What 8bit computer did you have? What was best? Who won the 8bit war of the eighties?

I had a commodore vic 20 and it was excellent. Then I saw the Commodore 64 and realised I`d been ripped off.

I think the Spectrum was more popular, but it wasn't necessarily the better machine. From 1981 to the present I had most of the popular 8 bit machines (Vic20, C64, Plus 4, Sinclair ZX81, all models of Spectrum, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Amstrad, Oric, MSX, Tandy, Texas), and even a couple which never made it big, such as the Elan Enterprise and Sinclair QL (which wasn't strictly 8 bit).

I used to have so many arguments with my mates who had the Speccy and Amstrad. The c64 ruled without a doubt IMO.

I had a BBC B, Acorn Electron, Spectrum, ZX81, MSX, Amstrad (464 and 6128 ).

I did a lot of writing for the magazines (BBC Micro User, Sinclair User, Your Computer, etc.) and did some books as well for Melbourne House (MSX Exposed, Machine Code Programming for the Amstrad, etc. so some of my computers were pressies from the publishers! :)

Can't quite swing that these days. :D

I loved the 8 bit machines; I have to say that my favourite machine, despite my status as the Z80 guy in my (then) day job and with most of my writing was the BBC B, 'cos it had all the bits built in for interfacing and robotics, and the built in Assembler, and the operating system hooks / vectors. The other machines always ended up with me getting my soldering iron out. :)

After that - the Amstrad machines - ease of expansion and well documented OS. The Speccie was cool, but that effing keyboard...grrrrr! When the Spectrum + came around - better.

Originally bought C64, (had two in fact), moved on to Apple. Now got G4 Quicksilver and Packard Bell laptop. Much prefer the GUI on the Mac to PC. Think different, thats what I say.

Yes but what about the fantastic SID chip in the C64?? Who remembers all the great video game music on the Commodore C64?

Yes but what about the fantastic SID chip in the C64?? Who remembers all the great video game music on the Commodore C64?
I had the piano keyboard which fitted over the C64 keyboard, still got it in the loft I think.
Loved all the games, do you remember C64 user magazine, three pages of code to make a shape move across the screen, top stuff!!!

Yes, spent hours typing those free games in from the magazines and I've had the power go off before saving it!!!

Spectrum is gonna win this I am fairly sure, I was although a Commodore boy myself.

Damn aren't we all showing our age here. :hihi:

Speccy for me, from 16k rubber keyboard (with 48k expansion pack!) to +2, &...

...BBC B, 'cos it had all the bits built in for interfacing and robotics...

...I was always fascinated by the adverts in the pack of computer magazines for the robot arms, I always wanted one of them.

I also had a minor addiction to the £1.99 Mastertronic (ooh the memories) games, anyone remember The Incredible Shrinking Fireman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Fireman)? :D

Damn aren't we all showing our age here. :hihi:


I also had a minor addiction to the £1.99 Mastertronic (ooh the memories) games, anyone remember

Yes, they were a brilliant range at about 1/4 of the price of standard games, some were way dodgy tho lol.

From 1981 to the present I had most of the popular 8 bit machines (Vic20, C64, Plus 4, Sinclair ZX81, all models of Spectrum, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Amstrad, Oric, MSX, Tandy, Texas), and even a couple which never made it big, such as the Elan Enterprise and Sinclair QL (which wasn't strictly 8 bit).

I hated the Sick Vic. Almost as pointless as a ZX80:D. The C64 was good (for a couple of years), the +4 was an "interesting" experiment:thumbsup: I liked the C128;).

Never really liked the Oric machines:(.


My favourite 8bit would have to be the Memotech MTX 512. Built in assembler/disassembler/monitor. BASIC, LOGO, NODDY (hybrid language). Full expansion (same ports as BBC, plus more;)). Beat the rest of the 8bits hands down. However, the company only sold a few, so it died a death:(.


I couldn't resist it:hihi: Google lead me to this page (http://old-computers.com/museum/doc.asp?c=168) about the MTX 512:).

I never understood the whole speccy vs. c64 thing. The spectrum had rubbish graphics with horrible colour clash (ironically named or what) and beeped.
C64 could produce proper colour graphics and could actually make proper music, including speech when used skillfully (Maniacs or noise were amazing!). How was there any debate?

