How long have you been part of the Speccy Retro Scene?

[stupidget]

After reading the post on the Speccy Rock Bottom thread (viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9958) it got me thinking about how long I'd been part of the Retro Speccy Scene. I've just logged into WoS to check my profile I joined back in Jan 2003 so that's already over 20 years ago!!!!!

When I think about it I was probably messing about with retro Speccy stuff in the late 90's when I downloaded Ramsoft's DOS based RealSpectrum emulator along with one of those CD's you could get off eBay filled with Speccy games. It was around this time that I got a +2 off eBay for £10 and was using a portable CD player to load games into it. I'm pretty sure the first game I played was Midnight Resistance.

So rather scarily I've been p1ssing about with Speccies for over quarter of a century

I wonder who's been involved the longest and is there anyone who never 'took a break' from the Speccy and has been messing about with them for 41 years?!!

[bluespikey]

I've always dabbled since 1984. I'd be hesitant to say that its Retro, it still feels like a living thing now. The control software I write is used in mighty industrial machines all across the world, but its all still rooted in that original Usborne House 'Computer Programming Basic For Beginners'.

[stupidget]

......The control software I write is used in mighty industrial machines all across the world, but its all still rooted in that original Usborne House 'Computer Programming Basic For Beginners'.

I find that genuinely fascinating. In a world where new is always perceived as being better its nice to know that the old adage of 'if it aint broke, don't fix it' still rings true.

[Alessandro]

In the summer of 1998 I discovered that there were programs that could emulate the working of a Spectrum on a PC. And this was not the first taste of emulation I experienced; I began with MAME about two years earlier.

At the same time I subscribed to WoS, then before the great system crash of 2001 which reset all accounts to that year.

[Vampyre]

I moved on from the Speccy in 1988 when I got an ST. In 1993 I purchased a PC (a 486 running at a whopping 25MHz, overclocked to 33!) and one of the first things I loaded into it was the shareware version of Z80 that I got on the cover of a PC Format magazine. Updated that to the full version as it was so awesome. Logged onto WOS pretty much at the start of its existence and I still have a WOS archive CD somewhere (1998 version - so it includes all the denied stuff ).

So 30 years this year!

[Morkin]

I (regretfully) ditched my Speccy around 1991 when I switched to an Amiga.

From there I switched to console gaming (PS1/PS2 etc.) throughout the 90s and early 00s. No Speccy in sight.

Started lurking on WoS around 2007, mainly for nostalgia purposes. Then I realised just how much people all over the world were still into talking about Uncle Clive's little invention, whether their interest was hardware, programming or games.

Signed up and started posting around 2009, and made a few eBay purchases, and have remained in the community since. Though I only really chat here now as there hasn't been any tangible new Speccy content on WoS for over a decade now , and I only have a sporadic interest in FB.

[SteveSmith]

Before we can properly answer this, can we first argue about when the "retro" scene started?

[stupidget]

Before we can properly answer this, can we first argue about when the "retro" scene started?

Good point. To the 'yoof' of today Retro seems be linked to anything that is older than 6 months

I'd class the Speccy 'Retro' scene to be any Speccy based activity after the demise of our beloved 'puter. Shall we say anything after '92?

[HEXdidnt]

@stupidget can you define "part of the Speccy Retro Scene" please?

I mean, I had Spectrums back in the day... I recapped and performed the Composite mod on two of them earlier in the year, but that was more to make it easier for us to introduce my niece to computers and computer gaming as it used to be.

I joined a local computer club in 2019, and many of the other members are Spectrum fans... but I've only ever gone there either with one of my consoles (Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, Atari 2600 - all retro in their own right) or my SAM Coupé.

Depending on what it means to be 'part of' any particular scene, I could maybe say that I've been part of the Speccy Retro Scene since Thu Mar 09, 2023 2:40 pm, when I joined this specific forum... Or when I claimed ownership of my ZXArt 'Author' page (slightly earlier this year?)... Or when I joined the Spectrum For Everyone group on Facebook (a year or two back? Not sure). Or when I had to explain the existence of Spectrum version graphics for my Aliens vs. Predator game concept to the website "Games That Weren't" (May 2021)

Or, it could be that I only really became 'part of' the scene when I started working on that Empire Strikes Back game design...

