Search found 3588 matches

by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:19 am
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum
Replies: 31
Views: 967

Re: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum

So, wait, games like Chaos (plus all the other fare from JG), Stonkers, Nether Earth, Vulcan, or Lords Of Midnight are routinely ranked as pioneering and high on best-of lists, and yet the genre is supposed to be "minor" at the same time? Not minor by any means, but there's a chasm betwee...
by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:12 am
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum
Replies: 31
Views: 967

Re: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum

*YS Not just that it never got given away with SU, Chaos was first on YS's cover tape in 1990, and again in 1993. Yes, it was a fairly obscure and underrated game around the time of its release, no doubt about that, but it achieved cult status from that first appearance on YS's covertape. That's wh...
by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:07 am
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum
Replies: 31
Views: 967

Re: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum

A quick scan through any of the main mags 1983-1988 would indicate immediately that strategy and role-playing games were minor in comparison to arcade and arcade-adventure titles. Crash had a small section devoted to Strategy (Frontlines). Articles like this with these kind of inaccuracies are both...
by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 26, 2024 9:48 am
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum
Replies: 31
Views: 967

Re: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum

bluespikey wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2024 9:03 am If we are talking about iconic rather than best, I'd remove Chaos
DISBELIEVE
bluespikey wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2024 9:03 amI never saw it in the shops until the yellow SU coverdisk in 1991.
Eh!!?
by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 26, 2024 8:01 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Fergus McNeil): discussion
Replies: 5
Views: 295

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Fergus McNeil): discussion

For the purposes of this I would probably suggest combining the Dragonstar entries. They're really multiple parts of the same game and when I asked Fergus I seem to remember that he thought the advert that suggests he was selling them separately may have just been badly worded. (They were only ever...
by PeteProdge
Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:30 pm
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum
Replies: 31
Views: 967

Re: DenOfGeek : The games that defined the Spectrum

It's an article spoilt by very dodgy assertions about the Spectrum's games library. Robocop: "While that [action-focused] genre was never really the platform’s bread and butter (that would probably be strategy and role-playing games)" WTF? The software charts for the Speccy were loaded wit...
by PeteProdge
Mon Mar 25, 2024 10:33 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: A 16K/48K/128K Spectrum game?
Replies: 6
Views: 441

Re: A 16K/48K/128K Spectrum game?

Honestly, I'd have thought the requirements for running in just 16K (tiny amount of RAM, can't use IM2 etc) would make such a thing extremely unlikely and little more than a proof of concept if it did exist. Ah, but a homebrew guy came up with a 16K version of Manic Miner (and that's for the ZX81, ...
by PeteProdge
Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:42 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: A 16K/48K/128K Spectrum game?
Replies: 6
Views: 441

A 16K/48K/128K Spectrum game?

We're used to the concept of a 48K/128K Spectrum game, like Renegade; Auf Wiedersehen Monty; Slightly Magic; Out Run, etc. Works on a 48K in a ~4 minute load, works on a 128K after a longer load and gives you AY music and possibly some extra 'bells and whistles'. But has there ever been a game that ...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:26 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by ERE Informatique: vote
Replies: 3
Views: 301

Re: The best Speccy game by ERE Informatique: vote

Macadam Bumper is the runaway winner here, with 11 votes.

In a distant second place is Intercepteur Cobalt, with 2 votes.

Then joint third is Awari and Painting Joe.

Only one proportional vote and so the result is this:

Painting Joe 3
Macadam Bumper 2
Lombrix 1
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:19 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Clive Townsend): vote
Replies: 15
Views: 613

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Clive Townsend): vote

Firstly, thanks to all those who caught on to the errata, ignoring the games I shouldn't have included! Saboteur! has hugely won this, a result I thoroughly agree with. 28 votes! A distant second place goes to its sequel, Saboteur II, with 7 votes. (Almost) everything else gets one vote each, puttin...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:45 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by Rossware: discussion
Replies: 0
Views: 343

The best Speccy game by Rossware: discussion

We've hit the dregs here as I'm now into the classifieds section of YS #19, starting at page 93. It's the kind of mail order software labels that don't really get their stuff in shops. Quite a few of these are obscure and so we begin with Essex-based Rossware. They specialist in a certain type of ga...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:24 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by Accolade: vote
Replies: 3
Views: 396

The best Speccy game by Accolade: vote

Here are the five tangible ZX Spectrum games from Accolade: Cycles, The https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=pub/sinclair/screens/load/c/scr/CyclesThe.scr&border=0 https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=/conv_scr/c/CyclesThe.scr&border=0 Duel, The: Test Driv...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:17 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Fergus McNeil): discussion
Replies: 5
Views: 295

