The Top 50 Spectrum Games Of All Time.

Published 27 October, 2007 Duration 12:35

To celebrate the launch of our fabulous, shiny, new retro channel, we have a video for each of our launch platforms featuring their top 50 games. This here's Spectrum country - Kempstons at the ready!

Comments (43) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • DDevil #1 4 years ago

    Great video. I miss my Speccy. My Dad sold it after we got an Amiga. Love the music as well, takes me right back.

    Shame whoever was playing the games sucks :-P

  • Ryze #2 4 years ago

    Damn, the music started really started jogging my memory at 4:19.

    Fantastic.

    Which game is it from again?

  • GitSomE_UK #3 4 years ago

    Fuck me, I've just gone back in time... so many memories of playing those games as a 13 year old.

    Had many a happy gaming experience with these.
    Ultimate Play the game were the best! Where was Cyclone!

  • Atari_Boy #4 4 years ago

    @Ryza
    The music is from Robocop, it's the title screen music (at least it is on the C64)

  • Orange #5 4 years ago

    Ahh nice one Atari_Boy, was kicking myself trying to think of it. Great little tune.

    So much nostalgia watching that :)

  • Wellytopp #6 4 years ago

    bloody hell!!

    blast from the past..

  • sabreman #7 4 years ago

    hahaha - I put the video together and I'm the *lame* player. I can let on all the music tracks if anyone does not know ;-)

  • Spanner #8 4 years ago

    It's the clicky-blipy-chirpy sound effects that tug my heart strings more than the music. That and the colour cycling effect that used to crop up at some occasion in most every game.
    It's funny, too, how the attribute clash - that used to be such a freakin' annoyance and embarrassment to the Speccy owner - is now so kitsch and actually looks great. I miss seeing it!

  • hamstand #9 4 years ago

    that sounds more like c64 music than speccy music!

  • sabreman #10 4 years ago

    Nah, most definately Spectrum music.

  • SirClive #11 4 years ago

    Now thats what I call music (Vol 48)!

  • Pooley #12 4 years ago

    Christ! What a blast from the past. I think I played just about all of those games over the years.

    Fantastic stuff EG. Well done sabreman, nice compilation.

  • Burkey #13 4 years ago

    Thanks so much for this, true nostalgia from when I was about 5 years old (actually most of these were from when I was only just born, though I played some of them in later years). Excellent video :)

  • Rezident #14 4 years ago

    Nice work!

    The part about Quazatron is actually showing Magnetron, its sequel. To me Quazatron was the better one of the two.

    Have I won the Trainspotter Award now? ;)
    Edited by 4 at 29/10/07 @ 17:33

  • aticatac #15 4 years ago

    Did anyone see Dan Dare, that was one of the best speccy games, I also miss Thunderbirds

  • loopy #16 4 years ago

    Damn so many memories. :D

    I know there were too many games to fit in a top 50, but I still missed Lunar Jetman and The Alchemist (remember that one?). :p

    also, other Ultimate titles like Cookie, Pssst etc etc....
    Edited by 2 at 30/10/07 @ 12:54

  • sabreman #17 4 years ago

    Being the Spectrum nut that I am, getting a list of top games down to 50 was virtually impossible and some harsh decisions had to be made. But there you go..we got to 50 in the end. A good cross section that demonstrates the fantastic ability of Sir Clive's little machine.

  • SirClive #18 4 years ago

    I was distraught not to see 180 Darts in there :(
    But my fave Speccy game ever is in 3D Deathchase :)

  • ruckus #19 4 years ago

    Nice work sabreman \o/
    ...I'd also like to give a shout out to Bruce Lee, World Series Basketball and Way of the Exploding fist :)

  • merman #20 4 years ago

    great video, I've played most of the games over the years...

    ..but the Commodore 64 is still the better machine :D

  • Dizzy #21 4 years ago

    And we never moaned about framerates!

    Let that be a lesson for you young snappers that apparently can see a difference between 30FPS and 31FPS.

    Halls of the Things easily is my favourite.

    But.. MAZIACS!!! Androids!

  • neuromancer #22 4 years ago

    Fantastic - that has put a massive grin on my face! I recall playing each and every one of those games (well, maybe one or two I don't) - not only the games, but the times and places when I played them have come flooding back.
    Great video, great memories - thanks!

  • TheMunn #23 4 years ago

    Love that Robocop music, brings a glassy tear of nostalgia to my eye every time I hear it. Blatantly stolen by Ariston at the YouTube link below, the blighters...

