The 20 Greatest Sinclair ZX Spectrum Games Of All-Time
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- čas přidán 28. 04. 2023
- In this video we countdown the 20 Greatest Sinclair ZX Spectrum Games of All-Time as voted for by you - the retro gaming community!
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A lot of people have been questioning this list or asking where their favourite games finished so here is the full Top 50:
50 - Rebel Star
49 - Starion
48 - Lunar Jetman
47 - Harrier Attack
46 - Star Quake
45 - Midnight Resistance
44 - Driller
43 - Fantasy World Dizzy
42 - Spy Hunter
41 - Head Over Heels
40 - Laser Squad
39 - Star Strike
38 - T.L.L.
37 - The Hobbit
36 - Dan Dare 3
35 - Match Point
34 - Star Wars
33 - The Way of the Exploding Fist
32 - Horace Goes Skiing
31 - Kikstart 2
30 - Batman
29 - R-Type
28 - Skooldaze
27 - Nether Earth
26 - Bubble Bobble
25 - Saboteur
24 - Lords of Midnight
23 - Emlyn Hughes Soccer
22 - Elite
21 - Match Day 2
20 - Commando
19 - Light Force
18 - Back To Skool
17 - Atic Atac
16 - Highway Encounter
15 - Robocop
14 - Bomb Jack
13 - Deathchase 3D
12 - Formula 1 Simulator
11 - Renegade
10 - Bruce Lee
9 - Sabre Wulf
8 - Turbo Esprit
7 - Knightlore
6 - Target Renegade
5 - Chase H.Q.
4 - Chuckie Egg
3 - Jetpac
2 - Jet Set Willy
1 - Manic Miner
A top 50 and Nifty Lifty doesn't even make it on.
@@Mjb2110 No great escape ??
My favourite Spectrum game was "Dragontorc" ...absolutely amazing game at the time and years ahead of it's time imo. Didn't even make the top50 ?!?!?!
Commando at 20 and no cobra 😮
Hah! I remember Highway encounter, first game I ever finished.
Wow, this video actually brought tears to my eyes. I remember going to town with my late younger brother, we were dead excited because we had our pocket money and all the way into town we were talking about which speccy game we were going to get. We got 2 in the end because both were 2 players, it was Matchday 2 and Target Renegade. We spent hours and hours playing it together. I miss him so much, he would have loved this video. 😓🙂
Thank you for this post. It reminded me of how lucky we all are to be here, and to have enjoyed the dawn of gaming.
Very touching!!
I’m surprised Elite didn’t get a mention. I loved that game. My other favourite was the Bards Tale.
Another vote for Bards Tale
The bards tale was remarkable
Indeed. I'm reasonably certain that I've spent well over 50% of my total playing (ok, gaming...) time with Elite. After reaching Elite rank I moved to Sentry, which is also not mentioned.
Never had Either for the Speccy, I was am Amstrad CPC boy myself... My Sisters had the Spectrum +2... And I played it more than them! But I must agree - ELITE not getting a mention is kind of a a surprise!!!
Same with The Bards Tale for me as well... I had it on the CPC and WOW! WHAT A GAME!!!
Commando, Jet set willy, robocop, operation wolf, double dragon, blocks and. turbo esprit were my favourite games on the spectrum 48k.
The noise when loading those games still haunts me lol.
Then after a 10 minute loading time, the game sometimes crashed 🫣😤.
I'd definitely need Lord's of Midnight, Barry Mcguigans boxing and Daley Thompsons Decathlon on the list.
A thumbs-up for Lords of Midnight. I think I virtually _lived_ in that game.
A third for Lords Of Midnight
Beyond were ahead of their time
DT's Decathalon for sure - and Wheelie needs adding as you could beat it but lots of levels and difficulties.
Lords of Midnight is still one of the greatest games of all time, and I will die on that hill lol. I still fire up the Spectrum emulator coming up to Christmas each year and try to come up with a new strategy
Yeah DT Decathlon for sure. Quite liked summer games on C64 too
Elite. Revolutionary in its day. True 3D open world game, and the only speccy game that really took my imagination.
