No. 88: Gunrunner - Hewson, 1987
Both coder Christian Urquhart and publisher Hewson had a fine pedigree on the Spectrum by the time Gunrunner came out. While it may not have quite been up to the standard of some of Hewson's other games, I’ve always had a lot of time for this sleek-looking run ‘n’ gun game. I also love the cover art and loading screen by Steve Weston and Mike Smith respectively.
Thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for some of the images
No.89: Dan Dare - Virgin, 1986
Today we stride into the 80s with Dan Dare, a brilliant flick screen arcade adventure that boasted marvellously colourful graphics and exciting gameplay. I was never a particular fan of the Eagle comic (I preferred the zarjaz 2000AD) but could still appreciate how well Virgin did in recreating the spirit and look of the famous character.
Thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for images
No. 92: Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth - Gremlin Graphics, 1985
Only the early computer software industry in the UK could have spawned a game about an over-zealous yet creaking store detective. Infused with an anarchic sense of humour (‘Ducks on the ground floor, man’) it's a largely colourful game that plays simply as the poor put upon guardian attempts to control the various malcontents within a sprawling department store. A charming and fun encapsulation of the mid-Eighties Spectrum market.
No. 91: Confuzion - Incentive, 1985
Middle league publisher Incentive released this pipe-based puzzle game in 1985, and while it becomes a little too frantic for its own good in the latter stages, there's still lots of fun to be had guiding those sparks around. Similar to the arcade game Loco-Motion, the game's b-side contained a rather nifty tune by the long-forgotten band Private Property.
No. 90: Glass, Quicksilva, 1985
Fast, efficient and exciting, Glass was a beautiful shooter from Quicksilva and programmer Paul Hargreaves. Underrated upon release, some of its graphics were simply astounding for the era, even if the game itself was a little simplistic. Glass was sold in a clam shell case complete with a dramatic cover by David Rowe.
Thanks again to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for images
No 93: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 & 3/4 - Mosaic/Level 9, 1985
I admit I was never much of an adventure game player. Don't get me wrong, I loved the imagination and skill that went into most of them, and enjoyed playing them. But that didn't stop me finding most of them a frustrating experience given they usually combined obscure puzzles with a harsh and arcane parser.
This book adaptation from Mosaic and adventure legends Level 9 side-stepped that latter issue by being largely multi-choice and as an avid fan of the Sue Townsend books, I played this a lot, no doubt with the paperback books nearby.
Thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for images
96. Marauder - Hewson, 1988
The first Hewson game on this list, and trust me it won't be the last! I loved this little shooter which had a neat upgrade risk-reward system where you had to shoot coloured lights. Shoot the wrong one and you could end up with your gun jammed - or as the game annoyingly said, ‘gun jamed’.
95. Ghostbusters - Activision, 1984
One of the earliest big film licences, there was a lot of fuss around Ghostbusters when it was first released. Admittedly, the C64 version is far superior, but I still had a lot of fun driving round and bustin’ spooks. And it did kinda sound like ‘Ghostbusters’, didn't it?!
94. Chronos - Mastertronic, 1987
Budget games became big business in the latter half of the Eighties, and Mastertronic were the masters, selling games like this for just £1.99. In truth, Chronos is not the most original of shoot-'em-ups, but it's massive fun and has some really sharp and colourful graphics. The loading screen is particularly lovely as is the amazing music by Tim Follin. Created by the Tatlock Brothers, we will see another of their games soon.
Thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for some of the images
97. Wizball - Ocean, 1987
In a post on Twitter earlier, I teased that number 97 would be a big game, and while Wizball may be more renowned as a Commodore 64 game, Ocean did a fantastic job of recreating the colourific mayhem on the Spectrum.
A shoot-'em-up at heart, it’s a game I spent many hours with and is still charmingly wacky to this day, and the first of many Ocean games on this list.
Cover art by Bob Wakelin and loading screen by Mark Jones.
Images thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk
98. Earthlight - Firebird, 1988
The first of several games on this list by Pete Cooke, Earthlight is a unique and fun shoot-'em-up from the ace coder. It’s also the first game in this list that I actually have in my collection, so the picture shown here is my own copy.
