Atariboy2600 Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Today I just got a box of the ZX Spectrum 48K for the first time in my life with 25 games from Bruce Lee to Bubble Bobble but I live in the US and cant play PAL games so any info of these this unit? DO anyone here live in the UK and has seen or play this computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Yup. I bought one in 1983 with a load of saved-up change in a shoebox. The rubber keyboard was actually quite good fo playing games, once you got used to it, although the membranes used to wear out quite quickly if you played a lot of "Daley Thompson's Decathlon" or similar games. Check out World of Spectrum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spector Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 Today I just got a box of the ZX Spectrum 48K for the first time in my life with 25 games from Bruce Lee to Bubble Bobble but I live in the US and cant play PAL games so any info of these this unit? DO anyone here live in the UK and has seen or play this computer? The Spectrum was a hugely popular computer in the UK and much of Europe, especially the Latin countries. It also was a big hit unofficially in Eastern Europe as well as South America. Between 1982 and 1986 it was, alongside the Commodore 64, one of the two most important gaming machines in the world, and responsible for the development of the isometric 3D game in an arcade adventure setting. It was technically inferior to the Commodore 64, but its lack of game-specific hardware probably helped it to innovate the way that it did during those four years. From 1988 onwards, it went into decline as 16-bit gaming began to take over, but still produced classics till the end of the decade. Essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 You'll need a US compatible power adapter. Then you can look for video mods that would let you view the output on a monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I've read about Skool Daze and Back to Skool in Retro Gamer Magazine. Supposed to be two really great games. What kind of power adapter does it need? Does it have an Atari 2600-style DIN plug that goes into the console? What are the power requirements of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liveinabin Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 (edited) I just love the Spectrum. I had one back in the day and I have two now. SteveW is right, Skool Daze (and it's sequel) are superb games, actually rather like the recently released Rockstar game 'Bully'. I'm afraid the other games you have there are generally pretty crap. As for power, the spectrum takes 9v DC. You should be able to find a plug to fit with one of those universal power adaptor things. As for video, that'll be a lot trickier on a US TV. No ideas as yet, I'll think on that. It outputs to a standard PAL tv aerial plug. When you DO get it running, I can recommend some killer games:- For starters, the Spectrum is home to the work of 'Ultimate' software, who later became Rare. Some of their best ever stuff was on the Spectrum. If you like unforgivingly tough platform gaming, Manic Miner and it's sequel, Jetset Willy (see my avatar) are definitely worth a look, if only to see how comparitively easy games are now. As you'd expect from a computer of this age, there are tons of text adventures too - the Hobbit was great. In the meantime, there are a lot of great Spectrum emulators out there (it was one of the first systems to be emulated) and you can download the games at World of Spectrum (except for Ultimate's stuff, but I have all that). Edited November 18, 2006 by liveinabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 18, 2006 Author Share Posted November 18, 2006 I just love the Spectrum. I had one back in the day and I have two now. SteveW is right, Skool Daze (and it's sequel) are superb games, actually rather like the recently released Rockstar game 'Bully'. I'm afraid the other games you have there are generally pretty crap. As for power, the spectrum takes 9v DC. You should be able to find a plug to fit with one of those universal power adaptor things. As for video, that'll be a lot trickier on a US TV. No ideas as yet, I'll think on that. It outputs to a standard PAL tv aerial plug. When you DO get it running, I can recommend some killer games:- For starters, the Spectrum is home to the work of 'Ultimate' software, who later became Rare. Some of their best ever stuff was on the Spectrum. If you like unforgivingly tough platform gaming, Manic Miner and it's sequel, Jetset Willy (see my avatar) are definitely worth a look, if only to see how comparitively easy games are now. As you'd expect from a computer of this age, there are tons of text adventures too - the Hobbit was great. In the meantime, there are a lot of great Spectrum emulators out there (it was one of the first systems to be emulated) and you can download the games at World of Spectrum (except for Ultimate's stuff, but I have all that). Cool heres the list of games I have so far. The four tape games I see