Although there is probably an element of that in all games of this era.
The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Sure, but most early Spectrum games can’t hold a candle to many later titles. Since the poll is about best games and not games that are dearest to you, I try to be objective when I vote. Grouping them by the first letter is a bizarre idea, but it’s fun.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
I never played Jetpac till decades later and it still holds up fine to me. It has its flaws, and the underlying concept is very simple, but it's still fast-paced and addictive. Just avoiding the aliens and getting into the completed rocket at the end of each stage is a great feeling. IMO, some of the best 16K games on the Spectrum hold up today because the limitations they were working with, forcing them to distill the basic game concept into something fun to play and not just adding unnecessary features.
Last edited by djnzx48 on Tue May 01, 2018 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Yet another vote for Jetpac from me.
I feel obliged to say why Jetpac and not Jet Set Willy
I would say Jet Set Willy is bigger "cult" game. Everybody has heard about it. If you ask some guy who has barely heard about Spectum to mention some Spectrum games he will probably mention Jet Set Willy.
In previous polls I voted for Fairlight and Hobbit even if didn't play them that much and never achieved anything significant in them. Because I just had a feeling that they are great classics.
I don''t have such feeling with Jet Set Willy. For me it aged quite badly. It has simplistic graphics, lacks loading screen, is quite hard, requires pixel perfect jumps, lot of pattern learning to get correct timing, has bugs and so on. I never actually enjoyed it.
On the other hand I spent quite a lot of time with Jetpac and it gave me a great fun of blasting aliens and building rockets. It has very good playability, great graphics for 1983 (think of this rainbow laser) and this special feeling of a real game from arcade salooon. If I had to insert coins somewhere to play it, I certainly would
I feel obliged to say why Jetpac and not Jet Set Willy
I would say Jet Set Willy is bigger "cult" game. Everybody has heard about it. If you ask some guy who has barely heard about Spectum to mention some Spectrum games he will probably mention Jet Set Willy.
In previous polls I voted for Fairlight and Hobbit even if didn't play them that much and never achieved anything significant in them. Because I just had a feeling that they are great classics.
I don''t have such feeling with Jet Set Willy. For me it aged quite badly. It has simplistic graphics, lacks loading screen, is quite hard, requires pixel perfect jumps, lot of pattern learning to get correct timing, has bugs and so on. I never actually enjoyed it.
On the other hand I spent quite a lot of time with Jetpac and it gave me a great fun of blasting aliens and building rockets. It has very good playability, great graphics for 1983 (think of this rainbow laser) and this special feeling of a real game from arcade salooon. If I had to insert coins somewhere to play it, I certainly would
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Sure, it’s a fine game. Is it ten times better than—well, looks like every other title in this poll, though? Put it another way, if someone who’s never seen a Spectrum game before asked you to make a case for it by showing him “the best game beginning with J,” would you really go for Jetpac?
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Well, it might not have the technical features of the other games, but it's right up there in terms of playability. Someone who's never seen a Spectrum game before could learn the basic premise in a few minutes, while more 'advanced' games usually require at least reading instructions before you even know exactly what you're supposed to do.
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Right. I was going more for the “hey, check this out” (as in, “look at it”), rather than “have a go at this.” But, yeah, I see your point.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
I went with Melbourne House's Judge Dredd, cause it deserves at least one vote. It's almost as good as the criminally underrated c64 game, a fair deal easier though, you can pretty much play forever.
ZX Soft - ALIEN(BUGFIX) - GB Soft - Demoscene
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Jetpac FTW..!
Just stands out of the crowd for me, don't think I could vote for anything else. Close to arcade perfection when it was released, and still great to play now.
Just stands out of the crowd for me, don't think I could vote for anything else. Close to arcade perfection when it was released, and still great to play now.
My Speccy site: thirdharmoniser.com
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Choosing between Jet Pac and Jack the Nipper II (which in my opinion is much better than JTN I) was difficult. JTN2 it's an awesome videoadventure game that allows you to explore a lot and so have a lot of fun and enjoy the game a lot without even complete the game. On the other hand, Jet Pac is an awesome arcade that I played a lot and it's incredibly good for an early game.