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=TaAoTA3t_yk
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/07 @ 18:54

  • Valledd #24 4 years ago

    Top video. Spellbound - the game that got away. Loved it, but never finished the game, and then the cassette got "tidied" by mother and never seen of again. Keep meaning to search out an emulator and set right a 20 year wrong...

    ps. no 4th protocol?

  • BlitzwingHaz #25 4 years ago

    I had a Spectrum when I was about 8, had Popeye 2, Duckula and a Dizzy game. I didn't have a clue how to play them really. My dad knew someone who worked in John Menzies (now WH Smith) and he would get me cassettes off the covers of old Speccy mags. :D
    Wasn't very fond of it, didn't really get into computer games properly till I got my Megadrive years later.
    Remember the frustration of sitting waiting 10 mins for the thing to load for it to crash at the last moment? :D

  • freakybun #26 4 years ago

    @TheMunn

    OMG, I'm SO happy someone else remembers this, at the time when that ad came out, who could I tell about this? no-one apart from my c64/speccy owning mates which like totals about 2-3 people who would care! Kudos to you for a) getting there before me and b) actually remembering it :) woohooo!
    Edited by 2 at 23/11/07 @ 23:11

  • Gaol #27 4 years ago

    Nice video, would have like to have seen Zynaps and Driller included.

  • Popup #28 4 years ago

    Thanks to a powerful 1980's imagination, these games used to seem real.

    Spotty teen's everywhere were transforming miracleously into hardened chunky colour-clashed soldiers in a land of ladders and red trees, where the allure of that next screen and its mysteries kept you coming back.

    Thanks to this video, I can see the damage all these modern toys have done.

    Just for a second however, once I had adjusted to 8bit and around the TLL and Great Escape section, I was really there all over again - yay ;)

  • Tweakmonkey #29 4 years ago

    Enjoyed it but a lot of my favourites were missing.

  • Amethi #30 4 years ago

    How cool is this!

  • BadBoyBonner #31 4 years ago

    Glider Rider 128 at about 1 min 30 Secs

    And then one that starts at 7min 04 Secs is Thundercats 128 title screen

    Can remember any of the others but not where they are from - any helpers?
    Edited by 4 at 02/12/07 @ 19:38

  • sabreman #32 4 years ago

    It starts out with the end game tune from a game called 'Fire and Ice'. Then it is 'Glider Rider'. 'Robocop' follows which for me is the best 128k tune on the Speccy (Gameboy version is fab as well). Then its 'Starglider' followed by 'Thundercats'. The short clip next is from 'Three Weeks in Paradise' followed by David Whittaker's 'Amaurote' in-game track.

    The next track is from 'Hydrofool' - my 2nd favourite 128k track ever.

    And that's it.

  • valli #33 4 years ago

    9 for not inculding Star Raiders II and Dan Dare. Thanks for sharing these nostalgic moments!

  • Kryon #34 4 years ago

    C64 was better. That is all. ;)

  • caligari #35 4 years ago

    I don't care what you say...Dizzy was (and is) great.

  • HerbalFuzz #36 4 years ago

    Brilliant Video. Like everyone else it takes you far back and makes you realise just how far we have come. A few games missing from this top 50 though. What about Daley Thompsons Decathlon, Hyper Sports or Renegade. Now they were classics.

  • spike2201 #37 3 years ago

    brings back many a mispent youth lol

  • UKRvortex #38 3 years ago

    Love it remember most of these how spoilt are the kids today ie xbox360 ps3

  • uk_john #39 3 years ago

    Notice how on the C64 Top 50 they used C64 music tunes, but on the Spectrum Top 50 thy used 'spectrum like' music! After all, who could have listened to 15 minutes of speccy music!

  • uk_john #40 3 years ago

    Go to You Tube and search for 'Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll years' for more Spectrum memories of the history of Spectrum gaming from 1982 to 1989!

  • Retrobrothers #41 2 years ago

    Ahh the good old Speccy! 3D Deathchase is still playable even today! Chuckie Egg - good old Hen House Harry. This is a great little vid that takes me back to those halcyon days.

    ZX Spectrum Games will never die!

  • sloth323 #42 2 years ago

    Those were the days etc. I remember the music from a game around 3:08 in video. It's a lethal tune. Anyone know what the game is called? Time to get fuse for the wii homebrew.

  • sloth323 #43 2 years ago

    Is the music at 3:08 to 5.50 from Exolon? Lethal game as well as inspiring music.