Or maybe I'm still not... Dunno... I don't feel like part of any machine-specific 'retro scene'.

[Pegaz]

If we exclude the old days, my next encounter with the Spectrum and other retro computers began in 1995, on a PC 386SX 25Mhz and the famous Lunter's Z80 emulator.
I remember the excitement when I started Elite at full speed and realized, that I didn't need the SAVE option from the game, because I could take a snapshot of the entire game, whenever I wanted.
After that, I had a bit of a break during the PS1 era and then from 2001 until now, I've been following the Spectrum and C64 scene closely.
Later I expanded my interests to other 8bit/16bit models, also mainly through emulation.
Each one is interesting in its own way, especially Amiga, Acorn machines Atom, BBC B, Master and Archimedes, of course ZX81 and a couple of US models, TRS80, Ti99/4a, etc.

[TMD2003]

I discovered emulation completely by accident somewhere in the first half of 1998 - but being "active in the Retro Speccy Scene" didn't happen until I joined WOS in 2003.

That's the same time gap between Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World. Mamma mia!

[Wall_Axe]

I started looking at those emulators in 1996,and retro dos games.. although that was almost piracy as they hadn't long left the shops.
The Bible is against emulation however:
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Galatians-5-20/

(Just kidding,it's olde english)

So I took a long 5 year gap from 1991-1996 of not doing anything spectrum related

[WhatHoSnorkers]

So after my +2 died I was on the SEGA Master System for a while. And I liked it, but did miss programming. When I went to University (1995 to 1998) I was playing Spectrum games on Warajevo. Then around 2008 or so I was typing in games from Adventures for your ZX Spectrum, I remember the joy of the circles in Pearl Diver.

Then I pretty much stopped again until 2019.

[Dr beep]

I always went to meetings of the HCC and we continued on WoS.
WoS in current style is no longer my place, so Facebook and forums like these now.
So actually I WAS ALWAYS THERE!

[PQR]

In the summer of 1997 I started my first job at a design agency where after working hours I could access the internet on my own.

Soon I found the legendary Spectrum archive at ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sinclair/
Which is still online btw!

That's where I found emulators such as Mac Spectacle and PowerSpectrum, together with an assortment of games in tap, z80 and sna format. That really got me interested in the Spectrum again. I found my box of old tapes at my parents, brought them with me, and managed to convert a lot of my old stuff to tap files. Great times, and I'm still happy to have that data on my modern machines.

[Nitrowing]

After my rubberkey died (around 1988), I didn't get another until about 16 years ago - I had planned to shove the board inside an Asus Eee 700 I had lying around. This didn't happen as I coukdn't figure out how to connect the keyboard
I have at least 3 rubberkeys lying around but they, like all my retro collection, never even get plugged in. Just get dusted once in a blue moon.
I was playing Knightlore on my GP2X when it was released back around 2006 but the device is very battery hungry.
I'm not so much "part of the scene" as a supporter. I like seeing new games and developments, was stung by the Vega and have a Next and other bits.I'm just a trophy hunter at heart

[Matt_B]

I first used an emulator in 1991 on the Atari ST. I don't think there was a retro scene as such though; the Spectrum was still on the market at that point, after all.

Rather, I'd put the start as being the creation of the comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup in late 1993, and I was involved with that, pretty much from the beginning.

[blucey]

Started emulating via an Amiga in the mid 90s. Found WoS a long time ago too. Probably 2002 or something, not sure.

[PQR]

Rather, I'd put the start as being the creation of the comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup in late 1993, and I was involved with that, pretty much from the beginning.

Before I found WOS in 2002, CSS was my main connection to the Speccy scene.
Very influential, quite chaotic and also very funny. (Mmm... Buffy.)

[stupidget]

It's becoming quite apparent that World of Spectrum was most peoples first experience of a dedicated Speccy community. I was going to say that it's such a shame that it spiralled into a pit of ranting madness, but, for a lot of us if that's hadn't happened we'd not have stumbled upon this site.

