Spectrum Computing

Not quite as long but 5 years between Chaos (1985) and Lords of Chaos (1990) Also 6 years between Full Throttle (1984) and Full Throttle 2 (1990) And another 6 years between Popeye (1985) and Popeye 2 (1991) However, I think the winner surely has to be Bugaboo The Flea (1983) and Poogaboo (1991) at ...

Manic Miner for me is the definitive game, while JSW was mind blowing at the time with its almost sandbox type of design, Manic Miner is just so tight and a great example of 80s home computer games where they took an arcade style formula (Donkey Kong) and used the extra memory and took away the “qua...

Football Manager 24 would have to be… Football Manager Revisitied (although I think the last update was for the 2022-23 season) Starfox would be … Starfox https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/sinclair/entries/0004861/Starfox.jpg There was a rumour that Starfox was called Starwing in the UK/Europe b...

Codename Mat II is such an undervalued game. The original received lots of accolades in the the magazines, the sequel came along and although it improved on the original game, it got fairly average reviews (81% in Crash, though). It’s definitely one of the best Star Raiders type games on the Spectrum.

Spindizzy was pretty big, not sure if it was the biggest, but the walkthrough takes 2 hours 20 minutes to complete https://ia800604.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/1/items/World_of_Spectrum_June_2017_Mirror/World%20of%20Spectrum%20June%202017%20Mirror.zip&file=World%20of%20Spectrum%20Ju...

Spindizzy was pretty big, not sure if it was the biggest, but the walkthrough takes 2 hours 20 minutes to complete https://ia800604.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/1/items/World_of_Spectrum_June_2017_Mirror/World%20of%20Spectrum%20June%202017%20Mirror.zip&file=World%20of%20Spectrum%20Ju...

R-Tape wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:16 am

I thought it was from Tubby Brewster’s Geordie Soccer Simulator!

MustardTiger wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:13 pm It's not, really. The main character is a doctor.

Spoiler

I checked the author in the database and it seems he programmed two of the other games I've posted in this thread.

Dr Jakyll and Mr Wide?

My original Spectrum was a rubber keyed model from Xmas 1985. For Xmas 1987, I upgraded to a +2. Some of my friends moved over to a C64 and although I actually kept my original rubber keyed Speccy (not sure why, maybe compatibility), I really should have got a C64 that year and had both the Spectrum...

Heartland?

Actually.. I think John Smyth DID do some of the Atlantis covers, but he’s not credited as a contributor on some of them, like Skatin USA! Definitely a publisher who had a different feel, depending on the era the game was released. From this https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/sinclair/entries/0001...

Atlantis were indeed a strange label, although they started off as a definite sub standard budget label, by the end of the 80s their output was quite quirky. The Shaw brothers made some really good games, albeit they were very “samey”. And to be honest, I haven’t really played a huge amount of their...

Here’s a question, who’s actually responsible for deciding the DB Structure and the individual entries?!?!?

No, because Martech's name, address and copyright statement are on the back of the cover. Unlike Chain Reaction, where it is Elite's name, address and copyright statement that are on the back. So you’re basing it on an address from the 1980s, not 2023 user experience? So what should Revolution and ...

Here’s another one to throw in the mix Martech v Electronic Arts In 1987 Martech announced EA were going to take over manufacturing distribution rights for Martech games as in this news piece in YS https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=247&page=7 So when The Fury was released in 1988...

This is an argument for having the legal-entity approach. This sort of thing cannot be settled by looking at logos. Absolutely, but currently Chain Reaction is listed as originally published by Elite, meaning it’s been distribution denied which I’d presume was a mass update on the originally publis...

Getting back to the original Chain Reaction “issue” and the reason why this is so important. Elite systems games are not allowed for distribution on this site, which from memory was down to issues with Steve Wilcox and there was a general consensus not to have Elite games available. Which is fine, e...

Microprose is a good example of US Gold’s business model. US Gold had the rights to “Manufacture in the UK under licence from Microprose”, yet all the adverts and packaging are designed as a Microprose published game. https://ia800604.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/1/items/World_of_Spectru...

That entry is completely consistent with Chain Reaction. If you're going to change the guidelines to list the logo on the front cover as the publisher then half of US Gold games will need changing. https://zx.computerhits.org/jpg150/bountybobstrikesback.jpg https://zx.computerhits.org/jpg150/superc...

Sticking to the brand name it was published under is probably more useful for users who are trying to find things, IMHO. Exactly, the point of a search function is for people to look up a game. Like I said in my previous post, if I owned a copy of Revolution, Chain Reaction or Movie, I would expect...

And back to the Durrell question. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1013&page=156 It was reported in Crash News in this page that Elite went and snaflied both Durell's new games: Chain Reaction and Spitfire. Elite doesn't know when or how it's going to release them So you would s...

Here’s another one to think about Revolution https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4125/ZX-Spectrum/Revolution It’s listed as being originally published by US Gold. But the cover definitely looks like a Vortex published game. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/sinclair/entries/0004125/Revolution_F...

Like I said in the other thread, it’s a durrell game, given away by the massive durrell logos on the cover! https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/sinclair/entries/0000876/ChainReaction.jpg None of the reviews at the time said it was an Elite game, they all said it was by Durrell. The Durrell label is...

Chain Reaction must’ve been released after Durrell sold it’s stuff to Elite but it was released under the Durrell name, so I suppose that probanbky should’ve been in the poll out of those 3, I suppose. Yeah, it’s definitely a Durrell game. The original news release for it in YS mentions it alongsid...

While I really like the idea of these 128K/AY enhanced games, I always get a feeling of being really let down when playing them. Because it seems a lot of the mods were made in the 90s by Russians, the music almost always feels out of place from the actual game itself. The music is often 90s happy h...