Games for Spectrum+

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MagicaBelgica
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Games for Spectrum+

Post by MagicaBelgica »

Hi everyone...new member here...I recently received an old Spectrum+ for my birthday. I had a 48k in the '80s and didn't even know about the + back then. I was aware of the 128k +2 and +3. Somebody has told me the + is the model between the 48k and 128k but I don't know how true this is.

My question is about games for the +. When buying games should I be looking for games made specifically for the + model, or will games made for the 48k or 128k work?

The games I've been looking at on eBay seem mostly to be listed as 48k or 128k.

Any advice here is greatly appreciated.
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by Ast A. Moore »

The Plus is just a regular Spectrum 48K in a differen case.
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.
dfzx
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by dfzx »

The Spectrum+ was released about 2 years after the original rubber key model. Internally it's the same machine as the 48K, only with a "better" case and keyboard, so any software you find for a 48K will work on your Spectrum+. The 128K, +2 and +3 models came later and are very different to the 48K. Software written for those doesn't run on the 48K machines, but the new machines were backwards compatible so software for the 48K does run on the 128K variants.

If you're just looking to explore some of the games available you don't need to be buying them off eBay. Many are available for free these days (with original authors' permission). Have a look round Spectrum Computing or World of Spectrum.
Derek Fountain, author of the ZX Spectrum C Programmer's Getting Started Guide and various open source games, hardware and other projects, including an IF1 and ZX Microdrive emulator.
MagicaBelgica
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by MagicaBelgica »

dfzx wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:04 amIf you're just looking to explore some of the games available you don't need to be buying them off eBay. Many are available for free these days (with original authors' permission). Have a look round Spectrum Computing or World of Spectrum.
Hi there...thanks for your reply. Can you get them for free on cassette or do you mean PC downloads?
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Alessandro
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by Alessandro »

MagicaBelgica wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:20 am Hi there...thanks for your reply. Can you get them for free on cassette or do you mean PC downloads?
PC downloads, cassette titles nowadays are a collector's item and you should seek for them on Ebay, although more recent titles are even nowadays published as physical editions, of course for a very niche market; me and some of the other folks you can meet here created games which were published that way in fact.

You can however feed your data from TZX/TAP virtual tape files in your Spectrum as if they were physical tapes. You can connect your Spectrum EAR port to the audio out port of your PC with the original mono Spectrum tape recorder cables, then type the usual LOAD "" command, and open and play the files with an utility like Tapir. I have been doing that for years myself.

Just ensure the PC volume is loud enough, usually a desktop PC will need it to be set to at least 80%, and without enhancements (Dolby, reverb etc.).
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djnzx48
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by djnzx48 »

Also Surfchamp is one game that might not have worked on the Spectrum+, due to requiring a surfboard keyboard overlay designed for the rubber key model.
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Joefish
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by Joefish »

There are plug-in devices that let you load instantly from memory cards. They started with the 'DivIDE' that used 'Compact Flash' camera cards, but there are plenty of SD-Card based devices around now.
They're not necessarily the cheapest, but for very well-supported stuff you could try Ben at Byte Delight. His latests 'DivMMC' storage plug-in includes a custom plastic case (which you don't usually get on home-made interfaces) and twin configurable joystick ports.
https://www.bytedelight.com/?page_id=9
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1024MAK
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by 1024MAK »

Apart from a very few exceptions, most 16k and 48k games work on a ZX Spectrum+ :D

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Alessandro
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Re: Games for Spectrum+

Post by Alessandro »

Joefish wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 11:42 am There are plug-in devices that let you load instantly from memory cards. They started with the 'DivIDE' that used 'Compact Flash' camera cards, but there are plenty of SD-Card based devices around now.
They're not necessarily the cheapest, but for very well-supported stuff you could try Ben at Byte Delight. His latests 'DivMMC' storage plug-in includes a custom plastic case (which you don't usually get on home-made interfaces) and twin configurable joystick ports.
https://www.bytedelight.com/?page_id=9
I own a cased DivMMC EnJoy (the previous model with one joystick port) I purchased from Ben and it works really good.

My only niggle with it is that it fits rather loose in my Amstrad-manufactured models, but with the Plus, it's just fine.
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