Devfinitive Edition (Fergus McNeil): discussion

Okay, this one's gonna be the final Devfinitive Edition for a while. That's not to say it's not coming back, it certainly will, but heading into Spring, I'm going to turn attention for my Sunday poll over to something I have heavily covered before, but it'll be in a format different enough to be wor...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:10 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): vote
Replies: 28
Views: 1032

Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): vote

Thanks to those in the discussion phase this past week who weeded out the games I assigned to Steve Crow but turned out to be rather tenuous. I guess you could say you guys were the Eliminator! Get it? Eliminator. Because you elimin... um... and Eliminator itself was eliminated... er... well... *tap...
by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 19, 2024 8:05 pm
Forum: Preservation
Topic: Fake history
Replies: 16
Views: 907

Re: Fake history

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2024 12:44 pm As to Giana Sisters, it even got a Crash Smash!
Um... yeah... and the guy who gave it that, later admitted he was pressured by the software company AND Crash's advertising department to do so. Which has tainted Crash's legacy somewhat!

by PeteProdge
Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:36 am
Forum: Preservation
Topic: Fake history
Replies: 16
Views: 907

Re: Fake history

While you could do it, the thing is, it's the era's magazines, adverts and catalogues out there that won't exactly back up your fake history. Now sure, you could point out it's an obscure game. A REALLY obscure game. Something that did the rounds in your town and all the magazines missed out on. Pro...
by PeteProdge
Mon Mar 18, 2024 10:23 am
Forum: Sinclair Miscellaneous
Topic: Sinclair-related Cambridge sights?
Replies: 11
Views: 510

Re: Sinclair-related Cambridge sights?

The last (and well, only) time I was in the Baron Of Beef, it was quite dull, albeit there was a barman in drag, what with it being Halloween weekend. Thankfully, it didn't feel like a soulless chain pub, but it certainly wasn't a stand-out 'must see' place. Just a very generic old pub that I visite...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 6:04 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by Exxos: vote
Replies: 15
Views: 685

Re: The best Speccy game by Exxos: vote

Captain Blood easily won this, with 20 votes.

Purple Saturn Day gained four.
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 5:59 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Mike Richardson): vote
Replies: 24
Views: 700

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Mike Richardson): vote

Turbo Esprit is the winner here, with 20 votes. It's followed by Scuba Dive, which is second with 13 votes. Then we have Thanatos in third place, with ten votes. Right then, down a bit and we're looking at joint fourth place with three votes each for Combat Lynx and Harrier Attack! Then there's two ...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 5:01 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion
Replies: 9
Views: 448

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

If you look further down on the page you see his role, loading screen, on both. https://i.postimg.cc/qtZbPWPv/image.png D'oh! Right, so this has become like the Clive Townsend debacle today! The refreshed list: Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft Firelord by Hewson Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft Starquake b...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:41 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion
Replies: 9
Views: 448

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

Exactly. Firelord was the last game Steve worked on. From then on he focused on graphics for Hewson, Probe and others to this day. Okay, Firelord came out on 29th Oct 1986 according to ZXDB. Eliminating all games from 1987 onwards gives us: Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft Firelord by Hewson Laser Sn...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:32 pm
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Clive Townsend): vote
Replies: 15
Views: 613

Re: Devfinitive Edition (Clive Townsend): vote

Cheers R-Tape . I will try to discount the eliminated games - of course a loading screen isn't enough to be considered a game author (hey, I did a great one for Total Recall back in the day, where's my ZXDB credit? Oh yeah, literally nobody but me and my family and friends saw it, from a C90 of artw...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:37 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion
Replies: 9
Views: 448

Devfinitive Edition (Steve Crow): discussion

I believe Stephen J Crow has done these ZX Spectrum games... Eliminator by Hewson Factory Breakout by Poppy Soft Firelord by Hewson Hewvy Metal by US Gold Laser Snaker by Poppy Soft Netherworld by Hewson Starquake by Bubble Bus Uridium by Hewson Uridium Plus by Hewson Wizard's Lair by Bubble Bus Zyn...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:35 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by Accolade: discussion
Replies: 0
Views: 251

The best Speccy game by Accolade: discussion

I'm still wrapped up in the complexity of ERE Informatique/Infogrames/Atari. Here's Accolade (purchased by Infogrames well after the Speccy's commercial life, in 1999) and it felt like a high end software label with what it put out for the Speccy. (It also had a bit of an Icarus moment with its deci...
by PeteProdge
Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:25 am
Forum: Games/Software
Topic: The best Speccy game by ERE Informatique: vote
Replies: 3
Views: 301

The best Speccy game by ERE Informatique: vote

Sept jours pour choisir votre préféré. Androide https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=pub/sinclair/screens/load/a/scr/Androide.scr&border=0 https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRtoImage.php?SCR=/conv_scr/a/Androide.scr&border=0 Awari https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/SCRt...