Finally my vote went to Jack the Nipper II.
Finally my vote went to Jack the Nipper II.
http://uto.speccy.org
Follow me at @uto_dev
Follow me at @uto_dev
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Don't forget the title is "best CLASSIC Speccy game". This for me, means an earlier title, something between 1982 and 1987 or so and i think if a limit was set on the year, this would have been a more definitive list of CLASSIC games and more tightly run in many cases with fewer candidates for sure.
Jetpac for me.
Jetpac for me.
I don't have anything cool to put here, so i'll just be off now to see a priest with yeast stuck between his teeth and his friend called Keith who's a hairpiece thief...
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
I came up with 'classic' to label the Spectrum's commercial era - when you could go into high street shops and find new games. Distinguishing it from the homebrew/hobbyist era we're in now. Roughly speaking, classic is 1982-1993. Homebrew would be post-1993.hitm4n wrote: ↑Thu May 03, 2018 12:36 am Don't forget the title is "best CLASSIC Speccy game". This for me, means an earlier title, something between 1982 and 1987 or so and i think if a limit was set on the year, this would have been a more definitive list of CLASSIC games and more tightly run in many cases with fewer candidates for sure.
Jetpac for me.
I don't think classic Spectrum games vanished after 1987. Robocop, one of the biggest selling games of all time, came out in 1988, as did the highly celebrated Chase HQ; Where Time Stood Still and Target Renegade. And I'm not just going to cherry pick that following year...
Batman; Rick Dangerous and Kwik Snax from 1989. Lords Of Chaos; Turrican and Total Recall from 1990. Lemmings and CJ's Elephant Antics from 1991. Um... the cupboard is really bare from 1992, I'll grant you, but Space Crusade and Crystal Kingdom Dizzy are there. 1993 spits out Dr Who Dalek Attack as what is probably the ZX Spectrum's last commercial release seen in a physical shop (in Western Europe at least), and we see the demise of the last two Spectrum magazines.
A hypothetical (and ridiculous) scenario - if you were to be given everything released for the ZX Spectrum BUT ONLY FROM ONE YEAR OF YOUR CHOOSING (you are not allowed anything outside of that year), I think I'd pick 1987. That's definitely the peak of Spectrum gaming quality (and the magazines were on top form). Of course, what came after is certainly not at all shabby, and you got bigger playing areas and more lovely 128 AY music.
With that all said, I find it nice that a 16K game is topping this week's poll! I think there would not be an argument were Jetpac to be declared the best 16K ZX Spectrum game ever.
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New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Not for me, I prefer Pssst.PeteProdge wrote: ↑Thu May 03, 2018 10:51 amWith that all said, I find it nice that a 16K game is topping this week's poll! I think there would not be an argument were Jetpac to be declared the best 16K ZX Spectrum game ever.
Jet Pac is a great arcade, but always too fast and frustrating for me.
I voted for Jet Set Willy because it's a game I've always enjoyed, although graphics are not at the level of some other games.
A game with an incredible atmosphere, which completely brings the player into this twisted imaginary world, created by Matthew Smith.
JSW, like MM, are cult games that define Spectrum, timeless classics..
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
I've voted Jasper!, for some reason.
- Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
By the way...
WHO VOTED FOR JUNGLE FEVER?
.... For those who don't get it, it's just an old WoS story I prefer to forget...
WHO VOTED FOR JUNGLE FEVER?
.... For those who don't get it, it's just an old WoS story I prefer to forget...
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
And what about the vote for Jailbreak. It's one of the worst conversions ever.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
And which lunatic voted for Jasper?!