Chaos. A game you can play with up to 7 friends all gathered around the computer. Superb!
Chaos: Battle of the Wizards not being on this list is insane.
Unfortunately, I think Elite was better on the BBC system
I got a Spectrum with 16K for Christmas 1982. The one game I wanted but couldn't play was The Hobbit. It was the first game I played after an upgrade to 48K and I was blown away by the graphics! How times changes and it makes me laugh when I hear complaints about things like games not running at 60FPS.
Haha. We may have gotten the same things at the same time you and I 😅
Ant-Attack would have been on my list as well as a few others.
My Cousin Sandy wrote Ant Attack
Ant Attack was really good for its day. I loved it
I want to see this on the Playdate!
@@jamesd9630 I loved that game, and Zombie Zombie. Still remember an argument with someone at School who said Zombie Zombie had a girl to save.. but pretty sure it didn't.
Yes, Ant attack was soo advanced for its time, loved it!
Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2 wasted most of my teenage years on first a 48k rubber key and then a +3.
But we had Horace Goes Skiing (and Chess and some other long-forgotten stuff) when the 48k first arrived, and that was fabulous fun for all the family.
We literally all had a go on that every time it was loaded up. Even mum, who wouldn't normally play anything.
True story, my Dad loved Gauntlet in the arcades and was really pleased when we got it for the Spectrum and played it a few times with us. Then one day I came home from school and my dad was sitting in my bedroom playing it! I was impressed he even knew how to load it up!
We used to play 4 player - two on the keyboard and two programmable joysticks. Greaty fun
Elf needs food......badly.
Spent so much of my pocket money on Gauntlet and Gauntlet II in the local arcades. Those games could chew coins like nothing else.
I had it on the Speccy but it wasn't quite the same experience.
At 55 years old this brings back so many memories from my childhood lol. Thanx for this well presented video. Subscribed.
Thanks for the sub and glad you enjoyed the video!
Totally agree, being 55 as well, I can remember playing these games on a very beaten up old wooden TV that I had to hit with a bit of wood to bring the screen back on !! Great days, I miss them…….😊
My most played zx game was Steve Davis Snooker. Spent loads of hours on that playing a mate. 103 my highest break. Barry Mcguigans boxing was another I loved. Psions Chequered Flag the first of many racing games I've bought. Still racing but now its GT7 on the PS5. 60 years old and still gaming 😂.
Oh and i still got my original ZX 48!
Chequered flag was amazing. Plus it came free with my Spectrum in the "Action pack, that came with it, at the time (alongside Horace goes Skiing!)
What a great time for gaming the 80’s were. My favourites included The Way of the Exploding Fist, Avalon, and Lords of Midnight.
Avalon was great.
Ultimate Play the Game certainly brought out some incredible games for the time. Kids today have to remember really we’d only been on colour TV’s for a while so playing games like this felt out of this world. Sir Clive Sinclair what a genius, may he rest in peace.
For my first year of Spectrum playing, I mostly used a tiny black and white portable. It was mind-blowing when my mum let me plug it into the "big screen" (22 inch) colour TV in the lounge.
@@AutPen38 Same here. Got a 48K+ Christmas '86 and had to use a small Black & White TV until my birthday halfway through '87.
Chaos. A game for 2 to 8 wizards developed by the fantastic Julian Gollop. Its been re done for the pc & now called Chaos groove.
A few mates & i still have a round or 2 on today. Timeless. Many thanks to Julian Gollop 👍
I loved chaos man! I even play it on an emulator sometimes 🤣🤣 I will check out this Chaos groove though! 👍
I was trying to remember the name of that one.. thanks. (summon manticore)
Really surprised Chaos didn't get in this list.
Chaos lives on in my head more than any other Speccy game. I, too, play it on an emulator now and again.
Chaos was one of the all time best games ever not just on the speccy. My favourite spell was gooey blob haha
My additional favourites:
The Hobbit, Lords of Midnight, Tir Na Nog, Valhalla, Spy vs Spy, Dark Scepter
Tir Na Nog - fantastic game.
