/vr/ - Retro Games

>>6001178
The NES was in more countries, bootleg or otherwise. As you said, most people who like this probably grew up with it.

Most ZX Homebrews are made in either Spain or Eastern Europe actually.

>>6001178
It's admired because of the technically wizardry to get computing out of such an inexpensive and small device. In practical terms however, you still have a spartan device. If you can afford everything, you get one. If you have to pick your favorite, you stick with a Commodore product that can do more.

>>6001187
I guess, but then i read about boomers or whoever buying more retro systems and games these days thanks to Youtube and various sites and events like GDQ and the ZX Spectrum, despite being an old system as well where Rare started, doesn't seem to get any attention.

If anything, the Commodore 64 gets more and also the MSX because of Konami.

The games are very primitive these days, even compared to consoles like the NES.
Also the system is only nostalgic to pretty much only 30+ year olds from the UK that had one in their family home.

>>6001178
Very few worthwhile games that are not blown the fuck out by the offerings on the C64, IBM compatibles, NES, etc, etc.
That said, games like Ant Attack do stand out and are totally worth your time

While the spectrum was a real triumph in terms of engineering and price point, it's not something people want to actually go back to. The C64 is the system Spectrum owners really wanted, but instead they were stuck with that calculator tier keyboard.

A better comparison would be something like Atari. You'll have to search pretty far to find anyone playing 2600 games that didn't grow up with them. Nintendo has the eternal appeal of things like Mario, you won't find many people playing the master system these days.

>>6001243
>you won't find many people playing the master system these days
uwot

>>6001178
the games look and sound like shit, nes games look and sound better! also nes have better and fun games!

>>6001254
Don't say that in a Spectrum forum or place.

Even in sites that aren't necessarily like that you find people who won't accept that, i remember at one point reading a comment in Indie Retro News about someone who simply couldn't understand why people even became interested in the NES and it's games over the Spectrum and other microcomputers.

And in Spectrum places, none of the games aged at all and kids would totally like all of them if they tried.

Then again, some people just really like their old systems, i remember in a recent Retro Gamer magazine, a letter being about a guy getting an Amiga and declaring it vastly superior to the PS4 and even asking if it's possible for anyone to care about the PS4 a few generations later, as the idea of any kid having nostalgia for the systems nowadays is beyond the letter writer, for some reason, some people just think that if kids played TRUE games of the past they would abandon their damned PS4, so maybe some ZX Spectrum fans being like this is nothing new.

>>6001178
I grew up with a speccy and used to copy cassettes with my mates etc. I never ever want to go back fuck the spectrum fuck it.

>>6001178
It's severely lacking in cute anime girls

>>6001178
>Why don't more retro gamers play shitty shit?

>>6001178
Because it's an extremely limited system and the only people who have any nostalgia for it are 35-45 year old Brits and coders who want to tinker with a 'bare metal' (no operating system) machine.

>>6001243
>you won't find many people playing the master system these days.

You're actually bigtime wrong - it's a hidden niche but it's got an an incredibly active community.

>>6001271
Same, I have a lot of very fond childhood memories of it, the system did have some great niche games to play that consoles didn't and is a historically relevant system giving rise to people like Molyneux and Gollop etc, but all-in-all as a games system it was pretty bad for the most part, as kids we didn't really know any better and had fun all the same.

A lot of people who have never stepped out of their NES bubble or who were't alive at the time just don't get it, there were an awful lot of bad home computers back then and the Speccy doesn't even come close to the bottom of the barrel, the truly bad ones are long long forgotten.

>Please rewind tape and press play

Suprised at how people who grew with it don't seem to care as much, Retro Gamer mag and some Youtubers and their fans made me think that people who grew with the computer just loved the heck out of it.

>>6001178
Because it has literally zero games worth playing. I grew up with a ZX Spectrum. Not even nostalgia can save it.
>>6001291
This is one of the best games on the system, and it's still shit. Just play the arcade version.

>>6001371
Not true, there are plenty of interesting titles. I'm not just talking Ultimate Play the Game here. I'll be the first to say that the Spectrum is weak as shit, but it has a lot of experimentation going on, as well as some surprisingly polished platformer and adventure titles.

Check out Alien Highway, its a really unique little action puzzle title.

>>6001534
Agreed. In the bigger picture it's merely a footnote but without it we wouldn't have had guys like Julian Gollop who went on to make UFO/X-Com, which was a direct descendent of Rebelstar and Laser Squad, both of which he originally programmed for the Spectrum. Having a cheap and widely available microcomputer was a godsend for many talented young British programmers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TepYbyVLSMg

So, basically, aside from some strategy games like Laser Squad and Chaos, there isn't much that Spectrum has to it.

Sure, there are some decent platformer and adventure titles, but a lot of them aren't exactly all that fast or lack music, maybe not so bad for some people, and some of those games without music do have some sound effects, but those tend to not be all that great and the games don't come across as ones where a lack of music enhances the atmosphere.

Just games that you wish had music, i know, i know, the ZX Spectrum is not that powerful, but man, some games still make me wish they were faster or had more sound to them.

>>6001178
A lot of people do in Spain

>>6001178
>>6001625
>>6001534

>>6002004
That guy is American btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nk-4XAgGY

the isometric adventure games that ZX had deserve more love

>>6002004
Haha XD he posted a funny pikcher nobody's seen here before

>>6002004
I'd take a Speccy over a 2600 any day.

underwurlde
attic attack
Still fun games as long as you don't try to beat them. Those games were not designed for the player to win.