I had an Amstrad 464, and recently rediscovered the joys of Dizzy and Super Robin Hood through the marvels of emulation.

I remember having a Commodore +4......

...recently rediscovered the joys of Dizzy...

Awwwww, Dizzy!!!

You'll love this then, Codemasters are giving Treasure Island Dizzy (for PC, 2.7MB!) away for free (http://www.codemasters.co.uk/downloads/?downloadid=17409)!!

Although I loved Dizzy, it didn't touch Dynamite Dan (http://www.crashonline.org.uk/18/dan.htm) :thumbsup:

The Acron Electron was by far the best.

It had a professional quality keyboard

(pah, Spectrum, Press J to Load, how logical :rolleyes: )

the mighty atari st. end of debate:)

Spectrum 128K +2! WOW. Was well narked off when my mate got the +3. I had to wait 10 minutes for a game to load and his was (more or less) instant.

I still have a commodore Amiga plus it's monitor, good little machine if they'd made it expandable instead of voiding the warranty when you took the cover off it would have kicked the PC's of the day's a*s

Commodore 64 Datasette, now there was a miracle of modern science. I remember attempting loading the games and nothing happened at the end. Turned out the heads needed realigning. How bl**dy infuriating.

Those were the days. First machine was a C16 then went on to C64...that was class:thumbsup:

Remember Zzap64? Use to love that magazine. I must of spent thousends in them days on games and had hundreds. The excitement of spending £9.99 on a top quality game. Waiting what seemed like a lifetime for it to load. Just dont get that kind of enjoyment these days. Now they are all somewhere gathering dust:roll:

I still have a commodore Amiga plus it's monitor, good little machine if they'd made it expandable instead of voiding the warranty when you took the cover off it would have kicked the PC's of the day's a*s


Oh yes! The hours and hours of fun playing Leisure Suit Larry on an Amiga 500! :banana:

The 64 wins for me on the strength of the SID chip. Loved my 48k Speccy too and will always have a soft spot for my old MSX (Toshiba HX10). Also had a C16, VIC-20, ZX81, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Plus/4, Toshiba HX22, Speccy +2 and most likely others I've forgotten. :)

BBC model B for me, oh the joys of finding the correct start place on the cassette tape....

48k Spectrum for the win.

Daley Thompson's Decathlon was great (track and field clone). My friend had a C64. I remember seeing his version of Commando and being sad that it looked so much better than mine. He also had a real keyboard. :(

I really think my parents bought me the computer thinking it would somehow be useful as a learning tool. It actually started me on the path to my career in games, so it all paid off in the end. :)

10 PRINT "I R 1337"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

*sigh* my BASIC skills still suck

I may have been a little young :p - but I did have the Spectrum Sinclair, with its lovely screeching noise when you loaded the games...

Personally, I preferred the Amstrad, with Dizzy and Rock 'n Roll - great games!

I had an oric 1 :o a speccy a com 16 then 64 a amstrad 464 plus all the usual plug in cartridge machines lol happy days

Whilst the Commodore was the technically superior machine, the Speccy had the largest games output, and in most cases the better adaptations of the games (with limited graphics to work with the developers concentrated on the gameplay). I was a proud owner of both machines, but tended to use the speccy more (more games).

The spectrum had crap graphics and sound but was the best for gameplay! I loved it... run a search on google for 'world of spectrum' and download the emulator and ALL the games EVER made for it in seconds :)
Anyone remember Starquake and Firelord??????

Fantastic!

The spectrum had crap graphics and sound but was the best for gameplay! I loved it... run a search on google for 'world of spectrum' and download the emulator and ALL the games EVER made for it in seconds :)
Anyone remember Starquake and Firelord??????

Fantastic!

yeah two top games

by the way
wos doesnt have all the games EVER made for it
some are denied distribution ie:- not allowed to give em away, some are mia ie:- missing in action and some (possibly loads) arent even known about

ive just got a brand new speccy emulator on my ds, im testing out a pre beta version for the author
so far it looks wikkid.
on the touch screen it has the menus AND a keyboard where you can choose spectrum game menu options, absolutely brilliant.....and one of a kind

For me the Magic Knight series were a must on the Speccy! Oh the hours I spent on those games!

All this debate about the best machine of the 80's, and no mention of the daddy of them all. The Dragon 32! Yes, I had one and proud of it. In fact it's still up in the loft somewhere.