Wow that's a trip down memory lane. I can remember me and my cousin sitting there for hours trying to load the games and usually failing because we had the volume wrong on our cassette player. RIP cousin Chris
Criminal not to have 'Green Beret' on there.........still remember the pattern for the dogs at the submarine.
agree
Three spectrum games I played and loved back in the 1980s early 90s were footy management sim “The Double”, western “The Wild Bunch” and daily Thompson’s decathlon. Thanks for the memories
me too, the double was great :)
do you want a drink of red eye
wild bunch was awesome
Was 'Wild Bunch' the one where you were a cowboy that went to Gulch City and there was some guy that wanted to kill you? I remember it being mostly text-based but it was totally enthralling.
I never, ever beat The Wild Bunch :( . @CLOWNUK red eye lol
I completed Manic Miner about 4 years ago.
Was a great triumph.
Still fascinated by how they were able to pack in so much entertainment using less memory than a pixel-challenged jpeg.
It's such a difficult game and so intense. There are several ways to complete some levels. I tried a year or so ago, Warehouse got me! When I was a kid I completed it. Never managed JSW without the pokes though, but it was a lot of fun exploring that mansion....and the rumour about 'the beach' Plus most of the spin offs are well worth having a go at as well. Phenomenal game! Well done to you for completing it!
In 48k, you could do a vast amount, if you were an efficient & clever programmer, either in Sinclair basic or native machine code. You let the machine do the work in the background, allowing the other elements of the machine to do their jobs properly. I'm an ex system manager on big, big systems that learnt basics (and BASIC) on Sinclair machines. There's a functional Speccy about 4ft away from me. I completed Manic Miner & JSW without pokes (just took a lot of practice and personal memory), smashed Atic Atak (and its cousins aside from the space based one - Alien 8) out of the park. Such an innocuous start to my computing career gave me 20 years in the industry. Thanks Sir Clive
It was _real_ programming then. Fit and efficient.
@@redsidebikernot to mention the BASIC tricks like LET A = ABS PI to mean 1 (2 tokens stored, therefore 2 bytes required) Otherwise the 1 was stored in ASCII and then 0x0e followed by a five byte internal float (7 bytes)
Memory saving was a skill that rapidly fell out of use.
I never finished Manic Miner despite years of trying. I did manage to finish Atic Atac all by my lonesome on a basic rubber key 48K back when I was about 12 though
Rebelstar. I'd play it today if I had it. 2 player turn based strategy. Truly a pioneer of the genre.
Yeah I loved Rebelstar 2 and Laser Squad. You can play them all online now.
Nowadays you can play ZX Spectrum games in your browser.
There are Java Script based emulators out there.
I once used one to have a go at "Trivial Pursuit" with my IT-team mates in a Teams session.
I started the game in my browser and operated the game (i.e. rolled the dice and asked my mates which moves to make).
Loved Rebelstar. Was even better on Amstrad. Me and a mate who works in IT (we are both 50 plus) sometimes play it on emulator. Game was designed by Julian Gollop who went on do X-Com franchise.
I'm surprised that the ZX Spectrum conversion of Elite didn't make the list.
It just missed out, it made the top 40.
Personally, whilst Miner Willy will forever be in my heart, I would have to bump both outings down 2 notches. Doomdark's Revenge would have to take top place, followed by Lords of Midnight.
I would have to also throw into the mix somewhere: Arnhem, Tir na Nog, Marsport, Astro Clone, Avalon, DragonTorc, The Sentinel, ..........
The problem is, there are more than 20 games that need to go in the top 20.
I think we had similar tastes ;)
I'd forgotten about Tir na Nog.. did you play Fairlight?
Jet set willy manic miner
The Sentinel :)
9:04 Bruce Lee was one of very few games that teenage me could beat.
Then 50 year old me disassembled the whole thing during lockdown, which also kind of meant that i had to play it quite a lot recently. Yeah, who needs lives, but a bloody good game all the same.