What amazes me is the amount of people that only had a brief gap of a few years between stopping using the Speccy and then jumping into emulation. It really does show how much of an impact the little black slab had on our lives. I loved my Megadrive and PS1 and even though I've got MAME to emulate both of those, and my original MegaDrive and PS1, I rarely use either emulation or real hardware. Whereas, I'd say I play at least one Speccy game every day.

Long Live the Speccy

[PeteProdge]

Before we can properly answer this, can we first argue about when the "retro" scene started?

Retro for Speccy or retro for all gaming platforms?

Back in 1988, my Speccy-owning friend once dug out his old Acorn Electron as I had asked about it, never having used one before. He couldn't remember why it was put into the loft, but when he plugged it in, he remembered why. One of the chips had gone, and each time it was switched on, it would display a screen of colourful garbage. Which was amusing for five minutes, turning the thing on and off and seeing different kinds of garbled characters in various colours. (Hey, it's cheaper than hard drugs.)

So that was us, around the Speccy's commercial peak, looking down our noses at what was even back then, a RETRO computer. The Speccy would go the same way, but we didn't realise that back then.

[Ralf]

Like others, I discovered World of Spectrum around 2002. And it sucked me in.

I tried out some emulators earlier but didn't spend much time with them.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Even though I had used emulators since 1993 on my PC (Spectrum, Z80), they were the 'isolated years' when I only could get game files from my own cassettes or from someone closed.

But the moment I get into the scene was the first day I could access to internet, back in 1997 or 1998, when in front of a monitor, with a Netscape browser, I typed 'zx spectrum' in yahoo. I met then nvg, el trastero, and other sites, I discovered new emulators (I could run a Spectrum game in Windows 95!!!) and how easy was get all the games I couldn't get back in the day. Finally, I logged in WoS in 2002 to make a question and since 2007 I was a regular forum member there.

Since 2017 Spectrum Computing is my main place in the scene along with El Mundo del Spectrum, El trastero, ... but also twitter, Instagram and lately Mastodon, an interested place with a bunch of friendly people.

[Quazar]

I guess I have been around the scene for ages, even if just lurking every so often!

I was bought my first ZX Spectrum (48K) in 1983, upgraded to the +2 in 1986 when it launched. While I did get my first SAM Coupe which became my main machine of choice in 1993 I had been online since late 1991 so I'd followed the early emulators such as Z80 as mentioned by many people so far, comp.sys.sinclair, WoS forums in the good ol' days etc...

Before being online, I was thankful for the magazines covering some PD stuff and featuring demos on the covertapes which showed the wealth of software out there, especially from outside the UK.

[hitm4n]

If we exclude the old days, my next encounter with the Spectrum and other retro computers began in 1995, on a PC 386SX 25Mhz and the famous Lunter's Z80 emulator.

I dabbled with a speccy emulator on the Amiga a little earlier than 1995 (around 93-94 i guess), but it wasn't a great experience mostly and i had not long left the Speccy anyway. I still had it at this point in fact. But like you, i got a PC in 1995 and thats when i got into emulation more.

I remember the excitement when I started Elite at full speed and realized, that I didn't need the SAVE option from the game, because I could take a snapshot of the entire game, whenever I wanted.

Yep. Snapshots were cool. I still hate Elite i'm afraid, but you could edit games, slap pokes in with ease and i completed many many games using snapshots rather than saves. Games that could take days, you could never do that on a real Speccy, most games required completing in one sitting and who wanted to leave their Speccy on for days at a time. Whose leccy was reliable enough for that back in the day? Games were so tough back then too that they weren't really designed with completion in mind. 3 lives (or even 1) and you were done! I've gained a renewed interest in emulation since broadband has speeded up and teams like Tosec, NoIntro, ReDump, 1G1R etc all hit the scene. Massive collections at your fingertips. Good times.

And with apps like Launchbox/BigBox around making adding these games a dream, with artwork, music, information, nice GUIs etc. I love my BigBox setup and my MiSTer setup...

Theres really nothing like spending £1000 on a 65" TV and then sitting back to play Chuckie Egg on it. LOL.