Spectrum Computing

I recently bought the compilation “Stars on the 128k” and I managed to complete Yie Ar Kung Fu (with the extra stages) without losing a single life. Maybe it’s because you don’t need lightening fast reflexes to do it, but I remember never even completing the 48k version 30 odd years ago!

Manic Miner - still can't complete without POKEs, but get further now than I ever used to.

Atic Atac - never used to complete it (don't laugh), but have been able to finish it consistently in recent years after learning the map a bit. Not sure I've completed it as the wizard yet though.

Escape - managed to escape the maze at all 5 difficulty levels in , don't think I ever did that in the 80s.

Gift from the Gods - recently got close to completing, just needed one more shape to complete the game but it was getting excruciatingly difficult at that point, and I died...

That's about it though. Definitely had faster reactions and more persistence when I was younger...

Gift/Gods and Shadowfire, a friend back then was really into both of these although I tried them briefly they never really appealed somehow at all. I have tried them since but not really felt any better about them!

One Man / Droid , I was not that good at it back then nor Ant Attack either but now I'm useless at both, the latter especially I struggle to rescue more than two! And that's on a 'good' day.

Glider Rider. I beat it in recent years, but back in the day I didn't even really know what to do.

In my case, the Internet was a great help, seeing other people's efforts, and descriptions of the best tactics. I know we had magazines back in the day, but I think there are far better supports now.

animaal wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:58 pm Glider Rider. I beat it in recent years, but back in the day I didn't even really know what to do.

In my case, the Internet was a great help, seeing other people's efforts, and descriptions of the best tactics. I know we had magazines back in the day, but I think there are far better supports now.

Ah I only tried that for the first time this year or last year. I'd not bothered to read any instructions but remembered it was reasonably well liked BITD, needless to say I did not have a clue what to do, or how to get off the ground!

Game help yes I agree. There's a reasonable chance there could be an .rzx if you need a bit of a push in the right direction without watching it all or the TipShop for assistance or indeed this or other forums where there may be a topic or three already covering the game and if not someone is highly likely to be able to help if a new topic is posted.

Renegade.

Now I'm able to complete it in about 25% of cases. Or maybe 33% of cases. In the 80s I have never completed it.

I remember for the long time I wasn't able to complete level 3. I tried to fight the big female boss at a close range
and always it was a disaster

Then one day I got my "aha! moment" and learnt to walk away from her and give her a flying kick when she was running.
Level 3 became easy.

But the next level it was knifers and the guy with the gun. Here I always failed. Either I attacked the boss and got stabbed or
attacked a regular guy and got shot.

Now I can do it. Sometimes. Actually Renegade is more a game about strategy them quick reflexes. In the last level you
have to manouever everybody so you have that short moment to knock down one enemy. And you do them one by one,
leaving the boss for the finale.

I guess as a gamer I have now worse reflexes but am more planning and patient than before, when I was a kid.

animaal wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:58 pm Glider Rider. I beat it in recent years, but back in the day I didn't even really know what to do.

In my case, the Internet was a great help, seeing other people's efforts, and descriptions of the best tactics. I know we had magazines back in the day, but I think there are far better supports now.

Yes, there’s definitely more help these days!

The big thing with the Spectrum was that the games you had were often copies (and sometimes copies of copies of copies!) meaning you had no instructions at all. You can see that the game magazines new this, because they would often give guides that were essentially retelling the instructions to those poor people with only C90 copies of the game! A good example was the Aliens map being printed in a few of the magazines, the game was impossible without it!

But the other thing was that even if you did own the game, usually the instructions were non existent beyond what the controls were and maybe a short, but very elaborate, back story to setup the game itself. I owned Glider Rider and it was still very cryptic what you were supposed to do from the instructions! Then you had the extreme of Ultimate’s games having a very simple poem and that was it!

I’m sure it was part of a plan to try and make a game last longer, there was certainly a lot of trial and error with games, but the irony was that once you’d worked out how to “crack it”, games sometimes could be completed in under 20 minutes. One of the most ridiculous games was Monty is Innocent. I could never complete is back then, but now there’s a “long play” video where it’s completed in 2 minutes!!!