I'm surprised at the lack of text/graphics adventure games or strategy games, such as The Hobbit or Lords of Midnight.
Interesting lack of puzzle games, but I suppose the puzzle game genre didn't really blow up until the Tetris craze. In the modern era, I think puzzle games have been a particular strength of ZX Spectrum games - I means stuff like Old Tower. Of course, modern games can't compete with 80s era for popularity and name recognition.
Both The Hobbit and Lords of Midnight made the Top 40.
Text adventures were my favorite games in the Spectrum. But not a lot of people likes this genre of game. Jack Lockerby games were my favorites. And for the Spectrum+2 it was The Pawn.
Sim City isn't enough a strategy game for you ?
Yeah great shout, my mate was really into it
I was too young to understand Lords of Midnight and Doomdarks revenge but I know they were great games!
I loved a game called Chaos.
Multi player game turn based. Up to 8 I think. And when there were a large number of us player it was loud. Especially when all the moves were made. Great fun.
Manic miner, that was my first game ever on a computer. Loved it.
The only thing that shocks me in that last is that every single game on the list was a big part of my childhood.
I think the 2 notable absences that would have been on my list are Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and R-Type.
But what they would replace on the actual list I couldn't tell you 😅
yep - R-type was amazing
"I love Commando!"
"Alright, alright, keep your pants on!"
The game that persuaded us to buy a ZX Spectrum when the 48k version came out at £159.00 was "Halls of the Things". Fast paced, amazing scrolling, and devious, it kept us going back for just one more go for hours on end. My brother and some of his friends also bought Spectrums to play that particular game. I suspect that the reason it didn't make the list is because none of the people who voted have ever played it. A lot of other games on the list were personal favourites, such as Jet Set Willy and the Ultimate series of games. Happy days.
Wish i could still play halls of the things, brings back memories
A favourite here as well. And I learnt to programme on that Spectrum. Now thinking of recreating Halls of the Things using Unity and how much has changed.
Did you ever play 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain'? I think it was an updated version of Halls.
Harrier Attack was awesome.
Target Renegade was probably my most favourite game, playing 2 player with my mate before walking to school. Also Pole Position and Daley Thompson’s Decathlon has to be up there as well ❤️
Atic Atac, absolutely outstanding.
I think my all-time favourites would be Quazatron, Robocop, Chaos (and the sequel Lords Of Chaos) and Head Over Heels (how is this not in the list?). Can't argue with most of your list though. Spent a lot of time playing Target Renegade with my buddy Stuart back in the day, and the Ultimate games were always good fun.
Head Over Heels - sounds familiar
Was absolutely obsessed with Sabre wulf, Kightlore. I loved Turbo Esprit too. The way it was a whole world and you could drive where you wanted shoot any cars and create gridlocks 😅
Formula 1... wow what a memory. Our whole family played this together. Each chose their cars, drivers and changed tyres. Was brilliant seeing your brother do lap records and so far in front... and then.... where is my car??? Message.... crashed... ❤
Or just sending car out of pit... and then ppprrrrrr... engine sick 😂
Classic
Bruce Lee was amazing! I can’t remember if it was 2 or even 3 player? Commando was also one of my favourites I absolutely loved playing that. Ant Attack might have been the first game I played on the Spectrum - happy days!
It makes me sad that Lords of Midnight never makes these lists. It was such a stand out game for me and captured such an epic quest in such a neat manner, giving the choice of single character quest or full on wargame, or both. Mike Singleton was a man ahead of his time and I think honestly that a 'universe' would not be captured as well until Elite came along.
It's also a shame that so many amazing text adventures are ignored... I guess while others were playing F1 I was too immersed in the Hobbit, Bugsy, Runestone. and others.
It only just missed out (it was 24th) and made the wider Top 40 I did, as did The Hobbit.
Totally agree, once you mastered how to play it it felt so immersive. Doomdark's Revenge even more so.