I love already are: Bruce Lee. Bubble Bobble. Wonder Boy. Commando. The others I never seen before are: Seymour goes to Hollywood. Slightly Magic. Tarzzan goes Ape. CJ in the USA. CJ's Elephantantics. World Games, Streaker. Wolfan,Passing Shot. Little Puff in Dragonland. Thouth the Trap Door. Skool Daze. Back to Sckool. Fighting Warrior. Rapid Fire. Andy Capp. Down to Earth. Codebook Caper. BMX Racers. Action Biker Clumsy. Jason's Gam. More are coming to me soon^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 I agree with liveinabin - Manic Miner is a great game, still one of my favourites. The author, Matthew Smith, admitted that he was more than a little "inspired" by Bill Hogue's Miner 2049er for the Atari, but it stands up as a classic in it's own right. The 19th screen, "Solar Power Generator", is the most difficult, but, as with many of the other screens, it rewards practice. The Spectrum had many limitations compared to the Atari computers. Although it had 256x192 resolution, it's colour capabilities were limited to only 2 from a palette of 16 in each 8x8 pixel character square. It had no hardware sprites, and the sound was pitiful, produced by a tiny internal speaker, not unlike the original PC speaker. Despite all of this, many remarkable and innovative games were produced for the Spectrum. The Hobbit is a pretty decent example of early text-and graphics adventures, with a parser that was very good for the time. Lords of Midnight was a pretty absorbing game in the fantasy/adventure genre too, and I really liked Dynamite Dan II: Dr. Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum, which was a scrolling platformer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hmm, I'm looking into getting myself a Speccy +2 for an early Christmas present (as I have Pitfall II, Bubble Bobble, Pac-Mania, Werewolf Simulator, Marble Madness Deluxe, Starquake, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Pole Position, and a few others). How difficult or expensive would it be to make or buy an RGB cable for a +2 or +3 Spectrum, and would it be worth it to build a wire-switch adapter to use regular Atari joysticks on the Spectrum interface joystick ports? *tries to figure a way to re-work a couple of Competition Pro sticks that he has with a strange NES connector back to an Atari style connector* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galaxy warrior Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 cj's elephant antics is a great game. one of my favs. your an elephant with an umbrella and throw bombs its great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Is the ZX spectrum similiar to either the timex 1500 or the 2068? My 1500 My 2068 I don't know a whole lot about them, and I don't have any software for them later, Charles www.evg2000.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 The Spectrum was brought over to the US as the Timex Sinclair 2068. Unfortunately, for some reason that I can't even begin to speculate on, Timex made the 2068 incompatible with the Spectrum. The US home computer market was more mature than the market in the UK, and a somewhat graphically limited machine like the Spectrum would have it's work cut out for it in comparison to the machines that were already on the shelves. They had to do a bonehead stunt and make the 2068 pretty much not run any Spectrum software unless you bought a special cartridge that is essentially a Spectrum ROM. Then you could run something like ninety-something percent of the Speccy's software library. Without compatibility right out of the box, they doomed the 2068 to total obscurity. And I have no idea why. They could have had a big library of programs right out of the gate, with everything the average home user could need, and they blew it. It boggles the mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 Oh I just got more games on late Sat with 140 some games. A VIEW TO A KILL ANGLE BALL ACTION FORCE AVENGER ADVANCED SOCCER SIM AGENT ORANGE ASTERIX & THE MAGIC CAULDRON BLADE WARRIOR BALLBLAZER BRAINACHE BARBARIAN II BARBARIAN CONFUZION CHRONOS CANYON WARRIOR CHUCKIE EGG II COLONY COLLISION COURSE CONQUESTADOR CLUEDO DAN DARE DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPERTEST DUN DARACH DRAGON NINJA ELEVATOR ACTION EL CID FRIDAY THE 13TH FORMULA 1 SIM FANTASTIC FOUR (4 GAMES) FAMOUS FIVE (5 GAMES) GLADIATOR GRANGE HILL GRAND PRIX TENNIS GEMINI WING GREGORY LOSES HIS CLOCK GHOSTBUSTERS II HEAVY ON THE MAGICK HYPERBOWL IK+ INTERNATIONAL RUGBY SIM JONAH BARRINGTON'S SQUASH KOBYASHI NARU KAT TRAP KNUCKLEBUSTERS KIKSTART 2 KWAH LAZER WHEEL LAS VEGAS VIDEO POKER LAP OF THE GODS LICENCE TO KILL LEVEL 5 LAST DUEL LEARNING WITH LEAPER MILK RACE McKENZIE MISSION OMEGA MIND TRAP MICRO MOUSE MASTER CHESS MARBLE MADNESS MIND STRETCHERS (3 GAMES) NINJA NINJA MASSACRE NINJA WARRIORS NETHER EARTH ORBIX OMEGA ONE OBLITERATOR PANTHER PIPPO PI R2 PULSE WARRIOR PRO SKI SIM RUGBY MANAGER RAW RECRUIT ROCKFORD RASTER-RUNNER ROGUE RESCUE ON FRACTALUS REBEL REVEAL ROUNDHEADS ROADWARS STORMBRINGER SHINOBI SHARD OF INOVAR SUPER