I wrote my best ever Basic programmes on it. And who could forget Donkey Kong. I think in the whole of my school, only two of us had Dragons. There was a couple of Beebs, and the rest were Spekkys and C64's.

Also, I will never forget the excitement of going round my mates house to see his ZX81 for the first time. OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH we all gasped!

I did a lot of writing for the magazines (BBC Micro User, Sinclair User, Your Computer, etc.) and did some books as well for Melbourne House (MSX Exposed, Machine Code Programming for the Amstrad, etc. so some of my computers were pressies from the publishers! :)

I've got a few of your books Joe, I must get them signed the next time I'm in Sheffield!

Ah... the VIC20... 3583 Bytes Free! :)

Atari 800. Superb graphics and sound. Good games included Temple of Apshai and Star Raiders.

The one problem? Hardly any games compared to the others and then mainly via mail order. Still at least it made choosing new ones for birthday / Christmas easy :)

Some memories for fellow Spec-Heads out there...

http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/

http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/cover1.htm

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/

the mighty atari st. end of debate:)

John, you work in computer retail for effs sake! This is a thread about 8-bit machines! And the Amiga was by far the better 16-bit computer in every respect including music (which is the only reason people misguidedly ever rate the ST over the Amiga). Having a built in MIDI unit (which you could get for about £20 on the Amiga anyway) hardly makes up for the fact that it had poorer graphics, with no equivalent of a blitter, and ironically poorer sound!

</RANT>

It had to be Commodore all the way, even back with the 8-bit machines. My favourite games on the C64:
Turrican (I+II)
Flimbo's Quest
Chase HQ
Dizzy (although I only had Treasure Island)
and many others. That I can't remember.

Viva la 64!

I've still got a BBC model B with all the trimmings and hundreds of games and programs.
I picked it up for 10 quid a few months ago.

Had (and still have) them all ;)

Ah... the VIC20... 3583 Bytes Free! :)

But PRINT FRE (0) and you got 3581!

Atari, Atari, I love Atari.

I've still got a BBC model B with all the trimmings and hundreds of games and programs.
I picked it up for 10 quid a few months ago.

In that case you may be interested in the MMC card interface for it. It costs a tenner to build - you buy your parts from Maplins and it lets you store 512 disk images on a 128Mb card. Accessing a disk is instantaneous and loading is done in a few seconds. Once you've fitted the device internally you don't need to mess with disk and tape drives anymore.

The construction details are here:

http://mmbeeb.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

Isnt anyone going to mention the Dragon 32???

BTW, the speccy didnt have crap graphics, it was just that it only had a handfull of colours and they clashed badly.

Where games used a limited amount of colours (i.e. mainly monochrome) IMO it had better graphics than any pants C64 or Amstrad

Hey, hey 16k (http://www2.b3ta.com/heyhey16k/)

I loved my C64. Some of the Martin Galway/Rob Hubbard music just blew me away.

John, you work in computer retail for effs sake! This is a thread about 8-bit machines! And the Amiga was by far the better 16-bit computer in every respect including music (which is the only reason people misguidedly ever rate the ST over the Amiga). Having a built in MIDI unit (which you could get for about £20 on the Amiga anyway) hardly makes up for the fact that it had poorer graphics, with no equivalent of a blitter, and ironically poorer sound!

now listen here, young man.

firstly, i didnt bother to read the bit about it being about 8 bit machines only.

secondly see above.

(there wasnt really a 'secondly').

onto the amiga/st debate - remember the STE had 8 channel sound, a blitter chip, midi ports, and ran at 8mhz, all of which urinate on the gay amiga.

however:

almost all the games were made compatible with the STFM, which had poorer sound and no blitter...which meant the amiga had the jump on em.

as for midi, it is a fact less disputable than the baldness of gail porter that most midi-studios between 1986 and 1990 had an ST working in some capacity. fact.

fact.

finally, the ST had something the amoeba never did...character. a true underdog, a humble champion of the people, a worthy swordsman on any battlefield...from its rubbish 10dpi mouse to the frankly ridiculously named operating system, the Atari ST was a flawed genius. the amoeba was simply flawed.

and gay.

fact.

