The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

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The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Poll ended at Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:08 am

F16 Combat Pilot by Digital Integration
1
3%
Fahrenheit 3000 by Softstone
0
No votes
Fairlight by The Edge
12
35%
Fairlight 2 by The Edge
0
No votes
Fall Of The Third Reich by TK Computerware
0
No votes
Fast Food by Code Masters
1
3%
Fat Worm Blows A Sparky by Durell
0
No votes
Fantastic Voyage by Quicksilva
0
No votes
Fantasy World Dizzy by Code Masters
1
3%
Fernando Martín Basket Master by Dinamic
0
No votes
Feud by Mastertronic
2
6%
Finders Keepers by Mastertronic
1
3%
Firelord by Hewson
0
No votes
Firefly by Ocean
2
6%
Fist II: The Legend Continues by Melbourne House
1
3%
Flight Simulation by Psion
1
3%
Flunky by Piranha
0
No votes
Flying Shark by Firebird
0
No votes
Full Throttle by Micromega
0
No votes
Football Manager by Addictive Games
1
3%
Forest, The by Phipps Associates
1
3%
Forgotten Worlds by US Gold
0
No votes
Formula One by CRL
5
15%
Foxx Fights Back by Image Works
0
No votes
Frank Bruno's Boxing by Elite
0
No votes
Frank N Stein by PSS
2
6%
Frankenstein by CRL
0
No votes
Frankie Goes To Hollywood by Ocean
1
3%
Fred by Investronica
1
3%
Freddy Hardest by Dinamic
0
No votes
Frightmare by Cascade
0
No votes
Future Knight by Gremlin
1
3%
 
Total votes: 34

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PeteProdge
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The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

Right then, for F's sake, here's this poll!

F16 Combat Pilot by Digital Integration
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Fahrenheit 3000 by Softstone
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Fairlight by The Edge
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Fairlight 2 by The Edge
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Fall Of The Third Reich by TK Computerware
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Fast Food by Code Masters
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Fat Worm Blows A Sparky by Durell
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Fantastic Voyage by Quicksilva
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Fantasy World Dizzy by Code Masters
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Fernando Martín Basket Master by Dinamic
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Feud by Mastertronic
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Finders Keepers by Mastertronic
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Firelord by Hewson
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Firefly by Ocean
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Fist II: The Legend Continues by Melbourne House
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Flight Simulation by Psion
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Flunky by Piranha
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Flying Shark by Firebird
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Full Throttle by Micromega
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Football Manager by Addictive Games
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Forest, The by Phipps Associates
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Forgotten Worlds by US Gold
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Formula One by CRL
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Foxx Fights Back by Image Works
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Frank Bruno's Boxing by Elite
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Frank N Stein by PSS
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Frankenstein by CRL
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Frankie Goes To Hollywood by Ocean
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Fred by Investronica
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Freddy Hardest by Dinamic
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Frightmare by Cascade
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Future Knight by Gremlin
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Nomad »

Well tough choice as many good candidates.

I went for The Forest, it is an ambitious game that is an early example of an open world. The other impressive thing is just how far the programmers came from 1982 to 1983 in terms of skills.

This is what Phipps Associates were putting out in 82'

[media]https://youtu.be/kpb5BiIPWN4[/media]

Not very interesting, typical basic game. Run of the mill stuff really.

Then comes Castle Walls in the same year, appears already to be using machine code and basic.

[media]https://youtu.be/f70KQCmg5gw[/media]

But then you get to 83' so when you take into account production schedule this was less than a year and yet they managed to pull off 'The Forest'

[media]https://youtu.be/xpyLanR7lG4[/media]

Ok graphics wise its not all that great, but when you look at what they did - implemented a large open world - only partially in assembly. I think that is quite something.

I always wondered what was the catalyst that got them to up their game so quickly.
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PeteProdge
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

Nomad wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:12 pm I went for The Forest
Ah, well, you did nominate them! Never heard of it, and the video doesn't entice me to try it, but good on you for going for an obscure title you clearly love.

I've picked Feud by Mastertronic (alright, Bulldog, but it's Mastertronic in disguise). I still play it to this day.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

A tough poll this time, great options. For me the best are Fairlight, Firelord, F Martín BM and Fred, my final vote.

Fred rocks! :)
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by hitm4n »

I'm really struggling between Finders Keepers and Frank N Stein. Both games i've gone back to over the years. Fred is also a classic but i don't find myself drawn to playing it again as much as the other two. Voted Frank at the moment but i may very well change it to Finders Keepers later... Toughest choice yet for me.
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Blerkotron
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Blerkotron »

Blimey, this was the toughest one yet - loads of great games and no 'clear' winner. Eventually went with Fairlight, although I feel a bit guilty for Fred and Frank N Stein. And Feud. And Firelord. And Firefly. And Frankie. Oh no!
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Rorthron
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Rorthron »

Fairlight.

