Spectrum Computing

1) Earth Shaker . Oh, it's Boulderdash but oh-so good looking! Visually delicious. 2) Brain Sport . I didn't know what Sokoban was, but this was a great way to find out, it's genius. 3) Egg Head . Yeah, it's Manic Miner but so much smoother. Bubbling under: The Rex-like Ethnipod! A Whole New Ball Ga...

Yes, it's the reader games on the three major Speccy magazine covertapes. One common type was the Boulderdash 'inspiration' (and frankly, Earth Shaker is a very strong contender for this poll's winner), going where no commercial software house dared to tread, lest First Star's lawyers step in with a...

ParadigmShifter wrote: ↑Sun May 12, 2024 8:19 pm Obviously the full price covertape poll will be rigged if Chaos wins and then Lords of Midnight supporters wearing Viking Utarg Helmets will descend on the Spectrum Computing headquarters and run amok.

DISBELIEVE

Didn't one magazine have Lords Of Midnight as a cover tape at some point? Well, two magazines had it on their covertapes at various points - Crash and Sinclair User. But it's not an exclusive game from a recognised brand, as it had been released commercially prior to a covertape appearance. ...it's...

By a very long margin (were you expecting anything else?), it's Batty, the winner that was always obviously going to take this! Yay! 17 votes. Now over to the very distant second-placed game, which scored three votes - Hyper Active. In joint third, we have Flashpoint; Moley Christmas and Road Race -...

Kick Off Kick Off 2 Kick Off World Cup Edition Kingdom Of Krell, The Maria's Christmas Box Rally Cross Strip Poker II Plus The Kingdom Of Krell is the winner here! Three votes for that. In second place, we have Kick Off 2, with two votes. Joint third goes to Kick Off; Maria's Christmas Box; Rally Cr...

Wasn't there a game called Basket Master by them? Yes, it's actually Fernando Martin Basket Master and is definitely included here, although as 'Basket Master' we in the UK could be forgiven for assuming it to be an Imagine game. It was bought by them for the UK market and renamed (after all, we do...

Hola! Time to tackle Spain's biggest software label, and producer of the hardest games ever. Nobody has ever completed a Dinamic game, fact. [citation needed] In fact, nobody has got off the first level of a Dinamic game. [citation needed] Actually, nobody at all has even got off the menu screen, th...

What the hell is YS doing bundled with Commodore User? It's like pairing up a Ferrari with a slipper. Commodore User has nothing in comparison, a different machine (alright, at least the bundling of Crash and Zzap! at least makes some kind of sense), different writing staff and a totally different p...

Very much Gauntlet, myself and my brother on keyboard controls, which had the unfortunate effect of occasionally triggering the 'symbol shift lets you walk through walls' cheat mode (which we did not know about at the time). Another huge one is Bubble Bobble. That was made for two-player fun. I don'...

I also wonder if anything from the Shaws, or the Shaw Brothers should be here either. Especially as we just had the Iron Soldier thing in the other poll already. We're covering EVERY ITEM from the three main magazine covertapes in these polls. The covertapes have rereleased games developed by The S...

there is no reason to pretend that Batty will not win, so i will simply do the obvious thing, and choose Batty… Yep, same here, no guilt when the game is just that incredibly good. And so... 1) Batty . The best Breakout clone on the Speccy, no exception. Yes, even better than both Arkanoids (and th...

I'm not sure where else you'd put their games, but do Pete Cooke and Cybadyne (Christian Urquhart) count as readers? Hmm... you're right to highlight that. They kind of sit between a software house and a reader - like some halfway point. It's quite a grey area, they are not software companies and t...

Wow, this is going to be hard (just like their games - Ed)! I've now hit the penultimate page of Your Sinclair issue 19 and it's an ad for Army Moves. I'm quite surprised I haven't covered Dinamic before, they may not have been as big as your Ocean, US Gold or Gremlin, but definitely a familiar face...

Football, adventuring, driving and playing poker with ladies of loose virtues. That's what Anco gave to the ZX Spectrum. Here are the seven games they made, you have seven days to pick yer fave! Kick Off https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=pub/sinclair/screens/load/k/scr/KickOff.s...

For 12th May 2024: Reader-submitted games Here's a biggie! Reader games on covertapes! I think this shortlist of titles is right, but let me know of any omissions or errors. A Whole New Ball Game by Pete Cooke A.T.A.C. by Gadtek Games Ano Gaia by Simon Tillson/Andy Mills Bite The Dust by John Armstr...

A few software labels would offer something they never commercially released to the magazine covertapes, in the hopes of raising their profile. Here we vote for which of these are the best! A Nightmare On Robinson Street by Players Software https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=/con...

Six Card Cribbage won this with five votes, beating Gin Rummy which only got three votes. There, that's sorted!

Right then, it's a three-way tie between Cybernoid II; Lords Of Chaos and Rex, each on five votes. In second place we have Dan Dare II on four votes. Then in third with have Dizzy 3 And A Half - three votes. Seymour - Take One is fourth with two votes. Finally, Stormlord got one vote to be fifth. Ca...

Danke by Idles

GreenCard wrote: ↑Fri May 03, 2024 2:24 pm No, you didn't imagine it, it's "Peek 824545201"...

As I recall, PEEK 824545201 was a command you could only do on the 825MB ZX Spectrums.

1) Lords Of Chaos . The inferior sequel to The Greatest Game On Any System Ever, but that's fine, it's part of the Chaos canon and it's refreshing to have a 'linear' Chaos. I have similar feelings for games from the Rebelstar and Laser Squad universes. 2) Cybernoid II . I've been umming and erring a...

I am glad that my "promo" suggestion was used. Thanks for that one! Wikipedia doesn't even say where SU was based. Presumably not Ludlow. London - specifically Farringdon. A mile and a half away from YS's HQ when it was published by Dennis. why is Dan Dare II winning? People need to provi...

hitm4n wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:07 pm You mean you'll make sure theres some boobies?

This isn't Stormlord!

Start with a really good (or at least fairly beloved) game, then bring up a crap version of it. Here's some off the top of my head... Nemesis Transmuter https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=/conv_scr/t/Transmuter.scr&border=0 Renegade Subway Vigilante https://www.spectrumcomput...