The Spectrum (the Retro Games Ltd one)

At the point of writing, the forthcoming release of The Spectrum is far from new news, but it would have felt remiss of me not to write a little piece on it.

Retro Games Limited, known for resurrecting iconic gaming systems, brings back the beloved ZX Spectrum with “The Spectrum.” This modern reimagining of the classic 80’s British computer taps into the nostalgia of veteran gamers while introducing its charm to a new generation.

The Spectrum: A Classic Reborn

The original ZX Spectrum, released in 1982 by Sinclair Research, revolutionised home computing and gaming with its affordable price and simple design. It quickly became a cultural icon, influencing a wave of creativity with its 8-bit graphics and a wide variety of memorable games (many of which are celebrated by designs on this website!).

Retro Games Limited has captured the essence of this era by revamping the hardware. The Spectrum retains its classic rubber-key design while integrating modern functionality. The USB and HDMI ports ensure compatibility with modern displays and peripherals, allowing for a simpler, more reliable gaming experience than hooking up the original hardware, but keeping (most of) the original feel.

List of 48 Pre-Loaded Speccy Games

In case you haven’t seen it already, here’s the list of games:

Alien Girl (Skirmish Edition)
Ant Attack
Army Moves
Auf Wiedersehen Monty
Avalon
Bobby Bearing
Cosmic Payback
Devwill Too ZX
Exolon
Fairlight
Firelord
Football Manager 2
Freddy Hardest
The Great Escape
Head Over Heels
Highway Encounter
The Hobbit
Horace Goes Skiing
Jack the Nipper
Knot in 3D
The Lords of Midnight
Manic Miner
Match Day II
Movie
Nodes of Yesod
Penetrator
Phantis (Game Over II)
Pheenix
Pyracurse
Quazatron
Robin of the Wood
Saboteur! Remastered
Shovel Adventure
Skool Daze
Snake Escape
Spellbound
Starquake
Starstrike II
El Stompo
Stonkers
Target: Renegade
TCQ
Technician Ted – The Megamix
Tenebra
Trashman
The Way of the Exploding Fist
Wheelie
Where Time Stood Still

The Spectrum from Retro Games Ltd - back of the box

The Hobbit cover art - one of the bundled games on The Spectrum from Retro Games Ltd

Manic Miner cover art - one of the bundled games on The Spectrum from Retro Games Ltd

The Spectrum Extra Stuff – including ULAplus

With a decent bunch of pre-installed licensed games and the ability to load additional titles via SD card/USB, The Spectrum will let you add your favourites. The new machine stays true to the original gaming experience (including BASIC and a CRT filter option), while offering some familiar emulator functions like instant loading (obvs), rewind and save slots.

If you’re wondering what these two familiar, yet not quite speccy screenshots are, a really interesting feature is ULAplus compatibility, which gives the speccy some extra colours, although they do look a little C64-y. Have a peek at this old school, but funky website of ULAplus games.

A Bridge Between Eras or Wobbling on the Fence?

From what I’ve seen of discussions from the community, in general folk are in favour of it – or at least not offended by it – but there are certainly those who see it as less original than the original hardware and more expensive than an emulator.

Personally I think it looks good and I’m pleased to see it being supported by the big distributors (you can pre-order The Spectrum on Amazon and Smyths Toys), after being one of the many burnt by the notorious Vega+ kickstarter a few years back!

If you’d like to chat about it with a bunch of the active speccy community, you might want to join The Spectrum private Facebook Group.

In the meantime, if you’d like to celebrate the timeless design, here’s a classic logo t-shirt and various products with my redrawing of the iconic BREAK SPACE key proudly positioned on the stripe.

ZX Spectrum Classic Logo T-Shirt

£14.99

The classic ZX Spectrum logo t-shirt. Boom. ——————————- S M L XL 2XL Width, in 18.00 20.00 22.00 24.00 26.00 Length, in 28.00 29.00 30.00 31.00 32.00 Sleeve length, in 8.23 8.50 8.74 9.02 9.25 Size tolerance, in 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 ——————————- Made from very soft materials, this tee is 100% […]

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