The first 128K-only game(s)

[PeteProdge]

From the Rocky Horror Show thread...

It seems to be the case. It was presented in a feature about the first games for the 128 on Sinclair User 49, April 1986, together with Daley Thompson's Supertest, The Never Ending Story, Lode Runner, Gladiator, Technician Ted (The Megamix), Knight Tyme (previewed), Sweevo's Whirled and Three Weeks In Paradise.

On a side note: to my knowledge, the first games designed with the 128 as their primary target, i.e. not modified versions of titles originally planned and released for the 48K, were The Kingdom Of Krell and Tai-Pan, both released in 1987.

The first 128-only game was another one from CRL, They Call Me Trooper, released in December 1986 to coincide with the first Spectrum +2's.

Now I always thought the Spectrum 128K, being launched in Spain before anywhere else, would have a Spanish game as the first 128K-only game.

According to this very website, via a search of ZXDB of 128K-only releases in 1985, we get just two titles...
Superfile by Tynesoft (which, yes, is a database utility, definitely not a game).
Odd Job Eddie by Strobe (which is 'by' Harry S Price, therefore a rip-off of an existing game, in this case, the 48K Pyramania from 1984).

I had both of these titles in the Curry's +2 pack-in (late 1987), if Odd Job Eddie is 128K only, well, it certainly felt very 48K-ish, never really played it that much to see if it made any use of the extra memory but there wasn't any AY music in it. Is it really 128K only?

Changing that search to games only and the year to 1986:

Blizzard Pass
International Match Day
Sweevo's Whirled
Technician Ted: The Megamix
They Call Me Trooper
Yie Ar Kung-Fu 128K

[toot_toot]

I think the early Spanish releases for the 128k (or lack of them) was probably down to the 128K Spectrum originally being released to get around a specific tax in Spain (IIRC, computers under 64KB were to get an additional tax).

By the time the 128K was released in the UK, I remember a few publishers talking about creating 128K games but apart from the odd utility like Tasword 128K, I think all were just enhanced versions of existing games.

This page in Your Sinclair has reviews of the initial games released (Nodes/Arc of Yesod, Robin of the Wood, Gladiator, Sweevo’s Whirled, Technician Ted, Three Weeks in Paradise and the Ocean bundled games)

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 27&page=73

Activision also released a number of 128K enhanced versions, like Ghostbusters and Barry McGuigan’s boxing. Was there not a Sinclair catalogue for 128K games, which had a lot of these (and a lot of unreleased games)? I can’t find it, but I seem to remember there being one.

As it was mentioned, the first game that was going to really use the 128K was Taipan

It’s detailed in this SU preview (along with a moan about all 128K games are just enhanced versions of 48K games) https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.ph ... 62&page=93

But even Tai-Pan was released in a cut down 48K multi-load, I wonder if the 128K version was going to focus more on the sea aspect, instead of the wandering aimlessly around a town aspect? Who knows…

So I wonder if the genuinely first 128K only game was Where Time Stood Still? I suppose it got delayed quite a bit, with previews in 1987 but it not being released until 1988.

[AndyC]

Yeah RAM was cheap so rehashing an existing model to have more was cheaper than paying the additional tax (the ultimate cheap shot being the Amstrad 472, a 464 with a completely redundant 8K RAM chip soldered inside to bypass the tax).

It's interesting to wonder what, if it weren't for that, we'd have seen in terms of upgrades? Nothing or machines which took a bigger leap as part of a more consumer driven approach.

As for entirely 128 only games; I'd think it was probably WTSS too, but I'm not at all sure.

[Joefish]

Knight Tyme was originally targeted specifically at the new 128K Spectrum. I remember a review (SU?) saying it was the first new game that wasn't simply an extended or single-load version of an old 48K game. Although obviously it had quite a few similarities to previous Magic Knight games.

The cut-down version for 48K machines came out over a year after the original 128K release.

[toot_toot]

Knight Tyme, yes that sounds right! I’d forgotten that was initially 128K only. The Crash review says it’s the first true 128K game

I don’t know if the fact it was released as a 48K version discounts it? If you’re to look at the first 128K only game, with no 48K version and written specifically for the 128K, could it be the Kingdom of Krell from Anco, which I’d never heard of.. which is from 1987?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/6 ... m_of_Krell

[catmeows]

Does anyone know when 48K model was discontinued?