Actually I quite like Jasper but it's too hard and has unforgiving collision detection (like 3/4 of Spectrum games then). I'm fond of it but personally would give it a vote for 'Spirit of the Spectrum' rather than best of the year.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
There is only one title after 1987 here - Jahangir Khan's World Championship Squash and it doesn't have any votes.hitm4n wrote: ↑Thu May 03, 2018 12:36 am Don't forget the title is "best CLASSIC Speccy game". This for me, means an earlier title, something between 1982 and 1987 or so and i think if a limit was set on the year, this would have been a more definitive list of CLASSIC games and more tightly run in many cases with fewer candidates for sure.
Having said that I think we should redo "J" and classify the classic era as 1984 - 1984 for a few letters, then maybe change to 1983 - 1983 for "M"...
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
I'm not going to name names but I bet it was JuanF.
Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
It's all good. I wouldn't count the hobbyist era either, but then while only considering the commercial era (up to 1993) what is the classic part of that? I would say the first half or so, which puts it around 87-88. The first 5-6 years? Thats what i mean, games that came after 1987 (or 88), are fantastic, but i can't consider them classic under my thinking.PeteProdge wrote: ↑Thu May 03, 2018 10:51 am I came up with 'classic' to label the Spectrum's commercial era - when you could go into high street shops and find new games. Distinguishing it from the homebrew/hobbyist era we're in now. Roughly speaking, classic is 1982-1993. Homebrew would be post-1993. I don't think classic Spectrum games vanished after 1987. Robocop, one of the biggest selling games of all time, came out in 1988, as did the highly celebrated Chase HQ; Where Time Stood Still and Target Renegade. And I'm not just going to cherry pick that following year...
And don't get me wrong, the latter years produced some of the most awesome games as you've clearly listed. Coders were producing effects no-one had seen before, we heard music we didn't know possible and expansive games that boggled the mind on how they fit into 48k. But i will always class an earlier great as more of a classic.
I'm not having a pop, these votes are fun and its one of the ones i seek out each week, i think the lists are little long sometimes, some of the so called "classics" are a bit dubious to me.
I mean, whoever put Elite into the E round?
I don't have anything cool to put here, so i'll just be off now to see a priest with yeast stuck between his teeth and his friend called Keith who's a hairpiece thief...
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
Ah, so you're a huge fan of Jack And The Beanstalk.
Not sure why you're so obsessed with Molar Maul, but yeah, we'll arrange something.
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New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with J: vote
While the early years of the Speccy brought forth solid classics like Manic Miner; Ant Attack; Jet Set Willy; Chuckie Egg and the Ultimate Play The Game range, there were still a load of utter landfill games that were piddling around with UDG visuals, long BEEPs and slothlike gameplay.
I wasn't a computer owner until 1987 so missed out on these early years, but a visit to a friend who had a Speccy from the off, showed he had a vast collection. I'd pick out a game to load on the basis of a weird and wonderful title, then see it was absolute dregs. Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of covers it beautifully.
As a latecomer to the scene, I was pleased with the Imagine games I had been given as a bundle with my +2, some decent arcade conversions there. When I came round to picking out the Imagine efforts from their pre-Ocean days, I was gobsmacked at how awful they were. Even more astounded when I learnt of their high status at the time and how profligate they were.
You can give a huge amount of thanks to the Stampers, Matthew Smith, etc, they really pioneered gameplay and everyone else had to up their game. By around 1987, you'd have budget titles with such quality that they would reasonably have been full price if they were created 2-3 years earlier.
I've given the early years a bit of a bashing, but yeah, post-1987, with all the hindsight we have now, we can see everything was headed to being arcade or movie licenses. You couldn't really survive as a full price software house putting out entirely original creations. Hewson clung on and delivered some outstanding original titles, but to be a major player, you had to shell out for a recognisable license.
Yeah, I'm still impressed with Rex and Hammerfist.hitm4n wrote: ↑Fri May 04, 2018 9:35 pmAnd don't get me wrong, the latter years produced some of the most awesome games as you've clearly listed. Coders were producing effects no-one had seen before, we heard music we didn't know possible and expansive games that boggled the mind on how they fit into 48k.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!