STUNTMAN SPLIT PERSONALITIES SWEEVO'S WORLD SUPER HERO SOLOMON'S KEY STAR WARS DROIDS SAMURAI TRILOGY SPEEDBOAT ASSASSINS SAILING S.A.S COMBAT SIM S.O.S SPEEDZONE STARFARCE SILKWORM STARQUAKE TROLL THE SECRET OF LEVITATION TAU CETI THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT TERRA COGNITA TERRAMEX THE TUBE THE EIDOLON THE GAMES WINTER EDITION THRONE OF FIRE THE MYSTERY OF ARKHAM MANOR TERRORPODS THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER U.C.M VOIDRUNNER VECTORBALL VAMPIRE WILLIAM WOBBLER WORLD CUP SOCCER ITALIA 90 XENO XCEL XENON YABBA DABBA DOO 3D PINBALL 5TH QUADRANT Man what a way to start on the Spectrum collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Man, you're going to be busy for a good long while! Once you get the thing up and running, that is. Hopefully, like it's been suggested, you can get one of those universal Radio Shack-type plugs that'll work for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Just gopt these two in the mail a Amiga CD32 with some CD games like Superfrog and a Amstrad GX4000 with one bundle game Burnning Rubber. Now I really need to finr a TV set that can play PAL systems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Gah! Stop torturing me like that, John! =P *jealous* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Gah! Stop torturing me like that, John! =P *jealous* Opps me soo sorry^_^;;; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Eh, I guess my consolation is the fact I have a Honey Bee CD32 Competition Pro pad. *G* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Eh, I guess my consolation is the fact I have a Honey Bee CD32 Competition Pro pad. *G* BTW you go on Yahoo Message? Im on it as nolanpong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 The Amstrad GX jobbie is basically a console version of the amstrad cpc+ series (as amstrad wanted to ditch the CPC anyway and wanted to market a 16bit machine with Amiga hardware capabilities, quite how they managed it on a poor old z80 i don't know) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieAtari Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Just gopt these two in the mail a Amiga CD32 with some CD games like Superfrog and a Amstrad GX4000 with one bundle game Burnning Rubber. Now I really need to finr a TV set that can play PAL systems! OMG, you are one lucky, lucky, lucky bastard Great hauls, I suppose you got the CD32 and GX4000 for a bargain price? As opposed to what seems to be happening in the UK and USA, prices are going through the roof on eBay Oz and it is almost impossible to score things like the CD32 for anything less than AUD$100! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 BTW the last package I got with the games also came with a used book he gave me call The Encyclopedia of Game.Machines. This book presents almost every game computer and console ever created from Japan, USA, and Europe. From Pong to Xbox and many UK units I never seen before Heres some of the pages in PDF Contents Sinclair Spectrum chapter, first and second page Atari ST chapter, first and second page NEC PC-Engine chapter, first and second page Hardware and games indexes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 I'm not too jealous of the Amstrad, but that Amiga CD32 has me pretty green with envy. I've always wanted one of those, but haven't really wanted to cough up the money for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted November 29, 2006 Author Share Posted November 29, 2006 Just gopt these two in the mail a Amiga CD32 with some CD games like Superfrog and a Amstrad GX4000 with one bundle game Burnning Rubber. Now I really need to finr a TV set that can play PAL systems! OMG, you are one lucky, lucky, lucky bastard Great hauls, I suppose you got the CD32 and GX4000 for a bargain price? As opposed to what seems to be happening in the UK and USA, prices are going through the roof on eBay Oz and it is almost impossible to score things like the CD32 for anything less than AUD$100! Yea the bargain price wasl Free cuase he send them just in time for my birthday on Thanksgiving day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieAtari Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Just gopt these two in the mail a Amiga CD32 with some CD games like Superfrog and a Amstrad GX4000 with one bundle game Burnning Rubber. Now I really need to finr a TV set that can play PAL systems! OMG, you are one lucky, lucky, lucky bastard Great hauls, I suppose you got the CD32 and GX4000 for a bargain price? As opposed to what seems to be happening in the UK and USA, prices are going through the roof on eBay Oz and it is almost impossible to score things like the CD32 for anything less than AUD$100! Yea the bargain price wasl Free cuase he send them just in time for my birthday on Thanksgiving day And you only rubbed it in further with the book; I paid over AUD$40 for mine as I had to import it from the UK. Oh, the envy, the envy!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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