Remember the fun had when you had to swap over the joystick and mouse for whatever reason on the ST? That's why extender cables were invented. :D

ah, the memories...swapping over, then the power cable would snag and the machine would reset!

im welling up here...*sniff*!

re:- speccy graphics

depends what you mean by bad

yes the speccy was mostly monochrome due to bad colour clash
BUT the actual graphics were drawn excellently

ont he other hand the commodes graphics were highly colourful
BUT the actual graphics were blockier and squashed most of the time.





and when i say highly colourful i mean 10 shades of brown :P

I still use an Atari ste 1040 for midi stuff

good lad!! ive stillgot one...but the floppy is knackered:( have you got any tunes up on the net carcrash?

Take your Amiga and ST chat to a new thread please. This one is about PROPER computing!

re:- speccy graphics

depends what you mean by bad

yes the speccy was mostly monochrome due to bad colour clash
BUT the actual graphics were drawn excellently

ont he other hand the commodes graphics were highly colourful
BUT the actual graphics were blockier and squashed most of the time.


The C64 had a hi-res mode which looked a lot like the Speccy output, including colour clash. :) It wasn't used much in games, but later on it was used a lot for sprite overlays to eradicate the blockiness (Target Renegade for instance.)


and when i say highly colourful i mean 10 shades of brown :P

You're thinking of the Atari 8-bit range - ever see Basil the Great Mouse Detective on it? Brown-tastic! :D

Take your Amiga and ST chat to a new thread please. This one is about PROPER computing

Ok,
I got offered a spectrum for £30 the other day, i think it's the 128 super dooper one with plastic keys and not the rubber ones.
Now I've got a houseful of what the other half terms as junk which involves 8 1980's keyboards ( some digital and some analoge) 9 guitars, a midi studio, bbc model b, 2 older macs, a couple of reel to reel machines, several 1970's and 80's guitar amps and god knows what else.
Should I buy the spectrum and pretend I've always had it?

Ok,
I got offered a spectrum for £30 the other day, i think it's the 128 super dooper one with plastic keys and not the rubber ones.
Now I've got a houseful of what the other half terms as junk which involves 8 1980's keyboards ( some digital and some analoge) 9 guitars, a midi studio, bbc model b, 2 older macs, a couple of reel to reel machines, several 1970's and 80's guitar amps and god knows what else.
Should I buy the spectrum and pretend I've always had it?

Although im an avid specky fan, actually using one these days is a thoroughly disappointing experience!

20 mins to load but crashes 1/2 way through.....Nostalga is better than reality!

Yeah....what he said.

Just get an emulator instead.

Ok,
I got offered a spectrum for £30 the other day, i think it's the 128 super dooper one with plastic keys and not the rubber ones.
Now I've got a houseful of what the other half terms as junk which involves 8 1980's keyboards ( some digital and some analoge) 9 guitars, a midi studio, bbc model b, 2 older macs, a couple of reel to reel machines, several 1970's and 80's guitar amps and god knows what else.
Should I buy the spectrum and pretend I've always had it?

yes

and if its the first 128k one its rarer than the +2 / +3

I had a commodore Vic 20 a 64 and an Amiga! Commodore all the way through boyhood :clap:

I had the 48, 128 and 128K +2 varieties of the Speccy... Top class machines, apart from when you'd spend 30 minutes waiting for a game to load off tapes and then the sodding thing crashed!

Those type in programs in the magazines were cool as well, I remember doing some Mario rip off called "Pathetic Pablo Brothers" out of Your Sinclair back in about 1991 (Did you write that JoeP? Damn you if you did :P) spent about 5 hours typing it all in, and then it crashed! :rant:

I had the 48, 128 and 128K +2 varieties of the Speccy... Top class machines, apart from when you'd spend 30 minutes waiting for a game to load off tapes and then the sodding thing crashed!

:

but thats not a speccy thing, thats an 8 bit computer games on tape thing

I had the 48, 128 and 128K +2 varieties of the Speccy... Top class machines, apart from when you'd spend 30 minutes waiting for a game to load off tapes and then the sodding thing crashed!

30 minutes? Are you sure you didn't have the pause button on for the first 25 before you realised? :hihi:

30 minutes? Are you sure you didn't have the pause button on for the first 25 before you realised? :hihi:
it was 1 side of a c60 :)

i had an electron, a beeb and a c64 and i honestly couldn't pick one, i emulate them all!

i too learned some neat tricks with BASIC, and got the programmer-itch from the type-it-yourself ones in zzap64 and the like, (great zzap64 tshirts on teefly.com btw but if i see you in it i'll probably cheer at you)

I love how the speccy users still use that same old argument: better game play, to make up for the hideously bad graphics! The game play was no better than the C64's or the CPC's IMO.

