Spectrum Computing

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!