stuartcopland6243]

“Beside the arse of this ZX81 owner” LOL not a sentence I expected to hear today. Great idea for a video mate!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

😂😂 thank you!

[@TheRs6tony]

Melbourne House, Penetrator - the level editor extended its longevity.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Melbourne house were great 👍

[@GrumpyOldGit-zk1kw]

@@SebsPlaceYTyeah, trying swear words in The Hobbit (and every other text adventure). I really liked Penetrator though.

[@deepdivegaming6127]

Fun video! I always 3D Death Chase was based on the speeder fight in Star Wars Return of the Jedi.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah, very similar!

[@cropstar]

Ahh! Beach Head a classic. Jet Pac, I used to come home from school and find my Mum playing on my computer. By the early 90's I'd migrated to the Amiga and was walking around dressed like a member of Guns N Roses. I'd also discovered beer & girls. Both expensive hobbies that ultimatley result in disaster if your not careful. Chequred Flag was always my favorite Speccy racer. I really enjoy these vidoe's brings back a lot of memories of very happy times. Scuba Diver, Football Manager (Kevin Toms?) and Harrier Attack were solid favorites back in the day.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Some great shouts there, thank you! Love it that your mum got involved too...brilliant!

[@KidMrRemixes]

Great to see the Awai stereo behind you. My first stereo as a kid and it opened up a world of music, behind my bedroom door. I haven’t seen one in about 40 years. Such a lovely thing to see once again.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Ha yeah, I love it! I was after a proper looking 80s boombox for my studio and came across that one around a year ago. I made a video about it if you are interested 😁 cheers! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX6we5t6qt12jKM

[@KidMrRemixes]

Top man! Just watching it now. Did you get it cleaned up and working? After seeing yours I scoured the internet trying to find the model number. I only knew it was Aiwa, didn’t know it was a CS-200. Found it eventually. There’s one on eBay for £85! Mind you it’s mint condition.

[@KidMrRemixes]

Ignore the stupid question about whether you got it working…..

[@SebsPlaceYT]

😊 yeah I was lucky it was in good shape, just needed a good cleanup really. Cheers for watching, appreciate it!

[@SGT_Gunnery_Hartman]

Chuckie Egg, Infiltrator, Sabrewolf, Advanced Soccer Simulator, Fred, Great Escape, Hypersports and Daley Thompson were all the games i loved as a kid.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Some proper classics there!!

[@PaulEMoz]

Nobody would have guessed back then that 30 years later, the Spectrum would be getting new games as good as or better than the ones that were out then.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah crazy really!

[@Yunners]

Wizball always stuck with me. Absolutely bonkers premise and gameplay, but it was an instant classic for me back in the day.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

My favourite C64 game. I even did a video about buying my first C64 just to play it 🙃

[@MarkTheMorose]

I didn't have a Spectrum 'back in the day', having a VIC-20 (briefly) then C64, but I used to read the reviews in the multi-format mags of the day, wishing some of the top games would arrive on my machine. Sometimes I was lucky and got Ant Attack, Lords of Midnight, and Trashman. Other times, not so lucky (Scuba Dive). On a side note, it seems to me that nostalgia for games one remembers tends to trump over games, no matter how technically proficient, that were released after you left a system behind for a new one.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah, it's interesting though as I've had big nostalgia for some games and found them unplayable now whereas others are just as brilliant! Cheers for the comment.

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

My first game for the Speccy was Ultimate's Tranz Am. Christmas 1983. I had that, and the Spectrum demo cassette (PSION?). And I was blimmin' happy!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

I loved Tranz Am! Happy days!

[@drvonpinken]

my first time hearing about Kokotoni Wilf was from the Softaid compilation tape released in 1985, it had some good and some ok games games on it, but it was The Pyramid and Kokotoni Wilf that I played the most.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

I'm gonna do a video about Pyramid. Great game!