Yes m8, Mike Singleton is (was) God. Bugsy - there's one I forgot.
Lotus Esprit was the only one on the list I played - and it got played a lot!
A few favourites not to make the list: Flying Shark, Kane, Saboteur, Disco Dan, Sport of Kings and Scumball.
Drugs exchanged!
Saboteur! I completely forgot about that one. Loved it.
Saboteur was excellent
My personal "missing from this list" favourites would be R-Type, Rainbow Islands and Midnight Resistance.
R-Type only just missed out.
I played a ton of Horace and the Spiders, Trader, Thrust, Tau Ceti, Élite, Mad Martha, Spy Vs Spy, Tomohawk, Penetrator, TransAm, Hunchback. So many great games for that thing.
"Aliens" by Electric Dreams was a superb movie conversion, really captured the tension of the film. Brutally hard, though 🙂
I remember getting it on a Your Sinclair cover tape.
Man, I had forgotten Aliens!
The U.S. version of Aliens sucked though, a series of mediocre mini-games.
I loved the sounds and simplicity of Knight Lore. That kindaof monochromatic theme and perfect isometric pov
Just about nailed it, maybe Starquake in there somewhere but otherwise a sound selection
Daily Thompson's Decathlon (Track & Field rehash), Paper Boy, International Karate +, Airwolf, Gauntlet, Barry McGuigan's Boxing (honourable mention Frank Bruno's Boxing) were all popular games worthy of the top ten. Rommels Revenge wasn't a bad vector graphic game.
yep - all worth a mention!
I liked the 48k Scrabble game. Unfortunately, it made my speccy run so hot, it crashed. I had to stand the spectrum on a freezer icepack to make it load and run!
Good times! Holding the tv aerial to see the program proply too!
River Rescue! I always went to my mate’s house to play games after school. His sister was really nice. River Rescue was the only game she would join us to play. 🥰
I can't believe how had this list is. No Super Robin Hood, Rick Dangerous, Dizzy, Ghouls and Ghosts, Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Outrun, Rainbow Islands, Green Beret and Super Stuntman.
Chuckie Egg and , Bruce Lee were awesome!
The music for Manic Miner, the way they did it, was nothing less that awesome!
Nice video. Used to play Commando and many others on or with ZX Spectrum 48k. It is always a pleasure to see and hear others reviweing games ... which I either played, not heard of ever or anything in between. It's... just nice! Cheers...
I still have my original speccy from 1982 ( it still works too!) and i also have Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Jetpac and Chuckie Egg
i never knew there was a follow up to Skool Daze in Back to Skool. I feel my childhood wasn't complete now as loved Skool Daze. I did love Bruce Lee, Turbo Esprit, Way of the Exploding Fist, Chase HQ, Chuckie egg, Matchday, Kokotoni Wilf, Manic Miner, Airwolf, Rambo ...so many memories
It's my favourite Spectrum game, absolute masterpiece.
Back to school is my absolute favourite followed by turbo esprit. The feeling of escape and being able to break the rules was revelation!
How did I forget bomb jack? Had a 35 year flashback in that one moment. Thank you for the trip down memory lane
Maybe these were in the top 40 but a few classics I played and enjoyed more than most of those are.
The Hungry Horace games, like Horace goes Skiing
The Dizzy games (mentioned, I know) especially treasure island dizzy.
Halls of the Things
Match of the Day
Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, even though that game broke my keyboard.
I can never understand why Lunar Jetman by Ulimate never makes these lists. My most loved speccy game!
I think most people found it too hard.
@@TheLairdsLair I agree it was a challenge. I had a lot of time for it though. Anyway great work on the video and on the channel! Love that so many Ultimate games made it in! How close was Underwurlde?
No idea, I only counted the top 40 and that wasn't in it.
Yep, that was my #1. It was an acquired taste though - too difficult for many folk, but definitely possible to master... IIRC my best was 18 alien bases in one game!, never did find that trailer though!
LoM and DDR are my best two, and I still play DDR.
Moon Cresta, Jet Set Willy, Hero, Match day. Just to name a few of my favourites.
