Starglider being used to gunge children on telly in 1987

[PeteProdge]

I remember the Get Mucky segment on ITV Saturday morning show Get Fresh using Starglider in series 2, and then Xenon on some 16-bit platform for series 3. Not being a computer owner at the time, I couldn't distinguish which platform was used for Starglider, but someone's uploaded a nearly full edition of Get Fresh from 16th May 1987, and I'm 99% certain that's the ZX Spectrum being used! Although with dedicated monitors and a big white box, it doesn't seem like that at first glance.



These segments (usually three of them in the show) were pre-recorded months in advance at Anglia Television in Norwich* to be played in as inserts during the live show. The winner got a practically useless prop trophy, and the loser had their friend covered in a bucket of something that looks like Original Source shower gel or chip shop curry sauce. (Hey, it's eighties kids' telly, where Noel Edmonds nicked his ideas.)

Anyway, that's the Spectrum's role in being a digital Phantom Flan Flinger in the days of post-Tiswas Saturday morning telly. For years I just assumed they were using a Commodore 64, an Amiga, an Amstrad, anything other than a Speccy because television seemed to abandon coverage of it in the late 1980s.

* A stone's throw away from Anglia is Nostalgia Nerd's vegan retrogaming arcade bar/cafe, Barcadia, which I saw when I drove through Norwich recently. It doesn't appear to be doing that well.

[toot_toot]

They’re using the Amiga or ST version of Starglider, here’s the Spectrum version



The part that represents the cockpit has too many colours and doesn’t use the Spectrum’s default font (which was always made the Spectrum version feel cheaper than it should).

Here’s Chinnyvision’s breakdown of each of the versions

[AndyC]

Almost certainly Amigas.

From what I hear of Barcadia, you have to pay £10 for a bunch of American quarters, which gets you about 10 goes on the arcade machines, it's also located on probably the worst street for dealing with drunk clubbing types. Meanwhile, five minutes away there is an arcade in the mall which, for the princely sum of £10, you can get a wristband that allows unlimited play on all the machines for a whole day. I've been to the mall one several times and never been tempted by Barcadia. I can't say I'm entirely surprised that it might be struggling.

[Wall_Axe]

Gaz top had a pretty good mullet.

The frame rate of the starglider game seemed very high, which tipped me off it was not a spectrum game

[PeteProdge]

They’re using the Amiga or ST version of Starglider

Oof! Well, that's a spectacular clanger from me then. I clocked the Spectrum ROM font and the low amount of colours, which felt quite Spectrum-ish, especially on the blurry resolution of a VHS recording - but yes, I very much stand corrected.

And I never owned Starglider and still haven't played it! I'd have expected better from the 16-bit computers though!

Almost certainly Amigas.

Yeah, I'm fairly sure Amiga was back the next year when they used Xenon as the game for Get Mucky.

From what I hear of Barcadia, you have to pay £10 for a bunch of American quarters, which gets you about 10 goes on the arcade machines,

That's not too far off from the NQ64 business model, although a mere £7 gets you 15 tokens there. I had a great time at their Liverpool branch last year.

it's also located on probably the worst street for dealing with drunk clubbing types.

Yeah, I've heard that said and I didn't actually mean to drive down there, it's just that an incident with my car meant I had to stop in Norwich city centre for a while and when I resumed going to my actual destination, I saw myself heading down that very road. Even though it was a Thursday afternoon, it had that dodgy vibe about it.

Meanwhile, five minutes away there is an arcade in the mall which, for the princely sum of £10, you can get a wristband that allows unlimited play on all the machines for a whole day. I've been to the mall one several times and never been tempted by Barcadia. I can't say I'm entirely surprised that it might be struggling.

Yeah, this chimes in with a lot of online criticism (some of which is entirely fuelled by spite, sadly). I think it was rather naive of NN to think this would be a thriving business.

As the old saying goes, how do you make a small fortune from a restaurant? Start with a large fortune.

Anyway, um, I'm feel daft from mistaking an Amiga (or maybe ST) for a Speccy so I guess the admins can shove this thread in the Other Retro Stuff area, 'cos it's not really that Speccy related any more!

[SteveSmith]

From what I hear of Barcadia, you have to pay £10 for a bunch of American quarters, which gets you about 10 goes on the arcade machines, it's also located on probably the worst street for dealing with drunk clubbing types. Meanwhile, five minutes away there is an arcade in the mall which, for the princely sum of £10, you can get a wristband that allows unlimited play on all the machines for a whole day. I've been to the mall one several times and never been tempted by Barcadia. I can't say I'm entirely surprised that it might be struggling.

I don't know if anyone else listens to Simon Butler's podcast, but he's had plenty to say about Barcadia several months ago. I don't know how much of it is true, but he's mentioned some dodgy Kickstarter shenanigans and other things. Unfortuately I can't remember any specifics, but he was certainly no fan.

[Morkin]

"Boffin", lol... Vaguely remember watching a bit of Get Fresh.

15 seconds to play Starglider? It'd take me longer than that to figure out the keys.

[AndyC]

Yeah, I've heard that said and I didn't actually mean to drive down there, it's just that an incident with my car meant I had to stop in Norwich city centre for a while and when I resumed going to my actual destination, I saw myself heading down that very road. Even though it was a Thursday afternoon, it had that dodgy vibe about it.

Yeah, although dodgy for Norwich is not really that bad, we're quite a sedate bunch. Late on a Friday you'd have to swerve past the occasional drunk couple having a row, or be careful not to step in the delightful vomit from some student who has had too much, but it's not actually that bad. I've lived in far worse places.

[MatGubbins]

Going by the placement of the side joystick ports on the computer, it looks like an Amiga 1000 hidden inside a monitor stand.