Spectrum Computing

Two weeks ago we narrowly concluded that Atic Atac is the best classic Speccy game beginning with A. We've just had a week-long discussion on the Bs, and again, there are some outstanding choices that make voting difficult.

This poll runs for 7 days, you're limited to one choice and the poll will be finished just after 10am on Monday 15th. You can change your mind over its duration.

Back To Skool by Microsphere


Bangers & Mash by Altnerative Software


Barbarian by Palace


Bards Tale, The by Electronic Arts


Batman (1986 - Jon Ritman's isometric 3D game) by Ocean


Batman : The Caped Crusader by Ocean


Batman : The Movie by Ocean


Batty by Elite


BC's Quest For Tires by Software Projects


Beach Head by US Gold


Beaky And The Egg Snatchers by Fantasy Software


Beebul by Scorpio Gamesworld


Beyond The Ice Palace by Elite


Bionic Commando by Go!


Biggles by Mirrorsoft


Biz, The by Virgin Games


Blind Panic by Martech/Your Sinclair


BMX Simulator by Code Masters


Bobby Bearing by The Edge


Bomb Jack by Elite


Booty by Firebird


Boulder Dash by Front Runner


Bounder by Gremlin


Bounty Bob Strikes Back by US Gold


Brian Bloodaxe by The Edge


Bruce Lee by US Gold


Bubble Bobble by Firebird


Bugaboo The Flea by Quicksilva


Bumpy by Loriciels


Personally, I'm torn between Batty and Bubble Bobble. In my eyes, there's the best Breakout clone on the Spectrum, vs the near-arcade-perfect delight that is Bubble Bobble. And of course there are many other brilliant titles that deserve the accolade, like Back To Skool and Bruce Lee. Oh, and the various Batman licenses from Ocean. That's just my opinion, don't let that influence your true feelings. (My 'A' choice certainly was nowhere near the top two.)

With 29 different games up for the vote (10 more than the A poll), it's a toughie...

I voted for Bomb Jack.

It may be a simple game compared to some other presented here but it believe it's as good as it could be on Zx Spectrum. It's fast, smooth, playable, has nice, clear graphics and is perfect for 10 minutes of instant fun between your duties.

This last factor matters a lot nowadays as we don't have so much time to play long games. Actually I noticed that today, when some very casual Spectrum user takes his machine out of the closet once per year he often nothing else but Bomb Jack. So it must have something special

I voted for Batman by Jon Ritman, one of the best filmation/isometric games for the Spectrum, definitely.

This was quite a difficult one.

I eventually went for Barbarian, as it's the game I played most over the years and got the most enjoyment from.

Bomb Jack a close second.

I voted Bomb Jack, one of the best arcade game conversions for the Speccy. There are many good titles in the list though, I could have voted others but I had to choose one

Bomb Jack.

No contest.

Rorthron wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:10 pm Bomb Jack.

No contest.

That's the way it's looking from the first few hours of voting!

Gah, does anybody else other than me, have any love for Bubble Bobble?

Torn between Batman: Caped Crusader and Bobby Bearing. I can't vote for Ritman's Batman because I know Head over Heels is significantly better. Bobby gets the nod, because it's not just isometric, but realtime physics in an isometric rendering: Curvispace.

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:26 pm Gah, does anybody else other than me, have any love for Bubble Bobble?

I do, but I'm still narrowing down.

Back To Skool
Batman : The Movie
Beyond The Ice Palace
Biz, The.
Booty.
Boulder Dash.
Bruce Lee
Bubble Bobble.

I’m torn between Batman: The Movie, Barbarian, and Batty. Didn’t play much of Batman, but it’s pretty damn impressive. So is Barbarian. Batty is probably the best Breakout clone out there.

I was a Biggles fan myself, but barbarian was also cool.

This is much harder than the 'a' vote was. I can see the love for Bomb Jack because I absolutely love it myself, but in terms of sheer time spent playing I think Back to Skool just nudges it for me, and has the added bonus of being a Speccy original.

Back to Skool is almost certainly a great game but you must know what you are doing, which I didn't in the 80s unfortunately.

Actually I don't remember if I had Back to Skool or Skool Daze but this reflection applies to both of them. So I had an "unofficial" copy without any instructions and completely had no idea what is the goal of the game. So I wondered and wandered here and there, hit a few guys with catapult and probably that's all. It was fun for a short moment but nothing more.

