Spectrum Games

[Sterillium]

I've been reliving my childhood with some old Spectrum games HERE

What would be the simplest way of rigging a joystick up to use to play these old games?

[dumfriesdave]

Interesting site... thanks.
Try worldofspectrum.

[robsa]

I still remember the excitement I felt when my first friend got a Spectrum. The first game he got was called "Cruising on Broadway" and the box showed a fancy car and loads of Broadway signs. I was so excited, imagining driving around New York in the game seeing the sights.... when it loaded you were (IIRC) a red square moving around a line as a blue square followed you - it couldn't have been more basic!


I just finished Last of Us 2 again on my PS5 and was thinking back to 1982 and what I would have though if someone had shown me a PS5 with a 4k TV and LOU2 - mind would be utterly blown!

[Sterillium]

robsa said:

I just finished Last of Us 2 again on my PS5 and was thinking back to 1982 and what I would have though if someone had shown me a PS5 with a 4k TV and LOU2 - mind would be utterly blown!

I remember talking with friends about this in the 1980s, saying that one day graphics would be so good that it would be like controlling real life. It's like we knew it would happen, but, we still couldn't comprehend it.

[Fallingup]

Sterillium said:

I've been reliving my childhood with some old Spectrum games HERE

What would be the simplest way of rigging a joystick up to use to play these old games?

Excellent find. Don't miss the sound of loading games!

[texaxile]

Jet set Willy , and pimania were my faves...oh and manic miner.

[Terzo123]

I played a few Spectrum games recently via antstream (It's free to sign up for)

I have to be honest, they weren't very good. Probably best left as fond memories.

Antsream also has a games from various different platforms. I spent a few hours playing Speedball 2, it's still awesome.

[MonkeyBusiness]

texaxile said:

Jet set Willy , and pimania were my faves...oh and manic miner.

Hungry Horace for me.

[robsa]

Terzo123 said:

I spent a few hours playing Speedball 2, it's still awesome.

Ice cream!

Also, the brilliant music by Bomb the Bass. Loved that game. I still remember buying my Amiga - £399 I think it was. The guy put on the Three Stooges and my mate and I thought it was amazing!

[Sterillium]

Would a joystick hooked up to my laptop be detected by these emulators?

I've been playing a lot of Amiga ones too.

[Neddy Sea Goon]

texaxile said:

Jet set Willy , and pimania were my faves...oh and manic miner.

Manic miner...did you used to use the writetyper cheat for unlimited lives...a bit disturbing that it's still in my mind some 35 years later

[Insert Coin]

Jetpac still plays pretty well these days.

I use Retropie on a Raspberry for all my retro needs, complete hardware/software packages ready to go on EBay for less than £100.

[Gluggy]

Sterillium said:

Would a joystick hooked up to my laptop be detected by these emulators?

I've been playing a lot of Amiga ones too.

https://www.retroarch.com/ - can load "cores" for many different systems and almost 100% sure the Spectrum ones will support a USB joystick. You might need to change the input settings depending on whether the game supports Kempston or Sinclair joysticks and the Retroarch interface can be a bit hard work at times but will more than do the job :-)

[Digger]

Spectral Invaders!

Damn game wouldn't load half the time from the analogue cassette tape!

Them were the days.