I think Underwulde is the underated gem in Ultimate's catalog. It had all the smoothness of Ultimate's 2D games, but the jumping and bouncing made the gameplay more interesting. My favorite of the bunch.
Multiplayer Soccer Manager, Gunfright, R-type, Renegade, Nether Earth, Robin Hood .... there are just too many to choose from
Glad to see Lightforce (surprisingly) in there which I agree with. Manic Miner in top 2 I agree with as well but I would have *Lords of Midnight* either 1st or joint first with Manic. Both are examples of _perfect_ game design.
Worth a mention: although it was technically a bit inferior to versions for other computers I would have *Elite* well up the list. Actually, I think the basic line graphics on black gave the Spectrum version a great outer space feel.
Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Head Over Heals, The Great Escape, and Football Manager. Happy days😀
I'm surprised the likes of Starquake, Wizards Lair, Rollercoaster, Boulderdash & Bounder aren't on this list,especially Starquake, awesome game!!!
I'm fairly certain 3D Deathchase was 16k which was nuts,great game.
Correct, an incredible achievement!
surprisingly awesome game
Those sound effects! Took me right back to my teenage years... Ive got my 48k in a cupboard still with loads of original games!
Never actually seen any video of Zx spectrum games before. This was a good video for getting an idea of how they played.
Elite for the Spectrum was a massive achievement at the time and by all-time favourite game on that computer.
Operation Wolf was incredible, better than many on this list but its hard anyway to create a list with so many good games. I believe there could be some cases that having the spectrum was more fun than a 16bit, namely chase hq, op.wolf, robocop and many other original titles.
Nice list, though I suggest missing -
* The Lords of Midnight (and Doomdark's Revenge) - the atmosphere and size of the game for 48k was amazing. Like the Skyrim of its time.
* The Hobbit - again, amazing atmosphere and graphics for its time. Got me to read to too with its included Hobbit book.
* Shadowfire - even just for the music, but something about it felt special, like playing a movie.
* Laser Squad was awesome
Lords of Midnight only just missed out on the Top 20 and The Hobbit was also in the Top 40 - the competition was tough here!
Omg, this brings back memories. Spent countless hours in all of these games.
Elite, Green Beret, Uridium, Tomahawk, Rambo, Lunar jetman, Fighter Pilot. Still that was one of the few lists that I played and loved a good % of the games.
Spy vs Spy ... iconic and 2 players playing at the same time not one after the other
Loved JetPac and Knight Lore! Ultimate made some great games. Something in me misses the simplicity and naivety of these days, the struggle for programmers to achieve lots with very little. Also the nostalgia of popping into the local news agents which had a downstairs section for video games.. always fun to dive in there after a visit to the video library, see if they had anything interesting.
I'd add to these Pool, Chequered Flag, Trans-Am and Light Cycle.
I haven’t got my Spectrum anymore 😔, I used to love Attic Attack, Manic Miner, Jetset Willy, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Streethawk, Daley Thompson Decathlon, Spy Vs Spy, RoboCop, Renegade, I do miss those days. I still have my C16, C64, Amiga500+, Amiga 1200, which I think all still work. Who remembers Outrun? I remember all of these games. I would have been 12/13 years old when I started playing games. You forgot about Starwars. Happy Days.
The introduction of the 3D isometric game technology was a great leap forward! I would have put 'Head Over Heels' in my top 10.
Great video. Manic Miner deserving the top place. Still play it now, and after 40 years of trying, I still haven't completed it yet. Surprised at how few of these games I had from the list. There's a few I thought would make the list. Rock Star Ate My Hamster and Dan Dare stood out as obvious omissions. Two classic Speccy games in my books. I had a lot of those Firebird budget games as I was just a poor Secondary school kid at the time. Yet some of those I still love. Viking Raiders springs to mind.
Ha ha, I know the feeling. Closest I got was final level (20) I think and I jumped at the exit box and ran out of oxygen a few pixels before entering it. My mate laughed so loud watching me 😂
I loved Rock Star and the Dan Dare games too.