I had an Amstrad 6128 plus. It was almost the same as the 6128 but was white, looked more like an Amiga and played cartridges as well as disks.

Many happy hours were spent on Burnin' Rubber, Double Dragon a blurry WWF game which gave you arthritis from hitting 2 buttons to perform a run off the ropes.

I love how the speccy users still use that same old argument: better game play, to make up for the hideously bad graphics! The game play was no better than the C64's or the CPC's IMO.
Don't forget that the Spectrum also had more memory on tap than the C64. 64K my arse - you only had 39K available for use. Our OS resided on an entirely different memory module, so the full 48K was available. I remember there were games that the Spectrum could load in full, but the C64 had to multi-load. Of course I cant remember off the top of my head, because it's been years...

The Speccy had crap sound, true. But the 128K versions improved on that no end. And the graphics were either monochrome or your character sprite would change colour according to whatever he stood in front of, but still the games held a certain charm that the C64 often failed to match.

Bruce Lee is far more colourful on the C64 but the Speccy version whizzes all over it. :) The 128K Spectrums could load all of Target Renegade into memory and provide better music than the 48K at the same time. The C128 needed to go into 64K mode to even load it, didn't it? (I'm happy to be corrected on this point)

I had the 48, 128 and 128K +2 varieties of the Speccy... Top class machines, apart from when you'd spend 30 minutes waiting for a game to load off tapes and then the sodding thing crashed!

Those type in programs in the magazines were cool as well, I remember doing some Mario rip off called "Pathetic Pablo Brothers" out of Your Sinclair back in about 1991 (Did you write that JoeP? Damn you if you did :P) spent about 5 hours typing it all in, and then it crashed! :rant:

Nah, never wrote games software. I was serious Mr Anorak even back then. Did a lot of stuff about machine code, extending BASIC, adding interfaces, all the stuff that REAL geeks did. None of this game playing malarkey. ;)

Nah, never wrote games software. I was serious Mr Anorak even back then. Did a lot of stuff about machine code, extending BASIC, adding interfaces, all the stuff that REAL geeks did. None of this game playing malarkey. ;)


:P

all i did was play games

apart from the basic
10 print"hello"
20 print
30 goto 10

thats about the limit of my programming prowess :)

I used to write basic text adventures based on Knightmare, I even did a Neighbours themed text adventure thingy once, well it was more a quiz than an adventure.

Don't forget that the Spectrum also had more memory on tap than the C64. 64K my arse - you only had 39K available for use. Our OS resided on an entirely different memory module, so the full 48K was available. I remember there were games that the Spectrum could load in full, but the C64 had to multi-load. Of course I cant remember off the top of my head, because it's been years...

That's not quite true. The Spectrum ROM sat from 00000 to 16383. The screen then ran from 16384 to 23295 and then the printer buffer for the next 256 bytes. Variables and a couple of other things then ran to RAMTOP which was around 23788?

In theory you could use 48k but only if you didn't use the screen!

That's not quite true. The Spectrum ROM sat from 00000 to 16383. The screen then ran from 16384 to 23295 and then the printer buffer for the next 256 bytes. Variables and a couple of other things then ran to RAMTOP which was around 23788?

In theory you could use 48k but only if you didn't use the screen!

Using machine code though means you can get rid of the need for sys vars/printer buffer/basic area and use the full 48K for program, data & display.

My +D clone utility used nearly all the speccy's RAM, it ran in the bottom 2 3rds of the screen display (which meant I had 8 text lines for the display) with the rest of RAM used as a temporary buffer for the individual tracks to be read to prior to writing to another disk (worked best with a twin drive system, no disk swapping:D).

It's the Speccy's silver jubilee next year:thumbsup:

Using machine code though means you can get rid of the need for sys vars/printer buffer/basic area and use the full 48K for program, data & display.

Pah, what would you know? :D

For those of you who aren't in the know, this gentlemen was quite a famous face on the UK Spectrum scene for many years and his programming and demo work was astounding!