I believe the fantastic artwork was by Ian Ellery.
All other images thanks to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk
List so far
100.Alchemist
99.Bumpy
98.Earthlight
100. Alchemist - Imagine Software, 1983
Here we go with the big list of my favourite ZX Spectrum games, and first up we have the Imagine 1983 classic Alchemist. Coded by the sadly-departed Ian Weatherburn, this was one of the better Spectrum games released by the Liverpool software house as it continued its steep climb to fame. A magical arcade adventure where the player alternates between wizard and eagle, it was one of the many Imagine games I got bundled with my first Speccy, no doubt because of the vast overstocks caused by the company booking out tape duplicators the previous Christmas!
Of those early Imagine games it’s my favourite, along with Jumping Jack and Arcadia, both of which just failed to make this list. In tune with its usual promotional prowess, Imagine released the game in a very glitzy gold cassette box with lovely artwork by Gary McNamara.
Stay tuned for number 99 tomorrow!
Images from www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk
It’s an incredible story. The ZX Spectrum Next, a beautiful upgrade of a 38-year old computer has just finished its second run on Kickstarter. Fans who missed out first time, or have just discovered the Next, have been flocking to the campaign, pushing it to an incredible final price of 1.847 million pounds.
For Henrique Olifiers and his team, now the hard work to bring the computer to over 5000 eager backers starts.
“The sheer amount of support, passion and dedication to the ZX Spectrum is simply unbelievable,” said Olifiers in his victorious update on Kickstarter. “Clearly, there’s no stopping the mighty Spectrum!”
Like many others, I now wait eagerly to get my hands on one of these fantastic machines. SPECTRUM FOREVER!
The original Nintendo Game Boy
When it comes to Nineties hand held gaming devices, the Nintendo Game Boy was the clear market leader, at least in terms of sales. One of the chief selling points was its battery life: unlike rivals such as the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear, you could get many hours play out of a Game Boy, usually enough to keep you occupied until you got a chance to replace its batteries, or plug it in to a power source.
Now, scientists have developed a solution to that perennial problem for gaming on the go and created a Game Boy homage that harvests solar power, and the energy generated when the player press its buttons. Created as a proof-of-concept by researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois, and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, the implications for such a device are clear, potentially ridding the world of environmentally hazardous batteries that more often than not end up in landfill.
The ENGAGE
The platform has been named ENGAGE, and while its original size replicates the Game Boy, it also houses a small set of solar panels around its screen. By impersonating the Game Boy processor, ENGAGE can play its cartridge games, and while it’s far from perfect - losses of power as the console switches between power sources means that action-intensive games are not always playable - the positive green potential of this project is something that could theoretically change the world - or at least mobile gaming.
Both teams will present the device virtually at the interactive systems conference, UbiComp 2020 on September 15th, co-led by Northwestern’s Josiah Hester (McCormick School of Engineering) and TU Delft’s Przemyslaw Pawelczak (Embedded Software Lab) along with colleagues Jasper De Winkel and Vito Kortbeek.
You can see the ENGAGE working in this video: www.youtu.be/5VzDyvwfEZA?list=PLqhXYFYmZ-Vdtk7agYzwn8OX4VbyuJ1SR
Simon Brew is back, and as usual, that’s all you need to know about him!
What you should know about, however, is the latest Kickstarter campaign for his independent magazines, Film Stories and Film Stories Junior. Both these magazines pledge to provide an outlet for new and established writers and there are plenty of fascinating articles in every packed issue. Now Simon is crowd funding to secure the future of the magazines for a further few months.
Check out the campaign here via @Kickstarter.
As the ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter campaign continues to charge onwards, an exciting new stretch goal was announced today. Jon Ritman, author of many classic Spectrum games including Bear Bovver, Match Day, Match Day 2 and Batman, has been brought on board to help make a brand new episode of his most famous creation, the isometric wonder Head Over Heels.
I’m a huge fan of this game and interviewed Jon about its inception for a feature on Eurogamer. So as you can imagine, I’m keen to see the campaign reach the required goal of £1.5 million and with over 4000 backers already behind the new Speccy - and still 7 days to go - here’s hoping!