Same got it on my iPad loved it as a teenager
Chuckie egg 2: is like a dream, such a bizzarely long game for its genre, makes JSW2 seem short.
Cauldron 2. great fun.
suprised no dizzy games made the top 20.
I was surprised to not see Heavy on the Magic on this list :) Awesome adventure game for it's time!
I don't think a single person voted for it, but nice hear something different.
It was fantastic as were Tir Na Nog, Dun Darach and Marsport@@TheLairdsLair
The first game that came to my mind was Manic Miner. I also loved the Ultimate games, Knight Lore and Alien 8 being favorites. The Hobbit from Melbourne House even came with the book if I remember correctly. And then there were those amazing text adventures, I have to look those up. I think the first one was something with a colossal cave, by Level 9. The Pawn was great, too. Sweet memories.
Completely agree with your top 3, they were cracking games and the 3 top games I thought of when clicking on this video!
This was my childhood on a 128k! The first game I ever completed was fantasy land dizzy, I loved The New Zealand story, all the dizzys especially spellbound, chuckie egg 1&2 and rainbow islands. I got the mags with tapes (The great 8) from Ocean and Sinclair User. I had 1427 seperate tapes some with 50 games on em. ah the good old days! LOAD""
from memory it was the "J" key for load wasn't it?
lol, I never completed any game ever :(
Mike Singletons 'Lords of Midnight' was beyond doubt the no.1 Spectrum game.
My first computer was the good old Sincliar ZX81 it took me 1 hour to build and after a while i built a keyboard and memory expansion. My next one was the ZX Spectrum then came Commodore 64 and many more computers after that and now i repair and build computers and laptops as a side line now iam retired at 70.
Hi ! Great selection ! Back in the days, I used to play with flight simulators, and we had great ones on the Spectrum, like "fighter pilot" or "Combat Lynx". I really enjoyed Skooldaze ! So much fun !
Lords of Midnight by Mike Singleton DESERVES a spot, best game on the spectrum!
I remember us playing Back to School round your house back in the day, such a great game, was gutted it was never on Amstrad. Should have been higher.
Saboteur, Motos, Robocop, Renegade, The Way of the Exploding Fist were some of my favourites that come to mind.
Scuba Dive, 3D Ant Attack (+Zombie Zombie).. Lords of Midnight (+Doomdarks Revenge).. Fairlight and Elite.. These would probably have been in my top 10.
Was Scuba Dive the one that had a totally different game if you attached the speech add-on device?
Really surprised at the lack of a mention for Uridium, Head Over Heels, or even The Great Escape 😢😂
Never mind playing the games, the soundtracks bring back just as many memories! 👍
Hardly any of those would make my list. Target renegade and jetpac would be the only ones.
Gunship, Battlechess, Gauntlet/gauntlet deeper dungeons, International Karate +, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Dreadnoughts, Hunter Killer (one of the first games you could play against a friend using two computers) and of course, for the sound track alone, Bubble Bobble.
A copy of Chaos, friends, and a teenth of red seal.
Wizarding memories...
Chronos,Silk Worm,1942,Batman,Operation Wolf and many more
‘Daley Thomason’s Decathlon’, ‘Match Day’, ‘Beach Head’ and ‘Minder’ were the games I played the most.
Beach Head was ace, you're bang on with that one
@@Chongo_657I agree. I was reminded of that while viewing this video when I saw a “US Gold” title that made the top 20. Some blasts from the past here. Sabre Wulf I’d completely forgotten about!