I think Knight Lore is a really fucking neat concept but playing it is just eww. It's really slow and clunky. Give it a spin with cheats on then watch a youtube longplay for the cryptic solutions.
The exact same concept was much better executed in NES Solstice and Gameboy Monster Max. Now THOSE 2 games were great.

I tried. The games lack a certain visceral joy due to the limitations of the system, even compared to the 2600.

zniggy?

What are some actual good Speccy exclusives? Any better versions than on C64 or MSX?

>>6002613
There kind of aren’t any. That’s the thing. It was in every way the inferior system and it showed

>>6002613

There aren't that many "exclusives" for any 8 bit system. Spectrum games would usually get C64 and Amstrad ports and vice versa.

>>6002613

There aren't that many exclusives for any 8 bit system. Spectrum games would usually get C64 and Amstrad ports and vice versa.

The only game I actually got into on the speccy was Jetpac and that's already on other platforms.
(you can unlock it in Donkey Kong 64)

Unfortunately I never had a ZX Spectrum growing up. What are some games you'd recommend for someone like me?

(I enjoy playing RPGs and platformers a lot but I'm open for anything.)

>>6002796

The Spectrum has platformers, but they're an odd sort. They're basically from an alternate universe where Mario never got his own game and Donkey Kong became the gold standard of platforming, the levels stretched out into open mazes. Not many modern gamers are able to get into them, and the best game in this genre (Monty on the Run) is better off played on the C64.

There are a handful that buck that trend, like Rex (brutally hard action game with a Metroid-like artstyle), the Dan Dare trilogy (action platformers inspired by comics) and Bugaboo the Flea (primitive and kinda janky but somehow addicting).

As for RPGs, the Spectrum didn't have many of those either. Not even CRPGs. It was more of a strategy and adventure game platform. I'm not a huge fan of either genre so I can't make any recs.

This site is a good starting point for finding Spectrum games, though it has a few too many ports and doesn't cover everything (Amaurote and Pippo deserve a place on there). http://zxds.raxoft.cz/games.html

>>6002613
You'll be waiting a long time. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me a killer Amiga exclusive.

>>6002718
This, porting was relatively cheap and easy so everything was a circlejerk of games going to the other systems.

Whether the port was good or not, was another thing though.

>>6002903
>You'll be waiting a long time. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me a killer Amiga exclusive.
Zeewolf.

I feel bad for trying to get into this system a few months back since it was influential, it was something i never tried, and there is a community obsessed with this computer, so there had to be something for it.

But all the games i tried were not that fun, some were way too slow or weren't that great compared to games on the NES, and the more experimental or unique games still had the problem of not being good, something you would try for only 5 minutes.

There is still some good stuff like Laser Squad and Deflektor, but i wouldn't call it a great system these days.

Oh, and text adventures i guess, never really got into them, but the Spectrum has quite a few and it's the kind of genre that can work on everything and depend only on the writing, there likely are one or two good ones.

>>6002080
But this game looks great, Atari 2600 may have more colors, but the image resolution has no comparison.

Strategy games you say?
Any more recs that are not ports?

>>6001178
The NES has way better graphics and I barely tolerate it. Everything on the ZX is just black with bright colored lines and boxes, it's only slightly better than Atari shit.

>>6003258
Atari has some games that are actually fun (mostly in multiplayer). Everything on the Spectrum is slow and tedious.

>>6001178
1. I'm not European
2. I have no nostalgia or even much care at all for it
3. I assume it would be expensive to buy one now
4. it is old as shit, therefore I assume collecting for it is a pain in the ass
5. the games look pretty damn ugly and bad to me

But really don't take it too personal. For me the primary reasons is 1 and 2. Seems like a lot of unnecessary effort on my end getting into something I have doubts I would even care for if I did actually try getting into. Do not even care to emulate it either. I am just not that much on the autism spectrum to want to get into this thing. It would be right along the lines of me wanting to buy that British console that would start a fire if you plugged it in wrong and it only ever had a few games released for it.

It's American launch was abortive, it had no release in Asia, and most of its games can be found on the more popular Commodore or more powerful Amstrad.

If you didn't grow up with it, it has no real niche.

>>6002878
>As for RPGs, the Spectrum didn't have many of those either. Not even CRPGs
Without disk storage, RPGs weren't gonna happen.

>>6001243
>you won't find many people playing the master system these days
Only true if you hate RPG's. Phantasy Star and Ys (even just one or the other) are 100% worth owning a master system for, even in America where we barely got anything on SMS.
Source: I'm 23 and bought an SMS solely for Phantasy Star and Ys (not opposed to trying other games though).

On the subject of the spectrum: To me, it's just too limited of a system. I'd like one, but I don't have infinite time or space. The C64 has more interesting hardware and games, as does the later Amiga line, the MSX, etc.. On the console side of things, the SMS, NES/Famicom, and platforms like the PC Engine/Turbografx 16 are more interesting.

>>6004048
ROM cartridges would have also worked, had Sinclair given the Spectrum a slot for one out of the box.

>>6002030
I too would rather have lemon juice than rat poison.

>>6004048
You're vastly underestimating how resourceful developers were in those days. See pic related; Lords of Midnight. This was a complex open world RPG in a Tolkein rip off setting. There are two main win states - you can either try and sneak into enemy territory with a handful of characters and steal the source of their power, or raise a huge army to battle the enemy head on. Or you can do both, or pivot to either objective at any time. All of this was in a single load with only 48k of RAM

>>6004091
If you were rich enough to buy ROM cartridges you'd buy a C64.

Is there someone who has already finished Jet set willy without cheats or savestates?

>>6003258

It's not the Spectrum's quality of visuals so much as the slow paced gameplay and low framerate in comparison.

>>6005658
Probably no, this game is so glitchy.