[@_.OX._]

Being a Spectrum games collector I would say that more of the earlier classics faired better than the later stuff that tried and failed (in monochrome) to compete with the 16 bit machines. That said there are plenty of stand out late titles that pushed the machine to the limit without sacrificing colour and gameplay.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Any late title suggestions to play?

[@jitmancanth6698]

The first game I bought for my Speccy was Buggy Blast... the last was Streetfighter II (although for just a couple quid from the market out of morbid curiosity. Wasn't going to pay full price for that multiload mostrosity; it came on a C90!)

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah - ridiculous!. Quite possibly the last US Gold release also but there's different opinions on publishing name under the US Gold banner. You see how much the big box versions of SF2 go for on ebay?

[@user-hp6ls8qy6d]

Cookie, ZZoom, Jet Pac, Sabre Wulf, Chuckie Egg, Moon Alert, Scuba Dive, the Horace games, Ant Attack, Manic Miner, 3D Starstrike, Football Manager, The Hobbit and Level 9 games. Elite was probably my favourite. It was a fun and interesting time.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Some great titles there!

[@stewsretroreviews]

Great content mate, and the mags as a bonus, thanks for sharing 👍

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Cheers mate! 😊

[@rockfan3299]

Chuckie Egg and Knight Lore, 2 favourites

[@Pixelhorizon]

Nice video! Had a few laughs. Those of us who played the Spectrum sometimes can romanticize the machine. There are a few games that really worked and I had a lot of fun playing them, but oh man, did I suffer playing it...

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha thanks 😊

[@mattjackson9859]

That Rasputin voice sounds like Salad Fingers! 😂

[@SebsPlaceYT]

🤣🤣🤣 it does!!

[@heyhonpuds]

Nice Rossi hoodie Edit: and a Lemonheads t-shirt, truly a man of taste

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha thank you!!

[@terohei]

The early period of Spectrum brought out very innovative and "epic" games. Sherlock, Lords of Midnight, Avalon, Tir Na Nog, Gyron, Shadowfire, Fairlight, Starion, Tau Ceti... all these were Spectrum originals. From today's perspective they are not as replayable as the small and sweet action games, but they really explored the new terrain of "home computer games" as opposed to arcade inspired games.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah 100% agree. Some great games there!

[@thesimpsoid]

I never figured out Tir Na Nog. To me it seemed to just be what today would be called a “walking simulator” because I don’t remember ever achieving anything else!

[@terohei]

@@thesimpsoid I once read the walk(!)throughs to these Gargoyle games, and some of the puzzles were really obscure crossword-style riddles. I can't see how anyone could come up with the solutions on their own. I played the sequel (Dun Darach) a little more, but didn't achieve much more in it either.

[@Inaflap]

@@terohei But less convoluted than a 321 game show riddle?

[@linalmeemow]

First game? Cookie. Brilliant example of what could be done with a mere 16k of memory. Got Trans Am and Atic Atac shortly afterwards - Ultimate knew what they were doing.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

They certainly did! Cookie is a great 1st game. Proper frustrating though!

[@polisheverything1970]

Ah the memories have been given a good smack with some of these titles, I never venture past the 48k model, I spent most of my time typing in programmes from Sinclair User and other mags at the time. I remember my favourite games were Bolder Dash, Way of The Exploding Fist, Saboteur and The Hobbit. There was a good one based on the film (The Fourth Protocol) which was a pain cause you had to keep loading the game cause 1 side of the tape was office based and the other side being out in the Field. If I remember correctly there was a game called DeusEx and I'm sure there was an ongoing competition that if you completed it there was a cash reward, I don't remember if anyone ever collected it or not. Thanks for the trip done memory lane. Just remembered Sinclair Programmes and having to type in pages of HexCode and another game Knight Lore.

[@DjVortex-w]

It brings back memories. If you were a ZX Spectrum user back in the 80's, you would immediately recognize "Ocean", and especially their logo. They were one of the big names back in the day, similarly to how "Ubisoft" or "EA Games" is today (for good or bad).

