Revisiting the covertapes for polls, but not like before

[PeteProdge]

Yeah, at some point in 2024 I want to do a series of polls on the content of magazine covertapes, but in a new way. Rather than pit the three major magazines against each other, I want to just throw in EVERY magazine covertape item from the major three mags and have them evaluated on their 'type'.

What I mean by that, is to start with a poll on the best playable demo to appear on a covertape. That's where I'm going.

However, trying to categorise all the various things on these tapes (yeah, it's more than just Batty and Finders Keepers) is really tricky. I'm just putting out my ideas for categorisation below. I'm not saying they are the perfect solution, and here I am offering them to be refined through debate! A few are fairly objective, a few might need tinkering with...

My suggested categorisations, along with a couple of examples for each:

PLAYABLE DEMOS
I think this one is really objective. Any playable taster of an imminent game deserves to be in here. There are some cases where a playable demo si the only trace of an otherwise MIA game (such as Dominion, Circus Circus). Dunno if that should be separate from this though.
Hotshot by Addictive Games
Cybernoid II: The Revenge by Hewson

ROLLING DEMOS
I despise unplayable demos, I really do. They're more likely to turn me away from buying the game. Crash's first covertape was heavily loaded with them. Anyway, they exist, and to lump them in with the playable demos isn't that fair.
Driller by Incentive
G-LOC by US Gold

'SPECIAL EDITION' GAMES THAT ARE LIKE PLAYABLE DEMOS YET OFFER AN EXPERIENCE FAIRLY EXCLUSIVE FROM THE FULL GAME
Yeah, that's not an eloquent title, is it? I wish I could find a one-or-two-word term to describe these things, maybe a word has to be invented. But you'll know what I mean from the examples below. The size of a playable demo yet offering something different...
Dizzy - Crash Special Edition by Code Masters
Dan Dare II: SU Edition by Virgin Games

GAMES
EXCLUSIVES FROM RECOGNISED BRANDS
Yeah, yer Moley Christmas, Play For Your Life and arguably, Batty. Stuff that's from a known brand and given away as a 'freebie' with a mag. The early days of magazine covertapes were loaded with these kind of things, back when it was about quality over quantity. And sure, we can see that a lot of them were games that didn't really make the grand for a standard commercial release, but some amazing stuff got through.
Road Race by Ocean
Brat Attack by Players
Dunno where this leaves Hyper Active by Special FX. I mean, Special FX was a recognised brand, but it was never a publisher as such.

READER-SUBMITTED EFFORTS
Oh, but of course, the readers could churn out gold. A rarity at the start of the covertape wars, but increasingly a common component. Quite a surplus of Boulderdash clones at one point, but there were some astounding things even in that, plus the genius that is Brainsport.
Earth Shaker by Michael Batty
Talking Hedz by Theo Develegas

MAGAZINE-COMMISSIONED EXCLUSIVE GAMES
Yeah, when EMAP threw some of its then-mighty budget at Sinclair User so it could take on YS's cover-mounted goodies, and still try to make a thing about that awful cartoon ursine Schwarzenegger-wannabe mascot, we got some pretty decent exclusives that owed a hefty debt to Pengo and Space Harrier...
Go Bear Go! by ODE
Bear A Grudge by Chris Wood/J Dave Rogers
Was there anything else? These two are the only things I can think of.

RERELEASES OF FULL PRICE GAMES
The bread-and-butter of many tapes in the middle of the covertape wars. Kind of like The Hit Squad/Kixx/Encore in a way.
Wonderboy by Activision
Eskimo Eddie by Ocean

RERELEASES OF BUDGET GAMES
There was a point when the Crash Power Tape would carry a fossil from the depths of the Mastertronic vaults. There'd be some pretty good things in there though.
Deviants by Players
Super Stuntman by Code Masters

RERELEASES OF HOMEBREW GAMES
I know everything post-1993 from the UK perspective is homebrew, but the practice of bedroom-coding and mail-order releasing was a thing right at the start of the ZX Spectrum's availability and you had decent amateurs out there, like Rochdale's John Wilson and the late Andy Remic who would put a few of their hits over to the covertapes.
Specimen by Andy Remic
Behind Closed Doors by Zenobi Software

EDUCATIONAL
This site tends to regard the educational genre as separate from games, and while that's true for some of it, there are some efforts that definitely are games. I mean, they're not going to light up the eyes of a Speccy user when compared to Target Renegade or Chase HQ, obviously, but a few are games. But yeah, I'll go along with the consensus that anything educational should be just lumped in its own category, whether it's games or non-games. Such as this...
Henrietta's Book Of Spells by Scetlander
Countries Of The World by Hewson