Firelord was close, but no cigar.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

I presume Frank n Stein is one of those games that everyone loves. Original and addictive.
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Ralf »

And my vote goes to Fairlight. Not very original looking at the current results ;)

The funny thing is that I achieved absolutely nothing in Fairlight. I wandered around the castle, killing soldiers, picking up helmets and dropping them in other places. It didn't help that my copy missed the instructions :oops:

But I always had a feeling that it's great even if beyond my reach. That it's got the style, the climate taht other games don't have. And it was a great experience to watch the recording with it being completed by someone else.
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Ast A. Moore »

Firefly. Typical Joffa Smith. Used to spend hours playing it. Great concept, excellent graphics, brilliant coding.
The explosion when you die was kick-ass.

P.S. I noticed my taste in games pretty much goes against general consensus. I never thought—until now—that my taste was so esoteric. :?
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Surprised Firelord hasn't got any vote yet.

I thought this thread would be a Fairlight/Firelord fight.
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Morkin
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Morkin »

I've gone for Formula One.

Ace game, especially considering I don't really follow Formula One.

Some other good games in there - had to think about it a while.
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Dark »

Went for Formula One, spent a lot of time playing that against the Spectrum, and against friends on occasion. Could lose whole afternoons to completing a couple of seasons of that.

But it was a tough choice as I could say the same for Football Manager. While Fantasy World Dizzy was my favourite of the Dizzy games, and I did manage to complete it, something that I was very happy with back in the day.

I had Feud and played it many times, but really got nowhere with it, and at the time struggled to work out why people raved about it so much. Recently I have read that people marked it down as a classic because it was too easy!! I’ll need to revisit that when I get my Next and see if I can work out where I was going wrong all those years ago.
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by R-Tape »

Freddy Hardest is the one I played most, I was atrocious at it, I think I made it underground once. It's not quite special enough to warrant best though.

I narrowed it down to these, high quality and groundbreaking.

Fairlight, FEUD, Finders Keepers.

Fairlight it is.

(Sorry JuanF)
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Spud »

Some very poor quality voting in this category.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

I don't think we need a tiebreaker vote this time, Fairlight is clearly the winner.

*sigh*
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by R-Tape »

Who the hell voted Fred?!!
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

The only sensible member in this forum!
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by walrus »

Bit tough again. There is no denying the technical achievement of Fairlight but it was a game which I never really got into and it so it would feel wrong voting for it.

There are a few games on the list which I know I have sunk a considerable amount of time into over the years, including one of them before the ZX Spectrum, but in the end I have to go for Formula One. That game got a lot of playing time for a few years including the first all-night gaming session for me and some friends.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

I think the charm of Fairlight is the chance of exploring a beautifully detailed castle, looking for what's in the next screen. Lovely game.
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by redballoon »

Looks like Isvar's got it.
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Wow! Amazing! :shock:
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by bob_fossil »

Voted for Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

As Fairlight has an unassailable lead, I was tempted to vote for Fahrenheit 3000. I loved listening to the beeper title music rendition of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor and once you got your head around the jumping mechanic - you can ricochet off the walls if you jump into them - it was a nice little Jet Set Willy clone.

However, Frankie got my vote as it's a memorable game for me. It has an atmosphere unlike anything else I've played on the Spectrum. During the initial scenes where you're wondering through the houses, there's a real sense of something not quite right - and then the pop up windows appear and whisk you away to play several mini games as you try to become a real person. Items that you find in the 'real world' can help you out in the mini games. The graphics are colourful and the sheer amount of stuff packed into 48k (including a beeper cover of Two Tribes) is impressive. Did I mention you get to solve a murder part way through the game too? God knows what Ocean were thinking when they bought the license for Frankie. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at Denton Designs when they came up with the game and when Denton actually delivered this to Ocean. It's easily one of Ocean's best licenses as it's like nothing else on the Spectrum. Just be thankful it wasn't done later on when Ocean's licenses tended to be more conventional side scrolling affairs - you'd be guiding your character through that club in the Relax video on level one avoiding 'liquids'. :)
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by Ralf »

Voted for Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
That was really a weird game. Too weird for me to follow its logic and enjoy it.

But it's very unique. I suppose that if you can get through the weirdness, there is some good game hidden ;)
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Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with F: vote

Post by stupidget »

This is a toughie. Even though I put Fahrenheit 3000 forward I loved Fairlight, Frank Bruno's Boxing and Full Throttle. In the end I've gone with Fairlight purely based on the fact that it was a piece of technical genius. I loved the way that when you killed a guard you could push his helmet somewhere else and when you went back into that room that's where the guard will be rather than the room being reset. Giving object weight and actual real world physics was amazing at the time. I remember me and my mate actually finishing it and seeing the message 'Your Quest Continues in a Trail of Darkness'. Brilliant.

Firelord was also pretty impressive and I loved the 'shwing' sword sound effect on the title screen. Finder Keepers was one of the first Mastertronic games I bought and I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do :-)
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