[@adw147]

First games i got with the spectrum - Pssst , Planet of death and jet pac , still have them , magic times

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Magic times indeed!

[@ilmestdavisque5391]

Ah ! Ultimate :D (Jetpac or Lunar jetman, Atic Atac and Sabrewulf, Knight Lore !! ...) and never forget, no save possible ! (a little bit hard ? Yes, and-but you can-have to played a long time with just one game ;) )

[@MOSMASTERING]

When I was 5 years old in the 80s, I used to wake up an hour early before school just so I could play Jet Set Willy.. as it took 20 minutes to load from a tape and crashed 50% of the time!! lol.. I never finished it.. it was hard as nails. But also, I heard later, it was impossible to complete anyway because of a bug. A poke was released in a magazine to fix it, but I never got it. I upgraded to an Atari ST and LOVED THAT MACHINE to bits. I had nearly every group release going, so almost every game. Moving to PC with a CD ROM drive and hearing real voices and music was mindblowing.. There just aren't any huge advancements any more that really make you go 'wow'.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Check my video on Jet Set Willy I did recently. Might make you feel better 😁kzbin.info/www/bejne/Znuuo3unrJysY6M

[@MOSMASTERING]

@@SebsPlaceYT Aww, beautiful man. Thank you! I'll check it out. The programmer Matthew Smith is an enigma.. he was a teenager when he made JSW and Manic Miner.. they were very intelligent and full of cultural references (the names of the rooms and obviously the giant pythonesque foot that squashes you) and then he disappeared... rumours abound for decades There was another channel - Kim Justice, if I remember correctly, that did track him down and interview him eventually. It was fascinating how he hacked the spectrum to inject code.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Kim justice did an excellent doc on it all 😍

[@Inaflap]

JSW loads in 3 minutes, but I guess when you are that young time can drag. Are we nearly there yet?

[@MOSMASTERING]

@@Inaflap You're right. From my 5 year old memory, I just remember pressing PLAY making a bowl of cereal for breakfast, coming back and it still not done.. then if it crashed while loading, have to do it all over again.

[@VeggieManUK]

I had a Speccy from 83 - 92 but did not pay any attention to new games coming out past 90 (Played on my Brothers Amiga), before getting my first PC in 92. I was lucky to miss the desperate crap that was released towards the end of the Speccys life, such a shame for such a great machine. My dad even offered to buy me an Amiga, I said no and wanted a +3 :( ARGHHHH!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha! Brilliant!

[@TheOriginalChazno5]

I remember buying Bubbler at Wembley Market back on a Sunday with my Mum and Nan in the late eighties. I actually quite liked this game and was pleasantly surprised by the graphics and playability. I must be one of the few then lol 🤣 I spent many hours on this and will play it again. Another great game for me I also have many fond memories of playing is Beach Head. This was a great game and I really enjoyed all the mini games. I remember trying to blow up that gun tower at the end also lol - Great game 👍

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha love it! I'm glad someone liked it. Maybe it's one you really had to own and persevere with back in the day! Cheers!

[@TheOriginalChazno5]

@@SebsPlaceYT You definitely had to own and persevere with it. I've got to admit trying to change your direction of travel with the compass while a baddie was just about to run into you and only just managing to bounce out of the way at the last second definitely added a thrill to the game lol 😆💯👍

[@paulmidgley8040]

Highest point on speccy is when I got my hands on ghosts n goblins the lowest and biggest disappointment was kung fu master. I'm still scared from it.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Have you ever watched pixel asylums video on Kung Fu Master? It's a bit too hard on it for my liking, but if you are still scarred you might enjoy it 😄😄

[@bryngunn]

I thoroughly enjoyed that! Brilliant

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you 😊 glad you enjoyed it!

