The best classic Speccy game beginning with D: vote

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Yes, Deathchase is technically great for a game from 1983. But I think there are more about it. It's bloody addictive once you start to play it. Even the crazy 'bumblebee' sound help make it addictive!

[Pegaz]

Dan Dare and Dynamite Dan II are by far the best games beggining with D.
My vote always goes to the first part of Dan Dare, as the best in the series and one of my favorite games for Spectrum, ever.

[walrus]

This has probably been the toughest choice yet, there a number of good choices for me but no real stand out titles. I am looking for something which lifts a title above the others and although there are some excellent later titles I find myself keep being drawn back to Deathchase. I guess I am choosing the excitement of playing that game for the first time over the technical accomplishments some of the later titles. It may not be the deepest game but it is one I still enjoy playing.

[PeteProdge]

I would never personally vote for Deathchase but I can understand that some people value it that much.

It was a very impressive game for 1983. Fast crazy action and true 3D view which was very uncommon then.

Today for me? Funny for 5 minutes

Yeah, as a latecomer to the Spectrum, right at its arguable commercial pinnacle (late '87) I initially didn't get the love for the ground-breaking early games like Deathchase and even Ultimate's stuff just made me go "yeah, that's alright I guess". With hindsight, that must have been incredible to experience in a time when most games were cheap and nasty arcade clones and graphics - even on machine code efforts - were really UDG-ish.

[Ralf]

I know what you mean. I got my Spectrum in 1986 and completely missed the experiences of first years.

Actually some game like Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy are much more popular in UK than let's say Poland or Russia. For you it was unique, new and great when it appeared. We got our Spectrums later and there was much more choice and more polished games already available.

[PeteProdge]

I know what you mean. I got my Spectrum in 1986 and completely missed the experiences of first years.

Actually some game like Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy are much more popular in UK than let's say Poland or Russia. For you it was unique, new and great when it appeared. We got our Spectrums later and there was much more choice and more polished games already available.

I do have a lot of love for the big names of the early days - Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy when they came round on re-release. They were always commonly cited in the playground in my pre-computer-owning days. Oh, and if Chaos didn't exist, I'd have voted for Chuckie Egg in my previous poll. That's still immensely playable.

[Rorthron]

I got my Spectrum in 1982. Back then even BASIC games were magical. I loved playing Games 5 (Star Trail) from Sinclair, but it was so amateurish that you could even break into the program and review the listing.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

The poll ends tomorrow. Really good games there. And it seems Deathchase will win. A fair winner.

[hitm4n]

This has probably been the toughest choice yet, there a number of good choices for me but no real stand out titles.

I've changed my vote 3 times now. I try to pick what i think is both great fun AND a classic in that it is well loved and well known. M and J will be no brainers, the winners there simply must be Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy although i bet its a fierce competition with a multitude of games in each list...

Deathchase is by far NOT the best game listed here, but it is the most classic in my eyes.
Dynamite Dan was my first choice, but this came later and in terms of quality is miles ahead of Deathchase, but is it as much of a classic as Deathchase?

Tough letter this week. I'll stick with Deathchase, looking forward to E. Can i have an E please Bob?

[R-Tape]

M and J will be no brainers, the winners there simply must be Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy although i bet its a fierce competition with a multitude of games in each list...

I'm already feeling tense about M...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

The same to F

[bob_fossil]

I chose Daley Thompson's Decathlon in the end. I never owned Deathchase and only became aware of it when Stuart Campbell made it his top 100 Spectrum game in Your Sinclair. I played Decathlon so much, I was genuinely shocked when I turned out to be rubbish at the javelin during athletics at school - turns out it's more than just running a bit and throwing it at as near to 45 degrees as possible. If you ever talk to someone about 80s home computers and games, you're more likely to find common ground with Daley Thompson than Deathchase. Pummeling the keyboard or inflicting terrible physical damage on a joystick seems to have entered the lore of 80s gaming. For me it also marks the point where Ocean became the big licensing company they turned in to and was my first experience of the Speedlock tape loader on the They Sold a Million compilation. I nearly voted for Danger Mouse as I have a soft spot for it. It's silly and colourful like the cartoon and like Bruce Lee, one of a select number of games I can finish (again ).

[PeteProdge]

Well, the clear winner is Deathchase, winning with 8 votes. Could there be any other 16K Spectrum games that can top these polls, I wonder?

Three games are joint third with 3 votes each...
Daley Thompson's Decathlon; Dan Dare and Dizzy

The next tier - 2 votes each - has Deflektor and Dragontorc.

Then there are loads of single-voted games: Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge; Dandy; Dan Dare 2; A Day In The Life; Death Stalker; Deus Ex Machina; Deviants; Dictator; Doomdark's Revenge; Driller; Dynamite Dan and Dynamite Dan II.

Now to start the week-long discussion thread on E...

[WIWC]

Not sure about this one. I'd have gone for one among Deactivators, Death Star Interceptor, Druid and Dynamite Dan II.