Check out the campaign here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2, and if you want to read more about the marvellous Head Over Heels, my feature on Eurogamer is here: www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-08-07-the-making-of-head-over-heels
PC, Amiga and Mega Drive fans of the classic science fiction exploration game Starflight can now own this beautiful officially-licensed t-shirt from Seven Squared.
Originally released on PC in 1986, Starflight is an epic space adventure that inspired many classics today such as Mass Effect and Star Control.
Check it out at www.sevensqua.red
Today the Spectrum Next Issue 2 Kickstarter reached £1,318,062 in pledged monies, from a backer list fast approaching an amazing 4000 people.
While most Kickstarters experience a mid-campaign slump at some point, the anticipation for another issue of this fantastic update of the classic ZX Spectrum seems to be keeping this one going, and there are still hopes that the final amount could top 2 million pounds.
Want to get involved? Head over to www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2
If, like me, you’re a fan of Taito, you’ll be excited to learn that two of the arcade legend's most famous properties are coming to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 later this year.
Space Invaders Forever will contain three games, Extreme, Gigamex 4 SE and the intriguing Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders, while Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back is bringing online multiplayer hijinks to the fantastic bubble-blowing arcade game.
With physical as well as digital releases promised, all complete with new art, sound and gameplay, it appears that a triumphant return is in store for these arcade behemoths.
Bubble Bobble 4 Friends
Retro gaming merchandise specialist Seven Squared has revealed even more loving homages to classic gaming.
Available to buy now are t-shirts emblazoned with Mastertronic's Spellbound, Ocean's Head Over Heels and the famous football game, Sensible Soccer.
All officially licensed, these tees can be worn proudly by any retro fan, and are available at £19.99 each.
Head over to www.sevensqua.red to get yours.
In an announcement that will surprise no-one, Replay Events today confirmed that its premier retro gaming show, Play Expo Blackpool has been postponed until 2021.
The press release from Replay Events cites the continued Covid-19 social distancing restrictions as a key factor and confirms that a new date for the event will be arranged in the new year.
Hopefully we will all be seeing each other at a retro event soon.
The latest Fusion Retro Books Kickstarter campaign, Crash Annual 2021, has just concluded on the crowd funding site, notching an impressive £58,714 from just under 2000 backers.
Fusion Retro Books founder, Chris Wilkins, has already announced a series of exciting stretch goals, so backers of the annual can look forward to a nice bundle of goodies when the book is delivered later in the year.
Work on content has been ongoing for some time, and I’m pleased to confirm that Wizwords will feature prominently once more. As always, I’m proud to be a part of these very professional and quality books. I’m also looking forward to dipping into another issue of the legendary Crash magazine!
Like many, I missed out on the first Spectrum Next Kickstarter and have virtually kicked myself ever since. So upon hearing that there was going to be a second campaign, I decided to back it immediately, and with this latest Speccy crowdfunding adventure just three days old it has already smashed the £1,000,000 mark - an incredible achievement.
While it’s a hugely-upgraded version of the computer we all know and love from the Eighties, it’s still a fantastic thing to see the Next do so well. There’s already a huge community built around the machine, and that gathering of followers is sure to swell over the next few weeks as the Kickstarter continues to flourish.
There’s still plenty of time to back the campaign and some decent stretch goals: head over to www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2/description to get involved.
Fusion Retro Books, aka Chris Wilkins, today launched its latest Kickstarter for the next in a successful line of hardback annuals celebrating the great ZX Spectrum magazine, Crash.
With contributions from many Crash alumni, including editor Roger Kean, artist Oli Frey and writers such as Nick Roberts, as well as many new reviews and features, Crash Annual 2021 is set to be another smash for the retro publisher.
Having been involved in the previous Crash Annuals, Wizwords is again a major contributor with another Crash issue look back (this time to 1985) and a feature on a certain famous Spanish homebrew developer.
At the time of writing, the Kickstarter has already smashed through its £12,000 goal after a mere four hours, but it’s not too late to secure your copy - head over to www.kickstarter.com/projects/47744432/crash-annual-2021-issue-101 now to see what all the fuss is about!