[@charliesayno1115]

I worked in WHSmith Computer Department in Leicester from 1983 to 1985. Ultimate were based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire and came in to buy a book on how to program the Z80 (paid with a company cheque!) This was *after* JetPac & Cookie/Pssst were released 😂 I can only assume they were recruiting a relative novice to the company..!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha love it! What a great time to work in Smiths!

[@charliesayno1115]

It was one of the happiest times of my life and the best job ever! On top of earning £1.04 an hour (which sounds rubbish but a pint was only 70p 🥳) there was a policy called ‘paragon’ which allowed you to borrow the new releases between Saturdays so you knew what they were about and could sell them better 😁 My only reason for getting a Saturday job was to afford new Spectrum games, so getting them for free was heaven - and all my wage was beer money!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

That is awesome. Thanks for your comments, cheered me up today!

[@gary7920]

Nobody ever gives any credit to Hewson Consultans Avalon or Dragontorc. Both excellent speccy games but never appear on any lists

[@arostwocents]

Ocean also made the Amstrad Donkey Kong and that one is BRILLIANT. I actually think its one of the best ports from the time. I played through all the RetroAchievements ones and i honestly think Amstrad is the best version, with 7800 a close second and Coleco third. Coleco which was seen as the strongest is definitely not close to the top 2 IMO. Not counting NES as it was released so much later. Kong is awful though 😂 a Kong vs MSX Donkey Kong video would be fun. MSX DK is extremely, extremely, extremely HARD. It was a shocking pain to complete it on RA. Noone has ever finished the cheevos without save states as well 😂

[@arostwocents]

A Kong Vs MSX Donkey Kong video would be fun. MSX DK is infamous for its difficulty. It's ROCK HARD.

[@arostwocents]

Honestly interested in an analysis which is better out of those two. 😂

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Hahaha love it. I kinda want to play the MSX version now.....

[@neilloughran4437]

Zx Spectrum was one of the earliest gaming computers I ever got my hands on. I remember buying Personal Computer News in May of 1983 (yes I even recall the month!) and saw Transylvanian Tower by Richard Shepherd Software being favourably reviewed. It looked amazing to my Atari VCS eyes... written completely in BASIC and with no replay value whatsoever! However could not believe how good the games were gonna get with Knight Lore, Alien 8, Jet Pac, Manic Miner....

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Atari VCS to Spectrum. I bet that was an exciting upgrade. Love it

[@oldmossystone]

The games I go back for are all early games, and it's all about playability: Lunar Jetman, Atic Atac, Arcadia, Splatt!, Dark Star, Manic Miner, Sabrewulf, Chuckie Egg. Ports from other systems were almost always crap, the best games were original titles. There were some deeper games that were great too, but they don't stand up so well these days... but some of those early games with simplicity and charm that managed to dodge the usual problems with bad game mechanics or janky bugs, some of those are still just plain good games irrespective of the platform.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

100% ! Some great games there, cheers!

[@OdaVenom]

I never saw a man reading script lines from a side prompter with such a visceral disgust on his face. 🤣

[@SebsPlaceYT]

🤣 shhhhhh. The disgust is real. It's my inability to remember more than 4 words to repeat at a time!!

[@DazAu78]

Great channel. Loving your content.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you! Glad to have you here 😊

[@DazAu78]

@@SebsPlaceYT Would love to see a C64 video like this in the future.

[@charliesayno1115]

Orbiter = the undisputed #1 ZX Spectrum game of early January 1983 (until Arcadia was then released mid-January which reigned until Jetpac around March). Just think... AAA games released every other month 😄

[@JamesD8888]

Cool video, interesting idea....I enjoyed it 👍🏻

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yhank you. Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@fictionalmediabully9830]

I'm a Gen Z Brit who loves ZX Spectrum games. My favourite from what I've played so far is "Danger Mouse in Making Whoopee!".

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Love this!