Here is my incomplete list of favorite zx-spectrum games:
Target Renegade, Renegade, Flying Shark, Terra Cresta, War, Slap Fight, Operation Wolf, Dragon Spirit, Green Beret, Ikari Warriors, Rex, Rick Dangerous 1 & 2, Dan Dare 1 & 3, Nebulus, Dynamite Dan 2, R-Type, Arkanoid, Arkanoid Revenge of Doh, Pacmania, Exolon, Athena, Chase HQ, Colony, Out Run, Enduro Racer, Chevy Chase, Light Force, Scooby Doo, Batty, Bombjack, Fist - The Legend Continues, Ironman Super Off Road, Scooby and Scrappy Doo, Cybernoid 1 & 2, Into Eagles Nest, Freddy Hardest, Bounder, Firefly, Robin of The Wood, Dark Fusion, International Karate +, Myth - History in The Making, Batman, Batman - The Caped Crusader, Batman The Movie, Head Over Heels, Hyper Sports, Stallone Cobra, Anarchy, Jack The Nipper 1 & 2, Dizzy series, Fairlight, Moon Cresta, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Ghosts'n Goblins, Rainbow Islands, Soldier of Fortune, Pang, Ms. Pac-Man, Yogi Bear, Yogi's Great Escape, Stop The Express, Last Ninja 2, Bruce Lee, Maze Mania, Rockman, The Way of Exploding Fist, Movie, Desperado, Rogue Trooper, Thunderbirds, Konami Golf, Konami Tennis, Konami Ping-Pong, The Way of Tiger, Commando, Chessmaster 2000, Cabal, Pro Mountain Bike Simulator, Sai Combat, Nether Earth, Great Gurianos, Wec Le Mans, Astro Marine Corps, Rolling Thunder, The Great Escape, Top Cat, Avenger, Barbarian, Stormlord, Hong Kong Phooey, Gryzor, Match Day 2, The Addams Family, Shadow of The Beast, Rambo 3, Rodland, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Savage, Action Force 1 & 2, Army Moves, Navy Moves, Shao Lin's Road, Combat School, Who Dares Wins 2, Plotting, Heartland, Mickey Mouse, Thundercats, Crystal Castles, Rock'n Roller, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, The Untouchables, Saboteur 1 & 2, Nosferatu, Hydrofool, Scuba Dive, Postman Pat 2, Ninja Hamster, Spy vs Spy, Turbo the Tortoise, Potsworth & Co., Atom Ant, Cauldron 1 & 2, Hysteria, Tornado Low Level, Cyclone, HATE.
Nice to see some 16k games in there (I didn't get a 48k Spectrum until later). I know this is subjective but my top 20 would have included The Sentinel and The Great Escape
I loved all the Ultimate games. Matchday however was probably my favourite spectrum game but liked crticial mass, way of the exploding fist and elite also. Great nostalgia trip this, games I haven't seen since 1985 on here
Two games I remember on the ZX Spectrum with great fondness where Johnny Reb and Shogun. Absolutely great strategy games.
I remember Shogun! That was good, totally forgot about that until you just mentioned it!
Great list of games. Even better reading through the comments and getting reminded of so many fantastic games. 😊
"swords and sorcery"
was kinda like a turn-based dungeon crawler rpg...you had to go round collecting a set of armour...in the first dungeon you had the greaves and sabatons (feet and shins)...i managed to usually get through to the 2nd dungeon but always ended up falling into a pit...
the monster (in the first dungeon anyway) were skeleton and nagas...cant remember how many hours i spent on that game... 😁
I have copies of Jet set Willy 1 & 2 and also both releases of Manic Miner, all sitting right here, some of the bets childhood memories ever!
Cant believen none of my favourites made it. Ranarama, Firelord, Aufwiedersehen Monty, ..and the greatest game of all time Head over Heels!
Glad to see highway encounter on the list, that was my favorite game and i remember not liking the second game Alien Highway for some reason or another.
Good list, some of these games were a big part of my childhood. My favourite game was Daley Thompson's Decathlon, my dad would get the "big" TV (probably 28") from the sitting room and put on the kitchen table and we'd all try to beat each other, great times. I remember playing a horse betting game called Derby Day and my brother winning so much money that the bookie ran away. I still remember the little booklet you got with Jet Set Willy that had all the colour codes on and my oldest brother recording over kickstart making a sound like the games do when loading.
Laser Squad was amazing and still holds up today, following on from the amazing Rebel Star