[Joefish]

Knight Tyme, yes that sounds right! I’d forgotten that was initially 128K only. The Crash review says it’s the first true 128K game

I don’t know if the fact it was released as a 48K version discounts it? If you’re to look at the first 128K only game, with no 48K version and written specifically for the 128K, could it be the Kingdom of Krell from Anco, which I’d never heard of.. which is from 1987?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/6 ... m_of_Krell

Well, no, that doesn't discount it because at the time of its release it was an original 128K game.
If I used data compression to produce a version of Kingdom of Krell that does run on a 48K Spectrum tomorrow, does that invalidate your post today?

[Pobulous]

Odd Job Eddie seems to work fine on 48K apart from a corrupted menu/title screen. Once the game starts it seems OK.
Presumably it was just the bare minimum effort to make it a 128K exclusive.

[Journeyman]

Does anyone know when 48K model was discontinued?

This is very hard to pin down, but large stocks of unsold Spectrum + machines were included in the sale to Amstrad, and these were sold in cheap bundles with software from Dixons.

[Journeyman]

According to this very website, via a search of ZXDB of 128K-only releases in 1985, we get just two titles...
Superfile by Tynesoft (which, yes, is a database utility, definitely not a game).
Odd Job Eddie by Strobe (which is 'by' Harry S Price, therefore a rip-off of an existing game, in this case, the 48K Pyramania from 1984).

I had both of these titles in the Curry's +2 pack-in (late 1987), if Odd Job Eddie is 128K only, well, it certainly felt very 48K-ish, never really played it that much to see if it made any use of the extra memory but there wasn't any AY music in it. Is it really 128K only?

I had Superfile as well, which was on the flip side of something else, possibly Ian Botham's Test Match, which I never played because I hate cricket. I did make use of Superfile though, which was coded entirely in BASIC. The only 128k feature it made use of was an ability to store files to RAM disc, which was a bit pointless, and you could only create databases up to the 48k limit. You could, therefore, access just about all the program's features on a 48k machine. If you tried accessing the RAM disc from a 48k machine, you'd just get a Nonsense in BASIC error.

Rather usefully it came with full Microdrive support, although being in BASIC meant you could customise it quite effectively. I pretty quickly got the drift of how it worked, and did a fair bit of tweaking. At the back of my mind I've always had the idea of doing a 64 characters per line version with Taswide, which would force use of 48k mode!

[PeteProdge]

I had Superfile as well, which was on the flip side of something else, possibly Ian Botham's Test Match, which I never played because I hate cricket. I did make use of Superfile though, which was coded entirely in BASIC. The only 128k feature it made use of was an ability to store files to RAM disc, which was a bit pointless, and you could only create databases up to the 48k limit. You could, therefore, access just about all the program's features on a 48k machine. If you tried accessing the RAM disc from a 48k machine, you'd just get a Nonsense in BASIC error.

I strongly suspect the Nonsense in BASIC error would also crop up on the +3 and +2A machines, as the typical LOAD! "thing" command to load in any data off the RAM disc on the 128/+2 was actually LOAD "m:thing" on +2A/+3.

Superfile was veeery slow and showed the shortcomings of the Speccy as a serious computer.

[PeteProdge]

Odd Job Eddie seems to work fine on 48K apart from a corrupted menu/title screen. Once the game starts it seems OK.
Presumably it was just the bare minimum effort to make it a 128K exclusive.

How to turn any game into being 128K only!

Stick this three-line BASIC program in at the very start of the tape.

Code: Select all

10 PRINT "Hello..."
20 PLAY "abc"
30 PRINT "Keep tape playing, continuing to load..."

I'm a right proper programming genius, I tell you.

[Journeyman]

I strongly suspect the Nonsense in BASIC error would also crop up on the +3 and +2A machines, as the typical LOAD! "thing" command to load in any data off the RAM disc on the 128/+2 was actually LOAD "m:thing" on +2A/+3.

Superfile was veeery slow and showed the shortcomings of the Speccy as a serious computer.

Well, kinda. It wasn't bad at all for a BASIC program, but in reality software houses shouldn't have been releasing stuff in BASIC, and it's bit of an oddity given how late in the Speccy's life it came out. It's more the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a magazine or book of type-in programs. Strange it came with a game, too - I don't think it was ever released on its own.

It was quite flexible and the menus were well designed, but yeah, it was sluggish to say the least, especially the sort routines, which took hours, even on small files.

Some software houses did push the Speccy quite impressively in terms of serious software - I thought the 128k versions of Tasword were pretty impressive, particularly because you could squeeze in a whole 64K of text, which presumably took quite a lot of RAM paging to achieve, and it managed it pretty flawlessly.

