RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

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RoseTintedSpectrum
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RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by RoseTintedSpectrum »

Hello all, hope this is the right place for this - if not, feel free to kick my shins.

I've recently started a retro review channel with a heavy emphasis, at least initially, on the good old ZX Spectrum. I've called this RoseTintedSpectrum because A) It was the cleverest thing I could think of and B) It was the only thing I could think of.

The basic idea of the channel is to go back to the computer I grew up with, the ZX Spectrum. I have a uselessly good recall for events and things from the past, and was able to sharply remember how much fun I had with some of these games, and I wanted to relive that... So I thought I'd make something out of the results. The channel is still relatively new (as you'll likely see) and I've been flying by the seat of my pants with zero experience, but responses from the ZX community so far has been pretty good. I've tried to bring as much information, humour and honesty to each video as I can, and hopefully that comes through in the final product.

So far, I've covered:

Horace Goes Skiing
Thundercats
Treasure Island
Pud Pud
Mr Wino
Turbo The Tortoise
Dizzy
Treasure Island Dizzy
Fantasy World Dizzy

As well as a couple of quick impressions on random games in my Quickshots series, where I plow through 5 games in <5 minutes.

Quickshots #1: 3 Dimensions are Better than 1
Quickshots #2: From Apocalypse to Valhalla

As the channel grows, I'll be looking to branch out to arcade games, and other early computers such as Commodore and Amiga, and even some early consoles of the time (though this would likely be well into the future).

Thanks for reading all and hope you enjoy.
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R-Tape
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by R-Tape »

RoseTintedSpectrum wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:23 pm Hello all, hope this is the right place for this - if not, feel free to kick my shins.
I'd say slightly better in Announcements, so I moved the thread. Six of one really.

Just watched the Mr Wino video and I like it. Really rather funny :)

I think it's a nice game, but agreed—soo bloody hard. The graphics are at least charming and it's got a great sprite routine. I don't think I've seen that kind of ladder masking before.

I have this on cassette too, and chuckled at the warning on the front. Presumably they realised at the last minute: "hang one, this game is for kids. Slap a disclaimer somewhere!".
Bipedal viagra pill with an enormous nose.
Earth's ugliest blueberry.
Fantastic! I'm sold.
RoseTintedSpectrum
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by RoseTintedSpectrum »

Haha, it's not a game I've ever known anyone else to have played, so I had to cover it just so the next time I try to convince someone it actually existed, I can just point to this video.

Me and my sister used to love playing it, I was so jealous that she could get to the level where you got to pick up Tequila Worms. It's a strange thing to be envious of as a child... A longing for tequila worms.

And thanks for moving the post! I should have known I'd get it wrong first bloody time!
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Joefish
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by Joefish »

It's a pleasant change to listen to one of these from someone who (a) has clear diction and a mild accent (b) has something to say other than 'umm' and 'err' or just swearing at their own incompetence with the game and (c) isn't a rabid nutjob! So well done! :D
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R-Tape
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

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RoseTintedSpectrum wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:44 pm Haha, it's not a game I've ever known anyone else to have played, so I had to cover it just so the next time I try to convince someone it actually existed, I can just point to this video.
I never had this game first time around, but acquired it as part of a job lot a few years back. I haven't reached level 3 yet!
Me and my sister used to love playing it, I was so jealous that she could get to the level where you got to pick up Tequila Worms. It's a strange thing to be envious of as a child... A longing for tequila worms.
Image

Tequila worms? Presumably you mean the sentient double headed wobbly dildos...
RoseTintedSpectrum
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by RoseTintedSpectrum »

Joefish wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:51 pm It's a pleasant change to listen to one of these from someone who (a) has clear diction and a mild accent (b) has something to say other than 'umm' and 'err' or just swearing at their own incompetence with the game and (c) isn't a rabid nutjob! So well done! :D
Haha, thanks very much. I come from a hobbyist music/game journo background so I tend to lean toward scripting everything, then use the script as a loose basis for the actual videos. This helps eliminate a lot of the umms and ahhs and general meandering. And thanks for the clear diction comment, I'm going to use this as ammo against my wife because I reckon she's hard of hearing and she reckons I mumble.

Now I can say "Joefish clearly stated, on the 12th of September 2019, that I have clear diction". I'll win the battle, but maybe not the war.
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by RoseTintedSpectrum »

R-Tape wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:57 pm
RoseTintedSpectrum wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:44 pm Haha, it's not a game I've ever known anyone else to have played, so I had to cover it just so the next time I try to convince someone it actually existed, I can just point to this video.
I never had this game first time around, but acquired it as part of a job lot a few years back. I haven't reached level 3 yet!
Me and my sister used to love playing it, I was so jealous that she could get to the level where you got to pick up Tequila Worms. It's a strange thing to be envious of as a child... A longing for tequila worms.
Image

Tequila worms? Presumably you mean the sentient double headed wobbly dildos...
My eyes! Forever unclean!

I literally will never be able to unsee this now. My childhood has become a torid mess.

Also, I only just assumed they were tequila worms recently... But they actually just look like Earthworms... Was he just drunkenly picking up Earthworms?
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Joefish
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by Joefish »

Mr Wino shows definite signs of being converted from a lo-res machine - half the sprites are still blocky. In fact, the top half of some of the individual sprites are lower res than their bottom halves! Judging by the author names I'm assuming it originated on the C64 and was converted to the Speccy and CPC. I also notice the name 'Willy Wino' got dropped on the way to the Spectrum!

And tequila grubs are quite tasty...
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by R-Tape »

Joefish wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 4:51 pm It's a pleasant change to listen to one of these from someone who (a) has clear diction and a mild accent...
I thought something sounded wrong :mrgreen:
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

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Joefish wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:38 pm Mr Wino shows definite signs of being converted from a lo-res machine
I did wonder about that, and surely it must be a port — why on earth would you make native chunky graphics like that on the Speccy?! After seeing this compare video, I wouldn't like to bet* if it was CPC or C64 first. Usually I would say C64 because that's the more common case and popular machine, but the CPC version looks brilliant—by far the most developed!

EDIT - reading Joe's post again suggests that the authors are predominantly C64 coders. But if that's the case I'd still like to know why the CPC looks streets ahead of the other versions.

Also it's from Probe software, and they have a few blatant chunky ports like Mr Heli.

Are the coders still about and able to comment on this? Are there any ways to distinguish CPC z80 from Sinclar z80?

Presumably the "Willy" name was dropped very late in the day, because while it's nowhere to be seen on the inlay—yet it's on the intro screen.

Image

This is a PhD waiting to happen!

*Okay—fiver says CPC.
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by Joefish »

Looking at it, both the C64 and CPC programmers had done other, better games. Maybe it originally came from somewhere else?
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by Spud »

As a kid I never gave any thought to the inappropriate themes on show in Mr Wino, but I loved it and thought for £1.99 great value for money. Can't remember if I got very far, but completing speccy games was never a thing for me really - most were impossibly hard and I just accepted it. Nice videos!
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Re: RoseTintedSpectrum | Retro Reviews

Post by RoseTintedSpectrum »

Spud wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:07 am As a kid I never gave any thought to the inappropriate themes on show in Mr Wino, but I loved it and thought for £1.99 great value for money. Can't remember if I got very far, but completing speccy games was never a thing for me really - most were impossibly hard and I just accepted it. Nice videos!
Thanks very much! And yes, one thing I'm re-learning is that the term "difficulty curve" was not an operative factor with Speccy games.
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