[@davidwhaite3330]

Interesting video thanks for posting , I would def say the early days 82-85 where the best times for great Speccy games when the speccy was a huge seller all the games writers where really wanting a piece of the action...MONEY :) Great memories from my teen years look forward to your review on 16k games ,

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@davidwhaite3330]

@@SebsPlaceYT Superb ,

[@simonstapletondotcom]

My first speccy game was Manic Miner. Loaded it - screeching, terrible music and naff graphics that a 4 year-old could draw. Set up to be a bag of shite. But hey what a game - I'll never forget that first experience. I played it for hours and hours. Good honest game without frills and fillers. Those early games were far better mostly because, at the time, they smashed expectations. Second game was Skool Daze: need I say more?

[@SebsPlaceYT]

🤣🤣 love it! Glad you persevered with Manic Miner and yeah Skool Daze..... what a game.

[@myfyrmadocjones]

Nodes of Yesod was a very enjoyable game, as was JSW. The worst innovations were the pulsating Speedlock loaders which seemed to crash very often during loading (e.g. Daley Thompson's Decathlon) and also the undecipherable Lenslok anti piracy system used for Elite and other more expensive games.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yes! Agreed!

[@MrFox-wn5jt]

Great idea and very enjoyable video. Given the volume of publishers in the 80's, it'd be a great idea to make it a series. As for first game... I got mine back in Christmas 84 (I was 10, knocking on a bit now) but i'm almost 87.9% certain it was Kosmic Kanga. I know I got it with other titles (Scrabble, Manic Miner, Atic Atac, Daley Thompson, Hunchback and Jetpac were the memorable ones, but I can't remember the others now lol.) As for last... Zarquon knows, after a bit of a windfall I switched to a 64 with Disk Drive in 1990 and got addicted to the SSI gold-box RPG's.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you 😊 some great early titles, not sure I've ever played Kosmic Kanga 😁 sounds interesting!

[@MrFox-wn5jt]

@@SebsPlaceYT It's a good little scrolling platformer by Micromania, same guys that released Project Future... I'd recommend giving it a go sir, it's still pretty fun! :)

[@markenetube]

Jetpac. I got my speccy with my wages as an apprentice electrician in 83.

[@davidhall7648]

The latter games mastered the technicalities of the speccy but the early games are 100% addiction, Jetpac all day long

[@frankowalker4662]

My top two Speccy games that I still play often are Timegate and The Halls Of The Things. Great game play.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Good shouts!

[@ericdickison7995]

Timegate was the first 48k game I bought, and I loved it. But the scoring system baffled me, I would get to the end and destroy the enemy planet, (I think….its been decades) and would only get a miserable low score. I never figured out how to score high!

[@frankowalker4662]

@@ericdickison7995 Yeah, I've completed it hundreds of times and scored zero. LOL. the trick is to complete the game with as much damage as possible to the ship, (esp the Jump Drive) I've scored 200 points that way. 🤣

[@Safetytrousers]

Fairlight was one the best ever Spectrum 48k games coming late on. It pushed the graphics to the limit and even had a faux polyphonic intro music. And Highway Encounter still stands up to this day, and remains the only game I know of where having extra lives made total sense, and formed part of the game. Costa Panayi, I shall always remember his name, and have done for about 39 years.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

I will check that out, thanks

[@OperationPhantom]

It's a shame about Ray... but I like your shirt and video!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Best comment so far 😁😁 thank you! (Great album !)