I'm much better at Ant Attack now. It might have been the controls (oh how I'd have liked that hack with absolute directions, rather than rotational ones back in the day!). But now, even with the original controls, I've gotten far more people rescued than I did back as a kid.

uglifruit wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2019 9:46 am I'm much better at Ant Attack now. It might have been the controls (oh how I'd have liked that hack with absolute directions, rather than rotational ones back in the day!). But now, even with the original controls, I've gotten far more people rescued than I did back as a kid.

Is there a direction control hack for Ant Attack? I can't seem to get a hold of a snapshot (the page that seemed to link to it is now defunct) - http://www.icemark.com/dataformats/mirr ... Attack.htm

If you've got a copy then it would be much appreciated (and it maybe should be hosted on here too!)

The page has been archived here.

Earlier this week I played day 1 of Daley Thompson's Decathlon, just to see about getting an animated GIF out of a running scene. I ended up finishing 1st on the podium, which never happened back in the day. Maybe it's the knowledge that my PC's keyboard can easily be replaced if I knackered it (I still have spares lying around), whereas a real Spectrum is a much more precious thing.

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:05 am Earlier this week I played day 1 of Daley Thompson's Decathlon, just to see about getting an animated GIF out of a running scene. I ended up finishing 1st on the podium, which never happened back in the day. Maybe it's the knowledge that my PC's keyboard can easily be replaced if I knackered it (I still have spares lying around), whereas a real Spectrum is a much more precious thing.

I'd never play a button masher on my real speccy these days for this very reason. I worry enough when playing shmups with a debounced fire key. However 30 odd years ago the thought didn't occur to me.

We played DTD as a group, and the best button masher was a lad called Paul. The keyboard was safe from him — his fingers seemed to subtly vibrate faster than the eye could see.

Maybe it's the knowledge that my PC's keyboard can easily be replaced

I was going to write something like this before... Modern keyboard is more comfortable to play than
Spectrum keyboard. And you know that it won't break. And if it breaks it's cheap to get a new one.

Spectrum keyboard on the other hand was fragile. Everyone knew stories that it has some delicate membrane
and some friend had a Spectrum and at some day a few of his Spectrum keys stopped working. By a pure
coincidence it was usually the key that he used for fire

Yes, you could play with a joystick. But I'll tell you something personal, I could never master a joystick. Keyboard
just allows for more precision, at least in my case.

Today you can happily bang on a keyboard and nothing happens. Unfortunately for most of us it came to late
when our most intense gamer days are over.

I was overjoyed at the ZX spectrum dead flesh keyboard, having come from a zx81! I remember trying (after reading about it) to use the wheel of a toy car, rolling over the zx81 surface to register keypresses more reliably!

Like others in this thread, I'm worse. I don't have the time nor the patience to play my old favorites the way I used to, and don't give newer games a chance. I think this will change once I retire.

When I discovered the Spectrum in 1987, all my uncle's games were in "backup" 60 mins tapes. There were no instructions and part of the excitement and fascination involved discovering which keys to use and what to do in the game. I had no idea what Kempston was and some games had no redefine keys option. For an 11 year old, spending time figuring out games was fun. By the early nineties I was a serious Spectrum user and only played a few games, but I'd dedicate hours to each game. I also remember appreciating type-ins even if the games were very simple. It didn't matter if it was BASIC or M/C or a game with a bit of both. It was interesting. Nowadays I work 8 to 10 hours per day plus overtime and side jobs, and by the time I'm home, my Sinclair hobby consists of reading forums. Playing games? No energy for that.

Another quick post from me. I'd have to say I'm slightly better now at Daley's SuperTest (the 128 all in one version) compared to back then, unless it was because I'd got bored by the time it had loaded.

I've yet to ever qualify in Diving or Slalom though. ::( Never mind!

Having said that the original Decathlon I was rubbish at a couple of events, Pole Vault / High Jump and still am

I think I'm actually a bit better at Space Raiders too for some reason, I can survive a bit longer at least. I'd of thought I'd be worse at that now not better!