I had a couple of Sinclair machines...a zx81, complete with wobbly 16k ram pack, an original Spectrum, 48k with a rubber mat for a keyboard, and later a +2. Also had a c64. Must say, I preffered the Spectrums to the Commodore, there was just something about them that was great, cant quite put my finger on exactly what it was, but it was there.

Pah, what would you know? :D

Not a lot:P.


For those of you who aren't in the know, this gentlemen was quite a famous face on the UK Spectrum scene for many years and his programming and demo work was astounding!

:blush:

I'm quite proud of some of the utilities I wrote. Not so with some of the demos though (eg NSD 1,2 & 3) I did, however, enjoy coding them all:thumbsup:. I've just been looking @ some of my unfinished work (RealSpec + my +D collection archived as +D images). Might be able to get something knocked together for next year:D.

I still have a BBC Micro, in showroom condition :) Prior to that I had a TRS-80 (similar to the Dragon - ie awful) and following the Beeb I had an Amstrad PC.

The Spectrum had those irritating keywords and the Commodore was even worse, everything was done with silly symbols.

The Spectrum had those irritating keywords and the Commodore was even worse, everything was done with silly symbols.

Not so with the 128/+2/+2a/+3/ in 128K mode.

I actually have a soft spot for the TRS 80 (it was the first home computer I came into contact with - Tandy's CC).
Mathew Smith wrote JetSet Willy on a TRS 80 too (the TRS supported disk drives - the Speccy didn't - at that time:():thumbsup:

I used to use apple twos at school

Jet Set Willy in JAVA (http://www.mjwilson.demon.co.uk/jsw.html)

Top game!

I used to use apple twos at school

Reminds me of when I went to Pipworth, we studied BASIC programming which was quite a novelty in the mid 80s! We used Sharp MZ-80 K machines, which had a built in tape deck and monitor, like the Commodore PET (the school also had a couple of those!). Must have been before the education deal with Acorn.
I remember at Myrtle using the BBC model B or Master to do desktop publishing, then we got a couple of Archimedes A3000, and spent more time playing Zarch than doing anything 'productive'. :D

I had a Specirtum 48k+, loved playing it - shame it died a few years ago. Managed to find a 128k +2 lying round dumped near my house recently, haven't got round to trying it yet though.

Jet Set Willy in JAVA (http://www.mjwilson.demon.co.uk/jsw.html)

Top game!

Why have remakes, when you can play the original, online, using a Java emulator here (http://www.s1tos60.co.uk/fun/retro/zxspectrum/index.php?item=jsw):).

haven't got round to trying it yet though.

Gerrit plugged in:thumbsup:, it'll probably still work (I've got an Issue 1 +2, been stored in all manner of conditions, numerous drinks spilled on it etc.. Still works):D

Specturm all the way!

Am I the only person who bought a Commodore CD32 in this country? :)

It was the 1st 32bit games console which was based on the Amiga 1200 (which I also had) and came with a fantastic game called Diggers.
The CD32 looked like a mix between a fag ashtray and an 80's record player but was great. It flopped big time and was one of the many reasons CBM went belly-up in the 90's unfortunately...

Specturm all the way!

Am I the only person who bought a Commodore CD32 in this country? :)

It was the 1st 32bit games console which was based on the Amiga 1200 (which I also had) and came with a fantastic game called Diggers.
The CD32 looked like a mix between a fag ashtray and an 80's record player but was great. It flopped big time and was one of the many reasons CBM went belly-up in the 90's unfortunately...

I had one, can only think of 3 games worth playing; Arcade Pool, Pinball Fantasies and Skidmarks. The appaling, cheap rip-off of the MegaDrive's design made me laugh at the time (compare the CD32 to a MegaDrive mark 1 to see what I mean).

We're going to get told off now for talking about new-fangled modern machines. :hihi:

I had one, can only think of 3 games worth playing; Arcade Pool, Pinball Fantasies and Skidmarks. The appaling, cheap rip-off of the MegaDrive's design made me laugh at the time (compare the CD32 to a MegaDrive mark 1 to see what I mean).

We're going to get told off now for talking about new-fangled modern machines. :hihi:

Ahh the Megadrive! Brilliant, as was the SNES! Pinball Fantasies was fantastic, and so was Pinball Dreams on the 1200.. BTW. Digital Illusions (the makers) are still going strong. They have made a brilliant online game for the Xbox 360 and PC called Battle Field 2.. I think you can get it on the original Xbox and PS2 too..