[@OperationPhantom]

@@SebsPlaceYT Thanks! Yes, great album. Well, apart from the rough cover of Mrs. Robinson perhaps but even that's kind of fun.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Funnily enough, they didn't want it on the album but the record company insisted on tacking it on. I used to sing Drug Buddy to my daughter to help her get to sleep when she was little and it's now one of her favourite songs 😆😆

[@OperationPhantom]

@@SebsPlaceYTAh... sweet! And awesome that it's now one of her favourite songs. Well done (buddy)! Yeah, I guess I never saw a copy of the album *without* Mrs. Robinson... Frank Mills is/would be a fine closing song. Oh well.😄

[@Safetytrousers]

Deathchase was directly inspired by the Return of the Jedi forest chase scene. It was basically trying to make a game of that but had to be legally distinct.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Maybe, although both game and film came out in the same year.... so maybe ROTJ copied Death Chase 😁

[@jonnyenglish1041]

death chase, jetset willy, manic minor, attic attack, tranzam, psst, wheelie, way of the exploding fist, bruce lee, saberwulf, underwurld, cookie, scuba dive, bugaboo the flea, operation wulf, batty, cybernoid, exelon, booty, uridium, dynamite dan, technician ted, commando, renegade, renegade 2, slap fight, r-type, green beret, ant attack, any horace :). The list goes on and on. Some of the homebrew these days is equally amazing.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Great list!

[@AndrewS-xk6fw]

World championship soccer looks a blast. I think they need to make a sequel. Perhaps if possible you could do a video with a full review of the game?

[@SebsPlaceYT]

It's terrible. You can just walk the ball into the net. 😒

[@tonyisyourpal]

First… Planetoids and Horace Goes Skiing. Last, Elite. Favourites - the two Avalon (Legend and Dragontorc I think ?) games, Dark Star, Match Point and Elite. I remember the surprise when somebody finally got a Spectrum delivered and the buzz around Jet Set Willy being released… fun times !

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you, some great games there. I'm just checking planetoids as not sure I've played it.....

[@tonyisyourpal]

@@SebsPlaceYT sinclair’s own branded version of asteroids… think it made a brief reappearance as a cartridge for the interface 2…

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Ah ok. Thank you

[@Tech-Nerdrome]

Ahhh...Yes, the spectrum! I guess I was a bit of a Sinclair fanboy back then, without realising it, having had a ZX81, followed by a rubber-keyed 48k, which then went to the great silicon place in the sky (code for the number keys 1-5 kept stopping and my dad got fed up with sending it off for repair), so he bought us the +2 with the built in tape deck, and it's 128k glory. Of special memory to me was the original Robocop. The music on the 128k version was amazing at the time, as was the gameplay from memory, and as mentioned in this video for other games, the 128k version did away with the multi-load. The only annoying thing was the 9 minute cassette load time. R-type was another favourite, which I remember being a sound port. I also spent hours with Rebel Star and Rebel Star 2 - being slower strategy games, suited the Spectrums less than powerful CPU. Ohhh.... I could go on for hours. However, I will let these all remain sparkly in memory as when I have replayed them in recent years, they do tend to suck these days and have been rose-tinted in nostalgia!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Love it, thank you for the comment. RiP rubber keyed speccy 🙃

[@doctorcrankyflaps1724]

Rock Star Ate My Hamster was my favourite speccy game. Played the Amiga version too but preferred the speccy.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yes! Great game and will be featuring in a video soon!

[@krashd]

Still remember the last game I bought for my speccy. Jack the Nipper 2: Coconut Capers for (I think) £2.99 I was 9 and it was 1989. I will love the spectrum for the rest of time but a few months after dropping my pocket money on Jack I would be mesmerised by a new machine when a girl on my street showed me Batman on her dad's A500.. After a year or so of spending every free moment at her house playing Xenon 2 my parents bought me an A600 and I was in Amiga heaven.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Fair play. The jump from Speccy to Amiga was pretty huge!

[@GrumpyOldGit-zk1kw]

IIRC the first Spectrum game I played (as it came as part of a software bundle with my Speccy 48) was Checkered Flag. A F1 game with no other cars - just the qualifying laps.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

I loved Chequered Flag. Trying to beat my Dad's fastest time 😁

[@WorksopGimp]

I was there in the day, spent hours me and my mate playing on the specky, you could copy the games then with a tape to tape recorder it was great

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Certainly was 😍

[@simonm7848]

We started with a 16K spectrum and the first games I remember playing were Ground Attack and Orbiter by Silversoft. Then came Haunted Hedges and Phasorchase... Then the machine broke and I think someone told my parents that it was unrepairable.... I fixed it myself in 2015.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Amazing!! What was wrong with it?