POKES
A bit of a tricky one for this poll. It's not like most of us can remember a specific release of Graham Mason's Pokemania that we relied upon, and so when it comes to this poll, I'm just going to lump ALL the POKEs 'brands' together, so you can say something like "Yeah, I think Adrian Singh's Poke City just about edges it over Captain Poke and Practical Pokes".
Poke City by Adrian Singh
Practical Pokes by Jon North
Note that I don't include Tips Amazing in this, I regard that as an electronic magazine as such. More on that later. Dunno why they didn't just put the Tips Amazing ramblings in the actual magazine but I guess 1) the writing was pretty appalling and 2) there were an incentive for SU to keep up the high-number-themed covertapes, so they'd stick practically anything on the tapes in that quantity-over-quality era.

AUDIO TREATS
Yeah, not really for the ZX Spectrum as such, but of course enjoyable to anyone with a cassette player. Dunno if I should separate the arcade soundtracks from the silly (Mel Crucher and Whistlin' Rick Wilson). As it stands...
Afterburner (coin-op audio) by Sega/Activision
Hold My Hand (Very Tightly, Very Tightly) (audio) by Whistlin' Rick Wilson

APPLICATIONS
It's a bit of a contentious issue as to what should be regarded as an application and what should be regarded as a utility, but the way my IT teacher told it, if it enhances the computing ability, it's a utility (copiers, printer drivers, etc), and if it's a non-game program that helps you create a thing, entertain or improve your life (graphics package, accounts tracker, etc), then it's an application.
SCENE DEMOS
From ropey jukeboxes to those Eastern European wobbly graphics showcases loaded with AY music and impressive scrolling messages that say HI TO MEGAPREDATOR IN WARSAW, DJ ACID IN BRNO AND THE MOST EXCELLENT AND BODACIOUS 'HORDES OF DIGITAL SLAYERS' BBS AVAILABLE ON 8 (013) 678 9012 BIG RESPECT TO JAN FOR THE SHIMMER FX'...
Lyra II, The: Part 1 by Ethanol Inc
Moozik 1 by Theo Develagas

ELECTRONIC MAGAZINES
Yeah, words on screen.
Enigma Tape Magazine by Enigma Software Developments
YS2 by Y-Not Software

CREATIVE APPLICATIONS
Applications designed for you to funnel your creativity.
Graphic Adventure Creator by Incentive
Sound To Pic by Enigma Software Developments

UTILITIES
Stuff that's computing-centric...
UTILITIES FOR ALL
Non-hardware-specific utilities, as you'll understand when you look at the next two categories.
Stimpo Disassembler by Gary Stimson
Speedload! by NMS

MULTIFACE UTILITIES
Quite a lot of this on the SU tapes from Theo Develegas
Spriter by Theo Develagas
Multistore by Miles Kinloch

+3 UTILITIES
And a few things exclusive to +3 owners
Ultra-203 by Digital Reality
Megadisk by Kobrahsoft

Pheeee-ew. Well, that's put the digital cat among the digital pigeons. I'm not like launching this next week. There are a few months of scheduled Devfinitive Edition coders I need to get through, but yeah, at some point, expect 'Best covertape [thing] for the ZX Spectrum' polls. Hit the reply button to praise/debate/criticise my plan above!

[Timmy]

Personally I'm not sure about the examples in here.

For example, the Cybernoid 2 demo is actually different to the real game. It offers a completely different level, so it's a 'special edition'.

If you are going to do this right, you might actually have to play them

[PeteProdge]

For example, the Cybernoid 2 demo is actually different to the real game. It offers a completely different level, so it's a 'special edition'.

If you are going to do this right, you might actually have to play them

I never knew that! Never owned Cybernoid II, but did spend ages playing that demo, just assumed it was a chunk of the full game.

Still, this is what the 'discussion' phase is for, where the hivemind corrects me on my assumptions. And I certainly can't say I've played every demo and accompanying full game to their extent.

[RWAC]

The Lords of Chaos demo also features a level not in the actual game.

[equinox]

For example, the Cybernoid 2 demo is actually different to the real game. It offers a completely different level, so it's a 'special edition'.

Dizzy 3 and a Half is another interesting one. It's very small, but not only does it have unique content, it has a Yolkfolk character (Danny) who might never have appeared in any other official Dizzy game.