So if you want a simple, funny and not so hard game about school - play Mikie. But if you are after something more challenging, more complex mini world simulation - Skool Daze and Back to Skool will be great for you.

I enjoyed both Skooldaze and Back to Skool but think I preferred the former.

I thought Back to Skool had a crazy solution to the game, I would never have figured out any of it without reading the walkthrough hints. Even after that I constantly failed miserably to knock the caretaker out or do the bike/gate thing. I preferred Skool Daze, because I always felt as if I was progressing (with those cups you had to hit).

Had a lot of fun with biggles, it seemed quite satisfying to play.
Bomb Jack was good also, but got repetitive.

I voted for Bruce Lee. It has one of the most boisterous title tunes on the Spectrum (just edged out by Manic Miner), is a fun little game with a mixture of beat-em up and platforming and one of the small pantheon of Spectrum games I managed to finish without POKES or cheats.

As an aside, I almost (almost, mind) cast my vote for Beebul. This was one of the first bought games I got for my ZX Spectrum. My dad came back from work one day with it after buying it from a record shop near where he worked during his lunch. My brother and I liked it as it loaded quickly, had colourful moving graphics and the protagonist had antlers (I guess it made the collision detection easier). You can't jump in Beebul. You fall down the screen and use the teleport at the bottom to put you back at the top of the screen. I also remember the excitement of discovering you could break into the BASIC on the title screen and edit some pokes to change the starting screen.

Aye Beebul's good fun, well up until the impassable level that is. I didn't play it first time round like you Bob but I've got a soft spot for it too. The BASIC starts the code in a way I've never seen anywhere else: 'IF USR X THEN' , which is a bit weird but it works.

I haven't voted yet but it won't be Beebul!

Altnerative Software.... eh? Ah! Alternative Software.

MatGubbins wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:15 am Altnerative Software.... eh? Ah! Alternative Software.

Gah! That typo makes me feel like a right tawt.

Batty is technically OK, but is otherwise largely on the plain side, and is annoying af to play for many, many reasons. I have no idea why it's pinned fairly often as some sort of ultimate Breakout game on the Speccy, which is of course Krakout, by miles, albeit under one very important condition of taking that damn random ball eater out (POKE 50936,201). |:

OT: Batman, cuz you're a Batman and you kick ass (obviously), also there are secret enemy bases and sewer systems where danger lurks, which is cool. At least two of the three games here get it right, I picked the one with no votes as I like them both in their own way.

Struggling. There's very little wrong with any of these:

Back to Skool - I'll be voting Skool Daze
Barbarian
Batman the Movie - the most impressive but not the most fun
Beyond the Ice Palace
The Biz - maybe the most heart & soul went into it, but it needs polish
Bomb Jack
Booty
Boulder Dash
Bubble Bobble

I'm going for Boulder Dash. You could play it on any other system and it wouldn't be better for it, the same could go for Booty but it's not as much fun.

It's a tough call. I went for Batman The Movie because it's one I still go back to and enjoy playing probably more than any of the others. Having that thing about "old" old games and "new" old games though, as Booty would be my pick of the older titles (despite being horribly frustrating I did enjoy it). Ultimately I went for the "new" old game because one of the classic Ocean movie titles feels like it needs representation and I can't help but think Robocop has a tougher battle for "R"!

R-Tape wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2018 4:34 pmI'm going for Boulder Dash. You could play it on any other system and it wouldn't be better for it, the same could go for Booty but it's not as much fun.

The Atari800XL version of Boulderdash is far far better.

I struggled to pick one here too, too many greats on the list.

hitm4n wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:36 pm The Atari800XL version of Boulderdash is far far better.

To be fair I've only played 3 versions, and looking at this youtube vid comparing them all does suggest I was wearing my rose tinted glasses regarding the Speccy version. I still like it.

So despite the fact I'm talking crap, my point still stands

R-Tape wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:07 am

hitm4n wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:36 pm The Atari800XL version of Boulderdash is far far better.

To be fair I've only played 3 versions, and looking at this youtube vid comparing them all does suggest I was wearing my rose tinted glasses regarding the Speccy version. I still like it.
So despite the fact I'm talking crap, my point still stands

Cool video. The only thing wrong with the speccy version is the godawful scrolling, still hugely playable.
But wow, look at the MSX version! That looks great.