[StooB]

Knight Tyme was originally targeted specifically at the new 128K Spectrum. I remember a review (SU?) saying it was the first new game that wasn't simply an extended or single-load version of an old 48K game. Although obviously it had quite a few similarities to previous Magic Knight games.

The cut-down version for 48K machines came out over a year after the original 128K release.

The 48K version of Knight Tyme came out a few weeks after the 128K version, not over a year later.

The first 128-only - as in not available for the 48K at all - games were They Call Me Trooper in December 1986, Little Computer People, Kingdom of Krell and The Pawn in 1987 and Bedlam, Football Director 2, Where Time Stood Still, The Muncher, Corruption, Guild of Thieves and Jinxter in 1988.

[toot_toot]

Well, no, that doesn't discount it because at the time of its release it was an original 128K game.
If I used data compression to produce a version of Kingdom of Krell that does run on a 48K Spectrum tomorrow, does that invalidate your post today?

What I’m saying is that because Knight Tyme eventually got an official 48K release, does it mean Knight Tyme counts as the first 128K only game?

Kingdom of Krell never received an official 48K version, so does it mean it is technically the first 128K only (as in not officially available on the 48K) game?

The likes of Odd Job Eddie kind of strike me as quick cash ins by Dixons’s to get some exclusive pack in games to differentiate themselves from the Amstrad bundle (like picking the lesser of two evils). I remember my friend and I getting the Dixons +2 pack for Christmas 87, but he had to take his Spectrum back and got it replaced with the “Screen Hero’s” and Konami’s Greatest Hits compilations, which although didn’t have any 128K exclusive games, they were significantly better. Although it’s strange they didn’t include Stars on the 128K, which is a decent compilation with the 128K versions of Daley Thompson\s Supertest, International Match Day, Never Ending Story and Yie Ar Kung Fu (the exclusive release for this).

[Audionautas]

The 48K version of Knight Tyme came out a few weeks after the 128K version, not over a year later.

The first 128-only - as in not available for the 48K at all - games were They Call Me Trooper in December 1986, Little Computer People, Kingdom of Krell and The Pawn in 1987 and Bedlam, Football Director 2, Where Time Stood Still, The Muncher, Corruption, Guild of Thieves and Jinxter in 1988.

Despite not being released in the UK, La Abadía del Crimen by Opera Soft was also released in 1988 in Spain. In fact, as far as I know, it remains to this day as the only 128K exclusive game released by a Spanish software house during the Speccy's heyday. The Amstrad CPC game was the original version, so if the coders wanted to be released on the Speccy, there was no other way than using 128K. Oddly enough, and despite being praised by Microhobby and being considered an excellent game for those of us who played it, the game was not a big seller in Spain. Around February 1988 when the game was released, the +2 was selling like hot cakes in here, but the market had sadly shifted to arcade conversions and movie licences. So, its legend status has been achieved over time.

Regards

[StooB]

Oddly enough, and despite being praised by Microhobby and being considered an excellent game for those of us who played it, the game was not a big seller in Spain. Around February 1988 when the game was released, the +2 was selling like hot cakes in here, but the market had sadly shifted to arcade conversions and movie licences. So, its legend status has been achieved over time.

Regards

No 8 in the Spanish Spectrum charts around June 88, ahead of Renegade and Predator, so it must have sold quite well: https://archive.org/details/micromania- ... 5/mode/2up .

[Audionautas]

No 8 in the Spanish Spectrum charts around June 88, ahead of Renegade and Predator, so it must have sold quite well: https://archive.org/details/micromania- ... 5/mode/2up .

No, those Micromania charts are quite unreliable in my opinion. They were based on sales from El Corte Inglés department stores only. El Corte Inglés was firmly planted in almost all major cities by then, but not all over Spain at the time. In 1988 for example there was no El Corte Inglés store in the city I live (it didn't open the first one here until 1995), so, at the time we bought games on little computer or electronics stores or Galerías Preciados, the rival of El Corte Inglés, and also some games by mail. At that time you could buy games in a lot of different places. I recall that Paco Pastor from Erbe software has said several times that his company had around 5.000 selling points spread all over Spain, as I said, computer stores, electronics stores, video stores, department stores, newstands and so on, that every medium-sized city had loads. So, maybe twenty El Corte Inglés department stores are a tiny sample to be taken into account. Those charts can be a point of reference, but sadly, behind them there was not a company like Gallup auditing game sales as you had in the UK back in the day.

Best regards