Right I'm off now to play Oblivion and Tomb Raider Legend on the Xbox 360 :)

Ahh the Megadrive! Brilliant, as was the SNES! Pinball Fantasies was fantastic, and so was Pinball Dreams on the 1200.. BTW. Digital Illusions (the makers) are still going strong. They have made a brilliant online game for the Xbox 360 and PC called Battle Field 2.. I think you can get it on the original Xbox and PS2 too..

Right I'm off now to play Oblivion and Tomb Raider Legend on the Xbox 360 :)

Yeah, one of my mates works at DICE over in Sweden. Sadly part of the EA empire now. After Pinball Fantasies my fave games of theirs are Motorhead and Rally Masters. I ought to have a look at Battle Field, never played it but loved Call of Duty.

Ahh the Megadrive! Brilliant, as was the SNES!
i always prefered the snes :)
but for some reason the only games i find in charity shops etc seem to be megadrive so i have 300 times more MD games :P

I remember when the Famicom came out in Japan and how the Mode 7 was going to change the way we played games... In a way, it did! The 3D was amazing for its time.. I loved Pilot Wings, Mario Kart and F-Zero which used Mode 7!

Btw. Prey on the Xbox 360 and PC is AMAZING!!!

I remember when the Famicom came out in Japan and how the Mode 7 was going to change the way we played games... In a way, it did! The 3D was amazing for its time.. I loved Pilot Wings, Mario Kart and F-Zero which used Mode 7!

Btw. Prey on the Xbox 360 and PC is AMAZING!!!

Don't see any mention of the subject of this thread in your post though:P.

The Hobbit was one of the best games on the Spectrum too, with Trolls and stuff!

Spectrum 128K!!!!!!!

The Hobbit was one of the best games on the Spectrum too, with Trolls and stuff!

The Melbourne House adventure (http://www.s1tos60.co.uk/fun/retro/zxspectrum/index.php?item=hobb)?

It is indeed a very good game (follows the storyline of the book quite well too - especially for a 48k machine).

Thats the one! Its ironic that at this moment in time, my fav game right now is another Tolkien game, Lord Of The Rings - Battle For Middle Earth on the XB360! The Hobbit was pure class but it was too hard for me to complete! I got to the part where I was stuck somewhere next to a barrel looking down towards a river from what I can remember.

I got to the part where I was stuck somewhere next to a barrel looking down towards a river from what I can remember.

You need the ring (found in the goblins tunnels).

You then need to wear it (after you have released thorin and found your way to the Elvenkings' cellars). Timing is important so as to not get caught by the butler.

Tell thorin to climb into a barrel.

Then open the trap door.

Then wear the ring again (it seems to slip off when you put thorin in the barrel).

Next climb into a barrel.

Then wait (maybe a few times).

Next thing you know, you've arrived in Dale.

I've completed this game many times (and in quite a few different ways):thumbsup:

I had a Dragon 32 - played on it for ages.. sadly the company went bust about 2 months after I bought it and found games and hardware harder and harder to find :( Still have it in the loft.
I always wanted a C64 - the games were far better than anything else I saw at the time, I guess the Sinclair had more games though....
Ahh the days....

I had a Dragon 32 - played on it for ages.. sadly the company went bust about 2 months after I bought it and found games and hardware harder and harder to find

You could've used any TRS-80 games (they were identical machines):thumbsup:

You could've used any TRS-80 games (they were identical machines):thumbsup:
So why didn't you tell me 22 years ago! :D Ah well... if I ever dig it out I'll keep it in mind - thanks!

I always wanted a C64 - the games were far better than anything else I saw at the time, I guess the Sinclair had more games though....
Ahh the days....

I have a Sinclair or two somewhere... if you ask nicely i might try to find it for you ;)

Just got the latest Retro Gamer through the door today (fantastic magazine for lovers of old-skool gaming). Has an article on the Magic Knight series in it....guess what I'm gonna be playing for a few days now!!!

then we got a couple of Archimedes A3000, and spent more time playing Zarch than doing anything 'productive'. :D

Zarch, what a top game! The demo 'Lander' was installed by default on all the Archimedes at my school. Wasted so much time playing that game.