[@simonm7848]

@@SebsPlaceYT it was a dead transistor in the power section inside the machine that converts the 9v into all the unusual voltages required by the old school RAM. It meant one of the voltages was missing (think it was -5v) which then killed all the RAM chips!

[@Safetytrousers]

I broke my z key playing Daley Thompson's Decathlon. That was the last thing I did on my Spectrum after many games.

[@andybrown4284]

Rare remade Jetpac for the 360, think it was one of the live arcade titles, and it's also on the Rare replay collection for the xbone

[@alpeshshah891]

For me, I will always remember Manic Miner and Tranz Am, fantastic fun at the time.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Loved both ❤️

[@dweston76]

Great video!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thanks!

[@madcommodore]

After playing 10,000 C64 games the average quality went down massively, on the Amstrad it was the opposite after playing 1000 Amstrad games. With the ZX you have to wait until 85 to get AY sound and the 128k was naturally supported often, unlike for C64 vs 128 and CPC 464 vs 6128 for a start so this is going to be interesting.

[@andrewgoodall2183]

You should do a vid talking about Mike Singleton. The man is not well known enough for the contribution that he made to modern gaming. Speccy thru C64 to Atari ST, I had most of his titles. Kong was one of my first ever Speccy game (Jetpac was the very first).

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Good shout. Thanks.

[@stevemoon2136]

Great watch, thanks for the entertainment.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it

[@samcadwallader2899]

I bought kokotoni wilf the day it was released with my hard saved up 20p a week pocket money. I was sure I would complete it and win the prize Elite offered. After weeks of hard gaming it crashed just as I was getting to the end. A sad tale with a happy ending. At that point a game rental shop opened up near me and I began my life on the open seas, never to buy another game again.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Love this ❤️

[@GrumpyOldGit-zk1kw]

As an aside, seeing as I mentioned my Speccy 48 and 128 machines in posts below, I also had the Disciple disk interface with a 3.5" floppy drive that I painted black to match :-)

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Haha nice that you painted it 😁

[@TheAuteurist23]

Fantastic video, great job.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you very much!

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

I'm always confused by what happened with the Ultimate name. I always understood the Stampers had sold the name to US Gold and rebranded their operation as Rare, but Solar Jetman on the NES had the Ultimate logo on the title screen despite US Gold having (as far as I know) no involvement in it. Did the Stampers licence the name back for that one release (given that it was the final game in a trilogy that started on the Speccy)? Did the rights to the name revert back to them once US Gold hadn't used it for a few years?

[@SebsPlaceYT]

I'll come back to you. It was honestly the most tricky one to figure out as it seemed to change hands all over the place!!!

[@kins749]

Interesting concept, can't disagree with your conclusions. Including 'Kong' being nostalgic but crap, I copied my mate's original and soon got frustrated with the ladders and useless jumps, even so it was a buzz to have the arcade game in my bedroom. Keep up the great vids!

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thank you! 😊 yeah I agree lol, I think that's why arcade clones were big business early on because we were all desperate for that gameplay at home. Generally didn't work out though 😁

[@Sangor]

Android One The Reactor Run by Vortex Software. Time Gate by Quicksilva, plus Doomsday Castle and The Pyramid by Fantasy Software.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Oooh some games I've not played there. Cheers.

[@blatherskite3009]

Bought my Speccy second-hand from a mate at school. Would've been 1985, because the first games I bought for it were "Jet Set Willy II" and "Chaos" which were both 1985 games. He sold it to me with a few games, but the only one I remember was "Splat!" with a snazzy shiny cassette inlay.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Splat! Wasn't that the one with the moving maze? Loved that game! Cheers!

