Your best ZX Spectrum game based on time constraints

[PeteProdge]

You only have five minutes spare in your schedule to play a ZX Spectrum game on emulator, so you look into your TOSEC folder and pick the best thing suited for a quick game, which is...

INSERT HERE

But what game do you pick if you had fifteen minutes of spare time?

INSERT HERE

Or for one hour?

INSERT HERE

Or if you had the whole day to yourself?

INSERT HERE

Hit that respond button and tell me what suits these time windows! (Obviously, it is Chaos for an hour or more. FACT.)

[PeteProdge]

five minutes

Batty by Hit Pak (Elite)

I won't win, I know I won't win, but it's so enjoyable.

fifteen minutes of spare time?

180 by Mastertronic

I could just about complete it in that time. Even if I don't, I'll have done good.

one hour

Target Renegade by Imagine. Lose on first go. Do well on second. Probably win on third attempt.

Or if you had the whole day to yourself?

The greatest game of all time on any platform. My win/loss ratio hugely NOT in my favour. But I don't care. It's the greatest game of all time on any platform. In a way, just playing it is winning.

[cmal]

My go-to games change over time, but here they are these days:

5 minutes
The Pyramid
I've always really enjoyed this game but I can't get further than level 8ish without cheating. Every small window of time I have, I'll have another go at it. It's a shortcut in my Speccy Next Links folder.

But what game do you pick if you had fifteen minutes of spare time?
Bomb Jack
I never get sick of this game and I can play through a good few levels before the game ends. That's why I need around 15 mins. Then I usually have a second game.

Or for one hour?
Bonnie and Clyde
For me, this is Arcade-style platformer perfection on the Speccy. I could play this game over and over.

Or if you had the whole day to yourself?
Chaos
Everyone who likes this game, raves about it. Somehow it hasn't appealed to me yet but maybe I need to spend more time playing it. Am I missing out?

Another one in this "whole day" category:
The Great Escape
I've never spent some serious time with this game, but perhaps I should.

[blucey]

5 mins.

Ping Pong

15 mins.

Renegade

One hour.

Quazatron

All day.

Rebelstar 2

[Turrican]

5 min.
Arkanoid

15 min
R-Type

1 hour
Double Dragon

A day
Chip's Challenge

[XTM]

5 mins: Renegade 3
Already too much.

15 mins: Jetpac
I wonder if I can find that trailer? Oops, wrong game, sod it ...

60 mins: Where Time Stood Still
That RNGesus better don't send those pig-like dinosaurs at me near the end again, resulting in yet another run where I fail to finish it with all 4 characters!

Full day: Sqij
(without the POKE that makes it controllable)
I'll start the game and sit down in front of the Speccy, marvelling at how my score goes up for doing nothing. This game is the opposite of "Global Thermonuclear War" in the War Games movie - here the winning move is just to play (Why do we still have these Xmas smiley is mid-February?)

Oh, the greatest game of all time on any platform, which assumedly 99.9% of the human population has never ever heard of, probably isn't that.

[ionut76]

5 minutes: Rockman or Suspensionbridgeman
15 minutes: Robocop
60 minutes: Dan Dare or Chronos
Whole day: Space Crusade or R-Type

[Lee P]

5 minutes: Pac-Man Begins. Should be able to run up a decent score in five minutes (or get killed by the red ghost about fifteen times)

15 minutes: Manic Miner. I will never get bored of this game. I'd set myself a challenge to make it to the Skylab Landing Bay in the time, but that's probably a bit ambitious.

60 minutes: Head Over Heels. Best game ever.

Whole day: Mercenary. I played this for hours without instructions, so would be good to play it again with an idea of what I'm actually supposed to do.

[Tan Coul]

5 minutes - Pheenix, decent bit of blasting
15 minutes - Vagan Attack, perfect time for a Trekker
1 hour - Quazatron, love the minigame and the graphics still look lush
All Day - Grand Prix Simulator II, nearly 40 years on and I'm still addicted to this, it's the inertia effects that make it so much better than the original, or indeed any other supersprint type game

[Hank Scorpio]

5 minutes - Horace And The Spiders
15 minutes - Sweevo's World
1 hour - Where Time Stood Still
All day - Castlevania Spectral Interlude

[Oloturia]

5 minutes - Jetpac or Snake Pit
15 minutes - Android Two
1 hour - Alo Bao (with a friend), Micronaut One (alone)
All day - Chaos (with a friend), Rebelstar (alone)