[@blatherskite3009]

@@SebsPlaceYTThat's the one :) Great little game, unique concept, and a good fit for the Speccy's capabilities so it still holds up.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Cheers, I'm deffo gonna revisit it!

[@robertfalkon9886]

Chuck E Egg and Barbarian is where its at.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Both favourites of mine ❤️

[@Inaflap]

That clock behind you needs a battery.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

😁

[@GrumpyOldGit-zk1kw]

I missed the last few years of the Spectrum as I upgraded from a Speccy 128 to a Sam Coupe 512. Whilst it was a good 8-bit machine it came out in the years of the 16-bits (ST, Amiga etc) and there weren't too many games for it - even if it did have a Spectrum compatible mode.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Cool 😎 I've never played on one. A lot of the Speccy mags covered Sam Coupe stuff in the later years. Good stuff!

[@PhilWare1]

Always surprised Jetpac never go updated. The official sequel (Jetman) changed the mechanics too much. I always thought a version of Jetpack with different platforms and powerups would have been a good game?

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yep 100%

[@CarlesOriol]

Manic miner, ant attack... And all ultimate early games until alien 8

[@roskelld]

First speccy games were Chequered Flag and Survival, which I could never work out how to play but the cover art kept enticing me to load it up and try again.

[@roskelld]

And last games. Hard to remember, but I think it might have been Power Drift and Postman Pat (a fine game so my nostalgia tells me). It was in or around ‘89 IIRC.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Postman pat! Nice! 😁 I loved Chequered Flag!

[@Safetytrousers]

The disparity between some of the cover art and the game graphics was stark.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

What a lovely idea!

[@Craig1959M]

Have a look at the original version of Kung Fu Master and the remake, for an indication of how programming skills improved over the years.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Good shout. Original game does indeed suck!

[@crunchyfrog555]

If there's one thing I can thank Ocean Software for, it's prematurely making me avoid any film tie-in games. Something I found incredibly useful going forward. Thank God they've largely died a death these days.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah some right poop there. I guess the time constraints on getting the games out to a tight deadline didn't help.... Still, there are some good ones, Robocop, Cobra.... cheers for the comment!

[@timobr]

Ironically, it's game tie-in films these days. Generally, also best avoided.

[@paulgelsthorpe3712]

Cool Lemonheads T 😊

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Thanks! 😄

[@davidmylchreest3306]

Did US Gold ever release Street Fighter II for the Spectrum? It was their last game on the C64 (don't look it up, it's not worth it) and I'm sure it was planned for the Speccy.

[@gwishart]

They did. They went with the "use huge sprites that look impressive in magazine review screenshots, but are very difficult to move or animate at anything approaching a sensible speed". They also tried to do the whole control system just using a single button for punch/kick/throw - even when playing with the keyboard. To make it even worse it featured a multiload from hell: before each stage you had to load in each fighter separately, then load in the background graphics - each time hoping that the cassette was somewhere near the right place for the data blocks it was looking for.

[@SebsPlaceYT]

Yeah, it's quite possibly US Golds last game, although on some game directory databases (world of spectrum etc), it goes under the GO! Publisher name which was another label under US Gold. I'm not sure, though, as the original box art had US Gold on it. There was a Kixx label version also, I'm not sure on time frames but weird if it came out on a budget label so quickly. Bearing all that in mind, I went for the Indy game to be safe, but it could quite easily be the last game. Doesn't matter though because still worse than Beach Head 🙃 cheers for the comment.

[@davidmylchreest3306]

Mystery solved. @@SebsPlaceYT

[@davidmylchreest3306]

The C64 version went with the tactic of showing a really pretty version with big sprites and scrolling to the magazines, then realise it was rubbish and try to write a completely different game in the last month before deadline with tiny sprites and no scrolling that looked nothing like the pictures in the magazines. It was kind of impressive how deceptive they were. @@gwishart